November 10

1775 – The Second Continental Congress establishes the Continental Marines with the first enlistees signing up at Tun Tavern in Philadelphia.

1918 – At Le Francport, France, the German delegation for an armistice between the Entente Powers and Germany receives news that Kaiser Wilhelm had earlier abdicated the throne and orders from General von Hindenburg to sign an armistice agreement as soon as possible.

10 U.S. Code § 894 – Art. 94. Mutiny or sedition

(a)Any person subject to this chapter [ military personnel, .ed] who—

(1)with intent to usurp or override lawful military authority, refuses, in concert with any other person, to obey orders or otherwise do his duty or creates any violence or disturbance is guilty of mutiny;

(2)with intent to cause the overthrow or destruction of lawful civil authority, creates, in concert with any other person, revolt, violence, or other disturbance against that authority is guilty of sedition

(3)fails to do his utmost to prevent and suppress a mutiny or sedition being committed in his presence, or fails to take all reasonable means to inform his superior commissioned officer or commanding officer of a mutiny or sedition which he knows or has reason to believe is taking place, is guilty of a failure to suppress or report a mutiny or sedition.

(b)A person who is found guilty of attempted mutiny, mutiny, sedition, or failure to suppress or report a mutiny or sedition shall be punished by death or such other punishment as a court-martial may direct.
(Aug. 10, 1956, ch. 1041, 70A Stat. 68.)

Sedition, Insubordination, Conduct Unbecoming. In a time of war; Treason.
This sort of thing must be rooted out and the bureaucraps fired, those on active duty who took part relieved, and those who may not have been on active duty (retired), recalled and face courts martial. The military must be completely subordinate to the elected constitutional national command authority and follow their legal orders or what we’ll wind up with is a military hunta akin to the praetorian guard of the roman empire who decided who the next emperor would be after disposing of the last one.

Sorry, We Can Only View This Secret Pentagon Meeting as a Plot to Foment an Insurrection

John Frankenheimer directed a movie called Seven Days in May in the 1960s, starring Kirk Douglas as a military officer who uncovers a coup against the president of the United States by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who signed a deeply unpopular nuclear disarmament treaty. That’s a movie. In 2024, the Pentagon brass plotted to countermand President-elect Donald J. Trump’s orders. If we’re going by the Left’s rules here, this is an insurrection. It’s a military coup. What’s worse is that these anti-Trump meetings were held in secret and then got leaked to the media (via CNN):

Pentagon officials are holding informal discussions about how the Department of Defense would respond if Donald Trump issues orders to deploy active-duty troops domestically and fire large swaths of apolitical staffers, defense officials told CNN.

Trump has suggested he would be open to using active-duty forces for domestic law enforcement and mass deportations and has indicated he wants to stack the federal government with loyalists and “clean out corrupt actors” in the US national security establishment.

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“We are all preparing and planning for the worst-case scenario, but the reality is that we don’t know how this is going to play out yet,” one defense official said.

Trump’s election has also raised questions inside the Pentagon about what would happen if the president issued an unlawful order, particularly if his political appointees inside the department don’t push back.

“Troops are compelled by law to disobey unlawful orders,” said another defense official. “But the question is what happens then – do we see resignations from senior military leaders? Or would they view that as abandoning their people?”

CNN’s Scott Jennings tore apart these unelected bureaucrats yesterday. We’re back to the same Deep State games, but this time, Trump, with no re-election ahead of him, can go hard and fast to rid the Pentagon and any agency of troublesome government workers who think they’re above the law and not accountable to the will of the people. The illegal orders narrative is also ridiculous, soaked in the anti-Trump hysterics that have engulfed the Left.

Secret meetings on thwarting a duly elected president are not a good look.

Never forget what they did to us.
Never forget what they meant to do to us.
Never.
Don’t give them the benefit of the doubt next time.
And did they forget we have guns?

CDC Planned Quarantine Camps, Nationwide

No matter how bad you think Covid policies were, they were intended to be worse.

Consider the vaccine passports alone. Six cities were locked down to include only the vaccinated in public indoor places. They were New York City, Boston, Chicago, New Orleans, Washington, D.C., and Seattle. The plan was to enforce this with a vaccine passport. It broke. Once the news leaked that the shot didn’t stop infection or transmission, the planners lost public support and the scheme collapsed.

It was undoubtedly planned to be permanent and nationwide if not worldwide. Instead, the scheme had to be dialed back.

Features of the CDC’s edicts did incredible damage. It imposed the rent moratorium. It decreed the ridiculous “six feet of distance” and mask mandates. It forced Plexiglas as the interface for commercial transactions. It implied that mail-in balloting must be the norm, which probably flipped the election. It delayed the reopening as long as possible. It was sadistic.

Even with all that, worse was planned. On July 26, 2020, with the George Floyd riots having finally settled down, the CDC issued a plan for establishing nationwide quarantine camps. People were to be isolated, given only food and some cleaning supplies. They would be banned from participating in any religious services. The plan included contingencies for preventing suicide. There were no provisions made for any legal appeals or even the right to legal counsel.

The plan’s authors were unnamed but included 26 footnotes. It was completely official. The document was only removed on about March 26, 2023. During the entire intervening time, the plan survived on the CDC’s public site with little to no public notice or controversy.

It was called “Interim Operational Considerations for Implementing the Shielding Approach to Prevent COVID-19 Infections in Humanitarian Settings.”

“This document presents considerations from the perspective of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) for implementing the shielding approach in humanitarian settings as outlined in guidance documents focused on camps, displaced populations and low-resource settings.

This approach has never been documented and has raised questions and concerns among humanitarian partners who support response activities in these settings. The purpose of this document is to highlight potential implementation challenges of the shielding approach from CDC’s perspective and guide thinking around implementation in the absence of empirical data.

Considerations are based on current evidence known about the transmission and severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and may need to be revised as more information becomes available.”

By absence of empirical data, the meaning is: nothing like this has ever been tried. The point of the document was to map out how it could be possible and alert authorities to possible pitfalls to be avoided.

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EXCLUSIVE: FEMA Official Ordered Relief Workers To Skip Houses With Trump Signs
Whistleblower: ‘It’s almost unbelievable to think that somebody in the federal government would think that’s okay’

A federal disaster relief official ordered workers to bypass the homes of Donald Trump’s supporters as they surveyed damage caused by Hurricane Milton in Florida, according to internal correspondence obtained by The Daily Wire and confirmed by multiple federal employees.

A FEMA supervisor told workers in a message to “avoid homes advertising Trump” as they canvassed Lake Placid, Florida to identify residents who could qualify for federal aid, internal messages viewed by The Daily Wire reveal. The supervisor, Marn’i Washington, relayed this message both verbally and in a group chat used by the relief team, multiple government employees told The Daily Wire.

The government employees told The Daily Wire that at least 20 homes with Trump signs or flags were skipped from the end of October and into November due to the guidance, meaning they were not given the opportunity to qualify for FEMA assistance. Images shared with The Daily Wire show that houses were skipped over by the workers, who wrote in the government system messages such as: “Trump sign no entry per leadership.”

It is unclear whether the same guidance was issued elsewhere in the country. The employees were part of a Department of Homeland Security surge capacity force team, meaning they volunteered from other DHS agencies to help an understaffed FEMA as it dealt with a second major hurricane in a span of just a few weeks.

Microsoft Teams chat used by FEMA workers.

“I know they’re short-staffed, I thought we could go help and make a difference,” one of the employees said. “When we got there we were told to discriminate against people. It’s almost unbelievable to think that somebody in the federal government would think that’s okay.” 

The employee said it felt wrong to discriminate against Trump supporters when they were at their “most vulnerable.”

“I volunteered to help disaster victims, not discriminate against them,” the employee said. “It didn’t matter if people were black, white, Hispanic, for Trump, for Harris. Everyone deserves the same amount of help.”

The guidance came as the Biden administration was criticized over its sluggish response to Hurricane Helene in rural areas across the country. In Roan Mountain, Tennessee, for example, locals told The Daily Wire it took nearly two weeks for FEMA to show up. The town is located in Carter County, which voted 81% for Trump on Tuesday.

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NSSF Celebrates Major Legal Victory as District Court Strikes Down Illinois’ MSR Ban

WASHINGTON, D.C.— NSSF¼, The Firearm Industry Trade Association, celebrated today the decision by U.S. District Court Judge Stephen P. McGlynn of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois striking down as unconstitutional the Illinois law that bans most semiautomatic firearms including Modern Sporting Rifles (MSRs), certain models of semiautomatic handguns and standard capacity magazines. The decision is a significant victory for the millions of law-abiding gun owners and the firearm industry in Illinois.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed into law HB 5471, the “Protect Illinois Communities Act (PICA),” in January 2023. HB 5741 is among the nation’s most expansive gun control laws and banned the sale of hundreds of models of rifles including commonly-owned MSRs, certain semiautomatic handguns and rifle magazines with a capacity greater than 10 cartridges and pistol magazines with a capacity greater than 15 cartridges.

NSSF, along with several co-plaintiffs, filed a legal challenge seeking to strike down this unconstitutional law and prevailed. Notably, in his decision Judge McGlynn wrote, “PICA is an unconstitutional affront to the Second Amendment and must be enjoined. The Government may not deprive law-abiding citizens of their guaranteed right to self-defense as a means of offense.” More specifically, the court held that MSRs and standard capacity magazines are in common use and have legitimate self-defense purposes.

“This decision handed down by Judge McGlynn is welcomed and what we in the firearm industry have known all along: commonly-owned firearms and standard capacity magazines are protected by law-abiding Americans under the Second Amendment,” stated Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF Senior Vice President and General Counsel. “The U.S. Supreme Court has already recognized that semiautomatic rifles ‘traditionally have been widely accepted as lawful,’ and with over 28 million of these rifles in circulation today, they are clearly commonly-owned for lawful purposes, meeting the threshold set by the Supreme Court in its Heller decision.

Semiautomatic handguns are overwhelmingly the choice of firearm for personal self-defense. This law was clearly unconstitutional and did nothing to punish criminals who choose to break the law. It only deprives law-abiding Americans from being able to exercise their full spectrum of Second Amendment rights.”

While the court struck down the law, it did stay its permanent injunction for 30 days to give the State the opportunity to appeal and seek an emergency stay from the Seventh Circuit, which means that the law temporarily stays in effect.

NSSF will continue to monitor.

Comparing the Global Rate of Mass Public Shootings to the U.S.’s Rate and Comparing Their Changes Over Time

The U.S. is well below the world average in terms of the number of mass public shootings, and the global increase over time has been much bigger than for the United States.

Over the 20 years from 1998 to 2017, our list contains 2,772 attacks and at least 5,764 shooters outside the United States and 62 attacks and 66 shooters within our country. By our count, the US makes up less than 1.13% of the mass public shooters, 1.77% of their murders, and 2.19% of their attacks. All these are much less than the US’s 4.6% share of the world population. Attacks in the US are not only less frequent than other countries, they are also much less deadly on average. Out of the 101 countries where we have identified mass public shootings occurring, the United States ranks 66th in the per capita frequency of these attacks and 56th in the murder rate.

Not only have these attacks been much more common outside the US, the US’s share of these attacks has declined over time. There has been a much bigger increase over time in the number of mass shootings in the rest of the world compared to the US.

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Gun Owners Made a Difference in the 2024 Election Results.

The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms is today congratulating the nation’s gun owners—especially those in critical “battleground” states—for obviously making a difference in the outcome of Tuesday’s presidential election.

“America’s gun owners saw the threat of a Kamala Harris presidency and took action,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “Millions of ‘gun voters’ turned out to reverse the nation’s course on firearms rights, and keep Kamala out of the Oval Office. It was gun owners who also made the difference in Montana, re-electing pro-gun Gov. Greg Gianforte and replacing Democrat Sen. Jon Tester with Republican Tim Sheehy, thus shifting the Senate majority to GOP control.

“In this election,” Gottlieb observed, “the Democrats shot blanks and the voters buried their gun ban agenda. 

“But,” he cautioned, “I bet they will double down on gun prohibition because they know that it was gun owners that removed them from power and they are gunning to get even. The fight to defend gun rights is not over and every gun owner who helped win this battle must remember that the war on gun rights is ongoing.”

Gottlieb said Trump’s triumphant return to public office “will become the stuff of legend.” He added that the importance of gun owner participation in this historic achievement cannot be overstated. 

“Here is a man who endured four years of turmoil while he was in office,” Gottlieb noted, “and he suffered from Democrat-engineered ‘lawfare,’ and survived two assassination attempts including one which nearly cost him his life. Yet, despite his wound, he refused to call for more gun control, and encouraged his supporters to fight. And that is exactly what we intend to do, because the right to keep and bear arms is what protects this nation from tyranny, and frustrates the enemies of liberty.”

A well regulated Militia’ is Alive and Well

Tactical shooting, sometimes known as action pistol or practical shooting, is a firearms discipline that involves shooting at targets in simulated self-defense or combat scenarios. The United States Practical Shooting Association (USPSA) is the largest tactical shooting organization in the United States with over 37,000 active members. At USPSA competitions, members “engage in dynamic and challenging courses of fire, where speed, accuracy, and power are equally tested” (USPSA). The International Defensive Pistol Association (IDPA), based in Bogata, Texas, is an organization that emphasizes the skills associated with self-defense and concealed carry scenarios. IDPA boasts a membership of over 25,000, representing all 50 states and over 70 nations.

Both of these organizations function as the governing bodies of countless firearms competitions and training classes that occur weekly in the United States and, in the case of IDPA, around the world. There is a wide array of organized shooting sports (skeet, trap, long-range rifle, cowboy quick-draw, Steel Challenge, to name just a few) and associated organizations which cater to those activities, but it is the tactical shooting sports that have exploded in popularity in the United States over the past ten to fifteen years.

The current craze in the tactical shooting world is “3-gun,” which requires competitors to use a modern sporting rifle (a rifle built on an AR platform), a handgun, and a tactical shotgun, and where the target distances might vary between one and 500 yards: “Just as it is with the practical pistol matches, 3-gun simulates combat or self-defense situations” (NSSF).

One might reasonably ask why, with all the various shooting sports available, it is the tactical shooting sports that have grown exponentially in recent years. The answer is simple: There is a growing recognition in the United States that average citizens may, in the not-too-distant future, have to defend themselves against ungovernable crime — or tyranny. These are the two primary reasons that over a million guns per month are sold in the U.S.

Most of us grow up believing that the only place to access expert firearms training is in the military or law enforcement, but that is not the case. In fact, many shooters from those backgrounds use USPSA and IDPA training and competitions to enhance the sometimes-perfunctory training they receive in their professional capacity. While it is true that many members of USPSA and IDPA are active/retired military or law enforcement, they are in the minority. The overwhelming majority of shooters come from civilian backgrounds, representing every conceivable profession and demographic. Most competitors are male, to be sure, but there is a large and growing cadre of female shooters, many of them spectacularly talented and accomplished.

The point is this: There are currently tens of thousands of highly-skilled, civilian tactical shooters in the United States. Some of those skilled civilians include Hollywood actors such as Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Garner, Micheal B. Jordan, Colin Farrell, Chris Hemsworth and many others who have trained with 3-Gun guru Taran Butler, founder of Taran Tactical Innovations and frequent guest on History Channel’s Top Shot. There is even a small but growing subset of tactical shooters who are also dedicated to extreme fitness (CrossFit, powerlifting, Krav Maga, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, distance running, etc.) — a kind of civilian special forces, if you will.

Unsurprisingly, the political mood at IDPA and USPSA matches is decidedly right-of-center and unapologetically patriotic. Pro-American, pro-Second Amendment, and “Don’t Tread on Me” T-shirts abound, as do camo truckers’ caps advertising a favorite gun or ammo manufacturer. Perhaps the degree of patriotism is best illustrated by relating an incident that occurred the first time I attended an IDPA match at a particular gun club in Northern California.

My shooting partner and I had arrived early to help with the set-up, and, as is common practice prior to any tactical pistol or rifle competition, we were called to a shooters’ meeting by the match director who, in this case, was a retired drill sergeant right out of Central Casting. As the forty or fifty shooters settled into a semi-circle around the director, I was completely unprepared for what happened next. Below is a word-for-word account of how the shooters’ meeting started and what [in brackets] was going through my mind at the time:

(The match director speaking to the group in a booming, commanding voice.)

“Take off your hat.” [What? Why?]

“Put your hand over your heart.” [Wait, what?]

“Face the flagpole.” [Huh?]

“I pledge allegiance to the Flag
.” [Oh.]

No preliminaries. No dissembling. No introductory remarks along the lines of “we’re going to recite the ‘Pledge of Allegiance’ for those of you who wish to join.” And the subtext was crystal clear:  If you have a problem removing your hat, if you have a problem placing your hand over your heart, if you have a problem showing some respect, if you have a problem publicly declaring your allegiance to the symbol of this great country dedicated to liberty and justice and founded under the care and protection of God, you’re probably in the wrong place.

At the time of this shooters’ meeting, I had not recited “the Pledge of Allegiance” in decades. But on this particular morning, as the sun peeked above the Sierra Nevada mountains, providing the backdrop for the Stars and Stripes, I was deeply moved. Reciting the “Pledge” for the first time as an adult, understanding for the first time the gravity and responsibility of taking such a pledge, standing among a group of unapologetic patriots with a Glock 17 on my hip, the light bulb illuminated.  It was at this exact moment when I realized I was willing to fight in defense of my country and its founding principles.

The many activities required of any shooter to become a competent tactical pistol or 3-gun competitor — dry fire drills, live fire drills, safety workshops, trips to the range, training classes, Concealed Carry Permit renewals (optional), videos, competitions, equipment purchases, and endless reloading (optional) — all came together in an instant. I realized that my willingness to defend my country was directly related to my ability to handle a firearm.

Of course, competitive shooting is not the only path to firearm proficiency, but it is a rewarding path to follow. It provides the shooter with measurable goals and a way to chart his or her progress. I am by no means an elite competitor; I usually finish my matches with a score placing me squarely in the middle of the pack.  What I am is a safe, responsible, competent gun owner and handler who is willing and able to defend his family, his country, and himself.

In the United States, there are tens of thousands of patriotic, competitive shooting enthusiasts from every walk of life: from teenage girls with pink Glocks, to octogenarian veterans carrying an ancient, army-issue Colt 1911. They can be found at the hundreds of firearms competitions that take place every weekend in the United States and practicing at the thousands of gun ranges that dot the landscape. So, sleep well America. Your well-regulated militia is alive and well and in training.  And it is seeking new recruits.