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Gangster Government, and Sakharov's Immunity

Matthew Bracken, February 29, 2012

* * 1 * *
For over a year now, the Department of Justice has been stone-walling the House committees investigating Operation Fast And Furious, wherein thousands of semi-automatic rifles ("assault rifles" in the liberal vernacular) were deliberately allowed to "walk" into Mexico, straight into the hands of drug cartel killers. One of those weapons was used to murder Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry a dozen miles inside of U.S. territory.

The actual killer is believed to be an FBI "informant." In other words, a cartel assassin in his own right, but also a valuable "asset" in the FBI's consideration. The FBI and DOJ have been shielding this killer, while obstructing the delivery of justice to the Brian Terry family. On the other side of the border, ICE Agent Jaime Zapata was also murdered with a "gun-walked" weapon, along with over two-hundred innocent Mexican citizens as of this date.

And where is the elite Mainstream Media in its coverage of this festering scandal of such epic proportions? Over the past year they have dedicated scant minutes to the scandal, and then, usually to parrot the Obama administration's lies and obfuscations. Just during one recent week, the elite media spent countless hours covering the death and funeral of a beloved celebrity drug addict, compared to the few minutes they have spent covering Operation Fast And Furious during all of the last year.

Under Operation Fast And Furious, there was no plan or means to track the weapons after their sale. Licensed gun dealers were coerced by the BATFE into making repeated bulk sales, even when they expressed grave concern about the persons buying the weapons, including known felons. Federal cash was provided to the straw purchasers when they did not have their own money.

As conceived and carried out, the intended purpose of Operation Fast and Furious was to rack up a bloody body count in Mexico, in order to discredit the Right to Keep and Bear Arms as spelled out in the Second Amendment of the Constitution. The murdered Mexicans were intended to buttress the false claim that ninety percent of the weapons recovered in Mexico after gangland shootings came from American gun dealers.

In short, the Obama administration conducted a program of mass murder for political purposes. Or, as President Obama put it to Sarah Brady, they were still pursuing a gun control agenda, but "under the radar." It is hard to conceive of a federal "law enforcement" program more evil from top to bottom than Operation Fast And Furious.

* * 2 * *
By comparison, consider the Watergate scandal, which at the time was generally called "a third-rate burglary." I was a teenage construction worker the summer of 1973 when the Senate Hearings took place. Out on the construction sites, you could hear radios playing the hearings all through the day. The radio and television networks suspended normal programming in that pre-cable era to bombard America with gavel-to-gavel coverage of the Watergate hearings.

We all know the result of that non-stop media focus: President Nixon soon resigned in disgrace to avoid impeachment, and U.S. Attorney General John Mitchell was sent to prison. And all over a bungled political burglary, where nobody was killed or even hurt.

But imagine for a moment if President Nixon's men, when called before the committees investigating the Watergate scandal, had provided less than twenty percent of subpoenaed documents after a full year of ignoring requests and congressional pleading. Then further imagine that among the twenty percent of the documents that were provided to Congress, hundreds of pages were "fully redacted," or completely blacked out. Black paper, by the ream.

In diplo-speak, this is leaning across the witness table toward the congressional investigators, giving them two middle fingers and a hearty, "F--- you, you punks, what are you going to do about it?"

Then imagine if the New York Times, the Washington Post and the television networks never mentioned Watergate or the hearings, except rarely, and then only to refer to the congressional investigators as partisan hacks on witch-hunts, simply bent on destroying the nation's beloved President Nixon and stopping his good works. In this alternate reality, Woodward and Bernstein never got a Watergate by-line, but instead they were sent to cover the new "ecology" movement and Earth Day.

Reverse the party polarity, jump ahead four decades to today, and that is the current sad state of American reality. Gangsters rule the federal government; the Operation Fast And Furious congressional investigators are ineffectual, toothless buffoons, and their spineless congressional leaders even balk at further investigation of the deadly scandal.

In the modern case of Operation Fast and Furious, hundreds of Mexicans were murdered as a necessary pre-condition for a desired political outcome, the undercutting of Second Amendment rights in America. From the outset, the administration's goal was to bury our Right to Keep and Bear Arms beneath a growing mountain of Mexican corpses. The innocent murdered Mexicans were not collateral damage of Operation Fast and Furious, they were the intended targets from the start.

Dear readers, it does not get more evil than that.

Attorney General Holder and his lieutenants have repeatedly lied and are repeatedly caught lying, so they make up more lies, bald-face lies, contradicted by email records and their own words. But no charges of perjury ensue from Congress, only more extensions of meaningless deadlines to produce the subpoenaed documents and all of the witnesses who have been called to testify, but who have simply refused to appear.

Two middle fingers, and a hearty "F--- you."

And not only does the elite Mainstream Media ignore the story, thereby shielding the Obama administration from answering for Operation Fast and Furious or many other administration scandals, they actually take an active role in promulgating the latest messages put out by the Obama Whitehouse. One recent blatant example will suffice. Most viewers were bewildered at the Republican primary debate on January 20, when moderator George Stephanopoulos of ABC News asked, and continued to ask, seemingly off-topic questions about the candidates' views on, of all possible subjects, birth control.

We now understand that current Whitehouse War Room "General" Valerie Jarrett has been conducting weekly planning meetings with representatives from the hard-left Media Matters, for the purpose of delivering the latest administration "talking points" and strategic memes to their friends in the media and thereby to the public at large. Then lo and behold, the original Clinton Whitehouse War Room "General" George Stephanopoulos just happened to pick debate questions not about Operation Fast And Furious, or even the high price of gasoline, but, of all things, the birth control meme that the Whitehouse wanted to float, as a diversion from discussing the perilous state of the economy. And wildly successful it has been, this meme-making machine, at keeping the Republican candidates off-message and off-balance.

A horribly biased media that will not even investigate Operation Fast And Furious will certainly not investigate this grossly transparent act of political prostitution by "journalist" George Stephanopoulos. In graphic terms, this was not merely discreet political sex for a quiet off-camera payoff; this was naked, loud copulation at high noon, on the public square. Even so, today almost nobody will say aloud what needs to be said: George Stephanopoulos has now proven himself a political whore of the lowest stripe, but even worse than that, he has shown himself to be a serving member in good standing of Gangster Government, Inc.

George Stephanopoulos does the political bidding of Valerie Jarrett and Media Matters, making him a willing stooge and a critical cog in Gangster Government, Inc., thereby disgracing both his family name and the occupation of journalist. He will go down in history as a dishonorable scoundrel, who put his shared political agendas ahead of any bare pretense at making an honest search for the truth concerning deadly scandals such as Operation Fast and Furious, which by objective measures is the worst political scandal of the modern era.

* * 3 * *
Let's return to Watergate. When the activities of the Nixon Whitehouse "Plumbers" became known, a vigorous media examination provided the water and bleach to quickly disinfect the mess and restore the integrity of government institutions. Officials as high as the U.S. Attorney General went to prison, and President Nixon was forced from office in abject disgrace.

However, nothing like that happens today, under the willfully averted gaze of "state controlled media." Operation Fast and Furious, a scandal that is demonstrably orders of magnitude worse than Watergate, gets a complete pass. The MSM is too busy covering the latest celebrity escapades to be bothered with mere mass-murder, carried out as an intended part of a federal "law enforcement operation" (sic) at the Obama administration's direction.

How may we understand this disinterest by the elite media? Gangster Government, Inc. cannot thrive unless it can depend on its loyal GGI affiliates in the elite media. Without the looming threat of investigative reporting, Gangster Government is protected on its flanks, and is empowered to advance. The elite media becomes a willing shield for the gangsters, instead of a check against their depredations, all the while claiming objectivity in their reportage.

In effect, the elite media pisses on our heads and tells us it is raining, and then expects us not only to believe their lies, but to be happy about them. However, out here in the Bitter Clinger Nation, we do indeed see what is happening in sharp detail, and we know that it is not rain that is coming down. We understand, but we are simply unable to change the situation. Not when the elite media itself becomes a key part of the cover-up of Operation Fast And Furious and other manifestations of Gangster Government, Inc.

Why spend so much time on this comparison between the Watergate scandal and Operation Fast and Furious? Because it is the Rosetta stone for understanding how Obama's Gangster Government came creeping in, bent on turning the United States into a total control grid, where vestigial scraps of freedom will be doled out by the State to obedient subjects. When a Gangster Government is not opposed by an honest media or the threat of meaningful congressional hearings, it is emboldened and it advances. This is the outcome of President Obama's new policy of ruling by executive decree, and his repeatedly stating that, "If the congress won't act, I will."

"So what?" you may ask. "We live in a corrupt age, so we have a corrupt government. And not for the first, or the last time."

No, I'm sorry, but this is not the same as anything seen before. Hold onto the example of Watergate: a third rate burglary, under a constant media spotlight, leading to the end of a presidency, and an attorney general in prison. Compare that to Operation Fast And Furious: a covert policy of mass murder for political benefit, followed by feeble congressional investigations, with exactly zero elite media interest. It is an objective metric to compare Watergate to Fast And Furious. The current lack of accountability leaves the Obama administration emboldened to move further away from adherence to the Constitutional limitations they swore to uphold. "If the Congress won't act, I will," may be translated in normal English as, "The hell with the Constitution, I am in charge, and nobody can stop me."

Gangster Government, Inc.

We have reached a sickening point in our history, when an FBI "informant" shot and killed a U.S. Border Patrol Agent with an AK-47 "walked" to the cartels as part of Operation Fast And Furious. The only part of this that did not go exactly according to the plan cooked up in the Whitehouse is that the "walked" rifle killed a U.S. federal agent in America, instead of just one more Mexican in Mexico. The murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry at least spilled a bit of light on the murderous operation, but not enough. More than a year later, the cover-up is holding firm, with the willing assistance of the elite media in blocking the reportage of any news injurious to the Whitehouse.

(This is not the first time, by the way, that FBI "informants" were allowed to commit murder while receiving FBI protection. It recalls the Irish mobs in Boston who were given FBI protection for over twenty years, in particular the Whitey Bulger gang. It has taken the FBI decades to mitigate the stink of their long-term participation in the Boston Black Mass, which included covering up numerous murders by their "informants.")

Now the FBI is running "informants" in Mexican cartels, who receive FBI protection, even after they murder U.S. agents in the United States. This ongoing lamentable situation will dishonor every faithfully serving FBI Special Agent as long as it is allowed to continue, just as it also dishonors the memory of murdered Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.

* * 4 * *
Dear readers, we are at a precarious point in our history. When I wrote Enemies Foreign And Domestic in 2002, I was not making wild guesses. I was studying historical and recent foreign examples. When a Gangster Government is left unchecked by a complicit elite media, it is an entirely foreseeable consequence that federal "law enforcement" (sic) agencies will conduct the types of false-flag and other black ops described in EFAD. Power unchecked is power abused. Without the threat of significant media examination or congressional oversight, what do the gangsters have to fear? Nothing at all.

Look to the recent experiences of countries in Latin America to project what will come next--if it is not already occurring sub-rosa. There will be officially unsanctioned operations that are launched after a wink and a nod from the upper floors. Criminal "informants" seeking large cash payments or stay-out-of-jail cards (or both) will handle the "wet work" on a deniable basis. Rogue units like the Special Training Unit described in EFAD will far overstep any Constitutional bounds, and sally forth on both personal and political vendettas, seeking to destroy those they cannot silence, with no regard for the rule of law, and no fear of being held to account by the complicit media.

All of this will happen, just as surely as mushrooms will sprout forth from horse manure in a dark place. It is what always happens, when a Gangster Government veering toward outright fascism is assisted by a compliant press. Study the past decade in the political life of Venezuela, to see America's future. Secret police, and eventually even death-squads made up of "off-duty" agents and their cartel and street gang "informants" will proliferate. Violent street mobs aimed and directed by federal instigators through cutouts will be unleashed on political enemies, while the Feds and the elite media study their fingernails. These are a few examples of what always happens under these conditions. It is as predictable as the swing of a pendulum.

Data-mining programs will provide these abusers of power with powerful tools for creating enemies lists, and for targeting them, as described in EFAD. Social media networks are already under intensive federal scrutiny. This year, it is ostensibly to track down undefined terrorist threats. But social media, so popular today, must be understood as a two-edged sword. The same social media that facilitated the Arab Spring, today brings the secret police of Syria, Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia and other nations to the doors of obscure bloggers hidden in tiny apartments, to drag them away to secret torture cells.

The point is that social media works both ways, and analyzing their traffic patterns is currently a booming sector in federal law enforcement. This year, unnamed groups of terrorists are the reason given for all of the new federal law enforcement "fusion centers." Next year or the year after, other classes of political enemies may be placed on the federal microscope's slide as political circumstances evolve. Gangster Government, when it is unconcerned about being held to account, always moves forward to greater levels of outright repression.

The ratchets restricting our freedom click tighter. People are afraid to speak, for fear of winding up on a list, and what that might mean in the years ahead under a Gangster Government. Your spouse desperately needs an organ transplant? Gee, sorry, not available, not to you, not now. Not to a political enemy, they will mean but not say. Therefore, you had better shut up and get with the program, if you know what is best for you. That compliant and fearful attitude is the intended outcome of Gangster Government, Inc. It needs a silent and submissive nation of frightened sheep to thrive unchecked.

However, some of us will just not get the word. We will not all shut up and play ball, so at the next stop along this express railroad to fascism, the regime's political enemies will be targeted for assassination. But not necessarily in the 1963 or 1968 meaning of the word. That is, not by "kinetic solutions," to use today's favored expression. Today, assassination comes in many subtler forms.

* * 5 * *
Which brings me at last to Sakharov's Immunity. Andrei Sakharov was a Soviet physicist and a primary inventor of the H-bomb. When he went off the Communist reservation in 1967 and became a dissident, the regime made his life miserable but they did not kill him, which was certainly in their power to do. His death under such circumstances would have proved the very points he was making about the illegitimate Soviet regime. They moved him far into Siberia to keep him isolated from intrepid foreign visitors, but they did not sprinkle radioactive Polonium dust on his salad. The introduction of that deadly form of Russian salad dressing was left for a later strongman, Vladimir Putin, formerly of the KGB.

And there are many other means of assassination. The Soviet KGB could not assassinate Sakharov's reputation, it was above reproach. But in the modern era, with the elite media serving as the Obama regime's willing propaganda organ (birth control, anyone?) this is easier to arrange than ever. Popular media icons can be and have been driven off the airwaves by the full-court press of the Media Matters smear machine, in coordination with Valerie Jarrett at the Whitehouse War Room. And does anyone believe that the vicious smear campaign against black conservative Republican candidate Herman Caine was not orchestrated in the War Room of Gangster Government, Inc?

Or the regime can commit an "Economic Waco," the way it has recently done to the Rick and Terri Reese family of Deming, NM. Read about this case, and ponder this federal engine of total destruction being turned against your family. At the same time the secret federal "law enforcement" (sic) program of walking thousands of guns directly to Mexican cartel killers was official ATF policy, and nobody has even been charged with a crime.

Obviously, taking a stand against Gangster Government Inc. and its media minions comes with some risk. They can drop a large building on you if they want to, just as they did to the Reese family in New Mexico, and grind you under their boot heels.

So why do I stand and point my accusing finger at Leviathan? Perhaps those dissidents with a sufficiently high profile will earn some measure of Sakharov's Immunity, at least for a while. Certainly keeping a low profile is no guarantee of protection from being railroaded and destroyed, as the case of Rick and Terri Reese clearly demonstrates. Needless to say, the elite media has no interest in covering their physical and economic crucifixion by the federal government. Read about their case; it will make you sick to your stomach that this kind of official abuse can happen in the United States of America.

So if maintaining a low profile does not promise safety from the organs of state destruction, perhaps keeping a high profile will. I am pinning a lot on this Sakharov's Immunity idea. But if it is my fate to serve as one of the canaries in the coalmine of freedom, so be it. I am in good company, standing with many genuine heroes. You already know many of them, but it is not for me to name them here.

* * 6 * *
And a final note to federal law enforcement officers and agents: More than any other single group, you should read Enemies Foreign And Domestic. On March 1, 2012, and for a few days after, it will be free to download from Amazon's Kindle Store to your PC or other machines and devices. (If you know a federal law enforcement agent, please forward him or her this link.)

I know that most of you depend greatly on your federal paycheck, and look forward to receiving your federal pension. Millions of us are in a similar boat. We all have bills to pay and kids to feed. However, while you ponder your need for your federal paycheck, remember that FBI also stands for Fidelity, Bravery, and Integrity.

If you are being asked or encouraged to perform dishonorable or unconstitutional acts, remember, it often takes a lot of bravery to remain faithful to your core value of personal integrity. Remember always that you swore a solemn oath to defend not a Fuhrer, or a Fatherland, or even a desired ideological outcome, but the Constitution of the United States.

This means that if you are instructed by a supervisor like the fictional Wally Malvone to engage in dirty tricks and black ops (like those that actually took place under Operation Fast And Furious), you are honor bound to blow the whistle, like the brave ATF Special Agents who remained faithful to their oaths and preserved their integrity. There can be no more of protecting killers because they are federal law enforcement agency "informants," like the members of the Whitey Bulger Irish mob in Boston, or the FBI "informant" who was the likely assassin of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in Arizona.

As an agent who believes in your oath, it is your duty to root out and extirpate the rot and filth of political corruption, which is far more dangerous to our Republic than the corruption of mere personal greed. You must remain vigilant to the danger that your agency will become fully politicized, transforming over time into an American KGB or Stasi. Please reread the oath you swore before accepting your gold shield, especially the part about domestic enemies. If you willingly become a Stasi or a KGB man, if a job is a job and you just follow orders, then that domestic enemy is you, and trust me on this, many of us are watching these developments very carefully and with great trepidation.

You see, countless millions of us also took our own versions of that same oath when we joined the military or law enforcement, and our oaths did not come with an expiration date.
Matthew Bracken

February 29, 2012


Enemies Foreign and Domestic is available at a number of sites:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2850992/posts?page=1

HIATUS

In case you're wondering, yes I'm still alive; just very busy. I am currently working towards an MDiv, and classes are keeping me extremely busy. Unless something amazingly cool or Earth-shatteringly drastic occurs, I'll not be back until some time in December, when the semester ends.
God's best to you & yours.

Jerusalem Scholars "Trace Bible's Evolution"

While I admire their diligence in devoting much of their lives to the study & examination of Scripture, I can't approve the timbre of the article. It seems that journalists are always looking to report something sensational, and since Jews & Christians don't cut off peoples' heads and riot in the streets when we get offended, The Bible and Christianity in general always seem to be good press--provided the reporter can make it sound sensational enough.

Before we get excited about their work, one way or another, we need to ask ourselves a few questions about the presupositions with which they approach their examination. Let's start with the opening paragraph.

.JERUSALEM (AP) — A dull-looking chart projected on the wall of a university office in Jerusalem displayed a revelation that would startle many readers of the Old Testament: the sacred text that people revered in the past was not the same one we study today.

An ancient version of one book has an extra phrase. Another appears to have been revised to retroactively insert a prophecy after the events happened.

"...appears to have been revised to retrocatively insert..."

What system/method of dating are these scholars using to determine the age of the texts they are examining? How many texts did they find with this variation?

Scholars in this out-of-the-way corner of the Hebrew University campus have been quietly at work for 53 years on one of the most ambitious projects attempted in biblical studies — publishing the authoritative edition of the Old Testament, also known as the Hebrew Bible, and tracking every single evolution of the text over centuries and millennia.

And it has evolved, despite deeply held beliefs to the contrary.

For many Jews and Christians, religion dictates that the words of the Bible in the original Hebrew are divine, unaltered and unalterable. For Orthodox Jews, the accuracy is considered so inviolable that if a synagogue's Torah scroll is found to have a minute error in a single letter, the entire scroll is unusable.

Not true. The accurately copied parts of scrolls containing typographical errors were often used in Synagogue or other studies. There were often piles of parts of scrolls stored away for teaching use; among them were the Dead Sea scrolls. Also, if accuracy was so "inviolable," then how could there be an evolution to the text? Seriously. The argument presented in the article is logically invalid.

The scholars note where the text we have now differs from older versions — differences that are evidence of the inevitable textual hiccups, scribal errors and other human fingerprints that became part of the Bible as it was passed on, orally and in writing.

When you consider the amazing mass of available Scripture texts and fragments available for comparison, the continuity and accuracy is actually astonishing. Consider the difficult and tedious task of copying these texts by hand--with painstaking attention to detail & accuracy. Some human errors are inevitable. Does this mean that God's Holy Spirit did not superintend the work and that the meaning is now obscured or destroyed? Not at all. Less than 1/2 of 1% of what are considered errors in Scripture are nothing more than an occasional elided or transposed letter. look at some of the errors that the reporter writing the article seems to think are so Earth-shattering as to destroy all credibility or faith in the transmission or reliability of the text. Case in point:

A Microsoft Excel chart projected on one wall on a recent Sunday showed variations in a single phrase from the Book of Malachi, a prophet.

The verse in question, from the text we know today, makes reference to "those who swear falsely." The scholars have found that in quotes from rabbinic writings around the 5th century A.D., the phrase was longer: "those who swear falsely in my name."

In another example, this one from the Book of Deuteronomy, a passage referring to commandments given by God "to you" once read "to us," a significant change in meaning.

Other differences are more striking.

Oh, my. Does the Deuteronomy narrative contain commandments given "to you" by God, or "to us" by God? That is in no way a "significant change in meaning;" it's the same meaning. In the first, the scribe draws attention to the individual reader; the 2nd example focuses on the community of believers. The example from Malachi is so ridiculous that it scarcely bears mention. Yes, certainly some scribes/commentators included marginal notes to aid in understanding, but that doesn't mean that the text has been corrupted.

Considering that the nature of their work would be considered controversial, if not offensive, by many religious people, it is perhaps surprising that most of the project's scholars are themselves Orthodox Jews.

AHA! Matti Friedman you have tipped your hand. You would like to think that their work is controversial and offensive. You want us to be angry and fearful that someone is closely examining the Word of God and just might find something in it that renders our faith foolish and irrelevant. Nice try, but no cigar. In the words of C.H. Spurgeon, " Defend the Word of God? I'd sooner defend a lion! Just turn the Bible loose; it will defend itself."

"A believing Jew claims that the source of the Bible is prophecy," said the project's bearded academic secretary, Rafael Zer. "But as soon as the words are given to human beings — with God's agreement, and at his initiative — the holiness of the biblical text remains, even if mistakes are made when the text is passed on."

Bingo. Thank you Mr. Zer

Letter to my Senators & Congressman

Dear ____________;

I am writing to urge you to vote NO on any plan that involves raising the debt ceiling. As you should know, America’s debt limit is dangerously close to our GNP. Sir, in plain, blunt terms that means that you-our government officials- are spending far more taxpayer money than you currently take from us in revenue. In any other household budget, when a person realizes that their expenses exceed their income, there are three courses of action: 1) you immediately stop overspending and live within your means, 2) you find a way to supplement your income, or 3) you exacerbate the problem by going deeper into debt.

Sir, you will no doubt agree that the Pollyanna attitude of #3 is absolutely untenable. It would be insanity to do so with a family budget, and doubly so with an entire nation. To accomplish #2, you will have to raise taxes, since the government doesn’t actually produce anything to generate its own income. I strongly advise against this, though. Many Americans (including myself) are already extremely bitter about the cavalier way you politicians steal our income through taxation—only to spend it irresponsibly on selfish pay increases, foreign aid, and inane governmental programs. Sir, as any thinking person would see it, the only way to solve America’s debt problem is option #1: you look at your current amount of income, consider what expenditures are ABSOLUTELY necessary within that amount (including paying off the current debt), and then immediately stop spending more.

It’s that simple.

I appreciate you taking the time to read this, and I look forward to hearing from you that this plan is clear and that you will not vote to raise the debt ceiling.

Review: Mini-Sneaky Bag, US PALM AK30 Magazines, and a weekend of training

I recently attended a weekend carbine camp hosted by not one, but two men who spent considerable time training with Col. Jeff Cooper and whose yearly training budgets rival my mortgage. The weather, hitherto gorgeous for Indiana in the springtime, turned absolutely crappy: temps from the 30’s to the 60’s throughout Friday & Saturday with accompanying precipitation ranging from a mere drizzle to an all-out thunderstorm that almost uprooted my tent. Sunday, while sunny and warmer, allowed us the privilege of training in the mud and wet grass in our shirtsleeves.

Having also recently acquired a mini Sneaky Bag and a handful of US PALM magazines for my AK USA Saiga/104 rebuild, I figured this would be a good opportunity to see how well the bag performed as well as how the US PALM mags would hold up. These are the ones with the metal reinforced locking tabs that (I believe) some are referring to as their "Generation 2" magazines. For the past couple years, I have gone back and forth in my mind as to the place of a battle bag for support, and just when I was ready to sell off my mini Sneaky Bag, I fell in love with it.

I have an SKD Universal chest rig made by Eagle Industries that works wonderfully well, and I have built a fantastic belt rig that is not only comfortable, but accommodates my somewhat unorthodox method of shooting pistol left-handed and longarm as a righty. I have also used a LaRue Hawkepak, which is actually more of a mini-BOB due to the amazing amount of storage space it affords. I say all of that to say this: when you use a chest rig, you use the limited space available. When you build a belt rig, you justify the presence and placement of every pouch, attachment, and piece of equipment. For some reason, when we try to use a bag for support gear, we tend to want to cram it to the corners with every conceivable bit of kit we can jam into or MOLLE Lock onto it.

The mini Sneaky just doesn’t allow for this. While the padding for the sling is beefy enough to accommodate a much heavier load, the beefiest complement you’re going to get into a mini-Sneaky is a few pistol mags, up to 4 (double stacked) 30-rd mags, and maybe a pistol (should you decide to attach a Velcro "Universal Holster" to the inside of the main pocket opposite the rifle mags). A double row of MOLLE on the exterior sides also limits what can be attached to the exterior.

Is this necessarily a bad thing? No, I don’t believe it is. In fact, I’m beginning to like and appreciate the gear-minimalist approach that the mini Sneaky Bag has forced me to take.

In ironing out my gear, I tend to ask a lot of questions of guys who have BTDT before deciding on a course of action & seeing what will work for me. When I asked one of the gentlemen running our training about the place of a designated fighting bag, he gestured towards some of the other guys in the class who were kitted up with everything from chest/belt combos to actual plate carriers. "If TEOTWAWKI comes and I see one of these guys," he said, "I’ll shoot him without a second thought. Not only is that some nice gear, but they look threatening as Hell. If someone comes down the road in normal clothes with a bag like you have and their rifle slung, I’ll still be wary, but I’ll at least give them a chance to explain themselves." Hmmm…

One of the best bits of advice I was given when bemoaning the perceived uselessness of my mini-Sneaky Bag was to think of it replacing the chest rig & some of the belt, and not to expect more out of it than I would a normal chest rig. Again: Hmmm…

The chest rig holds 3-4 rifle mags and a modest Admin pouch. The mini Sneaky Bag is designed to hold anywhere from 2-4 mags in the main storage pocket, and the stuff from my Admin pouch (boresnake, ear pro, lens cloth, & lighter) safely & easily fits in the bottom of that pocket. So far, so good. The Rite In The Rain notebook that stays in the map pocket of my chest rig now goes into the integral Admin pocket on the backside of the mini Sneaky, along with some QuickClot sponges. Even better. My belt rig holds another pair of 20-rd AK mags, a dump pouch, IFAK, a Paraclete triple pistol shingle & a drop-leg panel for my pistol and ESEE 4. With 90-150 rounds already accessible between the mini Sneaky and my rifle, I don’t mind ditching the weight of the extra 40rd that the belt rig offers. The pistol can stay on my pants belt, and instead of the 39 rd in three pistol mags, I put a pair of 22 rd extended mags in the front pocket of the mini Sneaky, which gives me 5 extra rounds of 165 grain jacketed hollowpoint love, and still leaves room for a mini-Mag Light to nestle between them. The mini Sneaky features an integral dump pouch with a clever, elastic cinch and the MOLLE on the sides is exactly enough to attach the knife & IFAK. I took the belt strap off of my mini Sneaky Bag, and when I'm not using the leg strap, I simply loop it through the carry strap above the integral Admin pocket.

The mini Sneaky Bag is about as perfect, simple, and low-profile as one can get while toting a rifle.

Does this mean that I’ll ditch the belt/chest rig setup and forever carry my "tactical man-purse"? Not by a long shot. As always, we must allow the mission to drive the gear and not the other way around. However, the mini Sneaky is a very well made and extremely well thought-out piece of kit which works remarkably well and absolutely has an important role to play as support gear. But it’s no more magical than any other piece of gear.

Everything has its plusses and minuses, and we would all do well to consider them deeply before jumping on any bandwagons. Use of the belt or leg strap will help to keep it in place while running or moving, but even then, proning out or dropping into rice-paddy prone means you’re probably losing an empty magazine from the dump pouch. On the other hand, the Sneaky Bag’s simple design and placement on my body means that mobility is nearly unhindered, and it is quick and easy to access anything in or on it. Both of these factors working together made all movement and transitions easier.

Speaking of going prone, we did a number of repetitions where we would take a body shot standing, run 15yd, take a knee behind a low wall to take another shot, run another 20yd, and then go prone to make a head shot on a steel target attached to a cable. One thing that made this all the more interesting was that the cable was on enough of an angle to allow the steel to jiggle further downhill into the forest every time it was hit by a .308 or one of my AK rounds. This caused us all some consternation as we soon discovered that the spot we previously flopped into would no longer allow us a good line of fire. As a result, we all did quite a bit of scooting and crawling. More than once, I pushed the mini Sneaky through the mud and wet grass with my thigh, and even ended up lying atop it a couple times. Despite the soggy conditions, all the Sneaky Bag had to show for it was a 1x2” smear of mud that flaked off the next day.

Saturday, we worked from 300yd and in; the highlight of which was one of the innumerable variations of the "Running the Rifle 10’s" in the rain with a shifting, intermittent 10-15MPH wind. This is a drill which I always enjoy for the combination of physical and skill challenges. Sunday was primarily 100yd and in, involving quite a few Standing, Kneeling, Prone drills. One of the primary foci of the entire weekend was making first shot hits—quickly. As one of the trainers said, "You can’t miss fast enough to stay alive. Only hits count." As a result of the shorter distances and emphasis on speed, many of our drills involved magazine changes.

If you’ve ever done a speed reload with an AK magazine, you know that they tend to turn a half-circle and hit the ground head-first. When they do this in mud and grass, things tend to get a little messy. Intending to run these US PALM mags as hard as I possibly could, I just picked them up after each drill and stuck them back in the bag. When they ran low, I simply refilled them, allowing the existing mud and grass to be forced deeper inside the body while continuing to add more with each magazine change.


By the end of the class, the round I jacked out of the chamber couldn’t have been dirtier if I had physically rolled it in the mud before chambering it.


When I got home, I unloaded the magazines, rinsed them well with warm water, and placed them upside down on a towel to dry overnight.
Misfeeds: 0 Magazine Issues: 0 Magazine Damage: 0

In fact, I’m hard pressed to even see much in the way of wear on either the concave or the convex sides where I continually hit one magazine against the other to knock it out of the mag well.


In fact, the superficial scratch on each of these three magazines is the only sign (apart from some residual external mud) that they were used at all


Do I still think $30 is pretty salty for a rifle mag? Yep, but so far I’m very impressed with the US PALM magazines, and I’m really looking forward to seeing how they continue to perform over time.

Thoughts on Pastor Terry Jones, Muslim Rioters, and Koran- Burning in General

One reason I'm not posting a whole bunch anymore is because much of time is taken up with training, research, and just plain reading.

This past week, there is a lot being said--good and bad--from other Christians and other Americans about Pastor Jones' decision to burn a Koran.

Perhaps because of their close association with actively-serving military, many of the guys over at LightFighter seem to have deluded themselves into thinking that pacification is an appropriate strategy or that Pastor Jones is somehow culpable for the outrageous behavior of Muslims across the world. While I can't speak for Pastor Jones' motives behind burning a Koran, I do not think that he did so with the intention of putting our servicemen in more harm than they already were.

If the actions of a single man half a world away can honestly be decried as the catalyst responsible for "making" the savages riot, we are already well on the road to Dhimmitude.

Over at WarriorTalk, the conversations have taken a different turn. Here is one comment, by member BaseBleed, that actually makes me jealous that I didn't phrase it first:

We are more incensed with expression than we are the boy-raping murderers who worship the memory of that bearded child-molester. This is the same sophistry that gave us "don't fight back against the rapist because you will make him mad".

We are not temporarily calming a perp so we can get to our hideout gun. We are, unbelievably, discussing mollification of an avowed enemy, so that they might not riot and murder? They are continually murdering and slaughtering. The dude in Florida has actually very little to do with it despite protestations to the otherwise. They would have happily found another excuse, or dropped the excuse altogether and killed the victims as their holy text commands them to. Make no mistake, those people were going to die at the hands of these dogs, period.

The pastor is "accountable" because men of evil wait with baited breath for ANY AND EVERY excuse to butcher and maim?
The pastor is "accountable" for an act that is neither immoral, unethical, nor illegal?
I'm converting to Islam tonight so that I can make sure those abusive, narcissistic pieces of crap aren't offended.

Have we never encountered the mindset of a bully? Just as Gavrilo Princip said before his death, "The Germans would have found another excuse."

It is OK to do this if 5000 churches do it? But not if it is just 1 church does it?
Do we honestly think that these deranged thugs would be intimidated if 500,000 churches did it?
No, they would start strapping explosive belts on their favorite donkeys, giddy with the chance to avenge their slighted sensibilities.

When a population is praying for the chance to rape your daughter as they saw off her head, you had better not play this obscene pacification garbage. Because, if you do, the inbred grandchildren of these demons-in-human-skin are most certainly going to be running a rusty knife through the throats of your descendents, that is if your grandkids haven't already converted.

We've become too accustomed to allowing vipers free roam of our neighborhood. Rather than chop their heads off out on the lawn, we've taught our children to speak softly so they don't startle the snakes.

Here's another good one by member Sciuse Morrigna:

Until you get it through your head that the "vicious deadly animals" need to be killed, then your friends will get eaten no matter what. "Vicious deadly animals" will find a reason to eat whether you rattle their cage or not.

While being all "Let's not rock the boat" sounds good to whipped males who have forgotten their culture and carry some sort of guilt complex for the whole of the world may be en vogue these days, to those animal such thinking just makes you a weak fool to be used until it's your turn at the headman's block.

Wake up people. Some guys get it.

Some guys do get it. GreyMan is one. Instead of backpedaling all over his dick and calling the riotous mayhem of irate, irrational, illiterate savages "understandable passions," General Petraeus would do well to heed these words:

May great Fuck be upon Hadji, Islam, and mohammed the goat raping, pedophile, drug addicted piece of shit that can go choke on a bag of dicks.

I'm so sick of this pandering politically correct bullshit. . . I pray by the end of my life that I get a chance for revenge for 911.

I liked what John Travolta's character said in Swordfish when asked "who are we at war with?"

Anyone who impinges on America's freedom. Terrorist states, Stanley. Someone must bring their war to them. They bomb a church, we bomb ten. They hijack a plane, we take out an airport. They execute American tourists, we tactically nuke an entire city. Our job is to make terrorism so horrific that it becomes unthinkable to attack Americans.

Fuck this nice guy shit and lets destroy these animals.

I'll close this post with these remarks from another WarriorTalk member who really puts things in concise perspective:

American Flags are probably burned more than Unholy Korans at a ratio of more than 1000 to one.

I don't see Americans killing anyone over it.

The US fedgov burned many Bibles in Afghanistan, yet there were no riots or killings.

GOA Endorses Richard Mourdock for Senate

Gun Owners of America is proud to announce the endorsement of Richard Mourdock for U.S. Senate.

Mr. Mourdock, who currently serves as Indiana’s State Treasurer, believes that the Second Amendment protects a fundamental, individual right. He stands in stark contrast to his liberal, anti-gun opponent, Richard Lugar.

First elected to the Senate in 1976, Richard Lugar has become the most pitiful of Washington denizens: a man who has forgotten what he stood for and who elected him.

That fact couldn’t have been more clear than when Barack Obama nominated two rabidly anti-gun women to the U.S. Supreme Court: Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.

Kagan could be the deciding vote upholding the constitutionality of the anti-gun ObamaCare law. Lugar jumped on her bandwagon—guaranteeing her confirmation.

Sotomayor lied under oath—claiming that she accepted a Supreme Court ruling that the Second Amendment was a right enjoyed by the American people. Then, at the first opportunity to rule on a Second Amendment case, she reversed herself. Lugar’s support was instrumental in getting her anti-gun nomination over the top.

Lugar was also instrumental in securing the confirmation of Obama’s regulatory czar Cass Sunstein, who believes animals have rights, but gun owners don’t. And he voted for anti-gun Attorney General Eric Holder, who advocated renewing the Clinton gun ban.

In 2009, Lugar proved to the country that he supports banning guns entirely. In February of that year, he voted against an amendment to repeal the gun ban in Washington, D.C. Also in 2009, he voted against a measure to repeal the ban on firearms in national parks.

When it comes to self-defense, Lugar would have people leave their firearms at home. He voted against legislation that would allow for interstate reciprocity for concealed carry, an amendment that failed by a mere two votes.

In 2004, Lugar voted to effectively ban gun shows, to renew the ban on semiautos, and to require all handgun purchasers to buy trigger locks.

And Lugar voted several times for so-called campaign finance reform. This law is intended to shield lawmakers—and their voting records—from the very people who sent them to Washington.

Dick Lugar is wrong on the Second Amendment and wrong for Indiana gun owners and sportsmen.

It’s time to elect a Senator who takes the oath to protect and defend the Constitution seriously. And that’s why Gun Owners of America is proud to endorse Richard Mourdock in the 2012 Republican primary for U.S. Senate.

Richard Mourdock is “A” rated by GOA for his unwavering commitment to the right to keep and bear arms. When he is elected, gun owners will have a trusted friend in Washington.

GOA urges all concerned gun rights supporters to get behind the Mourdock campaign early with your volunteer efforts and financial contributions. Please visit www.richardmourdock.com to learn more about Richard and to find out how you can help in this campaign.

Defeating an entrenched incumbent is never easy, but working together we can win this seat and send a real Second Amendment defender to the Senate.

Sincerely,
Tim Macy
Vice Chairman

New Rifle Bag

I acquired a new soft case a while back, and I cannot figure out for the life of me who made this darned thing. It doesn't have a single manufacturer's tag in it, but it is obviously well made; along the lines of quality one would expect from Eagle. Be that as it may, it also has some interesting features--some odd interesting, and some cool interesting. If anyone out there knows who made this case, and why it was made the way it is, I'd sure be grateful

Pic 1: The Interior


The case is 32x11; long enough for a folding stock AK (which is what I am using it for). To the left is the "pocket" for the muzzle. Note the "seatbelt" straps. Why? What purpose could they possibly serve on the interior? There are also two velcro straps. The one on the left (middle of the case) is positionable, and 20" long, which is way more strap than necessary (or convenient). The rightmost one is securely sewn into the case. At 10", it is a good length, but it isn't really in a good position for securing the grip and/or receiver. The zippered accessory pouch is a great size at about 14x4x3. The large zippered pockets on the near half of the case have 3" elastic sewn into them so as to accommodate 4 30-rd mags each. Note the "stay-quiet" tabs sewn into each end of these pouches.

Pic 2: The Exterior


Here it is opened flat. The straps are seatbelt material and well-stitched. In fact, as you can see, there's quite a bit of well-stitched seatbelt on this case. The zippers are all YYK. Note the ID window on the front cover. On the back cover is what looks (to me, anyway) like a ring to secure the case with a carabiner if one were inclined to jump out of an airplane with this rifle case attached to them

Pic 3: The Exterior--weird


Here's what really throws me about this bag: there is a panel on the front cover that zips off. WTH. This is the panel with the ID window. The zipper for this panel actually zips completely over the carry handle on this side of the case, so I have to have the panel partially unzipped to carry the case using both carry straps. Again, WTH. This design just makes absolutely no sense to me, but I'm hoping that someone out there can pierce through my ignorance and enlighten me as to the origin and purpose of this bag.

Lugar 1st RINO To Call For Renewal Of '04 AWB

Just in case anyone here in Indiana needs another reason to remember that Lugar must not be allowed to run for another term...

Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) this weekend called on Congress to reinstate the assault weapons ban that expired in 2004.

Lugar is the first GOP senator to call for increased gun control following the Tucson tragedy that killed six people and wounded 13 others, including Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. But Lugar, who supported the initial 10-year-long assault weapons ban when it passed in 1994, said he's not optimistic about the chances for passing gun control legislation this Congress.

“I believe it should be, but I recognize the fact that the politics domestically in our country with regard to this are on a different track altogether,” Lugar told Bloomberg Television’s Al Hunt Jan. 14.

Lugar also noted the increase in ammunition sales since the shootings, which he suspected was out of fear that Congress might pass far-reaching gun control legislation in wake of the tragedy.

A couple of lawmakers floated gun control legislation last week in wake of the tragedy, including one of Congress's fiercest gun control advocates, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.). Her bill takes the assault weapon ban slightly further by banning the sales and transfer of high-capacity magazines that the Arizona gunman used.

Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) suggested legislation making it illegal for anyone to knowingly carrying a loaded gun within 1,000 feet of certain high-ranking public officials, including members of Congress.

Neither measure is expected to go anywhere. An aide to House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) told POLITICO last week that he was not expected to support either effort.

Nonetheless, Lugar is going out on a limb by expressing his support for bringing back the now-defunct assault weapons ban – especially because local Tea Party activists have promised to field a primary challenger for the six-term senator. Lugar has a reputation for working across party lines in the Senate, and his support for gun control legislation would likely put him at odds with a more conservative GOP challenger.

Lugar also said in the Bloomberg interview that a Tea Party challenge is “not one that I welcome, but nevertheless, this is a democracy.”

Lugar also told me, in personal correspondance, that he is the first to call for a Congressional pay increase every term because the practice "attracts the best and the brightest."

If Lugar and Bayh are the "best and the brightest" that Indiana has to offer, we are in deep shit

KFC Muslim Employee Screams Insults At Customer Asking For Bacon

Coming soon to a KFC near you.

Australian woman orders bacon @ Muslim-run KFC.