“… according to American intelligence estimates. The conservative side of the estimate, at more than 7,000 Russian troop deaths, is greater than the number of American troops killed over 20 years in Iraq and Afghanistan combined. It is a staggering number amassed in just three weeks of fighting, American officials say, with implications for the combat effectiveness of Russian units, including soldiers in tank formations. Pentagon officials say a 10 percent casualty rate, including dead and wounded, for a single unit renders it unable to carry out combat-related tasks…. ‘Losses like this affect morale and unit cohesion, especially since these soldiers don’t understand why they’re fighting,’ said Evelyn Farkas, the top Pentagon official for Russia and Ukraine during the Obama administration… ‘It is stunning, and the Russians haven’t even gotten to the worst of it, when they hit urban combat in the cities,’ [said] Representative Jason Crow, Democrat of Colorado….”
Observation O’ The Day
“Most of the West is run by woke morons. The West’s wealth has largely insulated it from the costs associated with having morons in charge, but we’ve pretty much run through the safety margins.”
Scottish Government Ignores Frantic Food Crisis Warnings, Embraces Green Piety.
The Ukraine was the bread basket of Europe, and Russia was a major source of fertiliser. Yet as the interruption of grain and fertiliser supplies raises the spectre of crop failures and severe food shortages, senior British politicians are ignoring frantic pleas from farmers to release arable land reserved for “re-wilding” projects, and other whacky green schemes.
Green Agenda: Minister Ignores Ukraine Food Crisis Warnings in Favour of Solving ‘Nature Emergency’
PETER CADDLE 14 Mar 2022
A UK minister has ignored the pleas of farmers to take action against the forthcoming Ukraine food crisis in favour of maintaining her leftist government’s green agenda.
As the Ukraine crisis causes Europe’s food security situation to significantly worsen, British farmers have asked authorities to allow land earmarked for “rewilding” to be used for crops in the hopes of curbing ever-rising food prices.
However, Scotland’s leftist Biodiversity minister, Lorna Slater, has outright rejected the farmers’ pleas, instead prioritising pushing her government’s green agenda.…
“We want to do as much as we can for nature and the environment, and we have done that for a long time and yes we will do more,” said the president of the National Union of Farmers Scotland, Martin Kennedy.
“But right now the world has changed and we need to focus on what is really important… food and water is something we take for granted far too much,” he warned.
However, despite the serious supply problems the Ukraine crisis poses for Britain’s supply of food, Minister Slater has outright dismissed the request in favour of her administration’s green agenda.
“We are still in a nature emergency that hasn’t gone away… so it’s a no,” Slater is reported as saying in response to the pleas of farmers.…
If you can’t get your hands on enough fertiliser, the next best option is to expand the acreage of cultivated land, to bring every acre of arable land you can get your hands on into production, like Britain did in WW2.
Fertiliser production is an energy intensive process, which is why it has long been outsourced to countries like China and Russia, the number one and two global producers, countries which have plenty of cheap energy. Just under 2% of the world’s global energy production is expended producing ammonia, a first step in the production of agricultural fertiliser. The USA and Canada produce significant amounts of Ammonia, but US and Canadian production is dwarfed by Russian and Chinese production.
The chemical factories which produce ammonia are very large, and contain enormous, multi-story, high pressure reaction vessels. Not something which could be built in five minutes – especially in nations which have also outsourced most of their heavy industry to Russia and China. I fully support starting construction of new fertiliser plants, but plants which have yet to be built won’t solve this year’s problems.
Fertiliser application makes a big difference to crop productivity – around 35 – 60% of modern crop yields is attributable to application of fertiliser. We might get away with one year of reduced fertiliser application, but If soils are depleted by a series of years in which inadequate fertiliser is applied, crop yields could drop by more than 60%.
It doesn’t take much to trigger a food crisis. In 2007-2008 the world experienced a food crisis. The 2007-2008 crisis was not severe enough to significantly affect rich nations, but it led to mass starvation and riots in poor countries. The root cause in that case was a series of droughts, and excessive biofuel subsidies. Just a small blip in production and use of food was enough to push millions of people into hunger.
There is no way of knowing how the current food crisis risk will play out, and who will be affected.
Time is running out to make a decision – northern nations like Britain have very well defined planting and growing seasons. Some high nutrition plants like potatoes grow well throughout Britain, including Scotland, but planting must start in the next month, for most crops, or it will be too late to harvest by the end of Summer.
I strongly suggest people in Britain let green obsessives like Minister Lorna Slater know their “nature emergencies” and re-wilding projects can wait, before British food prices spiral out of the reach of poor people.
Any way the wind blows doesn’t really matter to me………………
House Dems want Biden to declare national ‘climate emergency’ and ban oil drilling on federal lands.
Progressive Democrats in the House of Representatives are reportedly planning to publicly urge President Biden to ban oil drilling on federal lands amid record gas prices and a war in Ukraine that has disrupted oil markets.
According to a report from Politico, the Congressional Progressive Caucus is planning to demand that Biden use his executive power to declare climate change an emergency and ban drilling on federal lands.
“Progressive Caucus member @JaredHuffman told me calling on Biden to declare a climate emergency is one of the ‘centerpiece’ actions to headline their EO plan,” Politico reporter Joshua Siegel tweeted Tuesday. “A draft of the plan I saw also calls for Biden to ban oil/gas drilling on public lands and end fossil fuel subsidies.”
Siegel added that House Democrats will also call on Biden to manufacture more heat pumps to “ease the strain in oil and gas markets that has been caused by Russia’s war in Ukraine.” Some of those heat pumps would be donated to Europe, according to the House Progressives’ plan.
The reported move drew immediate criticism on social media with many pointing out that gas prices have surged to record levels prompting Republicans to call for increased drilling to ease pain at the pump, not less.
“Dems want $10 gas,” Republican Sen. Ted Cruz tweeted.
“The Democrats need to wake up,” Republican Sen. Steve Daines tweeted. “We must unleash American energy.”
“And Democrats wonder why people blame them for high gas prices,” a Twitter account associated with the National Republican Congressional Committee tweeted.
“We need to focus on building critical infrastructure and increasing domestic production, not jeopardizing North American energy security,” President and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers Jay Timmons tweeted. “Manufacturers oppose this attempt to potentially further disrupt domestic energy production and drive up prices.”
The use of a “climate emergency” also raises constitutional concerns, as the nation eases out of emergency COVID restrictions imposed two years ago by governors and local authorities, which shut down businesses and destroyed millions of jobs nationwide.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News.
The Biden administration has faced intense criticism in recent weeks for refusing to commit to increasing oil production in the United States as gas prices have surged roughly $1.50 per gallon since he took off in a crisis that has been exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“It’s going to go up,” Biden told a reporter when asked about gas prices last week. “Can’t do much right now. Russia is responsible.”
We are ‘led’ by the literally mentally defective
Biden’s Remarks at ‘Equal Pay’ Event Were a Gaffe-Filled Dumpster Fire
The White House hosted a Women’s History Month event on Tuesday evening to highlight the left’s ‘Equal Pay Day’ but President Biden apparently decided to make an attempt at breaking the record for how many gaffes he could spit out during his 14 minute remarks.
Right out of the gate, President Biden sought to explain who wasn’t appearing at the event with him saying “there’s been a little change in the arrangement of who’s on the stage because of the First Lady’s husband contracted COVID, but look at this room and what you see,” Biden stated before someone off-stage in the White House pointed out that the “First Lady’s husband” is…Joe Biden. Uncomfortable laughter from the crowd followed as Biden said “that’s right, she’s fine, that’s me that’s not together.” No kidding.
Biden continued by referring to Doug Emhoff as “the Second Lady” before correcting himself with (also wrong) “First Gentleman,” listing two additional incorrect monikers for Kamala Harris’ husband who is in fact the Second Gentleman and not the husband of the president nor the vice president’s wife, nor a lady.
But Biden’s nomenclature challenges didn’t end there. In a line about his U.N. ambassador, the president incorrectly called her “Linda Thomas-Greenhouse,” before correcting himself and using her actual name Linda Thomas-Greenfield. Biden was reading from his teleprompter at this point and, assuming the White House knows the name of the ambassador to the United Nations, Biden should have trusted the words scrolling in front of his eyes. It also wasn’t the first time Biden incorrectly called her “Greenhouse.”
Then, when telling one of his classic freewheeling anecdotes, Biden tripped himself up talking about his Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm. “I often kid her, and I wasn’t kidding, early on when I was seeking the nomination had she been born in America she’d be standing here and I’d be sitting there,” Biden said.
“She was a former governor of the state of, uh, Michigan. Michigan, wrong,” Biden said incorrectly fact-checking himself in real-time. “She was a former state of, she was a governor. I’m teasing.” Biden was, of course, right the first time. But he incorrectly corrected himself, called Granholm a former state, and then decided to write the situation off as “teasing.” Hoo-boy.
Is the nature of gun control changing?
When you spend a lot of time studying gun control, it gets to be easy to see the same old patterns pop up time and time again. I see the same bogus statistics, the same BS arguments, the same tired rhetoric over and over again.
However, it seems that some believe that the nature of gun control in this country is starting to change.
In late January 2022, the city of San Jose, California was the first US city to require gun owners to purchase liability insurance. A recent trend in Democratic-leaning cities has led to a slew of similar laws being discussed by other cities. San Jose’s law may encourage them to wait before they join the trend. Critics of the San Jose law point to its lack of enforcement or penalties for gun owners who fail to purchase insurance and a $25 fee levied against gun owners that may prove unconstitutional. Sam Liccardo, the mayor of San Jose, suggested that the insurance mandate would encourage gun owners to have gun safes, use trigger locks, and enroll in gun safety classes, likely to reduce their hypothetical insurance bill. Gun insurance remains a nebulous, theoretical concept, so it’s unclear whether insurance agencies will offer financial incentives for gun owners to be responsible. …
San Jose’s recent gun insurance mandate has been making waves on social media, but it doesn’t tell the whole story when it comes to the evolution of laws surrounding our personal security. Not only are states like Ohio loosening restrictions on responsible gun owners, but states like Tennessee and Washington are experimenting with less restrictive, more incentive-based programs that encourage responsible ownership without burdening owners or infringing on their rights. The success of the Tennessee and Washington programs may pave the way for other innovative measures in the future. They serve as proof that you don’t have to restrict rights in order to steer citizens in a more responsible direction and keep everyone safe.
The mention to Tennessee references the measure that would waive sale tax on things like gun safes.
Unfortunately, though, the Washington measure is their mandatory storage law, which is an infringement on gun owners’ rights.
But does the overall point remain? Are gun control laws shifting to be less invasive on people’s rights? I’m afraid I can’t agree.
While Tennessee took a positive tact, Washington’s law still boils down to telling people what they must do in their own homes. We’ve continued to see gun control-supporting lawmakers pushing through more and more regulations.
Hell, we just had gun control pass at the federal level that includes a lot of problematic language.
The truth is that gun control isn’t so much shifting as expanding. They’re still trying to ban so-called assault weapons, push universal background checks, and expand the definition of domestic violence so they can deny gun rights to legions of additional people. They’re just doing a lot of other stuff.
In fact, the part about this claim that bothers me the most is that Tennessee’s measure is so not gun control that it shouldn’t be compared with some of these other measures.
Anti-Critical Race Theory Bill Signed Into Law by Mississippi Governor
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves signed a law Monday banning “critical race theory” and limiting education on race in schools.
Senate Bill 2113, “Critical Race Theory; Prohibit,” does not mention critical race theory by name except for in its title.
The bill says that no public educational institution shall teach “that any sex, race, ethnicity, religion or national origin is inherently superior or inferior; or that individuals should be adversely treated on the basis of their sex, race, ethnicity, religion or national origin.”
In a video announcing the signing of the bill, Reeves said that students are being taught progressive ideals that are against “the principles of America’s founding.”
These stories have become as ubiquitous and annoying as that 1-877-Kars 4 Kids jingle.
A “white supremacist” writes something racist on a school wall. The students are SHOCKED! How could a drooling, white nationalist goober infiltrate their scholastic utopia? (Was it the janitor???) The angry students skip class to protest the hatred! White students tearfully rally around their black friends and vow to protect them from the tiki-torch-wielding bushwhackers who are likely patrolling the streets at night, nooses in hand, looking for a minority to lynch.
The school’s principal or dean valiantly vows to oust the seething bigots and restore the racial equilibrium that has so violently been shattered.
Finally, there’s a break in the case! A black kid did it. Again.
There has been yet another Jussie Smollett copycat caper of racial hatred that doesn’t exist, this time at Our Lady of Mercy School for Young Women in Rochester, N.Y.
The following message was scribbled on a restroom wall: This school is filled with a bunch of [plural of N-bomb]. Get out or else!
It was not immediately clear who was expected to “get out or else!”
Form the battle lines! True racism has come to Lady of Mercy! Cue up the virtue signaling! Take to the streets and protest before looking into the situation! We need tears, LOTS of tears!
“I cried a lot,” Janna Smith, a senior at the school, stated. “I felt ‘what am I doing if things like this keep happening every day?’ I talked to my mom and she said this happened for a reason, use this to make change.”
Quick, get a BLM flag from your Aunt Tifa!
UPDATE: A racist message discovered at Our Lady of Mercy School for Young Women is now being investigated as a hate crime.https://t.co/4R4xPBHrli
— News 8 WROC (@News_8) March 7, 2022
Apparently, Lady of Mercy is a hotbed of bigotry!
“I’ve seen my fair share of racist acts, microaggressions, things like that that happen at Mercy,” said former student Morgan Reese. “I have never seen anything to the level of what I saw today and it scares me that my two younger sisters have to go to school somewhere where they don’t necessarily feel welcome.”
Has Morgan learned nothing in the last four years? Fake hate crimes are all the rage. Surely the school staff smells the oldest hoax in history, right?
Wrong! The faculty, not to be out-duped by a bunch of young girls, fell hard for the fake hate bait as well and sent this email to parents of the defiantly not racist students:
Dear Mercy Parents and Guardians,
This morning, just before Advisement, we interrupted classes with an overhead announcement. We informed the students of graffiti that was found in one of the students’ bathrooms. This was our message to the students:
“Please pardon this interruption for this important announcement. This morning, we found graffiti in a high school bathroom that wrote out the n-word and said, ‘Get out or else.’ We are investigating this and will hold those responsible, whether they are Mercy people or not.
Let us be clear, anyone who uses this language and is disparaging to our Mercy girls and Mercy community is not welcome at Mercy. We are unequivocally a school that embraces diversity and inclusion. We are a Catholic school, committed to gospel values of faith, hope, and love. The world is full of hate and violence. We want all of you to reflect on how Mercy can be a place of love and peace. What role do you play in creating such an environment?
Counselors, administrators, and Mrs. Dickey will be available in the Wellness and Counseling Center during Advisement and throughout the day to support anyone who feels unsafe. We will convene assemblies on this topic this week and will be notifying your parents of this. Thank you; that is all.”
Tears, flags, and protests: the mostly white students did their jobs. The faculty vowed swift justice and volunteered the soft shoulders of counselors, administrators, and even Mrs. Dickey, in case frightened students needed reassurance of diversity, equity, and inclusion at Lady of Mercy. Not to mention, there would be programming, meetings, and even more diversity training.
Police response was swift and the investigation went quickly. A black kid did it.
Four sources, including two in government, have confirmed that the n-word graffiti found in a Mercy High School bathroom wall, and which led to upset and a protest, was written by an African-American student.
— Bob Lonsberry (@BobLonsberry) March 11, 2022
Imagine going to a school so free of racism, you feel the need to invent some. Poor lambs. The struggle is NOT real.
Hey, wait a minute! The school stated the following: “Let us be clear, anyone who uses this language and is disparaging to our Mercy girls and Mercy community is not welcome at Mercy.”Does this mean the hoaxer will get booted out of the school? HAHAHAHAH! I’m guessing not.
If only there was a way for the school administrators to have seen this coming! Wait, I know: fakehatecrimes.org lists over 460 incidents, and a ton of these hate hoaxes took place in schools and colleges.
Biden Blames the Jews for His Ukraine Policy
The president and his people try to seal a new Iran deal by hanging their appeasement of Putin on Israel
Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine was precipitated by assurances from China, Germany, and the United States that each of Russia’s major trading partners either backed his position or had zero interest in getting in his way. President Joe Biden’s invitations to Putin to bite off more chunks of Ukraine made it clear that America was not interested in a fight with the Russian dictator in his own backyard. Surely, the mighty Putin would make quick work of the Ukrainians. After all, he helped put down the Syrian rebellion to preserve Iran’s stake in Syria, and thereby sealed Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with the clerical regime in Tehran. So why make a big fuss, especially since at the same time Putin is intent on breaking Ukraine, he is also brokering the new Iran Deal with U.S. negotiators in Vienna?
The problem for Biden is that Putin is not winning his war in anything like the quick and easy fashion that the White House and other world powers apparently expected. Moreover, the prospect of a dictator murdering thousands of Ukrainians in Europe in a prolonged war may be a tougher pill to swallow for so-called Western elites than the same dictator helping to murder half a million Syrians.
Only problem here is the article referring to the shot intruder as a victim, which is a common theme in locales not friendly to gun ownership.
Vermont police investigating suspected home invasion, shooting
WESTMINSTER, Vt. — One man was shot Monday during a suspected home invasion in southern Vermont, according to investigators with state police.
Police said they received notice of a shooting inside a Westminster home just before 11 a.m. The victim, 40-year-old Daniel King, was driven to a local care center before being flown to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.
In an updated release Monday night, police said King was in “stable” condition at the hospital. His condition was previously unknown.
Investigators said the shooting followed a home invasion at Shady Pines Park, a mobile home park in the community. The man shot is accused of intruding with another person — the property owner reportedly opened fire on both.
No other injuries were reported in connection with the incident.
State police said no one was in custody as of Monday night and no charged had been filed.
Authorities said the investigation remains in the preliminary stages.
Sure sounds like the prosecutor really wanted to charge and prosecute, but realized he didn’t have a case
Homeowner who shot alleged burglar in self defense won’t face charges
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) – The Hennepin County Attorney is declining to file charges against the homeowner accused of shooting an intruder last month in Minneapolis who claimed she acted in self-defense.
Thirty-year-old Martin Lee Johnson was shot and killed outside a home along the 3300 block of 25th Avenue South on February 22.
According to police, Johnson was shot after apparently trying to break into a home that night. The county attorney says Ring camera video shows Johnson jumping six-foot privacy fence that surrounds the backyard of the home and trying to enter through a patio door.
Prosecutors say the video shows that, after failing to get in the patio door, Johnson then went into a detached garage through a door in the backyard.
Is it self-defense to shoot an intruder who has entered your detached garage? The Hennepin County Attorney’s office said Monday it is “deferring” a charging decision in the Feb. 22 shooting that left a man dead.
By this point, prosecutors say the homeowner had spotted Johnson on the Ring camera. Arming herself with a pistol, the homeowner went to make sure Johnson had left and had not tried to enter her home. Police say she also told her son to grab a rifle from downstairs in case the man tried to get inside. According to prosecutors, the homeowner has a legal permit to carry.
After realizing the man was still in the garage, the homeowner told police she fired warning shots with the pistol and warned the man to leave. But the homeowner says the man continue walking towards the homeowner and her son.
Ultimately, police say the man was shot once in the chest and later died from those injuries. The homeowner told police the man appeared to reach into his waistband when she shot him with the rifle.
Prosecutors say, after the shooting, the homeowner gave voluntary interviews with officers and allowed investigators to access the Ring camera footage.
As for the evidence, prosecutors say the medical examiner was unable to determine, with 100 percent certainty, which gun fired the fatal bullet. Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman says they don’t have evidence to disapprove a self-defense argument.
“While this case is tragic, there is not sufficient proof that the homeowner and/or her son are guilty of a crime,” a news release from the county attorney reads. “Based on the evidence provided to our office, it appears the woman and her son would have valid self-defense claims.”
I wonder why it is, you almost never find a gun control advocate who immigrated here from a nation controlled by a tyrannical goobermint?
Arizona campus carry advocate motivated by childhood in Communist country
Can you imagine if Cambodia had the Second Amendment?’
Legislation currently pending in Arizona would allow faculty members and students to “carry or possess” firearms while on campus, as long as they have their gun permits.
Young Americans for Liberty is supportive of the legislation because the libertarian organization believes it will help reduce crime on campus.
But the legislator behind the bill has a bigger concern too – preventing tyranny, like what he saw as a child during the Fall of Saigon during the Vietnam War.
The chief sponsor of House Bill 2447, Quang Nguyen, said he is motivated by his childhood in Vietnam.
“I came from a Communist country where people were actually killed at will,” he said. “Can you imagine if Cambodia had the Second Amendment? We wouldn’t have two million people killed by Pol Pot,” he said at the February 9 hearing.
The Republican legislator is also a concealed carry instructor and the president of the Arizona State Rifle and Pistol Association.
An Opportunity Second Amendment Supporters Must Not Waste
It’s time for Second Amendment supporters to channel Rahm Emanuel for a moment. In fact, there is a chance to hoist the one-time Obama Chief of Staff, who urged people to “never let a crisis go to waste,” on his own petard.
Right now, if you believe polling by the Wall Street Journal, Second Amendment supporters could deliver a metaphorical death blow to the hopes of anti-Second Amendment extremists over the next few years. However, it will take a lot of hard work to make that happen, and time may not be entirely on our side.
About 20 years ago, the political home of anti-Second Amendment extremism made a bet. They thought that there was a demographic doomsday coming for their opposition. However, that bet has not quite worked out for them over the long haul. Yes, Obama did win in a landslide in 2008, and won re-election solidly in 2012 (with an assist from the IRS targeting the Tea Party), but in the decade since 2012… how have things worked out?
We’ve discussed some of the signs that their bet on demographics isn’t working out the way they hoped. The lessons from last year’s Virginia gubernatorial election should give Second Amendment supporters and pro-Second Amendment organizations a blueprint for how to carry out the outreach.
This outreach is important. As things stand right now, for many of those who voted Youngkin in 2021 (and those of a similar mind across the country), support for the Second Amendment became a “non-dealbreaker” in the face of the current situation. While that might be sufficient for the short-term, would it not be better to make support for the Second Amendment a positive among those voters who currently consider it a “non-dealbreaker” in the face of a crisis?
Blowing the opportunity that Gun Culture 2.0 is presenting would be to repeat the very mistake that those in charge of the political home of anti-Second Amendment extremism made. We know that anti-Second Amendment extremist organizations like the Brady Campaign have had regrettable levels of success in dividing gun owners, often by hijacking the concept of “responsible” gun ownership. Reclaiming that term from anti-Second Amendment extremists is crucial to defeating their “divide and conquer” strategy.
Most important, though is to be willing to reach out to the new gun owners. Like any beginner in a new sport, they will need instruction and help from those who have more experience. The process of welcoming them should start from the moment they are at their first visit to an FFL and it should have no endpoint.
There are big tasks up ahead. Second Amendment supporters have to defeat anti-Second Amendment extremists at the federal, state, and local levels via the ballot box this November and in 2024. The process starts today by not wasting the opportunity that Biden’s blunders are giving us.
Took him long enough. He likely had his finger in the air and it took him this long to figure it out which way the wind was blowing.
Buckeye Firearms Association (BFA) summarized the new law in layman’s terms:
- Obtaining a concealed handgun license will become optional, so if you are able to legally carry a concealed handgun with a license, you will also be able to carry without a license. The same rights and responsibilities apply in either case.
- You will no longer have the duty to “promptly” notify every law enforcement officer during an official stop. Instead, you must disclose that you are carrying a concealed handgun only when an officer asks, unless you have already notified another officer.
- If you choose to obtain a concealed handgun license, you will no longer be required to carry the license on your person.
DeWine signs bill allowing ‘constitutional carry’ in Ohio.
Ohioans will be able to carry concealed handguns without a permit, known as “constitutional carry.”
Gov. Mike DeWine on Monday signed into law Senate Bill 215, which passed the General Assembly on March 2 and was hailed by supporters as a historic Second Amendment victory.
The bill allows anyone at least 21 who is legally allowed to have a gun be able to carry a concealed handgun without a permit. It also removes the requirement for eight hours of gun safety training and potentially without a pre-purchase background check.
Also, if a driver is stopped by police, that person would not longer be required to inform officers of the concealed weapon unless specifically asked.
Which predator do whitetail deer fear the most?
I suspect this reaction depends a lot on the area and the past hunting pressure. Yes, man is the most lethal predator on the planet, but different experiences can mean different reactions in prey species.
When Dad & I were living in Kentucky, we had a literal herd – often up to 21 deer – that moved back and forth across the properties, inside the city limits, and often stayed and grazed right outside the back door. Dad could sit on the back porch and the newer fawns would often play around within feet of him, only being warned by their does if they got to close for their liking, and Dad quite often talked to them, giving them ‘lectures’ about the coyotes we had pass by from time to time. Sometimes they actually seemed to pay attention to him.
You have his word as a Biden.
Biden pledges: We won’t fight a war against Russia in Ukraine.
A leftover from Friday. Hawks are complaining about this statement on grounds that it implicitly invites Putin to grab any non-NATO country he likes and to pummel Ukraine into submission using whatever conventional means he can muster.
I want to be clear: We will defend every inch of NATO territory with the full might of a united and galvanized NATO.
But we will not fight a war against Russia in Ukraine.
A direct confrontation between NATO and Russia is World War III. And something we must strive to prevent.
— President Biden (@POTUS) March 11, 2022
SECURITY GUARANTEES, REAL AND IMAGINED
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has caused a number of European countries–probably all of them–to reconsider their military defense postures. If Russia attacks them, will they be able to resist? And whom can they count on to come to their aid?
Responses vary. Germany is talking about abandoning its post-WWII de-militarization. France, in Gaullist tradition, wants the EU to take the lead on security. Others rely on a presumed airtight NATO guarantee of military assistance.
Sweden is an interesting case. Sweden is not a member of NATO, although it has collaborated closely with NATO’s central command. Instead, Sweden has allied itself with the U.S. and, to a lesser extent, the U.K. This interview with Björn Fägersten, head of the Europe program at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs, sheds considerable light.
The threshold question posed is, since Sweden is not a member of NATO, will the European Union come to its aid if Russia attacks?
Does the EU’s mutual defence clause have a similar effect to Nato’s Article 5?
Björn Fägersten: In a purely legal sense they are equivalent – in some ways the EU is a bit sharper. But on the other hand, the EU’s clause has a sub-clause that makes clear that it doesn’t affect member states’ individual choices on security policy, for instance for those countries that are neutral.
A key difference between the EU and Nato is that the EU has no real apparatus. Nato has a joint military headquarters, SHAPE, but the EU doesn’t have an equivalent.
Within the EU there are also expectations that Nato will be at the centre of European planning – most EU countries are members. In the EU’s Global Strategy from 2016 it is made clear that Nato is the cornerstone of the EU’s defence.
So the EU has a mutual defense pledge, but no coordinated defense apparatus. But that could change. What follows is especially interesting in view of the weak state of Russia’s military that seems to have been revealed over the last couple of weeks:
Looking to the future, many in the EU, not least Macron, have long spoken about the need for strategic autonomy, where Europe will take a more independent line in defence from the US. Last week Germany announced a huge increase in defence spending. How will that change the equation for Sweden?
BF: If in the long term Europe starts taking greater responsibility while the US takes the main responsibility for handling China, that would change Sweden’s calculation. Sweden would like there to be an American interest in its security, but if, for example, a new president was elected in the US in 2024 who had a more doubtful approach to European security, Sweden would be forced to rapidly reevaluate its defence strategy.
It is highly unlikely that we will elect a president more feckless than Joe Biden, but it it useful to see how that possibility weighs on the minds of European decision makers. But the key point here is that the Europeans might be able to defend themselves while the U.S. focuses on the Pacific.
Below The Radar: Stopping the Fraudulent Sales of Firearms Act
Second Amendment supporters often have to make difficult decisions. Not in the sense of Glock vs. Colt vs. Springfield Armory, but more along the lines of how to address a given piece of anti-Second Amendment legislation.
Take for instance the Stopping the Fraudulent Sales of Firearms Act, known as S 3776 and HR 6997. The legislation purports to prohibit the importation, sale, or manufacture of firearms “by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises.”
On the face of it, this seems unobjectionable. Nobody wants to be sold a firearm on the basis of misrepresentation or a false promise, right? But there are red flags when Second Amendment supporters think things through some more.
For starters, the Senate bill is sponsored by Dianne Feinstein, a long-standing enemy of our Second Amendment rights. So that is a red flag right there. Her co-sponsors include Cory Booker and Richard Blumenthal, also committed opponents of the Second Amendment.
Aside from who sponsors it, there is one other question: Who decides what constitutes “false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises?”
This is a big deal on multiple fronts. Remember how the CDC is getting back into the gun-control business? They worry that it will be used to justify censorship by Silicon Valley is big, but this legislation could add another threat.
Suppose some anti-Second Amendment extremist decides that those who advertise firearms for self-defense are making ““false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises?” That now becomes a new way to hit someone with a five-year jail term and a felony conviction.
This also is a way to “legalize” suits like the one brought against Remington over Sandy Hook. Never mind that the rifle used was stolen (after the shooter killed the rightful owner), the claim from the suit was centered around the advertising. In other words, prove there was “false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises” in the advertising, and all of the sudden, it becomes easier to sue gun manufacturers.
This is a dangerous end run around the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. Again, we need to remember what Feinstein said so long ago on 60 Minutes. She wants an Australia-style ban, but if she can’t have it, she’ll figure out what she can get legislatively (see the Age 21 Act). Or she’ll enable other attacks outside the legislative process.
What makes it doubly hard is that this bill seems very reasonable, so Second Amendment supporters have to be very careful about the optics while opposing it. After all, nobody wants to support those who sell anything (including firearms) with “false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises.”
Second Amendment supporters need to contact their Representative and Senators and politely urge them to oppose the Stopping the Fraudulent Sales of Firearms Act. Then. They need to work to defeat anti-Second Amendment extremists via the ballot box this November.
How do you know the numbers of Hispanic voters are increasingly seen as going Republican?
The lieberal media hauls out the broadest smear brush they can find.
The rise of white nationalist Hispanics.
Nick Fuentes, identified as a “white supremacist” in Justice Department filings, made headlines last week for hosting a white nationalist conference in Florida. His father is also half Mexican American.
Driving the news: Cuban American Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the Proud Boys, a group the Anti-Defamation League calls an extremist group with a violent agenda, was arrested Tuesday and charged with conspiracy in connection to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
What they’re saying: Experts tell Axios far-right extremism within the Latino community stems from three sources: Hispanic Americans who identify as white; the spread of online misinformation; and lingering anti-Black, antisemitic views among U.S. Latinos that are rarely openly discussed.
Blah, blah, blah, blah…………