Despite the fact that most of the leaders and participants have surrounded or been, in one case, killed, the Oregon standoff continues…. barely. The remaining four diehards at the Malheur National Wildlife Center have re-dubbed it “Camp Finicum”, named after the armed protester who was killed a couple weeks ago. National attention on the standoff has waned since Finicum’s … Read More
Unedited Video Of the Oregon Standoff and Arrest and Showdown
There have been conflicting stories about how militant LaVoy Finicum. Occupants of Finicum’s car say he was “executed” with his hands up. Law enforcement accounts say that he was reaching into his left jacket pocket and not keeping his hands up (and a loaded gun was found in that pocket later). To me, in this video, a couple of things are … Read More
Oregon Standoff Loosing Steam
Kudos to law enforcement. Looks like their tactic worked. A lot of lefties, including me, thought they were ignoring the armed occupiers when this thing began, but the feds knew what they were doing: It’s a pretty safe bet that by seizing the opportunity to decapitate the leadership of the Oregon occupiers, federal authorities were hoping the remainder of the … Read More
Oregon Standoff Has Arrests, A Shootout, and A Death
… but it continues. There had been no visible law enforcement presence around the refuge as the situation stretched on for days and weeks, and occupiers came and went as they pleased, though they said they remained on guard. The group’s leaders had felt comfortable enough to move freely, leaving the refuge’s headquarters to attend meetings with residents and law enforcement officials. On Tuesday … Read More
“Good Guys With Guns” Will Be The Death Of Us
More so now that are allowed to carry guns anywhere and are easily spooked: Police say the man suspected of accidentally shooting a stranger at a Renton movie theater told them he carried a firearm because he feared mass shootings. Dane Gallion, 29, told officers he took the gun to Regal Cinemas 14 at the Landing on Thursday night because … Read More
The Sad Story Of Christine Mumma
The North Carolina Bar just ruled that Christine Mumma violated professional conduct rules in her quest to free an innocent man from prison. Mumma is an attorney for the North Carolina Innocence Project (actually, The NC Center on Actual Innocence) She was trying to free Joseph Sledge, 71, who had spent more than three decades in prison for a double homicide he did … Read More
Original Intent
From The New Yorker: December 5, 1791 James Madison House of Representatives Dear James, How is it almost 1792?! Quick question on the right to bear arms thing in your “Bill of Rights”—the wording and punctuation are slightly confusing. Did you mean that the right of the people serving in the militia to keep and bear arms shall not be … Read More
Y’All Queda: The Oregon Standoff – Day 5
First, this: Ammon Bundy, a leader of the armed protesters who took over a federal building in Oregon, and his family are known for battling the federal government. But Bundy told CNN on Tuesday that he’s not opposed to government and said that taking a six-figure loan from theSmall Business Administration doesn’t conflict with his political philosophy. Bundy borrowed $530,000 … Read More
Emotional President Moves On Gun Control
White House insiders have long said that the worst day of Obama’s presidency was the day of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. What should have been a 9/11 moment for the whole nation turned out to be nothing — as in nothing changed. Congress voted against reasonable laws like universal background checks. It is clear … Read More
Domestic Terrorism Update
Busy day today, so I have little commentary. I recommend an article in The New Yorker for a slightly different, but valuable, perspective than mine: American vigilantism is never racially innocent. Its two parents are self-mobilization on the frontier, usually against Native Americans at a time when homesteading was reserved to whites, and the racial terror of the Ku Klux … Read More
Armed Terrorists Seize Federal Property
You would think this would be 24/7 headline news, but it isn’t. The terrorist takeover began Sunday morning, but the regular news outlets barely covered it. Only on Twitter was it discussed at any length, thanks to the hashtag #OregonUnderAttack. Now that it is a regular non-holiday workday, the media is starting to report it. Before then, the only real … Read More
What The Tamir Rice Incident Reveals About Open Carry Gun Laws
So much yes from Charles Pierce in Esquire: There certainly is no point in emphasizing the damn irony that Ohio is an “open carry” state so, even if the cops assumed Rice was 18, and they also assumed his gun was real, they had no cause even to stop him, let alone open fire. Listen to the spiel that Wayne … Read More
Did Ted Cruz Leak Classified Information During The Latest GOP Debate?
It went down like this. While Rubio and Cruz were debating each other’s records on national security and surveillance, Cruz got into some details about what the bulk data program covers. “What he knows is that the old program covered 20 percent to 30 percent of phone numbers to search for terrorists,” Cruz said, referring to Rubio. “The new program … Read More