This red tape right here:

Biden’s U.S. Oil Embargo
His assault on domestic energy works against his ban on Russian imports.

President Biden made the right decision Tuesday in banning Russian oil and natural gas imports. Yet at the same time he declared full-steam ahead on his green energy “transition” that includes an assault on U.S. fossil fuels. The contradiction is maddening.
Banning Russian energy imports is fine as far as it goes, which isn’t very. The U.S. imports only 3% of its petroleum supply and less than 1% of coal from Russia. About 70% of Russian oil currently can’t find buyers because of sanctions risk. That’s the main reason crude prices have shot up to $130 per barrel.
Once uncertainty about the scope of sanctions clears up, Russia will probably find global buyers for its energy at a discount. Imposing so-called secondary U.S. sanctions on institutions that finance Russia’s energy trade would be more effective. But the White House won’t do that because it fears it could drive gasoline prices even higher.
If that’s the worry, then here’s a better idea: Stand at the White House and declare that his Administration will support the development of U.S. oil and gas. Rescind all regulations designed to curb production, development and consumption. Announce a moratorium on new ones. Expedite permits, and encourage investment. Our guess is the price of Brent crude would fall $20 a barrel in anticipation of higher production.
Yet Mr. Biden is doing precisely the opposite. On Tuesday he even blamed U.S. companies—not his policies—for not producing more. There are 9,000 available unused drilling permits, he claimed, and only 10% of onshore oil production takes place on federal land. Talk about a misdirection play.
First, companies have to obtain additional permits for rights of way to access leases and build pipelines to transport fuel. This has become harder under the Biden Administration. Second, companies must build up a sufficient inventory of permits before they can contract rigs because of the regulatory difficulties of operating on federal land.

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New Hampshire: House Expected to Vote on Two Gun Bills Tomorrow

Tomorrow Today the New Hampshire House is scheduled to consider pro-gun House Bill 1636, and anti-gun House Bill 1151. NRA Members and Second Amendment supporters are encouraged to contact their State Representative and ask them to SUPPORT House Bill 1636 and to OPPOSE House Bill 1151.

Pro-Gun Bill:

House Bill 1636: “ATV-Carry” allows the carry of a loaded firearm on an Off-Highway Recreation Vehicle (OHRV) or snowmobile. This legislation also helps to clean up the law from when Permitless Carry was passed and a snowmobile prohibition remained. If you can carry a gun in your vehicle, or on your person, you shouldn’t have to surrender your right to self-defense simply because you’re operating a snowmobile.

Anti-Gun Bills:

House Bill 1151: imposes a ban on the open carry of firearms at various public demonstrations, including parades, marches, rallies, etc. This arbitrary ban is simply anti-gun virtue signaling that only affects law-abiding citizens, dictating how they must exercise a constitutional right, while doing nothing to improve public safety

Gun ownership for women is on the rise
A new study finds that close to half of all new U.S. gun buyers since 2019 have been female. A Girl and A Gun is a local women’s shooting league out of Michigan.

TAYLOR, Mich. (WXYZ) — A girl and a gun, a fitting name for a shooting league created for women by women.

“It’s kind of like being on a bowling league, only we shoot guns,” said Audree Danielson.

A new study finds that close to half of all new U.S. gun buyers since 2019 have been female. In Michigan, a growing number of women are learning how to use a firearm. Images showing unprecedented turnout – 1000 to 2000 women – wrapped around the block during the pandemic to attend the free firearm training event Legally Armed in Detroit.

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Missouri House approves plan to allow guns on public transit

JEFFERSON CITY — The Missouri House approved legislation Wednesday that would allow people who have concealed weapons permits to carry their guns on public transportation.

The measure, which has been debated several times in recent years but has not become law, also would lower the age requirement from 19 to 18 years of age or older for a concealed carry permit.

The proposal also would remove the prohibition on the carrying of firearms in churches and other places of worship by a person with a valid concealed carry permit.

It advanced to the Senate on 101-40 vote.

Republicans who control the Legislature have worked to loosen restrictions on guns for years, resulting in Missouri being ranked 47th in the nation by the Giffords Law Center for gun safety. [an honor, I assure you]

In 2007, for example, lawmakers dumped a universal background-check law. In 2016, the Legislature repealed a law so that Missourians could carry concealed firearms without a permit in most places.

In 2021, the GOP-led General Assembly approved the Second Amendment Preservation Act, prohibiting police in Missouri from enforcing any federal firearms laws that aren’t mirrored in state law.

That law has triggered a lawsuit from the U.S. Department of Justice Department.

Opponents of the latest move said they are concerned it could open the door for extremists to attack worshipers.

“I am not anti-gun. I just don’t want to see more hate crimes,” said Rep. Maggie Nurrenbern, D-Kansas City.

The legislation also includes a provision known as Blair’s Law, which would criminalize “celebratory gunfire.” It is named for Blair Shanahan Lane, who was struck in the neck by a bullet fired from more than a half-mile away.

The legislation is House Bill 1462.

“Second Amendment Protection Act” Clears [Wyoming] House By 43 – 15 Margin

A bill aimed at prohibiting Wyoming law enforcement officers from enforcing unconstitutional restrictions on Second Amendment rights won final approval from the House on Wednesday.

Representatives voted 43-15 to approve Senate File 102, the “Second Amendment Protection Act” in its final House review

Defenders of the bill debated opponents who maintained the bill should be killed because it was weaker than one considered and rejected earlier in the session.

“I, for one, would like my constituents to have something rather than nothing,” said Rep. John Bear, R-Gillette. “When we say it’s a weak bill, but we’re willing to go with no protection at all, which is weaker?”

SF102 would prohibit any Wyoming law enforcement agent from enforcing unconstitutional federal restrictions on the Second Amendment. If an unconstitutional federal rule was enforced, the enforcing officer could face one year in jail and a fine of up to $2,000.

The bill had been roundly criticized by backers of another gun rights bill, SF87, the “Second Amendment Preservation Act.” The bill, which failed to win introduction early in the session, would have allowed citizens to sue officials they felt were responsible for enforcing unconstitutional barriers to the Second Amendment, including increases in taxes and fees on ammunition.

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BLUF:
Clearly, simply being armed doesn’t stop every threat to our national or personal security. It does, however, give us a fighting chance at survival, and in these perilous times I’d argue it’s more important than ever for us to protect, preserve, and strengthen our right to keep and bear arms. We might not have to worry much about a Russian invasion of U.S. soil, but unfortunately there are still plenty of homegrown madmen capable of committing atrocities against innocents, and an unarmed populace would only put more of us at risk..

The importance of armed deterrence for national and personal defense

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has led to some strange political sights here at home, including some Democrats cheering on a government handing out “assault weapons” to civilians, even as they try to criminalize ownership of modern sporting rifles here at home. Meanwhile, gun control activists are trying to shut down any comparison between Ukraine’s self-defense as a nation-state and the importance of the individual right of self-defense.

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Olight Ecommerce Technology Recalls Flashlights Due to Burn Hazard

Dear Olight M2R Pro & Warrior Mini Customers,

Although the M2R Pro and Warrior Mini have always been well loved, these models may be turned on inadvertently and overheat while stored in a holster or a consumer’s pocket, posing a burn hazard. Olight is now voluntarily recalling these products in the United States in cooperation with CPSC.

Hereby, we are calling you:

If you own one of these recalled flashlights, please immediately stop using it and contact Olight for store credit, or a replacement flashlight, or a full refund.

Olight will cover all shipping costs.

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‘Commander Salamander’ is a retired U.S. Navy Commander who often writes for the U.S. Naval Institute and elsewhere.

The Blob Wants a War.

Well, there it is. Over at Politico we have an open letter calling for a limited no-fly zone.

This letter is signed by people who should know better. I would put the substance somewhere in the wtf grid bounded by “irresponsible” & “insulting.”

Too many people have misremembered both recent and longer-term history. We are talking about Russia here. Not Serbia. Not Libya. Not Iraq.

Let us be clear on this point; a No Fly Zone (NFZ) requires you shoot down aircraft over a specified area. Over Ukraine, what this letter calls for is for us to shoot down Russian aircraft. It says “NATO” but as anyone who served in Afghanistan knows, this will mean the USA, and possibly the United Kingdom with an assist from Denmark and Poland, maybe.

That is asking for war. You don’t want a wider European war. No sane person does.

These people do, but they are not being honest about it.

If you want a war, ask for it. Assuming that everyone will either be silent or stupid, instead the authors decided to be too clever by half to the rubes while winking at their peers who know exactly what they are doing. Not unlike the build up to the Iraq invasion of 2003, I’m not sure that they believe their own distortions, or simply that they are not as good as they tell everyone they are. I’m beginning to think both.

Someone in this group must know where a NFZ would lead. Once everything blows up – which it may NFZ or not – a note from this crowd of, “Oh, no, we never expected this escalation…” won’t wash at the moment & damn sure won’t wash on the 1st through last draft of history.

I’m sorry, I don’t trust them. After you read the letter, if you still do, I can’t help you.

This is such a grabasstic horror show, we’re going to fisk it.

Let’s go:

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No. I say stupidity. Ignorance can be fixed. Stupid can’t

Ignorance and Elitism Go Hand in Hand

When you become very wealthy it’s hard to remain attached to the struggles of those who make far less, but it’s not impossible. Sometimes a healthy dose of what it’s like on the ground floor can keep you humble and allow you to appreciate the life you have. Not doing so can cause the feeling of elitism to build up in your mind, and as a result, you become ignorant of the world and its struggles.

You become a bit like “Late Show” host Stephen Colbert who rattled off one of the more elitist things you’ve heard this year…so far.

Speaking on the rising gas prices, Colbert took the Biden administration’s route to make people okay with their mishandling of the economy and the energy crisis and appealed to people’s sense of patriotism, something they mock whenever it’s convenient to them.

“Today, the average gas price in America hit an all-time record high of over $4 per gallon. Okay, that stings, but a clear conscience is worth a buck or two,” said Colbert.

“I’m willing to pay. I’m willing to pay $4 a gallon. Hell, I’ll pay $15 a gallon because I drive a Tesla,” he quipped.

“Take that, Putin! We’re not gonna buy our gas from a war criminal,” he continued. “We’re gonna buy it from the good guys, Saudi Arabia!”

Many people are focusing on the $15 joke, but in my eyes, it’s not the issue. It is, after all, a joke. Colbert’s just a bad comedian so it wasn’t that funny.

The issue is primarily with what he said before it: “A clear conscience is worth a buck or two.”

Colbert’s referring to the Biden administration stopping the purchasing of oil from Russia, which was a whopping 500,000 barrels a day. The only issue with this is that Biden’s plan to make up for the missing oil is to purchase from other entities who aren’t exactly our friends and may give us trouble at another point in time with the money they make from us.

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Indiana lawmakers pass bill to eliminate permits to carry handguns for Hoosiers 18 and older

Amid a multistate push from pro-gun groups, Indiana lawmakers approved a bill on Tuesday that would eliminate the license requirement to carry a handgun.

The legislation split Senate Republicans as it moved through the legislative process. It now heads to Gov. Eric Holcomb, a Republican, who finds himself in an interesting situation.

If he vetoes the legislation, he risks being the sole politician to stand of the way of so-called “constitutional carry,” potentially angering the conservative wing of his party. If he signs the bill, he’ll be going against the wishes of the head of the state police, Douglas Carter, who accused lawmakers of pandering to lobbyists and political posturing.

Either outcome could have political ramifications for his future. So far, he hasn’t indicated which way he’ll swing.

Under House Bill 1296, anyone who legally can carry a handgun now could do so without a permit moving forward. That includes Hoosiers 18 years and older. The bill would also elevate the theft of a firearm to a Level 5 felony, meaning someone convicted would be imprisoned between one and six years, and may be fined as much as $10,000.

Already, lawmakers had made the permit free during the 2021 legislative session.

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Teen killed in self-defense in double shooting in Lithonia

LITHONIA, Ga. — DeKalb police said that an 18-year-old was killed in self-defense in a shooting that also left a 25-year-old man in critical condition Monday night.

Officers were called to the 6300 block of Stablewood Way in Lithonia around 6:30 p.m. in reference to a shooting.

Police found a man with at least one gunshot wound. He was taken to a local hospital in critical condition.

A short time later, officers found a second man who had been shot multiple times. He was pronounced dead on the scene.

Police later said that the two victims got into an argument, which led to the 18-year-old opening fire. A third man fatally shot the 18-year-old.

Police said that the third man will not face any charges at this time because he shot in self-defense. Police did not say if the 25-year-old victim would face any charges.

Police have not released the identities of the three people involved.

Just more confirmation of SloJoe’s senile dementia

Comment O’ The Day
“Trump would be crucified. Instead nothing.
The media/journalism is dead. Just all propaganda at this point.”

Joe Biden Rips off an Oddly Racist Statement, Leaves Onlookers Completely Perplexed

While Americans suffer under extreme gas prices and Ukraine continues to be invaded by Russia, Joe Biden is ripping off oddly racist statements, leaving onlookers completely perplexed. Honestly, I’m not sure I have 500 words of analysis on this, but this is just too insane not to share.

On Tuesday, Biden flew to Forth Worth, TX, along with the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, to visit a VA hospital and deliver remarks. According to his schedule, the trip was made to discuss the exposure of veterans to environmental hazards such as burn pits. That has become a pet issue for the president ever since he began to (without evidence) connect it to his late son developing cancer years later.

As Biden was speaking, this happened.

I have no idea what I just watched nor what Biden’s point was. I realize the clip is edited, and perhaps there’s more context, but what context could possibly explain the president suggesting a congressman looks like a suicide bomber? That’s the most straightforward explanation for saying he looks like “he can bomb you,” right?

Still, you can expect the “fact-checkers” to jump into action here, attempting to read Biden’s mind as a way to explain away what he said. Did he actually mean “He looks like he can hit a bomb off you,” as in hitting a home run? I have no idea, and neither does any fact-checker that is going to inevitably gnash their teeth over this article and others like it. Of note is that it is not my job to translate for this senile old man nor to make excuses for his complete inability to produce a sentient thought.

So whether he meant to say what he said or not, the senility is the point. Biden is a man who can’t even read a teleprompter properly, and he’s also a man who clearly has problems controlling what comes out of his mouth. It’s common for older men in decline to begin to lose their filters. We’ve seen multiple examples of that from the president over the last several years.

I’ll end with the obligatory “What if Trump had said this?” I’m pretty sure it would be a major story and eat up at least a week of the news cycle. But Biden being a quasi-racist geriatric is just par for the course, I suppose. The only mention you’ll see of his comment in the mainstream media will be from those trying to brush what he said under the rug.

New York House Republicans take aim at Democratic state lawmakers’ push for bullet tax

Top New York Republicans are out to shoot down a first-of-its-kind measure now making its way through the state Senate that would place a new tax on ammunition.

The measure, introduced late last month by a pair of Democrats, would place a tax of up to a nickel on each round of ammunition measuring .22 caliber or less. Revenue from the bill would fund gun violence research being conducted through the state Department of Health and the State University of New York.

If passed, the tax would be the first state levy on bullets in the nation. The Empire State’s GOP delegation to the U.S. House is no fan of what state lawmakers from the other party are doing and believe it could violate the U.S. Constitution — which is their purview.

“Albany’s far-left tax on ammunition is a direct attack on every gun owner in upstate New York and the North Country,” House Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik, a Republican, told the Washington Examiner on Tuesday. “In the face of Albany’s latest assault on our constitutional rights, I will always stand up for New Yorkers’ Second Amendment rights and against this outrageous tax proposal.”

GOP Rep. Claudia Tenney denounced the bill as “yet another attempt by far-left progressives in Albany to undermine the ability of upstate New Yorkers to exercise their Second Amendment rights.”

“Downstate progressives are once again showing their disdain for our upstate values,” she added. “Instead of protecting our constitutional rights, New York Democrats want to legislate gun owners straight out of New York.”

Rep. Tom Reed, a Republican member of the centrist Problem Solvers Caucus, said Democrats are once again looking to punish law-abiding gun owners for violence committed by criminals.

“Rather than focusing on solving the root problem of gun violence, Democrats again want to focus on objects — once guns, now ammo,” Reed said. “Enough is enough.

“Let’s tackle issues of untreated mental illness, criminal propensities, and unchecked drug trafficking that are the true major drivers of gun violence,” he added.

Republican Rep. Andrew Garbarino, who served in the state Assembly before being elected to the U.S. House, denounced the proposal as a “punitive measure” that would “unfairly target law-abiding gun owners.”

“It’s outrageous, and I would urge my former colleagues in the state Legislature to reject it out of hand,” he said.

Even though the tax would only add between 2-5 cents to the price of a round, Rep. Chris Jacobs said it was ill-advised.

“Ammo prices are already higher than they have been in years,” Jacobs, a Republican, said. “Adding an additional tax will only be an additional barrier to law-abiding citizens practicing their Second Amendment rights.”

The bill’s sponsors, state Democratic Sen. Andrew Gounardes and Democratic Assemblywoman Pat Fahy, meanwhile, have argued that their bill is forward-thinking and would serve to prevent gun violence at a time of alarming spikes in crime in the Empire State.

“By taxing ammunition, we are fairly funding research that will help us build smart and effective policies,” Gounardes said last week.

“When we talk about gun violence prevention and community-based policies that help to interrupt cycles of violence, resources matter,” Fahy added, arguing that the bill was directing such resources “where they’re most effectively used and protecting more New Yorkers from the scourge of gun violence.”

But there’s always next year for the gun grabbers

Oregon: Legislature Adjourns from Short 2022 Legislative Session

Last Friday, the Oregon Legislature gaveled out of their short 2022 Legislative Session.  While multiple anti-gun measures were proposed and introduced, nothing was able to gain any traction and pass.  Two of those measures, House Bill 4079 and Senate Bill 1577 were opposed by NRA and were defeated as the legislature adjourned.

House Bill 4079 is one of the biggest signs of how disconnected from reality the anti-gun elite is.  This measure would have placed a “Luxury Tax” on many retail goods for sale in Oregon, including firearms.  While the program aimed to assist low-income Oregonians, placing further taxes on the constitutional rights of ALL Oregonians is the exact opposite of the measure’s intent.  HB 4079 would invariably price-out low-income residents from their right to self-defense.

Senate Bill 1577 would ban 3-D printed guns, however the bill is so poorly written that it confuses “undetectable” firearms with 3D printed guns.  This bill is the ultimate solution in search of a problem.  Undetectable firearms have been banned under federal law for 30 years.  This is nothing more than political theater.  However, because of poor bill drafting, this bill could have serious unintended consequences for hobbyists who engage in the lawful home manufacture of firearms.

Observation O’ The Day

Russia’s Ukraine invasion a wake-up call to AOC and ‘Squad.’

Hoover Institution fellow Victor Davis Hanson rebuked Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY, for promoting radical left policies and discussed the geopolitical implications of Russia’s invasion Thursday on “Jesse Watters Primetime.”

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: If the United States is [energy independent] … then we don’t beg people in the Middle East or Russia to help us. If the oil price [is] moderate, the economies in the West thrive, and Vladimir Putin doesn’t have financial reserves that can subsidize as an invasion.

Just think of the lead-up to [the invasion]. In January, we had these hackers from Russia [going] … after the Colonial Pipeline in the United States. They took out a million barrels a day, and that was after we had been cutting back. …  [Then] we had the Senate Democrats who [sic] wrote a veto to sanction the Nord Stream Pipeline. Energy is a subtext of all of the preliminaries up to this.

And I think in retrospect, we’re going to grow up. We’re going to look back at AOC’s insane efforts and people in the Squad in the hard left to shut down voluntarily almost 3 million barrels a day of oil production. … [T]hat results in … real deaths — people die when you do that, and they have to realize that — it’s crazy. 

We’re going to have to take a hard look at NATO, because the idea that for years, no one listened. As we told the Germans, we begged the Germans. We pleaded with the Germans, “Do not cut a deal with Putin, do not get reliant on Putin energy. Why don’t you import liquefied natural gas from the United States or [Israel’s] pipeline, anything other than Russia?” And we were completely ignored. I think that’s going to be reexamined. 

The West has been caught sleeping and … an opportunistic dictator … saw a chance and … took it just like he did in 2014. 

CNN Panics as Almost Half the States Have Passed Constitutional Carry Laws.

“Law enforcement and their constituents and everybody united can help slow these policies now, but I also recognize that some of these states have been trying to do this over and over again and this may be the year, unfortunately, that they finally get it across the finish line,” [Everytown director of state affairs Monisha] Henley said.

[NRA spokesman Lars] Dalseide, the NRA spokesman, noted that permitless legislation does not allow known criminals to carry firearms, nor does it legalize the criminal use of firearms or allow individuals to carry firearms in localities where it is prohibited to do so.

“My concern is that as we support the second amendment, we get to a point here in our society that we’re ignoring the fact that it is not an individual freedom that is unlimited,” Sheriff [Charmaine] McGuffey said.

The senators who support constitutional carry “will never know the lives they saved if they go in opposition to the bill,” McGuffey added. “If they pass this bill, there is a great likelihood that they will come to know the lives that they didn’t save because those names will live in infamy and those situations will be reported to the public by the press.”

— Emma Tucker in ‘They will come to know the lives they didn’t save’: States forge ahead with permitless carry legislation despite law enforcement opposition

Prescience

Tone-Deaf Team Biden Responds to High Gas Prices With Electric Car Sales Pitch.

I have long had the good fortune of never having to deal with a work commute, unless, of course, one considers air travel to gigs as a commute. Still, I’ve been blessed to have spent a quarter of a century in Los Angeles without having to endure sitting on the 405 for hours a day, gaining a deeper understanding of road rage with each passing minute.

Never have I been more grateful to not have to leave my house much as I am here in Joe Biden’s America, with gas prices hiking up to vertiginous heights. It’s quite economical to only have to travel from my bedroom to my living room office each morning.

Because nothing can work out too well anymore — especially while the Biden clown car is in charge — the gas price nightmare is coinciding with American workers actually heading back to their offices after a couple of years of mostly remote work.

Fret not, working men and women of the Republic, the court at Versailles trotted out its two dimmest bulbs not named Joe Biden — Kamala Harris and Pete Buttigieg — on Monday to offer an easy fix. Chris wrote about the Mayor Pete portion of the Grand Solution:

When will we ever learn not to fret over what’s going on in the world? Our Democrat party overlords know what’s best for us, and all we have to do is simply follow their suggestions. After all, their solutions are so simple.

Take high gas prices for example. So many of us peons worry about the skyrocketing price of gas at the pump, but America’s brilliant Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg has a fix for gas prices that’s so easy it’s almost ridiculous. Why, you just need to buy an electric vehicle, you silly goose.

“Clean transportation can bring significant cost savings for the American people as well,” Buttigieg said in a speech. “Last month, we announced a $5 billion investment to build out a nationwide electric vehicle charging network so that people from rural to suburban to urban communities can all benefit from the gas savings of driving an EV.”

Pre-Bat Flu pandemic, I wasn’t much given to conspiracy theories but now it’s not a stretch to believe that these climate church freaks are trying to price us out of functional fossil fuels and into electric vehicles.

As Chris points out in his post, the entry price into the electric vehicle life isn’t a real economic boon for someone trying to make ends meet. Of course, this administration isn’t very adept at reading the room. It’s safe to say that Mayor Pete doesn’t go within 100 yards of an electric vehicle unless it’s for a photo op.

Electric vehicles may very well be the future, but they aren’t the present, at least not in any capacity that could bring wide-scale relief from current gas prices. Mayor Pete’s suggestion is merely further evidence that this administration doesn’t have solutions to any of the problems it is causing. Team Biden has nothing but platitudes, agendas, and enough cluelessness to fill the Pacific Ocean.

I’ll be extra super staying home for a while.