The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Trudy Rubin describes herself, in her Inky bio, as “writ(ing) the Worldview column that tries to make sense of the world’s chaos and conflicts as they affect Americans at home,” but she has made it abundantly clear that she does not understand the world’s chaos and conflicts. She has been an endless shill for continuing American aid to Ukraine, in good neocon fashion, and that’s seven columns on the subject, just since mid-August, and I could have linked more, but believe that I have made the point. She understands that Hamas are wholly evil, but just doesn’t get it about the ‘Palestinians.’ Continue reading →

Funny how none of these measures passed by hardcore Democrats ever restricts their own security, nor goes after actual criminals

Concealed carry gun rules passed by California Democrats. Gavin Newsom is ready to make it law

California Democrats passed new rules Tuesday restricting who can carry loaded weapons in public, successfully reviving a failed attempt to strengthen the state’s concealed carry gun laws.

Senate Bill 2, authored by Sen. Anthony Portantino, D-Burbank, will update the concealed carry licensing process, add new age restrictions, impose strict storage mandates and limit where permit holders can carry in public. After a vote of 28-8 in the state Senate on Tuesday, the legislation is headed to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk for his signature.

“I think the impact is going to be significant,” Portantino told The Sacramento Bee just after the Senate floor vote. “Having a gun is a responsibility and what we’re doing is defining who should have that responsibility and who shouldn’t.”

In a statement released Monday, Newsom commended the legislature for its support and said that there was a reason why people were “less likely to die from bullets in California.”

“We’re using every tool we can to make our streets and neighborhoods safer from gun violence,” he added in the statement.

Yet, it’s rarely those who lawfully own a firearm, and virtually never for anyone with concealed carry permit, to be involved in crime. It’s usually those who illegally possess, but, Democrats do not care, this is about making it harder for law abiding citizens.

Once signed by Newsom, SB 2 requires those who want to carry firearms in public to be 21 or older and have at least 16 hours of training. It will also prohibit permit holders from carrying their guns into a wide array of settings such as schools, courts, government buildings, prisons, hospitals, airports and bars.

This law is pretty damned big for a state law, and isn’t just about guns, but, bb guns, paint guns, short knives, personal gas protection, and more, and has so much information that it will make it tough for anyone to know what is and isn’t against the law. It also gives the California DOJ the power to determine the fees for licenses, rather than setting them in the bill. And it really ramps up the criminal violations. It’s all to make sure law abiding citizens are too scared/unsure to carry their legally purchased firearm.

Gun rights groups are prepared to file a lawsuit challenging the bill the same day that Newsom signs it into law, according to Sam Paredes, executive director of Gun Owners of California.

“We know what we have to do and we’re ready to do it,” Paredes said in an interview. “Ultimately, this bill will never see the light of day as a statute in the state of California.”

The bill is supposedly attempting to comply with the Supreme Court ruling last year but it will simply make it harder.

How long do they expect this war to last?

As Ukraine Aid Benefits Their Districts, Some House Republicans Oppose It

By early next year, this city best known for being the rodeo capital of Texas is on track to become a centerpiece of the U.S. effort to increase artillery production vital to the war in Ukraine.

A hulking new plant going up next to a highway exchange not far from downtown Mesquite promises to nearly double current U.S. output, replenishing stockpiles and preparing more ammunition to beat back the Russian invasion.

For a city in the midst of engineering an economic renaissance, the General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems factory is a major boon. It is expected to employ at least 125 people; bring business opportunities to local suppliers, retailers and restaurants; and, city officials hope, potentially help turn the area into an industrial hotbed of well-paying jobs.

None of that appears to have persuaded Rep. Lance Gooden, the Republican whose district will house the new plant, to support continuing U.S. aid to Ukraine. Over the summer, he joined dozens of his GOP House colleagues in calling for an end to American support for Ukraine’s fight, voting for measures to strip $300 million in security assistance for the war-torn country from next year’s defense budget and prohibit Congress from approving any more funds for the conflict.

His opposition and that of many others in his party has imperiled President Joe Biden’s request for $24 billion in additional funding for the war, threatening to derail an emergency spending bill that lawmakers in both parties are working to push through Congress this month.

The war started on February 24, 2022, and we’re fast approaching the 2nd year, with little change all around. Ukraine’s spring offensive didn’t end up doing a whole lot, and Biden wants to continue showering Ukraine with billions, holding aid to Maui hostage. But, consider what the NY Times is saying: that artillery plant won’t go into operation till next year. At that point, it will take time to start production of the shells and shipping them. How freaking long is this war supposed to go on? How long will the U.S. be funding and supplying Ukraine?

It reflects how the “America First” mentality popularized by former President Donald Trump has spread and intensified among Republicans, prompting increasing numbers of lawmakers — including some whose constituents benefit directly from continued U.S. aid to Ukraine — to refuse to keep supporting it. And it is one major driver of the spending showdowns to come this fall as lawmakers toil to reach agreement on both the routine annual spending bills and an extra package of aid for crises at home and abroad.

Of course there’s some Trump Derangement Syndrome included. This is not about “America First”, it’s about not spending money we don’t have on a war that has little consequences to the U.S. when our own people need that money.

“We’re proud that they’re made in Ohio’s 4th District,” Rep. Jim Jordan, the Republican whose district includes the Lima Army Tank Plant, said of the Abrams tanks, “but our constituents have great concerns about seemingly unlimited taxpayer money being used to fund the war in Ukraine, especially when Americans are struggling at home with rising inflation and places like East Palestine and Maui continue to be ignored by the Biden administration.”

There are lots of Democrats and Independents who are wondering why we’re funding Ukraine, with much of the money going to pay the lawmakers and rich folks in Ukraine. They’re wondering when this will end. And wondering why our citizens are suffering.

Of all the days to take care of avowed enemies, a government, and many of the people, who chant “death to America” and actually mean it. A country attempting to get nuclear weapons, which would destabilize the Middle East, and could cause Israel, and even Saudi Arabia, to strike first

President Joe Biden Bows to Iran on 9/11: Pays $6 Billion for Five Prisoners

The Biden administration has reportedly approved a deal with Iran to pay the rogue regime $6 billion in exchange for five detained American citizens.

The deal, according to the Associated Press (AP), entailed the Biden administration issuing a blanket waiver for international banks to transfer $6 billion in frozen Iranian money from South Korea to Qatar without U.S. sanctions. The money would then be held in Qatar’s central bank for Iran to use, reportedly for the purchase of humanitarian goods.

In addition, the Biden administration agreed to release five Iranian citizens held in the U.S.

According to the AP, Secretary of State Antony Blinken signed off on the deal late last week, but Congress was not notified of the deal until Monday, which was also 9/11, the 22nd anniversary of the U.S. suffering terrorist attacks by Islamic fundamentalists.

The deal appears to go against the U.S. policy of not paying countries to release American prisoners so as not to incentivize the behavior.

This will very much help the unhinged terrorists running Iran. Good job, Joe! Though, of course, Credentialed Media outlets like the Washington Post can only lightly chide Biden despite

The deal marks a major breakthrough for the longtime adversaries who remain at loggerheads over a range of issues, including the rapid expansion of Tehran’s nuclear program, its ongoing military support for Russia and Iran’s harsh crackdown on dissent. Though it remains unclear when the two sides could complete the prisoner transfer, Monday’s announcement comes as President Biden and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi each prepare to travel to New York for the annual U.N. General Assembly next week.

In other words, this is a huge win for Iran, and the WP would be lambasting Trump if he did this. It’s not like Iranian proxies have directly threatened the US recently or something.

Meanwhile, as Biden gave a little, barely coherent speech in Alaska (because AF1 typically stops in Alaska to refuel, so, Biden stepped out for a brief appearance, so he didn’t have to do anything when he got back to DC)

(Fox News) President Biden claimed Monday, without evidence, that he stood at Ground Zero in New York City viewing the damage from the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks just one day later, despite records showing he was in Washington, D.C. that day.

“Ground Zero in New York — I remember standing there the next day and looking at the building. I felt like I was looking through the gates of Hell, it looked so devastating because the way you could — from where you could stand,” Biden said during his speech at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska marking the devastating acts of terrorism 22 years ago.

However, according to C-SPAN coverage of U.S. Senate proceedings on September 12, 2001, Biden was in Washington, D.C. and gave a speech on the floor of the Senate. Records show the Senate met in the morning, and a classified briefing was held for all senators that afternoon at 2:00 p.m. ET.

Typical Biden lying. Oh, and AF1 landed at the aforementioned AF base, which is the norm, so, he didn’t really have to travel far.

Who had a WWIII watch including Iran on the bingo card?

Republicans can only afford to lose a few for any vote on impeachment, including a vote to start impeachment. How many squishes are out there?

GOP rep says House shouldn’t ‘repeat mistakes’ of Trump impeachment with Biden

Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.) said Sunday the House should not “repeat the mistakes” of former Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) impeachment inquiry into former President Trump when weighing the same for President Biden.

“We don’t want to repeat the mistakes we think that Nancy Pelosi made by prematurely moving to impeachment during the Trump administration,” Hill said in an interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has suggested the House could hold a vote to launch an impeachment inquiry as soon as this month, despite hesitation from some GOP moderates.

House Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.), who is leading a congressional investigation into Biden’s family and business dealings, said last week he believes there are enough votes in the House to open an impeachment inquiry.

Hill said he does not believe Comer nor House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) have “even remotely completed” the investigations into the Biden family’s foreign business dealings.

“I don’t believe they’ve even remotely completed their work on the kind of detailed investigations and quality work that Speaker McCarthy is expecting both those committees to produce before someone goes to, you know, an impeachment activity,” the Arkansas representative said.

How much more does he want? Here’s just part of Greg Stuebe’s submitted article of impeachment

ARTICLE 1: ABUSE OF POWER: BRIBERY, HOBBS ACT EXTORTION, & HONEST SERVICES FRAUD
Robert Hunter Biden (Hunter Biden) and James Biden sold access to then Vice President Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr. (Joe Biden) while he was in office from 2009 to 2017 and sold promised access to a future Biden Presidential Administration while he was out of office from 2017 to 2021. Hunter and James appear to have promised official actions by Joe Biden in return for payments and business opportunities from foreign and domestic business partners. Joe Biden assisted by making appearances, phone calls, meeting with the “business partners,” and knowingly allowing his family members to promise access to him and actions by him in furtherance of these schemes. Hunter Biden threatened business partners that official actions could be taken against them if they did not meet terms or make payments. In at least one instance, Hunter implied that Joe Biden was aware of these threats and willing to assist in enforcing the threats, potentially through official actions. Hunter Biden attempted to enrich himself and the Biden family by threatening official actions from his father, who he claims was willing to assist in the scheme.

That should be enough for Hill, right? How about Obstruction of Justice, Fraud, and financial involvement with drugs and prostitution? How about his horrendous Afghanistan debacle, while he was off at Camp David relaxing? Violating the 1st Amendment Rights of citizen by telling social media companies to censor citizens? Making deals with Iran with zero statutory authority? Forcing people to wear masks and take the COVID “vaccine”? Leaving the border wide open? Is that not enough for the squishes?

Back when the Dems were going after, and then impeaching Trump twice for nothing burgers, they were told that what’s good for the good is good for the gander, and to expect retaliation. However, there are too many sqishes who just do not want to play politics.

Does this mean that the other books banned by school districts in California, like To Kill A Mockingbird, Huckleberry Finn, Of Mice And Men, The Cay and Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry will now be taught/available in the libraries? Probably not. This is all about protecting highly sexualized and white people hating books from being removed from schools despite being completely inappropriate for the children’s age

California Legislature sends Newsom his ‘anti-book ban’ bill

California Democrats on Thursday passed legislation that would fine school districts for rejecting textbooks or school library books for discriminatory reasons — a bill backed by Gov. Gavin Newsom that he is expected to sign.

Assembly Bill 1078, carried by Assemblymember Corey Jackson (D-Perris), this year became the administration’s central legislative response to conservative school boards’ embrace of the education culture wars. Newsom aides worked to craft the latest version of the legislation in response to a GOP-backed school board in Temecula that gained notoriety with state Democrats for blocking social studies textbooks over their inclusion of gay rights icon Harvey Milk.

“California is the true freedom state: a place where families — not political fanatics — have the freedom to decide what’s right for them,” Newsom said in a statement after the bill cleared its final legislative hurdle Thursday. “All students deserve the freedom to read and learn about the truth, the world, and themselves.”

Not mentioned is that most of the books being challenged are so sexualized that school boards won’t even let parents read from them at meetings?

There is such a thing as age appropriate, and most of these books are being kept out of schools from the classroom to the library for young kids, much like these same young kids shouldn’t be going to PG-13, R, and X rated movies. They can’t if it’s R or above. Yet, the material in those books is often X rated. And other books tell white kids how horrible and racist they are for what adults did long, long ago. Why are Democrats so hot to force this stuff on children?

Will we get riots?

That’s a typical Philly response by the Usual Suspects when a police officer kills a criminal suspect!

Officer shot in Kensington standoff, suspect shot and killed by police

The officer, 27, was in stable condition and expected to be released from the hospital Wednesday night.

by Juliana Feliciano Reyes and Heather Khalifa | Wednesday, May 31, 2023 | Updated: Thursday, June 1, 2023 | 7:11 AM EDT

A police officer was shot in the hand during a standoff in Kensington Wednesday evening, Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said outside Temple University Hospital. The suspect was killed by police.

2800 block of Ruth Street, via Google Maps. Click to enlarge.

Officers were responding to gunshots at a property on the 2800 block of Ruth Street around 7:30 p.m. when they found a man with a gun hiding in a crawl space, Outlaw said. Officers struggled to get him to exit the crawl space and deployed a Taser while doing so, she said.

“The Taser, to our knowledge, was not effective for whatever reason,” Outlaw said.

Perhaps hiding in a crawl space, perhaps not the best plan.

The 2800 block of Ruth Street isn’t exactly a high-class neighborhood, running parallel, one block away, to Kensington Avenue, a few blocks down from the Allegheny Avenue SEPTA station. While there are no homes currently listed for sale on Ruth Street, Zillow lists 2824 Ruth Street as off-market, but valued at only $82,000.

The suspect attempted to take the Taser, she said.

While the order of events is unclear and pending an investigation, Outlaw said that at some point officers heard a shot and saw an officer fall to the ground. Three police officers fired at the suspect and at least one hit him.

SWAT subsequently entered the building, found the suspect in the crawl space, and he was pronounced dead, Outlaw said.

There is a little bit more in the story, but not a lot, not yet, anyway.

Me, I’m sure, sure! that the deceased was actually trying very diligently to get his life in order, and start to live a decent and respectable life.

It was just yesterday that I wrote about how Rigoberto Vasquez-Barradas, who was charged with fetal homicide in January, was not listed in the Lexington Police Department’s Homicide Investigations page.

Then there was this in this morning’s Lexington Herald-Leader:

Man found dead with gunshot wound, marking Lexington’s first homicide of 2023

by Christopher Leach | Tuesday, February 7, 2023 | 6:41 AM EST | Updated: 8:54 AM EST

Marquis Tompkins, Jr, photo via Evelyn Schiltz of WLEX-TV. Click to enlarge.

Lexington police are investigating the city’s first homicide of 2023 after a man was shot dead Monday night.

Police said the shooting happened just before 7 p.m. on the 500 block of Toner Street, which is close to the Dunbar Community Center. When police arrived they found a man suffering from a gunshot wound inside a vehicle.

That man was pronounced dead on scene by the Fayette County Coroner’s Office, according to police. The coroner identified the victim as Marquis Tompkins Jr., 24.

Police don’t have any suspect information and are asking the public’s help for tips. Anonymous tips can be submitted to Bluegrass Crime Stoppers by calling (859) 253-2020, online at www.bluegrasscrimestoppers.com, or through the P3 Tips app available at www.p3tips.com.

This is the city’s first homicide of 2023. Last year there were 44 homicides, resetting the annual record.

There were no killings last month, marking the first time Lexington went without a homicide in a month since February 2019, according to police.

The first thing I did, when I saw this story, was check back. Christopher Leach, the reporter for what my best friend used to call the Herald-Liberal, wrote both the article cited above and the one on January 24^th, “Lexington man accused of repeatedly kicking pregnant woman, leading to fetal homicide.” Did he simply forget what he wrote just two weeks previously, or is it that, for the newspaper, the killing of an unborn child just doesn’t count as a homicide?

It does under the law, of course, and according to the public records of the Fayette County Detention Center, Mr Vasquez-Barradas is still behind bars, apparently unable to have made his $300,000 bail on his charge of Fetal Homicide, First Degree, which, under KRS §507A.020, is a capital offense,^[1]The penalty for a capital offense under KRS §532.030 is: death; or imprisonment for life without benefit of probation or parole; or imprisonment for life without benefit of probation or parole … Continue reading the same as Murder under KRS §507.020. According to the Detention Center public records, that charge of Fetal Homicide remains in force; it has not yet been reduced.

We already knew that the newspaper’s editorial position supported abortion, with columnist Linda Blackford just loving her some prenatal infanticide. But now the newspaper, which fully reported Mr Vasquez-Barradas’ charges, really, really, really doesn’t want to admit that the killing of an unborn child is a homicide. That the city government, which also supports abortion, doesn’t want to list that homicide on its homicide investigations page, has become obvious by the fact that 18 days after the killing, it has not been listed. To be fair, that page is not updated daily, but by 2½ weeks later, it should have been. If the murder of Marquis Tompkins, which has not yet been listed, is listed without the murder of the unborn child, it will confirm what I have written.

It’s simple, really: if the killing of an unborn child when the mother has not sought an abortion is a homicide, then it is also a homicide, the killing of one human being by another, when done in a deliberate abortion. That’s a fact that the left simply cannot abide.

My Twitter feed frequently shows me stories about how the Russo-Ukrainian War has devastated the Russian economy and how Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin has led the country down the toilet. But, alas!, it seems that maybe, just maybe, things haven’t gone quite as we’ve been told. From The New York Times:

Russia Sidesteps Western Punishments, With Help From Friends

A surge in trade by Russia’s neighbors and allies hints at one reason its economy remains so resilient after sweeping sanctions.

by Ana Swanson | Tuesday, January 31, 2023 | 5:00 AM EST

WASHINGTON — A strange thing happened with smartphones in Armenia last summer.

Shipments from other parts of the world into the tiny former Soviet republic began to balloon to more than 10 times the value of phone imports in previous months. At the same time, Armenia recorded an explosion in its exports of smartphones to a beleaguered ally: Russia.

The trend, which was repeated for washing machines, computer chips and other products in a handful of other Asian countries last year, provides evidence of some of the new lifelines that are keeping the Russian economy afloat. Recent data show surges in trade for some of Russia’s neighbors and allies, suggesting that countries like Turkey, China, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are stepping in to provide Russia with many of the products that Western countries have tried to cut off as punishment for Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

Those sanctions — which include restrictions on Russia’s largest banks along with limits on the sale of technology that its military could use — are blocking access to a variety of products. Reports regularly filter out of Russia about consumers frustrated by high-priced or shoddy goods, ranging from milk and household appliances to computer software and medication, said Maria Snegovaya, a senior fellow for Russia and Eurasia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, in an event at the think tank this month.

Even so, Russian trade appears to have largely bounced back to where it was before the invasion of Ukraine last February. Analysts estimate that Russia’s imports may have already recovered to prewar levels, or will soon do so, depending on their models.

There’s a lot more at the original, but, put basically, Russia has found new routes of trade, including through Turkey, a NATO member nation, to make up for those cut off by Western economic sanctions. It should have been obvious: with China as an ally, Russia was never going to be hit as hard as Western economic projections had guesstimated, and it’s pretty difficult to restrict technology as long as China is there.

FESCO, the Russian Far East Shipping Company, added a new FESCO Turkey Black Sea Service on the Novorossiysk – Istanbul – Gebze – Novorossiysk route in April of 2022, as the Western sanctions were starting to take hold. Many consumer goods imports by Russia fell following the post-invasion sanctions, but Western brands which were restricted have been replaced by Chinese goods.

We shouldn’t kid ourselves: just because the Western nations have decided that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is horrible does not mean that nations outside of Western culture have just gone along with that. China, for one, has a vested interest in seeing the West waste money and military equipment sending aid to Ukraine, to see it get expended on the Ukrainian battlefields, and if Xi Jinping isn’t all that interested in seeing Russia grow stronger, seeing the West get weaker certainly brings a smile to his face.

China’s only real worry? That Russia will up the ante by using a couple of ‘tactical’ nuclear weapons against Ukrainian positions and supply and transfer depots for Western military hardware. Crossing the nuclear threshold would have Western leaders defecating in their pants, which both Russia and China know and would love to see, but there’s no guarantee that a limited use of nuclear weapons would stay limited.

The war has gone on for eleven months now, and if there will be no real winner between Russia and Ukraine — Russia will continue to see serious sanctions and have a huge loss of military prestige, while Ukraine, even if it somehow ‘wins,’ has been devastated — China has already won. And the longer the war continues, the bigger China’s win will become.