I think he does a good job in this video.

So there you have it.  This is why we can’t have nice things.  The ATF.

And sooner or later the U.S. won’t be able to manufacture state of the art open bolt weapons systems for the military.  No one is working on that because it’s illegal.

The civilian market drives the military market, and most advancements are first found in the civilian sector.

Field & Stream.

First, Ruger moved Marlin manufacturing to Mayodan, North Carolina. Then they changed the blue Marlin Man logo to Ruger red. And finally, after about a year, they announced that the 1895 SBL in .45/70 would be the first of the third iteration of American-made Marlins.

[ … ]

Remington purchased Marlin in 2007. They didn’t run Marlin very well, but in 2009 they did introduce the model 1895 SBL in .45/70. It was a better thought-out version of Marlin’s popular Guide Gun. It didn’t have the silly integral muzzle brake, but it did have a full-length XS Sights’ Lever Rail and a large loop lever. I purchased the first 1895 SBLs I found and have used them to take everything from bear in Alberta to buffalo in Africa.

[Editorial Note: Remington didn’t run anything very well, being owned by financial engineers bent on squeezing every last drop out of the company]

I was reluctant to report how well this rifle shot for fear of being thought a charlatan. I tested four loads from a sandbag rest at 100 yards using Leupold’s intermediate eye relief (IER) VX-2, 1.5-4×28 riflescope. The average for 12 3-shot groups—three, 3-shot groups with each load—was a stunningly small 1.125 inches. And two of the loads averaged less than an inch. Just let that sink in; this is a sub-MOA, big bore, lever-action rifle.

I’m sure it’s a fine shooter.  And I’m sure Ruger will do a great job with this line of rifles.

What I’m not sure about is availability.  I recently saw at a local gun store this very rifle going for nearly $2000.  Furthermore, availability is virtually non-existent (which is a corollary – when availability is limited on a high demand item, the price will be high).

Ruger is going to have to do better than what I’ve seen in order for the price point to be reasonable.

Disagreeable Malcontent (DM): I noticed you haven’t posted much on the geopolitical aspects of the conflict.

HPS: And that bothers you?

DM: Yes, I want you to agree with me or else you’re a Nazi just like Putin said.

HPS: Oh, I see.  He said that about me?  He’s been paying attention to me?

DM: So let’s get started.  Do you agree that Putin is the savior of Christianity and all of the West?

HPS: No.  Putin is an assassin who came to power by killing, arson, and terrorist threats.  He has bastard children from a woman who wasn’t his wife, has never sent me Christmas cards, doesn’t care about me, has never met me, doesn’t care about the West, and isn’t a Christian and isn’t defending Christianity.  Besides, Christianity already has a savior.  And beyond that, Christianity isn’t a code of conduct.  It’s a salvific relationship with the Son of God.  Putin is not in that group.

DM: Huh?

HPS: Study the history of the church.  After the death and resurrection of Jesus, who is The Christ, Christians were being slaughtered in vast coliseums by Nero, and then by other emperors.  By the year 325 AD (Anno Domini), Christianity had so taken the Roman empire that Constantine was calling for a church council to settle the doctrine of the trinity.  In 325 they decided against Arius and for Athanasius, and declared Arius a heretic as they should have.  When it looks the most bleak, when Christians are under attack, and when believers pray, trust and obey His law, God uses that to conquer the world.  He is even now calling His people back to Himself and will use that to expand and grow His church.  God doesn’t need Putin for that.  He is the only sovereign.  Jesus Christ is the only savior, the only way to the Father, the perfect lamb of God who takes the sins of His people on Himself and saves them.  There is no other savior.

DM: You mean you want George Soros to win?

HPS: Um … what?

DM: Soros overthrew the last president of Ukraine and helped to install someone else, the current president, for oil, gas, and alignment with the West rather than Putin.

HPS: I don’t doubt it one bit.

DM: So by not admitting that Putin is the destroyer of the wicked, you align yourself with the wicked.

HPS: Have you ever taken a course in formal (classical) or modal logic?

DM: No and I don’t have to in order to know that you’re a Nazi because you don’t love Putin.

HPS: You keep saying that word.  Putin said he was going to “de-Nazify” Ukraine, without any metrics, without explaining what that means to him, and without any idea on how to get it done.  Likewise, one of the Russian billionaires called Putin a Nazi.  Apparently, no one knows what that word really means.  So I think you’re a Nazi.

DM: Am not.  You’re a Nazi.

HPS: No, you’re a Nazi.

DM: Am not am not am not am not … (covers his ears with his hands).

HPS: See what I mean?  You sound like a second grader.

DM: So you don’t think Ukraine needs to be saved from Soros by Putin?

HPS: Ukraine, like Russia, like America, needs to be saved by Jesus Christ.  The outcome of the war won’t matter in the least to the advancement of His kingdom, nor the need for the only savior.

DM: So you actually hope Zelensky wins?

HPS: I don’t hope any leader “wins” anything.  I generally despise all world leaders.

DM: Then who do you want to win?

HPS: The pipefitters, welders, roofers, mechanics and electricians of Ukraine, who did nothing to warrant this, didn’t ask for it, many of whom have lost their homes, livelihoods and places of work, and maybe the lives of loved ones.  I hope they win.  The common man.  I identify with the common man.  Rooting for wicked world leaders in light of the suffering of the victims of war is loathsome, nasty and despicable to me.

DM: But you know that NATO was a threat to Russia and that’s why Putin attacked, right?

HPS: Oh, I thought it was to de-Nazify Ukraine.

DM: Yea, that too, or whatever else he said.

HPS: Yea, well, maybe they are, maybe they’re not, but that’s not the reason for the war.

DM: Okay smart guy, tell me the real reason.

HPS: Well, I’m being patient with your disrespect, but I’ll go ahead.  Everything else is a pretext.  The war is being fought over energy.

DM: ENERGY?

HPS: When Russia attacked the nuclear plant, in an odd change of tune for Russia who has thus far mostly refrained from dancing in public (and for good reason, they haven’t had much to dance about), they went to social media and gleefully claimed that they now “own” the plant.  A lot of people have forgotten all about the standoff at the Malheur Preserve and why it happened.  Farmers were being driven off their land on trumped up charges of fire, when the fire was actually an approved, managed burn.  The FedGov wanted that land.  Do you recall the reason they wanted it?  Uranium.  As part of her authority as Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton had arranged the sale of a lot of land for which Putin wanted mineral rights.  She had arranged the sale through a Canadian shell company called Uranium One.  She did all of that for a significant donation to the Clinton Foundation.  With his “ownership” (theft) of the nuclear plant, Putin can also confiscate the spent nuclear fuel and reprocess it for use again (Jimmy Carter stupidly outlawed that for the U.S.).  This means money, money, and more money.  Putin wants to control the bulk of the world’s Uranium supply.  His actions demonstrate that.  The oil and gas pipelines are the other huge source of revenue.  This war is being fought over energy.

DM: But Zelensky made his agreements on energy with the West!

HPS: Well, I didn’t say he was a wise or good leader.  I don’t know what was best in that situation.  What’s best is whatever serves the interests of the Ukrainian people.  Given that he is a world leader, I have my doubts that will happen.  As for nuclear energy, Ukraine was about to make a deal with Westinghouse for the AP1000 reactor.  Putin knew that.  I know something about that reactor design.  I also know an awful lot about the RBMK-1000.  It would have been unwise in the superlative for Zelensky to have sided with Russia and ordered an RBMK-1000.  It’s not a safe reactor design.  On that issue, he made the best decision and I support that.

DM: Smart men have observed that history dictates that Ukraine be a buffer state between East and West.  It’s geography man, you can’t deny geography.

HPS: That sounds to me like people who aren’t Ukranian and who don’t live there deciding the fate of people who do live there.  Why should I pay them any attention?  What if Ukrainians don’t want that?  I guess they could either flee or fight.  I wouldn’t blame them for either choice.  But I won’t decide for Ukraine what kind of state they should be – that would be wrong.  That’s their decision.

DM: You’ve said that attacking a nuclear power plant was stupid.  The fire was in an office.  Do you now retract what you said?

HPS: Where did you get your engineering degree from?

DM: Just answer the question.

HPS: Attacking the nuclear power plant was stupid, and did not comport with just war doctrine because of its potential for harm to innocent life and long term harm to the environment.  Fires can spread.  The administration building is appurtenant to the auxiliary building, which is in proximity to the reactor building.  The reactor building is similar to a “Butler Building,” not the hard containment shell designs common here in America.  Furthermore, fires can spread from unit to unit.  This is a multiple unit site.  A fire could potentially take out MCC (motor control centers), power distribution panels, essential power supply load centers or switchgear, or plant power supply (e.g., D/Gs), rendering the ultimate heat sink unavailable for cooling of the core or SFP (spent fuel pool).  In America we have design criteria for fires in 10 CFR 50 Appendix R and NFPA-805.  Russian reactors are not designed to those criteria.  They are very susceptible to fires.  For the unmotivated and ignorant among us, that has nothing whatsoever to do with fire hoses.  It has to do with fire separation criteria, such as not having redundant trains of essential equipment in the same fire zone or allowing essential equipment to be susceptible to a common mode failure.  Attacking the nuclear plant was stupid and ill-conceived.  And go get an engineering degree and nuclear experience before asking anything else about this.  It’s making me tired to explain this to someone who is so totally and abjectly ignorant.

DM: Did you see the article at SWJ where a writer (JAG) justified the attack?

HPS: Yes.  His argument was basically that since the plant wasn’t destroyed and there was no release of radioactivity, the attack didn’t violate the laws of war.  So basically it all boiled down to a post facto determination that since nothing really, really bad happened, it was all okay.  There was no consideration of the fact that really bad things could have happened.  But then, this is the sort of crap I’ve come to expect from SWJ.

DM: Since you brought up the idea of just war doctrine, did you see that the Patriarch of The Russian Orthodox Church justified the war?

HPS: Yes, I saw that.  Be careful, though.  There is no doctrine of just war in the Russian (Eastern) Orthodox Church.  The differences between me, as a Calvinist and of the reformed tradition, and the Eastern Church, don’t stop with the doctrine of the trinity or even other doctrinal differences.  The Eastern church has no doctrine of just war because they have always seen the church as subservient to the state.  How do you think the Eastern Church has survived all of these years under Russian/Soviet rule?  The idea extends to the body of Christ too.  Not just the leaders, but the entirety of the church, the body of believers, should have nothing to say about proper and Godly governance in politics.  They see the church as subservient to the state.  The Roman Catholic Church has always seen the state as subservient to the church, thus they have always wanted to ordain rulers with their approval.  Only the reformed tradition sees sphere authority, with every sphere answerable to the Almighty.  Family, Church and State, all accountable to God and His laws, with the people of God teaching proper doctrine in all spheres, family, church and state, demanding obedience to the law of God (thinkers like Gary North would add Economics as a Sphere, but I disagree and see that as subsumed by family, church and state).  As for the “Patriarch,” I don’t care what he thinks.  Neither does God.  Oh, and by the way, I reject his Disney costumes, his gems and jewels and accoutrements, his wild and unseemly and fatuous getups, his puerile and pretentious clothing and crowns, as part of his station.  It won’t save him from his sins, and what he does, even when administering the sacraments, is no more spiritual than when a farmer plows his field for his family.  This is part of my reformed tradition, to see the common task as done for God’s glory and as a spiritual service.  I would sooner be around the farmer than the Patriarch, or for that matter, any “church leader” in the West.

DM: This has been a weird conversation.

HPS: Good.  Maybe it will cause you to think a bit more before trying to force me into decisions I needn’t make or pigeon hole me into geopolitical categories that don’t describe me in the least.  Don’t be dumb.

DM: Would you agree that Russia has tried to limit casualties?

HPS: By shooting at apartment buildings and hospitals?

DM: You’re just listening to fake news and propaganda.  Okay then, would you agree that Putin is a military genius and that the war is going swimmingly for Russia?

HPS: Only an idiot would claim such a thing.  They have lost more than 400 tanks now, and many aircraft and APCs, apparently cannot logistically support an army further than 90 miles from its own border, have no field hospitals and are having to transport their wounded and dead to Belarus to be cared for or incinerated because they have no refrigeration.  Mothers won’t even get to bury a body back in Russia.  If you lose support at home, the war is over.  Their tires are dry rotting, their tanks lack reactive armor, the APCs are death traps, they are having to rely on untrained conscripts who don’t want to be there and don’t know why they’re there, and they’re having to beg the Syrians for help.  How could anyone call that good for Russia?

DM: Well, do you think Putin has accomplished some of his goals?

HPS: Only if the goal was to rocket Ukraine to rubble and make even deeper enemies right on his own border.  And force NATO to think about re-arming.  Poland wants more jets, and Germany has just doubled its defense budget.  Seems like a pretty dumb move to me, but hey, I’m not the savior of Christianity and all of the West.

DM: Okay well as I said this has been a strange interview.  I can’t seem to get you to take a geopolitical stance and become a cheerleader for anybody.  Do you have any parting words for us?

HPS: I side with the pipefitters, welders, roofers, mechanics and electricians of Ukraine.  I don’t side with world leaders.  Ever.  In anything.  I don’t need another savior.  I have the perfect savior, and He is all I need.  As I’ve said before, “The desire to control others is the signal pathology of the wicked.”  The common man wants the controllers to leave him alone, and so do I.  The common man won’t be saved by Putin, Zelensky, Soros, Biden, or any sinful man.  He will be saved only by the perfect lamb of God, the Son of God, Jesus, who is The Christ.  Only he can take away sin.  Our bodies will all perish – but that’s not the end.  It’s only the beginning.  God is even now controlling the hearts of the rulers to bring about His will.  See Isaiah 46:9-10.  Stop panicking.  Have faith.  Prepare yourself and your family.  This has become distracting for you, and most of the world.

Part One  Part Two

Read Matthew 10:16-23

In verse 16 of Matthew 10, Jesus shifts from the short-term training mission He is sending His disciples on (Matthew 10:1-15) to the more extended mission they will carry out after receiving the Holy Spirit. All the prophecies of Jesus in verses 16-23 were fulfilled in the first century. You can read about most of these prophecies in Acts, primarily Acts 5. Others are according to church history. Many stood before the Sanhedrin (Councils) and some before the kings. For example, Peter is said to have stood before Nero and John before Domitian.

But what of verse 23?

“But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.” – Matthew 10:23

Jesus says that the disciples would not have finished preaching in the cities of Israel before the Son of man came. Are the 11 plus Paul still in Israel preaching the Gospel? How can this be? It must refer to the coming of Christ in power and great judgment in the first century while that generation was alive. The temple and Jerusalem and greater Judea were destroyed in 70AD (Matthew 24:27, 30).

This section of Scripture was fulfilled in that generation during the first century as Jesus ended the Old Covenant and brought in the New Covenant of promise. It was all done just as God said it would be here in Matthew 10. Does the American Church today make Jesus out to be a liar?

Shifting to Chapter 11 of Matthew, in verses 16-24, Jesus again accuses “this generation.” He says nothing satisfies them. They’ve rejected the witness of John the Baptist, and He’s showed them great miracles with signs and wonders, including the biggest miracle of all, salvation from sin, but by the dullness of their minds, they wouldn’t receive Him.

“16 But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows, 17 And saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented. 18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil. 19 The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children. 20 Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not” – Matthew 11:16-20

You can read on about the upbraiding of the cities. The judgment referred to is probably the end. Nonetheless, these cities did not withstand the onslaught of the Roman Legions during that generation in 70AD. The point is made again; “this generation” is on perilous ground with Holy God.

Finally, the government does something right!

I have M-Lok Stuff.  I still like Keymod better.

Via TTAG, this bit of histrionics.

Owning a gun isn’t a “God-given right.” It’s a slave-owning, misogynistic founding father-given right. I’m not against 2A, but be real – the Constitution was written by people! Today I’m filibustering a bill that would allow concealed carry without training or a permit

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” – Hebrews 11:1

Every man has faith in things. But what is faith? Faith is trust in the unseen. Faith is the very substance, the fiber of what is hoped. Faith is the belief that if you act upon a small amount of information, the totality of what’s hoped for will become evident.

Does not science take the grain of a mustard seed of faith to pursue an object in the hope that it’s true? That’s what a hypothesis is. Science, falsely so-called, is all around us today. But we know that a hypothesis must be isolated and repeated to find it true or false. Science, if appropriately done, is done in the attempt to prove that grain of faith; otherwise, you’re operating under a supposition that has no basis. Made in God’s image, He put this desire in you; that you might observe and know His creation. Faith and science are much more akin than the haters would have you to understand.

To enquire of God also takes the grain of a mustard seed of faith in the hope that it’s true? This is salvation in God; it’s absolutely a leap of faith to believe that there is a God who wants you to know Him and wants you to be with Him in eternity. Talk to God; He desires to hear from you. Any man who claims Christ and says a soul can be saved by any other manner, by faith in rites, rituals, recitations, or ceremonies, is not telling the truth.

Faith is the substance of hope. Faith with belief and hope are the three seeming abstractions that, when formed together in the heart of a man, lead him to call upon the unknown God, only to find Christ Jesus waiting all along for your desire. Every man has his moment of hope, of hope for what his created being is telling him; that the whole of everything in nature and your conscience soul are indeed a creation of God’s mighty workings; that there is a God and a purpose for your existence.

Two thousand years ago, Christ was crucified for your sins and rose again the third day. You weren’t there; you have no evidence of this event. To you, it’s unseen. Something happened 2000 years ago for sure. Millions upon millions of people haven’t lost their minds about some guy that isn’t real. Believing that takes more faith than to ask honestly; what did happen? But now that’s what faith is; the very substance of the hope that, even in the face of the absence of evidence, these things are true; if you make the leap of faith, Christ is waiting.

That’s the question; is Jesus real? It’s not some working of your inner being that makes God real to a person. God, who breathes life into every being, is a real Spirit. You’re not just a set of chemical reactions; you’re a living being. You exist. With all of nature seen and unseen, you were conceived in the mind of God, and then He created you.

The spiritual gurus say you can reach some new level of enlightened self-awareness. Maybe you can, but awareness of God comes at the intersection of the realization of faith and hope in seeking the being of God external to yourself even though you’ve never met Him. God is a Spirit, a real being that you can know if you place your hope, through faith in Christ, in His existence.

The world is wrong; something is desperately wrong; killing, lying, crime, warfare, suffering all around us; it’s called sin. Deep in your inherited conscience, you know that things aren’t right and that there is something, and some One much bigger than the observable universe can reveal.

God is manifest to those that know Him, but He only becomes evident through the seeking faith of those He is calling to the hope of salvation in Christ. He’s calling to you that your faith and hope might be in God.

“But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.” – 1 Peter 1:19-21

An Interesting Dismantling of Dispensationalism.

And The Law of God as given to Moses is organized in an accessible manner here. TCJ is a blog about Rulers, Weapons, and Warfare, the Sixth Commandment of Holy God is something we should seek to understand.

The sixth commandment (Deut. 5:17) calls for the respect of life, especially underscoring the dignity of human life. It is treated in Deut. 19:1–22:4. For example, while defending human life and condemning murder, this material distinguishes accidental deaths, explains legal protections for those who have killed someone (19:1–10), and encourages proper judicial proceedings (19:11–13). It also sets apart just war as an example of when life may be taken with immunity (20:1–20) and demands execution for capital felons (21:22–23).

Anytime we discuss the Law of Moses is essential to point out that it could never save a soul. Following this law will not find you innocent before the throne of God on the great and terrible day. Quite the opposite is true.

“For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.” – Hebrews 10:4

“Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” – Galatians 3:24

Speaking of law, the Noahic Covenant is still the law of how this planet operates; it shouldn’t be neglected the way that it is. We have an outline about this important covenant that is with everything living thing. Putting it together into a written form takes time. Read and study closely Genesis 9:1-12. It’s NOT about a rainbow.