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I am disturbed at the nature of the comments associated with the blog lately.  Certainly, some of my posts are very negative, but if your impression is that the nature of the posts and the fairly open comment policy means that I’m simply giving you an opportunity to write protracted gripes, you’ve misunderstood my sentiment.

I write what I do in order to chronicle the decline of America, to educate my readers (and me), to enable and encourage us to prepare for the worst, and to make us better men and women.  For instance, chronicling the influx of immigrants doesn’t mean that readers need to ramp up the gripes and moans, but rather, be about our business preparing.  This isn’t going to last for long.  Chronicling the infringements on our God-given RKBA doesn’t mean that readers are invited to lay out threats against anyone.  It means that we need to understand the times, resolve never to be disarmed, and prepare for the worst.

I also have a certain religious viewpoint, and I’ve tried to make that abundantly clear on numerous occasions.  So for instance, rather than engage in hate towards ethnic groups, we should all understand the following from the WCF.

Section 3.) They being the root of all mankind, the guilt of this sin was imputed,(1) and the same death in sin and corrupted nature conveyed to all their posterity, descending from them by ordinary generation.(2)

(1) Ge 1:27,28; Ge 2:16,17; Ac 17:26; Ro 5:12,15,16,17,18,19; 1Co 15:21,22,45,49 (2) Ps 51:5; Ge 5:3; Job 14:4; Job 15:14

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Section 4.) From this original corruption, whereby we are utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all good,(1) and wholly inclined to all evil,(2) do proceed all actual transgressions.(3)

(1) Ro 5:6; Ro 8:7; Ro 7:18; Col 1:21 (2) Ge 6:5; Ge 8:21 ; Ro 3:10,11,12 (3) Jas 1:14,15; Eph 2:2,3; Mt 15:19

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Thus, the focus of my efforts won’t be to hate an ethnic group, because in the absence of that group, whatever it is, there will always be another to take its place.  The total absence of central banking only means that there will be a white dictator to take its place, or an Idi Amin or Pol Pot.  If you think that evil is ensconced in a race, you have entirely missed the point of the Gospel, and you believe a lie.

Thus, from now on I intend to deal with comments without hesitation or remorse.  If you don’t like that, you can find another place to comment.

1] I do not intend to become embroiled in endless pedantic debates with readers.  I’ll end the debate by deleting the thread.

2] I do not intend to allow readers to hijack discussion threads, thus trashing the hard work I’ve put into the articles.  I’m not paid one penny for doing this – I won’t turn this site over to ne’er-do-wells who want to make it look like 4Chan or reddit by posting trashy things anonymously.

3] If you intend to make threats, e.g., “hang all pols, make a list and check it twice and get ready for war, war, war, give me violence NOW …,” you can expect to have your comments deleted without prejudice.  You won’t be returning to TCJ.  I do find it amusing and ironic that most commenters don’t use their real name, but rather, a nom de guerre, and then proceed to use this blog to lay out vicious comments about others, while I am the one who uses my real name rather than a nom de guerre and bear the brunt of whatever comes my way as a result of those comments.

Per counsel I’ve sought, I possibly bear some legal liability for comments like that, and I certainly suffer reputation when I give platform to such things.  And I also know that not a single reader is going to do anything about the comments he’s making to make a step change in society without God’s sovereign blessing upon the nation.

It isn’t true anyway.  You understand that, right?  Not all pols are evil.  Some are good.  Not all Latinos vote for progressives.  To render racial judgments based on the actions of a few, or many, is a formal logical fallacy.

4] If you engage in Jew-hate in the comments, you can expect to have your comments be deleted forthwith.

5] If you engage in any other kind of race-hate in the comments, you can expect to have your comments be deleted forthwith.

6] If you get into fights with fellow commenters, you can expect to see the entire discussion thread deleted.

I have never promised that I read all comments, and I’m not promising that here.  I simply cannot review all comments – at the present, I have over 35,000 comments on the site.  But as I catch them, I’ll deal with them appropriately.

Next, we’ve dealt with this thing of incrementalism before.  I advocate it, and you know that.  Readers have commented that the progressives have mastered the art, while we’ve been left in the dust (or maybe the dustbin of history).  But then those same readers reject out-of-hand the notion that any victory, however small, means anything.

I find it patently absurd that anyone thinks that we’re going to reverse course in America in a step change by doing anything.  You want lawlessness and lack of government?  Okay.  Then 99.99% of you will die an ignominious and meaningless death without being able to bequeath either your wealth or your heritage to your children or children’s children.  Prepare yourselves for Kosovo on steroids.

You want to reject incrementalism?  Okay.  Sit on your couch and lose to those who believe in it.  You want to try to do everything in your own power?  Okay.  Hold your fist up and engage in “high-handed sin.”  Tell God you don’t need Him.  Tell me how that goes.

Americans have no one to blame but themselves.  We have allowed the deaths of innocent victims through abortion, we have allowed the fleecing of widows and orphans by the taxation of men who are trying to do well by “leaving an inheritance of their children’s children.”  We have invited Hollywood to send smut into our homes at its whim.  We have sent children to schools of communist indoctrination, where they learn that there is no God, there is no family, and the only entity is the state.

Is it any wonder we are where we are?  Why would anyone believe that we could avoid God’s curse?  There is a way to recover America, but it doesn’t involve a step change in anything except a return to God’s Holy law.  Doing that isn’t likely to happen without re-educating children, home schooling them, and engaging in what Rousas J. Rushdoony called “Christian Reconstruction.”  The enemy has incorporated incrementalism, and it’s absurd to think that it’s going to be made easy on us at this point by rejecting that approach.  Horace Mann took a very long time to accomplish his goals.  It will take us equally long to undo what he did, or longer.

By way of final comment, you are helping no one with gripes and moans, not even yourself.  You are helping everyone when you make comments that encourage fellow readers, bolster their belief, and make practical suggestions for how to live in troubling times.  It’s okay to say “thank you” to the host of this web site from time to time.  It’s also okay to say “thank you” when a reader makes a good, educated, measured, intelligent comment that benefits you.  I like to see comments from measured men who speak intelligently and with an eye to history and philosophy.  Be that kind of commenter.

Word:

Once again folks, I’d like to point out that ‘Donate’ button in my sidebar.

I’ve always said that this blog is a labor of love, but I’ll be the first to admit that it’s also a colossal pain in the ass. I spend way more time online than I care to admit, and not just doing the posting and comment moderating.

Actually, that’s the easy part. It’s digging up material that really kicks my ass.

Yea.  I hear that.  I don’t post nearly as much as he does, but I do like to post on esoteric things, thematic issues here at TCJ (gun rights, philosophy, theology, politics, firearms mechanics, open carry, etc.), and don’t like to post what other people have done.  Why would I do that – there would be no reason to post at all.

It’s not really the posting itself, or the moderation of comments, that takes the massive amount of time.  It’s finding items of thematic interest so that the blog has a purpose, or crafting your own prose and essays.

That’s so hard, and really time consuming.  If you’re so inclined, hit his tip jar.

As for me, I’ve got some things to communicate in the coming days, and some prayer requests to make.

Thank you for your patronage.

But there were so many good ones to choose from.

Tim Lynch has some good observations.

I recently heard historian Nial Ferguson remark that “cowardice is the most powerful force in human history”. I’ve been thinking about that a lot while also contemplating the trend of regarding traditional courage and bravery as byproducts of toxic masculinity. Men of my generation (and my fathers) would have considered tasing an old woman to be so morally disgraceful that the thought of such an act is inconceivable. I often wonder what it will take to get us back to that standard of behavior.

Fred has a good answer.

Fred observes of Mr. Hayden.

Mr. (not general, you lost that distinction) Hayden, Judging by your age and your former rank it would seem that you are responsible for the losing of more wars than any nation in history. More than France, even. Has there been a time, a nation that has lost more battles, more wars than you? Certainly not in the span of a single human lifetime. And now you want a War on Guns? I suppose there is only one continent left in which you haven’t wrecked at least one country, so North America and the USA it is?

You will not find salvation in Gabby Giffords. You will find no absolution in Gun Control. You, as I, are partly responsible for the killing of hundreds of thousands of God’s precious souls. There will be no atonement through the sacrifice of your neighbor’s liberties. You will burn in Hell for what you’ve done or you will submit to the LORD. You can’t cleanse your own soul. You can’t wash yourself clean with more control of others. There is no other way than Christ to be Justified. Only His blood can satisfy a wrathful God.

Nobody can beat evil through the control of objects. This is a retarded understanding of the facts of Planet Earth. I suspect that that you know this. Which would make your motives complicit with evil itself. Evil cannot fight evil. You cannot fight mass shootings through the harming of God’s bestowed rights. This is Absurd. If you would like to defeat evil, only a man known of God through the LORD Jesus Christ and a rightly justified soul can join the battle to defeat this evil that you’ve recognized. Only the Spirit of God can win your war.

And Georgiaboy61 observes a parallel between Hayden and The Godfather.

Bracken recounts the scene in the “Godfather,” when Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) is being cross-examined before a Senate subcommittee, and is asked what is his profession. To which Corleone replies, “I am an importer of olive oil products.” His cross-examiners pressure him – asking repeatedly if he has any connection with organized crime. Corleone sticks to his story – never relents.

“The Godfather” is useful as an analogy, because deep-state apparatchiks like Michael Hayden mirror how the mob works. Once you are a “made man,” an insider – there’s no turning back. No one “quits” the deep-state gangster government, just as no one “quits” the mob – except feet-first in a body bag, that is.

Hayden is not only sticking to his story, he is doubling down on it. He’s repeatedly told these and other lies so often, he may well believe them to be to true – to the extent that he could pass a polygraph examination. There’s no reasoning with that kind of “true believer”…

And finally, Ned lays down a challenge.

So a police officer can neglect a police dog to death without any legal ramifications other than getting an extra week vacation.

It would actually be more newsworthy if someone could find an incidence of an LEO being punished for wrongfully killing a person or a dog.

Which was the point.  The point was never the dog – it was the LEO.

I want to express my most sincere appreciation to WiscoDave for filling in for me while I gallivanted in the woods.  Sometimes you just have to take a knee, and this was one of those times.  I wanted readers to be able to make visits and sound off, as well as mine the thoughts of a good man.

I found him in WiscoDave.  And to boot, he had experience writing elsewhere, so I want to thank Ken for loaning him to me for the week.

It’s obvious that WiscoDave is a harder working and busier man than I am, and besides, you needed a break from my ramblings and musings and droning on and on about whatever pissed me off last.

I hope you enjoyed the week with Dave.

Thanks for the well-wishers on Friday.  Nickel summary: The host had a card that had been hacked.  The bank told us that most accounts would roll over to the new card without a problem since it was the same number (just different security code).  Most did.

The hosting company didn’t.  So we had to give them new bank information and then the site was put back up.

Money.  Sorry for the inconvenience.

I’m sure you haven’t noticed, but I’ve been doing this for twelve years.  Over the course of time I’ve transitioned from military blogging to guns and gun rights.  This transition occurred quite a while back, but I know I’ve still kept some military readers.

The blog began as a way to log a journal online while my son was in the Marine Corps.  My oldest son told me he thought I did it in order to stay sane.  Perhaps.  And perhaps I haven’t.  It evolved into analysis and assessment of military strategy, tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs), rules of engagement, and the intersection of politics with all of the above.

The transition to guns and gun rights was natural, since keeping up with my son required me to learn the mechanics of firearms, and learn his tactics (e.g., shooting the AR-15 with the aggressive, plates-forward approach, which is now so comfortable to me that I wouldn’t be able to do it any other way).  I’ve evolved my own methods now, including the use of the C-Clamp grip (or otherwise called thumb-over-bore grip, which I initially rejected as faddish but once I adopted it changed the stability of my shooting).  I wouldn’t know what a squad rush or satellite patrol was without the impetus of knowing it to communicate with my son.

Over the course of time I’ve received visits from all of the military network domains (Army, Navy, AF, NG, CG, DoD), and still get regular visits from those as well as the DoJ, FBI Department of Criminal Justice, State Department, various appeals courts, The House of Representative, the Senate, and most state and many city governments.  I often wonder if I have any readers who have stayed with me all twelve years?  I’ve also received visits from the executive office of the president and the SCOTUS.  I have no earthly idea why such people would be interested in reading this humble blog.  I’m sure readers agree with that sentiment.

There is no doubt in my mind that I currently have the best readers on the internet.  I appreciate what you’ve made this web site.  For new readers, take the time to study some of my Featured Articles.  I’ve tried to put my best work in there.

Moe Mensale, Joefour, Frank Clarke and Fred have all had trouble at various times posting comments.

This is very frustrating for me and I know it is for you.  I have over 30,000 comments so far, and I must do something to manage them.  @WRSA has had difficulty as well.  Don’t underestimate the time it takes to do this.

So the way it is currently set up, as best as I can figure, is that the site requires moderation for the first comment, and thereafter unless I spam a commenter they are all allowed.  You don’t have to agree with me in order to be moderated to allow comments.

This is true unless there are URLs in the post.  Then it requires moderation, even for my own if I have a URL in the comment, and thereafter I think the process starts over again.

I do get a number of spam comments with URLs in them from all sorts of seamy places.  Try to live with this until I can figure out a fix.

Thanks for your patience.

I get so many wonderful comments it’s hard to pick out the best.  I honestly believe I’ve got the best patrons on the interwebz.  I don’t know if you know this or not, but a lot of my payment for what I do is getting to read your comments.

That said, I have to pick one that rises to the top.  This one comes from Ray at WRSA regarding this article.

Mr H. Smith is a rabid Jesus Nazi. Who he wants for the next Emperor is of no importance to me at all.

Hey, I didn’t say to the top of what pile this comment rises.

Tomorrow is trash day, and I always roll the cans out.  Sometimes I have to roll the trash out of this web site too.  Keith Perkins, of Bangor, Maine, at 74.75.216.62, kperkins257@gmail.com, made an ass of himself today at this post.

I did what I always do with those I suspect of being trolls.  I gave him enough rope to prove it.  He started by insulting my readers.  He moved from there to demand that I stop covering politics and religion, asked me if I was “willfully ignorant,” and then made ridiculous claims, viz. “Christians burn Christian churches all the time …”  He finished by refusing to substantiate his claims, but demanding that I substantiate some claims that I supposedly made but cannot locate.

The original intent and import of the post is salient and important.  With the coming Islamic invasion, those of you who are “cross worshipers” (you know that’s how they refer to you, right?) will have to consider how you protect your families, homes and churches.  Their Mosques are considered by them to be armories and forts, preparing them for battle and logistically sustaining them.  That’s why they had no problem emplacing weapons of all kinds in them during OIF.

As for Keith, he is a liar.  He didn’t really come to TCJ for firearms news and tutorials like he said, he came as a troll.  He also lied about not coming back because our views clash.  He did come back.  His email and IP address is banned now.  It’s always a smelly job to carry the trash out, but someone has to do it.

David Codrea:

Let me tell you something about ATF “gunwalking.” Did you know that if you go to Wikipedia, you’ll find no mention of either me or Mike, or our documented roles in breaking the story while imploring both Congress and the media to even notice it? Go ahead– go explore that last link for a few minutes and see all the reporting that was done before the rest of the media had written word one. Now find anything in that early reporting that later investigations did not bear out — notwithstanding discrediting attempts by those taking their talking points from the administration. Several people interested in a complete chronology of events have tried to change that, but their entries were always edited out within a day or so.

David goes on to explain why the acting director Brandon of the ATF is just as bad or worse than Jones.  Of course he is.  What did we expect from the organized crime gang of the Obama administration?  Go read all of David’s piece.

Now, I want to address some thoughts concerning the what David said (and I cited) above.  First of all, it has been said of bloggers that we live a symbiotic relationship with the main stream media.  We don’t do original reporting, original analysis, or anything approximating what the real media does.

I reject this notion with prejudice.  While it’s certainly true that much of what we link and analyze comes from the media, there isn’t a chance on earth that anyone in the media could have developed the theological case for guns and self defense I developed in Christians, The Second Amendment And The Duty Of Self Defense.  Nor would they have known where to go to get such an analysis performed.  On occasion I have conducted original interviews and documented and analyzed information no one in the media has done, and to date no one in the main stream media has thought to obtain information on gun crime in national parks after the law had been changed in 2010 through a FIOA request as did I.  Finally, the main stream media simply cannot accomplish the same kind of analysis performed by many bloggers.  If you think so, prove it.  We’re listening.

As for David Codrea and Mike Vanderboegh, they broke the story on gun walking into Mexico as conducted by the ATF.  That much is clear.  It’s also clear that they followed that story until its conclusion, and will continue so as anything else develops.  The fact that they didn’t get the credit for it only speaks to the ugliness of the main stream media.

I may be speaking out of turn, but I also know that David has sent his articles to other venues such as Drudge Report, only to find out that Matt Drudge waited until the stories were carried by the main stream media to report on them.  I have sent one or two links to Drudge, only to see some of my source information (with which I did further analysis) linked by Drudge Report.  Matt Drudge, for all of his claim to hold the main stream media accountable, is a fawning fan boy of the main stream media, and only wants himself to hold anyone accountable.  He worships the main stream media.

I’ve also logged dozens of instances where I’ve sent my links around to large bloggers, only to see my source information linked by those bloggers without attribution.  Dozens of times.  This is very bad form.  I know who you are.  I won’t mention names because it does me no good to pick fights.  But it matters for one simple reason.  Bloggers do this for the opportunity to advocate and persuade.  In order to do that, one has to have readers.  It’s as simple as that.

Whenever you can, forward important links to friends, contact and family.  You have the additional benefit that with David Codrea, you have both a legitimate reporter and a blogger (who as any blogger does more advocacy journalism and commenting).  Persuasion and truth-telling is the name of the game.  And if you don’t blog yourself, it’s always handy and welcome to have reporters who send you information that assists you in your blogging efforts.