ANTI-GUN POLITICIANS DISPARAGE SCOTUS AS SECOND AMENDMENT CASES, ELECTION LOOMS

There’s a troubling trend by certain politicians to salt the ground at the U.S. Supreme Court before more significant firearm-related cases can be argued and decided. Politicians are disparaging the justices in an attempt to politicize the Court and delegitimize decisions even before arguments are heard. It’s unfolding in the cruelest ways, and it threatens the separation of powers between the three co-equal branches of government – the Executive, Legislative and Judicial Branches.

It is also a reminder that November’s presidential election carries with it added significance for the future of the Judiciary.

Just last week, Chief Justice John Roberts rejected a request by U.S. Senate Democrats to meet to talk about Supreme Court ethics and a ginned-up controversy over Justice Samuel Alito flying flags outside his homes in Alexandria, Va., and Long Island Beach, N.J. The first incident stemmed from a 2021 dispute with a neighbor who personally targeted Justice Alito’s wife, Martha-Ann, seemingly as a form of protesting the violence of Jan. 6. Mrs. Alito made the sole decision to fly an inverted flag at their Virginia residence in response to a neighbor’s pointed attacks. More manufactured controversy stemmed from Mrs. Alito flying an “Appeal to Heaven” flag at their New Jersey residence in 2023, despite San Francisco’s City Hall flying a similar flag, only to quietly take it down last month after the media uproar.

Justice Alito responded to Senate Democrats’ demands that he recuse from cases involving Jan. 6 based on these contrived controversies. He explained, in part, that a “reasonable person who is not motivated by political or ideological considerations or a desire to affect the outcome of Supreme Court cases” would not conclude that he needed to recuse. But the harassment campaign against the Supreme Court will certainly continue. This latest attempt is a reminder that the Court will be a factor in the upcoming election and the future of Second Amendment rights for law-abiding citizens.

Former President Donald Trump campaigned in 2016 with a promise to nominate justices “first and foremost, based on constitutional principles, with input from highly respected conservatives and Republican Party leadership.”

From that came Justice Neil Gorsuch, who President Trump described as “very much in the mold of” the late Justice Antonin Scalia. Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination followed, and was marked by a tumultuous confirmation hearing that included uncorroborated, decades-old allegations. Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination and confirmation followed in 2020, giving President Trump three additional originalist justices on the bench to serve alongside Chief Justice Roberts and Associate Justices Clarence Thomas and Alito.

Since President Joe Biden took office, he nominated Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson who was confirmed in 2022. With the 2024 election looming, President Biden is making promises to nominate his own brand of jurist to the Supreme Court.

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Why It’s Never Just About the Second Amendment

The Second Amendment is part of the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the Constitution. They were ratified when the ink was only just dried, in part because the Founding Fathers recognized that absent certain protections, some rights would be tempting to infringe upon.

The First Amendment protects pretty much every form of speech and keeps the government from having a state religion, which would arguably be another way to control speech.

The Second Amendment is the insurance policy that makes sure we can protect all the other rights from a tyrannical government. After all, a document isn’t going to be sufficient to deter a tyrant, as we well know.

And that brings me to the recent win before the Supreme Court by the NRA. While the matter is far from settled, it’s clear that the justices were less than pleased by the attack on free speech by a New York state official.

In the process, we can see how rights complement one another, which is why they all need protection.

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COVID vaccines responsible for rise in excess deaths, study reveals

A new study suggests that COVID vaccines might be partly responsible for a rise in “unprecedented” excess deaths in Western countries over the past three years, NY Post reported.

The researchers expressed serious concerns and urged government leaders and policymakers to thoroughly investigate the underlying reasons for this ongoing high mortality, according to their study published in BMJ Public Health.

Researchers urge investigation into high mortality as study links COVID vaccines responsible for rise in excess deaths

Scientists from the Netherlands’ Vrije Universiteit analyzed death rates from 47 Western countries. They found that excess mortality has stayed high since 2020, despite widespread vaccination and other measures to control the virus.

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Number Of First-Time Gun Owners Since 2020 Now Equals Population Of Florida

There has been a drastic surge in the number of Americans becoming first-time gun owners over the past four years according to a press release.

The National Sports Shooting Foundation (NSSF) pointed to data showing a major trend in gun ownership. The number of people who became first-time gun owners since 2020 has reportedly grown to over 22.3 million people, which is equal to the population of Florida.

The impetus behind the rapid increase in first-time gun ownership is attributed to numerous factors, including COVID-era lockdown measures, soft-on-crime prosecutors and skyrocketing violent crime rates, according to the NSSF.

The report highlights Chris Cheng, a competitive shooting champion who testified before Congress about the rise in gun ownership.

“The past year-and-a-half or so with COVID-19 has been a pressure cooker … When you couple that with calls to defund the police and taking law enforcement officers off the street … it makes citizens like me less safe,” Cheng said during his testimony, according to the report. “If I can’t have law enforcement there, then it is a rational conclusion that individual citizens like myself would opt to utilize my Second Amendment right to purchase a firearm and use that firearm in lawful and legal self-defense.”

More than 52% of American voters indicated that they or someone in their home owns a firearm, according to an NBC News national poll released in November 2023. Researchers also found that 48% of firearm owners were concerned that the government would not take enough action to restrict access to firearms while 47% worried that the state would go too far in regulating guns.

SCOTUS asked to hear challenge to New York’s concealed carry law

The U.S. Supreme Court is being asked to hear a legal challenge to New York’s sweeping 2022 gun control law, which sets limits on who can get concealed carry permits.

A lawsuit filed by a New York gun owner challenges the state’s new restrictions barring gun owners from carrying weapons in parks, bars and other “sensitive” locations and requiring them to demonstrate “good moral character” to get a gun permit.

In December, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower federal court decision that had gutted the law, which set a list of public areas where firearms are not permitted. The three-judge panel lifted that order, saying most of the gun law’s restrictions were consistent with the country’s history of regulating firearms in public areas.

But the plaintiff in the new legal challenge ripped the 2nd Circuit’s decision, arguing in the 38-page complaint that it was based on flawed interpretation of the Second Amendment’s requirements.

1 DEAD AFTER EXCHANGING GUNFIRE, ATTEMPTING TO ENTER PONCA CITY HOME FORCIBLY

One person died after exchanging gunfire, and attempting to enter a home in Ponca City forcibly, police confirmed.

According to a press release from Ponca City Police, officers responded to a report of a home invasion with gunshots around 7:00 p.m., near West Central Avenue and South Flormable Street in Ponca City on Sunday.

Police say that when officers arrived on the scene, witnesses shared that a person had been shot after attempting to force his way into a residence, and fire shots at the residents who lived there.

Officers found 29-year-old Jacob S. Grudowski near the residence, with multiple gunshot wounds, police said.

Police shared that authorities attempted life-saving measures, but Grudowski was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police confirmed that Grudowski had been involved in a domestic situation with one of the residents at this home. When Grudowski arrived at the home, he fired multiple gunshots after attempting to enter the home forcibly, police said.

Grudowski exchanged gunfire with one of the residents, which resulted in fatal gunshot wounds, police confirmed.

Bank of America Walks Back Gun Lending Ban

One of the country’s largest financial institutions is reversing course on AR-15s and other popular firearms.

Bank of America backed off its blanket ban on lending to companies that manufacture what it has labeled “military-style firearms,” Bloomberg first reported Friday. Going forward, the bank will resume lending to firearms companies on a case-by-case basis subject to “enhanced due diligence,” according to its latest Environmental and Social Risk Policy (ESRP) Framework.

Bill Haldin, a spokesperson for Bank of America, confirmed the change in policy in a statement to The Reload.

“Certain client relationships or transactions that carry heightened risks go through a due diligence process that involves senior level risk review,” he said. “We recently detailed that in our updated risk policy framework.”

The about-face comes as Republican-led states are increasingly turning up the heat on financial institutions and other businesses that adopt environmental, social, and governance (ESG) policies they argue target legal firearms and energy production. Gun commerce, in particular, has become a flashpoint in recent years as major banks like Bank of America, JPMorgan, and Citibank publicly cut off funding to businesses that sell certain firearms and accessories. In response, Republicans in states like Texas and Florida have shown an increased willingness to use new government regulations to combat those practices.

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You reap what you sow. This is the outcome gun control advocates have supported. My friend, also known as Dexter Taylor, was convicted for building legal firearms for personal use, a consequence of gun control measures aimed at “making us safer.”

Now, these same advocates are calling the gun community hypocrites, despite our warnings that these laws would have negative consequences detrimental to our firearm liberties. This demonstrates that gun control is driven by politics rather than genuine concern for our safety.

Dexter, a black conservative, faces severe repercussions of political gun control measures , while Hunter Biden, a white liberal and son of President Joe Biden, is defended by the same gun control advocates that condemned Dexter to 10 years of confinement to a prison. This disparity highlights the political nature of the issue. – Carl

Cynical Publius Profile picture

I am hoping there are still a few rational Democrats in existence, so I am writing this post in hopes reason will pull them back from the abyss they are about to throw the United States into.

The following statements are indisputable, verifiable facts:

1. The criminal prosecution of the leading Presidential candidate of the opposition party is a wholly unprecedented event that violates all American political norms.

2. In recorded world history, literally every time a nation’s ruling political party acts against prevailing political norms and imprisons or kills the leadership of its major political opponent, the history books record such action as tyrannical despotism.

Think about it, just as examples—Ancient Greece and Socrates; Ancient Rome and Julius Caesar; the French Reign of Terror; Russia, Lenin and the Romanovs; Stalin and his purges; every other Soviet premier and the Gulag; Nazi Germany (enough said); the British Raj and Gandhi; Mao’s Cultural Revolution; Lech Walesa, Vaclav Havel and the Warsaw Pact versions of Poland and the Czech Republic; South Africa and Nelson Mandela; Vladimir Putin and everyone who ever opposes him; the list goes on and on and on. History records EVERY SINGLE EXAMPLE of this phenomenon as the embodiment of abject evil and tyranny.

3. When tyrants imprison their opponents, they always justify the action as being necessary and lawful. Always. Without exception. Additionally, when that happens, there are MILLIONS of citizens who believe in good faith that their leaders’ actions are justified. Average Germans in 1933, average Russians in 1917 and average Chinese in 1970 all GENUINELY BELIEVED that they were the good guys and the actions of their leaders were entirely justified.

These are facts.
Indisputable.
Undeniable.

Here’s another set of facts: in the USA in 2024, the ruling party is seeking to imprison the leader of the opposition party, acting against historical political norms; the leadership doing this believes its actions are necessary and lawful; and average American Democrats believe fervently that the actions of their leaders are entirely justified. The parallels to historic tyranny are powerful, precise and alarming.

Democrats, please consider these facts. I implore you to reconsider your actions. You are not the good guys. Instead, you are the average German of 1933 or the average Chinese citizen of 1970. I warn you now:

History is about to mark you as yet another despicable entry in the pantheon of evil tyranny.

Step back from the abyss. There is still time.

“The EPP is just beginning to see the perils of mass immigration”: An Interview with Geoffrey van Orden

This is about 1/2 way down the article and applies to the U.S. just as much as to European nations.

Where does the greatest challenge for the West lie: abroad, or in domestic policies of open borders and green pacts?

The West faces multiple challenges, both internal and external. Mass uncontrolled immigration of people from entirely different cultures and habits is sheer madness. While the genuinely persecuted are rightly offered sanctuary, and small numbers of other people with particular skills or resources can be integrated into our societies, we are demonstrably incapable of properly integrating very large numbers of strangers. The effect is unwelcome changes to our own systems and loss of national cohesion at a time when this is more necessary than ever.

The vulnerabilities and fractures in our society are exploited by external enemies. While we had imagined that conflict between European states was a thing of the past, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the invasion of Ukraine has provided a salutary shock. The West needs to rearm and demonstrate the solidarity and resilience of its alliances, particularly NATO. EU involvement, through its autonomous defence ambition, is a dangerous distraction from this.

Fetterman has turned out to be a less a demoncrap and more a thorn in the party’s side.

Fetterman: Biden’s Ceasefire Proposal Isn’t ‘Meaningful Peace’, Hamas Has to Be Destroyed

During an interview aired on Friday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Special Report,” Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) reacted to President Joe Biden’s ceasefire proposal by stating that there won’t “be any meaningful peace, so long as Hamas is able to operate.”

Host Bret Baier asked, [relevant exchange begins around 3:50] “Sen. Fetterman, while I have you, the President endorsed a ceasefire proposal today, … and essentially, it would stop going after Hamas, would release all the hostages, and be a permanent ceasefire. Your thoughts on that proposal?”

Fetterman answered, “I’ve been very clear, I’m going to follow Israel in this situation. I do believe that Hamas needs to be destroyed, and it needs to be followed to the end, until there is an absolute surrender and they are…either in exile or they’re brought to justice or they’re eliminated. One way or another, there’s not going to be any meaningful peace, so long as Hamas is able to operate. And if you look at all of the damage, the death, and all of that, that’s exactly what Hamas wants. They designed that to be that way. They really don’t care how many Palestinians actually die and their suffering. Actually, Israel cares about minimizing all of the civilian deaths and all of the kinds of damage.”

Jury is chosen in Hunter Biden’s federal firearms case and opening statements are set for Tuesday

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — A jury was seated Monday in the federal gun case against President Joe Biden’s son Hunter, after prospective panelists were questioned about their thoughts on gun rights and drug addiction while the first lady watched from the front row of the courtroom.

Opening statements were set to begin Tuesday after the jurors — six men and six women plus four women serving as alternates — were instructed by Judge Maryellen Noreika not to talk or read about the case.

Hunter Biden has been charged in Delaware with three felonies stemming from a 2018 firearm purchase when he was, according to his memoir, in the throes of a crack addiction. He has been accused of lying to a federally licensed gun dealer, making a false claim on the application by saying he was not a drug user and illegally having the gun for 11 days.

The case is going to trial following the collapse of a plea deal that would have avoided the spectacle of a trial so close to the 2024 election. Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty and has argued he’s being unfairly targeted by the Justice Department, after Republicans decried the now-defunct plea deal as special treatment for the Democratic president’s son.

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