Mine does!
I’m doing things in reverse and now am getting an associates degree from Montgomery Community College in Troy. My degree will be in Hunting and Shooting Sports Management. The school also have a well-known and highly respected gunsmithing program.
The school also has both a pistol and rifle range!
I read a report today that the Russian Army is using Baofeng UV-5R Dual Band (2m/70cm) ham radios for communications.
What the heck?
These radios sell for $25 on Amazon!
I have one as a cheap back-up to my Japanese-made Yaesu FT-60R dual band hand-held. They are not bad little radios but they certainly are not what I’d consider secure or for rugged military use.
Someone named George Turner who reported their use had this to say:
The Russian forces are using Baofeng (China) UV-5R dual-band 2m/70cm (440 Mhz) ham radios that sell on Amazon for $25 to $60. It’s a great radio for the money, and lots of hams I know have them, along with the separate clip-on mic/speaker so the radio can stay on the hip.
Except for jamming and lack of encryption, and the fact that amateur radio operators in all countries already frequent those bands, it’s an extremely good choice for an army under budget.
And of course these hand-helds also scan the bands, and this of course makes intercepting Russian radio communications a snap. That is apparently providing a trove of information, and showing just how bad the state of the invasion force is. Screaming, crying, bitching, confusion, rebellion, shock at what the mission is, and anger at the abysmal supply and food situation.
I have no way of verifying the accuracy of this report but, if true, the Russian Army is in far worse shape than I thought it was. It seems a little far-fetched but so are a lot of things.
UPDATE: It actually might be true.
I came across this story with pictures of the Baofeng in an Indian business publication.
And this thread on Twitter.
The Federal lawsuit that the NRA brought against Ackman McQueen in US District Court for the Northern District of Texas has reached a settlement. The terms of the settlement have not been disclosed but in a joint filing from attorneys for both parties they say a settlement has been reached and ask that the case be dismissed with prejudice.
The Parties have reached a settlement in the above captioned case. The Parties have stipulated and respectfully request that all pending deadlines be stayed immediately, and ask the Court to remove the case from the Court’s current March 7, 2022 trial docket. The Parties request that the Court allow the Parties time to finalize the terms of the settlement and to file the appropriate dismissal pleadings with prejudice on or before March 21, 2022.
The timing is very interesting coming as it does a day after Judge Cohen issued a partial dismissal of the New York Attorney General’s dissolution case. As a friend noted, “they are both so dirty and intertwined that neither can afford to let it get to trial.”
Like New York Attorney General Letitia James, the NRA is also putting a positive spin on Judge Joel Cohen’s ruling yesterday. Indeed, the headline on their release states, “NRA Prevails Over NYAG”.
The NRA’s release includes comments from NRA President Charles Cotton, former NRA President Carolyn Meadows, 1st VP Willes Lee, and, of course, outside counsel William Brewer III. Missing, however, from the comments on the ruling was anything from defendants Wayne LaPierre and John Frazer.
“This is a resounding win for the NRA, its 5 million members, and all who believe in this organization,” says NRA President Charles Cotton. “The message is loud and clear: the NRA is strong and secure in its mission to protect constitutional freedom.”
The release says the NRA will continue to defend the remaining causes of action brought but that Letitia James can’t shut down the NRA.
While it appears that most of the heavy lifting before the court was done by William Brewer’s partner Svetlana Eisenberg, Brewer is still the one who gets quoted.
“We applaud the court’s recognition that dissolution is neither appropriate nor justified,” says William A. Brewer III, partner at Brewer, Attorneys & Counselors and counsel to the NRA. “We look forward to continuing the defense of the NRA – and proving that it acts in the best interests of its members and the Second Amendment freedoms in which they believe.”
I’m sure Mr. Brewer is look forward to continuing the defense of the NRA as legal fees now are reportedly 20% of the NRA’s total budget and it seems his firm is getting the majority of that.
Brewer who probably wrote the NRA’s over the top release goes on to say:
Brewer adds, “Today’s developments underscore the simple truth that since taking office in 2019, the Attorney General has pushed a contrived narrative about the NRA in her attempt to support a dissolution claim that is improper. This is a victory for not only the NRA, but all who believe in the right to free speech and association.”
Other comments came from Carolyn Meadows and Willes Lee:
“I’ve always said that the dissolution case was part of a political vendetta to take down the NRA,” says NRA Past President Carolyn Meadows. “I want to thank NRA members for helping us confront this abuse of power. They deserve an enormous amount of credit.”
NRA First Vice President Willes K. Lee said, “As an NRA member, this decision gives me great pride. It reaffirms an important belief: the NRA continues to serve as the greatest voice in the fight to protect Second Amendment freedom.”
The key things to remember about Judge Cohen’s ruling is that the remaining 14 causes of action will go to trial, that included in those are allegations of unjust enrichment and breach of fiduciary duty, and that he took a dim view of the current management of the NRA including that of Wayne LaPierre and John Frazer. Moreover, the ruling still could be appealed by James who has indicated she is pondering her legal options. I do doubt that it will be appealed as it was as much of a win for the Attorney General’s Office as it was for the NRA.
Both sides of the dissolution lawsuit involving the New York Attorney General and the NRA are trying to put a positive spin on Judge Joel Cohen’s ruling yesterday. Below is the spin put on it by NY Attorney General Letitia James.
NEW YORK – New York Attorney General Letitia James today released the following statement after Justice Joel Cohen of the New York County State Supreme Court rejected a second round of motions brought forward by the National Rifle Association (NRA), Executive Vice-President Wayne LaPierre, and Corporate Secretary and General Counsel John Frazer as they sought to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Attorney General James against the organization in August 2020:
“Today, the court affirmed my office’s right to pursue its long-standing claims that fraud, abuse, and greed permeate through the NRA and its senior leadership. While we’re heartened that the judge rejected the NRA’s attempts to thwart most of the claims in our case against the NRA, we are disappointed that the judge ruled against the dissolution portion of the case. We are considering our legal options with respect to this ruling. We remain committed to enforcing New York law regardless of how powerful any individual or organization may be.”
In today’s decision, the court let stand all of the Office of the Attorney General’s (OAG) claims of self-dealing, abuse, and unlawful conduct by LaPierre, who has been at the helm of the NRA for three decades. Similarly, the court rebuked the efforts by Frazer to dismiss him from the case, finding that OAG’s allegations that Frazer violated his obligations as the NRA’s General Counsel for failing to address conflicts of interest and respond to whistleblowers who alerted the NRA to systemic financial wrongdoing were valid. The court also held that OAG’s claims against the NRA for false regulatory filings and failing to address conflicts of interest will proceed.
As an attorney friend mentioned to me yesterday, Judge Cohen’s ruling could be appealed. James is acknowledging this in her statement where she says they “are considering our legal options”. That said, I’d be a little surprised if they do appeal it. A partial win is better than no win at all.
Judge Joel Cohen issued a ruling today in the New York Attorney General’s dissolution suit against the National Rifle Association. He dismissed four of the 18 causes of action in the amended complaint brought by Attorney General Letitia James but allowed the remain 14 to continue. Specifically, Judge Cohen dismissed the first, second, 16th, and 18th causes of actions.
The first and second causes of action sought the dissolution of the NRA. In the first cause of action, the NRA was said to have “conducted its business in a persistently illegal manner and abused its powers contrary to the public policy of the State of New York by operating without effective oversight or control by its officers and directors” which was grounds for dissolution under N-PCL § 1109(b)(1). The second cause alleged that “directors or members in control of the NRA have looted or wasted the corporate assets, have perpetuated the corporation solely for their personal benefit, or have otherwise acted in an illegal, oppressive or fraudulent manner.” This would be grounds for dissolution under N-PCL § 1109(b)(1).
He wrote in dismissing those two causes of action:
In arguing for dissolution, the Attorney General’s allegations fail to delineate between the NRA, on the one hand, and its leaders on the other, who acted “without regard to the NRA’s best interests” (see id. ¶ 143 [“LaPierre, together with his direct reports, including Defendants Phillips, Frazer and Powell, instituted a culture of self-dealing, mismanagement, and negligent oversight at the NRA . . . without regard to the NRA’s best interests.”]; id. ¶ 646 [“Despite a conflict of interest and his lack of authority to do so, LaPierre unilaterally determined to place the NRA into bankruptcy to evade a regulatory action in which he was named as a defendant . . . cost[ing] the NRA tens of millions of dollars”]). Conflating the Individual Defendants with the NRA writ large for purposes of dissolution is inappropriate here for the reasons discussed supra. It also ignores the allegations that the wrongdoers in control of the NRA do not necessarily speak for other NRA members, some of whom have tried to instigate reform within the organization but have been met with resistance from entrenched leadership (see, e.g., id. ¶ 491). (emphasis mine)
The 16th cause of action involved the prudent management of institutional funds. This cause of action was dismissed by Judge Cohen as it didn’t properly distinguish between “program-related funds” and “institutional funds”.
The 18th cause of action was specifically against LaPierre, Frazer, Phillips, and Powell. It accused them of common law “unjust enrichment” and sought to recover monies paid to them that were “excessive, unreasonable, and/or unauthorized.” Judge Cohen based his dismissal of this cause of action as it ran afoul of earlier NY Court of Appeals rulings about unjust enrichment. In other words, this was only dismissed due to a technicality.
While the NRA will not be dissolved, this is not to say that the NRA, Wayne LaPierre, and the others are in the clear. The third and fourth causes of action against LaPierre and John Frazer allege breach of fiduciary duty. This was allowed to proceed onwards. Likewise, Judge Cohen found that the allegations contained in the seventh and eighth causes of action which accuse both LaPierre and Frazer of failing to properly administer charitable assets were sufficient to proceed.
The 11th and 14th causes of action were against LaPierre and the NRA respectively. These accuse LaPierre and the NRA of engaging in “unlawful related party transactions.” Judge Cohen found that both claims were sustained.
The 15th cause of action which was allowed to go forward involved violation of the New York whistleblower protections. Judge Cohen said there was sufficient evidence to show that the NRA, Powell, and LaPierre retaliated against whistleblowers and that Frazer was incompetent in carrying out the whistleblower policy. The retaliation against Oliver North as well as the freezing out of directors such as Tim Knight and Esther Schneider from committee assignments is coming back to haunt the NRA.
The final cause of action sustained against the moves by LaPierre and Frazer to have them dismissed is the 17th. That cause of action stated that the NRA and Frazer “made materially false and misleading statements and omissions in the annual reports the organization filed with the Attorney General.” Judge Cohen said that the NRA didn’t contest the falsity of the filings for now and the allegations against Frazer were specific enough that they should continue.
It should be noted that neither Josh Powell nor Woody Phillips sought to have the specific causes of action against them dismissed.
If after all the court proceedings are finished, it could result in the all four of the individual defendants being being barred from the NRA or other New York non-profits and forced repayment of their ill-gotten gains. Moreover, I can foresee a forced restructuring of the NRA in such a way as to prevent the abuses we have seen and are now seeing.
The bottom line is while the NRA has escaped dissolution this is not the end of things.
You can read the full 42-page opinion by Judge Cohen below. It makes for interesting reading.
451625 2020 People of the State of v People of the State of DECISION ORDER on 611 by jpr9954 on Scribd
Many people have seen or heard of the video of the little Ukrainian woman accosting a Russian soldier to give him sunflower seeds. She tells him to put the seeds in his pocket so they will sprout in Ukrainian soil as he lies dead.
Today I saw this post on Instapundit from someone who goes by Flight Er Doc.
Amazon has many varieties of sunflower seeds. There are Mammoth ones like these, assortments of various colors of sunflowers, and Dwarf Sunspots sunflowers.
If you would rather go with something more traditional from wars of the past, you can get Red Flanders Poppies.
If you don’t want to send actual seeds, might I suggest a greeting card with sunflowers on it. The one below with a painting by Claude Monet might be nice. It would also allow you to send a personalized message to Vladimir Putin.
You are only limited by your imagination. The Russians and the Soviets before them have been fucking with us for years. It is time to return the favor.
As an aside, if you do order from Amazon with the links above, I do earn a small commission which goes to supporting this blog.
UPDATE: The sunflower seeds have been delivered. Too bad we can’t put them in Putin’s pocket.
According to one of the comments, Amazon does put your name on the return envelope or box. Might be time to get out the old Geiger counter. I doubt I’ll be getting a night time visit from the FSB. If I do, I can rest easy knowing North Carolina has the castle doctrine.
In years gone by, I have done a round-up of various endorsements for the NRA Board of Directors. This year there is only one person who deserves your vote for election to the NRA Board of Directors. That person is Frank Tait.
I have gotten to know Frank fairly well over the past three years. He has the qualifications needed to represent the members of the NRA on the Board. These qualifications include being a NRA Training Counselor as well as an impressive business background in both for-profit and non-profit organizations. Even more important, he has stepped up seeking intervenor status when it was obvious that neither the NRA leadership nor the New York Attorney General’s Office was looking out for the membership in the dissolution lawsuit. That took courage and that took initiative. If that was the only thing he ever did that would have been enough to secure my vote.
It should be noted that Frank Tait is on the ballot by petition. He is the only petition candidate. That means he was put on the ballot by the members. The remaining 29 candidates on the ballot were put there by the Nominating Committee. That means they were all vetted as people who wouldn’t rock the boat and who would be good loyal “friends of Wayne.” Anecdotally, I have heard that when Judge Phil Journey made his motion for an examiner in the NRA bankruptcy case there were board members furious at the Nominating Committee for failing to ensure he would be a faithful “friend of Wayne”. I think they probably learned their lesson – unfortunately.
With the death of John Cushman and the resignation of Todd Rathner plus the 76th Director elected at the Annual Meeting, 28 out of the 30 people on the ballot will be elected. To increase the odds that Frank is elected, you need to “bullet vote” for Frank.
Jeff Knox explains it below:
By casting a ballot with only Frank Tait’s name marked, it leverages that vote, improving the odds of Frank’s election, and reducing the chances that any votes I might cast for other candidates might help push Frank down in the overall rankings, costing him a seat.
The February issue of the American Rifleman and Shooting Illustrated had an article by Jason Ouimet, Executive Director of NRA-ILA. In big bold red letters it said “Your Vote Matters.” While he was talking about the Virginia gubernatorial election, the same could be said here. The average NRA Board election has a 5-6% turnout of the eligible voters. That is pitiful and is a primary reason the same old “friends of Wayne” get elected year in and year out. If you want to see change, you need to vote and encourage your friends who are voting members to vote. Of course, that vote should only be for Frank.
Frank Tait will be one of 76 on the Board. That in and of itself won’t give him much influence. However, if elected, he can resume his motion to intervene in the dissolution lawsuit. He would have a statutory right to intervene and this time he could not be denied by Judge Cohen for not being a board member.
It is time to elect someone who is going to look out for the members and not him or herself.
Ukrainian women are tough and are ready to stand up to the Russian invaders.
Yesterday, the news was running with story of an older Ukrainian woman giving sunflower seeds to a Russian soldier. As the story goes, she told him to take the seeds and put them in his pocket so that flowers would grow after he died on Ukrainian soil.
The full transcript is incredible. https://t.co/9zInraoJnI pic.twitter.com/ra9ZkjRExl
— Chris Taylor (@FutureBoy) February 25, 2022
That is one brave woman.
So, too, is Kira Rudik who is a member of the Ukrainian Parliament. She tweeted out a picture of herself with her Krinkov (short-barreled AK) that she is ready, willing, and able to use.
I learn to use #Kalashnikov and prepare to bear arms. It sounds surreal as just a few days ago it would never come to my mind. Our #women will protect our soil the same way as our #men. Go #Ukraine! 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/UbF4JRGlcy
— Kira Rudik (@kiraincongress) February 25, 2022
If anyone is still unsure why the right to keep and bear arms is important, they need only look at Ukraine. Their parliament changed their gun control laws on Wednesday to allow citizens to carry firearms outside the home for the purpose of self-defense. I guess a little late is better than not at all.
Cameron Mitchell has a YouTube channel called Cam’s Wild Life. It features videos of hunts has had in the United States as well as Africa. He often pokes fun at himself as with the video below. I came across it on AfricaHunting.com.
The video below is entitled “Typical Arrogant US Hunter!”.
By the way, KMG Safaris is organizing two group trips in 2023 where you can hunt with him on the Eastern Cape of South Africa. Use this link if interested.
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