Ain't this a great country?

The Moneychanger

First Barack Obama gets elected, proving that anybody really can get elected president. Now that old re-tread Newt Gingrich is trying to get elected by claiming he isn't part of the Republican establishment. And while he's not as boring as Barack Obama, he IS fatter, & just as dangerous. But not as boring as Mitt Romney (first name "Catchers"), who can put thousands to sleep just by opening his mouth. And yet he is not the boringest of all. John Huntsman makes him look lively. These characters have all the charm and seriousness of the Seven Dwarves, but none of their intellectual stature. And how about that Ron Paul? Only presidential candidate that can turn invisible -- to the media?

Ain't this a great country?

Jim Rogers: Serious, serious problems, maybe perhaps war even.

Via Survival

We Should Take The Pain Now And Not Wait Until The Market Forces The Pain On Us

The problem is that the measures that America needs and not just America, many countries but especially America needs, would cause huge pain for a while. But if we don’t take our pain now and we wait until the market forces the pain on us, then it’s going to be you know a systemic collapse.

It’s going to be very, very serious pain; you’re going to see riots in the street. You’re going to see serious, serious problems, maybe perhaps war even. It’s better to go ahead and take the pain now, while it would be terrible for two or three or four years, at least we’d get it behind us and start over. - in FNN

Jim Rogers is an author, financial commentator and successful international investor. He has been frequently featured in Time, The New York Times, Barron’s, Forbes, Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times and is a regular guest on Bloomberg and CNBC.

December 27, 2011: Gun sales at record levels

Via Billy

December holiday shoppers were not just interested in buying the hottest electronics and toys -- they also were purchasing record numbers of guns, according to the latest FBI figures on background checks required to buy firearms.

With a few days left in December, the FBI reports the number of background checks has already topped the previous one-month record -- set only in November -- of 1,534,414 inquiries by gun dealers to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System also known as NICS. Almost half a million checks were done in just the last six days before Christmas.

Two days before Christmas, NICS ran 102,222 background checks, which was the second-busiest day in history. The one-day record was set this year on Black Friday, the big shopping day following Thanksgiving, with 129,166 searches. By comparison, the previous one-day high was set November 28, 2008, when gun dealers made slightly less than 98,000 requests for background searches.

It's not possible to tell exactly how many guns have been purchased because buyers often take home more than one gun. But most people pass the background checks. Only 1.3% of the searches result in people being denied permission to buy a weapon, said FBI spokesman Steve Fischer.

FBI officials did not offer a theory on the spike in gun sales. It's also not clear how many of the background checks were for people who never had owned guns before and how many were for gunowners adding to their collections.

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CBM: Something's Mighty Wrong

NC Patriots of ’61: Privates Solomon & Hugh C. McLean

North Carolina War Between the States Sesquicentennial
www.ncwbts150.com
"The Official Website of the North Carolina WBTS Sesquicentennial Commission"

North Carolina Patriots of ’61: Privates Solomon & Hugh C. McLean of Richmond County

Solomon McLean enlisted with his brother Hugh C. at Rockingham, Richmond County on 30 May, 1861, and served with Company D, North Carolina Troops, known as the “Pee Dee Guards.” Suffering a wound at the battle of Malvern Hill in 1862, he wrote home:

"The Yankees are advancing toward Richmond. They say they will have Richmond or Hell is their home and I fear Hell will be their home before they get it. God grant them a better place, for it will be bad for them to miss Richmond and get Hell."

Solomon was wounded again at Winchester on 19 September 1864 and did not return to duty until December of that year. Brother Hugh C. McLean, also in Company D, received a wound at Chancellorsville in May 1863, returned to duty only to be wounded and captured on the first day of Gettysburg in July. Hugh was taken North and confined first at Fort Delaware, then transferred to the infamous Point Lookout, Maryland where he died on 13 January 1864.

NC Patriots of ’61: Privates Solomon & Hugh C. McLean

SeymourJohnson AFB Goldsboro, NC: F-15 Ejection at Supersonic Speed

Via Cousin John

"Honor" killing victims

Link

Gülsüm Semin was severely beaten (repeatedly), scared to death of her family (and rightly so), and ultimately brutally beaten beyond recognition and "honor" murdered because she refused forced Islamic marriage in Turkey.

Amina and Sarah Said ran away from their brutal home life and their "devout father," only to be lured back by their mother on Christmas day and then brutally tortured and murdered not 24 hours later, in an honor killing on New Years day. Autopsy here. Full Atlas coverage here.

Noor Almalaki was run over in an honor killing last November in Arizona by her father for being "too Americnaized" and not Muslim enough. She hung on to dear life for three days before succumbing to her wounds.

Banaz Mahmood was killed in her apartment in London by her father, Mahmood, and his brother Ali Mahmood and 4 others because they didn't approve of her boyfriend. She had dishonored her Muslim family by falling in love with the "wrong" man. So they stomped on her, then strangled her to death. Her body was then moved 100 miles to Birmingham, where she was buried in a suitcase in a garden behind a house. They had tried to kill her before. Watch this video of Banaz days before her death, telling of the attempts to kill her.

Ron Paul on The Patriot Act & The NDAA

Link

“The founders wanted to set a high bar for the government to overcome in order to deprive an individual of life or liberty. To lower that bar is to endanger everyone. When the bar is low enough to include political enemies, our descent into totalitarianism is virtually assured. The Patriot Act, as bad as its violations against the Fourth Amendment was, was just one step down the slippery slope. The recently passed National Defense Authorization Act continues that slip into tyranny, and in fact, accelerates it significantly.”

--Ron Paul

WBTS veteran soldier footage, captured between 1913 and 1938

Re-Post

WBTS veteran soldier footage, captured between 1913 and 1938

NC concealed carry hit piece in NYT

Via Borepatch

The New York Times has written a hit piece on concealed carry in North Carolina. In particular, they try to make the case that North Carolina’s CCW permit process is flawed, and that it allows prohibited persons to obtain CCW permits. The Times offers the following:

More than 2,400 permit holders were convicted of felonies or misdemeanors, excluding traffic-related crimes, over the five-year period, The Times found when it compared databases of recent criminal court cases and licensees. While the figure represents a small percentage of those with permits, more than 200 were convicted of felonies, including at least 10 who committed murder or manslaughter. All but two of the killers used a gun.

2,400 crimes committed, and “more than 200 convicted of felonies” would seem to imply that 2,200 of the crimes were misdemeanors. But still, 200 felonies is a lot, right?

Well, lets see how many permits we have in NC? 228,072 So the raw rate of all crime is:

=2400/228,072 = .01 or 1%.

Felonies ->

=200/228,072 = .00008 or .08%. Get that? 8/100 of a percent that a CCW holder will commit a felony over a 5 year period.

We need to do some math in order to compare this with the general population. Note that the 200 figure is over a five year period. Lets assume that the 200 felonies are evenly distributed. (Normally this isn’t a good idea, but we are only really interested in order of magnitude comparison here.) 50 felonies in a single year period. Now, normally, crime rates are quoted in number of occurrences per 100,000 persons. Since the numbers are so close, I’m going to keep the math simple and halve the number of people who have CCW permits . Note that is will overstate the number of crimes committed by CCW permit holders. 25 felonies per 100,000 permit holders per year.

Let’s compare this with the general NC population, shall we?

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Tambov Rebellion

The Tambov Rebellion (Soviet misnomer Antonovshchina) which occurred between 1920 and 1921 was one of the largest and best-organized peasant rebellions challenging the Bolshevik regime during the Russian Civil War.^[1][2] The uprising took place in the territories of the modern Tambov Oblast and part of the Voronezh Oblast, less than 300 miles southeast of Moscow. The leader of the rebellion, Pyotr Mikhailovich Tokmakov, was a former officer of the Russian Imperial Army, who had earlier been decorated with the highest Order of St. George. In Soviet history the rebellion was referred to as Antonov's mutiny or the Antonovschina, although Aleksandr Antonov, a former official of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party, was only the Chief of Staff of one of the rebel armies. The movement was later portrayed by the Soviets as a sort of anarchical banditry like other anti-Soviet movements who opposed them during this period.

The rebellion was caused by the forced confiscation of grain by the Bolshevik authorities, a policy known in Russian as "prodrazvyorstka". In 1920 the requisitions were increased from 18 million to 27 million poods in the region. This caused the peasants to reduce their grain production knowing that anything they did not consume themselves would be immediately confiscated. Filling the state quotas meant death for many by starvation.^[2] The revolt began on 19 August 1920 in a small town of Khitrovo where a military requisitioning detachment of the Red Army appropriated everything they could and "beat up elderly men of seventy in full view of the public".^[2] The peasant army was known as the Antonovtsi or "Blue Army", as opposed to the "White Army" (anti-communist army), "Red Army" (communist army), "Green Army" (armed peasant groups) and "Black Army" (anarchists of Ukraine and Russia)—all taking part in the Civil War.

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Russian Article

The best I could make out of the Russian translation is that this man fought on for some years, but was eventually killed by the Communists. He is dead in this picture and the one further down where they put his beloved in for a "wedding portrait" evidently to please their deviant humor. They had her "lose" her fetus, then shot her. His head was taken from village to village showing the peasants what happens to their foes.

NC Robbery Gone Wrong. Heh!:)

Via Our Eternal Struggle

2 minutes of precision

American Mercenary
Verbatim Post

Recently ArcticPatriot did a post on "the whites of their eyes" and explained why that is a very poor tactic for a freedom fighter (or terrorist if they lose) to adopt. The practice of holding your shot until you knew it would count is fine when the enemy is on par with you. When the enemy has an advantage in numbers, equipment, armor, and logistics support you need to adopt better tactics. A little fish can eat a big fish, but only by taking many bites.

For an insurgent to "take many bites" he needs to out range the oppressor, or adopt a technique like an IED that negates some of the advantages of having armored vehicles. But in the vein of "taking many bites" I'd like to talk about historic sniper rifles.

The old British L42A1 sniper rifle was topped with the Mk32 scope. This scope had very "crude" 1 and 2 MOA adjustments compared to the 1/8 moa, 1/4 moa, and .1 mil (right around 1/3 moa) adjustments found on current scopes. The 1903A4 sniper variant was aimed using the "holdover method" by many GIs. The M91/30 PU sniper variant still remains the most produced sniper rifle ever fielded, all with a 3.5 power scope with no ranging capabilities built into the reticle, and the accuracy standard was 5 shots of 147 gr Light Ball ammunition into a group around 1.2 MOA at 100 meters.

But what does this tell you about the art and science of sniping? First off that repeatability is more important than fine adjustment. In practical terms 2 MOA is fine for chest shots out to about 600 yards. The human chest is a plenty big target, and it isn't difficult to disrupt something that makes the blood go round and round or the air go in and out in that area. Defeating body armor makes that a different story, so shots either need ammo capable of defeating body armor, or aim for something that isn't covered by Kevlar or ceramic. Trust me, no one wears body armor all the time.

Second, huge magnification isn't required to place effective fire on target. A good rule of thumb is 1x magnification for every 100 meters that you would like to shoot, but you can get by just fine with .5x magnification for every 100 meters. A 10x scope is overkill for most shots under 400 meters, but it is a pretty good compromise for a weapon system designed for shooting between 400 and 800. Most European nations issued a fixed 6x scope for snipers until the recent rash of high power variables made everyone want to go all high speed low drag modern. However, most of those variables hover around the 6x to 10x average power (Schmidt & Bender 3-12x, or any of the 4-16x scopes on the market).

What you want is good glass with repeatable adjustments. If your optic is of 1/4 MOA when you return to zero don't let some snob tell you that you need to go out and buy a Nightforce or Leupold Mk4. Practically anything under 1 MOA is insignificant to the target on the receiving end. Don't let the quest for "one ragged hole" interfere with "first shot on steel" at any given range.

Now, I'm not going to say that long range marksmanship is easy. I will say that it isn't impossible. It is something that you can get started doing by reading books freely available from your local library. Most snipers I know have a really hard time keeping below 1 moa without an artificial rest. Most high power shooters when fully slung up are good for 1 to 2 MOA, I don't know many who can stay sub MOA even fully slung up every trigger pull. There are some masters out there who can clean the X ring standing unsupported, but that comes from years of practice.

Practice is still largely unregulated and there are no laws against dry firing. And I'd rather someone have a 1,000 extra trigger pulls with their match load behind a 300 dollar optic than a 1,300 dollar scope with no trigger time.

It doesn't take benchrest level accuracy to put a bullet where it needs to go. This is why Grandpa's Rem700 in 30-06 with a 3-9 power scope on top is considered a "dangerous long range murder weapon" by those who want to ban guns. They understand that the capabilities of a 2 moa rifle off the shelf that can kill a deer at 500 meters can do the same to a jack booted thug.

Now, as far as ultra long sniper shots, yes they happen. It also takes a dang long time and a little bit of luck to get good enough to pull them off. The Brits teach their snipers that the "sweet spot" for sniping is between 400 and 800 meters, and there are good reasons for this. Most jack booted thugs don't shoot well past 200 meters so return fire is largely ineffective, and a longer distance raises the detection threshold so you might stay concealed longer and have more time to leave unmolested.

None of this is "secret" data, folks can get this from watching the History channel and reading books in the library. But put it all together and you can turn knowledge into skills. And skills can save your life. Train with what you've got, get to know your limitations in terms of range and weather conditions, and above all, fight smart.

A RINO Joins the Liberals in Bashing the Tea Party

Godfather Politics

Verbatim Post

Senator Dick Lugar (R-IN) is mad at the Tea Party. He believes the Tea Party destroyed the chances for Republican majority in the Senate at the last elections. He claims that if the Tea Party wants a Republican majority – which, by the way, has never been a goal of the Tea Party to start with – they will have to vote for the old elitist guard like him who have the experience to do politics as usual.

Let’s see what good Lugar has done. Worked to continue pouring federal money into agriculture. Voted for the DREAM Act. Enthusiastic supporter of sending American troops to die for the interests of the elite. Supported Obama’s judicial nominations to the Supreme Court – both pro-abortion with a vengeance. Voted to include criticism of sodomy in the definition of “hate crime.” Voted to increase his own salary. Voted for TARP. Voted for federal gun control. And these are only the tip of the iceberg. Who knows how much lobbying money one will find, if Lugar is investigated just as thoroughly as Gingrich.

But he says, “A Republican majority in the Senate is very important.” Uh huh. It very important to have Rs voting than Ds. For the same laws, of course. But Rs is better. In truth, it is only important to Lugar. The Tea Party’s goal has never been to maintain a Republican majority. It was the Tea Party that developed the term RINO. Lugar fits that term perfectly.

Lugar is scared, of course. He knows his voting record will come back to haunt him. He has always been a RINO, someone who wears a Republican badge but votes Democrat. He knows these days of politics as usual are over. The DC consensus between the socialists of all parties is coming to an end. The voters don’t buy the partisan rhetoric anymore; they know Lugar is the same socialist as the Democrats. And his personal position is threatened. He has been in the business of betraying his conservative constituents for a long time. And now they are out to get him.

Lugar wants the Tea Partiers to forget their commitment to moral values and vote on expediency. Too late. The issue of Republican vs. Democrat is becoming more and more irrelevant, as far as the Tea Party is concerned. Politicians like Luger with their backroom deals are the reason the US is in this mess. There is no discernible difference between Lugar and any Democrat Senator. “You can’t put a cigarette paper between them,” as Nigel Farage would say.

So Lugar has to go, for the good of this nation. And all the rest of them RINOs. We’ve had enough of them.

Amen

Thanks For The "Do Not Hire" List You BRATS!

LANGUAGE! Repulsive kids.

Main link

Market Ticker
Verbatim Post

Seriously.... (warning, strong language)

I have zero compassion for what's coming in this nation with the economy and the young people in it given this display. Oh, if you're hungry in the future, perhaps you can go talk to that "hated" parent of yours who didn't indulge your spoiled fantasy crap and see if, at 18, the door isn't slammed in your face -- because that's what you deserve.

Ps: You might get a surprise in The Will when your old man passes too -- were I him I'd leave everything to the Church's poor box and include a copy of your "tweet" as the explanation.

Obama blows off Congress

When the president of the United States signs a bill into law, it’s expected that he will abide by it. That’s not the case with President Obama, who has a sudden interest in novel legalistic interpretations getting him off the hook from laws he doesn’t like.

On Friday, the president signed the $1 trillion omnibus spending bill, which funds the government for the remaining nine months of the fiscal year. Afterward, he released a statement saying he won’t abide by the law because the Justice Department had advised that certain provisions are “subject to well-founded constitutional objections.”

House Speaker John A. Boehner’s spokesman Kevin Smith told The Washington Times, “This president used to condemn the type of signing statements he is now embracing to ignore the will of Congress and the American people.”

One of the presidential pet peeves is that Capitol Hill put the kibosh on his czars. Those high-level White House appointments aren’t confirmed by the Senate but are central to implementing Mr. Obama’s liberal agenda. Lawmakers specifically blocked funding for salaries and offices for four of his nine czars: health care (who coordinates Obamacare), automobile industry (“car czar”), urban affairs and climate change.

The president protested that defunding those positions “could prevent me from fulfilling my constitutional responsibilities, by denying me the assistance of senior advisers and by obstructing my supervision of executive branch officials.” Thus, he’s going to interpret the law as he sees fit.

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But if we require picture ID to vote, who will protect the rights of the dead?

Via Milton Wolf

M-1 Garand Assembly Guide

Article.

Domestic terrorists, definition of

Domestic Terrorist, Daughter & Teddy Bear, picture of

The Teddy Bear reminded me of my Vietnamese friend who worked as a civilian A/C repairman at OICC/RVN in Saigon. When the Communists took over they came to his house in Can Tho and accused him of being an American spy, because he had a talking baby doll and they had never seen anything like it before. A soldier was kept in his house for a number of days to see if the baby doll would give up any secrets. They also thought his shoe polish was something to eat and took a taste!

Via California Tree of Liberty

• Domestic terrorists support Ron Paul

• Libertarians and Constitutionalists are domestic terrorists

• Domestic terrorists don’t believe the official explanations for 9/11, Ruby Ridge, Waco and the Oklahoma City bombing.

• Domestic terrorists oppose abortion and support gun rights.

• Domestic terrorists are fearful of big government and espouse support for the Constitution

• Domestic terrorists collect firearms and survivalist books.

• Domestic terrorists are religious zealots, reading the book of Revelation, and speak of the second coming of Christ

• Domestic terrorists grow their own food

• Domestic terrorists proudly display bumper stickers in support of Constitutional rights

• Returning military war veterans are domestic terrorists

You are free

Via Western Rifle Shooters Association

Cato The American
Verbatim Post

You have been free since the moment of your first breath.

You have the highest claim on your life, your labor, and your property.

You are the one who decides how deep your honor goes, and what actions are required to wipe away the tarnish.

You are free. I am free.

If we choose to be.

———

And that’s the real kicker. We can posture, we can make the treats, verbal and unspoken. Shake our guns in the tyrants face, as it were.
We can say “here is my line in the sand.”
This far, and no farther.

We can say we will exercise our natural rights in the face NDAA.

But the thing is, we have to do it.
Can you bear it? Can you follow through.
I ask myself these questions, and I’m confronted by AP’s poem:

“And to the last pulse in my veins,
I shall resist.“

And it calls me hypocrite. It calls me weak. It calls me vain, arrogant, pampered, weak, and fake.

These are the charges I must face in my own heart of hearts. I just hope I can sort them in time.

Time to face our daemons is now, while we have that luxury. Spend some time with yourself. Find out who you are, what you are for. Make peace with it and yourself. Because our time is running short.

- Cato, the American.