Articles by Herschel Smith

By now you’re aware that House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes said that Trump transition team was under surveillance.  He was polite.  He said it was “inadvertent.”  We all know better.  He’s handing out bits and pieces of information in order to bait the field.

Meanwhile, I haven’t linked George Webb for a while but he’s still active.  He uses the Awan brothers to launch into a plea for more FBI agents to come forward with what they know about any number of things, from human organ harvesting to drug trafficking, from illegal surveillance to disclosure to unauthorized individuals.

George also paints a huge target on Andrew McCabe, which we all know needed to be painted.  For McCabe, listen carefully.  The grim reaper is calling.  Do you hear him?  He’s calling for you by name.  But I would add that unless Comey is fired and investigated, the deep state wins.  The Trump administration has not truly started unless and until Comey is replaced and investigated.  If Trump leaves him in place, I question whether he actually wants to be president.

Rapid City Journal:

The Senate approved the measure 34-13 on Tuesday and the House passed it last month. It would allow people 18 and older to forgo background checks and classes that are now required.

Supporters say the bill promotes constitutional rights and allows protection from criminals. Critics worry it could lead to more shootings as people with less training would be carrying weapons.

Approval of the bill in both the Senate and House generally fell along party lines in the Republican-led Legislature. GOP Gov. Doug Burgum hasn’t said whether he would support the measure and sign it into law.

“He hasn’t seen the bill and won’t make a decision until he receives it,” said Mike Nowatzki, a Burgum spokesman.

It’s time for North Dakota readers to get busy with letters to the governor.  Let him know that he’s a target for replacement if he doesn’t comply with God-given rights to bear arms.

Say, there’s a bill that will soon be debated in the South Carolina legislature on constitutional carry, which also happens to include provisions for de-criminalizing open carry.  This bill needs to pass with no opposition from the GOP.  Why is South Carolina so late to the game?  What are you doing, South Carolinians, to make this a reality?

Fox59:

POCATELLO, ID – The family of a teenage boy sprayed by a cyanide explosive that killed their dog is outraged they weren’t told the device was planted near their home, reports East Idaho News.

Canyon Mansfield, 14, went on a walk Thursday afternoon with his family’s 3-year-old yellow Labrador, Casey, on a hill behind their Pocatello home on Buck Skin Road.

“I see this little pipe that looked like a sprinkler sticking out of the ground,” Canyon told EastIdahoNews.com. “I go over and touch it. Then it makes a pop sound and it spews orange gas everywhere.”

The orange gas was cyanide, and it sprayed into Canyon’s left eye and on his clothing.

The teen grabbed some snow and washed his eye out but then realized Casey was having problems.

“I look over and see him having a seizure,” Canyon said, holding back tears. “I ran over and he had these glassy eyes. He couldn’t see me, and he had this red stuff coming out of his mouth.”

Canyon ran down the hill and inside the house to his mother.

“He said, ‘Mom, Mom, there’s something wrong with Casey,’” Theresa Mansfield recalled. “We ran back outside and up the hill and by the time we got there, Casey had died.”

Theresa called the police and then contacted her husband, Mark, who is a medical doctor.

“I hurried home, and the first thing I did was try to resuscitate the dog,” Mark Mansfield said. “Unfortunately I exposed myself to cyanide and had no idea.”

It took hours after emergency crews arrived and help from multiple agencies to learn Casey had died from exposure to an M-44.

M-44s are spring-activated devices that release cyanide when they are activated through upward pressure or pulling. The US Department of Agriculture uses the devices to control coyotes and other predators.

“We didn’t know anything about it. No neighborhood notifications and our local authorities didn’t know anything about them,” Mark said. “The sheriff deputies who went up there didn’t even know what a cyanide bomb was.”

The Mansfields have lived in their home nearly 10 years and have never seen M-44s in their neighborhood. They say the one triggered Thursday was planted on the borderline of their property.

“We weren’t aware, and nobody told us,” Theresa said. “There was nothing posted up on the hill saying to beware or be careful.”

There shouldn’t have had to be notifications, as this should never have been done to begin with by the Department of Agriculture.  So boys and girls, I’ve seen a lot of dumb ass things by the government in my years, but this one takes the cake.  Let me introduce you to the most idiotic government program ever concocted by mankind.  Spring-activated cyanide bombs as a part of the war on animals paid for by your tax dollars.

This is bad, bad solution in search of a problem.  Here is a list of effective Coyote control devices, in order: 5.56mm / .223, .22 WMR, and 17 HMR (if you don’t want to shoot anything larger such as you would with a mule deer or moose).  As for federal government, you withdraw from any program like this, let the states handle their own animal control issues and make decisions when a herd, pack, drove or flock needs to be culled, and the state makes an announcement about renewed or extended hunting season so that the states can conduct scientific game management and herd control techniques with tags and bag limits.

If this even needs to occur.  Good Lord!  These are indigenous creatures, predatory of course, but there are many predatory animals in this part of the nation.  The state should be able to figure out quite well what needs to be done, if anything.  Automatic poison ejection devices aren’t even legal in warfare according to the Geneva convention.  Yet for some reason, bureaucrats and Forestry majors on the government dole and paid for by your tax dollars can decide to poison animals without so much as consultation with anyone around them.

I wish this family would consult a lawyer and seek remedy in court for this against the Department of Agriculture, but my guess is that any federal court would tip their hat to government employees and grant them immunity from prosecution of any kind.  Yet these are the sort of “intolerable acts” that caused our founders to separate from England.  I’ll write the Department of Agriculture and ask what statutory framework even allows this.  I doubt I will get a response.

In this case, the least we should justifiably expect would be to gut this worthless government department, deliver pink slips to them, and send them packing to find real jobs.  That something so simple got so out of hand is a tragic testimony to how out of touch and out of control the federal government is.  What could have been handled by hunters with pleasure and sport, perhaps with their own sons, redounded to a little boy being poisoned and his childhood dog being killed.

Good Lord.

No, not this rolling gun battle that wasn’t (it’s a wonder that the cops didn’t shoot an innocent man in this instance), but this one (via David Codrea) that really was a rolling gun battle, or at least, on the part of the cops.

A 2-mile police chase from Westchester County to the Bronx ended Tuesday with Mount Vernon cops squeezing off more than 30 shots, blowing out a car’s rear windshield and wounding an unarmed woman inside.

The woman was blasted once in the shoulder and listed in stable condition at Jacobi Medical Center after the 9 a.m. shooting. The man who was driving the black Chevrolet Malibu was not hurt.

Authorities say cops opened fire when the driver intentionally rammed a police car after speeding from a blockade and slamming into a railing at a Gulf gas station on E. 234th St. in Wakefield in the Bronx.

No gun was found in the vehicle.

[ … ]

Five Mount Vernon cops suffered injuries during the confrontation, which began in the suburb about 12 blocks from the Bronx.

During the shooting, flying glass struck one Mount Vernon officer in the eye. Two other officers suffered from ringing in the ears, officials said. A fourth suffered chest pains.

Hey, at least it wasn’t as bad as when the NYPD discharged 84 rounds with innocent people all around them, missing with 70.  That’s the upshot.  At least the Mount Vernon PD isn’t as bad as the NYPD.  “We’re not the worst!”  We’re not the worst!”  “We’re not the worst!”

And they say it’s us who can’t be trusted with guns.

AP:

CHICAGO (AP) — A 15-year-old Chicago girl was apparently sexually assaulted by five or six men or boys on Facebook Live, and none of the roughly 40 people who watched the live video reported the attack to police, authorities said Tuesday.

The video marks the second time in recent months that the Chicago Police Department has investigated an apparent attack that was streamed live on Facebook. In January, four people were arrested after a cellphone footage showed them allegedly taunting and beating a mentally disabled man.

Police only learned of the latest attack when the girl’s mother approached the head of the police department, Superintendent Eddie Johnson, late Monday afternoon as he was leaving a department station in the Lawndale neighborhood on the city’s West Side, department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said.

[ … ]

… Johnson was “visibly upset” after he watched the video, both by its content and the fact that there were “40 or so live viewers and no one thought to call authorities.

I guess Johnson wasn’t upset enough to advocate gun ownership to stop these kinds of attacks as they happen.  Upset alright, just not enough.  Perhaps if it was his own daughter and he wasn’t a cop.

David Codrea:

“As the leader of the Nevada Association of Public Safety Officers – the largest statewide affiliation of law enforcement associations in Nevada, representing more than 1,500 law enforcement professionals – I am calling on Attorney General Laxalt to do his job,” NAPSO executive director Rick McCann tells Reno Gazette-Journal readers.  “As the state’s top cop, he can and should work with both Nevada’s Department of Public Safety and federal officials at the National Instant Criminal Background Checks System (NICS) to find a path forward, ensuring that law enforcement in our state are protected when they risk their lives to protect ours.”

He’s referring to the Michael Bloomberg-led Question One “background check” initiative that passed in Nevada in November …

Recommending new laws or fabricating imaginary ones has nothing whatsoever to do with an AG’s job.  He just made that up.

Here’s something else he just made up: “Our job is basically to protect officers around the state.”  Who told him that is his job?  Where did he get this information?  What does protecting police officers have to do with being a police officer?  What does protecting police officers have to do with the oath he took upon his swearing into office?

I think you know the answers.

From reddit/r/firearms:

Just received this email

” We recently let you know that the following product you received may differ from the product described on our website and may not perform as expected: Howard Leight by Honeywell Impact Sport Sound Amplification Electronic Earmuff, Classic Green (R-01526)

Howard Leight by Honeywell did not manufacture or supply the item you previously purchased through the Amazon.com website and it is not subject to Honeywell’s warranty. Because that product may present a safety risk, we strongly recommend that you stop using the item immediately. If you purchased this item for someone else, please notify the recipient immediately of these safety concerns.

In addition to the balance for the purchase price that we will provide to your account, we would like to offer you a discount of $5 off each replacement pair of Howard Leight by Honeywell Impact Sport Sound Amplification Electronic Earmuff, Classic Green (R-01526), sold by Amazon.   To claim your discount, simply visit Amazon.com, and enter the following discount code during the check-out process: HONEYWELL5  Please note that the discount is only valid for offers by Amazon, not third-party sellers.”

That’s not all.  In the comments, there are other complaints, like this.

I’ve purchased more than one firearm-related item on Amazon that turned out to be counterfeit. One was a Midwest Industries QD sling mount. Shipped from Ohio but arrived in a “Made in China” bag. I even got two–I guess that was supposed to make me feel better about being lied to. Nope.

I’ve mentioned I got a counterfeit as a warning in reviews but every time Amazon knocks them down. I get my money back, but that’s it.

Amazon seems to be suppressing its counterfeit problem while dealing with it internally. That’s pretty anti-consumer and I’ve started dialing back my purchases.

And this.

It’s about time. They’ve let counterfeiters take over the site and it’s going to hurt them in the long run.

If you want to buy something like a replacement battery, good luck on Amazon. About a 50/50 chance of getting a battery that’s either way out of date or just such a poor counterfeit that it won’t hold a charge.

And this.

I’ve purchased more than one firearm-related item on Amazon that turned out to be counterfeit. One was a Midwest Industries QD sling mount. Shipped from Ohio but arrived in a “Made in China” bag. I even got two–I guess that was supposed to make me feel better about being lied to. Nope.

I’ve mentioned I got a counterfeit as a warning in reviews but every time Amazon knocks them down. I get my money back, but that’s it.

Amazon seems to be suppressing its counterfeit problem while dealing with it internally. That’s pretty anti-consumer and I’ve started dialing back my purchases.

Apparently the knock-offs are getting pretty good, but pretty good doesn’t cut it in many cases, and it also goes to the issue of intellectual property theft which is a pet peeve of mine.  What I’ve found in my general dealings with much of the stuff made in the far east, whether China or Japan, is that they still simply haven’t inculcated the notion of QA into their culture yet, and I don’t know if they ever will.  Japan is better than China, but they both still lag far behind the U.S. in terms of quality reliability.

If Amazon wants to go out of business, this is the way to do it.  Readers beware of buying products distributed by Amazon, and always demand your money back when you’re not satisfied or the product is a knock-off.  Especially if the product is a knock-off.

Gateway Pundit has the details.  From 4Chan, this.

But from the comments, this update.

The website BlueServo was shut down due to financial reasons. The Texas Border Sheriff’s Coalition (TBSC) joined BlueServoSM in a public-private partnership to deploy the Virtual Community Watch, an innovative real-time surveillance program designed to empower the public to proactively participate in fighting border crime. The TBSC BlueServoSM Virtual Community WatchSM was a network of cameras and sensors along the Texas-Mexico border that feeds live streaming video to www.BlueServo.net. Users would log into the BlueServoSM website and directly monitor suspicious criminal activity along the border via this virtual fenceSM. From Stephen @ BlueServo to Walter Broadwell on FB Blue Servo Page – “I regret to inform you that the State DPS agency can no longer pay for the Sheriff to have the BlueServo virtual fence tool. Therefore I have had to turn off the system for financial reasons. I am trying to get an email out to our 202,000 plus users who volunteered to become virtual Texas deputy.I want to thank you for your time and I know the Sheriff’s greatly appreciate all the wonderful support they have received by thousands of patriotic users. We have accomplished over 5,200 law enforcement interdictions, that works out to be a 92% success rate for stopping illegal border crossings, 202,633 users signed up to watch the Texas border for the Border Sheriff’s, we had 165 million hits on Blueservo and users watched 11 minutes and 28 seconds on average per log in. Right now we don’t know our future direction or next step.”

You want to stop illegal border crossings?  No, I’m not talking to the globalists.   I mean the rest of you with some sense.

Then set up the best bordercam system on earth, fund 4Chan to monitor it, and deploy the U.S. Marines to shoot armed illegal border crossers on sight and send the rest back to where they came from.

I know, we won’t do it.  Which means only one thing.

Here is an informative video on AR-15 barrel profiles, length and fluting.  There are likely some things in here you didn’t know, as was the case with me.  Even if you’re a gunsmith.  To some degree this is “gilding the lily.”  Most AR-15 barrels are just fine for civilian applications, even in situations of duress like 3-gun competitions.  Also, the military has made some bad decisions before on this subject.  Imagine that.  But there are some bad decisions you can make, and it pays to know what he teaches you.

Nathanial from Faxon Firearms delves into barrel profiles, barrel lengths, fluting and finalize some thoughts on nitride.

Next up Brownells On carbine buffers.

Finally, as a bonus for the avid AR-15 lover like me, this is yet another good video on the operation of the gun in semi-auto and fully automatic mode.