Greenville News:

A member of Gold’s Gym in Clemson accidentally fired a gun that the manager was showing him inside an office at the gym, according to the manager.

The bullet went through the manager’s desktop and lodged in a plastic dolly on the floor below, manager Rob Harrell said.

No one was hurt, but some members are upset about it.

Clemson Police Chief Jimmy Dixon said he didn’t know details about the incident but that no charges would be filed if it was an accident.

“All I can tell you is nobody was hurt, and that’s all I care about,” he said.

Harrell said he brought two handguns to work to show a member who, like him, was a gun enthusiast.

“I told him both firearms had full magazines but neither firearm had one in the chamber,” Harrell said.

The member pulled the trigger a few times on one of the guns that Harrell had removed the magazine from and then picked up a Glock that Harrell hadn’t taken the magazine out of.

“Before I could even say anything, he had picked it up and fired it,” Harrell said. “It went through my desk and straight into the floor.

“It was a horrible mistake, but nothing major happened.”

Oh dear.  How many rules were broken, how many times?  Something major did indeed happen.  People broke the sacred rules of gun safety, and lives could have been lost.  I guess a round was indeed chambered unlike what he said, and I guess he shouldn’t have pointed the gun anywhere, and I guess he shouldn’t have been pulling the trigger, and I guess the idiot who laid the guns out shouldn’t have.

These goobers are fortunate they aren’t being charged with reckless endangerment.

Bellevue Leader:

A survivor of the 2012 assault on the U.S. consulate and annex in Benghazi, Libya, related a harrowing tale of bureaucratic indecision and desperate military courage Sunday.

Kris “Tanto” Paronto, a native of Colorado who has lived in Omaha since 1996, spoke to a crowd gathered under a hot sun at the Take Aim firing range in the Daniell Crossing shopping center in west Bellevue.

Paronto was one of six 40-something contract security personnel, all former Marines, Navy SEALS or Army Rangers charged with ensuring the security of the consulate, considered among the most dangerous diplomatic postings in the world.

The six contractors lived one mile from the consulate in an annex building intended to be unrecognized as a support base.

But, as related in “13 Hours,” a book co-written by Paronto which relates the events of the night of Sept. 11, 2012, no one was fooled, the annex’s role betrayed by the constant flow of Americans and heavy equipment.

Tyrone Woods, one of the six contract fighters, died during the assault on the annex that followed the attack on the consulate. Also killed was Glen Doherty, a former Navy SEAL who was part of a contract security team in Tripoli who flew to the scene after news of the attack broke.

Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and an information technology specialist named Sean Smith died from asphyxiation at the consulate due to smoke inhalation.

[ … ]

Paronto said things were quiet as late as 9 p.m., when the security contractors were thinking more about bed than combat. Then the call came for a general muster in the annex, where they learned an attack had been launched against the consulate one mile away.

Paronto said he could see and hear the fighting from the annex building and with the rest of the security team geared up to rush to the consulate’s defense.

It was then, he said, that the top CIA staffer in Benghazi, referred to by Paronto only as “Bob,” told them all to stand down. That stand down lasted 25 minutes, at which point the contractors decided to ignore the order and head to the consulate. When they arrived they found the building had been decimated by diesel-fueled fire, the ambassador was missing and the body of Smith lay dead.

Stevens’ body would later show up at a local hospital where some Libyans had delivered it in the hope of reviving him, but he was declared dead of asphyxiation.

With nothing left to do, and unaware of the fate of Stevens, the team returned to the annex, surviving a firefight along the way.

Just after midnight the annex sustained mortar and rocket fire, the beginning of a long and bloody battle that resulted in the deaths of Woods and Doherty.

Paronto said his team repelled the attack, killing approximately 40 attackers and saving the lives of six State Department employees and evacuating about 30 other Americans from Benghazi.

Paronto’s testimony was unsparing, describing his security colleagues who survived as nonetheless sustaining horrific injuries, with legs and arms severed and hanging by tendons.

He said his faith in America waned in the wake of the Benghazi debacle but has since been restored by the support he and his fellow veterans have received from the general public, among whom he counted the 50 or so people listening Sunday.

“I want to say thank you to you all for bringing me back from a point where I had lost everything following Benghazi,” he said. “I’m a bigger patriot now than I ever was.”

One day, Kris, we will know who ‘Bob’ is, and we will know who gave Bob the order to stand down.  But first to the things we already know.  My military readers knew within 24 hours that this was the result of a well-planned, well-coordinated combined-arms attack with the use of crew served weapons (e.g., see DirtyMick’s comments).  We also know that weapons were being moved through Libya to Syrian insurgents, those whom we now know as ISIS.  We know that this was illegal, immoral and ill-advised, and was being funded by the U.S. government.

We know that there were awful men like Philip Smucker who, claiming to be a good friend of Ambassador Stevens, said of the incident, shit happens.  Smucker is such an ideologue and worshiper of Obama that anything could happen to friends or loved ones, and he would (and did) reply, “shit happens.”  Thus did the main stream media ignore or white wash the incident, also being worshipers of Obama.

As to what I suspect – but cannot yet prove – the movement of weapons to terrorists was becoming hard to hide, and the whole operation had ripened to the point of rottenness.  Stevens had to be moved out and told to shut up about what he knew.  Even if the administration didn’t plan the military operation to take down the consulate at Benghazi, they nevertheless used it to hide their tracks.

The administration didn’t know how long the attack would last, and so there was certainly a QRF on the European continent that could have been sent, even if it turns out they would not have arrived in time to assist Stevens and the team with which you deployed, Kris.  Furthermore, there could also have been air assets within theater that were brought to bear, and perhaps even another QRF closer than Europe.

General Ham – who quietly went into the night with no explanation – knows something.  Leon Panetta knows something.  General Petraeus knows something.  No one is talking, but one day we will find out the truth of Benghazi, how a small team was left to perish because it was more expedient for the political life of the administration.  One day we will know.

As for you, Kris, what are you trying to tell us by describing yourself before all else as a “patriot,” and wearing a tee shirt that says “Don’t tread on me?”

Yahoo News:

Baghdad (AFP) – With wooden crosses around their necks and others tattooed on their arms, several dozen Iraqi Christians are training to recapture their homes overrun by the Islamic State jihadist group.

A year ago, IS launched a fierce offensive in northern Iraq, quickly capturing second city Mosul, with its large Christian minority, and Christian-populated areas in the surrounding Nineveh province.

Residents were given the choice of converting to Islam, paying a tax to continue practising their faith, or death.

Thousands fled, but some want to fight back, and are now training at a military base near the Baghdad airport.

They have Shiite Muslim fighters instructing them on how to use their Kalashnikov assault rifles and on the basics of combat manoeuvres, but they are vocal in their Christianity on parade, chanting Ya Mariam (O Mary) in cadence as they march in a salute to the mother of Jesus.

“We heard that the Christians had an opportunity for jihad (holy war), and we all came and volunteered,” said 17-year-old Chaldean Christian Frank Samir.

“Our children are dying; our Christian families were displaced. How do we ourselves accept that people say the Christians are not fighting? On the contrary, we want to fight everywhere,” he said.

I applaud his efforts and spirit, but I say again, “Christians are not fighting.”  This is a pitiful contribution to self defense, this “several dozen” fighters.  ISIS should have run into a buzz saw, a veritable hail of bullets, when they attempted to drive the Christians from Mesopotamia.  The same goes for the Sunni or Shia Islamists.

Hundreds of thousands of Christians is quite enough to lay the smack down on even a large number of jihadists.  The several dozen Christians who are willing to go to war doesn’t speak well of the state of Christianity in the Middle East.  They won’t win this way.  They will only queue up more pain and suffering for their women and children – pain and suffering that didn’t have to be if they would simply fight back for faith and family.

Most of my readers also read WoG and WRSA (or you should), so you know about Mike Vanderboegh being admitted to the hospital for observation.  Just a quick note to request that you remember him and his family in your prayers.

Free Beacon:

A spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration on Tuesday posted photos online of a passenger’s luggage, which contained large amounts of cash, despite admitting it violated no laws or regulations.

Agency spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein posted a photo on Twitter showing a bag she said contained $75,000 in cash. “Is this how you’d transport it?” she asked.

Dear Lisa, I’ve repeatedly said that the TSA is filled with goobers, hicks, pedophiles, perverts and criminals.  It was a bastard idea to begin with, and the TSA should even now be disbanded and sent to do real jobs – like maybe building a fence along the Southern border.  Got post hole diggers?

As for how that would affect you, what would you do?  Perhaps something more in line with your abilities and skills, like cleaning toilets?  Just asking.

As for the money, it’s none of your damn business.

Houston.com:

The man whose gun accidentally went off inside Bush Intercontinental Airport Monday made his first court appearance.

Investigators said Joseph Austin was at the Delta Airlines ticket counter in Terminal A when he noticed his pistol was still loaded. Austin, 45, was trying to unload the gun when it fired.

Police said the fragment nicked a man’s leg but did not break the skin. The man was able to continue on his flight.

Austin, who was traveling back to Kansas after visiting friends in Houston, was immediately taken into custody and charged with misdemeanor deadly conduct.

Austin posted a $1,000 bond.

The Transportation and Safety Authority requires a gun and ammunition to be separated, and the gun in a locked case, before they allow the weapon to be checked in with luggage and loaded on a plane.

Actually, he put his finger on the trigger of the weapon where it didn’t belong, and he pulled it.  There.  Fixed it.  Actually, the whole problem began when … ahem … he “noticed” that his pistol was still loaded.  I’ve said it before.  If you cannot have someone blindfold you at the door of your home, and follow you as you locate every weapon in your home and state from memory whether it is loaded and a round is chambered, you should sell your guns.

Be a mature and responsible gun owner and things will go better for you.  That’s just my personal view, not legal advice.

Via reader Mack, Richmond-Times Dispatch:

Oh boy, here’s another “Jesus was a Bohemian hippie pacifist flower child” sermon.  So the solution isn’t difficult in this case.  Jesus is the very one who told them to go get weapons.  In Matthew 26:50-52 He is saying that contrary to popular wish, the Holy Spirit persuades men to believe, not force.  Of course this differentiates true religion from sex and murder cults like Islam, who believe that saying a few words at the business end of a gun turns them into Muslims.

The Kingdom of God comes by His power, not ours (even if He uses our work as secondary causes of things, the primary mover or primary cause is always the sovereign God of the Bible).  This passage of Scripture has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with and isn’t a normative statement on peace, violence, weapons, Biblical self defense or anything else.  The pastor needs to go back to school and learn Biblical hermeneutics.

Lancaster Online:

A 25 year old man accidentally shot himself in the groin at his Lancaster Township home Sunday, police said.

He picked up his .40-caliber pistol to put it away when the weapon accidentally discharged the bullet into his groin area, Sgt. Timothy Ponessa said Monday.

The man was taken to Lancaster General Hospital with an injury that was not life-threatening, police said.

Gosh, I hate it when that happens.  I remember the last time I shot myself in the groin.  From the comments, the negligent discharges might just be beginning for him.

But just to correct the report, he picked up the weapon, put his finger on the trigger where it didn’t belong, and pointed the weapon in an unsafe direction.

There.  Fixed.

‘When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in a rather scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less.”  — Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass

Scalia dissented from the recent SCOTUS Obamacare ruling.

“The Court holds that when the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act says ‘Exchange established by the State’ it means ‘Exchange established by the State or the Federal Government.’ That is of course quite absurd, and the Court’s 21 pages of explanation make it no less so,” Scalia wrote.

Scalia added, “Words no longer have meaning if an Exchange that is not established by a State is ‘established by the State.’ It is hard to come up with a clearer way to limit tax credits to state Exchanges than to use the words ‘established by the State.’ And it is hard to come up with a reason to include the words ‘by the State’ other than the purpose of limiting credits to state Exchanges.”

Roberts also dissented, but of course words weren’t so important to him when he created rights out of whole cloth and the supreme court forced every state to accept same-sex marriage.  He wants to pick and choose when words mean something, and get his self-righteousness on when he opposes the policy.

As I had stated to someone else this weekend, you have the political right to advocate what you want, but God will judge us – individually and collectively – for our choices.  But constitutionally, the court has absolutely no business bossing the states around.

This ruling – and many more like it – marks the end of the state.  The grand experiment in states as the laboratories of democracy is finished.  It failed, and not because it couldn’t have worked.  Evil men vandalized the experiment.  If Roberts has his problems, Scalia does too.  In Heller, he stated:

Like most rights, the Second Amendment right is not unlimited.  It is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose: For example, concealed weapons prohibitions have been upheld under the Amendment or state analogues. The Court’s opinion should not be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of fire arms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms.  Miller’s holding that the sorts of weapons protected are those “in common use at the time” finds support in the historical tradition of prohibiting the carrying of dangerous and unusual weapons.

“Shall not be infringed” means as little to Scalia as ‘Exchange established by the State’ means to Roberts and the other progressive justices on the supreme court.  Scalia is clever, witty, smart, fun to read and biting in his dissents – and just as inconsistent as the rest of them.  Scalia gets a taste of his own medicine in the Obamacare and same-sex marriage ruling.

As I listened to the quiet conversation and whispers this weekend as I went about my business, I think Mike Vanderboegh’s words will turn out to be prescient.

But even as staunch an anti-communist as I am now — as hard-nosed a supporter of the Founders’ Republic and the Constitution as I have become — I can see that the regime has dealt itself a crippling blow to its own legitimacy. I further note with somber acknowledgement that as bad as this confluence of events is for the country as a whole that it makes our job easier for it confirms everything we have been saying about the regime of both corrupt political parties being destructive of liberty and the rule of law. This will swell our ranks with people who are finally convinced that for the purposes of protecting our liberties, the present system has broken down completely and that the only thing we can count on from this point on is ourselves, alone. And our rifles. I will not celebrate this as a Marxist would but I will give a most sincere, albeit grim, “thank you” to the Supreme Court and the two predatory gangs of a tyrannical regime.

I would add that we can always count on God to honor His promises.  God will not be mocked (Galatians 6:7).  His words never change, and will always mean what they have always meant.

Molly Marshall, Baptist News Global: