Category: International

“Moments ago, Israel launched Operation Rising Lion, a targeted military operation to roll back the Iranian threat to Israel’s very survival”
– Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

IAF launches major strike on Iran and its nuclear program; PM: A decisive point in our history

Iran has been secretly advancing a plan for the “technological advancement of all parts of the development of a nuclear weapon,” the Israeli military says, after launching strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Reported to have been killed, so far:

Mohammad Bagherim, Chief of the Iranian military
Gholam Ali Rashid, Deputy Chief of the Iranian military
Hossein Salami, Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
Ali Shamkhani, reported to be Supreme Leader Khamenei’s right hand man
Mohammad Tehranchi, President, Azad University, theoretical physicist.
Fereydoon Abbasi, former head, Atomic Energy Organization & MP.

Strikes reported on:

The D2O (heavy water) manufacturing facility in Arak.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps HQ in Tehran
The Natanz uranium enrichment facility in Isfahan

Austrian School Shooting Shatters Gun Control Myths

School shootings aren’t the boogieman many make them out to be, as I noted just a couple of hours ago, but they’re far more common here than elsewhere.

However, they’re not “uniquely American” as some have said, and what happened in Graz, Austria yesterday kind of illustrates that point pretty well, as I noted on Tuesday morning.

I’m not the only one who noticed this, of course. Not by any stretch of the imagination.

The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms noticed it too, and they sent out a press release talking about it.

Tuesday’s tragic school shooting in Graz, Austria not only refutes long standing arguments by the U.S. gun prohibition lobby that such crimes only happen in this country, but also destroys other contentions made by American anti-gunners, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said.

The attack, at the BORG Dreierschützengasse high school, claimed at least nine lives, and the alleged killer apparently took his own life, according to published reports. Details about the shooting, revealed by the BBC, place traditional gun control arguments in serious doubt, said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb.

“What we have ascertained from various reports,” Gottlieb stated, “is that the alleged shooter used two legally-obtained firearms, and gun ownership in Austria requires registration. Purchases involve a three-day waiting period, and handguns may be purchased only by people over age 21 who hold firearms licenses.

“This tells us that the gun prohibition lobby is absolutely wrong when it argues that waiting periods and gun registration will prevent such tragedies,” the veteran gun rights advocate observed. “The 21-year-old suspect reportedly used a handgun and a shotgun, and he had a firearms license, so the notion that a licensing requirement will deter such attacks is also now thoroughly debunked.”

A report from the BBC also explained that in Austria, anyone wanting to own a firearm must first provide a reason for the purchase, which can be “sports shooting or self-defense.” Gottlieb noted that in the U.S., with its Second Amendment protection of the right to keep and bear arms, citizens do not need to provide a reason for exercising a constitutionally protected right, especially after the 2022 Supreme Court Bruen ruling.

“What we do know,” Gottlieb said, “is that restrictions on gun ownership in Austria did not prevent this attack, and that calling for such restrictions on gun ownership in America as a means of stopping tragedies here amounts to a promise gun grabbers have no intention of keeping, and know they cannot guarantee. What they do know, but will never acknowledge, is that their efforts are designed to discourage gun ownership, with the ultimate goal of eliminating it altogether.”

Now, I’ve had people try to point out that Austria has pretty liberal gun laws as European nations go, and that’s true. They have permit requirements, but they’re “shall issue” to anyone who qualifies, and they have concealed carry on a “shall issue” basis, which means Austria respected gun rights better than New York in some ways.

But they still have more extensive gun control laws than we have here, and much stricter than would likely be tolerated by the courts should anyone try to put them in place in the United States.

And they didn’t work.

It’s also not like we haven’t seen this in other places with even more restrictive gun control laws. We’ve seen far too many, unfortunately, and it’s a sign that there’s something wrong with society as a whole, not with the gun laws that may or may not be put in place.

Graz is a city I’ve wanted to visit for a long time. There’s an armory there with a lot of medieval armor there and since one of my passions is medieval armor, it’s something I desperately want to see. I actually feel better about going some day, knowing there is lawful concealed carry, even if I’m not allowed to be armed.

I feel much better, though, here in the United States, knowing I can deal with threats personally.

Mass shootings happen everywhere in the world. Anyone who calls them “uniquely American” is lying to you. They want you afraid, thinking that it’s only us.

Graz will fall out of the news cycle here very quickly, in part because they want you to forget it ever happened before the next tragedy strikes.

The truth, though, is that it’s not the guns.

This was a no-brainer. But why it even got past the District Court level before getting thrown out is the problem.

SMITH & WESSON BRANDS, INC., ET AL. v. ESTADOS UNIDOS MEXICANOS

Here, the Government of Mexico sued seven American gun manufacturers, alleging that the companies aided and abetted unlawful gun sales that routed firearms to Mexican drug cartels. The basic theory of its suit is that the defendants failed to exercise “reasonable care” to prevent trafficking of their guns into Mexico…..

Held: Because Mexico’s complaint does not plausibly allege that the defendant gun manufacturers aided and abetted gun dealers’ unlawful
sales of firearms to Mexican traffickers, PLCAA bars the lawsuit.

Goobermints still want to gatekeep the means to confront and deal with tyranny

Poland Sets Gun Ownership Record, Argentina Drops Minimum Age: Another reminder that the right to keep and bear arms is a universal right.

The number of residents in Poland applying for a permit to own a firearm set a record in 2024 at nearly 46,000. The previous highwater mark, set in 2023, was roughly 41,000. The total number of guns owned by civilians in the nation now stands at 930,100, a figure that is twice what it was in 2017.

Requirements to own a gun in Poland are stringent and include passing an exam, acquiring a certificate of health from a doctor and another from a psychologist. With a few exceptions, all applicants must be at least 21 years old, have a clean criminal record and not be addicted to drugs or alcohol. Issued permits fall into distinct categories that identify the gun’s intended use, including possession for self-defense, training, hunting, etc.

Between medical checks, courses that offer the exams and the sometimes-required sporting-club membership, it is expensive. The government’s fee for applying for a Polish gun-ownership permit is the bargain in the time-consuming process, 242 zltoys (about $65 U.S.), according to a summary from Hartmann Tresore—a highly renowned Polish manufacturer that began offering gun safes in 1983.

Poland relaxed its firearm ownership laws in 2011, although permit applications trickled in until 2022—the year Russia invaded Ukraine. Since that conflict began the nation also made gun safety and marksmanship education mandatory in its school systems.

Elsewhere

Patricia Bulrich, Argentina’s Minister of Security, used X (formerly Twitter) to post an update to that nation’s gun laws in December. She wrote, “From now on, those over 18 can be legitimate gun owners. This measure, promoted by the National Government, updates an outdated 1975 law and respects the 2015 Civil Code reform, which set the age of majority at 18. At 16, they have the right to vote. At 18, they can go to war, start a family, or join a security force. And, incredible as it may seem, at any age they can choose a sex change that will affect them for life. So, why can’t they be legitimate users or bearers of a gun at 18? For years, no one dared to make this decision. We didn’t hesitate. While we disarm narco-terrorist gangs and organized crime, we celebrate the fact that good citizens can access weapons as legitimate users. Empty speeches are a thing of the past. In this government, we are making the right of Argentines to protect themselves and live in freedom a reality.”

Prior to the announcement the minimum age for an Argentinian to own a gun was 21. The change, however, did not remove the nation’s other stringent requirements to secure a permit, which are similar to those in Poland.

South African Government Releases Terrifyingly Chilling Statement on Fleeing White Afrikaners

The case of around 50 white Afrikaner refugees from South Africa has turned the political discourse upside down. After years of never finding a migrant they didn’t approve of, Democrats and their press allies are suddenly greatly offended that President Donald Trump would dare grant asylum to a statistically insignificant number of people.

On CNN, former Obama campaign official and current analyst Ashley Allison went on a racist rant, proclaiming they should go back to “Germany” if they don’t like the “law of the land” of being persecuted financially and physically. Notably, Afrikaners, who migrated to South Africa some 400 years ago, aren’t from Germany, nor would Allison ever suggest that about any other racial group in any other country.

But while the left was busy taking the bait and going out on a limb by claiming that granting refugee status wasn’t justified, South Africa’s government came right out and said the quiet part out loud.

Here’s the key line.

What the instigators of this falsehood seek is not safety, but impunity from transformation. They flee not from persecution, but from justice, equality, and accountability for historic privilege.

Reading that sent a chill down my spine. These are people whose ancestors have been in South Africa for nearly half a millennium. They are as much South Africans as black Americans are Americans, which is to say, fully. To claim they are fleeing “transformation” while citing “justice” and “accountability for historic privilege” is terrifyingly Orwellian. Everyone knows exactly what that means, which is the continued ethnic cleansing that has been endorsed by South Africa’s ruling party.

At this point, the United States should not even consider reopening diplomatic ties with South Africa (the ambassador to the U.S. was expelled in March). The Trump administration should likewise pressure Europe into speaking out or face consequences. They have sat idly by, ignoring the forcible seizure of land and extra-judicial killings committed under the guise of punishing “historic privilege” simply because it’s been coming from an African government.

If this were Russia, they’d all be denouncing it, and everyone knows it. The color of someone’s skin should not dictate whether they are treated fairly as refugees, and assuming that just because someone is white, they couldn’t possibly be facing persecution is grotesque.

Make no mistake. This is what “equity” initiatives inevitably lead to, whether they are carried out in South Africa or Western nations. It’s never enough for everyone to ensure everyone has equal rights. Eventually, you end up with the seizure of money and property to pay for “reparations” and worse, punishing people for things their ancestors did hundreds of years in the past. The next time someone questions the dangers of DEI and why the right has fought so hard against it, just point to South Africa and what’s happening to the Afrikaners.

See If You Can Spot the Biggest Difference Between Biden’s and Trump’s China Deals.

As Matt writes nearby, on Sunday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced a complete economic and trade reset with China that is aimed at bridging a lopsided $1.2 trillion trade deficit with the U.S.

Details of the new agreement are promised on Monday, but let’s take a look at the abundant differences we can see between Joe Biden’s and Donald Trump’s approaches with China.

While people love to tout Trump’s “art of the deal” transactional dealmaking with super powers, it was actually Joe Biden who leveraged his job as vice president and then as president to personally enrich his son’s “business” and, by extension, his own personal bottom line.

Biden encouraged his son’s ferociously greedy dealings with the Chinese energy firms and even fronted a deal for China to get raw earth minerals to help with the communist state’s electric car battery production and to help its notorious “Belt and Road Initiative.”

At one point, Hunter Biden and family were paid in diamonds in an apparent obvious attempt to avoid paying taxes.

As we now know, Hunter’s businesses always had to kick back “10% to ‘The Big Guy.'”

His investment firm was involved in a deal where a Chinese state-backed company gained control of a cobalt mine. This deal involved a $3.8 billion transaction and transferred 80% ownership of the Tenke Fungurum mine from an American company to China Molybdenum.

When Joe Biden was vice president he took his granddaughter and his family bagman, Hunter Biden, on Air Force Two to China.

While Joe Biden was discussing world relations with Ji Xingping, Hunter was off sealing deals for the Biden family. The senior Biden always claimed he had no personal knowledge of his son’s business dealings, but on that trip then-Vice President Biden met with Xi Jingping for hours and thereafter introduced him to his son.

Just ten days later, Hunter’s company was given the proper licenses enabling him to do business in China.

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Police Raid Shatters British Gun Control Myth. Again

“We need sensible gun control laws like the UK has.”

How many times have you heard something like this? Often, the country is different, but a lot of times it’s not. Far too many Americans forget we fought an entire war because of British attempts at gun control and think we should import it here.

In fairness to them–well, sort of–they actually think it would work.

The problem is, it doesn’t. Like, at all.

Police have arrested seven people after uncovering a stash of guns, knives and machetes during a raid at a petrol station.

Armed officers swooped on a row of businesses around the Gulf Petrol Station in Birmingham today amid a major operation.

Firearms officers, drones officers, dog handlers, and officers from the Organised Crime and Gangs team descended on the complex at around 2.30am, where they seized several dangerous weapons.

Two stun guns, shotgun cartridges and a large number of knives and machetes were all recovered and are now being examined by officers….

Photos taken from the scene show forensics officers handling a number of guns including what appears to be a shotgun and a revolver.

A black Vauxhall was also pictured at the site of the raid, with a large dent and several scratches along the front passenger door.

Yeah, not a lot of guns, but let’s also remember that they regulate stun guns and bladed weapons, which also don’t seem to be much of a problem for some people to get.

I don’t know the specifics of this raid, nor do I care.

For me, this is just another example of how criminals will get guns, even on an island with only one roadway leading into the country. If the UK can’t keep guns out of the country, how would we?

We have a porous southern border, which isn’t as porous as it was, but is still bad enough. Once it becomes profitable enough, some criminal enterprise would start importing guns into the United States, rather than out of here.

There’s very little in the way of legal gun sales in the UK, which clearly doesn’t stop bad people from getting guns, and people want this here? They claim, “I support the Second Amendment, but…” and then want to completely gut it by doing exactly what the British were trying to do at Lexington and Concord, all without a hint of irony at the fact that it doesn’t work in the UK.

It’s absolutely bonkers, and yet, here we are.

No, the UK’s gun control doesn’t work. It never worked. As I’ve noted before, our non-gun homicide rate is higher than their total homicide rate, which means looking at them as a guide on guns makes absolutely no sense due to significant differences in our culture.

So excuse me if I don’t bend over and accept that the empire we kicked out of our borders in the 18th century and that has since shrunk to a minuscule portion of where it was, a nation that now arrests people for mean words on the internet, is a country we can learn anything from other than how not to become a totalitarian hellhole in the making.

Part of that is not giving up our guns, because I promise you, if Europeans as a whole were armed like Americans, memes wouldn’t be the thing the powers that be over there fear.

Just something to keep in mine; Both nations have the bomb….

India launches strikes on terrorist camps in Pakistan
The military action comes amid tense relations between the nuclear-armed states following an April 22 attack that killed 26 people

India said it attacked “terrorist infrastructure” in neighboring Pakistan on Wednesday in two of its occupied territories, killing at least one child and wounding two other people, Pakistani security officials said.

The Indian armed forces launched “Operation Sindoor,” which targeted terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir from where terrorist attacks against India have been planned and directed, the Press Information Bureau of India said in a statement.

“Our actions have been focused, measured and non-escalatory in nature,” India’s Defense Ministry said in a statement. “No Pakistan military facilities have been targeted.”

“India has demonstrated considerable restraint in selection of targets and method of execution,” the statement said.

The missiles launched Wednesday struck locations in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and in the country’s eastern Punjab province. A mosque in the city of Bahawalpur was struck, killing a child, and a woman and man were injured, one Pakistani security official said.

The attack occurred in a remote valley only accessible on foot or by horse, and survivors claimed after the attack that the gunmen had accused some of the victims of supporting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

President Donald Trump said he hoped the tension between the two nations subsides.

“It’s a shame. We just heard about it just as we were walking in the doors of the Oval (Office),” he said. “I just heard about it. I guess people knew something was going to happen based on a little bit of the past. They’ve been fighting for a long time. You know, they’ve been fighting for many, many decades and centuries, actually, if you really think about it.”

“I just hope it ends very quickly,” he said.

The military action comes amid tense relations between the nuclear-armed states following an April 22 attack that killed 26 people in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir, a long-disputed territory that has been the source of tension between the two nations and is one of the most militarized regions in the world.

Kashmir has been a disputed region since both India and Pakistan gained their autonomy from Britain in 1947.

India has blamed Pakistan for backing the militant attack, which Islamabad has denied.

Pakistani army spokesman, Lt. Gen. Ahmad Sharif, told ARY News that the missiles were launched Wednesday from within Indian territory and that no Indian aircraft had entered Pakistani airspace.

“This was a cowardly attack targeting innocent civilians under the cover of darkness,” Sharif told the broadcaster.

I think that Operation Nitro Zeus never really ended.

Quip O’ The Day: ‘Cardboard factory’, suuuure

What the Hell Is Going on in Iran This Time?

Iran is on fire — literally, again — and nobody knows why. A massive power plant and a “cardboard factory” caught fire bigly in Iran over the weekend. But there is impressive new video of Iran’s port explosion from last week.

Iran International reported that a “series of incidents unfolded in Alborz Province, west of Tehran, on Saturday evening, including two fires, reports of an explosion, and a magnitude 4.0 earthquake, according to official statements and eyewitness accounts.”

Israeli action? Typical authoritarian regime attention to maintenance issues? God just doesn’t like the mullahs’ regime? Who knows.

For reasons yet unknown, the Montazer Ghaem power plant in Karaj, just west of Tehran, caught fire on Saturday. Here’s that video:


Those cooling towers make Montazer Ghaem look like it might be a nuclear power plant, but it burns natural gas and other fossil fuels.

Tehran posted undated video of the plant not on fire and claimed that there was nothing to see here, move along.

In the same province, also on Saturday, a “cardboard manufacturing factory” was seen burning brightly.

The Germans never really abandoned the authoritarian state.

Spain experienced a nationwide power outage one week after reaching 100% “green” energy.

Across all of Portugal and Spain, people were left without power or cell service of any kind. The nations literally went dark.

Tens of millions of people had to resort to old handheld radios to figure out what was even happening. It could have been an alien invasion for all they knew!

From El Pais:

The outage suddenly set Spain back to the 19th century. Traffic lights out of service, traffic jams forming across the country, pedestrians wandering around cities without public transportation, desperate families trying to communicate with their loved ones, passengers left stranded without trains or flights, canceled medical appointments, rescues underway in subway stations and elevators, lines forming outside small shops due to supermarket closures…

I wonder what could have caused this?

For no reason at all, here’s a video of Spaniards celebrating the destruction of a nuclear power plant three years ago.

A huge blast on Saturday in Iran’s southern port of Shahid Rajaee has killed at least four people. According to The Guardian, the explosion wounded more than 500, with an official suggesting the fire was caused by the explosion of chemical containers.

“If the smoke is a funny color, always run to take cover.”

Q: What steps should you take when this happens?
A: Large and rapid

BLUF
In rebuttal, Francisco effectively summarized the core of the case: The PLCAA is “not just about protecting the manufacturers, the distributors and the retailers, but it’s about protecting the right of every American to exercise their right under the Second Amendment to possess and bear firearms. That right is meaningless if there are no manufacturers, retailers and distributors that provide them in the first place.”

What Supreme Court Justices Had to Say About Mexico’s Attempt to Demolish Our Second Amendment

Mexico has extinguished its constitutional arms right and now seeks to extinguish America’s,” stated the NRA’s amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court case Smith & Wesson v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos. The oral argument took place on March 4, and the Court’s decision is expected by the end of June. Based on the Justices’ questions during oral argument, there is reason for cautious optimism that the Court will enforce the federal statute that prohibits abusive lawsuits designed to destroy American firearms businesses.

The roots of the current Mexico case go back to 1998, when the gun-ban group Handgun Control, Inc., orchestrated meritless lawsuits by big-city mayors to attempt to bankrupt American firearms companies through the sheer cost of litigation. Handgun Control, Inc., later changed its name twice, and now calls itself Brady United.

In response, two-thirds of the states enacted legislation to forbid such abusive suits. Then in 2005, a bipartisan Congress passed and President George W. Bush (R) signed a federal statute called the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) to stop the frivolous suits. Given the new law, most judges promptly dismissed the abusive suits.

Yet two decades later, the Mexican government is in American courts attempting to accomplish what the previous lawsuits did not, namely bankrupting the American firearms industry—and thereby making the exercise of Second Amendment rights impossible.

The allegations in the Mexico case are updated versions of the same bogus allegations from the earlier suits: American firearms businesses that obey all of the many laws about firearms commerce should be held financially liable for criminal gun misuse. Mexico wants $10 billion from American firearms businesses, plus court-ordered, drastic restrictions on the firearms industry.

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Germany Is Revoking Gun Rights from AfD Supporters—and It’s a Warning Shot for the West

In Germany, owning guns is a privilege that can be taken away—not for breaking the law, but for holding the wrong political opinion.

Members and supporters of the right-leaning Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party are now facing mass gun license revocations. The reason? The German government has labeled the AfD a “right-wing extremist” group—a political designation that suddenly makes its members “unreliable” under the country’s gun laws. And just like that, firearms must be surrendered or destroyed.

If that sounds outrageous, it should. But it’s not surprising.

Here in the U.S., we’ve already seen our own political establishment flirt with these kinds of tactics. Remember when New York’s then-Governor Andrew Cuomo said pro-gun conservatives “have no place” in his state? Or when San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors labeled the NRA a “domestic terrorist organization”? Label first. Punish later.

That’s the playbook being used in Germany right now. And it’s worth paying attention to.

Government Labels a Popular Opposition Party “Extremist”—Then Comes the Crackdown

In 2021, Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (BfV), designated the entire AfD as a “suspected threat to democracy.” That move allowed the government to surveil, wiretap, and investigate the party and its members.

It didn’t stop there.

Courts have now upheld revoking gun licenses from AfD members, based solely on their political affiliation. In one case, a couple in North Rhine-Westphalia lost legal ownership of over 200 firearms. They weren’t criminals. They weren’t accused of wrongdoing. They were just AfD members.

Another court in Thuringia blocked a blanket gun ban for all AfD members—but left the door wide open for revocations on a case-by-case basis.

In Saxony-Anhalt, officials are reviewing the gun licenses of 109 AfD members. As of last fall, 72 had already been targeted for revocation, with the rest under active review. The justification? Supporting a party the state now claims is “working against the constitutional order.”

And the courts are backing it up. According to a March 2024 ruling, former or current AfD supporters “lack the reliability” required to legally own firearms.

Why the AfD’s Platform Sounds Familiar to American Ears

You don’t have to support the AfD to see the dangerous precedent here. In fact, many of their stated positions would be right at home in American politics:

  • Support for limited government and individual liberty
  • Stronger penalties for violent crime
  • Calls for unbiased law enforcement and judicial independence
  • Opposition to political censorship
  • A demand for simple, fair taxes for middle- and low-income citizens

On gun rights, their platform is clear: “A liberal and constitutional state has to trust its citizens… The AfD opposes any form of restrictions of civil rights by tightening firearms legislation.”

Sound extreme to you? Or does that sound like something a lot of Americans already believe?

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Looks like ‘Stop Drop & Roll’ didn’t cut it for the jihadi.
Orange car in the lower right center

The Globalist Authoritarians Are Playing With Fire

What happened with Marine Le Pen, the most popular politician in France who was just banned from standing for election on the flimsiest of pretenses, is no exception. It’s becoming the rule around the West and in other places, too, where being outside the mainstream of authorized establishment left-leaning globalist politics has become criminalized.

In some places, like the UK and Spain, it takes the form of persecuting people for saying things that those in power don’t want to hear. In other places, like Germany, upstart populist parties that earned a significant number of votes are informally, and sometimes formally, marginalized and threatened with being banned. But it’s the criminal persecution of leaders that is becoming the go-to.

It happened to Bolsonaro in Brazil, Netanyahu in Israel, Georgescu in Romania, and Le Pen in France. In each of these cases, the establishment authoritarians essentially attempted to frame a politician they couldn’t beat at the ballot box. Of course, their American analogs tried to do the same thing to Donald Trump here, and when that didn’t work, their allies tried to murder him. Thankfully, they failed at both – with the people who instigated these atrocities too dumb to know that they are the ones who should be the most thankful they failed.

These are not the acts of strong and confident leaders who believe in the strength and popularity of their ideology. These are the cowardly acts of authoritarians who differ from Putin not in their nature but only in their extent. They haven’t thrown anybody out of a fifth-story window yet that we know of, though we don’t know if they actively put the murderer who tried to kill Trump in Butler up to it – the one who tried to ambush him in Florida was an active member of their collective – but they would’ve cheered if either attempt had succeeded.

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