Each day at just after midnight Eastern, a post like this one is created for contributors and readers of this site to upload news links and video links on the issues that concern this site. Most notably, Islam and its effects on Classical Civilization, and various forms of leftism from Soviet era communism, to postmodernism and all the flavours of galloping statism and totalitarianism such as Nazism and Fascism which are increasingly snuffing out the classical liberalism which created our near, miraculous civilization the West has been building since the time of Socrates.
This document was written around the time this site was created, for those who wish to understand what this site is about. And while our understanding of the world and events has grown since then, the basic ideas remain sound and true to the purpose.
So please post all links, thoughts and ideas that you feel will benefit the readers of this site to the comments under this post each day. And thank you all for your contributions.
This is the new Samizdat. We must use it while we can.
For those interested, please check out https://vladtepesblog.substack.com/ as an another avenue of expression.
Ted Kaczynski was a mentally deranged man. He wanted to destroy the world as we knew it. He felt AI would take over all decision making.
What’s the difference between him and Klaus Schwab? Bill Gates? Industrial Murder Inc. (mass lethal injections)? What’s the difference, a business suit?
https://youtu.be/yt24N1Awu9E?si=LLO37nYoz5POhQwn
USA Watchdog:
https://usawatchdog.com/bigger-war-bigger-fraud-and-bigger-cv19-death-toll/
We’re going to stop arresting journalists. It’s outrageous for the prime minister and his government to have journalists arrested merely…
https://twitter.com/i/status/1745835634890355126
Red States Reject Biden Admin’s Laughable Summer Grocery Program
by Allison Anton, The Western Journal Jan. 13, 2024 10:15 am122 Comments
Why does the Biden administration keep thinking it can combat the consequences of inflation by throwing more government money at them?
Well, there are none more blind than those who refuse to see, and the White House made an announcement on Wednesday further demonstrating that willful blindness.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a news release it will be launching a permanent grocery benefit program for children this summer wherein qualifying households will receive $40 per child each month to spend on groceries.
According to the release, 35 states, five territories and four Native American tribes have opted into the Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer thus far.
The USDA said the program would cover approximately 70 percent of the eligible children at launch and it hopes to add more states by next summer.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/01/red-states-reject-biden-admins-laughable-summer-grocery/
The War Against World Supply Chains Turns Hot(ter)
by John Mills Jan. 13, 2024 9:30 am63 Comments
After 20 plus attacks since November 19, 2023, on Merchant Shipping and at least three ship seizures, the Naval War in the Middle East is expanding. On January 12, 2024, with much telegraphing, a U.S.-led coalition struck 60 targets at 16 sites in Yemen and then followed up with a second wave of attacks shortly after. The centerpiece of the multi-nation naval force is the U.S.S. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group (CSG), while partner nations including the United Kingdom, Australia, Bahrain, Canada, and the Netherlands participated alongside.
The response package sounded impressive, but there are policy questions that need to be addressed, such as what is the strategic end state sought? What are the causal factors? How are these events the same or different from past conflicts in the Middle East over the last 50 years? In some ways, we’ve seen this before, and the outcomes have been unclear because objectives and end states were not clearly established by American leadership. In other ways, the campaign by Iran, mostly through proxies like the Houthis of Yemen, the Somalis, Hamas, Hezbollah, and others, is different and represents a sophisticated strategic line of effort by China to topple America as the center of world affairs. The quiet part out loud was said by a Professor at the Chinese National War College who said the Houthis are doing China “a big favor” by cutting off world supply chains.
“Degrading” the Houthis
The initial press release by the Department of Defense gave the immediate indicators of a “forever war” mindset where the DOD was confident the strikes were effective in “degrading” the Houthis. Bringing American Warfighters into harm’s way to degrade, and destroy enemy forces shooting at them is concerning. “Shoot to graze or nick” or send some kind of virtue signal is not the purpose of almost $850B of FY 2024 defense spending and should be called out at the beginning as the wrong mindset which puts American involvement on the wrong azimuth from the beginning. This is, unfortunately, the intellectual approach though of the Biden Team, which has lectured the Israelis at length on “proportionality” as they bring Hamas to justice and/or a rightful ending. I try to call balls and strikes fairly – there is a faint legal precept and citation of the concept of “proportionality” with the Laws of Land warfare, but the Biden Team gets it wrong – there is nothing prohibiting a military force from destroying and killing their opponent, especially when they are under fire themselves.
The initial strike statistics on the Houthis seemed to imply effectiveness, but so did the early statistics from Desert Storm, Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and so on. There should be extreme vigilance in ensnaring the United States in a continuation of the forever war mentality of multiple Presidential Administrations that have expended a great amount of American blood and treasure with little to show for it. However, there is also a significant difference this time, which demands even greater vigilance. Yemen and the Houthis should be considered a proxy of Iran, which is a proxy of China. As the Chinese Military Professor inadvertently revealed, in the grand panorama of events, World War III is already in progress, and the relentless campaign on merchant shipping and blocking of sea lanes should be acknowledged as what it is: a “Battle of the North Atlantic” equivalent as China deftly uses proxies to asphyxiate the world economic order.
75 deployable U.S. Navy Ships?
The deployed U.S. and Allied naval elements have performed admirably and have shown the prowess of Western military capabilities and tactics, and have swatted down dozens of attacks by Houthi cruise missiles, drones, and even “anti-ship” ballistic missiles. A well-earned “Bravo Zulu” in the Maritime and Air Domain – but demonstrating world-class badminton skills is not driving America on the pathway to achieving the strategic end state. What it has demonstrated is that a small number of overworked ships, aircraft, and incredible Service Members are overstretched and over-committed to only one front of World War III.
Recently, Vice Admiral Roy Kitchener set a significant goal and metric. “75 mission-capable ships on any given day”was that goal and metric. Some appeared to applaud; I had to read it twice. With a U.S. Navy battle force of just under 300 ships, this means only 25% of ships are available for worldwide duty, which I presume includes tests, exercises, freedom of navigation exercises, and so on. In the context of U.S. Navy history, no criticism intended, but 75 is not an impressive number in light of worldwide events. Easily half that number of ships are already committed in one way or another to the broad events in the Mediterranean and the Middle East. The new Chief of Naval Operations is citing a “1930s moment” with the national imperative to grow the fleet; I strongly concur with rapid growth – but we must be absolutely transparent and intellectually honest – we’ve been stuck in this “1930s moment” for at least ten years. We must have accountability, change, and new leadership across the board to move with national alacrity on this matter.
What is the strategic end state, and how is it arrived at?
We don’t want America to be caught in a continuation of the pointless “forever war” that only serves the globalists and the military-industrial complex. But we do need to acknowledge that China is deftly conducting World War III on many fronts to collapse the American-led world system. Secretary of Defense Austin conducting one of the most bizarre and stealthy absences ever by a Secretary of Defense is one of the first that should be replaced. Due process should be allowed, but I can’t fathom any possible reason or excuse for such a chain of events. Courageously ordering the strikes on the Houthis from his hospital bed doesn’t quite make up for his unexplained absence.
The establishment of clear national objectives is needed from the Biden Administration. Part of those objectives include actionable and achievable strategic end states, but also clear metrics, deliverables, and schedules on spinning up the Defense Industrial Base and firmly holding leaders accountable. We need this now and then Americans will decide in November (if we have election integrity) who they want to lead America in the next phases of World War III with China, it’s here whether we like it or realize it.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/01/war-against-world-supply-chains-turns-hotter/
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“Totally defensive” in the Middle East: The void and the non-deterrence
How NOT to deter a rogue nation like radical Iran.
It doesn’t help that the U.S. military chain of command was basically, as far as we can see right now, in Status Unknown around the New Year. It’s being reported that neither the National Security Council nor Congress was informed on New Year’s Day when Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was put in intensive care following an “elective procedure” performed sometime before (probably Christmas week). Austin was in the ICU for four days before the NSC was told.
At the same time, his Deputy Secretary of Defense, Kathleen Hicks, was on vacation in Puerto Rico. Apparently this information wasn’t conveyed to the NSC or Congress either.
Keep in mind, President Biden was in St. Croix acquiring a sunburn from 27 December 2023 to 2 January 2024. The retinue that travels with POTUS to keep him functional, including the strategic weapons “football” and its custodian, would have been with him. But it’s not clear if POTUS knew SECDEF was out of the loop (or for that matter what exact status SECDEF was in, and what DEPSECDEF was handling – or not – from Puerto Rico).
This is very peculiar. The NSC and its watchstanders, along with those at the Pentagon, are supposed to know the exact same thing about the status of the National Command Authority principals; i.e., POTUS and SECDEF. In my experience, if the Pentagon watch gets emerging information about SECDEF, it would require affirmative intervention to keep that from being conveyed to the White House.
It’s important to wait to see how this all shakes out, including reading between the lines of how the story and the explanations develop. But it’s unnerving at all times, and when U.S. troops are in constant danger from Iran-backed attacks in the Middle East, it’s even more so.
read more at
https://theoptimisticconservative.wordpress.com/2024/01/09/totally-defensive-in-the-middle-east-the-void-and-the-non-deterrence/
American Imam Threatens: All Jews Will be Killed by Muslims
by Guest Contributor Jan. 13, 2024 9:15 am560 Comments
Guest by post by Bob Unruh
‘We should retaliate with aggression’
A Muslim imam in Wisconsin has threatened that the eradication of the Jewish people is coming, and it will happen at the hands of Muslims.
“By Allah, all of [the Jews] will be killed by Muslims, they all will be executed by Muslims, they will all be killed,” was the threat from imam Alhajie Jallow, during an October 13, 2023, sermon at the Madinah Community Center in Madison, according to a report from the Middle East Media Research Institute.
The organization monitors reports throughout that region of the world, and offers reports and analysis of what is appearing there.
MEMRI, which posted the video on its site, explained, “Imam Alhajie Jallow said in an October 13, 2023 Friday sermon at the Madinah Community Center in Madison, Wisconsin and posted on the center’s YouTube channel, that the Muslim ‘brothers’ in Gaza are heroes. He said that only Jihad could bring glory and victory to the Muslims, not contracts or agreements, and that every Muslim should be a soldier today.
“Alhajie continued to say that all the Jews will be killed, executed by the Muslims and that this is a divine promise.”
His comments included:
“We neglected the principle of support which is Jihad for the sake of Allah. The only way that we can stop [oppression] is to face the enemy the way they faced us. They face us with aggression, we should retaliate with aggression. Allah said in the Quran: ‘Fight in the path of Allah those who fight against you.’ [They] will fight, they will defend their religion, they will defend their land, not with their tongues, but with their blood.”
“Each one of us should be a soldier today. So I… You know Jihad… They will try everything, but it’s only Jihad that can bring victory. Not contracts, not agreements, not alliances – not all of these things.”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/01/american-iimam-threatens-all-jews-will-be-killed/
~ lengua sin manos/¿cuemo osas fablar? ~
Tongue w/o hands:
How dare you speak>
Parents Launch Recall Effort Against Virginia School Board Member Sworn In on Stack of LGBTQ Books (Video)
by Margaret Flavin Jan. 13, 2024 8:45 am278 Comments
The Gateway Pundit reported that Fairfax County School Board member Karl Frisch was sworn in for his second term on a stack of controversial LGBTQ books instead of the Bible.
Now, parents have launched a recall effort against Frisch.
Frisch chose five LGBTQ-themed books “most frequently banned by other school systems,” according to his campaign website.
The books included descriptions of pedophilia, including violent child rape.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/01/parents-launch-recall-effort-against-virginia-school-board/
Peter Sweden: CLIMATE MADNESS – Wind turbines FREEZING in the cold
by Guest Contributor Jan. 13, 2024 7:30 am343 Comments
Maybe they would work better if we had more global warming?
Here is something you will not hear about on the mainstream media.
Lately, Sweden has seen record cold temperatures. We just had the COLDEST temperatures of the century. In a town outside Arjeplog, it was a chilling -48,8C (almost -56 Fahrenheit).
Maybe they would work better if we had more global warming?
Here is something you will not hear about on the mainstream media.
Lately, Sweden has seen record cold temperatures. We just had the COLDEST temperatures of the century. In a town outside Arjeplog, it was a chilling -48,8C (almost -56 Fahrenheit).
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/01/peter-sweden-climate-madness-wind-turbines-freezing-cold/
San Diego-Area Whistleblower Teachers Reinstated After They Were Placed on Leave for Refusing to Lie to Parents About Students’ Gender Transitions
by Margaret Flavin Jan. 13, 2024 7:15 am58 Comments
On Wednesday, a federal judge ruled in favor of the reinstatement of two whistleblower teachers in the Escondido Union School District (EUSD) in California who were placed on leave for refusing to lie to parents and hide students’ gender transitions.
Last year, middle school teachers Elizabeth Mirabelli and Lori Ann West filed a lawsuit against EUSD and the California State Board of Education over a policy requiring educators to hide a child’s preferred pronouns and gender identity if a student asks to keep parents in the dark.
The Verified Complaint was filed on April 27, 2023, by attorneys at the Thomas More Society attorneys on behalf of Mirabelli and West, in Mirabelli, et al. v. Olson, et al.
Mirabelli and West requested religious exemptions to the district’s policy. Although the ability to refrain from using preferred pronouns was granted, they were still not allowed to inform parents.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/01/victory-san-diego-area-whistleblower-teachers-placed-leave/
BREAKING: Two Lawsuits Filed in Illinois Seeking to Remove Joe Biden from Ballot, Alleges ‘Aid or Comfort to Enemies’ Through Open Border Policies Under 14th Amendment
by Jim H?ft Jan. 12, 2024 8:20 pm382 Comments
In an unprecedented legal challenge, four Republican plaintiffs have filed a lawsuit in the state of Illinois aiming to disqualify President Joe Biden from appearing on the state’s ballot for the upcoming presidential election.
The lawsuit alleges that the President’s immigration and border policies have given “aid or comfort to enemies,” which is a violation of the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution.
Section 3 of the 14th Amendment states:
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/01/breaking-lawsuit-filed-illinois-seeks-remove-joe-biden/
Watch the latest episode of “Gateway: Beyond the Headlines,” from Vigilant News Network
Musk Warns Those Dealing with Biden’s Border Invasion Are ‘Coming for Your Homes’
by Guest Contributor Jan. 12, 2024 8:00 pm576 Comments
‘This is what happens when you run out of hotel rooms’
Those trying to deal with the impact of Joe Biden’s decision to open America’s southern border and entice millions of illegal aliens into the country now have started removing students from school buildings, so that the immigrants can be housed there.
But what’s coming is going to be worse, according to X owner Elon Musk.
Soon, he said, authorities will be “coming for your homes.”
(Richard: The Third Amendment forbids quarters troops in private homes, a quick read says that it will stop this. The problem is it says soldiers and the illegals aren’t official known as soldiers so they may try to get around the Third that way.
Another problem is the left doesn’t believe in the Constitution.)
New Restrictions on Independent Contractors Could Destroy Gig Work
by Guest Contributor Jan. 12, 2024 7:00 pm275 Comments
By Karen Harned
Real Clear Wire
The gig economy has become a crucial part of our nation’s economic infrastructure. Beyond platforms like Uber and Lyft, independent contract workers are also vital to many other sectors of our economy, from healthcare to the arts. In fact, gig work provides at least part-time income to one in three American workers, totaling $1.2 trillion to the U.S. economy in annual earnings.
But a new rule just issued by the Biden Administration will essentially ban independent contractor status for gig workers under the Fair Labor Standards Act. It will threaten a crucial source of livelihood for millions by putting these jobs at risk. For example, a recent study projected that this sort of policy would result in more than 73,000 lost app-based jobs in Massachusetts alone.
n the wake of successful wage negotiations by the United Auto Workers and other unions, the Biden Administration thinks these workers would be better off if they are converted to full-time employees who are eligible for union membership and traditional employee benefits. But that would destroy the flexibility and independence these workers value most.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/01/new-restrictions-independent-contractors-could-destroy-gig-work/
Read more: https://www.ammoland.com/2024/01/responses-filed-to-ca-prelim-injunction-motion-in-gun-store-surveillance-case/#ixzz8OigXWpE9
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution
Follow us: @Ammoland on Twitter | Ammoland on Facebook
Responses Filed To Ca. Prelim. Injunction Motion In Gun Store Surveillance Case
Ammoland Inc. Posted on January 13, 2024 by Alan Gottlieb
Opinion
Surveillance Spying Government Big Brother Camera
Istock
Attorneys for the Second Amendment Foundation and its partners in a federal lawsuit challenging California Penal Code § 26806 (SB 1384)— requiring firearms dealers to video record all transactions—have filed a reply to the state’s response to SAF’s motion for a preliminary injunction.
California has also requested a preliminary injunction against the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. The case is known as Richards v. Newsom.
The original complaint alleges Californian’s First, Second, Fourth, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights violations.
SAF is joined by the California Rifle & Pistol Association, Gun Owners of America, Gun Owners of California, the Gun Owners Foundation, On Target Indoor Shooting Range, Gaalswyk Enterprises and three private citizens. They are represented by attorneys C.D. Michel and Tiffany D. Cheufront, Michel & Associates in Long Beach, and Donald Kilmer, Kilmer Law Office in Idaho. Defendants in the case are California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Robert Bonta, in their official capacities.
“The state is attempting to derail our legitimate challenge to an Orwellian law,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “The state’s argument that this law has no chilling effect on citizens trying to exercise their First and Second Amendment rights is simply ludicrous. The law amounts to an egregious privacy violation.”
“California is determined to protect what amounts to a massive surveillance regime,” noted SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut. “The statute is a sweeping violation of constitutional rights, proving that it’s not just the Second Amendment Gavin Newsom dislikes. He’s showing contempt for the entire Bill of Rights.”
Read more: https://www.ammoland.com/2024/01/bombshell-report-crime-dropped-in-6-ohio-cities-under-permitless-carry-law/#ixzz8OihBWIka
Bombshell Report: Crime Dropped in 6 Ohio Cities Under ‘Permitless Carry’ Law
Ammoland Inc. Posted on January 12, 2024 by Dave Workman
A new Ohio study shows that gun-related crime went DOWN in 6 cities in the year after ‘constitutional carry’ took effect in the Buckeye State. iStock-697763612
A new Ohio study shows that gun-related crime went DOWN in 6 cities in the year after ‘constitutional carry’ took effect in the Buckeye State. iStock-697763612
Violent gun-related crime in six of eight Ohio cities targeted in a recently-released study commissioned by Attorney General Dave Yost dropped—in some cases by double digits—in the year after the state’s “constitutional carry” law took effect, according to a recently published study by the Center for Justice Research.
The Center is a partnership between the Attorney General’s office and Bowling Green University. The study covered the two-year period from June 2021 through June 2023. The permitless carry law took effect in June 2022, so the report covers the period from one year before to one year after the law became effective.
Yost authored an Op-Ed at National Review, which said in the headline, “Ohio Just Disproved a Gun-Control Talking Point.” The study looked at eight major Buckeye State cities: Akron, Canton, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Parma and Toledo. Here are the major talking points:
Results from a trend analysis indicated a significant decrease in crime incidents involving a firearm for Akron, Columbus, and Toledo, and across all 8 cities combined from June 2021- June 2023.
Most cities’ crime rates decreased after the PCL (Permitless Carry Law) was enacted. Unlike the other six cities, rates in Dayton and Cincinnati increased slightly, however.
Toledo, Parma, and Akron each experienced an average of 19% decrease in summed rates of crimes involving a firearm post-PCL.
Based on data from June 2021 to June 2023, the enactment of the PCL does not appear to have any appreciable effect on law enforcement injuries or deaths by firearm in the cities of interest.
Data on gunshot detection technology for Toledo and Columbus also captured a decrease in validated crime incidents post-PCL by 23.2% and 20.6%, respectively.
Increases in crime rates in the spring-summer months appear both before and after the PCL went into effect for most cities (see Figure 1 in full report), but this observation could be due to the influence of other factors such as time of year or structural population characteristics. This slight acceleration in crimes involving firearms was also temporary.
The study was authored by Melissa W. Burek, Ph.D., and Julia C. Bell, MSCJ, with support from Contributing Author Eric Cooke, Ph.D. It spans 22 pages and is loaded with charts and graphs supporting the notion that permitless carry—which anti-gunners declared would lead to the end of normal life in Ohio as Ohioans have known it—hasn’t really harmed anyone and appears to have actually had a positive impact. The study acknowledges more research is necessary, something of required caveat in many studies, which often translates to “keep the paychecks coming for our academic labors.”
In this case, however, what the researchers have reported is genuinely stunning and suggests continued work should be required and even encouraged.
In his Op-Ed, AG Yost, a Republican, takes aim at the mayors of three Ohio cities—Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati—for attempting to exploit tragedy to push gun control. All had made statements implicating the new “constitutional carry” law for gun-related violent crimes in their communities. And then he lowers the boom.
“There was only one problem,” he wrote. “It wasn’t true.”
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“During the legislative debate,” Yost recalled a few lines later, “the term ‘Wild West’ came up repeatedly in predictions about Ohio’s future under the new law. It turns out that Ohio is just the Midwest, full of common sense and largely lacking itchy trigger fingers.
“They mayors’ misplaced game of blame and shame ought to be replaced with tactics that are proven to work,” Yost continues. “Gun crime needs proactive policing — taking the criminals who use guns for crime off the streets. A thug in prison does not mug innocent citizens or conduct drive-by shootings.”
Today, 27 of the 50 states have permitless carry, which has made anti-gun liberal mayors in those states furious. However, where these mayors go wrong, Yost suggests, is expecting restrictions on law-abiding citizens to somehow result in the commission of fewer crimes by violent criminals, a scenario which has never worked anywhere.
The real solution, Yost contends, “is in proactive policing — prosecuting offenses that are now often ignored or probationable, such as possession of a weapon when prohibited; “flooding the zone” with surged, targeted enforcement; and, most of all, sentencing the small number of criminals who use guns to prison terms long enough to keep them off the streets.
“The study,” Yost concludes, “just says what Second Amendment advocates have long asserted: Law-abiding gun owners are not the problem when it comes to gun crimes.”
Anti-Militia Bill Likely to Hurt Firearm Training
By Tom Knighton | 12:30 PM on January 12, 2024
Anti-Militia Bill Likely to Hurt Firearm Training
AP Photo/Wilson Ring
With the anniversary of January 6th behind us, we’d think all the insurrection rhetoric would be behind us, at least for a time.
Unfortunately, that’s asking way too much.
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You’d think that, at some point, the people screaming about it would recognize that if the political demographic most likely to be armed and pay for training out of their own pockets were interested in overthrowing the government, they’d bring more than signs to the party.
But alas, that isn’t entering most people’s brains.
Yet I can’t help but think at least some understand that on some level.
I say this because of a new bill in the House that I was made aware of Thursday evening.
Washington (January 11, 2024) – Following the anniversary of the January 6th attack on the United States Capitol, Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Congressman Jamie Raskin (MD-08) introduced the Preventing Private Paramilitary Activity Act, legislation that would create a federal prohibition on paramilitary groups through civil and criminal enforcement. The prohibition would hold individuals liable who directly engage in certain types of conduct, including intimidating state and local officials, interfering with government proceedings, pretending to be law enforcement, and violating people’s constitutional rights, while armed and acting as part of a private paramilitary organization.
…
“Patrolling neighborhoods, impeding law enforcement and storming the U.S. Capitol, private paramilitary groups like the Oath Keepers, the Three Percenters and the Proud Boys are using political violence to intimidate our people and threaten democratic government and the rule of law,” said Congressman Raskin. “Our legislation makes the obvious but essential clarification that these domestic extremists’ paramilitary operations are in no way protected by our Constitution. I’m grateful to Senator Markey for his partnership on this critical effort to protect the rule of law, deter insurrection and defend our democracy.”
A copy of the legislation can be found HERE.A one-page overview of the legislation can be found HERE.
The legislation creates different tiers of criminal penalties based on whether violations result in injury or property damage; provides harsher penalties for repeat offenders; and allows for a probationary sentence for first-time offenders. It also creates civil remedies by authorizing the Department of Justice to seek injunctive relief against paramilitary activity, and by creating a private right of action for individuals harmed by paramilitary activity to seek injunctive relief and/or damages. The legislation contains clear exceptions for activities such as historic reenactments, state-sanctioned trainings, and veterans’ parades.
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Among specific points brought up regarding what this bill will restrict was, “training to engage in such behavior.”
But let’s be honest, what lawmakers claim a bill will do and what the text says can be quite different. I was already uncomfortable with what I was reading, since “patrolling” has a specific meaning in a lot of contexts, but I can also see someone applying it to a pro-gun march with some folks open carrying.
Was that what this bill was trying to address?
So, I took a look and, frankly, I’m not exactly thrilled with what I see.
For one thing, the word “patrolling” is mentioned several times in the press release announcing the bill and is expressly prohibited in the text of the bill, but is never actually defined by the bill. That means the definition of “patrol” is likely to be subjective.
But there’s worse.
For example, from the bill itself:
‘‘§ 2742. Unauthorized private paramilitary activity
‘‘(a) OFFENSE.—It shall be unlawful to knowingly, in a circumstance described in subsection (b), while acting as part of or on behalf of a private paramilitary organization and armed with a firearm, explosive or incendiary de8 vice, or other dangerous weapon—
‘‘(1) publically patrol, drill, or engage in techniques capable of causing bodily injury or death;
‘‘(2) interfere with, interrupt, or attempt to interfere with or interrupt government operations or a government proceeding;
‘‘(3) interfere with or intimidate another person in that person’s exercise of any right under the Constitution of the United States;
‘‘(4) assume the functions of a law enforcement officer, peace officer, or public official, whether or not acting under color of law, and thereby assert authority or purport to assert authority over another person without the consent of that person; or
‘‘(5) train to engage in any activity described in paragraphs (1) through (4).
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Now, based on this alone, all sorts of things will fall under this regulation and, theoretically, be prohibited. Arguably, even your kid’s tae kwon do class would be illegal, since that would be training in “techniques capable of causing bodily injury” at a minimum.
Luckily, it’s not quite that stupid. It does require certain other conditions to be met as well. The problem? Those conditions are kind of a low threshold to clear.
Note that the above section clearly states that a circumstance from section (b) must be met, so that seems to say that if any of those apply, we’ve got a problem. I’m not a lawyer, so I may be misreading this, but it seems they’re pretty easy to meet, including crossing state lines, using “instrumentalities of interstate or foreign commerce,” involve a gun or explosive device, uses a so-called-high capacity magazine, or takes place within the United States.
And since the next to last listed uses the word “or” before going on, it makes it pretty clear that only one needs to be met.
The problem here is that just traveling on a road at all could be construed to be using an instrumentality of interstate commerce.
While it’s unlikely to be enforced that way, it sure looks like the fact that you’ll drive to a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu class could meet this criteria.
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However, a far more likely issue arises when we look beyond that.
For example, if you’ve never been in the path of a natural disaster, you probably don’t realize what it’s like to find your local law enforcement overwhelmed. People can and do decide to take advantage of that and a lot of people join together to protect their neighborhoods. One could say they patrol the neighborhood.
It would seem this bill would prohibit that.
More than that, though, it seems that a lot of firearm training classes could be negatively impacted. After all, are we not learning “techniques capable of causing bodily injury or death” when we attend? I mean, isn’t that the point?
Plus, you’re going to take a road at some point or another, meeting at least one of the circumstances laid out in the bill, as well as using a firearm–again, that’s kind of the point–and probably a magazine that holds more than 10 rounds, which is how the bill defines “high capacity magazine.” Literally any firearm training class seems like it would violate the law.
Any.
Now, again, I’m not a lawyer. It’s possible that there’s some quirk in how this is written that my layman eyes are missing that prevents it from meaning what it sure looks like it means, but I doubt it.
If there’s any good news to be found in this travesty of a bill, it’s that this is in the House, which the GOP controls. What’s on the page right now will likely never come to a vote. The absolute best-case scenario for this bill would be for the committee to gut this thing and rebuild it to not be a complete and total abomination.
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Even then, I don’t see this going anywhere. It’s far more likely to get assigned to a committee where it can die a lingering death.
If it doesn’t, the gun training industry is going to need to lawyer up.
https://bearingarms.com/tomknighton/2024/01/12/militia-gun-training-n79332#google_vignette
Chicago Woman Left Brain Dead After Assault by Eight-Time Felon in ‘Gun-Free Zone’
By Cam Edwards | 11:31 AM on January 11, 2024
Chicago Woman Left Brain Dead After Assault by Eight-Time Felon in ‘Gun-Free Zone’
(AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
If you want to legally protect yourself while riding public transportation in Chicago, your options are fairly limited. The state of Illinoisb prohibits the possession or carrying of firearms on public transit, while the Chicago Transit Authority bans “any weapon”, whether a firearm, pepper spray, stun gun, or any other self-defense tool. That doesn’t stop violent criminals from regularly targeting bus and rail passengers, and those offenders are often armed in violation of state law. Even an unarmed assailant can pose a deadly threat to riders, especially if they’re unable to fight back.
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That appears to be the case with a 61-year-old woman who suffered severe injuries after being assaulted on a CTA train in downtown Chicago. As the website CWB Chicago reports, the woman is now brain dead after she was attacked last week. The suspect? An eight-time felon currently on parole for robbery.
https://bearingarms.com/camedwards/2024/01/11/chicago-woman-left-brain-dead-after-assault-by-eight-time-felon-in-gun-free-zone-n79295
BREAKING: Gun Rights Groups Partner on Lawsuits Against Two Virginia Cities
By
Doug Howlett –
January 12, 2024 21
The Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL) and Gun Owners of America (GOA) have teamed up to challenge firearms restrictions with lawsuits filed against a pair of Virginia cities.
In a lawsuit filed today in Roanoke, Virginia, the plaintiffs challenged that city’s restrictions on firearms carried in parks and at or “adjacent to” permitted events. The complaint alleges multiple constitutional violations and highlights the dangers faced by unarmed civilians in Roanoke’s nearly 13,000 acres of park land.
The second lawsuit, supported by VCDL and GOA and filed today as well on behalf of two individuals against the City of Winchester, challenges a ban on firearms that the locality has enacted for all of its city-owned parking garages. Winchester’s parking garage gun ban stems from a 2020 legal change in the state allowing Virginia jurisdictions to restrict firearms in government-owned or -used buildings. The complaint alleges that despite being government-owned, Winchester’s parking garages contain no apparent additional police or safety presence that would signify “sensitive location” status. However, the parking garages have been the scene of criminal activity, including a machete attack several years ago, necessitating the need for citizens to be able to have the ability to defend themselves.
Ambler Law Offices based in Winchester, Virginia, is representing the VCDL and GOA in the Roanoke suit and the two individuals in the Winchester suit. A copy of the Winchester lawsuit filing and a copy of the Roanoke lawsuit filing can both be viewed on the Ambler Law Offices website.
Violations of the restrictions in both cities are punishable as a Class 1 misdemeanor, carrying possible penalties of up to a year in jail and fines of up to $2,500.
It’s notable that a Winchester judge in a previous VCDL/GOA/U.S. LawShield supported lawsuit, opined that restrictions on firearms in parks and at permitted events did indeed violate Virginia’s constitution (the earlier decision left intact restrictions on government buildings, including parking garages, which were not at issue in the case). Despite that decision, many jurisdictions in Virginia still have exactly such bans remaining in parks and at permitted events.
“If the colonists had left their muskets at home when mustering on the town greens at Lexington and Concord, we might still be British subjects,” notes Gilbert Ambler, one of the attorneys representing the VDCL, GOA and the other plaintiffs in the lawsuits. “Indeed, there is a proud tradition in America of carrying firearms for personal protection in public places and this includes parks, where real threats exist and every American should have the right to protect themselves from such threats.”
GOA and VCDL are committed to ensuring that where these unconstitutional restrictions remain that they are challenged.
“It is time that ‘We the People’ push back on government’s ever-increasing infringement on our right to self-defense,” says Philip Van Cleave, president of the VCDL. “We are tired of our lives being put in jeopardy in dangerous gun-free zones, where violent criminals thrive.”
Unfortunately, legal challenges are a necessity to restore firearm rights in Virginia (and elsewhere). In fact, in Virginia, with a recently elected Democratic majority in both the state Senate and House, proposed anti-gun laws have begun to flood in.
For those gun owners or anyone concerned about their rights in Virginia, the VCDL is hosting its annual Lobby Day event this coming Monday, January 15. There members and attendees can gather to speak to their legislators in the General Assembly building, as well as hear a host of pro-gun guest speakers on the Assembly grounds. The VCDL-hosted Lobby Day is a great opportunity to ensure politicians hear the pro-rights voices in the state and understand why it is important to protect rights by not imposing firearm restrictions on the state’s citizens
https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/breaking-gun-rights-groups-partner-on-lawsuits-against-two-virginia-cities/
Will it all collapse in 2024??!!
Guest: Martin Armstrong
The Trevor Loudon Report – 1 day ago
https://rumble.com/v46h0h0-will-it-all-collapse-in-2024.html
Another Year of Cowardice, Conformity, and Cynical Opportunism? + comments
by J.R. Nyquist – January 10, 2024
The comments are worth the read IMO.
https://jrnyquist.blog/2024/01/10/another-year-of-cowardice-conformity-and-cynical-opportunism/
Comment video link:
Why Mearsheimer is wrong about Russia and the war in Ukraine. Five arguments from Alexander Stubb.
STG Series – July 8, 2022
Finnish Presidential Frontrunner Stubb: ‘NATO Needs To Be More European’
by Paul Serran – January 13, 2024
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/01/finnish-presidential-frontrunner-stubb-nato-needs-be-more/
“Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”
– George Santayana
Battlefield – Scandinavia the Forgotten Front
Andrei-Claudiu Roibu – June 6, 2019
Jim Jordan Launches Investigation into Fani Willis Corruption
House Judiciary Committee chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) launched an investigation into Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on Friday for accepting more than $14.6 million in grant funds from President Joe Biden’s Justice Department (DOJ) between 2020 and 2023.
The timeframe of the funds suggests the DOJ granted Willis federal funds to finance former President Donald Trump’s prosecution.
Jordan sent a letter to Nathan Wade, a Willis associate, requesting documents and information about the coordination of Willis’s office with politically motivated probes and alleged misuse of federal funds.
Jordan’s letter comes after a Monday court filing by Mike Roman, a political operative and co-defendant of Trump in the Georgia election case, who alleged four explosive facts about Willis’s conduct while prosecuting Trump:
Nathan Wade, Willis’s lead prosecutor in the Trump case, had an “improper” relationship with Willis.
Wade’s law firm used funds paid by the county to take Willis on luxury vacations by using potentially fraudulent payments.
Wade was appointed without the required approval by authorities and had little to no prosecutorial experience.
Wade met twice with President Joe Biden’s White House counsel before indicting Trump in August, calling into question if the White House coordinated prosecuting Biden’s 2024 political opponent.
In the letter, Jordan raised six concerns about Willis and Wade’s alleged wrongdoing and questioned if the $14.6 million in grant money financed the Trump prosecution:
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/01/12/jim-jordan-launches-investigation-fani-willis-corruption/
Edwin Wagensveld, head of Pegida Netherlands, was attacked during a quran burning in Arnhem, the Netherlands. He has a head wound, but not in hospital afaik.
VIDEO:
https://www.nu.nl/305540/video/demonstrant-valt-pegida-voorman-aan-bij-poging-tot-koranverbranding.html
Another video of the attack on Edwin Wagensveld:
https://www.dumpert.nl/item/100082146_1578b9fa
Rep. Matt Gaetz
@RepMattGaetz
The Senate Amnesty Bill is a nightmare.
It gives legal status to illegal aliens who have gamed our system and broken our laws. It rolls out the red carpet for 5,000 illegals EVERY DAY, forever.
It’s hard enough to stop the far-left’s state-sponsored invasion of our Southern Border, and it’s even harder when you’re pulling Senator Langford’s daggers out of your back.
I oppose the Senate Amnesty Deal and will work to see its defeat.
https://twitter.com/RepMattGaetz/status/1746199000116568182
On being careful what you believe:
https://youtu.be/acIRinyvwNM?si=U9pLRHoQrlQ77PQs
Vejon COVID-19 Review
Potential Clinical Implications of Geert’s Viral Predictions
Discussion with Geert Vanden Bossche, Dr Shankara Chetty, Dr Rob Rennebohm
Dr Philip McMillan – January 13, 2024
https://philipmcmillan.substack.com/p/potential-clinical-implications-of?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2
Potential Implications of Geert’s Viral Shift Predictions
Vejon Health – Streamed live 6 hours ago