Pistol Permit Recertification Email

Several SCOPE members are getting emails about their pistol permit recertification and are, legitimately, concerned about a scam. SCOPE tried to get confirmation from the state police.

A visit to the state police web site is not helpful in confirming if these Emails are valid.

The state police web site “contact information” contains a phone number.  (You will have a better chance reaching the IRS on April 15^th).  We tried.  After a very long message you get to press 1 and end up in oblivion.

The web site also has an Email address - but it goes to the governor.  Good luck getting a timely response that does not refer you to the state police web site.

Finally, calling the local troop headquarters got a human being who tried to help.  She investigated and could only say, “We believe Emails are being sent out”.  She could not confirm yes or no and she cautioned not to click on any links in the Email.

Our best advice is to treat the Email as a reminder, only.  Do not click on the links.  Below is the information that SCOPE previously sent out.  It contains a legitimate link to start the recertification process. 

The deadline for pistol permit renewal in New York is five years after your exact date of certification.

Examples: 1/1/2017 is due 1/1/2022; 1/31/2017 is due 1/31/2022; 1/1/2018 is due 1/1/2023

You can check on the date you certified on this site:  NYS Pistol Permit Recertification

You will need your driver's license number.

It's faster submitting the information on-line, but you can still submit a paper application

Information is available at the NY website.   NYS Pistol Permit Recertification

You will need all of the information on the pistols you will be submitting AND your New York Driver's license

SCOPE strongly suggests that, before sending the information in,

you TRIPLE CHECK the information, as just one mistake can cause a problem.

After submitting, you can go back to the "HOME PAGE" and check for confirmation that your application has been accepted and that you're "good".

Do yourself a big favor and print out the information so you can have it when you have to renew again.

You Gotta Be Kidding!  by Tom Reynolds

When did Albany and Washington get transported to some alternate universe?

Over the past two years, the U.S. has seen a rise in gun ownership and also a rise in crime.  The Left claims that gun ownership causes the rise in crime.  Since we are the ones buying the guns, we know that more crime creates more gun ownership; we buy guns to protect ourselves, not to commit crimes.

 The left ignores riots, looting, arson and murder as punishable crimes.  They also ignore other causes such as soft-on-crime D.A.’s and bail reform.  The latter, is a revolving door through the criminal justice system for criminals, as the Left puts criminal rights before victim rights.  There are unending reports of freed criminals committing even more crimes once they walk through the revolving door…again and again.

Why stop with just bail reform to free criminals?  In a particularly tone deaf, in-your-face act, New York State is closing prisons.  With crime rising, wouldn’t it be logical to predict that more people will be jailed? Not so to Governor Hochul. In the future, watch for the excuse that we can’t jail criminals because prison overcrowding is inhumane.

On another issue, most economists would agree that when any government prints money, inflation pressures mount.  The only real point of contention is whether or not the government has to do their printing over a short period in order to trigger inflation.  

You may have noticed that we are in an inflationary spiral that even Joe Biden no longer calls “transitory”.  You may also have noticed that the government is spending money like a drunken sailor (with apologies to drunken sailors).  All fueling more and more inflation.

In the midst of all this, Congress is about to pass another $1.5 trillion bill. It’s 2,741 pages long!  Anyone read all of it?  It’s reported there is $100 billion for Green New Deal initiatives.  Washington doesn’t see a down side to the endless printing of money or trillion-dollar deficits.  It’s as if both parties in Washington have just given up on fiscal self-control and are saying, “Let’s party” as the Titanic nears the iceberg.  For some, that iceberg is going to hit this November - if we can still afford the gas to drive to the polls. 

Joe Biden believes the world’s biggest threat is Global Climate Change, so he is trying to shut down American oil production and oil pipelines.  But he is also asking foreign countries to pump more oil in the current crisis over oil and gas prices.

The U.S.A. is definitely part of the “globe”.  But the last time I looked at a world map, so were Saudi Arabia, Russia, Venezuela, Iran and Canada.  Apparently, Biden has different world maps than the rest of us.

Since “Global whatever” is our biggest threat, China is somewhere down the list.  We can do sanctions against Russia because of the Ukrainian invasion and there’s not much Putin can do about it in economic retaliation against the USA. 

But what about China if it invades Taiwan? Chinese interests bought Smithfield Foods, the largest pork producer and processor in the world.  Another Chinese company bought AMC Entertainment, one of the largest movie theatre chains in the USA.  A Chinese company, Golden Dragon Precise Copper Tube Group, Inc. is building a $100 million plant in Thomasville, Alabama.  Guizhou Gouchuang Energy Holdings Group spent 616 million dollars to acquire Triple H Coal Co. in Jacksboro, Tennessee. (Yeah, China is mining coal in the USA.  How’s that helping global whatever?)  After being bailed out by U.S. taxpayers, GM is involved in 11 joint ventures with Chinese companies.  A lack of Chinese made computer chips is affecting car production in the USA.

Biden and our NATO allies ignored the implications of becoming dependent upon Russian oil and Natural Gas and that certainly had to embolden Putin’s war plans for the Ukraine.  Anyone in Washington concerned about Chinese sanctions against the USA if we take action against China in a Taiwan crisis?  Nah!  Let’s spend some more money on the Green New Deal and party!   

After World War 2, Britain raised its income tax levels so high that many millionaires left Britain, often giving up their British citizenship.  ”Ozzy” Osbourne just announced that, because of high taxes, he is leaving California and moving back to England.

The lack of Bipartisanship is often decried.  For example, Democrats want “Drop Boxes” for voting and Republicans believe that will lead to voter fraud.  How about a bipartisan compromise?  Andrew Wilkow suggests putting the Drop Boxes in gas stations.

Response to Biden’s State of the Union Address  by Tim Andrews

Biden said, “And we’ll do everything in my power to crack down on gun trafficking, of ghost guns that you can buy online, assemble at home — no serial numbers, can’t be traced.”

Response: What’s he waiting for?  There are plenty of laws already on the books prohibiting illegal gun trafficking.  Guns must have enough metal to be detected by airport metal detectors.  With the exception of some antique guns, it’s illegal to sell a gun without serial numbers. 

The problem is that Federal gun laws are rarely enforced and are often plea-bargained away.

Biden said, “I ask Congress to pass proven measures to reduce gun violence. Pass universal background checks. Why should anyone on the terrorist list be able to purchase a weapon? Why? Why?”

Response: Why? Because everyone on the terrorist watch list is not a terrorist or a criminal. The most famous example was Senator Ted Kennedy who was on the terrorist list. Gun purchasers are required to pass an FBI background check and the terrorist watch list is not part of the criteria and, given its inaccuracies, it shouldn’t be.

Biden said, “And folks, ban assault weapons with high-capacity magazines that hold up to a hundred rounds. You think the deer are wearing Kevlar vests?”

Response: Ban assault weapons? If the current tragedy in Ukraine teaches us anything it’s the importance of the Second Amendment. The government of Ukraine is arming their population; news reports have said, “they’re handing out Kalashnikovs like candy.” A firearm is ultimately the last line of defense of freedom and liberties against foreign or domestic enemies, just ask a Ukrainian citizen. We don’t need a law banning so-called assault weapons.  If anything, we need a law mandating every citizen own one.

Biden’s reference to deer hunting exposes either his ignorance or he’s simply a liar. There is no documentation that would suggest the founders intended the Second Amendment to guarantee a right to a firearm for hunting game. James Madison proposed the amendment because he clearly feared a tyrannical government. It’s criminal that the president who took an oath to protect and defend the constitution could be so dishonest and misrepresent it so.

The founders had not just returned from hunting, they had just freed a nation

Biden said, “Look; repeal the liability shield that makes gun manufacturers the only industry in America that can’t be sued. The only one.”

Response: Another Biden lie. Gun manufacturers are subject to the same product liability laws as any other product manufacturer.  If a person is injured or killed as a result of a gun having a manufactured defect, they do have the right to sue the gun manufacturer.

Biden is misrepresenting what he really wants to do. The purpose is to drive manufacturers out of the retail gun business. His plan is to pass a law where crime victims could sue manufacturers of firearms whose guns were used in a crime. Apply this law to the auto industry and a victim of a drunk driver could sue Ford if the perpetrator drove one of their vehicles.

Biden said, “Imagine had we done that with the tobacco manufacturers.”

Response: Another misrepresentation and deception.  Because the tobacco industry lied and hid data regarding the dangers of smoking, they were successfully sued. Just as any product manufacturer, gun and auto manufacturers can be sued if they lie and deceive regarding the sale of a defective product or one that causes diseases.

Biden said, “These laws don’t infringe on the Second Amendment. They save lives.”

Response: Mr. President, you dishonor your office, because you have long been a habitual liar, which continues with your proposals that violate the Constitution that you swore to protect and defend.

There is no question that crime is out of control but it has more to do with Democrat D.A.’s who refuse to prosecute dangerous criminals, bail reform, illegal immigration (about which you refuse to do anything) and other Democrat policies. History has proven passing gun laws restricting law-abiding citizens and leaving criminals free to roam our streets will give us exactly what we have today, more and more crime.

And don’t forget, Biden’s party has spent two years chanting, “Defund the police”.

While You Were Watching The Ukraine  by Tom Reynolds

The NY State Supreme Court dismissed NY Attorney General Letitia James’ attempt to dissolve the NRA.  Judge Joel Cohen wrote: “…the Complaint does not allege the type of public harm that is the legal linchpin for imposing the ‘corporate death penalty’…moreover, dissolving the NRA could impinge, at least indirectly, on the free speech and assembly rights of its millions of members.”

The suit against the NRA and several NRA officers will continue without the corporate death penalty.  Cohen wrote, “The Attorney General’s allegations in this case, if proven, tell a grim story of greed, self-dealing, and lax financial oversight at the highest levels of the National Rifle Association…They describe in detail a pattern of exorbitant spending and expense reimbursement for the personal benefit of senior management, along with conflicts of interest, related party transactions, cover-ups, negligence, and retaliation against dissidents and whistleblowers who dared to investigate or complain, which siphoned millions of dollars away from the NRA’s legitimate operations.”

The NRA is the thousand-pound gorilla in defense of the 2nd Amendment and James and her fellow gun grabbers will do anything to weaken or destroy the NRA, for political purposes.

There is no word if James will appeal the judge’s decision.

New York Judge Rules Out Dissolving the NRA | The Reload

Joe Biden is rewriting the “public charge” regulations on immigration to let very poor illegal aliens get both welfare and citizenship. The replacement rule will help provide green cards and citizenship to poor illegal and legal aliens, including many who are unable or unwilling to support themselves. 

If you think your vote doesn’t count now, wait until an illegal alien turned U.S. citizen can vote.  If the Democrats can’t win elections with current voters, they want to create a whole new group of voters, who have no connection to the USA, other than receiving welfare.  Guess how they will vote to use your tax dollars?

DHS Mayorkas OK's Citizenship for Migrants Who Rely on Welfare (breitbart.com)

When Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced he would use the Emergency Act declaration to target the financial support systems of the people supporting the “Trucker Protest”, he undermined the Canadian banking system, which led to massive withdrawals of cash from banks.  He also derailed, at least temporarily, the plans of the World Economic Forum to create a “Digital ID” in Canada.

Trudeau showed how easy it is for government to seize bank accounts, credit cards, etc. and cut you off from money (without due process). He also led people to realize that the government could financially destroy you -more efficiently - with a Digital ID in place.

Proponents of digital ID justify it by saying it can assist governments to better plan for your needs. (Big Brother will take care of you.)  Governments could analyze your “needs” – as it defines those needs – in order to meet those needs. (From each according to his ability and to each according to his needs.)  Governments could build profiles on the social, political, and economic behaviors of people.

Of course, the same information could also be used for political manipulation, stifling of expression, exclusion of dissenters, and other similar motives.  Digital ID programs would create databases that could easily destroy the right to privacy. (You must have heard about the illegal misuse of NSA data in the Russian hoax.  Misuse that is not being prosecuted.  Digital ID puts that on steroids.) 

Remember Canada when the Digital ID is proposed in America.

BOOM, Trudeau Reversal Motive Surfaces - Canadian Banking Association Was Approved by World Economic Forum To Lead the Digital ID Creation - The Last Refuge (theconservativetreehouse.com)

Digital identities: Issues and cases - Diplo (diplomacy.edu)

Some good news…sorta.

Under the gun ownership prohibitions in the National Firearms Act, an AOW is a catch-all definition for “any weapon or device capable of being concealed on the person and from which a shot can be discharged through the energy of an explosive.”

Representative Chip Roy (R-Texas) introduced a bill called the “No Backdoor Gun Control Act” in the U.S. House of Representatives that would remove the “any other weapons” (AOW) definition of a firearm.

Rep. Roy said, “Bearing arms in self-defense is a human right. It is evident from the ATF’s behavior that, under Joe Biden’s Department of Justice, the agency is hellbent on attacking the Second Amendment through every means at its disposal”.  (‘Say it aint so, Joe.  Say it aint so’!)  “The NFA’s ‘Any Other Weapon’ provision would still allow an anti-gun administration to use the ATF to unilaterally regulate these firearms, and, more importantly, target their owners. The No Backdoor Gun Control Act would close this notable loophole and help protect law-abiding gun owners.”

In the current gun grabbing dominated Washington, there is almost no chance of this passing but it is nice to see the Republicans go on the offensive for a change.

Bill To Remove AOWs From The NFA Introduced In Congress - AmmoLand.com

The Biden Administration and an animal-rights group (the Center for Biological Diversity) have announced settlement discussions over a lawsuit that could revoke hunting opportunities on nearly 100 National Wildlife Refuges, nationwide. The lawsuit alleges that hunting on refuges threatens endangered species due to: hunters trampling critical habitat; lead poisoning as a result of spent ammunition; and because grizzly bears are mistakenly shot by hunters believing them to be black bears or in self-defense.

Since an antigun group is negotiating with the antigun Biden Administration, this is like two wolves and a sheep holding a majority-rules vote on what to have for dinner.

Biden Admin Negotiating with Animal Activists Over Public Land Hunting - Sportsmen's Alliance (sportsmensalliance.org)

State Of The Union?  by Tom Reynolds

Biden said, during his State of the Union Address, “I ask Congress to pass proven measures to reduce gun violence...Pass universal background checks. Why should anyone on a terrorist list be able to purchase a weapon?  Ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines."

Proven measures?

Apparently, Biden thinks (I use the word loosely) that terrorists will try to go through a NICS check to buy weapons.  Of course, Biden’s administration believes that parents at school board meetings are terrorists.  Will protesting at a school board meeting bar you from buying a gun under Biden’s proposals?  (You can bet on it!)

He also omitted any reference to his and his party’s soft-on-crime stances as being responsible for the increase in all crime and violence.  But he did reverse the Democrats’ years’ long position on defunding the police.  (Did the “science” change on defunding the police or did the polls change?)

Then, in response to his proposed ban on what he describes as high-capacity magazines, Biden said, "You think the deer are wearing a kevlar vest?"  Did Biden forget that he opened his speech talking about Ukraine?  Are Ukrainians asking for more weapons so they can go deer hunting?  Did Biden forget the Ukrainian President’s response to Biden’s offer for escape: ”I need ammunition, not a ride”.  If Biden sends ammunition, will it be limited to 10 round magazines?     

Biden repeated an often-repeated Democrat lie when he said "repeal the liability shield that makes gun manufacturers the only industry in America that can’t be sued."  Republican Rep. Thomas Massie tweeted the truth:  "Big Biden Lie…Truth: If guns malfunction, the manufacturers can be sued. Not so with vaccines!"  So, as Massie pointed out, Biden told a double lie: first, about gun manufacturers and second about vaccine manufacturers. 

Former CIA analyst Buck Sexton explained it further when he tweeted. "No other industry is made liable for criminal misuse of their product. But his base is full of hysterics who hate gun owners, so facts don’t matter."

If Biden can boldly lie about one thing, how much else in the speech was a lie?  Let’s make that list shorter: how much was the truth?

• Ukrainian Guns  by Tom Reynolds

  There is a popular cartoon / meme (often seen on SCOPE’s Facebook page) that goes something like:  The founders didn’t pass the 2^nd Amendment because they liked hunting.  They had just freed a nation.  That took on more meaning with the recent events in the Ukraine.

  Here are some interesting facts about gun ownership in Ukraine.

  According to the Geneva Switzerland based “Small Arms Survey” of 2017, the USA is number 1 in the world with 120.5 guns per 100 people.  Ukraine is ranked number 88 with 9.9 per 100 people.  This includes both legal and illegal guns.

  In 2017, the U.S. population was 326 million and Ukraine’s was 44 million.  That equates to about 4 million firearms in Ukrainian civilian hands.  (If Ukraine had the same percentage guns per person as America, they would have about 50 million guns in civilian hands.  Would that have caused Putin to think a bit more before invading?)   

  According to the National Police of Ukraine, less than one-quarter of the 4 million are legally owned.*

  Handguns are not allowed but there are a few exceptions.**  (Let me guess, politicians and their friends are those exceptions.)  Some exceptions get handguns that fire rubber bullets.

  GunPolicy.org which is a research branch of the University of Sidney, Australia, (and not a fan of civilian gun ownership) estimated that the Ukrainian military had 7 million small arms.*** 

  And in an example of liberal statements that seem silly, today, GunPolicy.org also stated that guns in the Ukraine were: “Inherited as an ‘unsought burden’ by a former Soviet state with no current need for it”****

  Various sources report that, prior to the current emergency, civilians could legally own a semi-automatic firearm as well as a rifle or a shotgun, if you had the permit.  Magazine capacity was 10 rounds.  As with restricted pistol permits in the New York, Ukrainian permits had to state a purpose such as: hunting, target practice, etc.

  Ukraine is what, in the USA, we call “may issue”.  A SCOPE member with a friend in Western Ukraine was told by that friend “he could easily get a hunting rifle as long as you bribed the local police chief”.  (Sounds like NY City!)  Ukraine’s laws are described as somewhere between most of Europe’s (highly restrictive) and the USA’s (too restrictive - or too lenient if you are on the Left).

  In the current Russian invasion crisis, it’s been widely reported that civilians in Kiev were given 10,000 automatic rifles.  The reports have not stated how many rounds of ammunition they were given. 

  Handing out rifles raises a question about training to use the rifle and effectiveness if resistance is unorganized.  But it is also reported that many Ukrainians are military veterans due to the Ukraine’s proximity to Russia.  Wouldn’t it have been better to have wide spread legal gun use prior to the invasion, so civilians would be familiar with their firearm?  In the USA, that’s covered by the 2^nd Amendment.

• ·       "Ukrainians are Getting Armed". WarsawInstitute. August 21, 2018

**    "Guns in Ukraine: Firearms, armed violence and gun law". Gunpolicy.org. 2001-05-07. Retrieved 2014-04-1

***   Polyakov, Leonid.2005.‘Aging Stocks of Ammunition and SALW in Ukraine: Risks and challenges.’ BICC Paper 41.Bonn:Bonn International Conversion Center,1 January. (Q84)

**** Jane's Defence News. 2004. ‘Ukraine Arms Cuba and Venezuela.’ 19 September. (N6)

Reagan and Russia  by Tom Reynolds

Yesterday, SCOPE wrote about how the Ukraine crisis parallels the events prior to World War 2 and highlighted the ineffective responses to Hitler that eventually led to WW2.  The Biden administration is responding to the Ukraine invasion with sanctions but - what good are sanctions that don’t work?  As 2^nd Amendment defenders are well aware with gun control laws, the Left loves doing things that make them feel good, impose hardships on Americans, but have little or no effect.

It’s unfair to only highlight problems and then walk away; one should also offer a solution.  In responding to Vladimir Putin, Biden might take a lesson from history on a strategy that did work.  President Reagan brought down the Soviet Union / Russia without firing a shot.  One major part of his successful plan involved fossil fuels.

Russia’s only big source of hard cash was and still is from its exports of fossil fuels: oil and natural gas.  Has anyone bought a Russian made car or refrigerator?  Hard cash from fossil fuel sales is needed to pay for Russia’s military adventures. 

During Reagan’s non-shooting war on the USSR, he made permanent the deregulation of petroleum products and the windfall profits tax was reduced and eventually removed; these steps removed government disincentives and resulted in increased production.  The Alaskan Prudhoe Bay Oil Field ramped up to, what was then, peak production in 1988.  Reagan persuaded Saudi Arabia to open their taps and flood the market with oil, which they did in 1985.  North Sea oil production increased greatly in the 1980’s. 

The laws of supply-and-demand took over and as the supply increased the price of all oil dropped dramatically, cutting the revenue Russia got for its oil exports.  In 1980, when Reagan was elected President, the world price of a barrel of crude oil was $35 ($110 in 2020 dollars).  By late 1986 it was $10 ($24 in 2020 dollars).  In six years, Russia’s real revenue from oil dropped by 80%!  Basically, it was going bankrupt and could no longer attempt to compete militarily, or to sponsor client states like Cuba, and Russia’s always weak economy was a shambles.

As a side benefit, the price of gasoline plummeted and Americans reaped the benefits.

Then, the Soviet Union dissolved itself in December 1991.

Russia has reemerged as an aggressor and threat to peace with its invasion of the Ukraine.  Why not take a cue from Reagan and improve on current and proposed Russian sanctions by flooding the market with oil?

Why not?  Well, because:

In June 2021, Biden claimed, “When I first was elected Vice President with President Obama, the military sat us down to let us know what the greatest threats facing America were…This is not a joke: you know what the Joint Chiefs told us the greatest threat facing America was? Global warming”.

There you have it; not Russia or China or Iran is our greatest threat.  Instead, according to Biden, our military believes our biggest threat is Global Warming and Joe Biden has bought into it, hook, line and sinker.  (One thing to remember, the top generals and admirals are the equivalent of political appointees and, unfortunately, the worst of them get to the top by being political.  For example: generals during the Viet Nam War and General Milley with his enthusiasm for the Critical Race Theory instead of Afghan withdrawal planning.)

On Tuesday, Biden spokeswoman Jeb Psaki warned that, due to Biden’s sanctions, America’s high energy prices could be expected to go even higher, which is the opposite of what Reagan’s policies did.

Biden has shut down American pipeline construction.  However, Biden waived sanctions on a Russian built pipeline in order to allow the Russians to finish it and market more of their oil.  Apparently, Global warming only happens in the U.S.A.

Biden has stopped or delayed work on oil and gas leases so that he can decide how to proceed, after a judicial decision was made that he doesn’t like.

Biden ended America’s energy independence and often speaks of reducing or eliminating fossil fuels in America.  (Raising oil prices is necessary in order to economically justify Green New Deal programs.) 

Reversing Biden’s energy policies and adopting Reagan’s policies would be effective in bringing Putin to heel and, as a side benefit, lower the energy prices that are fueling inflation.  But, as always, Biden continues to be on the wrong side of history.

A side benefit to reversing Biden’s fossil fuel policies would be in dealing with another partner in evil: Iran.  Like Russia, Iran is dependent on oil for revenue.  Iran’s leaders chant “Death to America”; they hate us.  (Iran just returned 820,000 doses of Covid vaccine because it was manufactured in the USA.)  Iran is also in the middle of economic and social crises: their mismanaged economy is in shambles and, because it is government controlled, there is no safe haven from mismanagement; their young people are becoming more and more disenchanted with the Iranian government as they seek a better, less repressive life.

In response to what could be the collapse of a government that hates us, Biden appears to be throwing the Iranian government a lifeline.  He speaks of rejoining the Iran Nuclear Deal, which would have positive financial benefits for Iran. 

Biden and the Left will not admit that their soft-on-crime, bail reform, open border immigration, anti-gun policies might have anything to do with an increase in crime.  But…they are on the defensive as their policies aren’t working and they face a critical off year election in November.  Suddenly, they stopped being in favor of defunding the police and “Beto” O’Rourke says he no longer has plans to confiscate your guns. 

If Biden wants to “reset” his policy and admit that, forty years later, Reagan still gets it right, it needs to be done now.  (By the way, another thing that Reagan also got right was that he was also a defender of the 2^nd Amendment.)

Of course, Biden can probably count on his partners in the left-wing media to adopt a policy of, “What Ukrainian crises?  Nothing there worth reporting on”.  (The New York Times once got a Pulitzer Prize for not reporting Stalin’s murderous policies in the Ukraine.)

Lessons from History  by Tom Reynolds

Instead of learning from history, the far left led by Joe Biden wants to destroy it.  Perhaps, because a reading of history invalidates their agenda?  History is still available, at least for now, for us to learn from it.

In the 1930’s, Hitler, rightly, saw France and England as having weak leadership and consumed by their own internal political problems and America as isolationist.  Thus, none of them would be willing or able to respond to Germany’s expansionism.  From 1935 until 1939, Axis partners Germany and Italy invaded and conquered countries with only ineffective responses from European and American governments.

Ethiopia (formerly Abyssinia) is a landlocked country in eastern Africa.  In October, 1935, Italy’s Mussolini invaded Ethiopia.  France and Britain responded by imposing toothless sanctions on Italy.

The Rhineland is a strip of land about 50 kilometers wide on the west bank of the Rhine River.  Following the end of World War 1, it was declared a neutral zone separating Belgium and France from Germany; German troops were banned from entering it.  Having observed the response to the Ethiopian invasion, Hitler used the toothless Franco-German Pact as an excuse, saying Germany was threatened, and marched German troops into the Rhineland.  Britain and France did nothing, even though there were two treaties in effect that had forbidden Germany from doing that.

Austria was an independent German speaking nation bordering southern Germany.  After World War 1, it was prevented by treaties from unifying with Germany.  In March, 1938, an election was called to decide if Austria wanted to continue as an independent nation.  Afraid of a vote not to his liking, Hitler and German troops marched into Austria and annexed the country into Germany.  Other nations stood by and did nothing. 

After World War 1, the nation of Czechoslovakia was created on Germany’s and Austria’s eastern border.  The areas closest to Germany contained many people of German descent and Hitler, falsely, claimed these ethnic Germans were being harshly treated by the Czechoslovakian government.  In September 1938, Germany started a low intensity undeclared war on Czechoslovakia.  In response, Britain, France and Germany (but not Czechoslovakia) met in Munich where France and Britain ceded the ethnic German provinces that bordered Germany to Hitler, who eventually took over the entire country.  Britain’s Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain made his famous statement “Peace for our time” upon his return from Munich.

In August, 1939, Russia and Germany signed a non-aggression pact that included a secret agreement on dividing Poland, which is a country between Germany’s eastern border and Russia’s western border.  On September 1, 1939, Hitler’s troops invaded Poland.  Seventeen days later, Stalin’s Russian troops also invaded Poland.  World War 2 had begun and more than 60 million people would die, which was more than 2.5% of the world’s population. 418 thousand of them were Americans.

Today’s Ukraine is a country on the southwestern border of Russia and the Crimea is a peninsula in southern Ukraine, which is separated from Russia by a narrow strip of the Black Sea.  The Ukraine and Crimea were formerly a part of the Soviet Union.  In June, 1992, after the fall of the Soviet Union, Crimea reached an agreement with the Ukraine that Crimea would become a part of the Ukraine as an Autonomous Republic with special economic status.  In a 1997 treaty, Russia recognized Ukraine’s borders and its sovereignty over Crimea.

In February, 2014, Russian soldiers took over the Crimean government and elected a pro-Russian Prime Minister who asked for Russia to send more troops.  Eventually, a formal agreement was reached between the pro-Russian Crimean government and Russia.

President Barack Obama’s response to the Crimean invasion was several phone calls to Putin warning him of consequences.  Then, Obama hoped to bring Putin to his knees by announcing that the U.S. would not send a delegation to the 2014 Winter Paralympics in Sochi, Russia. Later, Obama imposed economic sanctions which had marginal impact on Russia.  Putin managed to not fall to his knees under Obama’s pressure.

As a Senator, Obama was instrumental in getting $48 million to speed up the destruction of conventional weapons held by the Ukraine for defense.  Obama claimed in a press release, at the time, that this would guarantee “the safety of the Ukrainian people and people around the world, by keeping them out of conflicts around the world.”  In 2014, When the Ukrainian government asked President Obama for weapons, he sent military ration kits instead.  One British analyst said that “we went to a knife fight with a baguette”. Did President Obama deny lethal weapons aid to the Ukrainians because it would seem like a repudiation of his former stance?  Obama claimed he was giving Putin a face-saving way out; an off-ramp.  Putin didn’t take that exit.

Donald Trump was criticized by Democrats for not immediately providing lethal aid to the Ukrainians when, in short order, he did provide arms.  The Democrats criticism seems a bit hypocritical in view of Obama’s actions.  Putin’s Ukrainian dreams were put on hold while Trump was President.

Obama lite, Joe Biden, is now faced with a Russian invasion of the Ukraine.  Like Hitler’s claim for invading Czechoslovakia, Putin claims ethnic Russians are being mistreated.  Like Hitler’s rationale for the invasion of the Rhineland, Russia feels threatened. Biden’s response, like Obama’s, was to make a phone call.  Reminiscent of Munich, Biden also promised that no NATO nation would be invaded without consequences; Putin has certainly noticed that the Ukraine is not a NATO nation and, like Hitler, he has seen this as a green light to move forward. 

Putin has now recognized as independent, two regions in eastern Ukraine that are partly controlled by Russian-backed separatists.  President Biden’s initial reaction was limited to issuing a narrow set of sanctions on these areas which would have virtually no effect, since there is almost no financial investment in these areas.  Putin has since sent in Russian troops.  Biden further clarified that a “minor incursion” would not trigger a response by the United States.

And in the rest of the world:

From 1933 to the start of World War 2 in 1939, Nazi Germany increasingly engaged in internal anti-semitism.  Prominent churchmen, intellectuals and politicians throughout the world said little about the persecution of the Jews, even though refugees brought increasingly appalling stories about it.

China is now being accused of committing crimes against humanity and genocide against the Uyghur minority in northwest China.  But the Genocide Games, otherwise known as the Winter Olympics, went on as planned in China.  And prominent athletes, especially pro basketball players and the NBA, itself, are very critical of the USA but silent on China.  Perhaps because China is viewed as a big financial investment opportunity?

Oh yes, and China is sending warplanes into Taiwan’s air space on a regular basis.  The U.S. no longer has a mutual defense treaty with Taiwan, which Biden touts as “strategic ambiguity”.

But not to worry, Biden and our military have been focused like a laser on Global Climate Change and Racism as our biggest defense threats, while the FBI is investigating domestic terrorists such as parents who protest at school board meetings.

Does anyone in the world, especially our enemies, view Joe Biden as having the strength to lead the free world in standing up to these crises?  Remember, he has been characterized as forever being on the wrong side of history.   

In his defense, it should be remembered that Biden did show strength in standing up to Ukraine when he was Vice President.  He single-handedly forced Ukraine to stop criminal investigations of his son, Hunter.  Great leaders are known for the priorities they set.

Miscellaneous Thoughts on President’s Day  by Thomas Jefferson, Founder of the Democrat Party

• ·      No free man shall ever be disbarred the use of arms.
  
  
• ·      The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.
  
  
• ·      The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
  
  
• ·      I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people, under the pretense of taking care of them.
  
  
• ·      The democracy will cease to exist when we take away from those that are willing to work and give to those who would not.
  
  
• ·      To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes, the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical.
  
  
• ·      It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debt’s as it goes. A principle which if acted upon would save one-half the wars of the world.
  
  
• ·      My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.
  
  
• ·      When we get piled on one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe.

Extreme Risk Protection Order and Violence Prevention Act of 2021  by Bohdan Rabarsky

   On February 8, 2021 Senator Marco Rubio R-FL again re-introduced the Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) and Violence Prevention Act of 2021 with 3 cosponsors, Democrat Jack Reed-RI, Republican Rick Scott-FL and Independent Angus King-ME. This is one of those bills that’s supposedly for the good of the people, because the citizens of America don’t know what’s good for themselves.  Give up some freedom; the government will decide our safety for us. As Ben Franklin said: “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”       

   There are those citizens, Women’s Rights Group, the local YWCA and County Sheriff’s Departments that feel this is a good idea. Authorities will tell us it not only protects vulnerable people, but prevents possible domestic abuse; law enforcement says the latter is the majority of their calls.

   But there is another small issue, often referred to as the United States Constitution!

   The Extreme Risk Protection Order and Violence Prevention Act overlooks the Constitutional Rights of American citizens under the guise that such a law might prevent domestic violence. That would be like the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles denying you a driver’s license, because some day you might cause an accident. Make sense to you? That’s the logic the government uses in their ultimate wisdom of “it’s for the good of the people”.  What also might the government do for the “good of the people”.  Perhaps censor those that disagree with the government under the guise of misinformation?  Deny people their job if they don’t get vaccinated?  Seize bank accounts and even the pets of protestors?  Once you start down this slippery slope, your rights will be in freefall.

   The Constitutional Amendments that the Extreme Risk Protection Order and Violence Prevention Act overlooks are Amendments 1, 2, 4 and, most significantly, 14.  The 14^th Amendment, Section 1 states, “No state shall deprive any person of life, liberty or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws”.

  Under ERO, you’re guilty until proven innocent, according to the Judge that issued such Protection Order. In many cases the probable cause is just an accusation in the midst of a heated domestic dispute.  Under that Protection Order, all your long guns and handguns will be confiscated - violating the 2^nd Amendment. Most of the time the local Sheriff’s Department will enter your home without a warrant, only a judge’s court order - violating the 4^th Amendment, which says, “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures without probable cause.”

   This Extreme Risk Protection Order and Violence Prevention Act of 2021 is already written into the New York State “Secure Ammunition & Firearm Enforcement Act” also known as The Safe Act of 2013. This new bill, introduced by Florida Senator Marco Rubio, is SB 292.  But it was first introduced on March 22^nd 2018 as SB 2607, then on January 3^rd 2019 as SB 7. With any luck, without a corresponding sponsored bill in Congress, it will wither away on the vine and our Constitutional Rights will remain intact.  But we can’t trust to luck.  Let your Representative know that you oppose this unconstitutional denial of our rights.