Reader’s Links for September 20th, 2024

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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. The Substack is a different project in a sense. It is older videos that in the light of subsequent events, look different or of increased importance, Check it out now and again if you like.

About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

21 Replies to “Reader’s Links for September 20th, 2024”

  1. Suspect reportedly shouted “Allahu akbar” in Erasmus Bridge stabbing; One dead, one hurt
    https://nltimes.nl/2024/09/20/suspect-reportedly-shouted-allahu-akbar-erasmus-bridge-stabbing-one-dead-one-hurt
    A man attacked two people with knives at the Erasmus Bridge in Rotterdam on Thursday evening, killing one and leaving the other seriously injured. The police have arrested the man. Several witnesses reported that he shouted “Allahu akbar,” a phrase meaning ‘God is most great” used by Muslims in prayers, during the attack.
    The Rotterdam police reported the incident on X at around 9:00 p.m., saying they were investigating what happened and offering witnesses support.
    A police spokesperson told Rijnmond that it seems like the suspect stabbed the first victim in the parking garage under the Erasmus Bridge. He then walked up the stairs and attacked a second victim at the foot of the bridge. After that, the perpetrator ran toward a terrace where many people were sitting.
    “I heard people screaming and at first thought it was a fight. My instinct was to calm him down immediately, but when I got closer, I saw a man with two long knives stabbing a young man,” witness Reniël, a personal trainer who was giving a lesson at the time, told Rijnmond.
    According to Reniël, the man had two meat knives, and he was running toward an event with about 60 people present. They panicked and ran inside while the perpetrator chased them. Reniël decided to intervene. He and five other bystanders overpowered the man in front of Remastered, a space for exhibitions. The police arrested him there. The perpetrator was injured, and the police took him to a hospital.
    The police cordoned off various locations around the Erasmus Bridge for investigation and interviewed witnesses. Investigators urged anyone who saw what happened but haven’t spoken to them yet to come forward.
    So far, the police have said nothing about the suspect’s identity or possible motives.

  2. First the dog barked, then someone’s burglar alarm went off not far away. This was an hour ago. There was a prowler somewhere. As I lay tossing.

    Just last week my insurance company sent notice saying I was getting charged an extra five-hundred bucks per year for my pick-up truck, because they say it’s the most stolen vehicle in North America. I argued with them six months ago over this. They wanted me to install eight sensors in the truck so it could be tracked if stolen. What a money grab, I said. By the time the cops show up–if they show up–that truck will be locked up in a metal building or shipping container. It will be Faraday-caged faster than you can say “gone in sixty seconds”. –Faster than a tard’s nuts flying across the sky. (Sorry, this one is gratuitous.)

    I also argued that those sensors infringed on my privacy. Modern vehicles can already be tracked. They’re loaded with so much electronics the police can shut them down remotely if need be. But it didn’t matter. I got the bill anyway.

    On the other hand I tell myself not to sweat the little thieves, who are everywhere. It’s the big ones you have to watch out for. The dog won’t bark for these guys. No alarm goes off.

    The thief I’m talking about is an optical illusion, sort of. Have you ever driven up a magnetic hill? It feels like the car climbs the mountain by itself–you don’t even have to touch the gas. Really, though, you’re descending.

    The same thing is happening now with our money. The illusion is that everything is becoming more expensive, when in fact it is our currency that is losing purchasing power. Our central banks make this happen intentionally to cover their malfeasceance. They’ve printed too much. Created too much debt. They are the biggest thieves of all. The rich are safe with hard assets, the poor with welfare. It is the middleclass that gets cleaned out. To make things worse the government bribes people with their own money. Stupid people.

    The dog snores so loud I can’t get back to sleep.

    https://youtu.be/tluRBr6xhWk?si=If7i20cKX-3-BM22

    • I don’t know, if the election is cancelled there will be massive unrest and the start of a civil war, you would think Uncle Vlad would like seeing the US in chaos.

  8. https://www.ynetnews.com/business/article/sy4h0s5a0
    ISRAEL MOVING TOWARD ELIMINATING CASH (under the guise of fighting “crime in the arab community”)
    Can you imagine having to have the IRS’s advance approval to make a $1,350 transaction?

    “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed top officials on Thursday to urgently discuss the immediate discontinuation of the 200-shekel banknote, the highest denomination of Israeli currency. . . . The plan includes withdrawing the 200-shekel note [currently worth just over $50] within a short timeframe, allowing only a brief period for exchange. This is expected to hinder criminal organizations from disposing of millions of notes.
    In the medium term, the plan calls for a drastic reduction in cash use, aiming to eliminate cash transactions altogether within a few years, with payments to be made exclusively through bank transfers or credit cards. . . .
    Additionally, the plan proposes lowering the threshold for transactions requiring pre-approval from the Tax Authority from 25,000 shekels ($6,750) to 5,000 shekels ($1,350) …
    The plan includes several additional measures: . . . Utilizing artificial intelligence to identify tax evaders . . . Banning the holding of large amounts of cash alternatives, such as gold, silver, medals and coins.”

    • Drama in Norway: A tale of ammonium nitrate and submarines

      Brokedown cargo ship zooms Norway with ammonium nitrate.

      Update 1 is below.

      Update 2: As of 18 September 2024, the cargo ship M/V Ruby declared a complete propulsion casualty off the Norwegian coast near the major naval base of Haakonsvern. The ship, with her Russian cargo of 20,000 tons of ammonium nitrate, is apparently under tow by Maltese-flagged ocean tug Amber II.

      This thread from X user @auonsson (whose earlier threads we will see below) has additional details.

      See also this more general summary Continue reading

  13. last from the Past: Kamala Harris Threatened Searches of Gun Owners’ Homes
    Ammoland Inc. Posted on September 20, 2024 by Dave Workman
    Kamala Harris threatened police searches of gun owners’ homes in San Francisco back when she was district attorney, to make sure they were storing their guns “safely.”

    A stunning video from 2007 featuring then San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris threatening to enter the locked homes of gun owners to determine whether their firearms were “safely” stored is facing heavy criticism from gun rights advocates.

    Harris, flanked by then-San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, told reporters during a press conference about gun control, “Just because you legally possess a gun in the sanctity of your locked home doesn’t mean that we’re not going to walk into that home and check to see if you’re being responsible and safe in the way you conduct your affairs.”
    The 15-second video resurfaced on the “Trump War Room” site at “X” (formerly Twitter), and was quickly reported by the Daily Mail. Trump War Room called Harris an “anti-gun RADICAL.”

    The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms issued a scathing statement, “Taken at face value, this remark underscores our contention that she has been an anti-gun extremist throughout her political career.”
    CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb said the remarks revealed Harris’ disdain for the Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures “if it stands in the way of her gun prohibition agenda.”

    As noted by the Daily Mail, “Harris voiced her threat to check on gun owners even after Newsom argued earlier in the press conference that the legislation would not allow law enforcement to knock on everyone’s doors to make sure they were following the law.”

    Her comments reinforce the notion that Harris has been a gun control fanatic since her early career. She quickly rose to become a state lawmaker, then California Attorney General, and eventually a U.S. Senator representing the Golden State after the departure of former Senator Barbara Boxer. In 2019-20, she conducted a short-lived campaign for president, bowing out before the primaries, but was picked to be Joe Biden’s running mate.
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    While she was attorney general, Harris was named in at least two gun rights lawsuits involving the Second Amendment Foundation.
    During her brief run for the presidency in 2019, Harris suggested mandatory buybacks of so-called “assault weapons,” which many grassroots activists immediately translated to “compensated confiscation.” Although her campaign has been trying to walk back that position, Harris—much like her current boss—is letting her own words get in her way.

    Earlier this summer, Harris sat down with a panel at a meeting of the National Association of Black Journalists, stating, “Yes, I am a gun owner and Tim Walz is a gun owner, and we’re not trying to take anyone’s guns away from them,” immediately adding, “But we do need an assault weapons ban.” This remark comes at about the 33-minute mark of the interview, which may be viewed on YouTube.

    Even the National Shooting Sports Foundation took her to task for her remarks about gun prohibition, noting that modern semiautomatic rifles are the most popular rifle platform in America today.
    The resurfaced video only adds to a growing list of criticisms against the vice president from CCRKBA in recent weeks. Following a school shooting in Georgia during which armed school resource officers confronted and arrested the teen killer, Gottlieb recalled how Harris in 2019 had opposed the use of SROs, claiming she wanted to “demilitarize” school campuses.

    “Kamala Harris was wrong about removing armed school resource officers,” he stated earlier this month. “It’s time for the media to end its love fest with the vice president and start looking at what else she’s been wrong about.”

    In July, CCRKBA came out swinging when Biden bowed out of the race—most conservative pundits said he was pushed out by high-ranking Capitol Hill Democrats afraid for their own jobs and fearful of losing party power—and Harris stepped in, having never won a primary during her presidential runs.

    Declaring Harris to be even “more radical than Joe on guns,” Gottlieb said at the time, “For the past several months, she’s been over-seeing the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, which is a thinly-disguised, first-of-its-kind mini-bureaucracy established by this administration to generate restrictive gun control policies which are pushed in states controlled by Democrat administrations.”

    He described Harris as “an anti-gun-rights extremist whose ultimate goal is to reduce the fundamental right protected by the Second Amendment to nothing more than a government-regulated privilege.”

    A new Rasmussen poll released Thursday shows Harris has more troubles with voters than just her zeal for gun prohibition. In the wake of the highly-criticized debate between Harris and Donald Trump, Rasmussen pollsters found that 49 percent of likely voters would vote for the former president, while 47 percent favor Harris.

    Breaking things down, Rasmussen is reporting, “Trump benefits from greater intensity among Republican voters, while Harris appears to have gained ground among independents…Eighty-five percent (85%) of Republicans choose Trump and 80% of Democrats pick Harris. Among voters not affiliated with either major party, Trump gets 49% to Harris’s 45%. In last week’s survey, Trump led by 12 points among unaffiliated voters.”

    Rasmussen also says, “The “gender gap” continues to be a significant factor in the presidential contest, as Trump leads by nine points among men, 52% to 43%, while Harris has a five-point lead with women voters, 50% to 45%.”

    https://www.ammoland.com/2024/09/blast-from-the-past-kamala-harris-threatened-searches-of-gun-owners-homes/

  14. Federal Judge Raises Historic Race Riots During Illinois Gun Ban Trial: What if Black Victims Had Weapons?
    Ammoland Inc. Posted on September 20, 2024 by F Riehl, Editor in Chief

    Hat tip to Greg Bishop of Bishop On Air for his excellent real-time coverage of these proceedings.
    Racism Racial Relations Challenge Discrimination Education Knowledge Stock-wildpixel-840658718
    iStock-wildpixel-840658718

    East St. Louis, IL — The federal trial challenging Illinois’ gun and magazine ban took a poignant turn as U.S. District Judge Stephen McGlynn reflected on the tragic history of racial violence, questioning how events like the 1917 East St. Louis race riots and the 1921 Tulsa massacre might have unfolded differently if Black victims had access to the types of firearms now banned under the state’s Protect Illinois Communities Act.

    The law, enacted in January 2023, prohibits the sale and possession of over 170 types of semi-automatic firearms and high-capacity magazines. Plaintiffs argue that the law is unconstitutional and violates the Second Amendment, while the state maintains that these weapons are “dangerous and unusual” and not suited for civilian use. Thursday marked the fourth and final day of the bench trial in the Southern District of Illinois federal courtroom.

    During closing statements, Judge McGlynn invoked the 1917 East St. Louis race riots, where more than 30 Black individuals were killed, and numerous homes and structures were burned. He urged the courtroom to visit the “sacred sites” in the city, reminding everyone that this location holds a deep connection to America’s history of racial violence. McGlynn shared a photo showing the current courthouse surrounded by charred ruins from the 1917 riots and posed a compelling question: “How would that have been different if the Black victims had such firearms?”

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    The judge’s reflections extended beyond East St. Louis, touching on the 1921 Tulsa race massacre, where a prosperous Black neighborhood was decimated by white mobs. McGlynn pondered whether access to firearms, like the ones currently banned, could have changed the outcome for those facing violent mobs. He also referenced a recent video showing an international gang in Aurora, Colorado, armed with high-powered rifles, asking, “What if those victims were on their own, hiding, without the ability to defend themselves?”

    Plaintiffs’ attorney David Sigale echoed the judge’s sentiments, stating that such historical reflections are a core reason he is passionate about Second Amendment issues. “There’s countless stories of people victimized, whether it’s for race or their gender,” Sigale said outside the courthouse after the proceedings.

    The defense closed its case by calling retired Lt. Col. Jason Dempsey as a witness. Dempsey acknowledged that semi-automatic fire is often favored in the military but emphasized that he prefers training and accountability over outright bans on such weapons. Despite his military background, Dempsey admitted he was unfamiliar with the specific technical differences between civilian and military firearms, such as materials and treatments.

    Sigale was quick to note that Dempsey’s personal views on training over bans were unlikely to sway Illinois lawmakers, stating, “It was certainly an interesting comment, and I’m sure Judge McGlynn will consider it in the mix.”

    The defense argued that semi-automatic rifles, including the now-banned AR-15, are comparable to military firearms and that their regulation is justified. The plaintiffs, however, contend that these firearms are commonly used by civilians for lawful purposes like self-defense and should not be restricted.

    Judge McGlynn’s decision is highly anticipated, with both parties given 30 days to submit additional briefs. A ruling, potentially including a permanent injunction, could follow shortly thereafter. This case not only holds significance for Illinois gun laws but could also set a precedent for similar legislation across the country.

    As the trial concludes, the courtroom and broader Illinois community are left to reflect on the complex intersection of history, racial violence, and modern-day gun control laws. The judge’s invocation of the 1917 race riots provides a sobering reminder of the historical contexts in which these debates unfold, adding another layer of complexity to the ongoing battle over the Second Amendment and public safety.

    Background: Illinois’ Protect Illinois Communities Act

    The gun and magazine ban at the center of this trial was enacted following a series of high-profile mass shootings in Illinois and nationwide. The law prohibits the sale and possession of more than 170 types of semi-automatic firearms, as well as magazines with a capacity greater than 10 rounds for rifles and 15 rounds for handguns. Proponents argue that these measures are necessary to reduce gun violence, while opponents claim the law infringes on constitutional rights.

    The Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals initially sided with the state, allowing the law to remain in effect while the case proceeds. Litigants on both sides now await Judge McGlynn’s final ruling, which could have far-reaching consequences.

    https://www.ammoland.com/2024/09/federal-judge-contemplates-historic-race-riots-in-illinois-gun-ban-case/

  15. Andrey Yermak is Prez Z’s screenwriter, according to Bloomberg. He’s a bad guy.

    First 2.5 minutes
    Ukraine Draws NATO Into War

  16. Uncovered: Springfield, Ohio Resident Claims He Spotted Three Grown Men Naked in Walmart Bathroom While He Was With Grandson
    by Anthony Scott Sep. 20, 2024 1:00 pm366 Comments

    Gab

    Screenshot of Springfield, Ohio resident via City of Springfield, Ohio – Government
    Youtube Channel

    A resident in Springfield, Ohio, previously claimed he spotted three grown men naked inside a Walmart bathroom.

    The resident made the claim shortly after another resident shared a story during a Springfield City Commission meeting that he saw several immigrants stealing items while in a Walmart bathroom.

    In the 2023 Springfield City Commission meeting, a resident of Springfield stated, “A young man spoke about of going in the bathroom of Walmart. I had to explain to my grandson why there were three grown men naked in the bathroom.

    He added, “Rather than get angry about it, I had to explain to him that some cultures are different. that’s how they do things. We have an obligation to teach them how to do things here.”
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    “I was pretty mad that day. I’m glad I got out of there when I did. My grandson at the time was more important than correcting the situation there. I need him to understand about diversity and cultures and things like that. And that’s more important than me whooping on three grown naked in the Walmart bathroom.”

    As Central Banks Load Up on Gold, a Christian Company Works To Help Americans Get Ahead of the “Retirement Bubble”

    WATCH:

    President Trump, during his latest rally in New York, announced he will visit Springfield.

    The 45th President stated, “I’m going to Springfield, and I’m going to Aurora.”

    “You may never see me again, but that’s okay, gotta do what I gotta do—Whatever happened to Trump?! Well, he never got out of Springfield,” added Trump.

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/09/uncovered-springfield-ohio-resident-claims-he-spotted-three/

  18. Anti-Gunners Distort Evidence on Defensive Firearms Uses
    By
    Doug Howlett –
    September 20, 2024 2
    Concealed Carry Things they Don’t tell you
    Photo Courtesy Alien Gear

    A 2023 Pew Research Center poll on gun ownership and public safety in America indicated that the overwhelming majority of Democrat and Democratic-leaning adults (86%) felt the nation’s gun laws should be even more strict. The same poll asked whether gun ownership did more to increase public safety by allowing law-abiding citizens to protect themselves, or tended to reduce safety by giving too many people access to firearms and increasing misuse. More than three out of four Democrats/Democratic leaners (78%) responded that gun ownership did more to decrease safety. According to this viewpoint, there are no “good guys with guns” – everyday gun owners are more likely to be seen as irresponsible, unsafe, or even Second Amendment-obsessed extremists.

    To maintain this perception and rationalize laws that make it harder for responsible citizens to acquire and carry firearms for self-defense, the anti-gun lobby and their political allies have resorted to downplaying or distorting the evidence on how often armed, law-abiding citizens reduce or prevent crimes.

    A recent op-ed by Dr. John Lott, Jr., the president of the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC) discusses how the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have been hiding data that support the deterrent effect of “good guys with guns.”

    For almost a decade, the CDC had “referenced a 2013 National Academies of Sciences report noting that people used guns to stop crime anywhere from about 64,000 to 3 million times a year.” This changed under the Biden-Harris Administration, due to pressure from gun control groups. Dr. Lott states that “gun control activist Mark Bryant, founder of the Gun Violence Archive, lobbied the CDC to remove ‘misinformation’ regarding defensive gun use estimates because they are cited by ‘gun rights folks’ to stop gun control legislation.”

    Another source, the California Rifle and Pistol Association (CRPA), writes about how it had filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the CDC in 2022, after its attorney noticed the same amendments on the CDC website. It determined that the changes were the result of a “one-sided lobbying campaign by gun control advocates who were angry that the DGU [defensive gun use] figures reported were hurting gun control efforts.” As part of the campaign, “[i]ntroductions from the White House and Senator Dick Durbin’s (D., Ill.) office helped the advocates reach top officials at the agency after their initial attempt to reach out went unanswered.” According to the CRPA, the CDC “made no effort to contact any other researchers, nor did they contact any gun rights advocates to get their input before the change was made.” Additional details on the CDC’s cooperation with the anti-gun lobby are found in an article by the internet publication, The Reload (here, and referenced here).

    A December 2022 letter written by five senators to the-then director of the CDC, Biden appointee Dr. Rochelle Walensky, raised the issue of gun-control activist influence over the CDC’s research. It quotes an email from Mark Bryant on the DGU statistic (“[T]hat 2.5 Million number needs to be killed, buried, dug up, killed again and buried again.”) in the context of the mission of the CDC. While the “CDC prides itself on being a ‘science-based, data driven service that protects the public’s health,’” the “censorship action” taken by the CDC ran contrary to that mission. “Eliminating a credible study and its findings hurts public health, and the credibility of the CDC, by not allowing transparent access to all relevant research. The removal of the referenced study was not due to updated research. Instead, based on the released emails from the FOIA request, the removal of this study appears only to have been done to appease gun control groups and to suppress any data that firearms are in fact an essential lifesaving and protection tool.”

    As Dr. Lott discovered, the FBI has also been selective about presenting defensive gun use data, in the context of how it tracks “active shooter incidents” (ASIs). Dr. Lott previously worked with the U.S. Department of Justice, and his duties included evaluating the FBI’s reports on ASIs. He found that the FBI repeatedly excluded or misidentified cases in which armed citizens intervened in attacks, with the corrected data (as collected by his CPRC) establishing a significantly more favorable depiction of defensive gun uses:

    For instance, the FBI continues to report that armed citizens stopped only 14 of the 350 active shooter cases that it identified in the ten years from 2014 to 2023… the CPRC numbers tell a much different story: Out of 515 active shooter incidents from 2014 to 2023, armed citizens stopped 180, saving countless innocent lives. Our numbers even excluded 27 cases where a law-abiding citizen with a gun stopped an attacker before he could fire a shot.

    Dr. Lott’s data indicate that armed law-abiding citizens have stopped over 35% of active shootings over the last decade (and 39.6% of those in the last five years), a figure that is “eight times higher than the four percent estimate made by the FBI.” The DGU statistics are even more compelling once the location is narrowed to only those places where citizens are legally allowed to carry a firearm. By excluding “gun-free zones,” the CPRC estimates that “armed civilians stopped 51 percent of active shootings over the past decade. Over the last five years, that figure was 53.1 percent.”

    The FBI is apparently unwilling to amend its dataset, even after corrected and updated information is made available. Dr. Lott indicates that the “FBI refuses to fix its errors and even the blatant omissions that I pointed out have still not been corrected… [it’s] missing so many defensive gun uses that it’s hard to believe it isn’t intentional and the fact that they never correct mistakes that are brought to their attention is even more damning.”

    The Washington Post’s fact-checker ran up against the same intransigence over this alleged research bias. Last year, when the Post looked into Dr. Lott’s dataset and the FBI’s exclusion of cases, it reported that the “FBI brushed aside repeated efforts by The Fact Checker to discuss its reports and the questions raised by Lott. ‘We have no additional information to provide other than what is provided within the active shooter reports on our website,’ the agency said in an emailed statement.”

    In addition to this skewing of facts and data by taxpayer-funded government agencies, there is now reason to believe that the Biden-Harris Administration may have been in “collusion” with anti-Second Amendment plaintiffs in litigation against the gun industry. The suit seeks to hold a gun manufacturer responsible for the harm caused by third-party criminals who illegally modified its product and committed violent crimes. A pending investigation by House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) is examining whether and to what extent the White House has been working with “anti-gun interest groups to cripple a manufacturer who sells a legal product in a highly regulated sales market.”

    All of this is aimed at undermining the truth that armed, law-abiding citizens – the “good guys with guns” – thwart crime and save lives. Defensive gun use instances occur across the country every day (here, here, here and here, for instance). “Almost every major study has found that Americans use their firearms in self-defense between 500,000 and 3 million times annually, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has acknowledged,” states the Heritage Foundation. “In 2021, the most comprehensive study ever conducted on the issue concluded that roughly 1.6 million defensive gun uses occur in the United States every year.” Moreover, as Dr. Lott’s research on concealed carry permittees shows, the 21.8 million or so carry permit holders in the United States are, as a group, exceptionally law-abiding.

    Protection remains the overwhelming reason Americans exercise their Second Amendment rights. Even Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, trying to close the gap between her radical anti-gun agenda and what millions of Americans believe in, has a newly embraced (and highly questionable) identity as a “gun owner” for her “personal safety.”

    Make no mistake: even as she trades on her gun ownership for political mileage, Harris poses a most serious threat to our Second Amendment rights. Her extremist gun control platform makes it clear that she doesn’t like guns or America’s responsible gun owners, and will continue the campaign to write off defensive gun uses and “good guys with guns” as an unsubstantiated fantasy of the firearm lobby.

    https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/anti-gunners-distort-evidence-on-defensive-firearms-uses/

  19. High Noon in America: Trump and the Story of the Classic Western
    214
    D’Souza Media LLC’s Vindicating Trump (Sponsored)18 Sep 2024231
    5:27

    The following article is sponsored by D’Souza Media LLC’s new film “Vindicating Trump” and is written by Dinesh D’Souza.

    Before I came to America, I had no direct familiarity with Americans or American culture. My knowledge was largely through the lens of movies, most commonly Westerns. I saw a whole bunch of them, and my favorites include For a Few Dollars More starring Clint Eastwood and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance starring Jimmy Stewart and John Wayne. The Western is, above all, a morality tale and, as such, it provides a remarkably clear and insightful way to look at Donald Trump and our current crisis.

    In the typical Western, we first see a small town, which is generally named Shinbone or Pleasantville or something like that. A quiet place, with happy people, and an old sheriff with a tooth-brush mustache. The sheriff is a good guy, but he is a man of platitudes. He disdains the use of force; he envisions a kinder, gentler Shinbone. And in a peaceful environment, his approach is the right one. People gather for drinks and conviviality at the local saloon. They get their foodstuffs at the local provision store.

    Then the harmony of the town is viciously disrupted when the gangsters arrive. The arrival of the gangsters is highlighted with a shocking display of violent depravity. This is intended to convey to the audience that the old harmony is gone. Shinbone is not the same place that it was before the gangsters arrived. With ruthless dispatch, the outlaws take over the town. They take over the saloon and the provision store. They overpower the old sheriff and, in doing so, the outlaws become the law. They insult the young girls and women. They terrify the population into submission. Shinbone now faces an existential threat. The evil is consolidating itself; it seems invincible.

    And then, over the mountain, comes a lone rider. He’s an outsider; not a lot is known about him. The townspeople aren’t sure what to make of him, because he’s rough, he seems uncouth, and most of all they don’t know what his motives are. But the gangsters recognize right away that this man is their real threat. He is normal on the surface, but he is also, as the bad guys immediately realize, a figure of uncommon strength and power. And he has their number.

    Donald Trump appears in the new documentary “Vindicating Trump.” (Photo courtesy of D’Souza Media LLC)

    The gangsters put him to the test, and he quickly shows that despite his evident circumspection, he has no intention of submitting to their authority. So, they resolve to destroy him in one way or another. They will stop at nothing. They try to buy him off, to intimidate him, to turn the people of the town against him, even to beat him up and kill him.

    But the man proves uncommonly resilient. He takes some heavy blows, but he doesn’t go down for good. He is persistent. He is strategic. And he’s very quick on the draw. He is a match—more than a match—for the bad guys put together. And eventually there is the great shootout or the great draw. The gangsters have rigged the odds. Despite their superiority in firepower, they are determined to cheat.

    The hero is on to the cheating, but he is not himself a cheater. He fights fair and shoots straight. And in the end, through sheer mastery of the arts of combat, he defeats the gangsters. Sometimes this is accomplished with the help of some allies from the town; sometimes he does this all by himself. Either way, the bad guys get their comeuppance.

    But then we get to the crucial ending scene, and it is always the same. The threat from the gangsters is over. Not permanently—because new gangsters can always show up. But it is over, for now. And the townspeople are jubilant and grateful. And some of them would like the outsider to stay. He might be needed to deal with new gangsters in the future. But the man never stays. He gets on his horse, and he rides away.

    Dinesh D’Souza (Photo courtesy of D’Souza Media LLC)

    Now why does he do this? The reason is a subtle, but important one. The outsider could have stayed. In fact, he could have ruled the town as a gangster himself. He has shown he has the power to defeat the gangsters, so he could easily become the new gangster. But our hero doesn’t want to do this, and this is what makes him our hero. His goal is to make Shinbone great again. And so, having done his job, he leaves. And in doing so, he shows the town that he was always on their side. Before that, the people knew he was against the gangsters, but they didn’t know he was for them. In the end, they know.

    That’s fiction, the way we like it. But it also seems to be reality in America today. America, after all, is Shinbone. The Left and the Democrats—they are the gangster regime that takes over the town. The old sheriff represents the old Republican establishment, well-meaning but utterly incapable of facing the gangster threat. And the man who comes over the mountain, and leaves in the end—that’s Trump. We are living out today the script of a classic Western, and the only suspense is to see how this story will end.

    https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/09/18/high-noon-in-america-trump-and-the-story-of-the-classic-western/

    This picture is great and should be shared.

    https://cdn-ilbhaoh.nitrocdn.com/bgKlmMbwrWXRONuqEtcbCEpELIavckvt/assets/images/optimized/rev-5059075/cdn0.thetruthaboutguns.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Donald-Trump-as-Cowboy-High-Noon-696×696.jpeg