Archive for the 'Politics' Category

News.

A federal judge in Louisiana issued a nationwide preliminary injunction Tuesday against President Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health care workers.

Judge Terry A. Doughty in the U.S. District Court Western District of Louisiana ruled in favor of a request from Republican Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry to block an emergency regulation issued Nov. 4 by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that required the COVID shot for nearly every full-time employee, part-time employee, volunteer, and contractor working at a wide range of healthcare facilities receiving Medicaid or Medicaid funding.

Louisiana was joined in the lawsuit by attorneys general in 13 other states.

Doughty argued in his ruling that the Biden administration does not have the constitutional authority to go around Congress by issuing such a mandate.

“If the executive branch is allowed to usurp the power of the legislative branch to make laws, two of the three powers conferred by our Constitution would be in the same hands,” he wrote. “If human nature and history teach anything, it is that civil liberties face grave risks when governments proclaim indefinite states of emergency.

“During a pandemic such as this one, it is even more important to safeguard the separation of powers set forth in our Constitution to avoid erosion of our liberties,” he added.

[ … ]

Doughty’s ruling echoes one from U.S. District Judge Matthew Schelp, who issued a 32-page order on Monday blocking the Biden administration from enforcing their vaccine mandate on health care workers in 10 states.

Ah, I see that the lower courts are doing the heavy lifting for the Supreme Tyrants, work they’re too cowardly to do themselves.

I had been cataloging the number of times this had been rejected with no explanation from the Supreme Tyrants, but have lost count now.  This is their latest cowardly act when they denied yet another appeal.

Perhaps when they’re no longer afraid and have stuck their fingers up in the air for long enough, they’ll do the right thing and bash this mandate.

Or perhaps not.  Perhaps they’ll show yet again what tyrants and cowards they really are.

So says someone named Becky Bennett.

The Kyle Rittenhouse acquittal and the arrival of hunting season are making guns a topic around rural holiday tables.

I’ve written about how guns are a “normal,” even necessary part of everyday rural life. But gun owners need to think hard about our reaction to the debacle in Kenosha—in which Rittenhouse, a teenager with an AR-15, went looking for trouble and found it. Rural people who revere the Second Amendment, but feel joy, or improbably, vindication in the verdict, are in danger of undermining any legitimate place for guns in our society.

[ … ]

Because you never know, acquaintances often urge me to carry a gun while hiking. It’s why, during an office security check after the mass shooting at a newspaper in Maryland, one of my colleagues gestured meaningfully toward her purse and assured me she was prepared.

The problem with Rittenhouse was that he knew exactly what might happen because his behavior provoked the attacks he then defended himself from.

There’s a difference between reasonable defense and a parade. Parades are intended to impress spectators and to make the parader feel big. In the past, no one bragged about owning guns or flaunted them outside a shooting range. They bragged only about hunting prowess.

Rittenhouse loved a parade. If he wasn’t just feeding his ego—if he sincerely believed that waving an assault-style firearm in a chaotic situation improved security—then whoever taught him to behave this way with a gun damaged him immeasurably. No credible rural gun owner would teach children that guns are playthings or props (they teach constant awareness of a gun’s capacity for harm).

Unfortunately, in our presently unhinged society, allowing guns for responsible defense also opens the way for self-gratifying and provocative displays. Not to mention for exploiters like Gun Owners of America, which intends to “award” Rittenhouse an AR-15 like the one he killed with, as a thank-you “for being a warrior for gun owners and self-defense rights across the country!”

When pro-gun organizations and gun owners conflate self-defense and self-aggrandizement, they affirm the weak-minded and guarantee tragedy.

Rural residents, who claim to have their heads on straight about guns (unlike hand-wringing liberals), should know, and do, better. Anyone who cheers the Rittenhouse debacle betrays their rural values of respect for guns, responsible use, and responsibility for yourself and others.

They also risk undermining support for the Second Amendment. The National Rifle Association, untroubled by contradiction or nuance, quoted the amendment after the Rittenhouse verdict. Of course, “well-regulated militia” and “security” were the antithesis of the Kenosha debacle.

Rural gun owners used to take the Second Amendment seriously as the underpinning of responsible self-protection and the freedom that security brings. If we no longer believe these things, why should our urban counterparts support the right to bear arms?

Based on their focus on hunting and support for the NFA, GCA, bump stock ban, assault weapons ban, and universal background checks, this commentary sounds like it could have been written by the NRA.

Note her focus on rural America and hunting prowess.  Guns, for her, aren’t for personal defense in urban areas, nor for the amelioration of tyranny (the Raison d’être for the 2A).

Guns are to be hidden, not seen, and going outside the home with them invites combat.  Never mind that Kyle showed up begging people of both sides to come to his station for medical aid, and that when he was first attacked he ran and yelled “Friendly, friendly, friendly!”

Never mind that the rest of that fateful night as he suffered more attacks, he was running from the threat.  And never mind that this wasn’t a parade – it was known terrorists burning a city to the ground (Antifa / BLM).  Finally, never mind that at least one of his attackers tried to kill him by striking him in the back of the skull, and that at least one of his attackers pointed a gun at him.

To Becky, you invite combat by openly carrying a firearm.  This is the same argument the prosecution used.  And there is no basis for this in law, no basis in fact, and no basis in ethics for a position like this.

Where I live it’s legal to openly carry, as it should be.  No one even looks twice.  Open carry is far more comfortable than concealed carry, and it’s quicker to presentation.  It’s often what I choose to do, and it’s both legal and moral to do so.

Becky lives in another world, one where the police are legally obligated to protect her, one in which they can be there instantaneously, and one in which Antifa / BLM conducts “parades” rather than commits arson, vandalism, theft and rape (in Portland and Seattle).  This is a world of her imagination, for the police cannot be there instantaneously, and are under no obligation to protect her (see Castle Rock v. Gonzalez, Warren v. District of Columbia and DeShaney v. Winnebago County).

Moreover, the police are bound by the politics of the administration they serve.  “To Protect and Serve” is a meaningless political jingle.  The prosecutor in the Kyle Rittenhouse case wasn’t just going after Kyle.  He is a gun controller and was going after the 2A.  He was going after anyone who presumes the effect self defense.  His ultimate goal is for there to be no capability of defense of life and liberty.

How Becky feels about my open carry, or whether Kyle showed up with an AR-15 or an M1A1 Abrams tank, is really quite irrelevant.  The businesses of hard working men and women were burned to the ground that fateful night, and many people were injured outside of what happen with Kyle.  The police were told to stand down, as they have been on multiple occasions throughout the U.S. over the last year.

Becky wants a return to the days of yesteryear where men in flannel discuss the latest deer hunt and seldom carry outside the home.  Alas, it will not happen.  There are no “parades” any more.  There is looting and burning and destruction.  But good men are armed, and there are problems on the horizon.

Those problems aren’t a function of what sorts of conversations occurred over Thanksgiving dinner five decades ago.  Those problems are a function of the rejection of God’s law for society.

Becky would do better to turn her attention elsewhere for solutions than whether we celebrate Kyle’s exoneration of charges that should never have been brought to begin with.

Finally, it’s surprising that so many people have turned their attention to making out criminal behavior by criminals (Rosenbaum was a convicted child anal rapist, Gaige Grosskreutz was a career criminal, etc.) to be a “parade.”  Maybe it shouldn’t be, but it’s as if there is no shame left.

Here it is over Rumble.  On a related note, I miss Mike Vanderboegh.  I think he would be able to give a lot of wisdom concerning the state of affairs today and proper preparations for the future.

News.

A Kentucky liquor company was “disheartened” to learn some people had been using one of its whiskey brands to celebrate the not guilty verdict for 18-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse.

Heaven Hill Brands said in a statement posted to Twitter it was unhappy to learn some people were using the company’s Rittenhouse Straight Rye Whiskey to “celebrate” the verdict of Rittenhouse, adding there was “no cause for celebration” after the teenager was acquitted on five counts last week.

“We have been disheartened to learn that some individuals and businesses have been using our Rittenhouse Straight Rye Whiskey brand to celebrate the Kyle Rittenhouse case verdict,” the liquor company said in the statement. “There is no link between our Rittenhouse Rye brand, which was started post-prohibition to commemorate Rittenhouse square, and this case.”

The company said there was “no cause for celebration” following the 2020 incident when “lives were lost” and people were left “deeply affected.”

Instead of celebrating the verdict, the world needs “deep reflection on how” people “can make the world a more peaceful and respectful place for all,” the company added.

That sounds like a load of utopian crap right there, something someone would say if they had imbibed a little too much of their own liquor, or wokeness.

I celebrated Kyle’s exoneration because he was defending his life against those who intended him evil.  He was Biblically justified in what he did.  For the jury to have made any other decision would have been a miscarriage of justice.

Apparently Heaven Hill wants to be the next Black Rifle Coffee.

Michael Yon.

I knew that the author of “Three Cups of Tea” was lying when I read excerpts from his book.  It was proven to be complete crap.

Mattis is as bad as the rest of them, or at least he proved to be over the long term.  McChrystal is a murderer and should crawl on his hands and knees to the surviving families from the dead at Ganjgal (from where he lives to their homes, each and every one of them) and beg for forgiveness.

And yes, the entirety of the academy is lost.

While I’ve never had to use it, Kyle explains that his AR was out of battery before he tapped the forward assist.  It probably saved his life.  I don’t know why it didn’t go into battery – bad tolerances, failure to lube the gun, bad ammo, or what.

Here’s another part of the interview where it’s simply astonishing the level of unscrupulous behavior the DA got away with.

And finally here’s some more of the interview.

Saddle River Range (via Ken).

The Saddle River Range in Conroe sent a text message to customers about the “Pre-Black Friday clearance sale” which started Saturday and will last through Thanksgiving.

“We would like to clear up some confusion, the post states. “We are celebrating the life that Kyle Rittenhouse now gets to live because he was able to defend himself without being penalized for it. This is a big win for the Second Amendment and cause for celebration. For those of you who think we are celebrating “the death of innocent people”, we apologize that you didn’t take the time to gather and evaluate the actual facts from the case.”

Black Rifle Coffee.

The veteran-founded coffee company had distanced itself from Rittenhouse after the teenager took a post-bail photo wearing a Black Rifle Coffee T-shirt and BlazeTV host Elijah Schaffer posted the photo along with the caption, “Kyle Rittenhouse drinks the best coffee in America.”

Schaffer, whose podcast was sponsored by Black Rifle Coffee, deleted his tweet, and a company spokeswoman said to the Salt Lake Tribune, “We did have a conversation with Schaffer, and he understands that the post was a mistake.”

The company’s CEO Evan Hafer also issued a statement disavowing any relationship with Rittenhouse that said, “We do not sponsor nor do we have a relationship with the 17-year-old facing charges in Kenosha, WI.”

Breitbart News reached out to Black Rifle Coffee on Friday for comment but received no response.

While Black Rifle Coffee remained silent, conservatives torched the company on social media.

Since its disavowal of Rittenhouse, the company has been under fire from the right, which comprises a large portion of its consumer base.

The company has tried to do damage control, only further antagonizing the right.

After its initial statement, Hafer released a video statement saying that the company believed in the Constitution, the Second Amendment and the right to bear arms, and that a person is innocent until provided guilty, but reiterated that the company did not sponsor Rittenhouse.

The company then dug itself into a hole further after Hafer and the company’s Executive Vice President Mat Best granted in-depth interviews to the New York Times in July, where they disparaged the right.

Best compared January 6 Capitol protesters wearing Black Rifle Coffee products to “terrorist organizations that wear American brands when they go behead Americans.”

Black Rifle Coffee chose poorly.

First off, remember that he suborned perjury among at least one witness.  He failed to turn over proper evidence, and he hid the identity of the so-called jump-kick man who attacked Kyle that night.  Now we learn that Gaige Grosskreutz had charges dropped by the same prosecutor.

Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger was well aware of this when he paraded Gaige Grosskreutz, 28, the third man shot on the night of August 25, 2020, as a paragon of selfless virtue. He was a paramedic, the court heard, just there that evening to provide medical aid, as he claimed to have done at countless other protests across the country.

In fact, DailyMail.com has learned, he is a violent career criminal with a laundry list of prior offenses and convictions stretching back more than a decade.

These include domestic abuse, prowling, trespass, two DUIs, felony burglary and two charges of carrying a firearm while intoxicated – one of which took place when he was banned as a felon from carrying a firearm.

He also has a history of showing disdain for the law by lying to, and failing to co-operate with, police.

But the Rittenhouse jury heard none of this.

Because just six days before he took the stand, Grosskreutz was before a judge himself at a hearing at which a pending DUI charge – a second offense that saw him three times over the legal limit – was dismissed on a technicality.

To no one’s surprise, he is also a gun controller.

The issue is whether you can drive with a loaded handgun within reach, even without having a concealed carry permit.

Guy A. Smith, a 52-year-old commercial truck driver from Merrill, believes, as does a gun rights organization, that you can. That’s why he said he made no effort to hide his revolver when inspectors entered his big rig at a weigh station in Pleasant Prairie in June 2016.

Inspectors saw it on the floor of his cab via an overhead camera, then approached Smith and cited him for carrying a concealed weapon, a misdemeanor, and seized his gun.

Smith was represented by John Monroe, a Georgia-based attorney who has successfully defended many gun rights advocates, including those charged with openly carrying guns before Wisconsin’s passage of Act 35, which first allowed for concealed carry with a license.

The organization Wisconsin Carry Inc. was paying for Smith’s defense because it thought it might eliminate some law enforcement confusion about the statutes.

“The charge should never have been filed because in 2011 the Legislature changed the law to allow handguns in cars to be unencased and loaded,” Monroe said in an email Monday. “Carrying a concealed weapon is no longer a crime applicable to handguns in vehicles.

[ … ]

The first time Smith was set for trial, last fall, Kenosha County prosecutors asked for more time after learning Smith planned to argue that a different Wisconsin statute specifically approves of carrying a loaded handgun in a vehicle.

The statute on transport of weapons reads, ” … no person may place, possess, or transport a firearm, bow, or crossbow in or on a vehicle, unless one of the following applies: 1. The firearm is unloaded or is a handgun.”

Monroe had prepared a second defense as well: Wisconsin’s so-called castle doctrine that lets people use a gun — without a permit — to protect themselves in their home, car or business. For a truck driver like Smith, his cab is at times all three.

The assistant district attorney at November’s hearing, Thomas Binger, suggested Smith could easily have gotten a concealed carry permit.

After that hearing, Smith said he didn’t get one because he didn’t need to.

“I’m just a trucker trying to stay alive,” he said.  “I want my gun back, and I don’t want a record, and I’m not paying a fine. I didn’t do anything wrong.”

Doing something wrong or violating the law has nothing to do with it when Thomas Binger is involved.  He’s on a mission.

Via Bill Quick, this from the loathsome David French.

1. The acquittal was proper–Rittenhouse presented evidence that he was chased and attacked at every turn.

2. He's no hero. He never should have been there. The effort on the right to turn him into a model of citizen action is dangerous: https://t.co/mUz8aJHp75

— David French (@DavidAFrench) November 19, 2021

Repeating myself.

In the battle of King’s Mountain, the British forces were essentially all loyalist fighters with the exception of the commander.  This was to be General Cornwallis’ going-forward strategy for winning the campaign in the South.

Upon learning of the coming destruction, the “over-mountain men” left their homes in the area and also neighboring states to travel overnight, many nights, on horseback, to gather and fight the loyalists.

At the time of the battle, crops were being harvested and families couldn’t send the fathers.  Men had to be in the fields in order to prepare for the coming winter.  They did the only thing they could do, and entire families gathered in streets and sang hymns to their young fighters as they sent their sons riding off to war.

They won a decisive victory, destroying Cornwallis’ strategic plan.  What most people do not know about the “over-mountain men” is that the vast majority of them were under the age of 18.  You too can learn this if you study history, or perhaps come to the King’s Mountain military park and tour it, read the placards, and study the area.

But rather than hold older men accountable for their actions, like politicians and police, pundits are satisfied with turning on Kyle for being young and deciding to make a stand.

Kyle Rittenhouse did what French was too foppish and cowardly to do.

Enough said.  I don’t want to hear any more about that.

A deer.  With a hollow point.

There’s a difference between a pointed soft point and a hollow point.  But don’t leave it to soy boy to understand that.

Actually, I’m sure he did.  He was just trying to scare the women on the jury.  Maybe some “men” too.  Never mind that he had FMJ loaded into his mags.

This trial is such a clown show that the judge had to LITERALLY CORRECT the prosecutor on his understanding of ammunition types pic.twitter.com/cELfUElgrR

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) November 10, 2021