Barr defending Christianity

Over at The Federalist Joy Pullmann has an article on our Attorney General, William Barr, and his defense of religious liberty and freedom. Now, I know that Barr is not good on guns. No, that's not quite right, in fact he is terrible on guns. But, for me, guns are a means to an end, not an end in and of itself. The actual ends are the other natural rights mentioned in the Bill of Rights. The Right to Keep and Bear arms, which I believe is a civic duty for everyone, is to ensure that government does not strip these rights from citizens.

Pullmann's article is entitled Barr: The Real People Trying To 'Impose Their Values' On Others Are 'Militant Secularists.'   She starts out by quoting a Barr in an interview with with Cardinal Timothy Dolan:

U.S. Attorney General William Barr clapped back at leftwing hysteria over his support of the First Amendment Tuesday in an interview with Cardinal Timothy Dolan on Sirius XM.

“I feel today religion is being driven out of the marketplace of ideas and there’s a organized militant secular effort to drive religion out of our lives,” Barr told Dolan. “To me the problem today is not that religious people are trying to impose their views on nonreligious people, it’s the opposite — it’s that militant secularists are trying to impose their values on religious people and they’re not accommodating the freedom of religion of people of faith.”

She goes on to make her case with quotes from articles in the New York press.  She goes on to state that the so called atheists trying drive Christianity (but not Islam) from the public square are just as much regligions in the end:

Further, what is more cultish than forcing people to believe through social pressure, law, and other means that a man is a woman is a man is a woman? What is more totalitarian than to force people to pretend that males and females are interchangeable inside the relationship whose major function in society is to spend half a livetime cultivating happy, competent citizens starting at conception?

Or what is, for another example, the belief that it is possible to fix the world by applying government pressure? That is not a belief that can be wholly validated by research or experience. In fact, research and experience both indicate that central planning usually makes life even more nasty, brutish, and short.

So what is this unfounded, undocumented, unprovable faith in government power to correct human psyches and behavior if not a religious (metaphysical) belief? It is also an unprovable and metaphysical belief about what a human is — a thing that can be “corrected” by politics and whose “error” is not intrinsic to itself. Again, these are all metaphysical, religious beliefs with no empirical basis or possibility of being fully empirically proven.

The Founders put religion first in the First Amendment:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

They did this because they wanted to keep government within due bounds, and they knew that religion can generate conflict. They had seen it in the old world.  Today it is Christianity that is being systematically erased.  It was never the intention of the Founders that the government would chase Christianity from the public square, or indeed any other religion.  This is a gross misreading of the Constitution.

Barr is to be praised for his defense of Constitutional rights.  A vigorous competition between various ideas, even religions, ensures that the truth will be out there, and that the Truth will eventually win out.  Too bad he doesn't feel the same way about guns.

Is It Time For Congress To Re-evaulate The Civil Service

I have tried to stay out of the whole Trump impeachment fiasco.  I believe Trump will eventually be exonerated, and likely be re-elected.  But I wanted to take some time today to talk a bit about something I believe is relevant to the Constitution and our rights as human beings.  Jim Hanson has an article over at The Federalist today entitled Alex Vindman Is Living, Breathing Proof That The Deep State Exists, And That It Is Corrupt that talks to the issue of the rights and privileges of elected officials versus those of the permanent bureaucrats.

Hanson starts off by pointing out that he is not questioning Vindman's loyalty, patriotism, or devotion to duty.  He is, however, questioning his judgement as to where that duty lies.  Each person in the armed services takes an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States.  But that Constitution places the President as the top of his chain of command.  Unless the President is clearly giving an Unconstitutional order, Vindman's actions sabotaging this President are at his own peril.

Hanson goes on to define the term "Deep State" as follows:

Deep State (noun): The permanent, professional bureaucracy of the U.S. government, specifically those who believe their judgment and continual service makes them better suited to run the country than elected officials or political appointees.

That’s accurate, but to expand on why it matters, we should note the political contributions of federal employees in the last presidential election went 95 percent to Hillary Clinton. There is nothing illegal or nefarious about that, but it certainly points out the one-sided political nature of this cohort. While they may not openly organize into political action committees, their hold on federal levers of power dangerously skews government’s actions and inactions toward the preferences of the political left.

The fact is that Vindman's pique with President Trump's foreign policy is that it somehow goes against what Vindman calls the "interagency" assessment of what is in the nation's interests.  I can not think of a more totalitarian idea than that a duly elected President, elected by the whole people, after campaigning in state after state on the issues, does not know what the people think is in their best interests. That a Lieutenant Colonel, a mid level officer of no particular distinction has the temerity to believe himself wiser than his superior officers or even his Commander in Chief is simply breathtaking.

President Trump campaigned on, among other ideas, the idea of placing America first on issues of foreign policy.  Everyone who voted for Trump was aware of his campaign and evidently approved of it.  For Vindman to later claim that he knows better than the all those people is extremely narcissistic.  /That he would sabotage the President's foreign policy and substitute what he refers to as the 'interagency' assessment is gross insubordination.  Why is he still here?

Please read the entire article.  It is my opinion that Congress should re-evaluate the Civil Service.  I believe that the permanent bureaucracy has become a danger to the our Constitutional form of government and to our rights. 

Another Article On The .38 Super Automatic Cartridge and the .38 Super Automatic Colt Pistol

Have I mentioned my fondness for the venerable .38 Super Automatic cartridge, and of course, the weapon designed to fire it, the Model 1911 chambered in .38 Super?  Let me mention it again.  I like the flat firing, and fast 9 mm bullet in a heavy chunk of steel that tames the recoil of the weapon.  Apparently, Bob Campbell likes the .38 Super as well, judging from an article he wrote over at the Shooter's Log entitled Does Anyone Still Use the .38 Super?

The answer is, of course, people do.  Many who engage in shooting sports use "race guns" chambered in .38 Super  because of the ballistic advantages over .45 Automatic.  The smaller bullet means they can achieve major power factors while getting faster follow up shots on target.

The .38 Super Auto also occupies a special place in Mexico.  It seems that Mexicans can have guns, as long as they are chambered in a non-military or police cartridge:

Some nations, notably Mexico, prohibit military calibers such as the 9mm and .45, but not the .38 Super. Colt was discontinuing the long-serving .38 ACP automatic and wished to introduce a mid bore to replace it.

On the other hand, finding ammunition can be catch as catch can.  Local ranges are often out of .38 Super ammunition.  That makes reloading an important skill for the .38 Super shooter.  Campbell notes the advantages of the .38 Super for defensive purposes as follows:

The 1911 is a good home for the .38 Super. It features straight-to-the-rear trigger compression, a low bore axis, a grip that fits most hands well and excellent speed into action.

There is no pistol faster to an accurate first shot than a 1911 handgun properly carried cocked and locked. This is an easier cartridge to master than the .45 and has two more rounds of magazine capacity.

The platform allows good control for those who practice. Long-range practical shooting is possible with the 1911/.38 Super format. An advantage of this caliber is penetration.

The smaller-diameter .38 Super in its hottest loads offer greater penetration against light cover than the .45 ACP or 9mm cartridges. Additionally, it’s a remarkably easy cartridge to handload with good results.

So, given all these advantages, it would seem to be a good defensive round, no? For carry purposes, I like using Winchester Silvertip cartridges, when I can find them. But I also find American Eagle 115 grain cartridges fire reliably.

For reloading, the range of bullets is interesting as well.  The original .38 Automatic (from which the Super is derived) fires a .356 inch diameter bullet weighing 130 grains.  The Super version was the same size and weight but contained a larger charge of powder, propelling the bullet at around 1300 feet per second.  Berry's makes a copper plated bullet that is 124 grains in weight, and 0.356 inch diameter. This combination allows a wide range of powders to be used.  Note that the 9mm Luger uses a .355 in diameter bullet, while the .38 Special uses a .357 inch diameter bullet.  You do not want to confuse these bullets.  While the smaller diameter bullet may not be as accurate, the larger diameter may go over pressure risking a kaboom.

So, to answer Campbell's original question, yes, there are a few of us still using a .38 Super for defensive carry.  While the "plastic fantastic" pistols have taken over the market, and the striker fired pistols have many advantages, some of us old timers still like "Old Slab Sides" but we find the .45 Auto to be a bit too much.  .38 Super fills a need like nothing else will do.

The Reds Are Coming! The Reds Are Coming!

Kurt Schlichter today has a post at Townhall.com entitled Peaceful Insurgency Tips For Virginia Patriots that I think captures what Virginians need to do in the coming weeks and months, but also the rest of us in other States. Schlichter sees Richmond as a victory for the Patriots because there was no violence. Patriots took the high moral ground that day. And winning hearts and minds is not just important, it is ultimately everything.

Don't get me wrong here, I believe that guns will be important in the coming fight, and we will be required not just to have them and display them as in Richmond, but to know how to use them as well. But I believe for the most part, that guns will be symbolic of the Constitutional order and of our rights as people.

Let’s begin with a basic principle: You have no moral obligation to respect or obey unconstitutional actions by a government. None. And when a government acts outside its constitutional limits, you do not merely have the right but the sacred duty to reject and replace it.

...snip...

What now is that you continue with the momentum from the rally and before. This is an insurgency – a peaceful one, despite the “de-escalate” crap your Jazz Singing’ chief executive is shoveling – and you need to keep up the pressure. This is about guns, which are the backstop of freedom but the liars and losers of the media want to pretend you don’t think so. They want to pretend you are looking for a chance to commit violence. They want to pretend you want to hurt people. That’s how they plan to delegitimize you.

Don’t fall for it.

First step: resolve that these garbage people, whether liberal pols, the media, Twitter blue checks, or Fredocon sissies who would have been all in with the Redcoats in 1776, can kiss your sweet Northam. When you don’t ignore them, mock them. They want to shame you into the shame of submission. They have zero moral authority. They are lying trash and worthy only of your contempt. Treat them accordingly.

Second step: turn your anger into votes. The gunfascists got into power because far too many of you thought, “Oh, we’ve had Democrats in power in Virginia before and it’s no big deal.” Okay, wrong. The Democrats today are not the Democrats of yesterday. These are CA/NY billionaire-funded activists whose goal is to turn you into serfs by taking your power, your money, and your dignity. You must register to vote then you must vote only for Republicans – and you need to make sure you don’t nominate any wuss Republicans during the primary. Next, you must reinvigorate your party. Why don’t you run for a seat on the local GOP committee? Organize! The mobilization for gun rights sanctuaries and the march on the Capitol proved that if you organize and act, you will win.

The second pooint Schlichter is making is important. Get involved in politics, as disgusting as it may be. But do not, under any circumstances, vote for a Democrat.  The Democrat party is no more.  Zel Miller sounded the deathknell of the Democrat party back in 2004. The group that has taken over the remains of the Democrat party are communists, socialists, fascists, and Islamists.

Now, I know what many of you are thinking. The Democrats may be the party of evil, as evidenced by the ease with which they lie, but the Republicans are the stupid party, the party of spineless, feckless people afraid of their own shadows. I know. It wasn't always so, though. The Republicans started out in a school house in Wisconsin with a goal to end slavery. They finally gained enough political power to elect the first Republican president, Abraham Lincoln.  They were fighters for the cause of abolition.  They kept the underground railroad running, risking life, fortune, and reputation on it because they believed God demanded it.  Republicans could be that party again.

Amil Amani has a piece over at the American Thinker entitled The Rage Of The Democrats. Amani's point in the article is what I have been saying as well, that the Democratic party is bad for America and the World. Of course, he says it nicer than I do.

What underlies the rage of the Democrat Party and of the leftist Democrat Establishment vis-à-vis President Donald Trump?

Over forty years ago, during my high school years in Iran, my father and I had a conversation. He was an avid Republican, even though he lived on the other side of the world. Right before I prepared to leave Iran for the U.S., he gave me some fatherly advice. He explained why the Democrat Party was bad for America, bad for Iran, and bad for the world. He advised me that if I ever became a US citizen, I should never vote for Democrats. After all these years, I now understand what he meant by those words of wisdom.

...snip...

It is obvious that the Democrat Party is at war with America, and Democrats are not interested in stopping any time soon.

The radical left enjoys controlling people from cradle to grave. (Sounds like Muslims.) They want socialism. They want to be in charge for eternity. The leftist agenda recommends denial of personal responsibility, encourages self-pity and fosters government reliance, promotes sexual indulgence, rationalizes violence, excuses financial obligation, justifies theft, ignores rudeness, prescribes complaining and blaming, promotes sharia law, denigrates the sanctity of marriage and the family, legalizes all abortion, defies religious and social tradition, declares inequality unjust, and rebels against the duties of citizenship and much more.

For decades, the Democrat Party has shown by both words and deeds that they despise the U.S. Constitution while they bend over backward to embrace Islamists, illegal aliens, and anyone who hates America and feels entitled. The left is interested only in power and nothing else — even if it means sacrificing our safety and security.

I had abandoned being involved in politics for many years. My experiences as a precinct committeeman for the county Republicans turned me off of politics. You know the old saying about how sausage is made. Well, I can stomach sausage making pretty well compared to politics. But I have recognized the need to get involved, again. I have held my nose plenty of times to vote for the lesser of two evils. It is time to find some candidates who will be more like Trump, and then back them fully, as Trump supporters do. Trump will eventually leave office. Who will we put in his place to continue his work?

Oh, and Grass Roots North Carolina has an equivalent of the Virginia Citizen's Defense League Lobby Day.  I confess I have never attended.  I mean to make a different decision next time.  Because like it or not, the Reds are coming. Patriots need to organize and make your voices heard.

 *As an aside, our Democrat Governor will not have to make an emergency declaration.  Guns are already forbidden on the Capitol grounds and buildings.  They afraid of us, aren't they?

The Founding Fathers Entrusted We The People With The Republic

As an old fart, I remember well the 1960s.  It was a time of upheaval, and the so called "New Left" was on the march.  The struggle over the meaning of the First Amendment was at least as intense as the struggle over the Second.  A commonly heard argument from Leftists was that "I support your right to say things I do not support."  And conservatives agreed, thinking that the Left was arguing in good faith.  Silly conservatives!  All that changed as "New Leftists" began to take positions of authority and power in the various institutions of the culture.  This was the great "March Through The Institutions" of which you have no doubt heard.  Because so much news came to be biased in favor of the Left, Fox News Channel has had a good run with its marketing tag line of "fair and balanced."

Conservatives, of course, still believe in free speech.  We believe that if the facts are revealed, and both we and the Left are equally allowed to give our own interpretation of those facts, our side will prevail.  The Left evidently believes so too, for they routinely do not allow our side to even present the actual facts, let alone interpret them.  For instance, at yesterday's VCDL Lobby Day event in Richmond, Virginia, and NBC reported falsely claimed that the rally was really about white supremecy. In fact it was about the 2nd Amendment and there were exactly zero arrests for violence.  Sorry, media, but gun rights supporters are not itching for a fight.

David Weinberger has a think piece out today at The Federalist entitled Why the News Media Cannot and Should Not Be Unbiased. He argues that even deciding which facts to report and which to keep silent about involves bias. Interpreting those facts that are reported involves yet more bias. He is right, of course.

However, when conservatives rail against a biased press, they are not talking so much about the kind of bias that Weinberger mentions here, but about systemically preventing any conservative to speak at all. Conservative and religious ideas are barred from the public square not just be the traditional media, but by social media such as twitter and facebook.  Of what are they afraid?  When, for instance, Ann Coulter goes to a campus to speak, she must have security there to protect her, and she is often shouted down. If the Left believes their cause is correct, of what are the so afraid?  Whatever happened to the idea of colleges being places of free thought and debate?

In fact, rather than having a headline that grabs attention by blaring that "news media can not be unbiased," what it should say is that the news media should provide a more balanced diversity of ideas.  For that is the main point of the article.

Now, some will say that certain ideas are beyond the pale, and should be suppressed.  Examples include the skinheads and Neo-Nazi movements.  But I say the more speech the better.  Let them talk and be heard.  Any reasonable person will quickly see that the ideas espoused are ridiculous.

The Founding Fathers ultimately entrusted the nation to We The People.  I am sure it was not without some trepidation.  But the newspapers of the day were as biased as anything we see today on all sides of every issue.  Wise people read and discussed all sides of every issue.  The Left should allow us the same privilege today.

Virginia hasn't descended into tyranny...yet

In a post over at Bearing Arms, Cam Edwards says that No, Virginia hasn't descended into tyranny...yet...but if Governor "Blackface" Northam had his way, it would already by a tyrannous hell hole. And electing Democrats to hold any office, even dog catcher, is always dangerous. I suspect that many of the Democrats who were elected in 2019 to seize the Capitol took Bloomberg's money, but had no intentions of doing his bidding. None the less, some of Bloomberg's anti-gun agenda will be accomplished.

No less than George Washington himself is said to have uttered the quote "Government is not reason; it is not eloquence; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master." But a number of the founders have expressed similar ideas: that government should be deliberately limited to give widest scope to individual achievements.

Since the founding, the Second Amendment has been the touch stone of the Bill of Rights. The other rights recognized by the Bill of Rights are the important ones, but the right to keep and bear arms secures those other rights. You will notice that Governor "Blackface" is trying to constrain people from peacefully assembling, and from making their grievances known to their representatives. The First amendment doesn't say that we have a right to assemble disarmed inside a fenced in kill zone, after all.  We do have the right to peacefully assemble, period.  We have the right to petition our government for redress of grievances, period.  We have the right to back up these rights with force if necessary.

None the less, Edwards is correct that so far tyranny has not taken hold in Virginia.  What he is saying is that everyone should remain calm, keep your eyes open and your head on a swivel.  The time for backing up our First Amendment rights with the Second Amendment has not come.  It may never come.  But the right to keep and bear arms can be likened to having a fire extinguisher.  You pray you never need it, and the great majority of fire extinguishers will never be used. But does the rarity of use mean the government should mandate that you give them up and rely on the fire department alone to protect you?  That is the argument being made by those who wish to disarm us.

Go read Cam Edwards piece at Bearing Arms to get the latest status of the Bills before the Virginia legislature.

Is Governor Northam Setting Stage For Violence On Lobby Day?

January 20, 2020 marks, of course, Martin Luther King Day, but it is also the date of the annual Virginia Citizens' Defense League (VCDL) Lobby Day.  The purpose of Lobby Day is a day for volunteer members of VCDL to speak with their legislative representatives and Senators about gun issues.  VCDL, along with a number of Republicans have been responsible for getting concealed carry passed in Virginia, and expanding gun rights in general.  When I lived in Virginia, I was a member of VCDL.  It is a mainstream organization that ties members from all walks of life together by a common bond of carrying a concealed handgun for personal protection.

The Governor of Virginia, Gov. "Blackface" Northam has preemptively declared a gun free zone around the state Capitol, tagging VCDL members as white nationalists and skinheads, and blaming VCDL members for any violence that occurs on January 20.  The story can be found at the American Thinker in a post by James G. Robertson entitled Blame Game Set for VA. Gov. Northam's Gun Free Kill Zone

Capitol police expect to funnel as many as 10,000 people through magnetometers into the outdoor gun-free kill zone that will be contained by fencing around the Capitol grounds. Thus, any violent extremists motivated by mass murder will be able legally to carry their weapons onto 9th Street and have a free fire zone into the trapped and defenseless crowd.

Similarly, it will be legal to carry anywhere on the streets surrounding the kill zone. Trapping people in an enclosure won't make them safe, and the prospect of mixing bad and good actors in the streets is an object lesson in the futility of gun-free zones.

On Lobby Day, should people need to escape the gun-free kill zone, they will be funneled into exit choke points along the fence, where they will be vulnerable to further concentrated violence. This is the same type of plan used in Charlottesville to trap Unite the Right demonstrators behind metal barricades, and then to funnel them through exits targeted by the Antifa mob.

Antifa mob?  Who are these guys?  Lets take a look at the history of the so called Antifascists who are the new military wing of the left.  Doug Petrikat has a piece at the American Thinker entitled The Fascist Roots Behind Today's Justification Of Political Violence. Petrikat points out that Antifa is the same old group of communists who fought against the fascists in the 1920s and 1930s in fascist Italy and Germany.  The entire enterprise is Un-American, indeed, is an imported philosophy from Europe, from Marx and Engles.

But now someone I personally know and consider a rational, intelligent person was justifying political violence. It made me think that we have reached the point where apparently normal people believe violence is an acceptable way to resolve internal political differences.

This is a disturbing development. In a civilized society, freedom of speech and open discussion enable those with different views to learn from each other and consider their own positions from a more critical perspective. However, where threats, intimidation, ridicule, and political violence are the norm, open discussion is suppressed, and progress is hindered.

...snip...

Antifa began a century ago in 1921 as a front group under the direction of the Soviet Union to incite a Communist revolution in Germany. In 1923 the Politburo of the Communist Party in Soviet Russia held a meeting to plan an armed insurrection to overthrow the struggling democracy in Germany’s Weimar Republic. Following the Politburo’s instructions, the German Communist Party formed its armed movement to silence rival political parties through violence and to overthrow the government. The party named its movement Antifaschistische Aktion.

The party chose the name Antifaschistische Aktion, now known as Antifa, because an Italian Marxist fell out with his nation’s Socialist Party, founded his own party, and took power in 1922. Although he still held leftist views, nationalized 75% of Italy’s economy, and expanded the state’s social safety net, he believed that a hierarchy should be part of society and ignored the dictates from both the Socialists in his former party and the Communists in Moscow. For this heresy, his new party was branded as a rogue movement.

If one were prone to conspiracy theories, one might think that Governor Northam, a Leftist, might well be coordinating, indirectly of course, with Antifa, to create the violence while arranging the stage to actually cause it. Not that I am a conspiracy theorists, but...

T, L, Davis lays out the theory in more detail in a post at the American Thinker entitled Is Governor Northam Trying To State a Second Civil War? Davis notes that normal political behavior is that in the face of overwhelming unpopularity of a given policy, politicians usually either modify their plans or dump them all together.  After all, how can you govern without the consent of the governed?  Yet the Democrats seem poised to ram extreme gun control down Virginia citizens' throats. 

If you are planning to be a part of Lobby Day, please read the embedded articles, and keep your head on a swivel.  Be ready to film anything that looks like it may become Antifa mob violence, or may be a false flag operation designed to make gun owners the bad guys.