Articles by Herschel Smith

David Codrea:

The head of the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command admitted Thursday China can shut down the U.S. power grid, Fox News and the Associated Press reported. Admiral Michael Rogers made “the grim forecast” before the House Intelligence Committee, confirming what has been “widely known” but never officially owned up to, the report noted.

“Rogers said he believed China along with ‘one or two’ other countries had the capability to successfully launch a cyber-attack that could shut down the electric grid in parts of the United States,” the report noted.

David goes on to note the extent to which normal life would be affected by such an exigency, and then poses the following dilemma for anti-gun activists.

With that as backdrop, and understanding that the potential for such horror unfolding in the homeland has been formally taken out of the realm of dystopian fiction and now reflects real world concerns of those responsible for overseeing the nation’s first line of defense, activists who demand “common sense gun safety laws” will face a moral choice should officials’ worst fears come to pass.

David is right.  But it’s even worse than that.  I am not bragging – well, perhaps I am – but before the government told you about the vulnerability of the electrical grid to attacks, before the FERC told you, before the DHS mentioned it, I told you about it based on things I know first hand.

My attack was physical in nature, while this report focuses on cyber-attacks.  The short term affect is the same, but the long term affect is far worse in my scenario.  In my scenario the very structures, components and equipment used to deliver power (step up transformers) that are needed to manufacture the replacement step up transformers are unavailable due to the attack, so the industrial power isn’t available to make the transformers.  And without the attack on large transformers, there is no need for the manufacture of new ones.  It’s the perfect horns of a dilemma to the terrorist.

None of the formal reports I have read go much further in developing this threat matrix, except to show that there are just over half a dozen large substations that, if taken out, would leave the vast majority of America blacked out.  In this scenario, food, gasoline, the financial system, trade and traffic, traffic lights, power for hospitals, and delivery of necessary medications, would cease or be completely unavailable.

Now who doesn’t want a gun of some sort for self defense?

Read David’s entire article.

Prior:

A Terrorist Attack That America Cannot Absorb

Surviving the Apocalypse

Electrical Grid Attack

The Electrical Grid Is Still Vulnerable

See also CBS Chicago, Electrical Grid Vulnerable To Attacks, Natural Disasters

Kurt Hofmann:

Earlier this month, an accused white supremacist in Florida named Marcus Faella was sentenced for two counts of the “crime” of “paramilitary training.” … The “white supremacist” accusation, if true (and there appears to be some question about that, according to witnesses called by the defense) paints Faella as an unsavory, and indeed reprehensible, individual. But it does not–cannot, in a free society–make him a criminal … Prosecutors told jurors that they didn’t have to prove a specific plan, just show the group was doing the training for some sort of civil disorder.

Kurt explores the circular reasoning inherent in the law of training for some sort of civil disorder.  You do understand that this presupposes the consequent, don’t you?  It’s a formal logical fallacy, meaning that you make a list of things involved in “training for some sort of civil disorder,” and then you prosecute someone for doing something on the list of things you crafted.  And let’s be clear.  If you aren’t currently training for some sort of civil disorder, you’re an idiot (or at least, highly irresponsible).

Mike Vanderboegh does AGW.  I told you that AGW was bad science, didn’t I?

Vanderboegh notes Rand Paul’s continued surrender to the forces of political totalitarianism.  I don’t like Rand Paul because, just like his father, he is in favor of open borders.  I will never spend one penny of gas money driving to the polls to vote for an open borders lunatic.  I don’t care what else he believes.

Finally, Vanderboegh takes on gun-prag Sebastian.  I don’t get along with Sebastian ever since he commented on one of my posts (I didn’t find out until several days later) without even giving me the courtesy of linking and sending traffic my way.  Bad, bad form, that is.  And I didn’t forward my post.  He just singled me out for criticism.

News from the great progressive Northeast, via The Boston Globe:

MILFORD — On Friday, Milford fifth-grader Nickolas Taylor was in line for lunch, just a few hours from the weekend.

But like most 10-year-old boys bursting with energy, he didn’t wait quietly. Instead, he played shoot-em-up by himself to pass the time, pointing his index finger like a ray gun and making “pew-pew” sounds.

As he battled his imaginary foes, he passed two girls in the lunch line. They told the assistant principal, according to Nickolas’s father, Brian Taylor. Later that day, the principal told the boy he was being suspended for two days for making a threat.

Upset over the suspension, Brian Taylor, 40, said he went to the school Monday morning to meet with the assistant principal in hopes of explaining it was just “innocent playing.” But the official said Nickolas had pointed at the girls, which amounted to a threat.

“He just kept saying it was against policy,” the father said in an interview Wednesday at his Milford home. “He wouldn’t see the common sense.”

Taylor said he understood that schools were on heightened alert these days to any perceived threats or potential bullying, but he said the suspension was an extreme overreaction.

“He wasn’t pointing at anyone in particular,” he said. “He was just playing. There were other ways they could have handled it.”

Taylor said his son had never gotten in serious trouble before, and that he was confused by the punishment.

“He didn’t really understand why” he was suspended, Taylor said.

Taylor said he thought the girls must have been annoyed that his son cut in front of them, and he was surprised school officials didn’t simply tell Nickolas not to do it again.

Nickolas loves video games like Minecraft and told him that all the boys play pretend shooting games at recess, shouting laser-like sounds as they chase each other.

We live in a country where SWAT teams shoot little puppies running away from them, innocent victims are assaulted and shot in their own homes by the police, and it’s all okay.  But if a little boy plays like a little boy is supposed to, he has “threatened” little girls.  Notice too the lack of discretion and wisdom on display by school administration.  This reminds me of a comment I made to a younger reader on this same kind of thing, from the perspective of graying hair and many years of wisdom.

You’ve told me what IS, rather than what SHOULD BE. I fully concur with the notion that intent is increasingly disappearing from American jurisprudence due to laws and somewhat [from] prosecutorial discretion. Nothing I’ve said denies this. And in fact, this law would have been yet another example of that lamentable fact, and one of the hundreds of reasons to oppose this bill.

That said, it isn’t disappearing completely, as there is still a difference between manslaughter and first degree murder, and there always will be. Where the secularists can make inroads to English common law, they do. Where they can’t because the people would revolt, they leave it alone.

I know very little about you, but I assume (you can correct me if I’m wrong) that you do not have children of advanced school age (and I have no idea whether you are married). If your children one day attend public schools (I home schooled mine for the last several years except for one), they will find this notion in spades in the school system. Let me tell you how it plays out.

The kids that know they aren’t attending college know the kids who intend to attend college. The school system has given up on the idea of finding facts, finding fault and finding intent. Hence, the kids who have no intention of attending college abuse the ones who intend to attend college. It happens this way, and hundreds of others.

Let’s say that the school lunch line of a five minute wait. The bad kids will break in line and even punch the good kids. The good kids take it, run away, and avoid conflict at all costs. They do this because they know that the principal will make no attempt whatsoever to find facts or intent if a fight breaks out. Fights means that a kid is defending himself, or even that he isn’t and sits in a corner getting the hell kicked out of him. When it’s finally broken up, both kids get suspended, it goes on record, and colleges don’t accept kids with records. End of story. The competition is too high to accept kids with records, regardless of the fact that it’s disputed. All such records are disputed by every student.

My boys could have beat the hell out of anyone who they fought, but one of them needed to attend a scholarly college to do what he does, and for him we simply planned classes to avoid the bad kids, sent him with his lunch, and prayed that he got out without being in a … ahem … “fight.” Daniel, my Marine, just beat the hell out of anyone who accosted him. It cannot be that way for everyone. The ones who needs to go to college behave differently. Daniel is in college now because of the Marines.

You see, smarts comes from books. Wisdom comes from age and experience. I have that. Been there, done that, got the tee shirt. And if you have children of advanced age one day, they will get the hell beaten out of them in school, or they will defend themselves and not go to college, or you will home school them. Welcome to fact-less, intent-less jurisprudence and lack of lawsuits against schools.

“He just kept saying it was against policy.”  Of course it was.  Everything is against policy for little boys.  They are the oppressors.

There had been recent reports of Israelis arming up with baseball bats, knives and clubs in expectation of the coming “intifada.”  Then this happened.

“They stormed the synagogue and shouted, ‘God is great!’ in Arabic and started killing people with axes and knives,” said a man in disbelief, holding his head in his hands. “They are animals!” The profoundly incongruous juxtaposition of a sacred house of worship and the violent mass murder that two Palestinian terrorists perpetrated there on Tuesday morning transformed a picturesque and peaceful Jewish neighborhood in western Jerusalem into a scene from a horror film.

[ … ]

“There were people hacked with axes on the floor screaming,” said Ezra Batzri, a 24-year-old yeshiva student.

“I heard seven gunshots, and people were running in all different directions. The cops came and told us to go back home because they thought one of the [terrorists] was still out there.”

The attackers were in fact armed with a gun, and five people are dead.  Thus far the Israeli response is to ease restrictions on guns.

Israel is to ease controls on carrying weapons for self-defence after a deadly Palestinian attack on a Jerusalem synagogue, Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch said on Tuesday.

“In the coming hours, I will ease restrictions on carrying weapons,” he said in remarks broadcast on public radio, indicating it would apply to anyone with a licence to carry a gun, such as private security guards and off-duty army officers.

Aharonovitch did not elaborate, but it is believed that under the planned changes security personnel would be allowed to carry their arms even when off duty.

So it isn’t really easing gun control.  It’s just allowing those who are armed anyway to carry in public when off duty.  Apparently, only on-duty security personnel can carry weapons.  And as for the advertized ease on gun control, it’s a lie, and even Uncle misinterpreted the headlined advertizement.

So it’s back to rocks, sticks, kitchen knives and baseball bats for the poor Israelis.  Not much to rely on when the terrorists have guns, no?

Governments who prohibit means of self defense hate their own people.  It’s as simple as that.

David Codrea:

Although recently set back at the national polls, Democrats could still dominate the legislative agenda on guns and other crucial issues for the next 10 months if the Republican leadership allows a long-term continuing resolution to pass, Gun Owners of America warned members Monday in a national action alert. If that happens, GOA cautioned it will “allow the repudiated Democrats currently in control of the Senate (until January 5) to make all of the spending and policy decisions [and] set policy and spending until the end of the fiscal year (September 30, 2015).

Will the GOP go along to get along like they always do?  Codrea concludes:

That makes a recent “rare Capitol Hill appearance” suspect when the purpose of Christie’s visit was to encourage newly-elected lawmakers to “embrace compromise and common ground.” If those representatives heed the governor’s advice, they will pass the long-term CR GOA warns about, and give the Democrats what they want on all other issues as well, including and especially on guns.

Read all of David’s piece and share the link with others.  As for the legislative agenda on guns, it’s like everything else.  The GOP is in control of the House.  It’s that simple.  The GOP could stop anything they wanted, dead in its tracks, and without delay.  Nothing happens on Capital Hill without GOP concurrence.  So David is right to point out that the real threat lies within the GOP lack of will and principle.

Orlando Sentinel:

OMG!! Did you hear??!!

Florida has another gun debate!!!

It’s about silencers!!

The NRA wants to allow them for hunters!!

Gun-control advocates can now start screaming about the dangers of silent mass murderers!!

And NRA members can scream about personal freedom, the Second Amendment and their God-given right to quietly blow away deer!!

If you are worked up on either side of this issue, then congratulations — you’ve been played.

[ … ]

The truth is that silencers — most of which don’t silence anything — don’t even crack the top 10 when it comes to concerns about gun violence.

If you lived anywhere close to a gun range, you’d appreciate technology that muffled the noise.

And while some significantly cut down on sound, guns with suppressors can still make as much noise as a motorcycle or jackhammer.

On the flip side, the NRA uses hysteria and nonsense to make suppressors seem like life or death.

It portrays silencers as a public-health crisis, claiming that hearing loss costs America “billions of dollars” and that bans on suppressors “are essentially mandating that firearms produce as much inner-ear-destroying noise as they possibly can.”

Apparently the NRA believes gun owners are incapable of using ear plugs.

That’s right.  We all do what the NRA tells us to do.  And silencers mean absolutely nothing to hearing protection or safety, because as well all know, the only shooting ever done occurs at the range.  Deer hunters don’t go on drives with dogs and have to take spur of the moment shots, no, not at all.  And sole hunters in the woods going to and from their stands, and spending all day in the bush, have no problem being without hearing.

Everyone can wear ear plugs, regardless of the fact that a bear may be approaching, a human may be announcing his presence or approaching camp, or the hunter may be listening for his prey.  We want men to traipse around in the bush all day with firearms and absolutely no capability of hearing anything.  Or, we can all take the time to stop what we’re doing and put earplugs in, regardless of the fact that we might lose the shot.

This is what happens when idiots write commentaries.

Chicago Sun-Times:

Blase Cupich’s arrival as archbishop presents a historic opportunity to turn Chicago away from its horrific gun violence.

As Cupich officially assumes his duties Tuesday, we urge him to take a leading and visible role in fighting the devastating flow of illegal guns into our city.

Nothing could be more God’s work.

Cupich has said he is “prepared to speak” on a gamut of pressing social issues in the Chicago archdiocese, from the “deep pockets of poverty” to income inequality to compassionate care for the elderly — all profound matters. But arguably no issue is more pressing than the violence — the gun violence — that makes so many Chicago neighborhoods virtually uninhabitable …

It is easy to forget, given all the cheap political rhetoric, but sensible legislation to keep illegal guns out of the hands of gangbangers and thugs is by no means supported by liberals only. Nor are conservatives, including gun owners, lopsidedly opposed to reasonable gun reforms. Consider this: Ninety-two percent of American voters, including 92 percent of gun owners and 86 percent of Republicans, support background checks prior to all gun sales …

Liars.  We’ve covered this before.

Less than half of Americans, 47%, say they favor stricter laws covering the sale of firearms, similar to views found last year. But this percentage is significantly below the 58% recorded in 2012 after the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, spurred a nationwide debate about the possibility of more stringent gun control laws. Thirty-eight percent of Americans say these laws should be kept as they are now, and 14% say they should be made less strict.

Less than half.  That doesn’t come close to the 92% value the progressive media likes to pimp.  As for the notion that nothing could be more God’s work than pushing the social gospel, that’s popular because the church whored itself out to such silliness the entirety of the twentieth century.  The church is at fault for dressing like a whore and acting the part.  It’s no wonder the rest of America expects it to continue.  Only the church can change that.

Dave Hardy does a comprehensive takedown of a Newsmax article entitled Can a Felon Own a Gun: 5 Loopholes in Federal Law (via Uncle).  The Newsmax article appears to be a rather poor and poorly researched piece.  Read Dave’s entire analysis.  Commenter FWB remarks:

I find explicit grants to punish counterfeiting, piracies and felonies on the high seas, offenses against the law of nations, treason, and possibly copyright and patent infringement in the Constitution. However no power to punish for any other violation of federal law was ever granted. Except for these few delegations, the bulk of the police power was left to the states.

… as Madison and others stated, the federal government does not have the authority to decide anything about firearms. A primary reason no Bill of Rights was thought necessary was because the Framers understood that the federal government had no power to legislate in any of the areas covered by a Bill of Rights. The fear also was there that inclusion of a BoR would cause people to think the feds had such authority.

Police powers reside with the states not with the federal government except in the few granted areas. All these laws and discussion concern usurped powers and unconstitutional actions by the federal government.

I have also pointed out the absurdity of application of the federal regulations regarding firearms.

My own son was honorably discharged from the Marine Corps, but knew of one poor soul who became inebriated the eve of his discharge and was caught for DUI on base.  This Marine was dishonorably discharged.  According to the wording on Form 4473, he will never be able to legally purchase a gun even if a judge agrees with him because the USMC won’t revisit its discharge and thus he won’t be able to answer – truthfully – on Form 4473 about discharge from a branch of the service.

Remember folks, any time the federal government gets involved in anything, everyone drowns in inefficient, overbearing, oppressive bureaucracy.  This includes the issue of felons and guns.

Recall that I requested arming orders for the Louisiana National Guard during Katrina in July of this year.  This would aid in studying just who ordered the Guard to be armed, what their mission was, and why they confiscated firearms from the public.

On July 22, I received this note from the Louisiana National Guard.

Dear Mr. Smith:

The attached letter is to acknowledge receipt of your Freedom of Information Act request dated July 20, 2014 requesting records of arming orders for the Louisiana National Guard during the response to Hurricane Katrina.  This request has been assigned the case number FA-14-0006.

We will make every effort to provide the responsive records as soon as possible.  All communications concerning this request should be identified with the above reference number and addressed to the address shown above.

If you have any questions regarding your request, please contact the undersigned at (___) ___-____, fax (___) ___-____, or via email at mackenzie.g.eady.mil@mail.mil.

Mackenzie G. Eady
Administrative Services Division
(Office) redacted …
(Mobile) redacted …
(Fax) redacted …

To date I have heard nothing from the Louisiana National Guard.

Daily Caller:

Another video has resurfaced of MIT economist Jonathan Gruber, this one showing the Obamacare architect speaking candidly about guns while claiming that the National Rifle Association is holding “hostage” President Barack Obama’s nominee for Surgeon General.

“By the way you have now permanently prevented yourself from winning a high elected office in the United States despite your charisma,” Harold Pollack told Gruber at the end of a three-part interview about Obamacare recorded in April, predicting the backlash Gruber is facing by months in advance.

“You know they’ll be playing this tape back in an endless loop with a guy with a deep voice in the background,” Pollack predicted.

Gruber doubled down, segueing from speaking openly about Obamacare to another topic.

“I’ll guarantee it further by highlighting that guns are a public health issue,” Gruber said.

Says the man who lives on the right side of town, in a pricey home, away from the unwashed masses.  Here is what I think is a public health issue: pampered, effete, urbanized, metro-sexual self proclaimed elitists.