Horry County man faces no charges for killing North Myrtle Beach man. Prosecutor explains.

NORTH MYRTLE BEACH — A Longs homeowner who shot and killed an intruder this week will not face any charges because he acted in self-defense, the area’s top prosecutor said.

The shooting happened around 7:40 p.m. Oct. 21 when 34-year-old Ryan Surujnauth entered at a home on Monaca Drive in Longs, according to a news release from the Horry County Coroner’s Office. The homeowner shot him multiple times. Surujnauth, who lived in North Myrtle Beach, died Oct. 22 at Grand Strand Medical Center.

The name of the homeowner hasn’t been released. The Post & Courier has requested the Horry County Police report from the case, but that hasn’t been provided yet.

However, Solicitor Jimmy Richardson said the evidence points to self-defense. He said the homeowner didn’t know Surujnauth.

“This guy did exactly what we would have all done,” Richardson said. “There’s not going to be any charges in that case.”

That America is an exceptional nation is unclear only to one who has not been taught its true history. It ceases to be exceptional only when its representative leaders cease to be exceptional. America, it has been said, is a nation of laws, not of men. The more it becomes a nation of men, the less it remains America.
-Ron Brackin

Here’s Why GOP Lawmakers Aren’t Surprised by That Treasonous Leak to Iran

Republican lawmakers who have been warning about an Iranian influence campaign, specifically targeted at Democrats on Capitol Hill and Democratic presidential administrations, aren’t surprised about the latest top secret intelligence leak out of the Pentagon. The leak, which was exposed over the weekend, shows someone with a top secret security clearance gave Iran U.S. intelligence about Israel’s attack plans inside the country.

More on the influence campaign from Semafor:

In the spring of 2014, senior Iranian Foreign Ministry officials initiated a quiet effort to bolster Tehran’s image and positions on global security issues — particularly its nuclear program — by building ties with a network of influential overseas academics and researchers. They called it the Iran Experts Initiative.

The scope and scale of the IEI project has emerged in a large cache of Iranian government correspondence and emails reported for the first time by Semafor and Iran International. The officials, working under the moderate President Hassan Rouhani, congratulated themselves on the impact of the initiative.

At least two of the people on the Foreign Ministry’s list were, or became, top aides to Robert Malley, the Biden administration’s special envoy on Iran, who was placed on leave this June following the suspension of his security clearance. A third was hired by the think tank Malley ran just as he left for the State Department.

An investigation into who leaked the information is being conducted by the FBI, but the pace is unsatisfactory.

“There’s an absolute lack of urgency. This is very, very serious. It doesn’t get more serious than this, particularly, as I said, when Israel is fighting for its very existence and conducting important operations every single day. The fact that this classified information was leaked not only does it really hurt our credibility with our allies around the world in terms of intelligence sharing, but it also, I’m concerned about the lack of urgency from this Administration,” Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik said during an interview with Fox News Monday. “This should never happen again. There needs to be taken immediate criminal action, referrals to the Department of Justice, and this person who broke the law by leaking classified information, they should be in prison.”

There is a suspect, however.

Ukraine, in an Unlikely Attack on an Iconic Cultural Mainstay, Is Sending Drones Into Russia To Blow Up Its Vodka Distilleries.

In a blow to Russia, Ukraine used the cover of night yesterday to blast four large vodka distilleries. Video clips posted online purported to show alcohol tanks burning fiercely in Tula and Tambov, two Russian regions about 300 miles from eastern Ukraine.

In the largest attack to date on Russia’s alcohol industry, drones flew from Ukraine and set off the pre-dawn blazes. In President Putin’s wartime economy, alcohol distilleries produce vodka for drinking and ethanol for the military machine.

Russia is the world’s largest consumer of vodka — about 21 shots per adult per month, according to the World Population Review. This is about 70 percent more than Ukraine’s per capita consumption and almost five times American consumption.

In a nation where vodka sales average 600 million liters a year, it is unclear whether yesterday’s pyrotechnics will seriously dent Russia’s vodka industry. However, it is a psychological blow to an industry revered by the average Russian man.

In 988, Prince Volodomyr the Great rejected Islam because of Islam’s prohibition of drinking alcohol. Instead, he Christianized Kievan Rus. He is quoted as saying: “Drinking is the joy of all Rus. We cannot exist without its pleasure.”

Vodka was for Tsarist Russia what oil is for modern Russia. In the mid-19th century, vodka taxes accounted for up to 40 percent of government revenue. By 1911, 89 percent of all alcohol sold in Russia was vodka.

In the opening days of Nazi Germany’s 1941 attack on the Soviet Union, the Luftwaffe sought out and severely damaged Moscow’s Kristall, the Soviet Union’s largest distillery. During World War II, Red Army soldiers advanced through Eastern Europe fueled in part by daily rations of two shots of vodka.

This week, it is unlikely that Ukraine’s attack on Russia’s iconic cultural product will galvanize Russians to rally around their President’s war on Ukraine. More likely, it will simply become the latest indignity that Russians have to put up with as they seek to avoid getting dragged into his war.

Two years ago, a national draft order prompted about 1 million Russian men to leave the country. To avoid a repeat this fall, Mr. Putin is burning through oil earnings to buy soldiers. First-time signing bonuses have soared to $25,000, the equivalent of two year’s annual salary for workers outside big cities. Enlistment bonuses rise as hair-raising news from the war front filters back home.

For Russian soldiers, last month was the bloodiest month of the 31-month war, American and British officials say. Daily Russian casualties averaged 1,200 killed or severely wounded a day. Ukraine’s August 6 invasion of a chunk of Russia’s Kursk region has not sparked a surge in enlistments.

“This unprecedented Ukrainian occupation of Russian territory” has exposed what the Atlantic Council’s Ukraine editor, Peter Dickinson, calls “the limitations of the Kremlin war machine.” Mr. Dickinson made that observation two weeks ago in an essay titled “Putin doesn’t have enough troops to defeat Ukraine and defend Russia.”

Mr. Dickinson contended that “while many continue to view the Russian military as an irresistible force with virtually limitless supplies of men and machines, it is now increasingly apparent that in reality, Putin’s attempt to conquer Ukraine has left his army dangerously overstretched and unable to defend Russia.”

In response to this shortage of warriors, Russia is training and equipping as many as 10,000 North Korean soldiers to fight against Ukraine. Ukrainian officials say these units will go to Russia’s Kursk region to join the fight to expel Ukrainian soldiers from Kursk, the first invasion of Russia by a foreign power since World War II. In simple English, this means that the Kremlin is paying foreign mercenaries to liberate Russian soil because Russians will not fight for it.

Only 34% Say Country on Right Track; 56% Can’t Trust News

Only 34 percent of likely voters believe the United States is headed in the right direction, according to a new Rasmussen survey, and 56 percent say they don’t find the media delivers accurate news.

Rasmussen keeps weekly track of how voters feel regarding the direction of the country. This week’s report is up one point from last week, but it is up by three points from a year ago, when 31 percent of poll respondents thought the country was on the right track. Sixty-one percent of likely voters polled recently said the nation is headed in the wrong direction.

A separate survey revealed only 16 percent of respondents think it is easier to find news they can trust, and 25 percent think media accuracy is “about the same.”

But beyond those numbers, things get interesting socially and politically.

According to Rasmussen, 30 percent said Fox News “is the cable TV news channel they are most likely to trust.” Coming in second place at 23 percent is CNN, while MSNBC and Newsmax are tied at 15 percent.

“Among those who say they trust cable news for political news, most name either Fox News (38%) or CNN (29%) as the most trusted channel,” Rasmussen said.

Perhaps not surprisingly, among Democrats, 40 percent say CNN is their most trusted news source, followed by MSNBC at 26 percent and Vox News at 16 percent. On the flip side, 46 percent of Republicans prefer Fox News, followed by Newsmax at 26 percent and CNN at a pitiful 11 percent.

An impressive 68 percent of Democrats say their most trusted source for political news is either network television or major cable news channels, Rasmussen discovered. Among Republicans, network trust shrinks to 51 percent and among Independents, only 39 percent depend upon networks or cable news channels.

Among Independent voters, 45 percent trust independent online news sources for political news, along with 34 percent of Republicans and 22 percent of Democrats, according to Rasmussen.

Interestingly, more men (33%) than women (26%) say they trust Fox News most, while more women (17%) than men (12%) “prefer MSNBC.”

Walz’s Interview With ‘The View’ May Have Revealed More Than He Intended

Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz was asked another softball question about gun ownership and the Second Amendment on Monday, this time from the hosts of The View. While most of Walz’s answer was nothing more than a regurgitation of his campaign talking points claiming that gun owners have nothing to fear from the candidate who previously supported banning handguns and declared the Supreme Court shouldn’t find that the Second Amendment protects an individual right, one jab at Donald Trump highlighted the draconian stance that the Harris/Walz ticket has taken on who, exactly, possesses the right to keep and bear arms.

Walz made one more shady dig at his Republican opponent Donald Trump, telling the co-hosts, “The Republican nominee can’t pass a background check to get a gun,” referring to Trump getting convicted on 34 felony counts in his hush money trial early this year.

“We understand the Second Amendment and lawful gun owners, folks who have been doing this for 50 years like I have, we understand that there’s not a single thing that we’re proposing that takes away your right to be able to own that firearm, to be able to have it in your possession,” he continued. “But it does go a long ways to making sure that folks who shouldn’t have it, don’t have it.”

Clearly Walz believes that Trump’s felony convictions for the non-violent crime of falsifying business records should prevent him from lawfully possessing a firearm, though the Minnesota governor still believes felons should be able to cast a vote. Just last year Walz signed a bill allowing felons to have their voting rights restored after they complete their sentence, though their ability to legally own a firearm is still prohibited under Minnesota law.

Walz’s stance is right in line with Biden/Harri’s DOJ, which has argued that a lifetime prohibition on gun ownership is entirely appropriate for anyone convicted of a felony or criminal offense punishable by more than a year in prison, even non-violent crimes. That argument has its share of critics, however, including multiple judges on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, which seems poised to once again rule in favor of a Pennsylvania man seeking to get his 2A rights restored almost 30 years after he pled guilty and received probation for falsifying his income on a food stamp application.

The Third Circuit previously ruled in favor of Bryan Range, but the Supreme Court remanded the case back to the appellate court after it issued the Rahimi decision. The appellate court held oral arguments in the Range case for a second time earlier this month, and the panel seemed skeptical of DOJ attorney Kevin Soter’s position that only “serious crimes” result in a lifetime loss of the right to keep and bear arms.

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One of the bittersweet things about growing old is realizing how mistaken you were when you were young. As a young political leftist, I saw the left as the voice of the common man. Nothing could be further from the truth.
-Thomas Sowell

at the last moment……

Desperate Gun Controllers Launch Astroturf ‘Hunters & Anglers for Harris’

Brady, you might recall, was called the National Council to Control Handguns when it was formed 50 years ago. In 1980 it changed its name to Handgun Control, Inc. and partnered with the National Coalition to Ban Handguns in an attempt to enact handgun bans at the local, state, and eventually, national level.

It’s a sign of how much progress Second Amendment supporters have made over the decades that groups like Brady now try to pretend they ever advocated for a complete ban on handguns, and “proudly support” professed gun owners like Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. But while their stated goals may have shifted over the years, Brady only seems to be okay with gun ownership when it might help their favored candidates win election.

Which brings us to Hunters and Anglers for Harris-Walz. If you visit the astroturf group’s website, you’ll immediately notice a few oddities. Who’s in charge of the group? There’s no way to tell. What policies does the organization support? They don’t say. There are only three links on the website; one to make a donation, one to shop at the Harris-Walz campaign store, and the last to “add your name in support”. When you click on the third link, you’re taken to a page where you’re asked to give your name, phone number, and address as well as the opportunity to sign an “Open Letter from Hunters and Anglers for Harris-Walz” that doesn’t mention the Second Amendment at all. 

Friends – 

As hunters, anglers, and stewards of America’s natural resources, we understand the deep connection between the land, the water, and our way of life. We know that preserving the beauty and bounty of our outdoors is essential not just for us, but for future generations of sportsmen and sportswomen.

Kamala Harris has consistently demonstrated a strong commitment to conserving our landscapes, recognizing the critical role it plays in our nation’s well-being. Her work to protect our public lands, combat climate change, and promote clean energy while balancing the needs for wildlife reflects her dedication to ensuring that the outdoor experiences we cherish remain accessible and sustainable for all Americans. As Vice President, Kamala Harris helped open an additional 2 million acres of public land for hunting and fishing.

Tim Walz, as a lifelong hunter, and angler, has spent more time in the field than anyone running on a presidential ticket since Teddy Roosevelt. In Congress, he was a dedicated member of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation and remains a tireless advocate for conservation and the outdoor traditions we hold dear. His leadership in preserving hunting and fishing rights, promoting habitat conservation and restoration, and supporting responsible wildlife management underscores his commitment to our community.      

Together, Harris and Walz offer a vision of America that honors our outdoor heritage while addressing the conservation challenges that will determine the future of hunting and angling in America. They understand that our lands and waters are not just resources to be used, but treasures to be protected and enjoyed by all.

Join us in supporting Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. Let’s ensure that our outdoor traditions thrive for generations to come.

At the very bottom of the page, in tiny print, there’s a brief note: This form was created inside of Forge Advisors DC.

Forge Advisors is a consulting firm located in the D.C. suburb of Reston, Virginia founded by Brittney Killen in 2017 that appears to have multiple contracts with government agencies, defense contractors, and some commercial clients as well, but no obvious connection to any hunting or outdoor organizations.

Hunters and Anglers for Harris-Walz appears to be nothing more than a way for Democrats to gather information from potential voters so they can spam them with get-out-the-vote messaging between now and Election Day. The complete lack of any details on the organization’s leadership is suspect. Even previous astroturf attempts like the American Hunters and Shooters Association had a human face to go along with their effort to deflect attention away from Barack Obama’s past support for semi-auto bans, gun rationing laws, and other anti-2A efforts. Hunters and Anglers for Harris-Walz apparently couldn’t even find a token Democrat gun owner to serve as the front-facing head of the outfit, which is just downright embarrassing for them. 

Even for an astroturf outfit this is pretty lazy work. I don’t know how many voters will be suckered into providing their information to the Harris/Walz campaign via the website’s open letter, but I’m confident that the vast majority of hunters, anglers, and gun owners will pay no mind to this pathetic attempt at outreach between now and election day