The Mercury News.

SAN JOSE — A corruption investigation targeting the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office over a possible pay-to-play racket for concealed-handgun privileges now has reached the top tier of Sheriff Laurie Smith’s administration, with sources saying her second-in-command — Undersheriff Rick Sung — now is a subject of the wide-ranging probe into whether Smith rewarded political donors with the coveted permits.

[ … ]

As the investigation intensifies, tension has been building inside the Sheriff’s Office. To date, at least four sheriff’s supervisors — including at least one other high-ranking commander — have been the subject of search warrants in connection with suspected “quid pro quo” handling of the permits, according to sources familiar with the case. The DA’s office previously served a warrant at Sheriff’s Office headquarters in early August.

You mean to tell me that “may issue” states are subject to corruption where the issuing authority rewards loyalty with perks?

Say it ain’t so.  I just cannot believe it.

Dan Mitchell.

I’ve already shared some evidence that welfare recipients inside the United States gravitate to places that provide bigger benefits.

And this seems to be the case for migrants that cross national borders. Here are some findings from some new academic research showing that the generosity of Denmark’s welfare state has a significant impact on migration choices.

Oh dear.

Yet another libertarian analysis on why people oppose immigration.  So let’s cover it one more time for the slow among us.

Yes, welfare, health care and a host of other FedGov benefits are important to Latinos.  Yes, they gravitate to places that offer such benefits.  But if you’re focused on those things, you’re missing the forest for the trees.

If we rid ourselves of the welfare state and invite enough people into the country as citizens and voters, it’s an easy enough thing for the voters to implement the kind of welfare state they seek.  The relative wealth of a nation is important too, and Latinos will gravitate to where they can earn money.

I’ve covered it before, and I study, not delete, every Latino poll I receive in my in-box.  Do you?

Latinos vote: (1) democrat, (2) in favor of more “free” health care and other FedGov largesse, and (3) in favor of gun control, by a margin of 75% – 80%.  It’s a fact, and there is nothing you can do about it.

Inviting enough of them into the country is the quickest, most efficient way to destroy your liberties.  The democrats already know this, which is why we still have virtually unrestricted immigration.  It’s still surprising to me that libertarians don’t.

David Codrea.

“AMGOA is growing into a new role by becoming a non-profit organization,” the group announced Monday. “Over the years as our site and membership have grown there have been many calls for us to convert to a 501c4 and now we think the time is right. We are currently asking for donations and seeking new supporting members…”

The change will facilitate fundraising to allow for greater litigation support. The expansion will also allow for coordinating smaller groups to work together on local matters.

I don’t make endorsements lightly. Dalton and his team have been working tirelessly at great personal cost for years and they have an exciting vision that has great potential.

I’ll consider doing just that after an examination of them.  I was discussing this with Len Savage, and his advice is as sage as ever.  “You will know them by their fruits.”  He’s hopeful, as am I.  We’ll see.

I laughed when I watched this.  He is having too much fun.  I have to say that my CMMG .45 is the most fun gun I have ever shot.  It’s not even close.

First of all, I prefer the 7.5″ barrel, not the Banshee.  I also found that it ate everything I fed it.  But I really like Browning BPT Performance Target FMJ (for the CMMG and pistols), which increases muzzle velocity to 920 FPS.  I also recommend to the video author that he shoot .450 SMC, which will run 1120 FPS.

I found it easy to ring steel (8″ diameter) at 100 yards with an EOTech red dot, regardless of the ammo brand.  It’s easy to shoot 300 or more rounds with this gun and feel like you’ve only just begun range time.  It’s that much fun, that accurate for a pistol caliber carbine, and that light on recoil.

Of course they do.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador quickly rebuffed Trump’s offer, saying his government will seek justice in the case. And on Wednesday, López Obrador’s top security official went further, saying the U.S. could help — by stopping the flow of high-powered weapons into Mexico.

“This is a grave problem we have in the country, the smuggling of arms, particularly from the U.S.,” Security Minister Alfonso Durazo said in an update on the case Wednesday morning. Of the flow of weapons from the U.S., he added, “it’s what has allowed the criminal groups to increase their firepower.”

It doesn’t matter that it isn’t true.  Any chance to blame Americans is a good chance, given that you’re only in Mexico to begin with because you’re polygamists and thus illegal in America.

In other news, the cartels have worked themselves into big business, and could buy fighter jets if they wanted them.

Fuel theft is becoming recognized as a significant organized crime activity. In Mexico, both cartels (e.g., the Cártel del Golfo and Los Zelas) and other criminal gangs known as huachicoleros (such as the Cártel Santa Rosa de Lima or CSRL) are notorious for their illicit/clandestine taps on fuel or hydrocarbon infrastructure.[2] Fuel theft poses operational concerns and hazards (such as explosions) in addition to its economic impact and nexus with corruption.[3] Fuel theft by criminal groups is targeted across the petroleum production, processing, and distribution infrastructure:

• Crude storage and transport,

• Refineries,

• Distribution pipelines; predominately surface but now also including

subterranean pipeline taps,

• Fuel trucks,

• Gasoline/Petrol stations.

The fuel stolen (both crude and processed) is typically sold at a discount to illicit businesses but may also be distributed for point-of-sale purposes to a multitude of individual consumers. Though the processing of stolen crude at gang-owned refineries and/or sales of refined petroleum at gang-owned gasoline stations is not unheard of for profit maximizing purposes.

So don’t give me that crap about American gun owners being the problem.  We’ve heard it, we’ve debunked it, and you can get lost.

AP:

The win will give Democrats control of the legislature and governorship for the first time in 26 years. Democrats have pledged to pass new gun restrictions and raise the minimum wage once in power.

It’s going to happen most places in America.  This is just the first wave.  It’s a shame, really.

I know good people in Virginia, in the mountainous areas, around Damascus, where they can barely contain their animosity for the progressive policies in Northern Virginia.

But here we are.  The “Army of Northern Virginia” is now a bunch of nanny state controllers who want to implement communism.

I’m sorry to my readers in Virginia.

Washington Examiner.

With her filing of a blistering Motion to Compel against federal prosecutors in the Michael Flynn case just made public, Sidney Powell has upended my adherence to Hanlon’s Razor. Powell is the attorney for former national security adviser and retired Army Lt. Gen. Flynn, who pled guilty to one count of lying to FBI agents during the special counsel investigation. Powell’s motion seeks to unravel a case many feel was biased from its inception.

One of the most damning charges contained within Powell’s 37-page court brief is that Page, the DOJ lawyer assigned to the office of then-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, may have materially altered Flynn’s interview FD-302, which was drafted by Strzok. FBI agents transfer handwritten interview notes onto a formal testimonial document, FD-302, within five days of conducting an interview, while recollections are still fresh.

It is unheard of for someone not actually on the interview itself to materially alter an FD-302. As an FBI agent, no one in my chain of command ever directed me to alter consequential wording. And as a longtime FBI supervisor, I never ever directed an agent to recollect something different from what they discerned during an interview. Returning a 302 for errors in grammar, punctuation, or syntax is appropriate. This occurs before the document is ultimately uploaded to a particular file, conjoined with the original interview notes which are safely secured inside a 1-A envelope, and secured as part of evidence at trial.

With this in mind, this related text message exchange from Strzok to Page dated Feb. 10, 2017, nauseated me:

But guess what?  The FBI (ahem) “lost” the original Michael Flynn 302 report.  That’s right.  Lost it.

One of my biggest gripes with Donald Trump is his tendency to throw people under the bus who seem like a handicap to him and his goals.  The moral compass of a man can always be determined by how he treats others to whom he has bonded himself.  If a man cannot honor verbal covenants he has made with others, he simply cannot be trusted with anything.

I said it back when the idiots from reddit/TheDonald were screaming to sack Flynn.  The attack on Michael Flynn was a hit job by the deep state.  Michael Flynn knew the dirty secrets of the deep state, and they couldn’t allow him to be around Trump telling him all about their nefarious deeds.

And then today there is this.

Joining Powell on “Maria Bartiromo’s Insiders” was Lee Smith, author of the new book, “The Plot Against the President,” who reported that Flynn was looking into potential misconduct in the U.S. intelligence community.

[ … ]

Additionally, Powell repeated allegations that the government worked to entrap Flynn.

“They literally planned and strategized about how to interview General Flynn to keep him relaxed and unguarded at the highest levels of the FBI… Strzok and McCabe met many times to plan it,” she alleged. “It was a high-level meeting to calculate and strategize about how to go about that interview to keep him unguarded and without knowing that he was the target of a criminal investigation.”

They’re telling you the same thing I told you months ago, and if you read TCJ, you’ll hear it first.

He knew all about the nefarious deeds of the deep state.  He was in a position to shine light on the deep state.  To the deep state, he was a danger they couldn’t suffer.  So the FBI lied, altered his testimony, and conspired to frame him.  As a consequence, he has almost bankrupted himself with legal costs.

Reminder: Don’t ever trust the FedGov for or with anything.

Michael Flynn is a decent man.  Of all the people Trump needs around him now, Michael Flynn would be at the top of the list.  The fact that Pence was instrumental in his sacking makes me distrust Pence to the point that I will never vote for him, not even for dog catcher.

Hartford Courant.

A better solution here, where the National Rifle Association is so influential, would be to render illicit firearms useless.

It is not as insurmountable as it might appear.

Today, one can walk into a gun shop and purchase, for instance, a .22, .38 or .44-caliber handgun. Most firearms are built to accommodate one size round only. Here’s what would happen if the manufacture of today’s standard-size rounds were outlawed, and .21, .37, or .43-caliber rounds took their place: Eventually, gun owners would run out of the old ammo, and their weapons would become paperweights.

We’d have the opportunity for a national gun policy do-over. New, tougher gun registration and ownership policies, some already favored by NRA membership, would be enacted in conjunction with the changeover in rounds calibration. Fresh attention could be paid to newer, research-vetted strategies, such as the universal adoption of smart-gun technology and limiting the size of rounds available to civilians. Police and military would keep their current firearms and ammuntion, manufactured and distributed under strictest control.

We’ve discussed it many times before, but make sure your logistics considers such exigencies.  Controllers are always looking for more ways and more things to control.  It’s what they do, it’s who they are down deep in their soul.

Ammoland.

• Brownells
• PSA
• Sportsman’s Guide
• Natchez Shooters Supplies
• Gorilla Ammunition
• Rainier Arms
• Primary Arms
• Sportsman’s Warehouse
• Botach
• Optics Planet

Surprised they didn’t mention Lucky Gunner.