[Free Beacon] The FBI ran 27.5 million gun-related background checks in 2016--about 4.4 million more than any other year on record. The late actor Dennis Hopper with his favorite FN.
The National Instant Criminal Background Check System processed 2,771,159 background checks in December, bringing 2016’s total to 27,538,673, according to FBI records posted on Wednesday. That dwarfs the firearms check record of 23,141,970 set the previous year.
NICS firearms background checks are considered an accurate metric of gun sales.
The FBI processed twice as many firearms checks in 2016, the last full year of President Obama’s administration, than it did in 2008, the year Obama was elected. During President Obama’s eight-year tenure, the FBI has processed 157,233,157 firearms checks--61,249,149 more than the previous ten years.
Those figures have led some to label Obama "the greatest gun salesman in history." Gun rights activists have long argued that Obama, Hillary Clinton, and the Democratic Party’s advocacy for gun control measures has fueled gun sales.
#3
Several of the gun shops I frequent in Western PeeAye have a picture of the jug eared won on or near the cash register, with the phrase "Our Best Salesman" across the bottom. Always makes me laugh...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/05/2017 10:03 Comments ||
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#4
Nationally, applications for Concealed Carry permits have mirrored the increase in gun sales. Contrary to gun control advocates assertions this would indicate many of are first time owners.
#6
NoMoreBS, posting a long URL broke the Burg, so I attached it to some words as a hot link. Type some text, select it, click on the icon below the text box that looks like a world sitting on a bit of chain, paste the URL into it, and click OK.
BLUF: [Wash Times] When Mr. Obama entered office, among his first acts were to give an interview with the Saudi-owned news outlet Al Arabiya championing his outreach to the mostly non-democratic Islamic world and to blast democratic Israel on “settlements.”
Partly, the reason for such inordinate criticism of Israel is sheer cowardice. If Israel had 100 million people and was geographically large, the world would not so readily play the bully.
Instead, the United Nations and Europe would likely leave it alone — just as they give a pass to human rights offenders such as Pakistan and Indonesia. If Israel were as big as Iran, and Iran as small as Israel, then the Obama administration would have not reached out to Iran, and would have left Israel alone.
Israel’s supposed Western friends sort out Israel’s enemies by their relative natural resources, geography and population — and conclude that supporting Israel is a bad deal in cost-benefit terms.
Partly, the criticism of Israel is explained by oil — an issue that is changing daily as both the United States and Israel cease to be oil importers.
Still, about 40 percent of the world’s oil is sold by Persian Gulf nations. Influential nations in Europe and China continue to count on oil imports from the Middle East — and make political adjustments accordingly.
Partly, anti-Israel rhetoric is due to herd politics. The Palestinians — illiberal and reactionary on cherished Western issues like gender equality, homosexuality, religious tolerance and diversity — have grafted their cause to the popular campus agendas of race/class/gender victimization.
Western nations in general do not worry much about assorted non-Western crimes such as genocides, mass cleansings or politically induced famines. Instead, they prefer sermons to other Westerners as a sort of virtue-signaling, without any worries over offending politically correct groups.
Partly, the piling on Israel is due to American leverage over Israel as a recipient of U.S. aid. As a benefactor, the Obama administration expects that Israel must match U.S. generosity with obeisance. Yet the U.S. rarely gives similar “how dare you” lectures to less liberal recipients of American aid, such as the Palestinians for their lack of free elections.
Partly, the cause of global hostility toward Israel is jealousy. If Israel were mired in Venezuela-like chaos, few nations would care. Instead, the image of a proud, successful, Westernized nation as an atoll in a sea of self-inflicted misery is grating to many. And the astounding success of Israel bothers so many failed states that the entire world takes notice.
But partly, the source of anti-Israelism is ancient anti-Semitism. If Israelis were Egyptians administering Gaza or Jordanians running the West Bank (as during the 1960s), no one would care. The world’s problem is that Israelis are Jews. Thus, Israel earns negative scrutiny that is never extended commensurately to others.
Mr. Obama and his diplomatic team should have known all this. Perhaps they do, but they simply do not care.
#5
VDH.
And sometimes, Mighty Casey strikes out. Unless his intent is to catch youngsters up to speed.
I remember my history teacher blaming Israel for Saddam's Scuds and saying we will probably die from Israel's nuke fallout.
But: If Israel were mired in Venezuela-like chaos, few nations would care.
Have to disagree. It is what is trying to be done with the divestment movement. I think there are enough people who would be ecstatic, even invasion militant, about Israel being economically decimated.
[LI] Donald Trump has promised, both himself and through surrogates, to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
That move, long promised by American presidents but never implemented, would have particular importance in light of UN Security Council Resolution 2334, which the Obama administration pushed behind the scenes and allowed to pass by abstaining.
That Resolution purports to declare illegal the Jewish presence even in place such as the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, which was captured by Jordan after Israel declared independence, and then ethnically cleansed of Jews. That ethnic cleansing of Jew along with ransacking and destruction of Jewish religious places, even cemeteries, was remedied when Israel recaptured the area in 1967 after Jordan attacked Israel in support of Egypt and Syria. Israel also recaptured the Western Wall, the holiest place in Judaism at which Jews are permitted to pray. The UN Resolution declares Israeli control over the Western Wall illegal as well.
While Resolution 2334 does not have force of law because it was not issued under UN Charter Chapter 7, it nonetheless has substantial political impact.
As Glenn Kessler, the Washington Post fact-checker notes, John Kerry was not accurate when he claimed that this declaration as to these Jewish sites was consistent with prior administrations:
The administration can point to 25 UNSC resolutions, between 1971 and 1994, that included some reference to Jerusalem, 1967 or occupied territories. In virtually all cases, the reference was not in an operative paragraph but in the preamble; many of these resolutions were on distinct events (such as the shooting of Palestinian youth or expulsions of Palestinians) that had alarmed the international community. There also was no specific reference to "East Jerusalem."
The last time a resolution was approved by the Security Council with phrasing concerning Jerusalem and occupied territories in a key operative paragraph was in 1980 -- during the Jimmy Carter administration, when Obama was a college student....
Back in 1980, the Israelis and Palestinians were not even negotiating directly. Since then, the Oslo Accords of 1993 between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization set in place a process under which settlements were to be discussed and negotiated as part of final status negotiations. That’s a key reason no resolution was passed with even this language in the preamble between 1994 and now. The last time, in 1994, the United States sought a rare paragraph-by-paragraph vote on the resolution to make clear its opposition to the Jerusalem language.
Indeed, then-U.N. Ambassador Madeleine Albright said the United States would oppose the assertion of Jerusalem as "occupied" in future resolutions because it was a matter for negotiations:
"We simply do not support the description of the territories occupied by Israel in the 1967 war as ’occupied Palestinian territory.’ In the view of my Government, this language could be taken to indicate sovereignty, a matter which both Israel and the PLO have agreed must be decided in negotiations on the final status of the territories. As agreed between them, those negotiations will begin not later than two years after the implementation of the Declaration of Principles."
#1
Since then, the Oslo Accords of 1993 between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization set in place a process under which settlements were to be discussed and negotiated as part of final status negotiations.
I suppose it would be impolite of me to point out that the 'Palestinians' abandoned the Oslo Accords long, long ago. THEY are the ones who refuse to stop the violence, THEY are the ones who broadcast childrens' shows encouraging kids to kill Jews.
THEY deserve whatever they get. And if moving the embassy means 'there will be violence', then we should tell them, "Then there shall be violence in return."
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/05/2017 6:14 Comments ||
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#2
There will be violence if U.S. doesn't move Embassy to Jerusalem, too.
[MRC TV] Our nation’s snowflakes are being cared for by colleges and universities across the country. These schools ‐ no, HEROES ‐ are financially supporting cry-ins, hot chocolate, bubbles, kittens, puppies and ponies, crayons, and Play-Doh to comfort these wounded snowflakes. Some schools even canceled exams and classes to ensure that America’s youth are treated with extra care and understanding during these difficult times.
But clearly, state funding ‐ tax-payer dollars ‐ are simply not enough.
State budgets cannot be expected to bear this burden alone. It’s going to take a far more sustainable funding source to ensure special snowflakes have the emotional support they need. In response, we here at the Media Research Center have launched the Save the Snowflakes project to respond to this emergency and bring crucial attention to this devastating human crisis.
The media may not choose to expose this atrocity, but the Media Research Center, through our Save the Snowflakes initiative, is doing much more ‐ we’re taking action! We won’t rest until we save each and every special snowflake from the horrors of exposure to ... things they simply do not agree with.
This is only the beginning! Please make sure to check this site often for vital MRC updates of how our country is coddling the melting snowflakes of American youth!
I gotta tell you the entire generation will spend their lives in their parents basement. Can you imagine one of these infantile little asses trying to work in manufacturing or construction?
A normal conversation on a construction site would probably send one of these little darlings home in tears.
#4
In the old days (back when merit counted), colleges were suppose to 'weed out' those lacking in the ability to deal with reality. Then again, the curriculum was a lot smaller and fed dollars were a lot shorter (see-GI Bill) before the Academic-Technology Complex leeched on to the public treasury.
Probably in-part for the anti-paleo agit-prop on that dung-hill campus. Probably in-part their outrageous parodies become pre-cursers of leftist thought....life imitating The Cube. So much so they get the debunking treatment.
#8
OK guys what age do you have to be to earn the default approbation of "an entire generation in their parents basement"?
I've got two sons who will turn 31 & 35 next month. One is a self employed gig type worker doing lighting design and operation at clubs in Boston. Married and been self supporting for years. Wish his work was steadier but the entertainment industry ain't known for that. and he works long hours and late nights.
The other one started his own net working company based on his idea of "Social Made Simple".which is the name of his company. He's making it slowly, just starting to get a salary after 3 years but he's still going strong 2 years after that so he surely doesn't fit the snowflake model.
Yes that is some humble brag but the knock on all millennials drives me nuts since they're not all like that.
Oh yeah the Boston area has a lot of them.that fit that model, like some of my daughter-in-laws brothers but my kids haven't lived in the basement in many years (thank God).
[NationalReview] One reason for the emergence of outsider Donald Trump is the old outrage that elites seldom experience the consequences of their own ideologically driven agendas. Hypocrisy, when coupled with sanctimoniousness, grates people like few other human transgressions: Barack Obama opposing charter schools for the inner city as he puts his own children in Washington’s toniest prep schools, or Bay Area greens suing to stop contracted irrigation water from Sierra reservoirs, even as they count on the Yosemite’s Hetch Hetchy project to deliver crystal-clear mountain water to their San Francisco taps. The American progressive elite relies on its influence, education, money, and cultural privilege to exempt itself from the bad schools, unassimilated immigrant communities, dangerous neighborhoods, crime waves, and general impoverishment that are so often the logical consequences of its own policies -- consequences for others, that is. Abstract idealism on behalf of the distant is a powerful psychological narcotic that allows caring progressives to dull the guilt they feel about their own privilege and riches. Much more at the link. A very good read.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
01/05/2017 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[11131 views]
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#1
Can't read it. The website keeps replacing the article with some bs and I can't read it fast enough to figure out how to read the article. Likely only works with M$S Edge.
#2
Hanson is a really smart guy. However, Notional Review, Weakly Stabber and Dead State must be ground into dust if a worthwhile conservative renaissance is to occur. No more puffed up intellectual pooftery. More red meat.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/05/2017 3:55 Comments ||
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#3
Barack Obama opposing charter schools for the inner city as he puts his own children in Washington’s toniest prep schools.
Yes, the Sidwell Friends School. The hypocricy of Obama discussed on this blog many years ago. Unfortunately the discussion fell to the wayside as more onerous and damning transgressions soon took it's place.
#4
3dc, if you use Firefox, you can use the 'NoScript' addon to prevent javascript from running the reloading script. Also in Firefox, in the far ri8ght side of the address bar, there is a square icon with a dip in the bottom of it, click on it and Firefox will turn the page into a "reader view" page, that will remain static and give you forever and a couple days to read the article.
It's what I use and I had no problem reading the article.
#5
Perhaps someday VDH will direct his venom towards the California Public Utilities Commission. It's the vehicle for much of the corruption that fuels his rancor. CPUC is a prime example of how Progessivism is antithetical to individual liberties and and how it has always depended on statist cronyism to exist. Moreover, the commissions' record lays bare the Liberal "Social Justice" falicies.
Those of us on the coast who bought our houses many, many years ago are lucky. Many of us could not even dream of it today. I know people who bought more recently whose monthly property tax bill is more than my monthly mortgage payments. Dunno how they do it. That's Proposition 13 for you. The politicians, including Moonbeam, all opposed it back in 1978. Now they keep trying to repeal it. If they ever do I'll have to leave. Maybe they'd like that.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
01/05/2017 11:50 Comments ||
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#8
Clinging to his guns, his Bible and his family farm. OK. I get it. Still have to wonder if it gets to the point where a reasonable person decides it's no longer worth it. The taxes really are horrendous.
There has been some discussion lately about California seceding or being given back to Mexico. One idea I like a lot better is to divide California into several smaller states.
VDH would no longer be subject to the whims of the coastal elite. California's electoral college votes would no longer all go automatically to the Democrat candidate. Diane Feinstein and Kamala Harris would no longer represent me in the Senate.
And if the folks in the Bay Area wanna bestow such generous benefits on illegal aliens they could do so without taxing from their more sensible neighbors.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
01/05/2017 13:46 Comments ||
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#9
how about Obama's two snowflakes taking their winter vacations skiing in Sun Valley 2 or 3 times a season, lift tickets are only $140.00 per day plus Uncle John "I was in Vietnam you know" has his palatial home there with his lovely wife Teresa
#10
Unfortunately, many of us in the land between the coasts end up paying a large chunk of the bill for the transgressions of progressives in the coastal areas. Our tax monies get collected by the feds and redistributed to these lefty areas. California was at one time truly the "Golden" state prior to 50-60 years ago when a larger part of the State was conservative and not so looney.
#11
how about Obama's two snowflakes taking their winter vacations skiing in Sun Valley
The Daily Mail claims Mr. and Mrs. Barack Obama each have $20 million contracts for their memoirs. If so, they can rent their own palatial there -- ownership has too many responsibilities. Besides, I suspect that scion of the Kennedy clan will be completely booked with neglected relations for a while, and sadly unable to host the Obamas on their desired dates. for which he'll be excessively sorry.
#13
Two more books by Democrats nobody will read; their publishing house is going to take a huge bath on this.
Yet Simon and Schuster gets threats and vitriol for greenlighting and paying a $250K advance to Milo Yiannopolis (A hilarious militant conservative gay) which is already on Amazon's bestseller list for pre-orders. Nice business model ya got there Obama-sucking Press
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/05/2017 21:01 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Free Beacon] The FBI ran 27.5 million gun-related background checks in 2016--about 4.4 million more than any other year on record.
Who could have possibly suspected such an outcome ? 
[LI] Donald Trump has promised, both himself and through surrogates, to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
