Michael B Re-Cast

I went for "subtle..."

"Do not wait for a national audience. Speak on any scale open to you, large or small—to your friends, your associates, your professional organizations, or any legitimate public forum. You can never tell when your words will reach the right mind at the right time. You will see no immediate results—but it is of such activities that public opinion is made.” – Ayn Rand

The War Goes On

From WaPo, "The problem with banning guns for people on the no-fly list"

Particularly when applied to the ability to own a firearm, many would argue that the no-fly list is a violation of the 5th Amendment, which guarantees the right to due process before people are deprived of life, liberty or property. During the ACLU's lawsuit, the government admitted that people are added to the list speculatively, before they've actually done anything wrong.

I got nothing for you here. My personal decision on the election is to follow the National Rifle Association's lead. I do not necessarily have an objection to the existance of such a list per se — just as I have no objection to the FBI surveilling mosques with radical Imans — my criticism is the absence of due process for the people on the list. As Bump notes in this article, the purpose of the no fly/no buy list was never keeping terrorists off airplanes or away from guns. It exists to chip away at people owning guns.

We have walked into a worst case scenario at the worst possible time. Out blood enemies have discovered something that we have known for a long time…the majority of American care as much about gun control as they do about lawn pests. Taken on its own, it is not an issue. We have a far more dedicated electorate than they do.

The only exception to this rule is the period IMMEDIATELY after attack of some sort. Suddenly, the "we've got to do something!" meme, whipped into a frenzy by a compliant, biased media. becomes a Class 5 tornado. But like even a Class 5 tornado, the storm passes pretty quickly. The numbers after Newtown absolutely stunned the antigun movement. The antigunners truly thought they had a tipping point, a fundamental change in the American electorate. Instead, we got truckloads of teddy bears and bad poetry, and the needle of public opinion didn't even move. I would say that because the public at larger, the silent majority, of you will, understand that the "solutions" offered by by the antigun movement are no different that the rites and rituals of a bizarre orthodox church, on par with casting the entrils of chickens. "Universal background checks, "assault weapons bans," increasing the subgroups of people who cannot own or purchase firearms, are little more than ritual chants, disconnected from any reality. The vast majority of the progressive left and their useful idiots know as much about guns and gun crimes as my beagle Newt knows about French cooking.

However, they have taken steps to take full advantage of that short span of time between the attack happens and people step back from their revulsion, essentially a SWAT team of swine focusing solely on emotion. That's where we are now. Every day that passes there's less and less chance of any emotion-driven drivel passing. This was, after all, a TERRORIST ATTACK, not a random shooting, not some twisted kid spun up on antidepressants living out his Klebold and Harris fantasies of running up the score. This was an attack on the United States of America by a representative fo a foreign power…it doesn't matter where he was born, only where his allegiances rest.


So we'll see what next week brings us. The war goes on.

What To Have On Your Person

From a comment on Facebook:

Greg Ellifritz and Grant Cunningham…I deal with this very issue in this week's podcast, which we decided to put up today instead of waiting until Wednesday. I agree with you that what you have on you at the time the balloon goes up is what you will have to deal with the situation. Your car may as well be on the dark side of the moon, or in Mordor. I learned this lesson years ago when I went by a client's office to pick up a check. They ushered my in, locked the door behind me and told me a disgruntled fired emplyee was on his way to "settle the score." The police had been called and were on the phone with ten…they were quoting 15 minutes. "You have a gun, right?" they asked me. "You always have a gun." I sure did…I was in shorts, a t-shirt and flip-flops, and I had a Walther TPH .22 and a Spyderco Delica in my pocket. I figured if any hash was going to be settled, it would probably be mine. 

Changed my mind, it did.

I have come to the conclusion that I will start carrying a "man purse" or some sort of bag on a regular basis. Not a huge deal (especially since I live in Colorado, where everyone carries some sort of bag, backpack, etc), as I used to obsessively carry a bicycle messenger bag…I biked a lot (and will again if all this metal they've surgically implanted in my legs actually works) and I obsessively carried a Timbuktu bicycle messenger bag, in a fetching Rasta design. I don't mean to make light here, but in my own community a brightly colored bicycle messenger bag was for all intents and purpises invisible. On the bike or motorcycle, my EDC (then an STI LS9) and extra mags was in the bag. Otherwise, it the gun and an extra mag was on my person. My plan is the gun (now a G26/RMR) and an extra G19 magazine are on my person; the bag will contain the med kit, additional tourniquets, extra magazines, extra fixed blade knife, extra flashlight. Training yourself to carry a bag is not unlike training yourself to carry a gun…you treat it just like a woman's purse, where you go, it goes. It DOES NOT get left in the car! 

Key point, at least for me, gun, relaod, knife and tourniquet on my body! Extras in the bag.

"If the Second Amendment didn't exist, it might have to be invented to meet the current situation."

From "The Zero Knowledge Proof" on PJ Media.

A point I want to make this AM before the Fool In The White House cranks up his teleprompter.

I saw reports overnight, notably on CNN, with the strong implication that the terrorist was himself gay and therefore the attack might be personal in nature. This narrative plays well into the Obama/Hillary/Gun Control meme, because it de-emphasizes radical Islamism.

Ironically, this type of "mixed motivation" event came up in our research for our "mass casualty event" special (which we re now crashing in an effort to get it on the air ASAP). In fact. the "mixed motivation" model was described to us as the model for future events.

In short, both on-line and through personal "recruiters" (who we are no doubt inviting wholesale into our country), the jihadist are looking for men and women with an existing grievance or something in their lives that gives the recruiter a wedge, a fracture, to work with.

It can be the classic "honey pot," which I think is what we saw in San Bernardino. The wife radicalized her already disgruntled husband, who hated his coworkers. The shooter in Orlando, if he indeed had "gay impulses," as had been implied in the MSM, he would be the ideal candidate for radicalization. As a Muslin, he accepted the mainstream view that homosexuals must be "killed out of compassion," but killed nonetheless. If he himself found himself drawn to members of his own sex, that would create the very mental "fracture" that could be filled by jihadist propaganda. It would explain the choice of Pulse over DisneyWorld.

I think, as do my sources, that we will see more of these "mixed motivation" attacks, because from a sheer return-on-investment standpoint, it's a very cost-effective strategy. You don't have to teach anyone how to fly a plane, build a truck bomb, or even get a Genuine Johnny Jihadist Membership Card. You just have to find that fracture, that grievance, that can be expanded into a full-blown terrorist worldview. And, honestly, the jihadists are master of that very thing.

As I have said repeatedly on the podcast, once we have successfully stripped modern society of any meaning — be it religion, patriotism, family, whatever — we are left with a substantial number of people, especially young people, grasping for some sort of meaning. Our minds despise a vacuum. That's why we have the ridiculous situation we now have on our campuses. But jhadism, radical Islam, provides more than just abstract worldview…it provides a preplanned, step-by-step way of life…step on board the escalator and you never have to have an original thought again. Everything is laid out for you.

Moreover, instead of working at the comic book store and living in your mom's basement, you are a Warrior! You are part of a world-wide movement of guys who dress in black and are bad ass dudes, cutting off heads and having women slaves. You are fighting toward a climatic battle between good, the soldiers of Allah, and evil, mom, that guy at work who insulted you and the cheerleader who turned you down for a date…oh yeah, and corrupt Western culture. This is virtually a Frank Frazetta sci-fi fantasy for a certain group of young men. And for that group, that subculture, it's seductive as all get-out.

"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle."

--Sun Tzu

Hold the Teddy Bears…

I'm going to say harsh things here.

We are at war. We do not need candlelight vigils, piles of teddy bears, changes to everyone's Facebook profile pages…

We do not need to spend millions of dollars to pour though the shooter's life, writings, computers, phone records in the hopes of find some tiny bit of evidence that allows our purported leaders to a straw to grasp — "Oh, he was crazy…he was anti-gay…he was involved in workplace violence." Anything but the obvious, that we are under attack and the enemy is inside the gates. There are here, and they want to kill us, and they are willing to kill us.

Why a gay nightclub? Try this…in April, a noted Islamic scholar was invited to speak in Florida at the Husseini Islamic Center:

The Husseini Islamic Center of Sanford, FL invited Sheikh Farrokh Sekaleshfar to speak at their Mosque. Dr. Sekaleshfar says the killing of homosexuals is the compassionate thing to do. In a 2013 speech Sheikh Sekaleshfar said this regarding gays, “Death is the sentence. We know there’s nothing to be embarrassed about this, death is the sentence … We have to have that compassion for people, with homosexuals, it’s the same, out of compassion, let’s get rid of them now.” 

When Sheikh Sekaleshfar calls for the death of all homosexuals based on the tenets of Islam it can not be ignored, he is an expert on Shariah Islamiyya or Islamic Law.

It does not matter that the shooter didn't have an Official Jihadist Member Card and decoder ring; it doesn't matter whether the shooter was in contact with Afghanistan, Pakistan or Mars; it doesn't matter whether the shooter had an ISIS flag or a Lady Gaga poster tacked up on the wall of his bedroom. He was a soldier in a war of extermination…against us. It doesn't matter whether he was ordered to kill or inspired to kill by ISIS ideology. The results, blood, are the same.

As terrorism expert and author of DEFEATING JIHAD Sebastian Gorka said today, "We have to wake up. The war is here."

However valiant they might be, the police can't save you. The FBI can't save you. Obama can't save you. 

There is only one first responder you can GUARANTEE will be on the scene, and that first responder is YOU.

1) Dont just be armed, be proficient in the gun you carry! I have been flayed alive for saying you should be able to make a 25-yard head shot and a 50-yard torso shot with your carry gun.  I stand by that statement, and, in fact, double down on it. If you can't make those shots with the gun you presently carry, change guns! Get the training. Do you carry extra ammunition? I certainly didn't back in the day, but I sure as hell do so now.

2) You must have some trauma medical training, or at the very least be carrying a basic trauma kit that INCLUDES a tourniquet that you know how to use. There was a 3-hour lag time in the Orlando attack…THREE HOURS!...you can bleed out in 3 minutes. Once again, you must accept that no one is coming to save you, or the person next to you who is bleeding out. It is on you! 

3) For God's sake, be aware! I will say again that you need to think long and hard about going to events held in gun-free zones. They are killing grounds, and that will not change. It is a decision you must make on your own, and I will not go on record as saying you should break the law, but it is your choice whether to be armed or not, regardless of where you are.

4) Consider a small bag that includes addition medical gear, especially an extra tourniquet, and a spare magazine or 2. What might you need in those 3 minutes, or 3 hours, until help comes? 

5) All I've heard this morning over and over was, "We can't believe this could happen here." Believe it.  I said in my opening that we don't need candlelight vigils, and I know you probably thought that was cruel. It was, because what we need to do while we grieve is to redouble our personal commitment to protect ourselves, to protect our families, to protect those people under our care. We must do this, or we will be killed.

My team and I have spent most of this year creating a "Mass Casualty Event" for THE BEST DEFENSE. My sole reason reason for pushing this through is the save lives. We knew this was coming, and we know that this is not the last attack. We will, on my word, get the special up as quickly as we can.

YOU•ARE•ON•YOUR•OWN

We are at war. It is time for us to pick up the sword and shield. 

All Good!

Home again home again!

Walking...knee flexses and extends...hurts, but hey, not a surprise!

A Perfect Colorado Day!

The Newt and I hiked to the top of the Secret Hidden Bunker Ranch today to see if I could spy NewMexico and Newt could catch a rabbit. Nether of those thing happened, but what a spectacularly beautiful day!

I figured I wanted to hike Newt's Trail because the left knee gets replaced tomorrow, so it'll be a while before I can hike that trail again. I decided to get this done…I still have a lot of rehab remaining on the right leg, which pretty much hurts most of the time…because I'm tired of it all. Time to get it done and over with. I'll do the work, but I don't want to stretch this out any farther than I have to.

Looking forward to some semblance of normality returning at some point in the future.

Talk to you guys when I wake up!

Margarita Monday!

Went with a classic, Solerno Orange Liquer, Corazon Reposada and lemon juice. Ah, the pause that refreshes! Served it with steamed pink Key West shrimp (Old Bay, of course) and a cucumber/black eyed pea salad with Indian spices. Simple, good, ready for night night.

I'm going to link you over to TTAG, because my office computer is off and I can't directly link to the Silencer Shop and their great deal on silencers before 41G kicks in in July. Check it out.

Just a shout out to ROBAR…Freddie Blish called me about making some mods on a Glock frame a year or so ago. I finally came up with a spare G19 frame and sent it to ROBAR to cut to G26 dimension, perform their magic on the frame and do one of their carry triggers. Just got it back…WOW! ROBAR has always done superb work, and with Freddie at the helm that world class quality is a given. I talk about that Glock in this week's podcast. Plus, the only death metal band fronted by a grey parrot!

I mean, where else can you get this stuff???????

Why I Unconditionally Support Donald Trump

This is a comment I posted on FaceBook to Joe Watson, who is a good guy who doesn't believe the same things I do. I have been remiss in posting too much snark, and I think he deserved a fair answer. I thought it was worth reposting here:

Sigh...Joe, it is my opinion (and the opinion of some of the finest activists and Second Amendment attorneys — people who have been on the front lines for DECADES) that there is a good chance the Second Amendment and the right to bear arms cannot survive a Hillary Presidency with taking some brutal hits, or be destroyed altogether. Should she be elected, we will be facing an Executive, a Judicial (remember, Scalia's gone, along with the 5-4 stand on the Second Amendment) and probably a Legislative attack. Secondly, with Obama's successes in weaponizing Federal agencies, we can expect attacks from those agencies, including the IRS, the EPA, Homeland Security, TSA, not to mention a reinvigorated BATFE.

Those agencies along can do staggering damage to the gun culture without any vote in Congress. All it takes is a willingness to wield them against us.

In the face of what I know to be a guaranteed attack from a blood enemy, I do not give a DAMN what Trump said or did years ago, or whether Ted Cruz says this or that, or whether any of the Republican weasels in Congress, who have turned their back on us for years, have to say! If Trump turns on us — which I do not believe will happen based on my own research and my own conversations — so be it. We will face that and deal with it. And we'll likely be able to deal with it from a position of strength. But with Hillary it is all-out war from Day One.

Every minute I spend fighting is a minute I don't spend shooting or hunting or training, the things I love to do. I hate to say it, but when you are my age, those minutes become even more precious. Because of what I do, I will be on the front lines of this battle, if we have to fight it. I accept that, honor it and will bring my A-Game, as always. But I would be remiss if I didn't say that I am bitter that members of this Culture, this BETTER Culture, who have told me for the last 8 years that they stand with the Second Amendment, now say they stand with the Second, except when they don't.

I have repeatedly said, privately and publicly, that I vote guns. This, Joe, is what it means to vote guns. In the face of an overwhelming threat to those things we believe and cherish, I will unequivocally support the opposition that threat. My Grandfather, who was a hard man and a life-taker, told me on my 13th birthday that there were only 2 kinds of people in the whole world — people who stand, and people who don't. That's it. No shades of grey in the middle. No equivocation. He said that would be my decision as I got older, and that I would have to reaffirm that decision every day. You may not like it, and it's fair to say that none of us do, but it is time to stand.

Thoughts in 6 June 2016

First, read this:

Never Trust Anyone Who Hasn’t Been Punched In The Face 

...I think there is a certain worldview that comes from violent experience. It’s something like…manhood. You don’t have to be the world’s greatest badass to be a man, but you have to be willing to throw down when the time is right.

In a wide-ranging interview years ago I was asked for my definition of a "friend." A harder question than you might think — and this was before FB, which has certainly jumbled the definition of "friend" by reducing it to a pushbutton 'accept" or "reject."

I think it's a point to reflect on as we remember D-Day and the Greatest Generation's sacrifice. We as a country said, "This is cause worth dying for. We ask for your sacrifice to save us all." And they responded, and paid the blood price, for our freedom.

So what is a "friend?" A person who shares your secrets, listens to your whining and helps buttress your self-esteem? The guys (or girls) you share adult beverages with every Friday evening? Reasonable answers.

But not my answer. After consideration, I answered that a friend is the person who stands at my back. The interviewer, surprised, said, "Don't you think that's a little…extreme?"

But it wasn't extreme on that cold June morning 72 years ago. Ultimately all words like friendship, like loyalty, like patriotism, like love, must be backed up by deeds, or they are, indeed, just words. A generation of Americans understood that, and we honor them for it.

And we fear for our own future.

John 15:13 — "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

[PHOTO: Contrarian Traveler]

Am Posting...

…just not here. Here's a link to my post on FaceBook. I've been doing more posting there because it is just faster.

MICHAEL'S FACEBOOK POSTS!

Much easier to keep up a running commentary on FaceBook than here on Blogger. I did want to repost this one because it's important. I wrote it in the wake of the San Jose riots, where the police "stood down" so as not to "insight" [their spelling; not mine…I'd say "insight" was damned lacking here] any more rioting:

Speaking from THE BEST DEFENSE's viewpoint, mob violence is a terrifying thing. From my own experience as a "riot reporter" back when I was a Baby Journalist, I was stunned at how fast a "protest" became a "riot" becoming potentially lethal. A personal experience — at the last Weatherman above ground action, the assault on the Vietnamese embassy on Dupont Circle in D.C., it had been billed as a simple protest march. Because even back then I was paranoid, I had my own gas mask and a SHTF bag with me, as I figured it would turn into a riot, which it did. I got caught between "opposing lines," so I dove under an SUV to crawl out of the other side and get clear. My action was hastened when the car in from of the truck I was under took a Molotov cocktail and exploded. You've never seen somebody get out from under a car that fast!

My point is that once the mental balloon goes up and the crowd transitions into the pack mentality we see in the photo, it is only a very short step to lethal danger. You need to be aware of how quickly that transition can take place, and you need to THINK NOW about how you will respond. If you are taken to the ground, at the mercy of kicks from hiking boots or iron-toed work boots, you are screwed. Ditto if you're simply overpowered by the crowd.

What to do? First, be aware of your surroundings. I have seen people literally walk or drive into the middle of a pitched battle between rioters and police, then look up and start shouting, "What's going on?" Don't let that be you. Accept that even those calm "protesters" can turn like a mad dog at the right provocation. Do not engage protestors in arguments! You wouldn't poke a mad dog with a stick, would you? You wouldn't even poke a friendly dog like Newt with a stick.

Secondly, always know where your best, and fallback, exits are, keeping in mind that the mob will tow you along with it. Work yourself toward the edges, or better yet, if you have to be there, STAY on the edges!

Be armed, but be aware that unless you have an MP5 in your SHTF pack, your weapons is not necessarily going to get you out of trouble. Your brain is weapon you need here. DO NOT BRANDISH A WEAPON! That's waving red meat in front of the Khalessi's pet dragons. Instead, think of your weapon as a last ditch tool to buy you enough time to get out of the mob and behind police lines. There's a reason behind every cliche, and certainly "cut and run" comes to mind. Also remember that the police will not know YOU from THEM, and act accordingly. I've been hauled off to jail...it happens, and they've always cut me loose after we've sorted out the what's what/who's who.

Best solution...don't poke the dog with a stick; keep your head in the game; always work toward the edges...or don't be there in the first place!

REMEMBER:

YOU . ARE . ON . YOUR . OWN!!!