Women, the Anti-Trump March, and Gun Rights

If more women owned guns, perhaps they'd fear the government less.

** As an instructor trained by the NRA and licensed by the BSA, I professionally teach children how to shoot, and what their responsibilities with guns are. I've turned teenage girls into sharpshooters. Feel free to tell me I don't know what I'm talking about.

Many angry people on the Right severely criticized the national women’s protest march against Donald Trump. But the march was a Rorschach test - it's whatever people want it to be. The Right seems to want it to be a man-hating event. We're talking about over 3 million people around the country, though. I absolutely love and respect the marchers, including the majority that come from the Left, but I have to speak up about this notion of dreaming that someday "women might have the same rights as guns".

Though this is not the intention of the protesters, the original idea scrawled on the pickets logically translates into a desire to be owned by men, to have to register with the local government, to be locked up indoors until men are ready to USE you, and to be banned from going to school or even most public spaces. In California, it would also include background checks and a 10 day waiting period just for having sex. That's how deep runs the spread of misinformation on guns and gun rights.

Read more at The Swamp

Open Borders and Private Property After the State

Open borders is still a touchy subject in libertarian and conservative circles.  Many see the concept of open borders as a threat to the nation.  Nationalism isn’t dead, but it’s definitely evolving.  More and more people are coming to the idea that culture and people make a nation, not lines on a map.

America’s borders have changed constantly throughout its history.  Like other nations, America never needed borders for national identity.  Israel is a nation because of the long Jewish traditions from the days when the Israelites were a wandering people, not because nationalist social democrats drew lines on a map of British-occupied Palestine.  In the words of Rabbi Yaakov Shapiro, “We are the Jewish nation.  Our homeland is our Torah, our Holy Bible.”

In Los Angeles County, home of 12 million people, city borders have become irrelevant...

Read more at The Libertarian Republic

Five Libertarian Ideas #22 - Libertarian National Defense at Home and Abroad

The Second Amendment and the next generation

Being a rifle shooting instructor has been a privilege. I love being able to teach the next generation about proper gun use, sportsmanship, and self-defense. The police can't be everywhere, nor do we want them everywhere, and criminals will continue to disobey the rule of law and human rights (surprise, surprise!). I'm a firm believer that the best way to stop evil people with guns is to have more good people with guns. -7/23

US Army troops patrol Afghanistan's Highway 1

"Limited war" in Afghanistan

This half-assed policy of undeclared "limited war" is only getting my brothers and sisters killed. We either completely conquer Afghanistan so that it will never be the same, or we leave and give the Afghans the liberty to destroy each other rather than have more of our people killed by "allies." -8/5

Toward a small standing army

You want a small standing army like the one envisioned in the Constitution? It can be done in 3 years.

1) Increase and expand special operations in the regular forces so we can neutralize threats without conventional forces.

2) Increase and expand the state militias (i.e. the National Guard and state defense forces). This gives us Title 10 troops who can be activated to fight constitutionally declared wars, while giving the several states citizen-soldiers immune from federal activation. -8/5

National Guard Special Forces soldiers in counterterrorism training

Groupthink: hating the police

It disturbs me to see so many libertarians expressing hatred for the police. I thought we were the enlightened group who sees people as individuals--free agents--rather than lumping them all together based on race, religion, or occupation. Keep in mind, the vast majority of police officers have neither beaten protestors nor shot people. -8/14

Civilians who think they're military experts

Not gonna lie. When civilian libertarians lecture me about the military, it's like listening to a Keynesian try to "teach" me economics. Just 'cause you read Albert Jay Nock and watched 'Lone Survivor' does NOT give you the right to be a pain-in-the-ass know-it-all intellectual. We have plenty of THOSE in academia. MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS WILL NOT DISAPPEAR IN ANARCHY; THEY WILL MERELY BE PRIVATIZED. (Furthermore, don't assume the PMC or militia in your area will be libertarian...) -8/14

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Images by the Department of Defense and National Guard Bureau and are in the public domain.

Five Libertarian Ideas #14 - Muslims, Mexican border, Libyan militias, Bundy Ranch

Pat Dollard's call "for Americans to start slaughtering Muslims in the streets"

Folks, just to clarify, the kind of behavior this gentleman calls for is NOT acceptable. People are being slaughtered by criminals in Chicago yet this guy wants to punish Americans for the actions of extremists on the other side of the planet. This service member's blind hatred may be and probably is tied to extreme combat PTSD from the Middle East. If so, then this man is mentally not all there and should be pitied and helped, not shunned and scorned. -4/4


Mexican soldiers invading Arizona

Mexican Army troops working for drug cartels have infiltrated American soil at least 20 times in recent years. The most recent incursion happened between lightly armed US Border Patrol agents and heavily armed Mexican soldiers. WHY are our troops protecting outposts in other countries in undeclared wars when armed criminal insurgents are criss-crossing our country's border??? -4/4

Libya, the militia state

The US/UN intervention in the Libyan Civil War brought an end to the war so quickly... the rebel government couldn't consolidate power or establish any sort of legitimacy. Now Libya is carved up by 300+ militias, at least one of which is selling oil to North Korea. Great... Oh hey, have we caught Kony yet? -4/4


Bundy Ranch standoff

If the Bundy Ranch invasion ignites a freaking armed uprising, I'm gonna be one REALLY pissed off dude. At everybody. Liberty is worth fighting for; cows and land are not worth dying for. We've had too much death and destruction since 2001. I'd much rather try Gandhi's methods for resisting tyranny than John Brown's. -4/11
　


Bundy Ranch standoff, continued

Dear God, help us all. As more federal law enforcement arrives with a military-grade arsenal, militia groups from all over are flocking to Nevada for an armed stand off. I don't want there to be any killing. Peaceful resistance has not been exhausted. I want the ALL feds and ALL the militias alike to come home to their families. -4/11

 

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Mexican soldiers photo by "BSMFBSMF" in the public domain. Militarized police photo by Tony Webster courtesy of CC BY-SA license.  Both photos obtained from Wikimedia Commons.

Thoughts on the American Militia Movement

Alaska Citizens Militia founders Ray Southwell and Norm Olson

Why I disagree with the movement

I believe in the 2nd Amendment and I'm against gun control. I also don't believe in people forming their own armies BEFORE actual hostilities ensue. I love my libertarian and conservative brothers and sisters but we have a few too many loose cannons. We NEED to keep the struggle at the ballot box. Should we own firearms? Yes. Should we join gun clubs and network with other liberty folks who own firearms? Yes

Should we assemble our own armies and give the Feds an extra excuse to steal liberty? NO. We need to hold the absolute moral high ground. Remember, it was an enrolled (local government) militia at Lexington that the British fired on. AFTER that volley, THEN the unorganized militia rose up in Concord and they had the moral high ground to do so.

The Second Amendment’s militia clause

The founders wrote that the right to bear arms shall not be infringed, and that a well-regulated militia is necessary to the security of a Free State. There are many ways to interpret that.  “Well-regulated” means orderly, high functioning, etc.  The way the militia clause makes most sense to me is sticking with the current distinction between the organized and unorganized militia, as neither category contradicts the militia clause.

Militia law in the Revolutionary War era

American militia, Battle of Guilford Courthouse by Don Troiani

We also have the militia law of the Revolutionary War era and preceding years. The militia system in colonial America was based on the English system which dates back to the English Muster Law of 1572. The militia at Lexington was a legally mustered local militia, not a spontaneous uprising. There were also mustered militias at Concord. Many of the 3,000+ irregulars that fought at Concord were un-mustered, unorganized "militia" but at that point they had the legal and moral standing to do what they did because their government (the Crown) broke the social contract by shooting on its citizens without it being necessary.

How realistic would the militia revolution be?

It's a little hard for me to take the militia movement seriously sometimes. For starters, most militia members I’ve encountered are all rhetoric; as far as those who vigorously drill for combat in the “next revolutionary war,” they overestimate their abilities.  Sure, they're great patriots who know their Constitution and own an AR-15. Muster one of these private militias versus one volley of hellfire missiles fired from a federal drone and their private militia is vaporized. They died for nothing.  

Alternatives for the present

WHAT WOULD RON PAUL DO?  Would he join a militia or organize political campaigns to peacefully change government? If these militia members spent half the time they spent on their private armies on activism instead, we'd have way more liberty devotees elected to public office.  It's best to own firearms in case the shit really does go down, but in the meantime WE MUST DO EVERYTHING IN OUR POWER TO KEEP POLITICS AT THE BALLOT BOX, NOT THE BATTLEFIELD.

Media coverage of militia groups

I disagree with the militia movement but I have to say the leftist media outlets cause unbalanced distractions. In the last decade there have been a handful of militia-related murders (mostly white supremacists) whereas gun-control Chicago alone has had 50+ murders in the first quarter of this year. Can we prioritize puh-leez???

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Southwell and Olson photo by Jenny Neyman, Redoubt Reporter; image courtesy of Democratic Underground discussion boards; no copyrights given or implied. Don Troiani artwork is in the public domain (as it was published by the U.S. National Park Service) and was obtained from Wikimedia Commons.

Five Libertarian Ideas #12 - The Russian New World Order, US/Mexico militias

Focusing on militias or gangs?

I disagree with the militia movement but I have to say the leftist media outlets cause unbalanced distractions. In the last decade there have been a handful of militia-related murders (mostly white supremacists) whereas gun-control Chicago alone has had 50+ murders this quarter. Can we prioritize puh-leez??? -3/21

"Comandante Bonita" staging with other self-defense volunteers

“La bonita autodefensa de Michoacán”

This female Mexican militia volunteer is a hero with recent combat experience and Telemundo wants to do a story about her beauty, complete with close ups of her ass. Yes, yes, she's attractive, but are they covering a war or doing a calendar shoot??? -3/23

Civilian human shields in Crimea

Cossack militias and "Crimean self-defense forces" (Russian soldiers) are using civilians as human shields for storming Ukrainian military bases in Crimea.  If the Crimean "unorganized militia" want to fight, that's understandable, but for the Russians to have invaded AND adopt a tactic of using civilians as human shields, while firing on Ukrainian troops, is just plain sick. If I can call out my country when it's wrong to invade others, I can sure as hell call out the neo-Stalin in the Kremlin. -3/23

"For the Soviet east!" 10th years of the Red Army

The Russian New World Order

I don't read much into the New World Order conspiracies, but the way some people in the movement are portraying Vladimir Putin as a self-defensive hero is WRONG and it MAKES ME SICK. If you believe in a New World Order, you'd better believe that Putin represents a DIFFERENT NWO. He may not call it such, but in conquering multiple former Soviet territories for Russia, Putin is trying to rebuild the Soviet Union. -3/24

Unity in the liberty movement

Well, fellow liberty folks, we COULD focus on the 98.7% of the things we agree on, OR we could argue over that 1.3% until it escalates to the point of madness like unto Jack Nicholson in The Shining -3/24

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Comandante Bonita image courtesy of Union Jalisco (www.unionjalisco.mx). Russian Red Army poster in the public domain and obtained from Wikimedia Commons.

Five Libertarian Ideas #1

Electing libertarians

The liberty movement's best inter-party electoral strategy is to run Libertarian candidates for local offices and libertarian Republicans for state and federal offices. (11/22)

Facebook activism

Tagging a boat-load of people in politically charged photos is no way to grow the liberty movement. A much better (and less annoying) alternative for reaching those less politically inclined is benignly commenting on current events and the unfortunate people being hurt by the event or policy. (11/25)

Violence against women

The amount of domestic and sexual violence committed against women is unacceptable. That's why I support women who practice their 2nd Amendment right. A person's liberty is no less at stake when attacked by an individual instead of the state. (11/27)

Thanksgiving

Let's count our blessings that human ingenuity, the market economy, and voluntary cooperation have raised our overall standard of living and our ability to survive in what was once untamed wilderness. Now we have Internet, heating, running water, and the closest thing to Indian fighting these days is the day we all pig out and pretend there was no Indian fighting. (11/28)

JFK

I've really enjoyed seeing all the libertarian tributes to JFK on the Internet recently. He had his faults, but using his more liberty-friendly quotes to promote our libertarian views is a GREAT way to reach out to the left. (11/29)

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Adapted Gadsden flag image is in the public domain and was retrieved from Wikimedia Commons.

An Alex Jones Fairy Tale, Part the Second

Continued from Part the First: Once Upon a Time: An Alex Jones Fairy Tale

Book the Second

Once upon a time there sat a story teller in the front of his all-knowing, far-reaching computer.  Mighty was this device, for its ram and melding with the magical FiOs stone allowed the story teller to travel to distant lands and send messages of great import to comrades long separated.  This is a story the teller did impart unto me in confidence, but the urgency of these dark times compel me to divulge unto thee this tale my heart burns to tell.

The likeness of the King's castle on an ancient coin (not of silver)

Once upon a time sat in a castle under the ground was a Conspiratarian.  This lord of a private fiefdom unpopulated was licking his wounds and counting his misfortunes following a desperate engagement.  This engagement was a swift defeat unto the Conspiratarian, for he did send his most loyal knight, the Adam of Kokesh, into battle, backwards on a horse, with sword and shield raised above and behind his head.  Knew he well that such a non-traditional and non-defensive stance would demonstrate a warrior’s steady resolve and utter lack of fear, and that it would strike fear into the hearts of his opponents on the field of battle, which in reality most certainly did not.

Upon the retirement of the champion of the Round Table, Sir Ronald of Paul, the Adam of Kokesh waxeth increasingly sore for many days. Stepped he in front of his own computer, did Kokesh, and proclaimeth unto the world that for the greatest champion of liberty in all the world to retire was indeed a betrayal against the people.

Kokesh proclaimeth Sir Ronald an Enemy of the People whilst claiming himself rightful successor to Sir Ronald’s seat at the round table.  Kokesh did dream many a dream in which he was a presidential candidate, whereupon books would be written about him, houses of learning dedicated in his name, tattoos drawn bearing his image, and most of all: he dreameth that Lady Anne of Archist, whose heart belongeth to Sir Ronald, would soften her heart and place it to be stolen upon by he, Kokesh.

Therefore, Kokesh sent a proclamation to all the libertarians throughout all the lands, saying, “Verily I say unto you, Ronald of Paul is a knave; he is no libertarian like unto thee all.  It is I who will be thy champion of liberty henceforth.”  And it so happened that the libertarians waxed sore and rose up against him, and his subscription count on YouTube did plummet like unto a fallen angel (and not a better corresponding metaphor could have been used).

The Kokesh fell deeply out of favor, but ne’er did he give up in his maniacal quest.  He decided he needed to consult the mystical spirits, and so he lit up a joint made thereof of the dankest chronic recommended by Jamaican sages.  He lit the joint and filmed himself smoking it thus, whereby he was able to commune with the spirits.  The spirits compelled him to resist the challenges against liberty through armed uprising, like unto the risings of Edward IV against the House of Lancaster, and unto Tommy Vercetti’s struggle against Sonny Forelli.

And so the Adam of Kokesh devised a plan which, in his mind, shone brilliant.  He sent riders in all directions with orders to muster in the King’s capital.  The faithful disciples of the Conspiratarian and his head knight, the Adam of Kokesh, were to assemble near the castle of King Barack with their muskets and swords o’er their shoulders.  They would then march yonder round the fiefdoms of the King’s department ministers.

It was brought to the attention of Kokesh by a low-ranking conspiratarian militiaman, whose courage wavered with fear, that a standing ordinance in the Capital prohibiteth open carry of arms.  “Nay!” roareth Kokesh, waxing with courage, and saying “the King’s ordinance doth not supercede our right to bear arms as guaranteed in the Second Amendment!”  This was very true indeed, but Kokesh stopped not there, for he waxed with pride and proclaimeth, “Our cause is not simply limited to the laws of the capital, but to the liberation of the whole nation!  We shall march on the capital and the King’s opposition shall quiver with fear and throw down their weapons!”

As the conspiratarians saw the world, it was colored only in black and white.  The globes in their offices were flat, and their maps of the capital shewn a golden throne upon which Sir Ronald of Paul was to sit, singlehandedly restoring the people’s freedom and serving as Dictator of Liberty.  As Sir Ronald retired, the Adam of Kokesh appointed himself Great Successor to the Dictatorship of Liberty.  Kokesh did see the world as a flat disc, and his lord’s militia’s march on the King’s capital was to strike fear into the hearts of the Kings men so that they would be chased by the Conspiratarian’s militia to the ends of the Earth, whereupon they would continue to flee and fall off the edge of the world.

Yet the libertarians throughout the land, with a true concern for their brothers in the conspiratarian movement, cried unto the Adam of Kokesh.  Their plea: “I beseech thee, O brother, waste not thy men in this march, for the King’s men are many, and they shall slay thy multitudes with their greater multitudes.”  The heart of Kokesh did hearken unto their plea, yet shrwed was the Adam.  He sayeth to his leftenants, “We shall perform a strategic operation which will be a bloodless coup.  We must march on the King’s capital, but may we do so unarmed, and in protest of the King’s laws against the growers of the Holy Hemp Weed.”

The Adam of Kokesh seized by King Barack's men

And the Kokesh did march unarmed on the King’s capital, and he was seized by the King’s men within five minutes, and placed into a dungeon in one of the fiefdoms of the department ministers.

The Conspirataian grew livid upon this news, and beseeched his remaining conspiratarian disciples to liberate the Adam of Kokesh from the dungeon.  And it came to pass that on the day the Conspiratarian and his men donned their Guy Fawkes masks and mounted their horses, they saw a creature in flight which slew their courage.  “Look ho!  Yonder flyeth one of King Barack’s mechanized eagles, and it performeth psychological operations!  Its operations affect me at this minute, and my courage wanes!  Retreat now to the underground bunker, and behind the safety of thine own laptops!”  And the Conspiratarian and his men retreated into the sunset, leaving the Adam of Kokesh to languish in the dungeon.

To be continued…

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White House artwork is in the public domain and obtained from Wikimedia Commons.  Adam Kokesh arrest image courtesy of Maria Izaurralde via Spread Liberty News.