Biden Promises Maui Fire Survivors $700 Per Household — Less Than What is Spent on Ukraine

President Joe Biden announced Monday that survivors of the Maui fires would receive “a one-time $700 payment per household,” after he faced criticism for telling a reporter he had “no comment” on the rising death toll.

His account posted: “We’re laser-focused on getting aid to survivors, including Critical Needs Assistance: a one-time $700 payment per household offering relief during an unimaginably difficult time.”

The one-time payment of $700 per household is less than the estimated cost to each American household for the Ukraine War, according to a budget expert at the Heritage Foundation.

Richard Stern, director of The Heritage Foundation’s Grover M. Hermann Center for the Federal Budget, calculated that the congressionally-approved aid to Ukraine of $113 billion amounts to roughly $900 per American household.

“The formal aid packages alone amount to a staggering $113 billion — roughly $900 per American household and almost 12 times the spending cuts promised by House leadership in the annual spending bills,” Stern said in an email to The Daily Signal, Heritage’s news outlet.

Furthermore, he said the $113 billion would cost more than $300 in interest costs per household over the decade.

On Thursday, as the Maui fires continued burning, Biden asked Congress for an additional $20 billion more in aid for Ukraine.

“As the war in Ukraine becomes a prolonged conflict, Americans are rightly growing skeptical of sending more taxpayer dollars and equipment from our depleted armory,” Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts told The Daily Signal.

“Washington has failed to address their concerns, explain our nation’s strategy in the war, or enact basic oversight for our aid,” Roberts said. “If Congress can’t fix those fundamental issues, they have no business sending more money into the fog of war.”

August 16

1777 – U.S. forces led by General John Stark rout British and Brunswick troops under Friedrich Baum at Bennington near Walloomsac, New York.

1780 – British forces under the command of General Cornwallis rout U.S. troops led by General Horatio Gates near Camden, South Carolina

1792 – During the French Revolution, a month after the Storming of the Bastille, Maximilien de Robespierre presents the petition of the Commune of Paris to the Legislative Assembly, demanding the formation of a revolutionary tribunal.

1793 –During the French Revolution, a levée en masse –a general conscription for military service – is decreed by the National Convention.

1812 – During the War of 1812, General William Hull surrenders Fort Detroit to the British Army without a fight.

1841 – President Tyler vetoes a bill which called for the reestablishment of the Second Bank of the United States. Whig Party members riot outside the White House in protest.

1858 – President Buchanan inaugurates the new transatlantic telegraph cable by exchanging greetings with Queen Victoria

1888 – Thomas Edward Lawrence more well known as ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ is born in Snowdon Lodge,  Tremadog, Wales.

1896 – ‘Skookum’ Jim Mason, George Carmack and Dawson Charlie discover gold in a tributary of the Klondike River in Canada

1916 – The Migratory Bird Treaty between Canada and the United States is signed.

1927 – The Dole Air Race begins from Oakland, California, to Honolulu, Hawaii, during which 2 of the 8 starting planes crash on takeoff, 2 are forced to return for repairs, and 2 go missing over the Pacific ocean.

1945 – “The Father of the Kamikazi”, Admiral Takijirō Ōnishi commits seppuku without the assistance of a Kaishakunin – an assistant that immediately cuts off the head of the suicide – taking 15 hours to die.

1954 – The first issue of Sports Illustrated is published.

1959 – Fleet Admiral William Halsey, Jr. USN dies while on holiday on Fishers Island, New York.

1960 – Joseph Kittinger parachutes from a balloon over New Mexico at 102,800 feet. The records stands until 2012.

1966 – The House Un-American Activities Committee begins investigations of Americans who have aided the Viet Cong.

1977 – Elvis Presley dies at age 42 in his Graceland mansion, in Memphis.

1987 – Northwest Airlines Flight 255, a McDonnell Douglas MD-82, crashes after takeoff in Detroit, Michigan, killing 154 of the 155 passengers and crew on board, plus 2 people on the ground.

2008 – The Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago is topped off at 1,389 feet, at the time becoming the world’s highest residence above ground level.

2010 – AIRES Flight 8250, a Boeing 737, crashes short of the runway on landing at Gustavo Rojas Pinilla International Airport in San Andrés, San Andrés y Providencia, Colombia, killing 2 of the 131 passengers and crew aboard.

2020 – Lightning strikes ignite the ‘August Complex’ fire in California, eventually burning over one million acres of land.

BLUF
Well, I generally believe that when government officials don’t want us to know something, it’s because they fear we would think or act in ways they wouldn’t like if we knew it.

It’s democracy in the dark without Nashville shooter manifesto’s release.

“Democracy Dies in Darkness” is the (sometimes ironic) slogan of The Washington Post.

But it’s also a fair description of what’s happening in Tennessee, as the state Legislature is being called to a special session even as local and federal officials withhold information that might be critical to its decision-making.

Gov. Bill Lee ordered the special session to begin Aug. 21 in response to a March 27 mass shooting in which three adults and three children at the Covenant School, a Christian school in Nashville’s Green Hills neighborhood, were killed.

The Nashville Tennessean article refers only to “a shooter.”

The shooter was a female-to-male transgender shooter named Audrey Hale, aged 28, who left a manifesto before being killed by police.

Hale had chosen to identify as a man, using the pronouns he/him.

The manifesto included detailed plans put together over months to shoot up the school, according to reports just after the shooting from police who had seen it.

Unfortunately, they’re the only ones who have seen it.

Local and federal authorities with access to the manifesto have refused to make its contents public.

Though Hale sent an Instagram message to a friend just before the shooting, saying, “One day this will make more sense. I’ve left more than enough evidence behind,” we haven’t seen that evidence.

Vivek Ramaswamy, running third in the GOP presidential primary, recently called for the manifesto’s release. He characterizes the government position as “stonewalled silence.”

Well, I generally believe that when government officials don’t want us to know something, it’s because they fear we would think or act in ways they wouldn’t like if we knew it.

They seldom keep things secret that would make them look good.

Instead it’s usually something that would reflect badly on them or someone they’re protecting.

What could that be in this case? I don’t know, and they seem determined to keep it that way.

But beyond that, the Legislature is in a curious position.

Lawmakers are being asked to debate and vote on legislative proposals being made only because of the March shooting, even as some of the most important facts are kept secret.

Gov. Lee’s office says he’s called for the release of the manifesto, and it’s the Metro Nashville Police and the FBI keeping the lid on.

Continue reading “”

If Saying An Election Is Stolen Is A Crime, Why Isn’t Stacey Abrams In Prison?

The fourth and latest round of indictments against former President Donald Trump suggests that constitutionally protected actions such as questioning election results, asking for phone numbers, and encouraging voters to watch TV are now indictment-worthy acts of conspiracy. If claiming an election is stolen is truly a crime, as prosecutors and grand jurors in Trump’s Georgia case suggested on Monday, failed gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams should be behind bars.

Abrams lost the race for governor in Georgia in 2018 to then-Secretary of State Brian Kemp by 1.4 percentage points. Due to the small margin of victory, Abrams refused to formally concede her loss because she believed the election was “tainted” which led to the “disinvestment and disenfranchisement of thousands of voters.”

In her “non-concession speech,” the Democrat admitted that Kemp “will be certified as the victor in the 2018 gubernatorial election” but stopped short of officially agreeing that she lost.

“To be clear, this is not a speech of concession. Concession means to acknowledge an action is right, true, or proper. As a woman of conscience and faith, I cannot concede,” Abrams said.

The activist threatened lawsuits but never provided evidence for her claims that black voters’ votes were being suppressed at the polls. Instead of facing punishment for her lies, Abrams was elevated by her party and the corporate media as the face of their attempt to permanently manipulate elections ahead of Trump’s second and third runs. She was so encouraged by this attention that she ran and lost against Kemp again in 2022.

Abrams’ sore loser behavior resonated with the Democrat Party, which still clings to its own stolen-election theories used to undermine Trump’s victory in 2016. She quickly entered the pool of possible options for President Joe Biden’s running mate. Her whining even scored her political points with other failed candidates such as Hillary Clinton, who complained that “if [Abrams] had a fair election, she already would have won.”

Years after her initial loss, Abrams was still pretending that Georgia elections were rigged against her. In 2021, she made a national show of calling for boycotts of Georgia when Republicans in her state passed election integrity laws. To this day, she regularly appears on TV to discuss how to advance Democrats’ undemocratic version of “democracy” during elections.

Disclosure filings from her second failed campaign in the Peach State suggest that, between 2018 and 2022, Abrams’ election fraud book tour, speech circuit, and activism made her into a multimillionaire.

In just four years, Abrams went from arguing that her $400,000 in credit card debt, student loans, back taxes, car loans, and real estate debt shouldn’t disqualify her from running to confessing her $3.17 million worth just months before voters would reject her again in the 2022 election.

For objecting to how the 2018 gubernatorial election in Georgia ended, Abrams was handed fame and fortune. For objecting to how the 2020 presidential election in Georgia was handled, Trump was slapped with 13 felony charges and the possibility of jail time.

A majority of Americans already believe the U.S. has a two-tiered system of justice. The fact that Trump, who raised legitimate questions about a poorly conducted election in Georgia, is facing prison instead of Abrams, who never gave evidence for her outrageous election claims, further proves it.

 

Don’t Throw Away Those Silica Gel Packets! Here Are 14 Smart Ways to Reuse Them.

Those tiny little packs of dessicant that come in your new pack of shoes or your vitamins have many uses around your home. Anywhere that moisture is a problem, silica gel packets can help alleviate the issue. Keep them stored in an airtight container away from pets and children (they are a choking hazard) and whip them out in the following scenarios.

Around the Kitchen
  • Keep vitamins from moisture damage. (It’s good to just keep those silica packs that come in the vitamin containers; save them once the vitamins are finished.)
  • Keep dry food and pet food fresh and crispy with a silica gel pack taped to the lid of your storage container.
  • Put a few silica gel packs in the bottom of your clothes hamper to absorb moisture from clothes or damp towels.
  • A pack of silica gel will help dry out wet shoes or boots.

Around the House

  • Reduce condensation on windows by setting a silica gel pack on the window sill. (Remember to keep them away from children and pets)
  • Help dry out a non-water-resistant cell phone by putting it in a sealed bag with several silica gel packs.
  • Protect important documents and photos from moisture with a silica gel pack inside the box or file cabinet.
  • Boxes of paper memories — like old papers, photos or notebooks — in storage? Silica gel packs stored in the same container will adsorb moisture.
  • Store silica gel packs with your tools to help prevent rust damage.
  • Store some in your medicine cabinet if you keep medication in there. The silica gel packs will help keep humidity down.
  • Keep razors from moisture damage by storing them in a sealed container with a silica gel pack.
  • Placing a few silica gel packs between your dashboard and windshield in the car will help keep fogging to a minimum.

When You Travel

  • Keep luggage dry while it’s in storage by tossing a silica gel pack in each suitcase.
  • Toss a few silica gel packs in a Ziploc bag if you can’t dry your bathing suit before packing it.

Bonus Tip: To “reactivate” silica gel packs that are saturated with moisture, place them on a baking sheet in a 200 degree oven away from the heating element for two hours.

Chicago Group Asks Gang Members Not to Shoot People Between 9:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m.

Native Sons, a group from Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood, is asking that gang members pledge to cease fire from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. daily so no one lives in fear of being shot while going about their day-to-day activities.

The push for the cease-fire is being called “The People’s Ordinance,” CWBChicago reported.

Native Sons’ co-founder, Tatiana Atkins, said:

Under this ordinance, we ask that people stop associating with and glorifying ‘shooters,’ stop glorifying ‘switches,’ and stop wearing those ski masks everywhere which perpetuates you as some ‘opp.’ When those who live a certain lifestyle try to hang with ‘regular’ class citizens, they put everyone at risk.…

At the end of the day, five-year-olds are being killed by gun violence, 14-year-olds are being killed by gun violence, 78-year-olds are being killed by gun violence, pregnant women are being killed by gun violence, young boys with bright futures are being killed by gun violence, fathers are being killed by gun violence, and this shouldn’t be happening.

Atkins hopes that gang members will adopt the cease-fire and that parents will react by making sure they have their children home and inside as 9:00 p.m. approaches.

Breitbart News reported at least 23 people were shot over the weekend in Chicago, three of them fatally.

Over 370 people have been killed in Chicago thus far in 2023.

Illinois’ latest gun law is an affront to more than just the Second Amendment

Illinois’ new “Firearms Industry Responsibility Act” isn’t just an attack on our right to keep and bear arms. It’s an assault on our freedom of speech as well. On today’s Bearing Arms’ Cam & Co Mark Oliva of the National Shooting Sports Foundation sits down with me to discuss the group’s newly-filed lawsuit challenging HB 218, as well as the impending ATF rule on private sales and transfers of firearms.

The NSSF’s lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for Southern Illinois, challenges the validity of Illinois’ new gun control law on multiple counts, starting with the argument that HB 218 is preempted by the Protection of Lawful Commerce Act. But the NSSF is also raising a First Amendment challenge, asserting that the law discriminates against speech based on its content or viewpoint and arguing that such discrimination should be subject to strict scrutiny by the courts.

The topics and views that Illinois has singled out in HB 218 do not fall into any “well-defined and narrowly limited classes of speech” unprotected by the First Amendment. To be sure, the First Amendment does not preclude imposing liability for false, deceptive, or otherwise “misleading” commercial speech.

But HB 218 does not even purport to target only speech that is false or misleading. It authorizes the imposition of liability for speech about a product—a product expressly protected by the Constitution, no less— even when that speech is truthful and not misleading. Indeed, the words “false,” “misleading,” and “deceptive” appear nowhere in the relevant provisions.

A manufacturer that places online advertisements containing entirely accurate specifications of its products and subsequently sells that product to a distributor, could be liable under HB 218, even if that product is fully lawful in every state in which it is sold, if a Illinois court later deems the product to have been marketed (1) in a way that “contribute[d] to a condition in Illinois that endangers the safety or health of the public,” or (2) encouraged non-servicemembers to use it for “a military-related purpose”.

“They’re trying to squelch the First Amendment rights of firearm manufacturers and retailers,” Oliva explained to me. “If they can eliminate the discussion of safe and responsible firearm ownership to the next generation, they can diminish the desire for ownership and people exercising their Second Amendment rights. So they’re trying to play the long game of eliminating the Second Amendment by eliminating and curtailing the First Amendment. And it’s important to remember that commercial speech is protected by the First Amendment. It is a right for these companies to be able to advertise a constitutionally-protected product.”

In its suit, the NSSF says that the speech code established by HB 218 is so vague that it’s “virtually impossible for regulated parties to tell what speech is and is not permitted, leaving them with no realistic choice but to err on the side of refraining from exercising their First Amendment rights.”

By its terms, HB 218 renders unlawful any marketing of a firearm-related product that “create[s], maintain[s], or contribute[s] to a condition in Illinois that endangers the safety or health of the public” if it is deemed “unreasonable under all circumstances.” This restriction “will provoke uncertainty among speakers,” as such indeterminable and subjective abstractions do not articulate at all—let alone articulate with “narrow specificity”—what kind(s) of speech may later be deemed to have unreasonably contributed to a “condition … that endangers the safety or health of the public.”

Those restrictions are problematic enough, but HB 218 further prohibits marketing “in a manner that reasonably appears to support, recommend, or encourage individuals” who are not in the military “to use a firearm-related product for a military-related purpose.” The problem with this broad prohibition is that Illinois provides no guidance on what qualifies as a “military-related” purpose, leaving industry members to guess whether their marketing materials will later be deemed unlawful.

HB 218 goes on, moreover, to prohibit an industry member from “advertis[ing], market[ing], promot[ing], design[ing], or sell[ing] any firearm related product in a manner that reasonably appears to support, recommend, or encourage persons under 18 years of age to unlawfully purchase or possess or use a firearm-related product.”

A state of course may prohibit speech directly concerning unlawful conduct. But, unless this provision covers nothing more than advertisements that tell minors to buy guns (despite being minors), it is not at all clear what it means. Does any advertisement that shows minors lawfully using firearms (e.g., with a parent while hunting, or at a Boy Scouts shooting event) fall on the wrong side of the line?

What about marketing in a way targeted toward young men, who share many characteristics with those just a few years younger—but are lawfully able to purchase firearms (and serve in the armed forces)? The questions vastly outnumber the answers. And while no statute must preempt all potential complications, when it comes to a prohibition on speech, the lack of clarity is destined to create a massive chilling problem.

If HB 218 is so narrow that it only prohibits advertisements that entice juveniles into breaking the law, then this particular provision is never going to come into play in practice. If, on the other hand, the bill is written broadly enough to target manufacturers like Wee1 Tactical and its JR-15 rimfire rifle, then it’s going to make it virtually impossible to not only market but produce firearms designed for youth shooting. As Oliva says, that’s nothing more than abridging the First Amendment rights of gun makers to curb the Second Amendment rights of gun owners, and a sign of the contempt that Illinois lawmakers have for all of our individual rights.

Check out the entire conversation with Mark Oliva in the video window below, including his initial thoughts on the yet-to-be-introduced ATF rule that seeks to impose a near-universal background check system on gun sales and the dangers it poses to lawful gun owners across the country. Be sure to tune in tomorrow as well, when we’ll be talking with Jim Wallace of the Gun Owners Action League about how gun owners are pushing back on the “Lawful Citizens Imprisonment Act” and what’s happening behind the scenes at the statehouse in Boston.

Rideshare driver with concealed carry license shoots robbers in North Lawndale, Chicago

CHICAGO — A rideshare driver shot and wounded two robbers early Saturday in North Lawndale, police said.

The 26-year-old driver had dropped off a passenger about 1 a.m. in the 1500 block of South Millard Avenue when two people – a man, 20, and an 18-year-old woman – walked up to him and announced a robbery, according to Chicago police.

The male suspect took the victim’s cell phone, then fired shots as the two robbers tried to flee the scene, police said.

The driver, who has a valid concealed carry license, returned fire, striking the man in the leg and grazing the woman in the arm, police said. The driver was not injured.

The man was taken to Stroger Hospital in good condition, while the woman declined medical attention, police said.

Detectives are investigating.

 

August 15

636 – The armies of the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius and Rashidun Caliphate engage in their first battle near the Yarmouk river, east of the Sea of Galilee.

717 – An army of the Umayyad Caliphate under Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik finally encircles Constantinople beginning a – literally – year long, second siege of the city.

718 – The Second Arab Siege of Constantinople ends after desertions in the blockading fleet and attacks by Bulgarian forces from the north allow the city to be resupplied.

778 – In retaliation for destroying the city walls of their capital, Pamplona, the army of Charlemagne is attacked by Basque forces at Roncevaux Pass in the Pyrenees mountains and forced to withdraw. The rear guard including its commander, Roland, is killed while covering the retreat.

927 – The Saracens conquer and destroy Taranto, Italy, enslaving and deporting to North Africa all the survivors

982 – The army of Holy Roman Emperor Otto II is defeated by the Saracens at Capo Colonna, Italy.

1096 – Pope Urban II declares the start of the First Crusade.

1237 – During the Reconquista, the army of the Kingdom of Aragon, under Bernat Guillem I d’Entença, is victorious over the army of the Taifa of Valencia under Zayyan ibn Mardanishat near El Puig Spain.

1248 – The foundation stone of Cologne Cathedral, built to house the relics of the Three Wise Men, is laid.

1281 – The Mongolian/Chinese fleet of Kublai Khan is destroyed by a “divine wind” -the Kamikaze- in Hakata Bay, Japan.

1461 – The Empire of Trebizond, the last remaining part of the Byzantine Empire,  surrenders to the forces of Sultan Mehmed II.

1483 – Pope Sixtus IV consecrates the Sistine Chapel in Rome.

1824 – The Marquis de Lafayette returns to the U.S. to begin a tour of the 24 states.

1914 – The Panama Canal opens to traffic with the transit of the cargo ship SS Ancon.

1935 – Will Rogers and Wiley Post are killed after their aircraft, a Lockheed Orion Explorer, develops engine problems and crashes during takeoff in Barrow, Alaska.

1939 – The Wizard of Oz premieres at Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Los Angeles, California.

1944 – The U.S. Army’s VI Corps lands on the beaches of the Côte d’Azur to begin the invasion of southern France

1945 – Even after the Commander of the First Imperial Guards Division, Lieutenant General Takeshi Mori, is killed for refusing to join the conspirators, who then issue false orders in his name, an attempted coup d’état against the Japanese government fails by early morning, when the vast majority of the Imperial Guards remain loyal to Emperor Hirohito.
The leaders of the failed coup commit suicide.
After signing the surrender document the previous night, the Imperial War Minister, General Korechika Anami commits suicide by seppuku.
The recording of Hirohito’s surrender announcement –The Jewel Voice Broadcast– is aired as scheduled.

1947 – India gains Independence from British rule and joins the Commonwealth of Nations.

1948 – The Republic of South Korea is established south of the 38th parallel north.

1969 – The Woodstock Music & Art Fair opens in upstate New York

1971 – President Nixon ends convertibility of the United States dollar into gold

1977 – The Big Ear, a radio telescope operated by Ohio State University as part of the SETI project, receives a radio signal from deep space; the event is named the “Wow! signal” from the notation made by a volunteer on the project.

1995 – Shannon Faulkner becomes the first female cadet matriculated at The Citadel Military College of South Carolina, but drops out less than a week later.

2013 – The Smithsonian announces the discovery of the Olinguito (Bassaricyon neblina), a new species of the raccoon family,  living in mountain forests in the Andes of western Colombia and Ecuador.

2021 – Kabul falls into the hands of the Taliban as Afghan President Ashraf Ghani flees the country, along with local residents and foreign nationals,  effectively reestablishing the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.

I respect your second amendment.    
[leaves out the ‘but’ like they always do]

I also respect understanding ways our society works. We need to reform background checks, we need better ID scanning systems to ensure the guns don’t go into the wrong hands.

I’ll protect the American people at all cost, that starts with-
Preventing mass shootings, you don’t need an AK-47 to hunt, defend yourself or your home. You could simply defend yourself with a simple firearm.

I as your president of the United States of America, have no rights to interfere with your private life but I will protect Americans.

Respecting the Second Amendment should stand without further contradicted commentary.

Our society possesses a level of violence, and neither existing nor new gun laws will lead us to a utopian state where laws alone rectify criminal or violent actions.

Background checks have demonstrated limited effectiveness, given the rise in gun-related crimes since their introduction. Numerous mass shooters acquired firearms by providing false information on their 4473 forms (background check applications) and passing due to insufficient government scrutiny of buyers’ backgrounds.

Additionally, some potential mass shooters who harbor intentions of carrying out mass violence might lack a criminal record or documented mental health issues to identify during background checks.

Everyday criminals affiliated with gangs have no concerns about passing a background check to acquire firearms, which they then use for activities such as targeting rival gangs or engaging in various criminal acts.

Criminals frequently steal firearms or obtain them through straw purchases. The access to firearms for individuals should be a straightforward and uncomplicated procedure, without unnecessary restrictions on where they can carry those arms.

Imposing gun restrictions inadvertently empowers criminals while penalizing law-abiding citizens.

Former senator told Biden he’d ‘kick the sh-t out of’ the then-VP for getting handsy with his wife.

Former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown threatened President Joe Biden with bodily harm when the then-veep allegedly got fresh with Brown’s wife more than a decade ago, he recalled this week.

“I told him I’d kick the sh-t out of – beat the – I told him to stop,” Brown told host Tom Shattuck on the “Burn Barrel” podcast Wednesday.

“He didn’t act the way I thought he should,” Brown added. “And, you know, we called him on it, and that’s it.”

The incident occurred in 2010, when Biden, in his role as president of the Senate, posed for photos with Brown and his wife, Gail Huff Brown, at the Republican’s swearing-in ceremony in the US Capitol.

Photographers captured Huff Brown’s frozen grin as Biden’s right hand remained awkwardly behind her back – apparently near her posterior – as the portrait session ended.

Brown who won his senate seat in a 2010 special election after the death of Sen. Teddy Kennedy and served just three years in office, refused to elaborate on the episode.

“No, no. It’s old news, it’s old news,” he insisted when Shattuck pressed him for further details.

Instead, Brown blamed Biden’s inappropriate handsiness on incipient dementia — which, he suggested, has worsened during his presidency.

“I spent quite a bit of time with him. I enjoyed his company,” Brown recalled. “But we all know people who have dementia and have the beginning of Alzheimer’s, and he’s got it,” he said. “I mean, it’s the walk. It’s the way he’s mumbling, his anger outbursts. And it’s a shame that we can’t do better in this great country.”

For years, Biden has been notorious for his touchy-feely behavior with women and young girls — with a particular fondness for groping female family members of new senators and cabinet members taking the oath of office.

In June, actress Eva Longoria had to physically guide the 80-year-old president’s hands away from her breasts as he embraced her at a White House film screening.

Age of Rage: UChicago Report Finds 30 Million American View Violence as Justified to Keep Trump From Power

The chilling answer is found in a new report out of the University of Chicago showing that almost 12 percent of the population, representing 30 million people, believe that violence is warranted to prevent Trump from assuming the presidency. That is almost double the number who believe that violence is warranted to ensure that Trump does become president.

As discussed in The Guardian, the Chicago Project on Security & Threats survey found many Americans are embracing violence as an option for political change.

We have watched as rage has risen in the country. It is often celebrated by one side or the other. I previously discussed how a scene like the recent confrontation on the floor of the Tennessee House perfectly captured our “age of rage.” Protesters filled the capitol building to protest the failure to pass gun-control legislation. Three Democratic state representatives — Justin Jones from Nashville, Justin Pearson from Memphis, and Gloria Johnson of Knoxville — were unwilling to yield to the majority. They disrupted the floor proceedings with a bullhorn and screaming at their colleagues.

It is a scene familiar to many of us in academia, where events are regularly canceled by those who shout down others.

The three members yelled “No action, no peace” and “Power to the people” as their colleagues objected to their stopping the legislative process. Undeterred, the three refused to allow “business as usual” to continue.

Nobel Laureate Albert Camus once said, “Insurrection is certainly not the sum total of human experience but … it is our historic reality.” Those words came to mind when Tennessee’s House of Representatives expelled two members accused of disrupting legislative proceedings in what some called an “insurrection” or a “mutiny.”

Only a few days before the Tennessee House floor fight, a confrontation occurred off the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington which captured perfectly this new political reality.

Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) was shown on videotape screaming about gun control in the Capitol as his colleagues left the floor following a vote. Various Democratic members, including former House Majority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), tried to calm Bowman. However, when Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) asked Bowman to stop yelling, Bowman shouted back: “I was screaming before you interrupted me” — which could go down as the epitaph for our age.

The problem is that political figures on both sides are attempting to harness this rage.  They are playing a dangerous game. Trump’s inflammatory tweets are an example. Likewise, former Democratic National Committee deputy chair Keith Ellison, now the Minnesota attorney general, once said Antifa would “strike fear in the heart” of Trump. This was after Antifa had been involved in numerous acts of violence and its website was banned in Germany. His son, Minneapolis City Council member Jeremiah Ellison, declared his allegiance to Antifa as riots raged in his city last summer.

Unleashing such rage is difficult to control and often those leading the mob find themselves later pursued by it. This is why, during the French Revolution, the journalist Jacques Mallet Pan warned, “Like Saturn, the revolution devours its children.”

Origins of Cappuccino: A Saintly Friar and a Battle Against the Turks.

Many Americans love cappuccino, but few people know where the name comes from. Cappuccinos are named for a holy Capuchin priest who was chaplain to an army fighting Ottoman Turks to defend Christian Europe.

Bl. Mark (or Marco) of Aviano is a saint celebrated by Catholics on August 13, and the name cappuccino comes from the name of the religious order Mark joined, the Capuchins. To understand the story of cappuccino, it helps to know a little about Bl. Mark himself.

As a teenager, Mark set off to preach Christianity and possibly become a martyr in Crete (where Muslim Turks were invading), but was convinced to return home after stopping at a monastery. It wasn’t the last time Ottoman Turks would figure in his life, however. The monastery had impressed young Mark, and he became a Capuchin friar and then a priest in 1655 in Italy. After some time living a cloistered life he became a missionary preacher and then superior of two religious houses. While preaching at a Paduan monastery, his prayers resulted in the miraculous healing of a bed-ridden religious sister, and Mark soon became famous as a miracle-worker. That fame in turn led him to become an advisor to the Austrian emperor and then papal legate and apostolic nuncio for Pope Bl. Innocent XI.

He secured the release of Vienna from the Ottoman Turks on 12 September 1683. Travelled with the army from 1683 to 1689 as advisor and chaplain to soldiers of all ranks. He helped negotiate the liberation of Buda on 2 September 1686, and of Belgrade on 6 September 1688. He worked as a peacemaker throughout Europe, bringing unity to warring Catholic powers, educating them on the threat posed by the Ottoman[s] – and never letting them forget that all wise counsel was given by God.

So where does coffee come in? Well, it was at the end of the Battle of Vienna. There are two stories about how cappuccino was invented, according to National Catholic Register. The more widely known and widely accepted version (which seems to be older, too) is as follows:

[A]fter the capture of the Turkish camp at the end of the battle, the imperial soldiers found hundreds of bags of coffee, together with numerous other treasures left behind by the defeated army.

The bitterness of this product, quite unknown in the West at that time, had a repellent effect on the soldiers, so Blessed Marco advised them to mix the beverage with some milk to sweeten it. The delicious beverage, which also happened to have the same color as the friar’s habit, was then called kapuziner in his honor and rapidly spread through Vienna and the rest of the Holy Roman Empire.

Italian scholar Ugo Spezia apparently wrote about a different version of the story where Greek and Serbian merchants used the coffee bags to open Vienna’s very first coffee shops. The drink they made by mixing coffee and milk was named in honor of Bl. Mark who, after Vienna’s liberation, was naturally rather famous and popular there. Whichever story you accept, Bl. Marco is at the center of it!

So the next time you sip a cappuccino, remember Mark of Aviano and the Christian soldiers who saved Europe from the Turks!

Dealing With The Panic
Familiarity with a firearm breeds competency rather than contempt, says Sheriff Jim.

In one of the rare interviews that he gave, Texas Ranger Frank Hamer said, “The one superlative thing you want to achieve is to hit your mark… Really, it is very simple. Just keep cool and take time to aim straight, and that’s all there is to it.”

In line with that, to paraphrase, Col. Jeff Cooper said that, when dealing with a violent attack is unavoidable, we should purge our minds of everything except target acquisition… front sight… press.

For us mere mortals, the real enemy is a combination of panic plus lack of ability. And, while both are serious problems, they can be overcome. We should never be surprised that something like a criminal attack is happening to us. We deal with these things by honing our skills. Continually working to improve our skills builds self-confidence and properly placed self-confidence has won many a fight.

Just about everyone has seen those targets that some folks post on social media. You know the ones, shot at 5 or 7 yards, and the pattern looks like it was shot with a shotgun instead of a handgun. Not to hurt anyone’s feelings, but a really good place to start is the basic handgun marksmanship class from the NRA. You know, just be able to stand on your hind legs and hit a target dead center, not once in a while, but most of the time. The ability to draw quickly and shoot fast has to be built upon a foundation such as this.

In my case, I began roaming the local creek with my Red Ryder BB gun and later my Winchester .22 rifle. Targets of opportunity were everywhere, and I hustled whatever paying jobs I could find to keep stocked up on ammo. In high school I joined the ROTC, not because I was enamored with the military, but because they had a smallbore rifle range in the basement and taught marksmanship. My first police job was with a department that encouraged marksmanship among the officers, and you can bet that I learned a lot there. Even today, I try to take at least one defensive shooting class per year. That commitment to continuing education definitely increased my self-confidence and helped me to deal with some serious issues over the years.

Nothing builds self-confidence like getting a good gun, buying lots of ammunition, and shooting on a regular basis. Take a basic marksmanship class if you’ve never had one or if it’s been a while since the last one. Learn to point a handgun and hit a target dead center at various ranges, not just up close. Once you can do that on a regular basis, you are ready to learn to fight with the handgun and avoid the panic that might defeat you.