Waiting for the Umbrella Man or someone like him.

Who can take a city, burn it to the ground? The Umbrella Man can, at least according to the search warrant affidavit filed by Minneapolis police officer Erika Christensen last week.

The Star Tribune’s Libor Jany told me he came across Christensen’s affidavit in a routine review of new court filings. He reported on the allegations of Christensen’s affidavit in “Minneapolis police say ‘Umbrella Man’ was a white supremacist trying to incite George Floyd rioting.” The story has made waves around the world.

According to Officer Christensen, Umbrella Man is a white supremacist who set off the week of riots and arson throughout the Twin Cities by knocking out the windows at AutoZone on Lake Street at Minnehaha Avenue in south Minneapolis on May 27. Did Umbrella Man also burn the AutoZone down? I can’t tell from Libor’s story, but it was in fact torched.

* * * * * * * *

Officer Christensen’s affidavit superimposes a mythical narrative over the events as we saw them unfold. Cockburn adds, by the way, that it took him “just a single minute on Google to discover rioting and destruction from May 26 — the day before Umbrella Man supposedly kicked everything off.” Spectator USA has made Cockburn’s column freely accessible at our request.

Officer Christensen, perhaps coincidentally, is “a frequent letter-writer to the Star Tribune” and the Minneapolis police department’s “rare ‘out’ liberal,” as she described herself in this Star Tribune column last year. See Christensen’s letters to the editor here (May 8, 2017) and here (March 25, 2019).

And now something of interest for our friends south of the border

Sao Paulo Police Select the Steyr AUG SMG in .40 Caliber

Brazil’s Military Police of São Paulo State (PMESP) have selected the Steyr AUG in its submachine gun configuration to fulfil an order for 1,000 submachine guns. The Steyr AUG A3 in submachine gun configuration, feeding from a .40 caliber extended Glock magazines was the winning bidder for the contract. The Steyr beat out competition from B&T and Shield Arms. In the negotiation phase, Steyr offered the lowest final bid, $2,580 per weapon.

St. Louis prosecutor to detective on McCloskey case: ‘I suggest you quickly reassess this evidence’
Documents show lead detective initially refused to sign documents prosecutors wrote about the case

ST. LOUIS — The lead St. Louis police detective investigating the McCloskey case refused to sign at least two versions of court documents prosecutors drafted, according to a review of those documents obtained by 5 On Your Side.

In addition, police contend at least one person in the crowd was armed and another was wearing a bullet-resistant vest, after analyzing videos taken June 28, when the couple confronted protesters with guns………..

The documents obtained by 5 On Your Side include an email Gardner’s Assistant Circuit Attorney Chris Hinckley sent to the lead investigator on the case, Sgt. Curtis Burgdorf. Hinckley emailed police the day before the McCloskeys were served with a search warrant, stating it needed to happen “now.”

“At this point, everything points to these weapons being real and loaded, but no one has asked or confirmed,” he wrote. “Come trial, they’ll say they were waiving around a BB gun and an air rifle.”

Hinckley also wrote to Burgdorf’s commander, Maj. Angela Coonce.

“Our office is receiving inquiries from the public and press about a warrant application and potential charges. We’ve thus far said the matter ‘remains under investigation.’ I’d really like to avoid pointing to a police follow-up request as the hold-up, but I won’t control the messaging if this goes on any longer. Please see what you can do to help this along. Again, I’m asking for priority on the firearms issue.”……….

Continue reading “”

Estimated Firearms Sales In July 2020 Increased Year-Over-Year By 134.6%

Small Arms Analytics & Forecasting’s Chief Economist Jurgen Brauer:
“The firearms market continues at its far accelerated pace. Our estimates suggest that the market for the first seven months of 2020 now has nearly matched that of the entire year of 2019.”

Approximate United States Firearms Sales (January 2000 to July 2020).

Notes: Apart from obvious seasonality effects during the year, three massive demand spikes occurred in December 2013, December 2016, and as from March 2020 during the covid-19 crisis. Likely handgun unit sales overtook likely long-gun unit sales as from the year 2014.

 

 

What you won’t see on the national news:
Standard operational criminal extortion, just like the mobsters and their ‘protection’ rackets, which is all BLM is, a bunch of marxists formed into a criminal mob.

Cuban community plans rally at NuLu restaurant in response to Black Lives Matter demands

Members of Louisville’s Cuban community plan to gather Sunday in support of a NuLu restaurant owner who says he was threatened by Black Lives Matter protesters during a recent demonstration.

Fernando Martinez, a partner of the Olé Restaurant Group, was one of dozens of business owners in the downtown Louisville district who recently received a letter from protesters laying out demands that aim to improve diversity in the area, which is known for its locally-owned shops and restaurants.

Martinez has publicly denounced the demands on Facebook, calling them “mafia tactics” used to intimidate business owners. And on Thursday, a small group of protesters confronted him outside his newest restaurant, La Bodeguita de Mima, on East Market Street.

“There comes a time in life that you have to make a stand and you have to really prove your convictions and what you believe in,” Martinez wrote in his Facebook post. “… All good people need to denounce this. How can you justified (sic) injustice with more injustice?”……..

The demands and an attached contract, which were created by local organizers and activists, ask NuLu business owners to:

Adequately represent the Black population of Louisville by having a minimum of 23% Black staff;
Purchase a minimum of 23% inventory from Black retailers or make a recurring monthly donation of 1.5% of net sales to a local Black nonprofit or organization;
Require diversity and inclusion training for all staff members on a bi-annual basis;
And display a visible sign that increases awareness and shows support for the reparations movement.

Presidential Message on National Shooting Sports Month 2020

During National Shooting Sports Month, we commemorate our Constitutional right to bear arms by celebrating America’s cherished past time of recreational and competitive shooting sports.

Our great Nation has a rich history of fostering responsible gun ownership.  In the early days of our Republic, turkey shoots encouraged community engagement and brought families closer together.  As our country grew, these local events developed into large regional and national events and competitions that drew thousands of spectators.  By the late 19th century, sharpshooters such as Pawnee Bill and Annie Oakley established popular shows with Wild West and other themes, touring the country with acts featuring their talent with firearms.  These pioneering American folk heroes demonstrated the courage, skill, and persistence necessary to excel in shooting sports and that reflect our founding values.  Today, we continue to promote interest in such social pastimes that celebrate our rich and unique history of shooting sports.

As we encourage our fellow Americans to take part in learning more about firearms this month, including safety and proper instruction, we also pledge to continue doing our part to ensure that our rights are never infringed upon.  Enshrined in the Bill of Rights, our Second Amendment protects the individual liberties of Americans to keep and bear arms.  Since my first day in office, I have made clear that my Administration will always protect and defend the Second Amendment.  We will continue to oppose those individuals and policies that attempt to tread on this essential and cherished liberty.

This National Shooting Sports Month, I ask those Americans who currently participate in shooting sports to share this cherished tradition with others.  Together, we can proudly ensure that the next generation knows how to safely and responsibly enjoy their Second Amendment freedoms.

Portland Recorded More Homicides In July Than Any Month Over Last 30 Years

Chicago homicides increase 50 percent in 2020, 139 percent in July alone

New York City has already had more shootings in 2020 than in the whole of 2019 — with another seven attacks on Sunday morning alone.

Meltdown: Minneapolis violence nearing annual records — in July.

Minneapolis police tell residents to obey criminals and ‘be prepared’ to be robbed. (this is not a satirical BabylonBee article!!)

Need I point out again which party is in control of these city’s administrations?

Okay. Can you say: demoncrap?

I thought you could.

The demoncraps have called every Republican President since Eisenhower  a racist, fascist & the next reincarnation of Hitler. And yet unlike people living in all of those regimes, Clyburn is perfectly free to express his “feelings” to a national news network – and nothing will happen to him.
And you’ll notice he doesn’t add in Mao, Stalin, or Castro – communists.
These people who corruptly use their freedoms for mere political power grabbing are the true enemies of America

“Jim Clyburn: I Feel Very Strongly that Trump Is Like ‘Mussolini, Putin, Hitler’”

CLYBURN: “What I said started about two and a half, maybe three years ago after one of his state of the unions. That I feel very strongly that this man has taken on a strong arm tactics and I feel very strongly that he is Mussolini Putin and Hitler. I said that back then and I believe that. I believe very strongly this guy never had an idea about being want to peacefully transfer power. I don’t think he plans to leave the White House. He doesn’t plan to have fair election. I believe that he plans to install himself in some kind of emergency way to continue hold on to office and that is why the American people had better wake up.”

Wilford Brimley, star of ‘The Natural,’ ‘Cocoon’ and Quaker Oats ads, dead at age 85

LOS ANGELES — Wilford Brimley, who worked his way up from stunt performer to star of film such as “Cocoon” and “The Natural,” has died. He was 85.

Brimley’s manager Lynda Bensky said the actor died Saturday morning in a Utah hospital. He was on dialysis and had several medical ailments, she said.

The mustached Brimley was a familiar face for a number of roles, often playing gruff characters like his grizzled baseball manager in “The Natural.”

Brimley’s best-known work was in “Cocoon,” in which he was part of a group of seniors who discover an alien pod that rejuvenates them. The 1985 Ron Howard film won two Oscars, including a supporting actor honor for Don Ameche.

This was sedition, supported by a corrupt press.
The question is; will America see justice done?

New Disclosures Confirm: Trump Himself Was the Target of Obama Administration’s Russia Probe

Long-sought documents finally pried from U.S. intelligence agencies prove that the Obama administration used the occasion of providing a standard intelligence briefing for major-party candidates as an opportunity to investigate Donald Trump on suspicion of being a Russian asset.

I say investigate Donald Trump advisedly.

As I contended in Ball of Collusion, my book on the Trump-Russia investigation, the target of the probe spearheaded by the FBI — but greenlighted by the Obama White House, and abetted by the Justice Department and U.S. intelligence agencies — was Donald Trump. Not the Trump campaign, not the Trump administration. Those were of interest only insofar as they were vehicles for Trump himself. The campaign, which the Bureau and its apologists risibly claim was the focus of the investigation, would have been of no interest to them were it not for Trump.

Or do you suppose they moved heaven and earth, surreptitiously plotted in the Oval Office, wrote CYA memos to cover their tracks, and laboriously sculpted FBI reports because they were hoping to nail . . . George Papadopoulos? Continue reading “”

Feast or Famine, it seems.

Brownsville Woman Shoots, Kills Intruder Climbing Through Her Window

Miami-Dade police are investigating a shooting that left one man dead early Friday morning. He was shot by a woman who says the man was climbing into her apartment through a window.

Wentzville man killed after stabbing driver in the neck in Lincoln County

ELSBERRY, Mo. (KMOV.com) — An investigation is underway after deputies said a man shot another person to death after being stabbed in the back of the neck in Lincoln County.

The sheriff’s office said three people were in a car driving along Highway W just west of Elsberry on July 28. Around 9 p.m. the car stopped and the two passengers got out.

Law enforcement said when the driver tried to get out of the car, one of the passengers allegedly stabbed the driver in the back of the neck. Deputies said the driver then grabbed a gun and fired one shot at the passenger who stabbed him.

The man who did the stabbing, who law enforcement later identified as 54-year-old Stephen Johnson, of Wentzville, died at the scene. The driver was taken to the hospital with non life-threatening injuries.

The prosecuting attorney will review the case.

Security guard shoots, kills knife-wielding man in midtown Saturday

TUCSON, Ariz. — Police say a man is dead after he was fatally shot by the security guard of an apartment complex in midtown Tucson over the weekend.

According to the Tucson Police Department, it happened at a building on the 3800 block of Fort Lowell Road, between Dodge and Alvernon.

Officers arrived at the scene just before 9 p.m. There, they came to an apartment where they found 49-year-old David Reed, who had been shot. Officers rendered first aid to the man before Tucson Fire Department responders took over. They took Reed to the hospital, where he later died, Police said.

Police say they later learned an armed security guard hired by the apartment complex was conducting a check of the building when he heard noise inside a vacant apartment. He spoke to two people inside — Reed and a woman. As he was detaining the woman, police say Reed took out a knife and the guard shot him. The security guard also suffered minor injuries.

Detectives have not made an arrest in the case and are continuing their investigation.

Off-duty Troy cop fatally shoots man to stop stabbing, victim in critical condition

TROY NY (WRGB) – An off-duty Troy police officer jumped into action Thursday night, attempting to stop a stabbing in process, according to Troy PD’s Deputy Chief Dan DeWolf.

According to police, the officer was off-duty Thursday night at his home on 17th Street in Troy, when he heard a domestic incident upstairs. He went to investigate, and discovered a 26-year-old man in the process of stabbing a 25-year-old woman.

Police say the officer repeatedly told the man to back off, before eventually firing a shotgun, stopping the stabbing.

Police say multiple people called 911 for reports of the stabbing.

Without weighing in on whether changing Election Day is a good or bad idea (I think it’s not a good one, for irrelevant reasons), I offer the following observations regarding some of the rhetoric over the President’s tweet that raised the possibility.

The Constitution places in Congress the power to set the date for choosing electors. (Art. II, Sec. 1, 4th para.). Congress has, by statute, set that date as the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. 3 U.S. Code § 1. Congress can amend that statute at any time (subject to filibuster, veto, override, and all the usual legislative hurdles). [NOTE: Each state can begin the process earlier than that First Tuesday, and many do – allowing early absentee or mail voting to begin quite a bit earlier. More recently, other state-governed election schedules have already been changed and/or litigated due to Covid-19 concerns. I don’t know of anyone who has suggested that those actual or proposed modifications to election schedules are either fascistic or impeachable.]

The Constitution not only allows, but requires, that the President “shall from time to time . . . recommend to [the Congress’s] Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.” (Art. II, Sec. 3.)

Moreover, the President does not, upon taking office, lose his rights under the First Amendment either to “the freedom of speech” or “to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Neither performing his Constitutional duty (Art. II, Sec. 3) nor exercising his Constitutional rights (1st Amend.) constitutes “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors” (the sole basis for impeachment). (Art. II, 4.) Nor is either one of those “fascistic,” by any rational definition of that over-used term.

Atty Steve Matthews

Read the whole thing at your convenience

4 French Revolution Trends That Have Started In The United States
The bloody and terrible French Revolution featured attacks on religion, rewriting history, toppling statues, and abandoning tradition. Sound familiar?

Many recently celebrated Bastille Day, the day French radical revolutionaries stormed a prison, released its prisoners, and brutally murdered the warden. That fateful day, now more than 200 years ago, set in motion a revolution that led to bloodshed and a devastating loss of liberty in France. It also set the precedent for many future revolutions that took an unbelievable toll on human life.

Contemporary British politician Edmund Burke lamented that French Revolutionaries could have repaired the walls of their government and society instead of tearing them down. In an attempt to found an egalitarian utopia, the French Revolutionaries tore down almost everything that was traditionally French. An eerily similar purge is taking place in America.

To found their society anew, the French Revolutionaries created a new education system, a new calendar, a new system of measurement, and a series of new public symbols and festivals. Most forebodingly, they did their best to cleanse France of religion in all of its forms, opting instead to pay homage to the god of Reason.

1. Taking Control of the Calendar and Holidays
…….Now, there are calls to cancel Independence Day, change the name of Thanksgiving to “Thanks-taking,” and eliminate Columbus Day. Presidents Day, which is George Washington’s birthday, may also be on life-support. But don’t worry, new holidays such as “Non-Binary Day“ are being ginned up………….

2. Tearing Down Statues
All across the country statues of American historical figures have lost their heads. In Boston, a statue of Christopher Columbus was beheaded, as were four Confederate statues in Portsmouth Virginia……….

3. Seizing Language and Education
It’s a dark omen when language itself starts to be canceled. Classic children’s books are being banned because some on the left don’t like their language………….

4. Violent Hostility Towards Religion
Traditional religion in the United States has also come under attack by the modern radical left. And, while things haven’t yet got to the level of the French Revolution, the current anti-Christian climate does not bode well for the future……………..

I’ve asked this before, and I’ll drive it home again;
PARENTS!
Do you know what your children are being taught in the school they’re attending, and if you don’t…why not?

Fourth Grade Teacher Details How Schools Push Ban History And Leftist Agendas
‘The parents don’t even know what’s going on because it’s all at school,’ says a fourth grade teacher in an interview. ‘The parents question very little and they just assume the teacher knows what they’re doing.’

A world without textbooks or homework and where getting the wrong answer is celebrated may sound like an elementary student’s dream, but if such a fantasy becomes a reality, it would damage a generation of young minds. That is, however, exactly what is happening in many public elementary schools.

Recently, I spoke with a fourth-grade teacher from the midwest, who shared her experience witnessing the shifting of curriculum from history and science towards overt political indoctrination, all to the detriment of students’ learning. To protect this person’s privacy, she will remain nameless.

In supervising fourth grade, she teaches a little bit of everything: math, reading, language arts, social studies, and science. Recently, her school district, like many others, switched to an “integrated curriculum.” On paper, an integrated curriculum sounds like a fair idea. Students learn subjects by exploring their intersections to deepen understanding. In practice, however, the curriculum all but eradicates history while working to push politics on impressionable children.

As the teacher reports, “It says ‘integrated curriculum,’ and some of its science, and some of its social studies but it really isn’t. It’s more of a push for the progressive movement.” Indeed, it’s a movement that has fundamentally altered her curriculum. As the school district’s new curricula are online, outsiders have the ability to dictate curriculum to teachers. The result? This teacher’s science and history classes were gutted. Continue reading “”

“Jim Rasenberger’s biography of Samuel Colt, ‘Revolver,’ has lots of interesting details about the colorful inventor of the six-shooter but unfairly faults Colt for sins against present-day leftist orthodoxy.  But Rasenberger’s greatest weakness is to downplay the great consequence of Colt’s invention. It made men equal. Rasenberger becomes authorially apoplectic at times that revolvers were used against American Indians and Mexicans, for example—as if only Americans of European descent ever pulled a trigger.” –Tony Daniel

Revolver : Sam Colt and the Six-Shooter That Changed America

Revolver|Jim Rasenberger

A sweeping, definitive biography of Samuel Colt–the inventor of the legendary Colt revolver–which changed the US forever, triggering the industrial revolution and the settlement of the American West.
Patented in 1836, the Colt pistol with its revolving cylinder was the first practical firearm that could shoot more than one bullet without reloading. For many reasons, Colt’s gun had a profound effect on American history. Its most immediate impact was on the expansionism of the American west, where white emigrants and US soldiers came to depend on it, and where Native Americans came to dread it. The six-shooter became the iconic weapon of gun-slingers, outlaws, and cowboys–some willing to pay $500 out west for a gun that sold for $25 back east.

In making the revolver, Colt also changed American manufacturing–his factory revolutionized industry in the United States. Ultimately, Colt and his gun-making brought together the two most significant forces of change before the Civil War–the industrial revolution in the east, Manifest Destiny in the west.