Category: Enemies Domestic

Caroline Glick: Trump and the Mythmakers

For the past 40-odd years, two narratives have guided American Middle East policy. Both were invented by the Carter administration. One relates to Iran. One relates to Israel.

Both narratives reject reality as the basis for foreign policy decision-making in favor of delusion. Over the past two months, President Donald Trump has rejected and disavowed them both. His opponents are apoplectic.

As far as Iran is concerned,…. when Iranian “students” seized the US Embassy in Tehran in November 1979 and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days, they placed the Carter administration in a dilemma: If President Jimmy Carter acknowledged that the “students” weren’t students, but soldiers of Iran’s dictator Ayatollah Khomeini, the US would be compelled to fight back. And Carter and his advisers didn’t want to do that.

So rather than admit the truth, Carter accepted the absurd fiction spun by the regime that Khomeini was an innocent bystander who, try as he might, couldn’t get a bunch of “students” in central Tehran to free the hostages.

At the base of their decision to prefer fantasy to reality in regards to Iran was the hope that Khomeini and his “students” would be satisfied with a pound or two of American flesh and wouldn’t cause Washington too many other problems.

So too, as Smith noted, the Carter administration was propelled by guilt. The worldviews of many members of the administration had been shaped on radical university campuses in the 1960s. They agreed with the Iranian revolutionaries who cursed Americans as imperialists. They perceived Khomeini and his followers as “authentic” Third World actors who were giving the Americans their comeuppance.

Khomeini and his “Death to America” shouting followers got the message. They understood that Washington had given them a green light to attack Americans in moderate and, as Smith put it, “plausibly deniable” doses. it. For the next 40 years, Iran maintained its aggression against America. And from Ronald Reagan to Barack Obama, every president since Carter accepted and kept faith with Carter’s decision not to hold the Iranian regime responsible for the acts of aggression and war it carried out against America through proxies…….

This then brings us to President Trump. Trump’s decision to kill Qassem Soleimani – who as commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps’ Quds Force was the head of all of Iran’s regional and global terror apparatuses – destroyed the Carter administration’s Iran narrative.

Soleimani was killed in Baghdad along with Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the commander of one of the Soleimani-controlled Shiite militias in Iraq. Iraqi protesters, who have been demonstrating against Iran’s control over their government since last October claim that Soleimani was the one who ordered al-Muhandis to kill the demonstrators. More than 500 demonstrators have been killed by those forces in Iraq over the past three months.

By killing the two together, the Americans exposed the big lie at the root of 40 years of American deliberate blindness to the reality of Iranian culpability and responsibility for the acts of terror and aggression its surrogates have carried out against America and its allies.

By killing Soleimani, Trump made clear that the blank check for aggression the previous six presidents gave Tehran is now canceled. From now on, the regime will be held responsible for its actions. From now on US policy towards Iran will be based on reality and not on escapism.

BREAKING: Iran Admits to Shooting Down Ukrainian Plane, But Still Blames US

“A sad day. Preliminary conclusions of internal investigation by Armed Forces:

Human error at time of crisis caused by US adventurism led to disaster

Our profound regrets, apologies and condolences to our people, to the families of all victims, and to other affected nations.
?”

The U.S of course had nothing to do with it, so Iran’s apology is less than sincere.

I had posted elsewhere that an Air Defense battery saw the plane on their radar. The commander freaked out, believing it was one of the B52s (so publicly deployed to Diego Garcia) and decided to shoot first and ask questions later. Which brings a quotation to mind:
Stupid is as Stupid does.

Democrat Bill Mandates Licensing of All Virginia AR-15 Owners

A bill from Delegate Mark Levine (D) mandates all Virginia AR-15 owners acquire a license of ownership from the state.

Those who do not acquire a license yet remain in possession of AR-15s will be labeled felons.

Levine’s legislation, HB 961, applies to AR-15s and all guns which Democrats refer to as “assault firearms.”

Levine defines an “assault firearm” as “a semi-automatic center-fire rifle that expels single or multiple projectiles by action of an explosion of a combustible material with a fixed magazine capacity in excess of 10 rounds.”

He also notes certain cosmetic traits that place a certain gun under the “assault firearm” classification:

An “assault firearm” means  a semi-automatic center-fire rifle that expels single or multiple projectiles by action of an explosion of a combustible material that has the ability to accept a detachable magazine and has one of the following characteristics: (i) a folding or telescoping stock; (ii) a pistol grip that protrudes conspicuously beneath the action of the rifle; (iii) a thumbhole stock; (iv) a second handgrip or a protruding grip that can be held by the non-trigger hand; (v) a bayonet mount; (vi) a grenade launcher; (vii) a flare launcher; (viii) a silencer; (ix) a flash suppressor; (x) a muzzle brake; (xi) a muzzle compensator; (xii) a threaded barrel capable of accepting (a) a silencer, (b) a flash suppressor, (c) a muzzle brake, or (d) a muzzle compensator; or (xiii) any characteristic of like kind as enumerated in clauses (i) through (xii).

If Levine’s bill passes the state legislature and is signed into law, current AR-15 owners–and owners of other so-called “assault firearms”–will have a grace period in which to acquire license from the state. 

Levine uses the summary of his bill to note that “any person who legally owns an assault firearm on July 1, 2020, may retain possession of such assault firearm after January 1, 2021, if such person has obtained a permit from the Department of State Police to possess an assault firearm in accordance with procedures established in the bill.”

Iran supreme leader says missile attack was a ‘slap on the face’ for US but it was ‘not enough’

Well, it was ‘not enough’ because it turns out the Iranians can’t hit the broad side of a barn with their missiles (when they can actually get them to fly properly). The line that they were purposefully trying to miss so as to not kill or injure any U.S. soldiers was hogwash.

Iranian ballistics missile attacks on two Iraqi military bases housing American troops early Wednesday was a “slap on the face” to the U.S., Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a speech hours after the strikes.

But “such military actions are not enough,” Khamenei said on Twitter, suggesting further acts of revenge for the U.S. killing of top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani.

Gun-grabbers Northam and Bloomberg claim Virginia’s Second Amendment–supporters spreading ‘misinformation’

A day after a huge crowd showed up at a Virginia Beach City Council  meeting to add their locality to over 100 of Virginia’s Second Amendment sanctuaries, the state’s governor and his financier, Michael Bloomberg, in separate press conferences, tried to reassure the public they had no plans to confiscate guns. Bloomberg and Ralph Northam made their comments in Richmond on Tuesday as Virginia’s new Democratic legislative majority convenes to take up gun control measures.

The former New York City mayor insisted that “nobody’s trying to take away anybody’s handguns — or rifles or shotguns. What we’re trying to do is have sensible gun regulations.”

Bloomberg also said confiscating AR-15-style rifles currently in circulation would be difficult. “It’s probably impossible to get all those back,” he said. “One can only hope that when people see the damage they can cause, and the danger of having them in their houses, they’ll decide to just take them to the local police station and say, ‘Please get rid of this.'” Bloomberg is referring to the bill receiving the most attention, Senate Bill 16, which has no grandfather clause and would make it illegal to sell or even possess a number of firearms that are currently legal.

At his press conference with leading Democrats in the state Legislature, Northam parroted Bloomberg, stating, “We have no intention of calling out the National Guard. We’re not going to cut off people’s electricity. We’re not going door to door and confiscate individuals’ weapons…saying things like we’re going to cut off people’s electricity, I don’t know where things like that come from, but they’re intimidating, they provoke fear, they’re not necessary.”

Northam doesn’t know where these things come from? In early December, when Northam was asked by a reporter if local governments would face retaliation for declaring themselves Second Amendment sanctuaries, Northam responded, “If we have constitutional laws on the books and law enforcement officers are not enforcing those laws on the books, then there are going to be consequences, but I’ll cross that bridge if and when we get to it.”

At the same time Northam was threatening law officers, a Democratic Virginia congressman named Donald McEachin suggested that the governor should send in the National Guard if necessary.

Then there’s the “intimidating” gun law proposals heading to the General Assembly this week.

From Bearing Arms (not a complete list)

While Northam and Bloomberg attempt to convince law-abiding Virginians they have nothing to fear, the Virginia Citizens Defense League  announced  a “Lobby Day Rally” on January 20 in support of “rooting out every nugget of gun control it can detect in Virginia.”

Virginia Bill Aims to Shut Down NRA Headquarters Range

Virginia House Bill no. 567, prefiled on 6 January, 2020, and offered on 8 January, 2020, seems aimed particularly at the NRA headquarters range at 11250 Waples Mill Rd. in Fairfax, Virginia. HB 567 contains a number of provisions that single out the NRA HQ range from nearly all others. Here are the provisions of the bill:

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That the Code of Virginia is amended by adding in Article 3 of Chapter 12 of Title 18.2 a section numbered 18.2-511.2 as follows:

§ 18.2-511.2. Indoor shooting ranges; prohibited in private buildings; exceptions; penalty.

A. As used in this section, “indoor shooting range” means any fully enclosed or indoor area or facility designed for the use of rifles, shotguns, pistols, silhouettes, skeet, trap, or black powder or any other similar sport shooting.

B. It is unlawful to operate an indoor shooting range in any building not owned or leased by the Commonwealth or the federal government unless (i) fewer than 50 employees work in the building or (ii) (a) at least 90 percent of the users of the indoor shooting range are law-enforcement officers, as defined in § 9.1-101, or federal law-enforcement officers, (b) the indoor shooting range maintains a log of each user’s name, phone number, address, and the law-enforcement agency where such user is employed, and (c) the indoor shooting range verifies each user’s identity and address by requiring all users to present a government-issued photo-identification card.

C. Any person that violates the provisions of this section is subject to a civil penalty of not less than $1,000 nor more than $100,000 for the initial violation and $5,000 per day for each day of violation thereafter.

The NRA HQ range is located in the NRA HQ building in Fairfax, Virginia.

  • It is indoors.
  • It is privately owned.
  • More than 50 employees work in the building.
  • It is open to the public.

Only one of the other indoor ranges found, in a quick survey of Virginia indoor ranges, were in buildings over two stories tall. The Colonial Shooting Acadamy, in Richmond, Virginia, is a three-story facility. It has a few more than 50 employees working in its building. It is the biggest indoor range in Virginia. The owners would like to expand and hire more employees. This bill would make expansion impossible. Large indoor urban ranges have been expanding across the country. The trend was arguably started with the Scottsdale Gun Club in Arizona.

Full disclosure, Terry Schmidt is my second cousin. He and his wife Nadine conceived of the Scottsdale gun club and now own majority interests and manage the concern. Terry credits me with planting the seed of his lifelong fascination and career with firearms.

Many small businesses have less than 50 employees to avoid burdensome federal regulations that apply to businesses that have over 50 employees. It is a large range, indeed, which would employ over 50 people in one building.

The bill would likely face challenges under both the Virginia State Constitution and the federal Constitution under the Second Amendment.

The Seventh Circuit has ruled the availability of gun ranges, to serve the public, is protected to some extent, by the Second Amendment.

It seems unlikely the proposed Virginia law would meet the requirements to pass muster under the Second Amendment. What rationale would require the limitation of gun ranges to buildings that employ less than 50 people?

Governments have deep pockets to defend against lawsuits. They are spending other people’s money.

The lawsuits required to defend against the host of laws infringing on the Second Amendment in Virginia will be costly. They will not be funded by tax dollars, but by private individuals.

The individuals may band together into groups or organizations to fund the lawsuits, but the money will not be taken from other people by force, as is tax money.

PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES’ GUN CONTROL: AVERAGE AMERICANS CAN’T BE TRUSTED

Billionaire Michael Bloomberg is stumping on the presidential campaign trail telling Americans they can’t be trusted to exercise their right to own a gun.

Not for self-protection. Not for recreational shooting or hunting. Not even because it’s a God-given right enshrined in the Bill of Rights.

He says this, of course, surrounded by an armed security team. They’re not armed with lollipops and wishful thoughts. They’re carrying the cold steel that the guy who writes the checks for Moms Demand Action and Everytown says Americans can’t be trusted to own.

No Guns for You
It sounds disturbing enough. It’s even more disturbing that Bloomberg made this announcement after hearing the news of Jack Wilson, a concealed carry permit holder and member of the West Freeway Church of Christ in White Settlement, Texas. Wilson responded immediately to the threat of a murderer in his church and neutralized the threat just six seconds after it began. His swift reaction in just six seconds saved countless lives among the 242 worshipers in attending services that morning when the police standard to response is six minutes.

“It’s the job of law enforcement to have guns and to decide when to shoot,” Bloomberg explained at a campaign stop in Montgomery, Ala. “You just do not want the average citizen carrying a gun in a crowded place.”

That’s telling for the guy who wants to take the oath of office to uphold and defend the Constitution. Maybe his oath will include exception clauses that will negate the Second Amendment, or the 2008 Heller decision that affirmed the Second Amendment is an individual “right of the People,” not the police.

Bloomberg’s dismissal of fundamental rights goes beyond ignorance, but willfully dismisses the legal actions taken by at least six other parishioners who also drew their concealed firearms yet chose not to fire. Bloomberg’s fact-burying might be because it’s exactly what undermines his gun-grabbing argument. Here is a case of armed and trained citizens who were in a crowded place and didn’t fire their firearms.

Heaven Sent
It should be noted the difference in how Wilson and Bloomberg see themselves. Wilson has been telling media he simply “killed evil” and he’s not a hero. Bloomberg, on the other hand, has publicly professed he’s earned a spot in heaven because he’s paid so much into gun control.

“I am telling you if there is a God, when I get to heaven I’m not stopping to be interviewed,” Bloomberg said in 2014. “I am heading straight in. I have earned my place in heaven. It’s not even close.”

Personally, I think Bloomie is going to get a big surprise if he believes he ‘earned’ a place in heaven. ed.

Bloomberg’s Bad Company
Bloomberg wasn’t alone in his criticism of armed self-protection and Americans embracing their Second Amendment rights. U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) flatly said she wouldn’t support concealed carry reciprocity even after being confronted with the fact it saved Texan lives.

Former Vice President Joe Biden criticized Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott for signing the law that protected Texans’ rights to carry a gun into a place of worship as “absolutely irrational.” Former Army Ranger sniper and book author Ryan Cleckner noted Biden’s ideas on gun control would have cost lives.

“He was dead wrong,” Cleckner explained. “If he has his way, there would be a lot more people dead in that church.”

Texas’ Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick drove the point home.

“Let’s be very clear to the American people that Joe Biden is dangerous,” Patrick said. “He’s not just an idiotic person who says impossible, absurd things, and he’s not just naive, but he’s dangerous. Americans will have to understand, whether you believe in owning a gun or not owning a gun, that the Democrats are dangerous.”

Unfortunately, Bloomberg, Biden and the rest of the Democratic gun control contenders are proving he’s not the only one.

Gun Control Radicals File FOIA Requests on Dozens of VA Second Amendment Sanctuary Counties

Just in case anyone could forget, there isn’t a low that the Left won’t stoop to. While “gun-friendly” politicians all over the country have made an art form of kissing tail and making friends, the radical Left is busy fighting down and dirty in the mud.

And frankly, nationwide, the Left has been winning because of it.

Case in point: Virginia. While their gun owners have woken up to find their gun rights under siege after years of sleeping at the wheel, the Left isn’t going to go down easy.

After all, Bloomberg paid good money for this election in November. A few Second Amendment Sanctuaries won’t stop him.

That’s why he’s had his paid activists file Freedom of Information Act requests with dozens of counties in Virginia. The same counties that have recently declared themselves Second Amendment Sanctuaries.

The FOIA requests ask for any documents in or out of the office that have to do with the Second Amendment. It’s clear they’re hoping to intimidate these local bodies or catch them in technical errors…………

There’s More Than One Way to Skin a Cat

Firstly, gun owners nationwide could start sending  emails to these county attorneys with the text from any random gun article.  That way, Any Clown for Gun Safety and the Commie Mommies would be drowned in documents that technically involve that county office and the Second Amendment.  Heck, they might learn a thing or two about guns rights in their reading!

Another option would be to send them everything Virginia has on file for the Second Amendment starting from oldest to newest. (They said we could make it easier by starting after August 1st, but hey, what can we say?  We’re thorough and helpful!)   We’re thinking of the Tryon Resolves and every speech by Patrick Henry.  Then they can read The Fairfax Resolves, the Fincastle Resolutions and the Augusta Resolves.  When they finish those, they can read The Virginia Declaration of Rights.

Nah, Better to Fight Fire With Fire

No, all kidding aside, these people are out for blood.  They’re playing for keeps.  They’re happy to be in the mud and they like the fight.  Can you and your ‘gun friendly’ politician say the same?

Tidy, smiling, friendly politicians will have no place at the table in the future.  It’s time for the good guys to get mad and play hardball.

You may catch ‘more flies with honey,’ but in our experience, all you get is fat, diabetic politicians who want to keep their seat at the table.  We’re done with honey. We’re out for meat.

 

U.S. service member, 2 contractors killed in attack on base in Kenya

This bunch is Sunni moslem, as opposed to the Iranians being Shite moslem, so it’s hard to say if this was a coordinated attack, or was something already planned. That being said, there’s the old thing about them considering the U.S. a common enemy. Of course, the solution for one sect is the same for all of them.

Al-Shabab, a Somali terror group linked to al-Qaeda, attacked a military base Sunday morning in Kenya, killing one U.S. service member and two Defense Department contractors, and wounding two others, U.S. African Command said.

Al-Shabab is a Sunni Muslim group and is not linked to Shiite Iran. Last Friday, a U.S. drone strike killed Iran’s top military commander, and Iran has vowed to retaliate.

Six civilian aircraft were damaged at Manda Bay Airfield, which is on an island in the coastal region of Lamu near the border with Somalia, AFRICOM said.

Initially, the U.S.-led coalition said there were no casualties in the attack but several hours later AFRICOM released an updated statement.

https://twitter.com/USAfricaCommand/status/1213780265560092679

Iran Eulogist Puts $80 Million Bounty on Trump’s Head

The eulogist at the funeral procession for General Qassem Soleimani placed an $80 million bounty on President Donald Trump’s head on live state TV, according to Al Arabiya. However, contrary to some reports, the government of Iran itself did not place a bounty on Trump’s head.

Two sites that have reported on the bounty: Bild, a German news site and Al Arabiya English, a Saudi Arabian platform.

Al Arabiya reported on January 5, 2020 that “the eulogist at the funeral procession of prominent Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani in Iran put an 80-million-dollar prize on US President Donald Trump’s head on live state TV.” The eulogist was not named.

Democrats want to make it harder to prosecute property theft in Virginia

But they want to make it a felony to have an 11 round magazine

A new law being proposed by Virginia Democrats would make it harder for police officers to prosecute property theft suspects in the commonwealth.

Democrat Alfonso Lopez, a Virginia House delegate and former Obama administration official, is sponsoring House Bill 263, which would raise the property value threshold for grand larceny charges from $500 to $2,000.

Lopez’s bill is one of three pieces of legislation designed to raise the threshold for stronger property theft charges that carry stiffer penalties and qualify as felonies in Virginia.

Part of a ‘weak-on-crime’ pattern

At least one prominent conservative leader is speaking out against the proposal. Reached by telephone, constitutional law attorney and Daily Wire editor-at-large Josh Hammer told TheBlaze that Lopez’s bill is part of a pattern among Democrats and like-minded “weak-on-crime” Republicans.

“Across the country, we see so many leftist Democrats — joined by no small share of libertarian-leaning Republicans — subscribing to the same weak-on-crime agenda,” Hammer, who has been critical of similar so-called “criminal justice reform” efforts, said………..

Dave Briggman, a conservative activist in central Virginia, described the proposal as a “radical” effort by local Democrats.

“In a state where driving 10 over the 70 mph highway speed limit can get you a 12-month jail sentence and a $2,500 fine, Virginia Democrats continue their radical efforts to ‘reform’ our criminal statutes,” he said in an interview with TheBlaze………….

“The Democrats’ goal here is to allow for the commission of serious crimes, without labeling offenders as ‘felons’ so they can continue voting for extreme leftists in elections and turn Virginia into California,” he said. “Keep in mind that is happening while the same Democrat extremists are trying to make felons out of most law-abiding gun owners in laws that seek to to ban and confiscate most semi-automatic weapons in production today.”

 

 

Ralph Northam’s Losing Battle on Sanctuaries

Ralph Northam is about to make the biggest tactical mistake in Virginia since Cornwallis decided to park his army at Yorktown. With his attempt to force local commonwealth’s attorneys and sheriffs in Second Amendment sanctuaries to enforce his unconstitutional gun laws, Governor Northam is setting himself up for a catastrophic failure. In fact, there’s no way for Northam to win the fight he seems intent on picking with Virginia gun owners and Second Amendment sanctuaries

The governor isn’t being helped by fellow Democrats such as U.S. congressman Donald McEachin, who said the governor should call out the National Guard to enforce the law, or Attorney General Mark Herring, who blithely says he expects that the laws will be followed once they’re on the books.

There are also Democrats, such as Delegate David Toscano, who have been comparing the Second Amendment–sanctuary movement to the Massive Resistance movement that unfolded in Virginia in the wake of the Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954. Massive Resistance came about after Democratic governor Thomas B. Stanley organized a state-level opposition movement to the integration of public schools in Virginia in the late 1950s. To compare it to today’s Second Amendment–sanctuary movement is to compare apples and oranges on a couple of different levels.

First of all, the Second Amendment–sanctuary movement is morally just, unlike the Massive Resistance movement of the late ’50s and early ’60s. The Second Amendment–sanctuary movement isn’t about curtailing rights, but rather about protecting their free exercise.

Practically speaking, Massive Resistance was a top-down movement, spearheaded by U.S. senator Harry Byrd and his fellow Democrats in the governor’s mansion and Virginia’s attorney general’s office. The Second Amendment–sanctuary movement, on the other hand, is a hyper-local grassroots movement that has no leader, though state-level Second Amendment groups are doing a good job of informing folks where meetings are taking place and even providing curious supervisors with examples of Second Amendment–sanctuary resolutions that have been approved elsewhere. Thousands of people show up at these board-of-supervisors meetings, and not because Philip Van Cleave or Cam Edwards or Nick Freitas or anyone else told them to be there. They’re showing up because their neighbor told them about the meeting, or they saw something on Facebook. They’re showing up and speaking out because they care.

Ultimately, it’s the people in these Second Amendment–sanctuary communities who are the last line of defense against the infringement of their rights, but thankfully we have several other defensive options at our disposal. We can even thank today’s Virginia Democrats for providing a blueprint to follow. Call it passive resistance, not Massive Resistance.

Cuomo takes aim at ‘ghost gun’ market

All gun parts regulated as “firearms”

ALBANY — Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Thursday said he will propose banning the sale of untraceable “ghost gun” components in New York to individuals who can’t legally possess a firearm.

The governor’s proposal, the 18th that he has announced in advance of next week’s State of the State address, would also limit the sale of major gun components to licensed gun dealers.

Warren Responds To Hero Stopping Texas Church Shooting: I Will NOT Support Conceal Carry

Andrew McCabe Said He Lied to FBI About Wall Street Journal Leak

Former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe apologized for lying to agents who spent weeks investigating the source of a leak to the Wall Street Journal that actually came from him, new documents reveal.

Shortly before the 2016 election, The Journal reported that an FBI investigation was underway involving then-candidate Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation.

McCabe in May 2017 denied that he was the source of the leak — but later fessed up, angering bureau investigators who had been spinning their wheels trying to identify the source of the leak.

Virginia governor’s call for 18-person gun ban force comes under fire

Virginia’s pop-up gun sanctuary movement has turned its attention to fighting the governor’s call for a $4.8 million, 18-officer team to enforce his proposed “assault weapons” ban.

Two key groups issued an alert this week to push gun owners to four budget hearings Thursday around the state, asking them to quiz state legislators if they will vote to ban or confiscate weapons.

“We understand that this is short notice. But it would have a significant impact if many of our members could show up and make a 3-minute statement and ask questions of the legislators in attendance,” said the Virginia Citizens Defense League.

“We see in the governor’s proposed budget that he wants $4 million and 18 new law-enforcement positions to enforce a ban on commonly-owned firearms,” said Erich Pratt, Gun Owners of America senior vice president.

“Gun owners want to know: Is this money going to be used for the gun confiscation?” he added.

Both groups have been key in the surprising success of the organic gun sanctuary movement in Virginia that was prompted when Gov. Ralph Northam said he’d back sweeping gun control legislation after Democrats took control of the legislature in the 2019 elections.

The election surprised gun owners and prompted them to subsequently flood town and county meetings to demand that local lawmakers OK sanctuary resolutions to ignore Richmond’s gun control urge.

A surprising 91% of all state counties have adopted the resolutions, sending a signal to state lawmakers.

In two weeks, the groups are planning to bus in thousands of gun owners for a “lobby day” in Richmond to reinforce demands not to pass new gun laws.

The gun control side is also working overtime to win support for gun control initiatives, including expanded background checks and a ban on modern sporting weapons such as AR-15 rifles and pistols.

At today’s budget hearings, the groups have urged their members to ask questions about Northam’s budget that includes $4.8 million for an 18-person force to implement his proposed assault weapons ban.

It also features more than $2 million to hire 10 more to enforce other gun control proposals, including universal background checks, a one gun purchase per month limit, and “extreme risk legislation.”

“We need to get as many pro-gun Virginians as possible to attend these meetings and demand to know if the delegates and senators plan to allocate money — as delineated in budget — to confiscate common, household firearms from Virginia citizens,” VCDL wrote in an email alert.

No More Private Homes… To Save the Planet

Funny how the environmental objectives of the “Save the Planet from the Flying Global Warming Monster” squad and that of Marxism line up so neatly.

Of course you shouldn’t have personal autonomy or private property. It’s bad for the ‘planet’. And by the planet, we mean the red planet.

So it’s no surprise that The Nation, where the synergy of the red and the green meet, should roll out a story like this, “If we want to keep cities safe in the face of climate change, we need to seriously question the ideal of private homeownership.”

Yes, climate change intensifies the fires—but the ways in which we plan and develop our cities makes them even more destructive. The growth of urban regions in the second half of the 20th century has been dominated by economic development, aspirations of home ownership, and belief in the importance of private property.

To engage with these challenges, we need to do more than upgrade the powerlines or stage a public takeover of the utility companies. We need to rethink the ideologies that govern how we plan and build our homes.

And embrace a discredited 19th century ideology instead. And give up on dreams of independence and private property. Instead we can all live in barracks or gulags.

Won’t that be fun.

Expansionist, individualist, and exclusionary patterns of housing became synonymous with freedom and self-sufficiency.

Not became. Are.

Private property as freedom and self-sufficiency isn’t New Deal brainwashing, as The Nation insists, it’s human nature.

 Cheap energy is untenable in the face of climate emergency. And individual homeownership should be seriously questioned.

To the gulags, go!

That’s the meaning of every single sentence in every single leftist global warming policy proposal. Sometimes you don’t even need to read between the lines.

But don’t worry. When the revolution comes, the Nation nomenklatura will have mansions. Until they’re purged.

There are other options, in theory: Rental housing serves many cities around the world well

Yes. Not having a home you can actually all your own is great.

There is also the potential for new or reconstituted forms of cooperative housing. In New York City, cooperative apartment buildings have long been a norm.

If you don’t want a backyard or personal space. If you want to hear every argument upstairs.

If we can reframe debates about the future of cities beyond rote acceptance of property ownership

And rote acceptance of individual freedoms that will have to be set aside for the duration of the emergency.

We need another kind of escape route—away from our ideologies of ownership and property, and toward more collective, healthy, and just cities.

Go to the collective farms, the gulags, and to slavery. For the planet.

The 2A Sanctuary Movement Is Using The Left’s Playbook, And They Can’t Stand It

Gun control activists in politicians are doing everything they can to try to tamp down the Second Amendment Sanctuaries spreading like wildfire across the state of Virginia. On Friday morning, the Bloomberg-funded Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action called on law enforcement groups to denounce the more than 100 counties, cities, and towns in the state that have declared (in varying fashion) their opposition to any new gun control laws coming out of Richmond.

Everytown’s Managing Director of Litigation and National Enforcement Policy, Eric Tirschwell, told Virginia television station WHSV that the movement is dangerous.

“If these folks actually follow through on what at this point is really just a threat to not enforce laws, that’s where I think the real danger will reveal itself,” he said.

Tirschwell argues the resolutions are problematic for a number of reasons; most importantly, he says, because they put lives at risk.

“These resolutions could have, and threaten to have, a chilling effect on people who might otherwise use, or take advantage of gun safety laws to try to prevent harm, like a suicide, a homicide or even a mass shooting,” he said.

What’s really amusing about Tirschwell’s argument is that in his position at Everytown for Gun Safety, he’s helping to provide legal support to cities around the country that are passing local gun control ordinances in violation of state firearms preemption laws. From Pittsburgh to Coral Gables to Missoula, Montana, Tirschwell has been working to defend cities that face court challenges after ignoring state law. Everytown for Gun Safety is all in favor of localities having more control over their gun laws, but only if it means more gun control laws.

As for Tirschwell’s argument itself, it only sounds good if you don’t know the facts. The fact is violent crime increased by 25% after Colorado put expanded the state’s gun control laws in 2013, while violent crime nationally has declined without any new gun laws being put in place. The fact is if you want to prevent harm, you have to target the individual who’s at risk of harming someone. The fact is that infringing on the rights of 100 innocent people in the hopes of stopping one dangerous person isn’t commonsense. It’s tyranny, and there are more effective and constitutionally sound ways to address those individuals than sweeping gun control laws that impact otherwise legal gun owners.

So that was Friday morning’s freakout. Friday afternoon saw the release of Attorney General Mark Herring’s advisory opinion declaring that Second Amendment Sanctuaries have no legal force of law, and once again stating that any new gun laws will be followed in Second Amendment Sanctuaries.

Herring can say what he wants, but he can’t compel sheriffs and commonwealth’s attorneys (not to mention street cops and deputies) to strictly enforce any law. Herring’s also exhibiting a glaring double standard, given his own refusal to enforce and defend a state law he unilaterally decided was unconstitutional. Herring, a proponent of legalizing marijuana (a position I share with him, for the record), also remained silent when prosecutors across the state decided not to prosecute most marijuana cases, even though he now says prosecutors and police can’t pick and choose which laws to enforce.

As I said on Friday:

In other words, when Herring doesn’t like a law, he doesn’t object to law enforcement using their discretion to not enforce it. If, on the other hand, Herring is in favor of the law, he’ll demand that the law be followed.

Herring spouted off about the Second Amendment Sanctuary movement being driven by “the gun lobby,” but the truth is the Left has provided the playbook for Second Amendment supporters across the state. The national gun groups have had virtually nothing to do with the movement, and even Philip Van Cleave of the Virginia Citizens Defense League says his group isn’t leading the movement, and in fact is having a hard time keeping up with the explosive growth in the state.

“It’s mostly grassroots,” he said. “Localities have passed this that weren’t even on our radar. It’s like a grass fire that the grassroots had started and then we went in and threw some more gasoline and a match on it to make it burn even brighter.”

I really don’t think Virginia’s Democrats and gun control groups were expecting this reaction, and I absolutely believe they are scrambling to figure out how best to respond. The tactic so far has been to talk tough and stay vague, as in Herring’s “The law will be enforced (just don’t ask me how)” comment. I suspect that will be the tone they’ll take right up until any of these laws actually take effect.

What happens then is anyone’s guess, but Ralph Northam, Mark Herring, anti-gun legislators, and gun control activists are making a devastating mistake by underestimating the resolve of Virginia’s gun owners and many of their elected officials to stand in defense of the free exercise of a constitutionally protected right.