Trump’s pick for FCC chairman…..

We Are Living in Interesting Times

We are living in interesting times. Tulsi Gabbard will be taking the role of Director of National Intelligence, John Radcliffe will be Director of the CIA, Matt Gaetz will (I predict) be the Attorney General, Robert Kennedy will be the Secretary of HHS, and the rumor is that Kash Patel will be Director of the FBI; if Gaetz and Patel aren’t confirmed, the rumor is they will be investigating senators’ federally-funded hush-money payments for the senators own sexual peccadilloes (which is why I predict they’ll be confirmed).

This reminds me of other interesting times.

During and after the collapse of the Soviet Union, a lot of the Soviet client states own governments collapsed. Sometimes violently, as with Romania or the fission of Yugoslavia, sometimes more quietly, but pretty uniformly, the Soviet-aligned satrapies were replaced by their own people.

The unification of East and West Germany wasn’t particularly violent, but the Germans on both sides of the Wall were very interested in finding out what The German “Democratic” Republic was doing, and to whom, during its reign.

Central to that and one of the largest parts of the GDR government was the Minsiterium für Stattssicherheit, familiarly abbreviated to the Stasi. A good summary is at the link (at least now, that is, Wikipedia), but in short, the Stasi arrested upwards of 250,000 people and extended its hooks into every aspect of East German life.

The ratio for the Stasi was one secret policeman per 166 East Germans. When the regular informers are added, these ratios become much higher: In the Stasi’s case, there would have been at least one spy watching every 66 citizens! When one adds in the estimated numbers of part-time snoops, the result is nothing short of monstrous: one informer per 6.5 citizens. It would not have been unreasonable to assume that at least one Stasi informer was present in any party of ten or twelve dinner guests. Like a giant octopus, the Stasi’s tentacles probed every aspect of life.

— John O. Koehler, “Stasi:The Untold Story of the East German Secret Police”

After the “Peaceful Revolution” of 1989, Stasi offices were taken over by the German people, while former Stasi officers desperately tried to destroy files and records, unsuccessfully, as it turned out.

But why did the Stasi collect all this information in its archives? The main purpose was to control the society. In nearly every speech, the Stasi minister gave the order to find out who is who, which meant who thinks what. He didn’t want to wait until somebody tried to act against the regime. He wanted to know in advance what people were thinking and planning. The East Germans knew, of course, that they were surrounded by informers, in a totalitarian regime that created mistrust and a state of widespread fear, the most important tools to oppress people in any dictatorship.

—Hubertus Knabe, German historian

The files were massive and damning. It was no wonder they were trying to destroy them. As I say, they were interesting times.

Now we’re having our own interesting times. I think we’re in nearly similar times to the German Peaceful Revolution. Oh, I don’t mean to imply that the FBI, CIA, and DoJ were as bad as the Stasi — I would be very much amazed that there were hundreds of thousands of people imprisoned for Wrongthink.

But thousands? Seems likely. And more thousands were intimidated, charged, and harassed. All of them are in government files that are now vulnerable to being disclosed. Jeremy Epstein’s passenger lists. Records of the FBI agents and informers who were supposed to kidnap Gretchen Whitmer. Records of Crossfire Hurricane and DoJ cooperation with Fani Willis, Alvin Bragg, and Letitia James. And most interesting of all, files covering people we don’t know to expect. That’s the way political police work — they don’t intimidate and investigate and collude with only the people we expect.

As I say, we live in interesting times.

The Illinois ‘assault weapon’ ban fails

The Heller, McDonald and Bruen decisions made clear the Second Amendment acknowledges– does not grant–an individual right to keep and bear arms, a right that does not end at one’s property line, and encompasses weapons—not just firearms–in common use for lawful purposes such as self-defense. Government may not erect arbitrary barriers to the exercise of the right, but because the Supreme Court hasn’t absolutely delineated what weapons in “common use” might be, blue states like Illinois remain determined to disarm Americans, the better to crush them when it’s time for the glorious revolution.

 

Graphic: X Screenshot

Among the most common contemporary targets of anti-liberty/gun cracktivists are “assault weapons” and “high capacity” magazines. That there is no such thing as an “assault weapon” deters them not. Neither does the fact magazine capacity restrictions produce no public safety benefit, and most contemporary handguns and rifles feature magazines of greater than their commonly imposed 10 round capacity. Cracktivists have hit on the most common and popular sporting rifle, the AR-15 family, which since the Vietnam War has featured a standard 30 round magazine, as a particular object of hate. Upholding the narrative, Illinois banned “assault weapons” and high-capacity magazines.

An ”assault weapon” is best understood as any scary looking gun cracktivists want to ban. True assault rifles are fully automatic military arms. AR-15s outwardly resemble the military M4 but are like all other semiautomatic arms: they fire one round for each function of the trigger.

Don’t anti-liberty/gun crackvisits know this? Of course they do, but they also know they have unlimited taxpayer funds for lawsuits which normally take years to wend their way to the Supreme Court and in the meantime, they get to deprive Americans of their rights and even jail and ruin some of their political enemies.

Fortunately, U.S. District Court Judge Stephen McGlynn has sided with the Constitution, and overturned the Illinois ban:

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Cynical Publius

As many of you likely have noticed, most Democrats are still in complete denial as to the reasons behind their crushing landslide defeat on November 5th.

As a public service, I thought I would put a clothespin on my nose and descend into the stench of their post-election miasma of broken promises, SSRI-induced delusion, pumpkin spice micro-brew vomit and spoiled gender-swap hormones to bring back from this 90th Circle of George Clooney Hell the Top Ten reasons why Democrats believe they lost the election.

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Low Round Count Pistol Drills: Sharpen your skills without emptying your wallet.

The price of ammunition continues to rise, and our lives keep getting busier and busier. Range time is more and more scarce, which makes the efficient use of your time and ammo on the range a very good thing indeed. To help with those goals, I’ve collected a few practice drills which sharpen your pistol skills without wasting your time or emptying your wallet.

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I can only stand just so much of this joy….

Matt Gaetz may scare Democrats more than President-elect Trump
Gaetz doesn’t seem to care. He has bigger things on his mind.

Last January, former U.S. Congressman Matt Gaetz [R-FL-1] introduced H.R. 374. It was a short bill that became known as the “Abolish the ATF Act.”

“The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is hereby abolished,” Gaetz’s bill said.

It was simple, really.

Unfortunately, it received the same response as other bills Gaetz had submitted, such as H.R. 9534, the National Constitutional Carry Act, or H.R.3142, the Stand Your Ground Act of 2023. The bills were introduced but never received any further attention.

Gaetz didn’t seem to care about his lost legislation. He had bigger things on his mind.

Gaetz will always be known best for leading the fight that dumped the former Republican Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, last year. But for those who really know the 42-year-old former congressman who lives in Fort Walton Beach, Florida with his wife Ginger, this too was just par for his course.

Gaetz’s critics were never the silent type. Now, they’ve become slaphappy and completely unglued.

Axios reported there were gasps in the room coming from Republican lawmakers when Gaetz name was first announced.

“It must be the worst nomination for a cabinet position in American History,” John Bolton told NBC’s Meet the Press. Gaetz is “totally incompetent” for the AG position, Bolton said, adding, “This is a nomination the Republican Party would oppose.”

“I don’t think it’s a serious nomination for the attorney general,” said Senator Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska. “This one was not on my Bingo card.”

The BBC seemed to get Trump’s Gaetz decision better than the rest of the traditional media. They said Gaetz’s “bombastic approach” meant that he has no shortage of enemies, including some of his fellow Republicans.

“And so, Trump’s choice of Gaetz for this crucial role is a signal to those Republicans, too — his second administration will be staffed by loyalists who he trusts to enact his agenda, conventional political opinion be damned,” the BBC wrote.

Gaetz recent resignation from the House brought a quick halt to the internal investigations that had plagued him for the past few years, and House Speaker Mike Johnson referred to Gaetz as an “accomplished attorney.”

“He’s a reformer in his mind and heart, and I think that he’ll bring a lot to the table on that,” Johnson said.

To be clear, Gaetz has denied every allegation made against him, which are now moot.

Critics be damned

Matt Gaetz was not available Thursday. Calls to his former congressional phone numbers went straight to voicemail. Additional phone numbers were not answered either.

Gaetz is nothing new or divisive to longtime Floridians. In fact, he’s exactly what we want from our public servants. A longtime radio host told me Thursday morning that Gaetz’s now former constituents cared about two issues: “Guns and guns.” I would strongly agree.

Gaetz cares more about the Second Amendment than anyone else in Congress — especially the Democrats. So, of course they are going to attack him personally. In fact, Gaetz is currently attracting as much if not more hate and discontent from the left than President-elect Donald J. Trump.

Unfortunately, much of the press Gaetz now faces is about what you’d expect, especially the stories from NBC.

A story published by NBC News Wednesday titled, “Justice Dept. employees stunned at Trump’s ‘insane,’ ‘unbelievable’ choice of Matt Gaetz for attorney general,” sums up most of the angst that characterizes the legacy media.

“OMG,” a current senior Justice Department official said. A second department official called the selection “truly stunning,” and a third labeled it “insane,” the story claims. Of course, none of the alleged Republicans were named.

I’m pretty confident that Gaetz isn’t bothered by NBC’s stories or those of other likeminded reporters. After all, he’s got as they say in his section of Florida’s panhandle, bigger fish to fry.

Matt Gaetz has strongly supported the Second Amendment since his first day in Congress, and he will get President-elect Trump’s backing for his new job regardless of what the Democrats choose to do, even if it takes a recess appointment or some other type of maneuver.

Florida and now the entire country need Matt Gaetz.

Software Development Goes Full Brown Shirt On 3D Printing

Software makers have solidified their place as useful idiots for the anti-Second Amendment agenda by leading the charge when it comes to the development of programs that detect gun parts being made by 3D printers, block those prints and in some cases, automatically notify the authorities. Claiming that these advances are aimed at curbing the illegal printing of firearms and firearms parts, these companies have donned their brown shirts a bit too quickly and have not the first clue regarding the tradition and constitutionality of homemade guns in America.

Cloud-based 3D printing management platform 3DPrinterOS has partnered with Montclair State University to develop an algorithm that identifies the 3D printing of firearm parts, but they are not the first. Print&Go recently launched a software system designed to block 3D-printed production of firearms called 3D GUN’T. What this software does not offer before it invades your privacy and tells you what you can and can’t do in your home on the equipment you paid hard-earned money for is detect whether or not you are a prohibited individual, that is a person who’s record prohibits them from legally purchasing or possessing a firearm.

“This partnership allows us to explore the intersection of technology and public safety. We are excited to contribute our knowledge to develop a system that can make a real difference in identifying and mitigating risks associated with 3D printed firearms,” says co-director of the MIX at Montclair State University, Jason Frasca.

I have long said that the attack on 80% receivers as being “too easy to complete” has been disingenuous, a statement supported by authorities and companies now setting their sights on 3D-printing, which is effectively a 0% home build. If starting from scratch is considered illegal, then let’s face the facts, the goal is to prohibit Americans from exercising their Constitutional right to construct a firearm at home, a move that I find in contempt of the Supreme Court’s Bruen decision, which directs authorities to respect the historical traditions of the Second Amendment.

Print&Go claims 3D GUN’T is designed to prevent the illegal manufacture of firearms via 3D printers, however, if a law-abiding citizen in a free state (actual America) chooses to manufacture a gun at home using their 3D printer, how does 3D GUN’T distinguish between this user and a criminal? It doesn’t. The software treats all Americans as criminals, deploying advanced algorithms to analyze CAD files, sent remotely or loaded via USB, and detect components that resemble firearm designs, immediately blocking print jobs that match these items in its extensive database. Additional use of artificial intelligence (AI) recognizes new or modified gun designs, keeping the software adaptive to emerging freedom and helping to stifle it.

3D GUN’T doesn’t stop there. It goes full Gestapo in your home, logging details of each print job and allowing authorities to trace activities and conduct a full audit trail, with integrated firmware installed directly on printers ensuring that unauthorized printing is blocked even if the printer is offline. The icing on top is real-time camera monitoring, providing visual oversight during printing and stopping any job where it detects a firearm shape.

“3D GUN’T is a critical tool in our efforts to ensure the responsible use of 3D printing technology… The solution not only prevents the illegal manufacture of firearms but also creates peace of mind for clients, whether they are makers, educational institutions, or businesses. With 3D GUN’T, users can oversee the management of their print jobs with the assurance that their technology misuse can be mitigated,” says Print&Go’s CEO John Amin.

The silver lining to this situation is that it opens up an oppertunity for 3D printer manufacturers who respect the rights of Americans to step in and fill a void. It also allows us yet another vote, this time with our bank accounts. Note these software developers and the 3D printer manufacturers who utilize this technology, then ask yourselves if you want to give them your money or invite them into your home.