Promoting BS like this is exactly part and parcel of the continued push to ‘dumb down’ the populace, since ignorant people are so much easier to control.

2+2=5? Bill Gates funnels $1 MILLION to push ‘math is racist’ narrative
With $1 million of support from the Gates Foundation, universities and local governments are bringing “anti-racism” to mathematics.
The group says that a “focus on getting the ‘right’ answer” and state standards directing classroom instruction represent “white supremacy culture.”
The group suggests implementing “ethnomathematics” as an antidote.

With a $1 million check from the Gates Foundation, leading universities and local governments are building an effort to bring “anti-racism” efforts to mathematics.

A Pathway to Equitable Instruction exists to address “barriers to math equity” by offering “guidance and resources for educators to use now as they plan their curriculum, while also offering opportunities for ongoing self-reflection as they seek to develop an anti-racist math practice.”

Among the group’s content developers are Ruth Basket, Mirna Maranda-Welsh, and Malane Morales-Van Hecke from the Los Angeles County Office of Education’s Multilingual Academic Support Unit; David Chun, the Director of K-12 Mathematics at the Sacramento County Office of Education; and Mindy Shacklett, a Coordinator of Mathematics at the San Diego County Office of Education. Multiple professors from the University of California system and Loyola Marymount University also worked on the project.

In its acknowledgments section — which lists the aforementioned universities and governments as “dedicated partners” — the project thanks the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for its “generous financial support.”

Gates Foundation senior communications officer Josie Duckett McSpadden confirmed to Campus Reform that the nonprofit gave $1,000,000 to the group.

One of the group’s guides — entitled “Dismantling Racism in Mathematics Instruction” — lists the “focus on getting the ‘right’ answer,” the emphasis on “real-world math,” state standards directing classroom instruction, and the sequential teaching of skills as “white supremacy culture.”

Accordingly, the guide endeavors to debunk several alleged signs of white supremacy in mathematics. For instance, the notion that “‘good’ math teaching is considered an antidote for mathematical inequity” among minority students is decried on the grounds that “either/or thinking” “allows the defensiveness of Western mathematics to prevail.”

In addressing the belief that state standards ought to direct classroom instruction, the guide suggests that teachers “unpack how the standards uphold white supremacy culture.”

As an antidote to white supremacy culture, the guide suggests centering the classroom upon “ethnomathematics.”

Students may, for example, “recognize the ways that communities of color engage in mathematics and problem solving in their everyday lives” or “challenge the ways that math is used to uphold capitalist, imperialist, and racist views.”

Teachers are likewise encouraged to “intentionally include mathematicians of color” in their instruction and “acknowledge the mathematical knowledge of students of color, even if it shows up unconventionally.”

Another guide — “Sustaining Equitable Practice” — asserts that “the relationship between instructional coach and teacher can be complicated and nuanced given the intersectionality of both participants’ identities.”

The Times, simply displaying their standard hypocrisy.

What you see from the Ukrainians is real heroism. Little to no training. Little to no logistical support. Yet they arm up and march off to fight an invader. That takes real guts.

The New York Times’ Strange New Respect for Citizens Owning and Carrying ‘Assault Weapons.’

Yes, this is the New York Times writing approvingly of average Ukrainian citizens taking up arms to defend themselves, their families, and their country. They’re being thousands of what the Times refers to as “assault rifles” for which most of them will have had little to no training at all.

Not that it matters. When your country is being attacked by a foreign army, you use the weapons at hand.

An estimated 18,000 assault rifles, variants of the Kalashnikov, have been distributed in Kyiv since Thursday. For many in line, the decision to pick up arms and fight a street battle against one of the world’s largest armies was driven by patriotism.
“I don’t really have any choice,” said Hlib Bondarenko, a 21-year-old computer programmer. “This is my home. I have nowhere to go, and I’m not going to give it up.”

Olena Sokolan, a business manager, stood proudly in a line made up mostly of men. “I am a woman, but I am strong,” Ms. Sokolan said. “I don’t have any fear. I’m ready.”

See Russian, point rifle, pull trigger.

This is the same New York Times that writes so approvingly of “assault weapons” bans here in the US of A. Never mind that the muddled old Gray Lady has written that Clinton’s AWB both failed miserably and worked as intended. Because as Americans are seeing hourly on their televisions and news feeds, who really needs an “assault rifle” anyway?

These are very easy to use. We teach 17-18 year old kids how. And it was purposefully designed to operate like an arcade game.

St. Javelin? Trump’s gift to Ukraine

See the source image

This image of a saint wielding an FGM-148 Javelin anti-tank missile has become an iconic symbol of the Ukrainian resistance to the Russian invasion. When you see video of destroyed Russian tanks and armored personnel carriers, chances are it was a Javelin that did the damage.

The Javelin is quite a sophisticated weapon, so much so that a single missile costs more than $80,000. It is a “fire-and-forget” weapon; once the target is acquired through the sighting system, the missile locks onto the target and as soon as it is fired, the crew can run for cover or change their position. However, because of the missile’s “soft launch” technology, the location of the Javelin crew is not revealed to the enemy forces, who may not even know what hit them, much less where it came from. Besides which, when one of your tanks gets blown up by an armor-piercing missile, your first thought is probably, “Let’s get the hell out of here,” rather than attempting to mount a counterattack.

You’ve seen news about the Russians being “bogged down” because of “unexpectedly” strong Ukrainian opposition? St. Javelin, baby!

The Javelins were, yes, acquired by Ukraine from our former, competent, president. And yes, to be fair, the Biden administration has also sent Javelins and other aid

A US military aid package worth $60 million arrived in Ukraine on June 16, which included Javelin anti-tank missiles and other military aid. Another $350 million in military assistance was greenlit by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken today.

“We are not confirming quantities, just that we have supplied Javelins and other lethal and non-lethal security assistance,” said an Office of the Secretary of Defense representative in an email response to Coffee or Die Magazine. The representative would not comment on quantities.

The Collapsing Covid Narrative is Being Replaced with Putin and Ukraine

Game-changing news has emerged out of Iceland.

As of this week, Iceland is the first country in the world to completely drop ALL Covid measures. There will be no lockdowns or social restrictions. There will be no mandatory Covid testing and if you happen to catch Covid you do not have to isolate. There will be no vaccine passports and no vaccine mandates. Anyone regardless of their vaccination status can travel to the country with no test required. The unvaccinated will not face any form of discrimination or exclusion from society.

Iceland is returning to going back to life as it was before Covid.

This by itself would be astounding enough given that Iceland is in the midst of a massive Covid surge and posting record cases even as we speak.

If you did not know, the vaccination rate in Iceland is some 80% of the total population which means that around 90% of the adult population is fully vaccinated.

Obviously, the vaccines have done absolutely nothing to stop or even slow down the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Quite on the contrary, they seem to have led to its increase.

Not only has the government of Iceland decided to drop all Covid restrictions and vaccine requirements, but the Ministry of Health issued remarkable new guidelines on how to deal with the virus. The country’s health authorities have advised the Icelanders that “as many people as possible need to be infected with the virus as the vaccines are not enough.”

Do you hear this?

Iceland’s government now tells its people that it is good to contract Covid. In other words, Iceland’s government has decided to handle Covid through herd immunity derived from natural infection.

This marks the complete negation of the official Covid narrative which was accepted as the conventional wisdom by nearly every government for the last two years.

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Sorry, Americans. Biden thinks it’s your fault you’re not happier paying nearly $5 a gallon for gas, watching your electric bills double, and fighting to keep food on your tables. Apparently, we’re all just too depressed from COVID to realize how much better our lives are under the geriatric puppet in the White House.

He really said this out loud.

Standard operation SloJoe; He’s blamed everyone else for his own failures from the time he ran for President in ’88 and had to withdraw because he got caught plagiarizing other people.

Observation O’ The Day

“The very first and most important thing to remember is that many things can be true at once and not be mutually exclusive. In no particular order:

It is absolutely wrong for Russia to invade Ukraine.

There is a long history of Russian oppression of Ukraine under the Soviet Union, not the least of which was Stalin’s genocide of Ukrainians through and engineered famine called the Holodomor.  Consequently, there is lots of bad blood between the Ukrainian people and Russia.

There are regions of Ukraine that are ethically and linguistically majority Russian that want independence from Ukraine.  That is a matter for international peace negotiation, not justification for Russian invasion.

Members of the Ukrainian government and national oil company did bribe Hunter Biden with a make work job for $50,000 per month.

That occurred under the previous Ukrainian administration.  The current president of Ukraine is new and took office in May of 2019 after Hunter left Burisma, and the current president has worked to clean up the corruption of the previous administration.

Despite the immoral act of Russia invading Ukraine, the US should not get involved militarily.  Our military just suffered a defeat in Afghanistan after 20 years if war.  We are demoralized and need to sit this one out.  Not to mention the risk of fighting an enemy that has nuclear weapons.

The entire Russian collusion/Trump is a Putin Puppet thing was a fabrication of the Hillary Clinton campaign to undermine Trump, justify spying on his campaign, and ultimately explain why she lost an election she thought she was entitled to win.

Many Democrats bought that bullshit fully as dogma and it has metastasized into “the GOP are Russian assets” or some equivalent thereof.

Trump’s policies, including US energy independence, were effective in holding back Russia while Obama and Biden’s policies resulted in Russian aggression towards their neighbors on both their administrations.

I fully believe that the only reason people on the Left are supporting Ukraine is that they have been reflexively trained to associate Russia with Trump and they hate Trump that much so ergo they hate Russia.

In a just and sane world everyone involved in spreading the fake Russian collusion story for four years should be forced to face the ditch for the damage that story did to this country.

Just because current Democrats have accidentally landed on the right answer of “Russia should not invade Ukraine” doesn’t mean they landed on it for the right reason or that their moral compass is properly functioning.

The Democrats who had landed on “Russia should not invade Ukraine” are about to destroy any good will or credibility they have as they are starting to use Ukraine as a cudgel to bash Americans.

You can be a patriotic American who cheers on Ukrainians defending themselves from Russia and not wanted to Americans to be sent to Ukraine to fight.”–J.K.

Poll: Majority Feels Safer ‘Knowing There’s A Gun In The House’

Contrary to what the gun prohibition lobby would have America believe, a new Rasmussen survey released Friday shows that a majority of American adults who say someone in the house owns a firearm (61%) “feel safer knowing there’s a gun in the house.” majority feels safer with gun

Rasmussen learned that 36 percent of poll respondents admit they or someone in their household owns a gun. In recent years, anecdotal evidence suggests that gun owners refuse to acknowledge they have a gun in the home, as they are either worried about social stigma or simply believe it’s nobody’s business.

The survey of 1,000 U.S. American Adults was conducted on February 17 and 20, 2022, by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence, the veteran polling company said.

According to Rasmussen, “Of those who live in gun-owning households, majorities of both men (62%) and women (59%) say they feel safer knowing there’s a gun in the house.” The survey also revealed, “More whites (42%) than blacks (30%) or other minorities (28%) say they or someone in their household owns a gun.”

According to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, in 2020 and 2021, millions of Americans purchased firearms for the first time.

As one might expect, gun ownership falls mainly along political lines. Rasmussen’s survey found “Republicans (44%) are significantly more likely than Democrats or those unaffiliated with either major party (both 34%) to say they or someone in their household owns a gun.” The poll also revealed, “More men (42%) than women (32%) say they live in gun-owning households. However, a majority (58%) of men under 40 say they live in homes without firearms.”

And here’s something startling: “Entrepreneurs are more likely to live in gun-owning households than either government employees or private-sector workers.”

Over the past several days, Headlines from southeast Europe provide more reason for Americans to appreciate their Second Amendment rights. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has resulted in the Ukrainian government reportedly handing out firearms to citizens to mount a defense against Vladimir Putin’s army. In the United States, such a situation would hardly be necessary thanks to the Second Amendment protection of the right to keep and bear arms.

War in the Ukraine Has Strengthened the 2nd Amendment in the U.S.

If you held any doubts about the importance of the 2nd Amendment the war in Ukraine should serve as a prime example as to why the “right to keep and bear arms” is absolutely vital to the security and peace of the Nation. It may be too little too late, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made the announcement yesterday that all citizens who wish to arm themselves in defense of the country may do so.

More than that, the Ukrainian government/military would supply the weapons. At this time thousands upon thousands of Ukrainians are arming themselves and are ready to fight alongside their military in defense of their country. Had this right been protected by a constitution and in place prior to the invasion they would have been armed already and better prepared to defend their lives and country. By loosening the firearm laws in the country the Ukrainian government has at least given their citizens and country a fighting chance.

To those who doubted the meaning, intent, or reasoning of the 2nd Amendment what’s happening in Ukraine should settle that argument. An armed citizenship is near impossible to conquer and control. In the United States, an enemy foreign or domestic would have to get through all of our military branches, all the reserves and guard units along with an armed populace in order to even occupy the country, much less conquer it.

It’s frustratingly funny that people, “anti-gun” people, always remark that there’s no need for citizens to have arms and that the 2nd Amendment is outdated. They continually say it’s ridiculous to think that a private citizen with a gun could do much in defense of the country. Well, oddly enough that’s exactly how our country began. A group of armed men tried of the tyranny they were living under got together and fought back, with arms. I’m sure the British at the time thought like our “anti-gun” crowd, and like them were dead wrong.

Within minutes of the Russian invasion, the Ukrainian government immediately put the word out about arming its citizens. So to those who constantly state that it’s the government’s job to protect and defend us, it clearly shows without us, it’s a non-reality. Relying solely on others for protection is to be utterly defenseless and victim-bound. Without the means to protect yourself and others, you are at the mercy of those who would seek to do you harm and even those sworn to protect you. This is the heart of the Second Amendment.

The 2nd Amendment has never been about hunting, or really even self-defense. It’s about having the means to protect our freedom, liberties, and the ability to use arms against tyranny, both foreign and domestic.

That’s what it’s all about and what we’re seeing in Ukraine definitely affirms this, at least to those who are paying attention anyway. Hopefully, some lessons will be learned and those who in the past wished to eliminate or further restrict our rights to keep and bear arms will better understand the intent of our Founding Fathers, the architects of freedom and framers of our constitution had in mind when writing it.

Lastly, the Bill of Rights and U.S. Constitution DOES NOT grant rights. It recognizes and upholds the rights that were given to us at birth by our creator, which is why they’re called “Inalienable Rights.”

The primary purpose of the Consitution and Bill of Rights is to restrict the government’s “infringement” of rights, which preexisted the documents in the first place. So any argument about changing any of the amendments in the Constitution is completely invalid. Our rights aren’t given to us by the government, we were born with them. This means you CAN NOT take away what you haven’t given!

They Held the Line: Ukrainians in Kyiv Hold Out Against Hellacious Russian Assault

I will say this about the Ukrainians. They’re holding out. They’re putting up a tenacious fight against their Russian invaders. It was something Moscow was not expecting. Vladimir Putin has the better military, but they’re struggling in achieving their objectives. Kyiv was projected to be surrounded by Russian forces by this time. At one point this week, they were only a mere 20 miles from the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv which was already being bombed.

Last night, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was clear that last night was a fight for the nation. they needed to keep Kyiv, but it was going to be difficult as the full might of Russia’s war machine was going to be unleashed upon the city. The nation has been virtually mustered. Citizens can carry firearms in public for the national defense. All males 18-60 cannot leave. Martial law has been declared. The people are ready to fight with whatever means available. Ukrainian soldiers were teaching civilians how to make Molotov cocktails prior to the Russian assault. Russian troops reached the outskirts of the city yesterday evening and fighting did break out in the streets reportedly.

The Ukrainians held the line. The city remains in their hands. Zelensky had rebuffed an American offer of an evacuation—he was in the city during the assault—adding that he needed ammunition, not a ride (via NBC News):

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News networks ignore Ukraine’s gun rights push

Ukraine is dealing with a lot right now, but one of the smarter things they did was recognize that an armed populace is an asset. They expanded gun rights in the Eastern European nation leading up to the invasion, though, in fairness, guns weren’t completely forbidden there, either.

However, the major news networks seemed to have completely ignored this during their coverage of the buildup.

On Wednesday, hours before the start of the Russian invasion of Ukrainian, the Rada (parliament) advanced legislation that would allow more Ukrainian civilians to own firearms as they stared down the bear that was eager to wage war on and conquer them. It’s another obvious example of why civilian firearm ownership is important and vital for a free people, yet it wasn’t worth any airtime on the broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) that night or Thursday.

Citing local Ukrainian reporting, The Reload’s Stephan Gutowski reported: “274 of the country’s 450 elected representatives voted for the bill, according to local media outlet Ukrinform. The bill would formalize the country’s gun laws, allow more civilians to own and carry guns, and allow them to be used for self-defense in more places.”

The Canada-based CTV noted the move came on the eve of, “[o]ne of Europe’s worst security crises in decades” after “Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized two areas of eastern Ukraine as independent and ordered troops to be deployed to eastern Ukraine.”

NBC Nightly News did note this distribution of weapons but not the expansion of gun rights on Thursday. Yet reporter Erin McLaughlin spoke with a member of the Ukrainian parliament who’s never shot a weapon before but was among those ready to take up arms:

And most of the media failed to note the legal moves prior to the invasion. Why?

Well, the answer is pretty simple. These are the same networks that play host to people who tell us our AR-15s are useless against tanks and attack helicopters. They don’t want us to see that, on the eve of the invasion, a sovereign nation turned to armed citizens to help defend their homes.

They don’t want people seeing the kind of scenarios the Second Amendment was meant for play out on their television screens.

In truth, they’d much rather keep us ignorant of how Ukraine recognized that they needed those armed citizens if they were going to have any hope of fending off the invasion of a more powerful neighbor.

If we recognize that fact, many would be far less hesitant to back things like assault weapon bans or magazine restrictions.

They’d see one of the scenarios the Founding Fathers feared and recognized the role armed citizens can play. They’re doing so in Ukraine, but they could just as easily have to do so here.

Our right to keep and bear arms is something that any invader has to fear.

The networks, however, would rather you not think about that because they want people to view guns only as something to fear, not something that can be used to protect.

I counted Bob among my friends

Obituary for fatboy

Robert “Bob” Mills passed away unexpectedly December 12, 2021 at his home in Sequim, Washington. He was a stoic man who could be intimidating at first meeting but made friends everywhere he went. Bob had many interests — hunting, bicycling, ham radio, cooking, wine, and Irish whisky, but most of all he was a world-class story-teller.

Bob was born on January 22, 1946 in Barstow, California, and grew up in Rockford, Washington. He attended Eastern Washington College where he met his future wife Audrey Saldin, and after graduation in December 1968 he was commissioned as an officer in the US Army. Bob and Audrey eloped in January 1969.

He spent 1971 – 1972 in service during the Vietnam war. After returning home Bob’s career started working for the Department of Justice and those opportunities took the family first to McNeil Island, Washington, then a decade in California before returning to Seattle, where he would work until he retired in 2001. After he retired, Bob and Audrey built a home on the hill in Sequim where Audrey could get her water views, overlooking the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

While in Sequim, Bob worked for a local bike shop, conducted training for the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) and was active with Clallam County emergency operations as a ham radio operator working from the Sequim Fire Department. He was named Volunteer of Year 2011 by the Clallam County Sheriff’s Department.

Bob was preceded in death by his parents Dale and Betty Mills, and his wife Audrey. He is survived by his daughter Margaret Keppeler (husband Paul), his son Richard (wife Leah), and grandsons Reece and Sawyer. All will miss him deeply.

Bob will be interred in the Rockford Memorial Cemetery next to his wife and parents.”

President Zelensky Appears to Take Direct Shot at Joe Biden

On Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke out from what appeared to be a bunker, taking a direct shot at President Joe Biden for completely failing the Ukrainian people and the world.

Zelensky started off by stating how he is being hunted down by the Russians.

“I know that a lot of misinformation and rumors are being spread now,” Zelensky said. Adding to that, he continued, saying:

“In particular, it is claimed that I have left Kyiv. I remain in the capital; I am staying with my people. My family is not a traitor, but a citizen of Ukraine. According to our information, the enemy marked me as the number one target. My family is the number two goal.

They want to destroy Ukraine politically by destroying the Head of State. We have information that enemy sabotage groups have entered Kyiv. … I am staying in the government quarter together with others.”

And Ukraine has some serious enemies. Chechen “kill squads” are reportedly roaming through Ukraine at the moment, something that can’t help but spook Zelensky.

In fact, “The kill squad was allegedly in a Ukrainian forest, with each soldier reportedly given a special ‘deck of cards’ with Ukrainian officials’ photos and descriptions, a Moscow Telegram channel that has links to the security establishment reported,” The Daily Mail reported.

Adding to that report, it said “State TV in Chechnya reported that Ramzan Kadyrov, the republic’s leader and a close Putin ally, had visited his forces in Ukraine. The Chechens are believed to be from the South battalion of the Federal Guard Service, based in Chechnya.”

But returning to his speech, it was after he said where he was staying that Zelensky then appeared to take a direct shot at President Biden.

“This morning we are defending our state alone. Like yesterday, the world’s most powerful forces are watching from afar,” he said. “Did yesterday’s sanctions convince Russia? We hear in our sky and see on our earth that this was not enough.”

“We are left alone in defense of our state. Who is ready to fight with us?” Zelensky continued. Then, adding yet more emphasis to his points by calling out NATO, he said:

“Honestly – I do not see such. Who is ready to guarantee Ukraine’s accession to NATO? Honestly, everyone is afraid. … I tell all the partners of our state: now is an important moment – the fate of our country is being decided. I ask them: are you with us?

They answer that they are with us. But they are not ready to take us to the Alliance. Today, I asked the twenty-seven leaders of Europe whether Ukraine will be in NATO. I asked directly. Everyone is afraid. They do not answer.”

“And we are not afraid of anything. We are not afraid to defend our state,” he continued. “We are not afraid of Russia. We are not afraid to talk to Russia. We are not afraid to say everything about security guarantees for our state. We are not afraid to talk about neutral status. We are not in NATO now. But the main thing – what security guarantees will we have? And what specific countries will give them?”

POLL: 91.8% Of Americans Would Carry Out ‘Red Dawn’ Style Attacks If The USA Was Invaded

Many Americans would be willing to take up arms to defend our country against an invasion.

The results weren’t close at all. Of the 7,029 voters, 91.8% of people voted that they would take up arms to defend the USA.

 

Who the hell voted no in this poll? Imagine voting against repelling an invasion! It sounds like 8.2% of voters are future collaborators.

We all know how that worked out for Daryl in “Red Dawn.”

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Any military that tries to invade and occupy America is in for a bloodbath unlike anything we’ve seen before.

The population is well-armed, our terrain is incredibly friendly to the home team and the fact we are surrounded by two oceans would give us plenty of time to prepare.

In case you think I’m kidding about this, I used to run around with a Ruger 10/22 dreaming about shooting communist invaders, and there are millions of other people in this country who did the same.

Ukraine is Handing Out Guns, Not Gun Control

Ukraine says it has inflicted one of Russia’s heaviest ever day of losses with more than 1,000 casualties: Putin’s losses now stand at 2,800 troops, 80 tanks and 516 armoured vehicles as fightback continues

Comment O’ The Day

“I said it last night and I’ll say it again: A slugfest bogdown draw is a BIG Ukrainian win. They’ll have fought the fearsome New Model Russian Army to a standstill. Like Finland in 1940 – the Finns had to make concessions still, but the Russians have been warily respectful of the Finns ever since.”

I re-re-present the president with decades of foreign policy experience (that just happens to have always been wrong)

NY gun proposal appears poised to adapt to Supreme Court decision
A Brooklyn lawmaker has proposed legislation that seeks to limit where firearms could be legally possessed, with a separate SCOTUS ruling upcoming.

NEW YORK — A Brooklyn lawmaker appears ready to adapt to a potential Supreme Court decision that could impact the process of getting a concealed carry license in New York.

Assembly Bill 8684 was introduced by Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon (D) back in January. It suggests placing limits on where firearms can be possessed including most public transportation, food, and drink establishments and at gatherings of 15 people or more. The bill has no co-sponsors in either the State Senate or Assembly, which would be necessary to move it forward, but gun advocates and constitutional experts are already signaling the bill may not hold water.

“In most cases where individuals have a constitutional right officials are not allowed to have discretion whether you’re able to exercise that right,” explained 2 On Your Side Legal Analyst Barry Covert.

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CCRKBA: ‘UKRAINE CRISIS UNDERSCORES IMPORTANCE OF SECOND AMENDMENT’

BELLEVUE, WA – The overnight invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops underscores the importance of the Second Amendment to the defense of freedom in the United States, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today.

“While we’ve seen reports that the Ukraine Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) has voted to ease restrictions allowing civilians to carry arms outside their homes,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, “in our country this has been the constitutional law of the land since our nation was founded. The right of the people to keep and bear arms has protected this country since the beginning, and what is happening right now in Ukraine should be a lesson to all of those who push for citizen disarmament and a ban on private gun ownership how perilous that would be.”

Russian troops crossed the Ukraine border overnight, and world leaders are now scrambling to respond. The action is being universally condemned throughout the western world, but only in the United States is there good cause to appreciate the fact that average private citizens enjoy a constitutional protection to be armed.

“Our Second Amendment was enshrined in the Bill of Rights by men who had just fought a war for independence,” Gottlieb observed. “They returned to their homes from battlefields, not from some deer hunting camp. The right to keep and bear arms has never been about shooting ducks, but about protecting our right as citizens of the greatest nation on earth to defend our homes and families immediately against the kind of international outrage now unfolding in eastern Europe.

“The gun prohibition lobby would have America become vulnerable to such aggression as we are now seeing on television screens from coast to coast,” he continued. “This isn’t some action movie Americans are watching, this is real life, and it vividly illustrates why so many of us fight day and night to protect and defend our Second Amendment rights.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the good citizens of Ukraine,” Gottlieb stated. “We can only hope that gun prohibitionists, or at least their supporters in the establishment media, learn something from this tragedy. To live in peace, one must always be prepared to defend it.”

Mere calls to end violence little more than theater

In most towns across the nation, you’ll find a community theater. There, locals will perform various shows that might have originated on Broadway but now find themselves on Main Street.

My wife spend an awful lot of her time volunteering and performing at one such theater here. I’ve taken a few trips across the boards myself over the years. I’m not going to insult theater folks in the least. Some of my favorite people are theater people.

But there’s a type of performative theater I keep seeing, and that’s those who basically use their performance to look like activism. I’m talking about people who do things like this.

Survivors, anti-gun violence groups and community leaders gathered Wednesday to tell Indianapolis to put the guns down.

Many of them live with the trauma of gun violence daily.

“Enough is enough,” said Deandra Dycus. “When are we going to get tired of seeing the daily news reports? A good doctor or a bad shooter is why my son survived when a stray bullet flew through the window and pierced him in the back of the head.”

They’re telling people to put their guns down.

Honestly, can anyone point me to a single person who heard such a call and thought, “Oh, crap! I didn’t realize me shooting up the city was a problem. My bad!” anywhere? Anywhere at all.

Now, I get that Dycus lost his son to such violence. He’s probably just looking for some way to prevent anyone else from going through what he did. But not everyone who gets involved in such “calls” has that excuse.

Then there are those who take their theater a few steps further, such as this gentleman from Michigan.

A 76-year-old community activist is crawling from Battle Creek to Kalamazoo to call for an end to gun violence.

Bobby Holley set out on the 23-mile trek Monday morning. Inching along the wet and icy road with pads strapped to his hands and knees, he said he’s crawling for a cause.

“To get attention to the issues,” he said. “If I walked, that wouldn’t get no attention… (Instead) I’m a person crawling, begging on his hands and knees to stop the violence.”

He wants to “get attention to the issues?”

I’m sorry, but is anyone unaware of the problem of so-called gun violence? Anyone? Seriously, no one is sitting there watching the news and thinking, “Holy crap! You mean people kill other people? And they use guns a lot of the time? I had no idea!”

It’s not happening.

Holley likely means well, and at least part of his crawling is to get attention on unsolved murders–something everyone knows exists but rarely thinks about–but he’s still just performing.

Something I’ve noticed through the years is that the people who make a big thing of their activism are rarely the people actually on the ground doing work. That’s because being on the ground, in the streets, trying to change things is hard work and you don’t have time for virtue-signaling nonsense.

But who gets the headlines? Who gets calls for media interviews? It’s self-aggrandizement in more cases than not, and the media eats it up.

Fast forward to 18 minutes

Biden: Wait Another Month or So to See if Sanctions Are Working.

In yet another… uneven press conference appearance, President Biden’s worst line was, “they are profound sanctions. Let’s have a conversation in another month or so to see if they’re working.”

It’s not clear that President Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian government, and the Ukrainian armed forces have another month. Russian and Ukrainian forces are fighting over control of Antonov Airfield, just 15 minutes from Kyiv. The Ukrainians are trying to hold off the Russians at Hostomel airport outside Kyiv. The Russian forces are attempting to secure Kyiv as quickly as possible – and if the Russians get control of those airfields, they can fly in a lot more reinforcements.

This assessment from a former U.S. Army infantry officer suggests the Ukrainians could hold out in the cities for a long while. But it’s anyone’s guess as to how the battles, large and small, play out from here. It is quite possible that time is indeed on the Ukrainians’ side; there’s at least one report indicating that a group of Russian forces surrendered when they realized the Ukrainians would fight back. Maybe Putin and the Russian military leadership severely underestimated the Ukrainian will to resist. But Russia can still bring a hell of a lot of ordinance down on any target. No one knows what the situation will look like tomorrow, much less a week or a month from now.

Economic sanctions don’t work particularly quickly; it takes time for Russians, from the oligarchs to the average citizen to feel the squeeze. Sanctions might have put real pressure on Putin’s allies — if they had been put in place a month ago.

President Biden said he wants to have a conversation in another month or so to see if sanctions are working. A month from now, there may not be much of a Ukrainian government left.