Notes from the Resistance
Sharyl Attkisson Discusses Reporting About Obama-Era ‘Fast And Furious’ And Benghazi Scandals [Watch]
Ask yourself what would have been exposed had this not worked.
That nothing happened after it was exposed is another story altogether…
But wait! There’s more!
[Via Jess]
During an interview with Univision that took place last Wednesday and aired on Tuesday, President Joe Biden stated that he would consider taking further executive action on guns and criticized 2024 Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump because Trump “famously told the NRA that, don’t worry, no one’s going to touch your guns” if Trump won. [More]
I just wish I could believe him.
[Via bondmen]
One of those illegally-trafficked firearms was used to murder U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. That was exposed when ATF Agent Peter Forcelli blew the whistle that cases he was making to charge and lock up criminals for trafficking guns were being ignored by the U.S. Attorney’s office. [More]
No, that’s not how it got exposed.
Forcelli was definitely instrumental and heroic in exposing things, but ignoring the timeline of bringing information to the media, to the Congress, and to the public is wrong. If I didn’t know better, I’d think NSSF had a reason for ignoring that.
In The Deadly Path, Forcelli reintroduces us to many of the other characters and scenarios we covered in our attempts to get corporate media and Congress to investigate for themselves. [More]
The guilty want this to be forgotten. This book can be a tool to renew interest in dragging their lethal actions back into the light– but only if you use it.
Mike and I were not only ready to go with it (albeit unwilling to burn a source and post under a requested embargo), but after the mainstream press has been on it for days now, there was only one place hosting the letter (other stories only talked about it) from the attorney for the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association to Sen. Chuck Grassley and Rep. Darrell Issa detailing not just the setup for the grenade operation, but also, and importantly, about the retaliation his ATF agent-client was subjected to by DOJ management for testifying at a House Oversight Committee hearing. [More]
A name from earlier investigations of years past once more brings ATF’s criminal “gunwalker” plot to the front burner with a new book and an exclusive interview.
At least a dozen dead in northern Mexico shootout near Texas border [More]
Say, gang, I’ve got a swell idea!
I’ve mentioned before how I love to read books but between the reading I have to do for my professional obligations, the work itself, and my personal life, there’s just not a lot of time. I suppose having a sense of purpose and looking forward every morning to a full day I’m enthusiastic about living is something I should be grateful for, but it does mean making one choice means not making another — for now.
I just finished The Deadly Path, and am finalizing an interview with former ATF Agent and author Pete Forcelli for AmmoLand. Stay tuned.
I also agreed to read The Misinformation Antidote because the author contacted Firearms News claiming “court decisions carry with them the seeds of the [Second] amendment’s future destruction.” I’ll let you know what I think after I read it.
And then yesterday, one of my favorite liberty authors, Miguel A. Faria, Jr., M.D., sent me a copy of his new book, Stalin, Mao, Communism, and their 21st-Century Aftermath in Russia and China. The man knows whereof he speaks and I’m looking forward to reading it and sharing my impressions — just give me a minute.
Homeland admitted in emails it fails to track illegal immigrants released into US interior [More]
Hey, if the object is uncontrolled destructive subversion, go with what works.
It’s not liike anybody ever got really punished after being caught.
[Via Michael G]
ATF official: Federal prosecutors turning a blind eye to straw purchasers, again – Events reminiscent of ATF’s “Operation Fast & Furious” scandal. [More]
Hey, if you want to blood dance, you first need blood.
Which invites two questions, one about the open border and the other about the imposition of prior restraints because people who have proven they can’t be trusted with a gun aren’t kept away from the rest of us.
I’ve established a dialog with Mr. Forcelli, have read his book, and will be releasing an interview and a review over the next few weeks.
[Via CP]
Iowa senators Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst are calling for accountability and a full review of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF’s) unlawful misclassification of administrative positions as “law enforcement.” Not only was this decades-long practice illegal, but it also burned millions of taxpayer dollars. [More]
“Padding statistics” is kind of a tradition with them.
[Via Jess]
I just found out while talking to another ATF whistleblower on the phone who I plan on interviewing.
The guy was instrumental in helping Mike and me navigate through Fast and Furious. Funny who you develop respect and affection for along the way…
I can think of no better tribute to the man than the comments on his Facebook.
I’ll light a cigar and pour a couple fingers of the good stuff tonight in his memory and honor.
UPDATE
I remembered my signed copy of Ratsnakes.
It was just like that ****** to sign it upside down!
“The Justice Department will do everything in its power to find and hold accountable the gun traffickers who are arming the cartels.” [More]
Good one! And they’re headline whoring for the same reasons.
Why does Sir Wilfrid’s cross-examination of Frau Helm come to mind…?
Gov’t Informant Who Spied on Fast-and-Furious Reporter Turns up Dead [More]
Vince Foster, Obama’s chef, and Jeffrey Epstein were not available for comment.
Here are some other items there’s probably nothing to.
Armed residents guard streets in Mexico’s hurricane-hit Acapulco. [More]
With “machetes and baseball bats”…?
Lemme guess: Lax American gardening supply and sporting goods laws…?
I’ll bet no properties owned by these guys are being attacked.
Say… what’s to stop the looters from coming over here? And becoming Democrats…?
The intent here appears to be to once more blame “lax American gun laws” for Mexican cartel carnage and to assist in the deception… [More]
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.
ATF Employee Caught Gun Running to Mexico [More]
This is the topic I was thinking of writing up in detail.
I do have a quibble:
The Mexican Government makes the bold claim that 70% of all guns used in crimes were smuggled into Mexico from the United States.
That used to be the claim the antis all made, but they started at “95 to 100 percent.” Now the DSM is more properly qualifying things by saying:
Nearly 70% of TRACED [emphasis added] firearms used to commit crimes and seized in Mexico come from the United States, according to ATF.
So instead of being a flat-out lie, it’s now an insidious lie of omission, because they don’t then inform:
No specific numbers on how many of those guns “recovered in Mexico and traced back to the United States” were, in fact, military purchases, but the State Department cables indicate a portion of the fewer than 12 percent of the traceable weapons actually came from the United States in gun shop/individual type purchases. Remember, that’s not 12 percent of the tens of thousands of weapons recovered – it’s only 12 percent of the weapons recovered that were traceable. It’s nowhere near the 12 percent figure that has been misquoted and used as evidence of the United State’s “horrific” problem of illegal gun sales.
Now, tell us more about the drunks…
A former investigator with the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) is accused of trafficking weapons to Mexico while he was an employee of the bureau in 2017, according to a letter sent to the ATF Director this week by US Senator Charles Grassley. [More]
Jeez, another letter…?
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.
I went to Grassley’s “News Releases” page and didn’t see the letter. I asked him for a copy:
Anybody have a link?
I started an AmmoLand article on this but then found another writer was working on it. I’ll wait for that one to see if there’s anything substantive I can add.
[Via gbob]
Federal prosecutors have charged seven with conspiring to smuggle more than 1 million rounds of ammunition and high-powered weapons into Mexico. [More]
Would it be considered bad form to ask where they’re from and whether border control might work better than gun control?
[Via Jess]
If that sounds familiar, it’s the premise on which Operation Fast and Furious, which Grassley opened his letter to Dettelbach with, was founded. [More]
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.
ATF Warns Texas FFLs About Dangerous Cartel Activity in the Next 60 Days [More]
I don’t suppose there’s a fix for this before things get to that point…?
Oh, I keep forgetting– this has nothing to do with that “single issue.”
And point of order:
Former Attorney General Eric Holder authorized the sale of guns to the cartels in that operation. The idea was to track the weapons back to Mexico, but the Department of Justice (DOJ) lost track of the firearms.
That wasn’t the idea, that was the excuse. If there’s evidence the Phoenix Field Division got those instructions from Holder, I have not seen it. And you don’t “lose track” of weapons if you don’t attempt to track them.
This was no “botched gun sting.”
[Via Jess]
CBS News is running a special investigation into the smuggling of firearms to Mexico. US government officials estimate that the cartels are smuggling 2,000 firearms a day across the Mexican border. The way it works is that the cartels alerts buyers in the US who are not prohibited persons of their needs, they transfer the guns to brokers, and then the guns go to smugglers who take the firearms across the border to the cartels. Buyers are reported to be spread across all 50 states. [More]
Why did I suddenly think “Ecclesiastes”?
John Richardson does a great job bringing us up to speed and putting things in perspective with the overlooked history, something the DSM will not do.
Glenn Beck Interviews Former ATF Strike Force Member, John Dodson – “You Cannot Trust Your Government” [More]
I’m glad to see him emerging from a self-imposed silence.
A few years back Mike and I helped obtain financing and made some introductions for a documentary and had a credited professional filmmaker ready to interview him but he decided it wasn’t in his interests at the time to keep talking (I’d heard on advice of counsel)– so it didn’t advance beyond a preview:
I’ve been out of touch with the documentarian for some time now– I wonder if it’s too late or even possible to try and pull the project back together…
[Via CP]
“We estimate that about 70 percent of the guns that end up in Mexico are guns that come from the United States of America,” said Salazar. [More]
They’re counting on short memories.
That’s what happens when you’re confident your operations can abet killing people with impunity and the DSM will cover for you.
[Via Lane]
Guns, Cash Seized from Smugglers Headed to Mexican Border, Say Cops in Texas [More]
Y’know, if someone were conspiracy-minded, I can see how they’d think busts like this were needed to feed a narrative…
[Via bondmen]
To fight back against the improper use of taxpayer dollars and to defund bureaucrats, today, U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) is calling on Inspector General Michael Horowitz to work with the whistleblowers to fully investigate the issue, recover misspent funds, and hold bad actors accountable. [More]
Because nothing says “We’ll get to the bottom of this” like entrusting the investigation to a Breuer/Holder/Obama apparatchik! And look at all those wrong-doers his Gunwalker inquest nailed!
Thank goodness no “real reporters” ever followed up on any of this!
So the question becomes is Ernst actually oblivious to this or is this just a way to pander to her base while knowing full well nothing will change?
[Via Antigone]
Biggs said one of the Fast and Furious guns has recently been used in a crime. Biggs didn’t provide details of this crime, but said the ATF is now questioning the firearms dealer from which the gun emanated. [More]
I wish he would provide details because I’ve been asked and it caught me flat-footed, although I’ve been away from that story, and my original sources have moved on or gone silent.
I will take exception to one characterization Biggs made:
“Botched.”
If you believe that, you’ve allowed yourself to be misdirected from the get-go.
My old boss and partner Jonah Peretti announced today that he’s shutting down BuzzFeed News, which we built together starting in 2012. [More]
I know some are thinking “Serve’s ’em right” and I’ve had objections to them myself, but I will say they (surprisingly) wrote what I found to be one of the fairest reports on Gunwalker, Mike, and me.
[Via Jess]
As a fraudulent criminal in government, Luna played the citizen disarmament game using the same narrative lies prohibitionists here were exploiting to try and swindle American citizens out of their birthright. [More]
Criminals in government are the same murderous and greedy gun-grabbing swine on both sides of the border.
