This is what your money gets you when you pay for a FOID or concealed carry license in Illinois
We exposed the financial misuse (or lack of use) of funds meant to facilitate FOID cards and concealed carry licenses in Illinois back in late 2019. It ended up becoming a federal lawsuit. Well, not too much has changed in July of 2021. Check out this article from Guns Save Life and look at the massive errors happening when cards (both FOID and concealed carry) are being sent out to people LOFL.
Xavier Becerra: It Is ‘Absolutely the Government’s Business’ to Know Individuals’ Vaccination Status
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra backed up the Biden administration’s plan to go “door to door” advocating for the COVID vaccination. Becerra took it even further, arguing that it is “absolutely the government’s business” to know individuals’ COVID vaccination status.
“The federal government has spent trillions of dollars to try and keep Americans alive during this pandemic,” Becerra said during a CNN appearance on Thursday morning. “So it is absolutely the government’s business, it is taxpayers’ business, if we have to continue to spend money to try and keep people from contracting COVID.”
In the face of pushback for the administration’s plan to invade individuals’ privacy, Becerra maintained that knocking on doors “has never been against the law.”
“Knocking on a door has never been against the law, you don’t have to answer,” he said. “But we hope you do, because if you do we can hopefully help dispel some of those rumors that you’ve heard and hopefully get you vaccinated.”
The president made another vaccine push on Wednesday, urging Americans to do the “patriotic” thing.
“It’s never been easier, and it’s never been more important,” Biden said on Wednesday, urging vaccinations. “Do it now for yourself and the people you care about, for your neighborhood, for your country. It sounds corny, but it’s a patriotic thing to do.”
Disturbing Reports From US Troops and ROTC Cadets of “Woke” Military Priorities
Woke priorities are now trickling down to our troops, and reports are surfacing about some humiliating drills and exercises that boost neither morale nor preparedness among our service personnel.
Professor Jacobson published an outstanding analysis of the “ideological capture” of our military, which featured chilling testimony from General Mark Milley (Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff) and Admiral Michael Gilday (Chief of Naval Operations).
The woke priorities are now trickling down to our troops, and reports are now surfacing about some humiliating drills and exercises that boost neither morale nor preparedness among our service personnel.
To begin with, active duty members of the Navy in San Diego were recently forced to take part in a mandatory ‘diversity hike’ during which they flew LGBT flags. Of course, American flags were nowhere to be seen.
“A woman whose husband is active duty Navy sent me this. His command held a “diversity hike” in honor of Pride Month. Attendance was mandatory. They hiked while waving a rainbow American flag,” tweeted Matt Walsh.
As Chris Menahan explains, the event was promoted by the Construction Battalion Maintenance Unit 303, which celebrated “Pride Month” with a “Pride Hike” at Sunset Cliff last week.
The servicemembers were made to carry a version of the LGBT flag which incorporates the stars and stripes, although no actual American flag was flown.
A woman whose husband is active duty Navy sent me this. His command held a “diversity hike” in honor of Pride Month. Attendance was mandatory. They hiked while waving a rainbow American flag. pic.twitter.com/ctx66HNoi5
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) June 29, 2021
Earlier this year, about 15 ROTC cadets from Temple University participated in a school-sponsored Walk a Mile in Her Shoes event, during which men stumble through a pre-set route while sporting high heels, supposedly as as a way to raise awareness for sexual assault victims.
Several cadets walked while wearing Army Combat Uniforms, as did the school’s professor of military science, Lt. Col. Greg Nardi, who runs Temple’s Red Diamond Brigade.
Military blogs like This Ain’t Hell reported on the cadets weeks later. Around that time, another high-heel walk, this one sponsored by the ROTC brigade at Arizona State University, drew attention when a screen shot of a message allegedly from an ASU cadet complaining about his school’s event landed on Reddit’s Army channel, the Facebook page of U.S Army W.T.F! Moments, and other sites.
This is your US military pic.twitter.com/PgDgLLptQz
— Jack Posobiec 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) March 14, 2021
It is highly doubtful that either of these activities enhanced our military’s preparedness, or contributed to unit cohesion.
For decades, a hallmark of the military has been building up its personnel (physically and mentally) via physical training and conditioning. However, this effective method of strengthening our troops is now being quashed in favor of high-heels and diversity stunts.
The Air Force announced Monday it will allow walking and modified push ups in its revised fitness test, according to Task and Purpose.
The fitness test, which to this point featured a 1.5-mile run with sit-ups and push-ups, will now allow members to walk instead of run, and do raised-hand push-ups instead of traditional push-ups.
As for the core, service members have the option to do planks instead of traditional sit-ups.
Lt. Gen. Brian Kelly, the branch’s deputy chief of staff for manpower, personnel and services told Task and Purpose the Air Force will also set up a sprint-test alternative to walking and running.
But can the Air Force personnel do those push-ups in high-heels while waving the LGBTQ flag…that is the important question!
Link is to the full report in PDF format
American Accountability Foundation report on ATF Director nominee David Chipman
“…an inadequate understanding of firearms regulation”
Outlined below are a series of research findings that present several serious concerns that are potentially disqualifying regarding David Chipman, the President’s nominee to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF).
As the report below outlines, Mr. Chipman has a record of toxic, problematic, and discriminatory behavior at the ATF. These include credible allegations that Chipman told an African American agent at the Bureau that black agents could not have passed an examination without cheating.
There are also serious concerns about the possibility that Chipman lost or
had his service weapon stolen while stationed in Washington D.C. There are also concerns that Chipman attempted to secure an impermissible relocation benefit when he was transferred out of headquarters.
Chipman has also made a series of radical, inaccurate, and inflammatory comments that raise serious questions about his judgement and fitness to lead. Chipman has lied about firearms use at the Waco siege to push his gun control agenda, supported defunding the police and ending
the war on drugs, supported arresting individuals before they have committed crimes, and supported radical left-wing groups and causes. And these are only the things we are aware of.
Mr. Chipman has been aggressive in deleting or obscuring his social media history by deleting posts and blocking access. This leads one to ask: If Mr. Chipman is afraid of talking about his past, does it say something about his past?
Finally, Chipman has an ideological furor that is coupled with an inadequate understanding of firearms regulation, a troubling issue for someone who would head an agency with broad regulatory authority. Despite the Assault Weapon Ban being the most high-profile issue regarding guns on Capitol Hill, supposed firearms expert David Chipman could not give a clear answer to what an “Assault Weapon” is.
Chipman has also regularly distorted technical issues related to firearms to promote a radical gun agenda.
Again; Thank all that you hold holy that this political hack never made it to the Supreme Court.
‘Perfect storm’: Bulletin warns of extremist violence as pandemic restrictions lift
Federal authorities are deeply concerned about the possibility of domestic terror and violence, including mass shootings, as the Fourth of July holiday approaches and the summer season gets fully underway.
A new Homeland Security bulletin obtained exclusively by ABC News warns that “violent extremists might seek to exploit easing COVID-19 restrictions, increased access to mass gatherings, and possible changes in levels of violence during the summer months to conduct attacks against a range of potential targets with little or no warning.”
Leaked ATF report: Private gunmakers are criminals, terrorists and violent extremists
When it comes to overhyping the next “threat” to the homeland, the ATF seldom disappoints.
If there is any federal agency that can be counted on to create a problem just to justify their own existence it is certainly the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
When it comes to overhyping the next “threat” to the homeland – regardless of the facts – the ATF seldom disappoints.
The embattled agency’s latest piece of creative fiction is a warning about “privately made firearms” or PMFs, and it should serve as a warning to gun owners, homebuilders and everyone else who values their civil rights.
An ATF document titled “First Responder Awareness of Privately Made Firearms May Prevent Illicit Activities,” was published last week by the Joint Counterterrorism Assessment Team (JCAT).
“JCAT is a collaboration by the NCTC, DHS and FBI to improve information sharing among federal, state, local, tribal, territorial governments and private sector partners, in the interest of enhancing public safety,” the document states. “This product is NOT in response to a specific threat against the United States. It provides general awareness of, considerations for, and additional resources related to terrorist tactics, techniques and procedures, whether domestic or overseas.”
To be clear, the ATF and JCAT consider homebuilt firearms “terrorist tactics, techniques and procedures,” even though Americans have been making guns legally in their homes since before there even was a United States of America.
It appears that criminals committing crimes doesn’t matter to the goobermint.
ATF’s Behavior Paints Ominous Picture for Biden’s “Crackdown” on FFLs
According to the president and his ever-obliging attorney general, a “crackdown” is coming on America’s federally licensed gun dealers (FFLs), with “zero tolerance” for allegedly illegal behavior. While no decent person – least of all the NRA or its members – supports arming dangerous criminals, a recent case from Texas provides disturbing hints as to what this policy might look like in practice.
Biden announced the new effort last week while finally acknowledging what was already obvious to most Americans: violent crime, particularly in America’s cities, is on the rise.
It came as no surprise, however, that Biden was unwilling to admit the culpability of his own party’s disastrous “defund the police” initiatives, as well as a host of “progressive” criminal justice “reforms” that had the effect of curtailing enforcement and allowing dangerous offenders to roam the streets.
Instead, the administration continued its long string of blood libel by falsely blaming the NRA, America’s law-abiding gun owners, and the industries that serve them for the violence decimating many of the nation’s most vulnerable communities.
Attorney General Merrick Garland disclaimed any intention to intensify efforts to punish those actually pulling the triggers. “[A]rrests and convictions,” he indicated, are not “ends in themselves.”
What is Behind Gen. Mark Milley’s Righteous Race Sermon? Look to the New Domestic War on Terror.
The overarching ideology of Pentagon officials is larger military budgets and ongoing permanent war posture. Their new war target, explicitly, is domestic “white rage.”
For two hundred forty years, American generals have not exactly been defined by adamant public advocacy for left-wing cultural dogma. Yet there appeared to be a great awakening at the Pentagon on Wednesday when Gen. Mark Milley, the highest-ranking military officer in the U.S. as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testified at a House hearing. The Chairman vehemently defended the teaching of critical race theory at West Point and, referencing the January 6 Capitol riot, said, “it is important that we train and we understand … and I want to understand white rage. And I’m white.”
In response to conservative criticisms that top military officials should not be weighing in on inflammatory and polarizing cultural debates, liberals were ecstatic to have found such an empathetic, racially aware, and humanitarian general sitting atop the U.S. imperial war machine. Overnight, Gen. Milley became a new hero for U.S. liberalism, a noble military leader which — like former FBI Director Robert Mueller before him — no patriotic, decent American would question let alone mock. Some prominent liberal commentators warned that conservatives are now anti-military and even seek to defund the Pentagon.
It is, of course, possible that the top brass of the U.S. military has suddenly become supremely enlightened on questions of racial strife and racial identity in the U.S., and thus genuinely embraced theories that, until very recently, were the exclusive province of left-wing scholars at elite academic institutions. Given that all U.S. wars in the post-World War II era have been directed at predominantly non-white countries, which — like all wars — required a sustained demonization campaign of those enemy populations, having top Pentagon officials become leading anti-racism warriors would be quite a remarkable transformation indeed. But stranger things have happened, I suppose.
But perhaps there is another explanation other than righteous, earnest transformation as to why the top U.S. General has suddenly expressed such keen interest in studying and exploring “white rage”. Note that Gen. Milley’s justification for the military’s sudden immersion in the study of modern race theories is the January 6 Capitol riot — which, in the lexicon of the U.S. security state and American liberalism, is called The Insurrection. When explaining why it is so vital to study “white rage,” Gen. Milley argued:
What is it that caused thousands of people to assault this building and try to overturn the Constitution of the United States of America? What caused that? I want to find that out. I want to maintain an open mind here, and I do want to analyze it.
The post-WW2 military posture of the U.S. has been endless war. To enable that, there must always be an existential threat, a new and fresh enemy that can scare a large enough portion of the population with sufficient intensity to make them accept, even plead for, greater military spending, surveillance powers, and continuation of permanent war footing. Starring in that war-justifying role of villain have been the Communists, Al Qaeda, ISIS, Russia, and an assortment of other fleeting foreign threats.
According to the Pentagon, the U.S. intelligence community, and President Joe Biden, none of those is the greatest national security threat to the United States any longer. Instead, they all say explicitly and in unison, the gravest menace to American national security is now domestic in nature. Specifically, it is “domestic extremists” in general — and far-right white supremacist groups in particular — that now pose the greatest threat to the safety of the homeland and to the people who reside in it.
In other words, to justify the current domestic War on Terror that has already provoked billions more in military spending and intensified domestic surveillance, the Pentagon must ratify the narrative that those they are fighting in order to defend the homeland are white supremacist domestic terrorists. That will not work if white supremacists are small in number or weak and isolated in their organizing capabilities. To serve the war machine’s agenda, they must pose a grave, pervasive and systemic threat.
Viewed through that lens, it makes perfect sense that Gen. Milley is spouting the theories and viewpoints that underlie this war framework and which depicts white supremacy and “white rage” as a foundational threat to the American homeland.
Our Woke Military Is a Disaster on Every Level
Hi, everybody! Welcome to the latest edition of “Stream of Kurtiousness,” the Townhall VIP special feature where I sit and talk about stuff, things, and do-ins. So here we are. Let’s go. What do we got?
We got drag queen shows at Air Force bases. Not just any Air Force base. No, it’s Nellis Air Force Base, home of the fighter pilot training school where you’re supposed to forge on the anvil of combat training the world’s greatest fighting force. They had a bunch of dudes dressed like chicks walking around, and this was an official sponsored event, and it’s like, what the hell is going on? A drag show, folks. A drag show.
Want to know what else is a drag? Not having won a war in 20 years. That’s a super drag. And it’s really, really annoying. It’s getting old. It’s getting tiring.
Let’s face it; our military is in a really bad way. It’s a disaster on every level.
Did you see Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Mike Gilday, Four Stars, get up before Congress, and they start asking him embarrassing questions like why are you having our guys read Henry Kendi Ibram Rogers whatever the hell his name is?
Here’s the thing, everybody goes, “Well, Kurt, aren’t generals conservative?” Well, they’re conservative as an adjective, not conservative as a noun. Okay? They’re not like you and me. Keep in mind, they’re at the top of the pyramid in a socialist organization where they tell you what to do, where to go, what to say, what to wear, who you’re doctor is going to be; they tell you everything. And if you’re a general, you really like that.
Now, I was Guard as well as Army. I was active duty and Guard, so I kind of had both of those worlds, but when you’re Guard, you tend to, I don’t know, have a freaking life. And you know, we would get attitude from the active duty guys, “You’re not a real soldier.” And I’m like, “Well, I had to meet every standard you did to become a Colonel.” Every single one, including War College, which you didn’t need to be a Colonel, but it still helped. So, I did that, and I was successful. And I was successful at an entirely different career, too.
There was a little healthy competition, but now, it’s a total sh**show.
These guys are socialists; they are not conservatives like you or me. In fact, they distrust it, because as conservatives, we believe in empowerment. We believe in pushing down to the lowest decentralized level the authority of people to run their own lives. That’s everything generals hate!
White House Doc Shows Plan To Use Threat of “Domestic Terrorism” For Gun Control
Is the White House using the threat of “domestic terrorism” to institute gun control? According to a White House document titled the “National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism,” gun control is a crucial component of Joe Biden’s plan.
The document says there is a rise in domestic violet extremists (DVE). It highlights the biases against minority populations as one factor of the growth of DVEs. It also states that those that believe that the Federal government is overreaching its power are at risk for becoming extremist, and the “perceived government overreach will almost certainly continue to drive DVE radicalization and mobilization to violence.”
While left-wing groups like Antifa and Black Lives Matter are not mentioned in the document, patriot groups are referred to as militia violent extremist (MVEs). Last summer, left-wing riots caused havoc across the country, causing millions of dollars of damage to properties and cost several people their lives.
According to the document, the idea of fraud in the recent general election led to the January 6th breach at the Capitol. It also claims that COVID-19 conspiracy theories also have led people down the path of extremism. It lays down the idea that not trusting the government leads to violent domestic extremism. It claims that this plan is something all Americans can get behind. Many gun owners would disagree with President Biden’s statement.
The document breaks up the plan into four strategic pillars, and one pillar should be very concerning for gun owners. The Biden administration is using the threat of domestic terrorism to infringe on the right to bear arms.
The document reads:
Strategic Goal 2.1: Strengthen domestic terrorism prevention resources and services.
While those who break the law in furtherance of domestic terrorism must face investigation and prosecution for their crimes, it is equally important that the Federal Government engage in efforts to prevent individuals from being drawn into the grip of domestic terrorism in the first instance. That means reducing both supply and demand of recruitment materials by limiting widespread availability online and bolstering resilience to it by those who nonetheless encounter it, among other measures. It also means reducing access to assault weapons and high–capacity magazines and enforcing legal prohibitions that keep firearms out of dangerous hands. Such prevention efforts must be pursued while safeguarding civil rights and civil liberties, including privacy protections, and while avoiding discrimination, bias, and stereotyping.
The document wants to restrict access to modern sporting rifles. The AR15 is included in this category. The AR 15 is the most popular rifle in the country. Americans of all walks of life own these rifles, and people like Stephen Willeford have used an AR15 to defend their community from a crazed murderer. One pregnant woman even used an AR15 to protect her family against home invaders. According to the document, the Biden administration wants to make it harder for Americans to defend themselves with the rifle that has been called the modern musket.
The document also states the White House wants to use the threat of domestic extremism to reduce access to standard compacity magazines. It does not say how it will accomplish that goal, but people like Biden’s ATF director nominee, David Chipman, want to add standard capacity magazines to the NFA. Chipman went as far as comparing detachable magazines to machine guns.
It also talks about using “legal prohibitions” to prevent firearms from falling into “dangerous hands.” The document never mentions what prohibitions it will use. Gun rights advocates are worried that this move could be an excuse to push for new gun control restrictions. The Biden administration, in the past months, has launched attacks on the right to bears arms. These attacks include going after homemade firearms and pistol braces.
The White House did not return AmmoLand’s request for comment.
Court calls the “insurrection” parading
Elizabeth Pace of WAVE-TV in Louisville, Kentucky, reported, “Indiana grandmother will be first person sentenced in U.S. Capitol riot.” What was the woman’s high and hideous crime?
Parading.
Not insurrecting, but parading.
The story said, “The FBI arrested Anna Morgan-Lloyd, 49, and her friend, Dona Sue Bissey, in late February. According to the criminal complaint, Bissey posted a picture of them inside the Capitol during the insurrection, including comments of most exciting day of their lives.
“Bissey’s case is still pending and scheduled to appear in court July 19.
“Morgan-Lloyd was charged with a single misdemeanor of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building. She entered a plea deal in exchange of three years of probation, 40 hours of community service and a $500 fine. A federal judge will declare her sentence Wednesday.”
This is such a bogus charge and bogus investigation that my eyeteeth hurt.
This really was a mostly peaceful protest that the media called a riot — unlike those riots that did billions of dollars in damage to city after city, which the media called mostly peaceful protests.
A ban on parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building violates the First Amendment in a manner the press once protested. Now the press hypes up a bunch of people protesting in the Capitol as some sort of combination of Pearl Harbor and 9/11.
How different it was when Marxists stormed the Senate Building in October 2018 to protest the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh.
Remember?
CNN reported, “Comedian Amy Schumer and model-actress Emily Ratajkowski were among more than 300 people arrested Thursday in protests over Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.”
Arrested is too strong a word, because the story said, “Capitol Police said they arrested 302 people during the demonstrations. Video from the scene shows the two actresses being detained after an officer asks if they want to be arrested.”
They said yes.
I don’t think they asked Grandma Morgan-Lloyd if she wanted to be arrested. And Capitol Police did not kill any of the demonstrators in 2018.
Unlike January 6, 2021, when one of the 2,200 Capitol Police officers shot and killed an unarmed Ashli Babbitt.
Army Finally Defines ‘Extremism’ When It Comes to Screening Out ‘Hate Group’ Members.
The Army has decided to ask all applicants for enlistment a question about an association with “extremist/hate groups” in the screening process. This requirement might seem reasonable. However, according to the latest communication, extremism is defined in terms of individual belief and advocacy.
In a recent congressional hearing, Senator Tom Cotton questioned Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin regarding racially-charged exercises and training content presented during the 60-day stand-down to root out extremism. Austin disavowed the concepts that members of the military reported receiving training on. Representative Jim Banks (R-Ind.) also questioned Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Michael Gilday about placing How to Be an Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi on a recommended book list for sailors. From Gilday’s answer, it is doubtful he ever read the book that some social justice warrior lackey probably placed on the list.
Yet social justice content is leaking its way into the military through some mechanism. Now, the Army Recruitment Command uses subjective and easy-to-politicize criteria to identify potential “extremists” who wish to enlist. This change comes amid the Pentagon considering ways to intensify social media scrutiny in background investigations.
On June 22, an Ops Flash instructed Army recruiters that the inclusion of a question regarding any association with “extremist/hate” organizations must be answered and uploaded for all applicants for commissioning in the Army before testing, before the physical exam, and before military entrance processing. The required form updated the gang participation question that has been asked since the 1990s:
Suspecting that the definition of a gang is more commonly held than that of an “extremist/hate organization” in the current political environment, I reached out to the Army Press Desk for clarification asking three questions after reviewing the Ops Flash and new question:
A Biden minion blames America’s crime spike on the NRA.
Well, I’ve never yet found a demoncrap that made sense anyway, so…
What a Top Biden Staffer Said About the NRA and the Spike in Crime Makes No Sense
As Katie wrote yesterday, the Biden gun grab is coming. They’re prepping it. They’re doing a test-run with this regulation tweak on pistol stabilizers that will place 10-40 million law-abiding Americans in legal jeopardy. These people did nothing wrong, but the firearms they own must be registered, disassembled, or turned over to authorities to avoid legal action. It will be the largest gun confiscation and registration effort ever. And now, Biden announced new initiatives for gun dealers concerning background checks. It’s not new, by the way. It’s already illegal to conduct straw purchases, falsify your background check form, and knowingly sell to criminals or other prohibited persons.
And now, top Biden adviser Cedric Richmond went on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” to blame the National Rifle Association (NRA) for the spike in violent crime. Well, first, he picked the right network because MSNBC is only meant to stroke the fragile egos of liberal America. It does well to keep their moral superiority complex well fed. Second, he said that the NRA has governed the country for too long. Uh, what? As Chris Martin of America Rising notes, Democrats control the White House and both chambers of Congress. What the hell is he talking about?
I almost just spit out my coffee.
Cedric Richmond (senior Biden advisor) is blaming the skyrocketing crime rates in America on… the @NRA
They've apparently been "governing our country for far too long"
Spoiler: Democrats control the House, Senate, and White House pic.twitter.com/DbnZ6XNf2e
— Chris Martin (@chrisjdmartin) June 23, 2021
It’s the same old tired game. With the NRA in serious legal and financial trouble, Richmond is doing his part to drive the stake into the heart of the nation’s oldest civil rights organization.
Just look in the mirror, man. Your party’s embracing of defunding the police, passing disastrous bail reforms, and letting hundreds of rioters, looters, and arsonists from last summer go is what’s causing this crime spike. You’re telling them they’ll get away with it. This isn’t hard, sir. When a major party decides to adopt a pro-crime stance, mayhem will ensue in the areas this party dominates politically, which would be the cities.
Biden’s Gun Control Speech Was A Mistake
Joe Biden had one real goal in Wednesday’s speech announcing a five-point plan to address the rising violent crime rate in many American cities; reassure voters that Democrats have a strategy that will reduce the increasing lawlessness and reverse the spike in crime that began last year.
Instead, the big takeaway from his rambling and semi-coherent remarks was his off-topic warning to Americans that if they want to take on the government, they’ll need F-15s and nuclear weapons. An address that was supposed to show that the president was focused on violent crime turned into a half-hearted stump speech for gun control, and maybe cannon control as well.
Recent polls have shown that Biden isn’t trusted to handle the crime issue, and I can’t imagine that yesterday’s disastrous turn at the podium made voters feel any better.
Polls signal growing unease over crime, a potential liability for Biden and Democrats in next year’s midterm elections. A Yahoo News/YouGov poll released in May found that nearly 50% of respondents said crime is a very big problem in the U.S. About 36% of respondents at least somewhat approved of Biden’s handling of crime, while 44% at least somewhat disapproved.
Republicans have accused the president of being soft on crime, saying he has not done enough to rebut some liberals who call for cutting spending on police departments. Biden has repeatedly said he does not favor defunding the police.
It’s true that Biden announced that cities can use hundreds of billions of dollars in COVID relief funds to spend on law enforcement efforts, but the officer shortage in many cities can’t simply be blamed on budget issues. Instead, as the New York Times reported a few days ago, officers are retiring, resigning, and joining suburban agencies because of the hostility towards law enforcement shown by many Democratic politicians and elected officials in cities from coast-to-coast.
“We have lost about one-third of our staff to resignation and retirement,” said Chief David Zack of the Asheville Police Department in North Carolina — more than 80 officers out of a full complement of 238. “Certainly with the way that police have been portrayed and vilified in some cases, they have decided that it is not the life for them.”
Those reductions in Ashville echo a nationwide trend. A survey of about 200 police departments indicates that retirements were up by 45 percent and resignations by 18 percent in the period between April 2020 and April 2021, when compared with the preceding 12 months. The percentage of officers who left tended to be larger for departments in big or medium-size cities, according to the Police Executive Research Forum, a Washington policy institute that will release full data next week.
“It is an evolving crisis,” said Chuck Wexler, the organization’s executive director.
Biden could have engaged in a full-throated attack on the Defund the Police movement, but he can’t risk alienating the Democrats’ base, so instead he pilloried gun owners. He could have issued a stark warning to violent criminals that the Department of Justice is going to be coming after them, but instead he warned “rogue gun dealers” that the ATF will have a zero tolerance policy on violations of agency rules and regulations.
A speech that was ostensibly designed to make Americans feel better about Biden’s handling of violent crime instead left many of us scratching our heads. Even Biden defenders like Geraldo Rivera were less than impressed by the president’s remarks.
“Compassion aside, where was the passion? That speech was as laid back as the program he is proposing,” said Rivera.
The longtime journalist, who has reported on violent crime and other major issues throughout his career, said that Biden’s allocation of resources toward summertime social programs for urban and endangered youth and stemming illegal firearm sales will not go far toward solving the problem.
“This is the civil rights issue of our time, murder has become the leading cause of death, if this is not an emergency, what is it?” he later asked.
Now, Geraldo is wrong about murder being the leading cause of death in the United States (heart disease, cancer, COVID-19, accidents, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, and suicides are each responsible for far more deaths than homicide), but he’s right that Biden’s speech was “laid back.” I’d actually call it somnambulate, but seeing Sleepy Joe at the podium isn’t exactly a new phenomenon either.
The biggest problem for Biden is that he can’t actually acknowledge why we’re seeing a rise in violent crime. Biden wants to blame legal gun owners and federally licensed firearm dealers, when we know that the vast majority of gun owners will never commit a violent crime and that criminals are getting their guns on the illicit market or through family and friends. The White House refers to an 18-month increase in violent crime, when we all know that shootings and homicides really increased a year ago, after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the riots and destruction that followed in many cities.
Biden’s address on Wednesday may have checked a box, but I doubt it moved the needle in terms of public opinion on his handling of violent crime. By continuing to call for more restrictions on legal gun owners at a time when millions of Americans are embracing their Second Amendment rights for the very first time and his unwillingness to get tough on those actually responsible for violent acts, the only people Biden really reassured were his gun control allies. When it comes to everyone else, Biden would have been better off politically saying nothing at all.
“If Biden and his party truly believe the government is so all-powerful that any possible rebellion would be put down with ease, then how does that square with their claims that our “democracy” was on the brink of destruction on January 6th because some unarmed people took selfies in Pelosi’s office? Either our system of government is so fragile that a dude in horns and facepaint can threaten its existence, or it’s so untouchable that the government would just nuke anyone who got within a mile of doing any harm to it. Which is it? Because it can’t be both.”
The AR-15 is useless against the mighty power of the U.S. military.
(who said anything about fighting the U.S. military when the subject is about dealing with a goobermint gone tyrannical? )
Yet, the protests by unarmed people in D.C. on January 6th were the most dangerous threat, bar none, to American democracy.
Yet, the AR-15 is a dangerous, deadly ‘weapon of war’/ ‘mass destructive device’ that no person should possess.
These morons need to pick a narrative.
F-15S & NUCLEAR WEAPONS: BIDEN SHRUGS OFF 2A IN GUN CONTROL SPEECH
Just over a week before the country’s Independence Day celebrations, President Biden delivered a speech on gun control in which he ridiculed the meaning, feasibility, and intent of the Second Amendment.
In an event meant to be the kickoff for another round of anti-gun legislation and executive actions for an Administration just 155 days in the White House, Biden tried to frame the Constitutional gun rights argument to justify his proposed efforts.
“The Second Amendment, from the day it was passed, limited the type of people who could own a gun and what type of weapon you could own. You couldn’t buy a cannon,” he said.
While the first part, about the Amendment “limiting the type of people,” is somewhat true– for example, the gun rights of enslaved and in some cases even freed blacks were often denied in the Southern States from the earliest days of the Constitution despite the Second Amendment– Biden fails the fact check on cannon ownership. As we have covered before, anyone with the desire and extra cash could acquire their own battery of fully functional cannon without any government paperwork or permission until 1968.
With that being said, modern breechloading artillery is still available in the “Land of the Free and Home of the Brave,” provided it is registered with the federal government and properly taxed. Still, legacy artillery systems such as muzzleloading black powder field guns, do not require tax stamps.
Biden also went further into the woods against what the Second Amendment protects, arguing the enumerated right had something to do with hunting, although many in the gun rights community point out that Washington didn’t cross the Delaware to get to a duck blind.
“No one needs to have a weapon that can fire over 30, 40, 50, even up to 100 rounds unless you think the deer are wearing Kevlar vests or something,” he said, although magazine capacity restrictions have only been adopted in nine states– and have been recently found to be Constitutionally suspect by a federal court. Further, industry data suggests consumers in the U.S. own at least 230 million detachable magazines, with about half of those able to hold more than 10 cartridges, the traditional threshold for a “large-capacity magazine” in restricted states.
Then, Biden seemed to paint the Second Amendment’s potential check against tyranny, a concept that dates to the days of Constitutional framer James Madison, as ludicrous in the days of modern warfare, notwithstanding the realities of multi-domain modern insurgency.
“Those who say the blood of lib- — ‘the blood of patriots,’ you know, and all the stuff about how we’re going to have to move against the government. Well, the tree of liberty is not watered with the blood of patriots. What’s happened is that there have never been — if you wanted or if you think you need to have weapons to take on the government, you need F-15s and maybe some nuclear weapons,” he said.
The quote Biden ramblingly alluded to, drawn a 1787 letter from Founding Father Thomas Jefferson– author of The Declaration of Independence and later third U.S. President– to William Smith, John Adams’ secretary, can be argued to be directly related to the right to keep and bear arms and was penned at the time of Shays’ Rebellion in Massachusetts.
We have had 13 states independent 11 years. There has been one rebellion. That comes to one rebellion in a century & a half for each state. What country before ever existed a century & half without a rebellion? & what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon & pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots & tyrants. It is its natural manure.
It is not the first time that Biden trotted out the Jeffersonian quote in relation to his view on gun policy. In February 2020, while on the campaign trail for the Democratic nomination for President, he argued at a town hall event in New Hampshire that, “Those who say ‘the tree of liberty is watered with the blood of patriots’ — a great line, well, guess what: The fact is, if you’re going to take on the government you need an F-15 with Hellfire Missiles. There is no way an AK-47 is going to take care of you.”
No, the military has nukes. The goobermint merely funds them and only one man has the power to order their use.
Biden Reminds Gun Owners the Government Has Nuclear Weapons
Biden also falsely stated that the Clinton era ban on modern sporting rifles, better known as the assault weapons ban, reduced crime. A 2004 Department of Justice funded study from the University of Pennsylvania Center of Criminology concluded the ban cannot be credited with a decrease in violence carried out with firearms. The report is titled “An Updated Assessment of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban: Impacts on Gun Markets and Gun Violence, 1994-2003.”
“We cannot clearly credit the ban with any of the nation’s recent drop in gun violence. And, indeed, there has been no discernible reduction in the lethality and injuriousness of gun violence, based on indicators like the percentage of gun crimes resulting in death or the share of gunfire incidents resulting in injury,” the summary of the report on the study’s findings states. “The ban’s impact on gun violence is likely to be small at best, and perhaps too small for reliable measurement. AWs [assault weapons] were used in no more than 8% of gun crimes even before the ban.”
Another study from Quinnipiac University shows the same.
“The purpose of the present study is to determine the effects of state-level assault weapons bans and concealed weapons laws on state-level murder rates. Using data for the period 1980 to 2009 and controlling for state and year fixed effects, the results of the present study suggest that states with restrictions on the carrying of concealed weapons had higher gun-related murder rates than other states,” the study concluded. “It was also found that assault weapons bans did not significantly affect murder rates at the state level. These results suggest that restrictive concealed weapons laws may cause an increase in gun-related murders at the state level.”
Biden also falsely stated that cities with the highest crime rates, like Chicago, Baltimore and New York, don’t already have strict gun control laws. They do.
Throughout his remarks, Biden failed to hold the defund the police movement accountable for skyrocketing violent crime rates but vowed to bailout Democrat mayors with federal tax dollars to hire more police.
States he doesn’t really know what it is, but still advocates for it.
This is the intellectual level of the current military command structure.
Yes, you read Marx, Lenin and even Mao.
You do that to – as SunTzu put it – understand the enemy as well as you understand yourself.
You do not teach a theory though that is 180° opposite to what America stands for.
Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Defends Critical Race Theory
General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, explained in a House Armed Services Committee hearing Wednesday why he supports bringing Critical Race Theory into the American military while admitting “I’ll obviously have to get much smarter on whatever the theory is.”
“I do think it’s important, actually, for those of us in uniform to be open-minded and be widely read,” Milley said. “And the United States Military Academy is a university, and it is important that we train and we understand,” he added as a rationale for teaching Critical Race Theory.
“I want to understand ‘white rage,’ and I’m white, and I want to understand it,” said the most senior military officer in America, linking the term to the events at the U.S. Capitol on January 6th.
Understanding Critical Race Theory, according to Milley, is important to find out “what is it that caused thousands of people to assault this building and try to overturn the Constitution of the United States of America? I want to find that out,” he said. “I want to maintain an open mind here and I do want to analyze it. It’s important that we understand that. Because our soldiers, sailors, airman, marines, and guardians come from the American people, so it is important that the leaders, now and in the future, do understand it.”
“On the issue of Critical Race Theory…I do think it’s important, actually, for those of us in uniform.”
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General of Staff Mark Milley says he wants to understand “white rage” and CRT. pic.twitter.com/26l7mxqcgM
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) June 23, 2021
A conservative watchdog group filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit Tuesday for records that could shed light on an incident in which President Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives allegedly made a derogatory comment about black agents.
The pro-gun control nominee, David Chipman, told Sen. Ted Cruz in writing that he received two Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) complaints during his 15 years as a manager with the ATF. Chipman said the complaints were “resolved without any finding of discrimination and no disciplinary action was taken against me.”
Chipman added that his ATF personnel file is under the control of the federal government, but he did not answer when asked if he would be willing to provide his file to the Senate Judiciary Committee. The ATF declined to comment to the DCNF.
Tom Jones, the president of the American Accountability Foundation, said he filed two FOIA requests with the ATF in May requesting records related to any complaints and disciplinary measures taken against Chipman during his 25-year tenure with the agency. The AAF’s lawsuit said the ATF failed to produce the records in the timeframe allotted by the law, despite Chipman’s acknowledgment in his written statement to Cruz that the federal government has control of his personnel file.
Jones said AAF’s FOIA lawsuit could produce records related to an incident around 2007 in which Chipman allegedly made a derogatory comment about black ATF agents performing too well on a selection exam.
Jones told the Daily Caller News Foundation he spoke with a former ATF agent who personally witnessed Chipman making the derogatory comment after reviewing results for candidates who had passed an assessment to become an assistant special agent in charge.
Jones said the former ATF agent recalled Chipman saying: “Wow, there were an unusually large number of African American agents that passed the exam this time. They must have been cheating.”
According to Jones, the former ATF agent was “incensed” upon hearing Chipman’s comment and reported the incident to the EEOC.
Chipman was the assistant special agent in charge of the Detroit Field Division at the time he allegedly made the derogatory comment.
The DCNF’s attempts to reach the agent who reported Chipman’s comments to the EEOC were unsuccessful.
Another former ATF agent who worked in the Detroit office at the time told the DCNF that Chipman’s alleged comments about African Americans “spread like wildfire at the agency.”
The former Detroit-based ATF agent, who wished to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation, did not personally witness Chipman making the comment, but recalled colleagues talking about how Chipman “made this remark that all the African Americans must be cheating because there’s no way they could get these scores.”
15 Years After Lauer’s BOTCHED Apocalypse Prediction: ‘Countdown to Doomsday’
One way in which journalists try and terrify viewers into endorsing every expensive environmental prescription is to constantly – and wrongly – predict the apocalypse is just around the corner. Fifteen years ago this week, the not-yet-disgraced Matt Lauer did exactly that with a two hour special outsourced to the SyFy Channel: Countdown to Doomsday. (We’re still here so the countdown must be continuing.)
On June 14, 2006, the then-NBC host declared, “We are the problem.” Demanding fast action, Lauer warned that anything less would mean the end of humanity:
Today, life on Earth is disappearing faster than the days when dinosaurs breathed their last, but for a very different reason….Us homo sapiens are turning out to be as destructive a force as any asteroid. Earth’s intricate web of ecosystems thrived for millions of years as natural paradises, until we came along, paved paradise, and put up a parking lot. Our assault on nature is killing off the very things we depend on for our own lives….The stark reality is that there are simply too many of us, and we consume way too much, especially here at home….It will take a massive global effort to make things right, but the solutions are not a secret: control population, recycle, reduce consumption, develop green technologies.
As Media Research Center Vice President Dan Gainor pointed out when the special aired, Lauer adopted the tired (and always wrong) trope about over population:
Had this been the History Channel instead of the SciFi Channel, someone might have pointed out to Lauer that claim has been around for more than 200 years. It traces back to 1798 and Thomas Malthus whose work “An Essay on the Principle of Population” has been proven wrong as the world population has grown.
The segment included supposedly prophetic videos, such as a teenager declaring, “It’s June 8th, 2015. One carton of milk is $12.99.” (On the actual June 8, 2015, a gallon of milk cost, on average, $3.39.) Another clip featured this prediction for the current year: “Gas reached over $9 a gallon.” (In reality, gas costs an average of $2.75.)
But don’t worry, journalist will keep predicting environmental doom. And they’ll likely keep being wrong.
