My Reverse New Year’s Resolutions: Things I Won’t Stop Doing, Despite Leftist Finger-Wagging

I’ve never cottoned to the idea of “New Year’s resolutions.” I reckon that if you have to resolve to do something you weren’t already doing, then you probably still won’t do it. Oh, you might try to keep the resolution for a while, but the long-term success rates for keeping such resolutions are down there with the success rate of Kamala Harris trying to sound thoughtful and intelligent. No, most people, myself included, are creatures of habit, and habits are hard to break.
As it happens, though, I do have a list of things I already do, will continue to do, and will not give up no matter how many leftist scolds wag their fingers at me. For example:
I will not give up my guns. (See photo above.) I simply won’t; I’m at the point in my life now where, if some future, radical left government insists I hand them in, I’m willing to tell them, “Yeah, come and get them.” I do not trust any government that does not trust me with firearms, and I’m willing to take that principle all the way, in the event it should be required; and I have lots of company. If anyone tries to disarm me at this point, I will give them the ammo first.
I will not give up my rural Alaska home. Oh, I suppose there may come a time when age and decrepitude force a move back to the lower 48, where our kids all live. Locals hereabouts will know when that happens because of the long grooves in the pavement of the Parks Highway that my fingernails leave when they drag me out. But there are climate scolds and others who rail against my presence here; they don’t like our wood stove, our big four-wheel-drive truck, our ATVs, the necessity of driving 30 miles to get groceries. They can shut up; I’m staying in Alaska. Nobody’s helping me to pay for that truck or the gas to drive back and forth, so it’s nobody else’s business.
I will not give up my understanding of basic biology. There are two sexes. Barring a few very rare genetic abnormalities that can lead to sexual ambiguities, every human has either XX or XY sex chromosomes, and if you have XX, you are a woman; if you have XY, you are a man. You can claim to “identify” as a pumpernickel bagel for all I care about, but you can’t change biology. Oh, I’m big on minding my own business and don’t really care what people do, so long as they leave me alone; but don’t expect me to cater to it. I won’t give my pronouns, I won’t “celebrate” your lifestyle. I don’t give one ounce of rat’s droppings about your lifestyle. I don’t expect you to give one ounce of rat’s droppings about my lifestyle. Leave me alone. I’ll leave you alone. We’ll get along just fine.
I will not give up my pride in my heritage. I’m an American, above and beyond anything else, but my ethnic background is from the British Isles – Scotland, Ireland, and England – and Germany. The English-speaking people have done more to spread civilization around the world than any other group of people; these are facts. I’m proud of that heritage, and I won’t stop being proud of it.
I will not surrender my right to say what I please, when I please, where I please. I live in a free-speech zone. It’s called the United States of America. If you don’t like what I have to say, don’t listen; the First Amendment doesn’t guarantee me an audience, any more than it does anyone else. The same applies in reverse; I will not mouth your slogans, cater to your hypersensitivities, or pay obedience to your neuroses.
I will not change my lifestyle to cater to the paranoia of climate scolds. I will not give up my truck or my ATVs. I will not eat bugs, I will not live in your 15-minute, rabbit-warren cities, and I will not stop eating steaks and cheeseburgers. Do those things if you like; I won’t.
I will not surrender my autonomy. I am self-sufficient and will remain that way. I can hunt, I can catch fish, I can run a trapline. No matter what happens, I will not surrender that.
I will remain free. I will remain independent. I will remain a citizen, not a subject.
These things, for 2025, I can promise.
I’ll add one more: I will not stop expressing my thoughts online. I’m fortunate to be able to express myself here at RedState, among a group of people who amaze and humble me every day with their dedication, intelligence, good sense, and talent. As long as the internet continues to function, I’ll find an outlet. As long as the power stays on, I’ll keep writing. And if the internet goes down and the power goes off, I’ll go stand out in the road and shout my opinions to the birches and the black spruce. I will not be silenced.
Those, dear readers, are my anti-resolutions for 2025. Stay tuned, because, as one of my countrymen once famously said, I have not yet begun to fight.

Take That! Court Tells Biden Admin to Quit Selling Border Wall Materials

Joe Biden is thankfully on his way out, but as he prepares to evacuate the Oval Office and head back to the Delaware beach, he keeps throwing out obstacles for incoming President-elect Donald Trump.

In one of the Biden administration’s more craven moves, they’ve been busy selling off equipment and supplies for the border wall that Trump promised during his first term, which Joe ended when he took office.

Well, take this Christmas present, Joe and Co:

The Biden administration on Friday said it would stop selling off materials slated to be used to build a border wall ahead of the incoming Trump administration, which has promised to bring back tougher efforts to combat illegal immigration.

The Biden administration confirmed to a court that it will agree to a court order preventing it from disposing of any further border wall materials over the next 30 days, allowing President-elect Trump to use those materials, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said.

Trump hailed the victory on Saturday:

Meanwhile, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton let his feelings be known on Friday:

This follows our major victory forcing Biden to build the wall, and we will hold his Administration accountable for illegally subverting our Nation’s border security until their very last day in power, especially where their actions are clearly motivated by a desire to thwart President-elect Trump’s immigration agenda.

Mate v. Westcott – FPC Law Challenge to Louisiana Non-Resident Carry Ban

LAKE CHARLES, La. (December 23, 2024) — Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) announced Monday that it has filed a new federal lawsuit challenging Louisiana’s ban on firearm carry by non-residents. The complaint in Mate v. Westcott can be viewed at firearmspolicy.org/mate.

“Closing off nonresidents’ ability to obtain a carry license substantially infringes their constitutionally protected right to carry a firearm in public for self-defense,” the complaint says. “There is no well-established and representative historical tradition of restricting the ability to bear arms based on residency.”

“Peaceable people have a constitutionally protected right to carry firearms throughout the United States,” said FPC President Brandon Combs. “Second Amendment protected rights don’t end at a state’s border. This case is an important step towards achieving our goal of restoring the right to bear arms everywhere.”

The Mate v. Wescott case is part of FPC’s high-impact strategic litigation program, FPC Law, aimed at eliminating immoral laws and creating a world of maximal liberty. FPC is joined in the litigation by two FPC members. FPC thanks FPC Action Foundation for its strategic support of this FPC Law case.

Why Did the ATF Raid Baltimore Gun Rights Advocate Mark ‘Choppa’ Manley’s House?

This is how the federal agency that’s charged with regulating firearms conducts its business. According to the Washington Times, “ATF agents announced themselves to Mark ‘Choppa’ Manley and his family by tossing a flashbang into his living room and ordering everyone out at gunpoint during the predawn search days before Thanksgiving.”

Manley, who is described as a gun rights advocate and lives in Baltimore, thinks the raid by agents in battle rattle was an attempt to send a message to other black gun owners.

“I do feel like I was targeted. I do feel like the amount of guns I have made me a target and [put] me on their radar,” Mr. Manley told The Times. “Especially being a minority from the inner city.”

It isn’t really clear what the feds were looking for in the raid. They spent hours tossing Manley’s home, checking gun serial numbers, and ultimately confiscating his phone. But no one was charged or arrested and no guns were confiscated.

Harassment has been a hallmark of the ATF since the Biden administration launched its war on legal gun ownership not long after it took office. And the agency is, of course, refusing to comment on the case.

Mr. Manley’s growing profile put him in a league of gun owners, dealers and advocates who have either been monitored, approached or, arguably, harassed by the ATF in recent years.

Was ATF acting on bad information? Were they trying to provoke Manley into breaking the law? Whatever their motivation, the raid could have gone much, much worse. It wasn’t long ago that ATF decided that an early morning raid on the home of Bryan Malinowski was preferable to stopping him on his way to or from his place of work. Malinowski thought it was a home invasion, armed himself, and the ATF’s finest shot and killed him.

[Gun rights advocate Maj] Toure said the raid at Mr. Manley’s home was likely done in hopes of provoking the advocate into doing something criminal. At the very least, he said the ATF is putting on a “poker face” to try and intimidate Mr. Manley from organizing gun owners in the future.

“What’s happening is they’re trying to scare people — bluff them — into thinking ‘I better not do this. I better be quiet about it.’” Mr. Toure said. “The wrong party here is the ATF. Not the Constitution, not the Bill of Rights, not the American people that are safe and responsible firearms owners.”

January 20th can’t get here soon enough.

A Group of Texas Kids Tried to Rob a Man at Gunpoint. He Shot Them Instead

A group of Texas kids allegedly tried to rob a man at gunpoint at an apartment complex, only to be met with gunfire from the victim, leading to injuries and hospitalizations.

On Dec. 23 around midnight, authorities responded to a call about a shooting at a Houston apartment complex, Click 2 Houston reported.

When they arrived, deputies found three juveniles with gunshot wounds and a fourth uninjured child.

The target of the alleged robbery was allegedly approached by the group of children, who threatened him with what appeared to be firearms. The man, reportedly fearing for his life, pulled out his own weapon and began firing at them, as reported by KHOU.

As investigators pieced together the details, authorities believe that the children had planned to rob the man using weapons they initially presented as real. While authorities recovered several guns at the scene, it remains unclear whether the children’s weapons were real firearms or BB guns.

Despite their ages, the children were allegedly part of a larger group attempting to carry out the robbery.

The adult involved, identified as the victim/shooter, stayed on the scene and fully cooperated with law enforcement.

Three of the children, aged 12 to 14, were shot and taken to the hospital with one in critical condition. The fourth child and the man involved were detained for questioning.

The Harris County Sheriff’s Office is continuing its investigation, and charges against both the juveniles and the man involved are still under review.

The Authenticity of the Virgin Birth

F. F. Bruce is one of those scholars I have had to spend a lot of time reading in seminary. He researched and wrote some of the best material on the history of the Bible and its accuracy. In studying the ancient texts that we have, Bruce has noted that there are only around nine or 10 manuscripts of Caesar’s Gallic War, which was composed between 58 and 50 B.C. The oldest manuscript we have originates from 900 years later.

Bruce writes: “The History of Thucydides (c. 460-400 BC) is known to us from eight (manuscripts), the earliest belonging to circa A.D. 900, and a few papyrus scraps, belonging to about the beginning of the Christian era. The same is true of the History of Herodotus (c. 488-428 BC). Yet no classical scholar would listen to an argument that the authenticity of Herodotus or Thucydides is in doubt because the earliest (manuscripts) of their works which are of any use to us are over 1,300 years later than the originals.”

Take, as well, something like Homer’s Iliad, which people passed one to another over the centuries by oration, until it was finally written down. Until the 19th century, most people presumed Troy a myth. Then, archeologists found it. The “rage of Achilles” was probably true. In the centuries before the printing press — even before monks and script — people preserved their histories through accurate recitation over generations. Apply this all to scripture.

Regarding the Old Testament, it is perhaps the most accurately reproduced ancient text in the entire world. Scribes took great care because they were writing God’s word. We know the accuracy of the text has been beyond reproach for at least 2,500 years. The discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls confirms this.

Regarding the New Testament, we possess enough of the writings of early church leaders who wrote within about 100 years of Christ’s resurrection to be able to reproduce the gospels and letters of Paul and John. There are over 20,000 handwritten manuscripts of the New Testament from the first few centuries of Christianity, written in Coptic, Greek, Latin, Syriac, and other languages. There are 5,700 New Testament Greek manuscripts known to exist, and some of those were written within about 100 years of Christ’s resurrection.

We do not, to our knowledge, have the original New Testament texts as actually written by Luke, Paul, John and others. But we have the copies of them from very close in time to the originals. The scribes of the New Testament — sometimes working at a furious rate to outpace Roman soldiers — made occasional errors. But those errors were mostly in grammar and punctuation, not errors of substance.

Bart Ehrman is one of the scholars on whom Biblical skeptics rely. Ehrman was a fundamentalist Christian but now considers himself an agnostic atheist. He studied under Bruce Metzger, who, like F. F Bruce, is noted for his scholarship on the Biblical texts. Ehrman writes that though he has textual criticism of scripture, his criticism “does not actually stand at odds with Prof. Metzger’s position that the essential Christian beliefs are not affected by textual variants in the manuscript tradition of the New Testament.” When an agnostic atheist like Ehrman agrees with a highly respected Christian scholar like Metzger — who was Ehrman’s professor — that “the essential Christian beliefs are not affected by textual variants,” you should pay attention.

One of those essential Christian beliefs is the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. It is as foundational a belief to the Christian faith as the resurrection. In fact, I suspect the very people who doubt the miracle of the virgin birth also doubt the resurrection. I believe both are true. We celebrate Christ’s birth this Christmas season in communion with more than 2 billion other Christians globally who accept the virgin birth as true. “For unto us a Child is born, Unto us, a Son is given, And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

Luke 2

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.

And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.

And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.

But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.

And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.