Okay, so who’s gonna be number three?
Robert Blake, actor acquitted in wife’s killing, dies at 89
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Robert Blake, the Emmy award-winning performer who went from acclaim for his acting to notoriety when he was tried and acquitted in the killing of his wife, died Thursday at age 89.
A statement released on behalf of his niece, Noreen Austin, said Blake died from heart disease, surrounded by family at home in Los Angeles.
Blake, star of the 1970s TV show, “Baretta,” had once hoped for a comeback, but he never recovered from the long ordeal which began with the shooting death of his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, outside a Studio City restaurant on May 4, 2001. The story of their strange marriage, the child it produced and its violent end was a Hollywood tragedy played out in court.
Once hailed as among the finest actors of his generation, Blake became better known as the center of a real-life murder trial, a story more bizarre than any in which he acted. Many remembered him not as the rugged, dark-haired star of “Baretta,” but as a spectral, white-haired murder defendant.
Chaim Topol, Tevye in Film and Stage Versions of Fiddler on the Roof, Dies at 87.
Chaim Topol, who became professionally known solely by his last name in a career that included starring in ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ on stage and screen and co-starring in the James Bond movie ‘For Your Eyes Only’ and the sci-fi film ‘Flash Gordon,’ died Thursday in Tel Aviv after a battle with Alzheimer’s disease.
Useless law that won’t stop anything.
Bill to help stop minors from accessing firearms heads to NM governor
The bill was named after Bennie Hargove, a middle school student whose classmate fatally shot him in 2021 using his father’s gun
Gun safety legislation is on its way to the governor’s desk for a signature.
Bennie’s Bill, which would make it a crime for allowing a firearm to be accessible to a minor, passed with concurrence through the House by a vote of 34-28 on Wednesday evening.
The bill was named after Bennie Hargove, a middle school student whose classmate fatally shot him in 2021 using his father’s gun.
This bill would make it a misdemeanor for anyone to negligently have a firearm be accessible to a minor, and a fourth-degree felony if the minor who uses the gun significantly harms another person or themself.
There’s a list of exceptions, including if the gun was kept in a locked container, securely stored or in an inaccessible location; if a firearm was used in self-defense; or in the case of an illegal entry on someone’s property.
A Senate amendment included in the bill that passed from Sen. Steven Neville (R-Aztec) last week added an exception that would allow a minor to use a firearm for hunting, recreationally or any other lawful purpose.
Rep. Stefani Lord (R-Sandia Park) asked repeated questions about the extent and technicalities of this clause.
Rep. Pamelya Herndon (D-Albuquerque), the bill’s sponsor, went back and forth with her colleague about the amendment before she said Neville could better explain the proposal.
However, Sen. Neville wasn’t present at the House floor meeting.
“I’m actually trying to get honest answers so when I go home and explain this, I want to make sure that none of our parents are committing a crime,” Lord said. “I don’t want that to happen.”
Lord asked if she should just wait for Neville to come to the House floor. In response, House Speaker Javier Martinez (D-Albuquerque) told someone to call Neville.
Martinez recommended that Lord continue with her questions and reminded the representatives that the bill still has to be signed by the governor and will take several months to even become law.
“We’ve got plenty of time to get a one-pager from the senator as to the technical aspects of this amendment,” Martinez said.
March 9
1500 – Following Vasco da Gama’s route around Africa, the fleet of Pedro Álvares Cabral leaves Lisbon for the Indies. Sailing farther west into the Atlantic Ocean than planned, the fleet makes landfall on what is now the country of Brazil on the South American continent and Cabral claims it for Portugal since the land lies within boundaries granted to the Portuguese Crown in the Treaty of Tordesillas
1776 – The Wealth of Nations by Scottish economist and philosopher Adam Smith is published.
1841 – In the case of United States v. The Amistad, the Supreme Court rules that captive Africans who had seized control of the ship carrying them had been taken into slavery illegally.
1842 – The first documented discovery of gold in California occurs at Rancho San Francisco, six years before the California Gold Rush.
1847 – During the Mexican–American War, the first large scale amphibious assault in U.S. military history is launched to besiege the city of Veracruz.
1862 – During the war between the states, the USS Monitor and CSS Virginia fight to a draw in the Battle of Hampton Roads, the first battle between two ironclad warships.
1916 – Pancho Villa leads 500 Mexican raiders in an attack on U.S. 13th Cavalry Regiment troop garrisoning the border town of Columbus, New Mexico, killing 40 people, including 15 U.S. civilians, before being driven back across the border after suffering 183 casualties with 7 captured.
1945 – During World War II, 334 B29 bombers of the U.S. Army Air Forces carry out Operation Meetinghouse, the first full scale firebombing of Tokyo, destroying most of the capital and killing over 100,000 Japanese, the single deadliest bombing raid of any theater in the war.
1957 – A 8.6 magnitude earthquake hits the Aleutian Islands, causing over $5 million in damage from ground movement and tsunami, but with no deaths or reported injuries.
1959 – The Barbie doll debuts at the American International Toy Fair in New York.
1960 – Dr. Belding Hibbard Scribner implants for the first time a vascular shunt he invented, into a patient, which allows the patient to receive hemodialysis on a regular basis.
1967 – Trans World Airlines Flight 553, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9, enroute from Pittsburgh to Dayton, crashes in a field in Concord Township, Ohio following a mid air collision with a Beechcraft Baron, killing all 25 passengers and crew aboard the jet and the sole pilot of the Beechcraft.
1977 – Armed Hanafi moslem terrorists seize 3 buildings in Washington, D.C., murdering 1 hostage and wounding 2 more, including a policeman who later dies, and holding 149 people hostage for 3 days until finally surrendering.
1997 – Rap artist Christopher George Latore Wallace -The Notorious B.I.G. – is murdered in Los Angeles after attending the Soul Train Music Awards.
2011 – Space Shuttle Discovery completes its final mission, STS-133, landing at Kennedy Space Center, having spent a cumulative total of nearly a full year in space
Bruen’s “chaos” is a much-needed correction
Ahead of four decisions on California gun laws that are expected to soon be released by U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez, the Los Angeles Times is advancing the narrative that the Supreme Court’s Bruen decision is sowing “chaos” in the courts. But as we discuss on today’s Bearing Arms’ Cam & Co, upending the untenable status quo is a good thing, particular given how the judiciary has abused “interest balancing” tests to regularly uphold infringements on a fundamental right.
Reporter Kevin Rector’s coverage of how the courts have dealt with the Supreme Court’s edict that those interest balancing tests are inappropriate is clearly slanted; not only in the front-page story itself, but he promoted his piece on social media.
Yes, SCOTUS has rejected the interest-balancing tests that many lower courts adopted after the Heller decision in 2008, but as Justice Clarence Thomas made clear in Bruen, that was never the appropriate test when it comes to gun control laws”
Since Heller and McDonald, the Courts of Appeals have developed a “two-step” framework for analyzing Second Amendment challenges that combines history with means-end scrutiny. The Court rejects that two-part approach as having one step too many. Step one is broadly consistent with Heller, which demands a test rooted in the Second Amendment’s text, as informed by history. But Heller and McDonald do not support a second step that applies means-end scrutiny in the Second Amendment context. Heller’s methodology centered on constitutional text and history. It did not invoke any means-end test such as strict or intermediate scrutiny, and it expressly rejected any interest-balancing inquiry akin to intermediate scrutiny.
What Rector (and the vast majority of the sources he spoke to) object to is the fact that the Court’s explicit instructions to discard those interest-balancing tests in favor of a text, history, and tradition test puts laws like California’s ban on so-called assault weapons on shaky legal ground. No longer can the courts decide that even though a particular gun control law intrudes on the Second Amendment rights of citizens, it’s okay because the government has an interest in promoting public safety. Now those laws must be justified through the historical record; something that is going to be difficult given that the gun control movement is a fairly modern creation.
“This new ‘history and tradition’ test that the Supreme Court established last June is wreaking havoc on America’s gun laws,” said Adam Winkler, a UCLA law professor who focuses on 2nd Amendment law. “Instead of having a reasonable debate over whether a ban on assault weapons is good policy or not, we have to debate whether a ban on assault weapons has historical antecedents.”
With all due respect to Winkler, the courts aren’t the right venue for a “reasonable debate” on the policy of a gun ban. Legislators can and will continue to debate banning “assault weapons”, but it’s up to the judiciary to determine if those laws are constitutionally sound. And as much as the law professor complains that Bruen is wreaking havoc on gun laws, I’d argue that when appellate courts like the Ninth Circuit refuse to ever find a gun control law unconstitutional the judiciary is wreaking havoc on a fundamental civil right.
The Bruen decision will not lead to every gun control law being overturned, as disappointing as that might be for Second Amendment advocates. Heck, the Court said that “shall issue” concealed carry regimes are presumptively constitutional, and the justices pointed to places like schools, legislative assemblies, and polling places as locations that could likely be labeled “sensitive places” without much legal trouble. But the Court’s opinion should also take an “assault weapons” ban and many other modern inventions of the gun control lobby off the table, at least if judges are willing to abide by what SCOTUS had to say.
As we’ve seen in places like Oregon, though, some judges are still finding new and creative ways to uphold gun control laws by stretching the boundaries of an historical analogue beyond credulity. Bruen may have put the lower courts on notice, but as valuable a course correction on Second Amendment jurisprudence as it might be, it can’t and won’t be the last word for the Court on our right to keep and bear arms.
BLUF
On the last day of the Constitutional Conventional, Benjamin Franklin was asked by a woman outside Independence Hall what kind of government had been framed by the Philadelphia Convention. His response—“A republic, if you can keep it”—summed up perfectly the challenge given to every generation of Americans since the founding era.
Tragically, it now seems clear that we did not keep what the founders gave us. But that’s on us, not them.
The Laissez-Faire Constitution.
In 1787, America’s founding fathers created the world’s first laissez-faire constitution or what I call a constitution of liberty.
The idea of a laissez-faire constitution may strike you as odd. We typically associate the term “laissez-faire” with economics, and, more specifically, with capitalism.
What, then, do I mean by these terms? What is a laissez-faire constitution or a constitution of liberty? And what’s the relationship between a laissez-faire constitution and laissez-faire capitalism?
To answer these questions, let us define our terms. Laissez-faire translated from its most common eighteenth-century French usage literally means “let it be,” “let it go,” or “leave it alone.” In the Anglo-American world, the phrase is more commonly translated as “hands off.”
But ask yourself this question: whose hands are we talking about, and who are they to be kept off? In other words, who is to let things alone, and who is to be left alone?
The answer to the first question is government, and the answer to the second is the individuals who compose civil society. Laissez-faire, then, means that government is to keep its hands off the people and leave them free to pursue their material and spiritual values.
This means that laissez-faire capitalism should be viewed less as an economic system and more as a political system. We should speak less about laissez-faire capitalism and more about laissez-faire government, although the two are clearly related. In fact, laissez-faire capitalism rightly understood means laissez-faire government.
The sole purpose of laissez-faire government is to protect the individual’s rights to life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness of all citizens. A laissez-faire government is one that maintains a framework of laws that prohibits predatory force and fraud and refrains from intervening in the operation of markets, which means it must not regulate or subsidize market processes (e.g., division of labor, prices, competition, and profit).
Laissez-faire capitalism is properly seen, then, as a political system that separates economy and State, where property is privately owned, contracts are upheld as inviolable, and individuals are free to produce, trade, and compete. As a result, individuals must be left free from government coercion to create, acquire, possess, use, trade, and dispose of their property, and they must be free to form contracts for the exchange of ideas, goods, and services.
A laissez-faire government does not and will not direct private enterprise toward ends desired by government officials. Instead, a properly constructed government for a free society provides a minimal structure of rights-protecting laws, the purpose of which is to expand spheres of individual freedom and action. James Wilson made the point this way in his Lectures on Law:
By some politicians, society has been considered as only the scaffolding of government; very improperly, in my judgment. In the just order of things, government is the scaffolding of society: and if society could be built and kept entire without government, the scaffolding might be thrown down, without the least inconvenience or cause of regret.
Government rightly understood, then, exists for the sake of civil society and not the other way ‘round. A laissez-faire government is one that provides the scaffolding necessary to keep civil society civil.
14-year-old Mae Toppino, daughter of W.O.F.T Where Our Families Train Founder Philip Toppino, knows that guns save lives and are the best way to ensure safety. Education and training is SO important. Take the steps to be a responsible gun owner and defend those that you love.
House Bill 101 (Semi-Auto Ban & Magazine Limit Bill NOT on House Judiciary Committee Agenda for Wednesday)
On Wednesday, March 8, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold public hearings on two extreme measures that target law-abiding citizens and the firearms industry:
Senate Bill 427 by Sen. Joseph Cervantes (D-Las Cruces), imposes a 14-day waiting period on all firearm purchases, with an exception for concealed handgun licensees. Like House Bill 100, this measure will add nothing to the existing FBI background check process and will only delay your ability to exercise your Second Amendment right to defend yourself, your family and your property. This would make for the longest firearms purchase waiting period in the entire country! For more information on this proposal, click here.
Senate Bill 428 by Sen. Joseph Cervantes (D-Las Cruces) creates a hostile climate for lawful firearm-related industries and transactions by facilitating an increasing amount of litigation and claims, with vastly increased liability exposure and civil penalties, for even minor suspected violations of the terms of an FFL or the law as the basis for Unfair Trade Practices Act proceedings. For more information on this bill, click here. This legislation was significantly amended in committee; we will report back to you on the impact these changes have on the bill and what action items need to be taken on the measure.
* Make plans to attend the committee hearing via zoom or in-person. The committee will meet at 1:30pm or upon adjournment of the Senate in Room 321 of the Roundhouse. For public participation and to register for Zoom send an email to SJC.Zoom@nmlegis.gov. Include the bill number, that you’re an opponent and if you will be attending in person or via zoom. To attend meeting via Zoom click the following link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81502543362.
Meeting ID: 815 0254 3362
Zoom Call: 1-253-205-0468.
Kentucky: Campus Self-Defense Goes to House Floor
Today, the House Veterans, Military Affairs, and Public Protection voted 16-3 to pass House Bill 542 with a committee substitute, to ensure that law-abiding adults are not stripped of their right to self-defense when they cross an arbitrary boundary onto a college campus. It now goes to the House floor for further consideration. Please contact your state representative and ask them to SUPPORT HB 542.
House Bill 542 PHS 1 prohibits colleges, universities, and post-secondary education facilities from restricting Second Amendment rights. Current state law does not prohibit law-abiding adults from carrying defensive firearms on campus, but institution policy may lead to expulsion or termination of employment. Adults who are officially licensed to carry a firearm for self-defense should not be prevented from doing so just because they seek higher education.
Again, please contact your state representative and ask them to SUPPORT HB 542.
The actual mass shooting statistics for 2023
Lots of politicians, talking heads and mainstream media outlets are running around saying that there have already been 40 or more mass shootings already this year. The problem is that is a complete fabrication, and they know it.
They are getting those numbers from two sources.
https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/re…
https://massshootingtracker.site/
Those two sites count all sorts of incidents as mass shootings, and as it would seem in a few cases, make up incidents with sources that don’t support their claims.
But how many mass shootings have there been this year?
Two. Yes only 2.
And both were in CA where they have all the desired gun control laws that they claim will prevent these incidents.
But why the HUGE discrepancy? Watch and find out.
March 8
1010 – After 33 years, Abul-Qâsem Ferdowsi Tusi completes the epic poem Shahnama.
1775 – An anonymous writer, thought by some to be Thomas Paine, publishes “African Slavery in America“, the first article in the American colonies calling for the emancipation of slaves and the abolition of slavery.
1782 – 96 Christian Lenape indians are massacred at the Moravian missionary village of Gnadenhutten, Ohio by Pennsylvania militia, who had mistakenly identified them as another tribe who had carried out raids into Pennsylvania.
1817 – The New York Stock Exchange is founded.
1917 – The Senate votes to limit filibusters by adopting the parliamentary cloture rule, where 60 votes can ‘limit debate’.
1936 – The Daytona Beach and Road Course holds its first oval stock car race.
1950 – The Volkswagen Type 2 “Bus” begins production.
1965 – The first U.S. combat troops, 3500 Marines of the 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade, are deployed to Da Nang, Vietnam
1971 – In Madison Square Garden, Joe Frazier defeats Muhammad Ali in a 15 round match.
1979 – The Dutch conglomerate Koninklijke Philips N.V. demonstrates the CD compact disc publicly for the first time.
1983 – While addressing a convention of The National Association of Evangelicals in Orlando Florida, President Ronald Reagan labels the Soviet Union an “evil empire”.
2004 – Under supervision of the U.S. led Coalition Provisional Authority, the Iraq Governing Council enacts a new constitution.
2014 – Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, a Boeing 777-200ER, carrying 239 passengers and crew, disappears en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, the fate of the flight still unknown to date.
Federal judge rules Missouri state gun law is unconstitutional
The Justice Department filed a lawsuit in February 2022 over the state law that declared “invalid” several federal gun regulations that don’t have an equivalent statute in Missouri.
WASHINGTON — A Missouri state law that declared several federal gun laws “invalid” is unconstitutional, a U.S. federal judge ruled on Tuesday, handing the U.S. Justice Department a victory in its bid to get the law tossed out.
At issue was a measure Republican Governor Mike Parson signed into law in 2021 that declared that certain federal gun laws infringed on the rights of individuals to keep and bear arms under the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment.
U.S. District Judge Brian Wimes in Jefferson City, Missouri, said the state’s Second Amendment Preservation Act (SAPA) violates the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, which holds that federal laws take priority over conflicting state laws.
Wimes, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, in a siding with Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration called the practical effects of the Republican-led state’s law “counterintuitive to its stated purpose.”
“While purporting to protect citizens, SAPA exposes citizens to greater harm by interfering with the federal government’s ability to enforce lawfully enacted firearms regulations designed by Congress for the purpose of protecting citizens,” he wrote.
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, a Republican, in a statement promised an appeal, saying he was committed to “defending Missourians’ fundamental right to bear arms.”
“If the state legislature wants to expand upon the foundational rights codified in the Second Amendment, they have the authority to do that,” he said.
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Under the Missouri law, also known as H.B. 85, state or local law enforcement agencies could face a $50,000 fine if they knowingly enforced federal laws that the state measure purportedly nullified.
In a lawsuit filed in February 2022, the Justice Department argued the law had caused many state and local law enforcement agencies to stop voluntarily assisting enforcing federal gun laws or even providing investigative assistance.
Missouri: Committee Hearing Public Transit Self-Defense
On Wednesday, the House Emerging Issues Committee will hear House Bill 282, to ensure law-abiding citizens may carry firearms for self-defense on public transit. Please click here to file witness forms to support HB 282.
In addition, please contact committee members and ask them to SUPPORT HB 282.
House Bill 282 removes the prohibition on law-abiding citizens carrying firearms for self-defense on public transit property and in vehicles. In addition, it allows law-abiding citizens to transport unloaded or non-functioning firearms on buses. This repeals an arbitrary “gun-free zone” that does nothing to hinder criminals while leaving law-abiding citizens defenseless, and it ensures that citizens with varying commutes throughout their day, and of various economic means, are able to exercise their Second Amendment rights and defend themselves.
Again, please file witness forms and contact committee members and ask them to SUPPORT HB 282.
I prefer RRLP (Reduced Ricochet Limited Penetration) frangible that the Navy developed for boarding operations -extra unplanned holes in the hulls of ships being a bad thing – for inside the house. Otherwise, I use Blackhills 70 grain TSX. Your choice may be different.
The Best 5.56 Ammo for Home Defense
If you’re looking for the best 5.56 NATO ammo on the market, then you’ve come to the right place! With so many different varieties of 5.56 ammo available from multiple retailers, it can be hard to know what’s best for home defense.
In this article, we are going to share with you our top 5 picks for the best 5.56 NATO home defense ammo available right now.
If you simply cannot wait, the best 5.56 ammo for home defense AR-15 rifle is Black Hills 62 gr Dual Purpose. But if you want to see the full list just keep scrolling and we’ll cover all our choices and explain why we picked them.
If you’re new to the 5.56x45mm NATO round, make sure to check out the Buyers Guide by clicking HERE.
Now let’s get to our top 5 picks for the best types of ammo for your 5.56 rifle…
The most ridiculous “I’m a gun owner, but” ever?
The gun prohibition lobby loves to claim that the vast majority of gun owners support their “reasonable” infringements on an inherent individual right, to the point that they even create their own astroturf groups like “Gun Owners for Safety” and the now-defunct American Hunters and Shooters Association.
The whole point of these outfits is to advance that narrative, and one of the most common tactics is the “I’m a gun owner, but” argument. You’ve seen it countless times. “I’m a gun owner, but I support ‘commonsense measures’ like”:
- making it a criminal offense to possess commonly-owned firearms and magazines
- prohibiting lawful concealed carry almost everywhere in public
- making it more expensive to purchase, possess, and even train with a firearm
- holding firearms manufacturers liable for the actions of violent criminals
I’m reasonably sure that attorney and columnist Mario Nicolais would be in favor of each and every one of those things, because his own “I’m a gun owner, but” narrative goes much further. Writing at the Colorado Sun, Nicolais says he’s a gun owner, but he wants the state to tell him to turn ’em in.
As I have written, the Colorado Republican Party is dead. While I am sure the ghosts of 2013 recall elections still haunt some Democrats, the fear of the next child dead from a gunshot wound should scare them more. They are not going to lose their majorities in the next decade, if ever. They may even solidify them if they take even more direct action.
That means getting assault-style guns off the streets. It means cracking down hard on handguns. It means going after ghost guns and criminals who resort to violence.
I happen to be a gun owner. But I have also run through a Las Vegas casino afraid of an active shooter, texted with my wife as she hid huddled inside a classroom as a gunman walked outside, and paid attention as an officer married to a high school friend has recovered after being shot in the neck by an assailant.
I would hand over my gun if the legislature took action.
Why wait for the legislature to do something? If Mario Nicolais doesn’t want to own a gun, no one is stopping him from selling it or even melting it down to turn into a garden trowel or something like that.
March 7
1827 – During the Argentine-Brazilian War, Brazilian marines unsuccessfully attack the temporary naval base of Carmen de Patagones, held by militia of United Provinces of the Río de la Plata, near modern day Buenos Ares, Argentina.
1850 – In the hope to prevent war between the states, Senator Daniel Webster gives his “Seventh of March” speech endorsing the Compromise of 1850, regulating the slave vs. free status of territories acquired in the Mexican–American War under terms of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, and setting the state of Texas’ western and northern borders.
1862 – Union and Confederate troops engage in battle at Pea Ridge in northwestern Arkansas.
1876 – After Elisha Gray drops his application, the U.S. patent office grants Alexander Graham Bell a patent for the telephone.
1936 – In violation of the Locarno Pact and the Treaty of Versailles, Germany reoccupies the Rhineland. France and Britain protest, but neither has the military forces to pursue the issue.
1945 – During World War II, American troops seize the Ludendorff Bridge over the Rhine river at Remagen, opening the way to the heartland of Germany’s and its industrial regions.
1986 – Divers from the USS Preserver locate the crew cabin of Shuttle Challenger on the Atlantic ocean floor.
1989 – Iran and the United Kingdom break diplomatic relations after a confrontation over Salman Rushdie and his novel, The Satanic Verses.
1993 – The tugboat Thomas Hebert sinks, or is dragged underwater off the coast of New Jersey with the loss of 5 of the 7 crew aboard.