Notes from the Resistance...
Once the CDC sponsors “research” that purports to back up the agenda of anti-Second Amendment extremists, Silicon Valley can then take action to silence Second Amendment supporters, on the grounds that they are peddling “misinformation.” [More]
Good point.
'The sky is falling': Jeffrey Toobin says 'doom is coming for Roe v. Wade' [More]
Oh, Jeffrey, get a grip!
As such, they have an interest in the outcome of this case because a positive ruling in the instant matter will assist them in their efforts to have their lawful property returned to them in the future and will help guide other courts in reaching the correct conclusion which is that bumpstocks are not machineguns. [More]
"LaPierre’s statements also satisfy the basic elements of fraud." [More]
Been a while since we called on the ETrade Baby...
Florida GOA director bashes pro-gun state lawmaker - Florida State Rep. Cord Byrd deserves praise for his support of the Second Amendment, not criticism. [More]
It's not the first time we've seen disputable "friendly fire."
Erich could establish a process where such things affecting the organization are checked and cross-checked. It's no fun calling them on stuff like this and much of that would be unnecessary if they consulted with people closest to the action to work out their concerns. A lot could be resolved in a phone call or email exchange before going public.
Now let's get Rodney in here and all share a big hug.
The solution, Bannon announced, was to seize control of the GOP from the bottom up. Listeners should flood into the lowest rung of the party structure: the precincts. “It’s going to be a fight, but this is a fight that must be won, we don’t have an option,” Bannon said on his show in May. “We’re going to take this back village by village … precinct by precinct.” [More]
ProPublica "reports" that like it's a bad thing.
Here's how you can learn more and how to get involved yourself.
[Via TM]
Beverly Hills: 99% of people arrested by ‘safe streets’ unit were Black, suit says [More]
Rich "progressives" = comedy gold.
And they got it from Jethro cypherin' his gazintas...
[Via bondmen]
AK-47 Rifles Bound for Mexico Seized at Arizona Border [More]
That's what can happen when you don't have government approval.
Am I wrong to suspect a low-hanging fruit setup for narrative-bolstering headlines?
[Via bondmen]
According to an admission obtained from the State Department, Biden officials recently directed federal agencies to scrub their websites of official reports detailing the $82.9 billion in military equipment and training provided to the Afghan security forces since 2001. [More]
[Via bondmen]
While Australians were told they shouldn’t even talk to each other under COVID lockdown rules, police officials in Sydney held an office party to celebrate the LGBT community. [More]
It's hard to tell which ones are glowing and which ones are plundering...
[Via bondmen]
How Democrats Are Using Economic Chokeholds To Restrict Your Gun Rights Without Passing Any New Laws [More]
Just to be clear who the fascists are...
[Via bondmen]
Stephen Miller: Many Afghan refugees are ghosts [Watch]
Yeah, but everybody knows the real threats are ghost guns!
[Via Jess]
AMA Propaganda Handbook EXPOSED! Doctors Brainwashing "Pandemic" and "Vaccine" Language [More]
[Via TM]
Heroic mom fights off mountain lion attacking her 5-year-old son [More]
Why didn't she just follow the advice of our betters and give it what it wanted?
[Via Michael G]
If, as it appears from Instagram, Mullin is safe and has successfully rescued a woman and four children from the tender mercies of the Taliban and/or ISIS-K, that would seem to be the real story. [More]
With the DSM, the real story is what the narrative says it is.
[Via Michael G]
UNC course says WWII was 'Japan's attempt to roll back Euro-American colonialism' [More]
Well, it looks like they were rolling something...
But what the hell. It's all Whitey's fault.
[Via Michael G]
The program, known as Advance Peace, will launch in one precinct in each borough and pair fellows — young people deemed at risk for involvement in gun crime — with formerly incarcerated mentors. In cities that follow the model, fellows get paid a stipend of roughly $1,000 a month for staying in the program, as well as bonuses for meeting agreed-upon life goals like obtaining a driver’s license or GED. [More]
"Advance Peace" ... and I thought the Department of Pre-Crime was ridiculous.
Pair budding criminals up with experienced ones. And add money into the equations.
Boy, I wish I'd been paid not to rob and shoot people since adolescence. I could have retired in style by now.
UPDATE: And it's not just New York, although it looks like San Francisco's trying to do it on the cheap, which will pretty much guarantee they'll get their money's worth.
[Via Jess]
Biden aims to sign on to UN’s global gun registration treaty [More]
Gonna start with the Taliban?
Anything to distract...
Naomi Campbell Says She Sacrificed Finding a Soulmate for Her Career [More]
Yeah, the fact that she's a violent, gun-grabbing, communist-sympathizing, hypocritical headcase couldn't have anything to do with her inability to keep a steadfast man worth having.
Have fun raising that kid without one. She'll end up being a bigger mess than Mama.
Perhaps, as we deal with this ongoing pandemic, we should emulate this singlemindedness, and use our big brains to go even further, coming together and doing what needs to be done to combat this microbial scourge with unity, commonsense, and compassion. [More]
Like what?
Show your work.
Some of us are going to need more than a Rodney King inspiration speech.
Santa Clara County supervisors pass unanimous vote of no confidence in sheriff [More]
Even after the confidence game she's been running over gun permits...?
[Via Rough and Ready]
UW-Madison to host ‘Welcome BBQ’ intended only for students of color [More]
Think of it as a reverse Good O' Boy Roundup.
I wonder if they'll have cracker-hunting licenses...
[Via Michael G]
"We are f*cking abandoning American citizens," Army colonel wrote in a frantic series of texts that detail how a group of Americans were rejected at airport as rescue flight awaited. [More]
Stop criticizing and take your shot.
[Via Michael G]
And they are so unashamedly self-serving that none of them will face any consequences for any of it. [More]
I wouldn't be so sure of that, especially if the collapse here they're bringing about blows up in their faces. And can anyone with certainty rule out God's keeping score?
I do wonder how many of them would scramble to secure positions as public faces for the North American Provisional Chinese Government, and my conclusion is "most -- while doing whatever they can to throw others under the tank treads if it means saving themselves."
Why do I picture Nancy Pelosi saying "Hold my beer" to in utero sharks?
[Via Michael G]
An Act banning semi-automatic firearm [More]
Time was they knew what to do with gun confiscators in Massachusetts.
[Via Jess]
Matt Gaetz Exonerated from 'Pile of Lies' After Man Charged with Extortion [More]
I wonder if a thorough investigation would reveal Democrat operatives with an election interference objective...
[Via Michael G]
The far-right freshman congressman repeated the widely debunked narrative about election fraud during a speech to the Macon County Republican Party despite federal intelligence warnings that such rhetoric could spark domestic terror attacks like the January 6 Capitol riot. [More]
There is so much to unpack there.
What can I say but "Salon"?
Leave it to that enemy inside the gates Kinzinger to lead the Democrat mob.
[Via bondmen]
How badly do Nancy Pelosi and the House Democrats want to cover up this Afghanistan debacle? They just blocked Members of Congress from reading the names of the service members who sacrificed their lives in Afghanistan last week. Don’t you think our military deserves better? [More]
No, they think our military deserves forced shots and to be told to shut up.
[Via bondmen]
780 Generals, Admirals, Ambassadors and Senior National Security Directors Supported Biden Before the 2020 Election – Here is a Short List of These Dummies Who Couldn’t Have Been More Wrong [More]
I wouldn't be so confident with that conclusion. They knew about him and they got what they wanted -- a puppet in the seat of power saying the words they put in his mouth.
[Via bondmen]
Sacramento High School Teacher CAUGHT on UNDERCOVER VIDEO Bragging About Indoctrinating Students to Become ANTIFA “Revolutionaries;” Views American Children as “Martyrs for a Cause” – (Video) [More]
"Dream and achieve," right, Grace?
[Via bondmen]
Go-to Lawyer for Capitol Riot Defendants Disappears [More]
Did he flake out or has he been taken out?
[Via bondmen]
This sure lays it all out. [More]
I see from Pacer monitor this has been assigned to District Judge Carlos E. Mendoza, a Barack Obama nominee, and Magistrate Judge Gregory J. Kelly, "selected for the post [in 2008] by federal judges [and who is] a Republican."
Thousands of undocumented New Yorkers hoping to tap into the state’s $2.1 billion COVID “Excluded Workers Fund” will face an easier path after the Internal Revenue Service developed a new process for confirming worker identification, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Tuesday. [More]
Wait a sec... I thought he said "Shame on them" because requiring government confirmation identification was racist...
Look at where these people have moved the "debate" to.
[Via Steve T]
NYC wants schools to rethink honor rolls deemed ‘detrimental’ to students not making grade [More]
No doubt because most public school teachers union CRT-obsessed mediocrities are incapable of coaching children to that level.
It's been a while since I read "Harrison Bergeron"...
[Via Steve T]
American Antifa -A woman's journey from Girl Scout to anarchist street warrior [More]
Many people who justify assaulting others have never been assaulted back by someone who really knows how.
Aram seems a tad infatuated, don't you think?
[Via Michael G]
ATF Watches More Than 1000 Guns Go Missing In The US! [Watch]
Tell me it doesn't sound like it's right out of the Fast and Furious playbook, counting on enabled abuses to gin up more demand for controls.
Tell me a thorough and honest investigation wouldn't find government provocateurs at the center of things. 600 firearms can't be found in stock and everybody shrugs? What FFL would take such risks without assurances?
My spider-sense is tingling on this one.
It figures a USA Today/The Trace joint venture wouldn't be looking at that, but instead be making the case that ATF needs more power and more laws.
Don't expect anything to happen as long as Democrats control House Oversight and Senate Judiciary. Not that anything of changing and lasting effect happened when Republicans did...
[Via Jess]
Today, I still find myself called "white" as a pejorative... [More]
Those in government and media with the loudest voices calling it "the greatest threat" aim to turn it into the greatest insult. Dare to express individuality as a POC and find out who the real racists are.
[Via Michael G]
Hillary Clinton's 'deplorables' speech shocked voters five years ago - but some feel it was prescient [More]
Define "some."
Your string-pullers who enabled you to set up a sustained smear campaign, you socialist @$$holes who have been doing that, and those useful idiots who have swallowed your lies that a belief in limited government and a Bill of Rights culture makes a person "racist"?
"We Are Not Done With You," Joe Biden Warns Afghanistan's ISIS-K Terrorists [More]
"Good, because so far, the Taliban has gotten all the cool stuff," they replied.
By once more involving CDC in the agenda/junk science propaganda effort, Director Walensky is actually going “old school.” [More]
If you get caught with arms, even JPFO will support prosecutions, because everyone knows the Second Amendment stops short of legally arming criminals. [More]
I freely confess to having been a "gun criminal" for years in California. I just never got caught for that and for carrying "illegally" for over 20 years.
Where the Second Amendment stops short is giving approval to infringements.
I'm delighted to see JPFO be one of the first national groups to understand the threat the current "immigration/invasion" plot poses. I caution them to think through how they make their case.
The bill passed the Senate on Aug. 18 along party lines, 27-20, with all Republicans for and all Democrats against. Republicans have argued in favor of the bill, repeatedly noting the law’s origin in the Jim Crow South and efforts to keep guns away from Black North Carolinians. [More]
Black voters are significantly more likely to register as a Democrat (79%) compared to other groups
Never let reality get in the way of a planted preconception...?
California Police Chief Requires Psych Evals For All CCW Applicants [More]
Anybody know enough about HIPAA medical privacy protections to know if that might be a way to fight this Intolerable Act?
[Via Jess]
Findings from the Cato Institute 2021 Immigration and Identity National Survey [More]
It's like Mr. Pynchon says...
Cato: We know where they stand.
[Via Mack H]
Letter: Critical race theory is ‘racism personified’ [More]
So is the "Editor's Note" at the bottom kind of like the way Facebook hall monitors stick their unqualified noses into things because they don't trust people to read things and make up their own minds?
[Via Mack H]
Conservatives must finally recognize something that’s very depressing and very important: the conservative intellectual movement in America didn’t just fail. It aided and abetted the Left for money. The Left bought off the Right’s leading conservative intellectuals. And its think tanks. And its “flagship” magazines. This is not hyperbole or conjecture. I’ve got the receipts. [More]
I've been warning readers about NRO, Goldberg, and French for years.
[Via MM]
So, they did something unthinkable... They stole the post... [More]
Legal immigration isn’t an issue that the right and left have much disagreement on. We want legal immigrants. [More]
So another "gun writer" proves oblivious to what even The New York Times is crowing about...?
I don't suppose he would like to take the challenge...? Or offer a detailed rebuttal to points documented here?
The current system purposely undermines a key goal of the Preamble, "to secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity." Any "reform" that doesn't embrace that -- and ensure new admissions adhere to the values of a limited government and a Bill of Rights culture -- is just part of the power grab.
[Via Michael G]
As the video shows, school board member Roscoe D. Cooper III calls out several names of people who were supposedly scheduled to comment publicly about a measure being debated. Phil McCracken, Eileen Dover, Wayne Kuhr, Suk Mahdik, Ophelia McCaulk, and Don Kedick were among the list of punned-out names that poor Mr. Cooper failed to latch onto. [More]
What a dope.
[Via Keith B]
[A]ll of Prostasia’s goals and campaigns lead to the exact same conclusion: The total normalization and acceptance of pedophilia in wider society. [More]
That still won't be enough. Just like "it's not enough to be non-racist, you have to be anti-racist."
If you're socially suicidal enough to actually be appalled by what child sexual predators do and to speak out against it, prepare to be canceled.
Provided there's still a place to speak out...
[Via Michael G]
Do you think it's conceivable that John Kirby believes his own line of sh!+? [More]
I have yet to see a spokesflack who doesn't remind me of a Jon Lovitz skit:
[Via Michael G]DC suspects kidnapped victims at gunpoint, forced them to makewithdrawalsreparations from ATMs [More]
Careless of Fox 5 not to fix that before they published it...
And naturally:
Police officials are advising people to comply with the victims at the moment. They say when a victim follows their instructions, the suspects don't seem to be inflicting additional harm beyond stealing from them.Yep. Let a gang of violent parasitic sociopaths stick a bag over your head and zip-tie your hands. Trust them. What could go wrong?
[Via 1Gat]
Citing St. Joe’s increasing ‘wokeism,’ a small group of alumni say they will withhold donations [More]
Until it's a large enough group, including parents not paying for their children to be "final finished" in such brainwashing centers, don't expect change. Since I don't see most parents getting involved at the grade school level, including in public schools where no direct tuition is involved, I don't have high hopes.
Maybe after everything collapses...
[Via Michael G]
The Connecticut Citizens Defense League (CCDL) announced today that yesterday it filed a federal civil rights action in the United States District Court against the Police Chiefs of Hartford, New Haven, Bridgeport and Waterbury to stop their blatant and ongoing violations of CCDL members’ right to keep and bear arms and other constitutional rights. [More]
There’s no room for due process anymore, the official narrative tells us. [More]
They'd better make room because when due process goes out the window, the tumbrels will come for the officials and the elites.
[Via bondmen]
...Soros called Xi Jinping “the most dangerous enemy of open societies in the world.” [More]
Popcorn?
[Via bondmen]
The Media's Addiction To COVID 'Fear Porn' Is Perpetuating An Ever-Worsening Cycle Of Societal Damage Across The World [More]
Terrify the population, it demands to be saved no matter the cost.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
[Via bondmen]
90 Retired Generals Pen Scathing Letter Calling For Austin And Milley To Resign Immediately [More]
I guess none of them worked for ONI...?
What gets me is the high-ranking apparatchiks will go on to lucrative establishment positions while Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller faces financial ruin.
I actually hope they try to hang on a bit, get loud, and alienate more. I'm waiting for Austin and his apologists to play the victim-of-supremacists card.
[Via bondmen]
Michael Moore After Afghanistan Evacuation: Time to Defend America ‘Against Our Own Domestic Taliban’ [More]
That means he wants the government to kill you.
[Via bondmen]
Building the narrative on "ghost guns" using the same formula, different application... [Watch]
That's why I call them Opposite Day "progressives" -- because everything they do is contradictory and regressive.
[Via Jess]
The ability for federal agents to delete, copy, and modify citizens' online accounts is now within the "legal" realm. The government can impersonate its citizens, while using online accounts, to achieve tasks they deem worthy. [More]
But don't worry, "journalists," that is, the authorized ones, have some special considerations.
For now.
[Via Jess]
FBI: Gunman possibly inspired by foreign terrorist groups [Watch]
Guess what nobody seems interested in even asking about.
[Via 1Gat]
U.S. Military Left Service Dogs Behind in Afghanistan [More]
I'm sure there are many at the "Humane" Society who would favor giving up human seats to animals. What's outrageous is that things came to this.
It's a further example of the utter ineptness in administration leadership that we see unfolding every day. In the Silver Lining Department, as wannabe totalitarians go, these guys project incompetence and weakness.
[Via Michael G]
UPDATE:Pentagon Denies Military Dogs Were Left Behind in Afghanistan [More]
Hey, if they didn't have it, there wouldn't have been any "reparations" to take off them. [Watch]
[Via 1Gat]
Herschel shares the latest on Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller. [More]
The man is willing to put it all on the line for principle. I hope enough moved by that and in a position to follow in a meaningful way do so.
Tucker Carlson goes over what we've already talked about in terms of the government arming the Taliban as it tries to disarm Americans, but that bears continued repeating and he presents it in a way that everyone but a fanatical anti-gun cultist or a Democrat (but I repeat myself) can understand and agree with. [Watch]
Internal investigators say he repeatedly had contact with a Tremont bar owner convicted for bribing police. [More]
Remember what Mom used to reply to "All the other guys are doing it"...?
Imagine what the discovery is going be like in the trigger case???? [More]
North Korea Restarts Weapons-Grade Yongbyon Nuclear Reactor Halted Under Trump [More]
What do they know about American "leadership" that Democrats don't?
[Via Michael G]
Too often, those left behind to pull the pieces of broken families back together are the women, like Rosheda Murray, a single mother of five. Her youngest son, Jarrod, is nine. His father was murdered. [More]
So I take it by wording it that way that he wasn't the only father in the picture?
What does this have to do with me and my rights, again?
That enmity tracks largely (though not exclusively) along lines from previous elections. [More]
So Democrats are unhappy with non-Democrats. What else is new?
[Via Mack H]
Namely, uniformed personnel and military retirees are prohibited from disrespecting senior government leadership (e.g. the President, Vice President, Congress, Secretary of Defense, Service Secretaries, etc.). [More]
I wonder if fawning praise that some could interpret as sarcasm is allowed...
Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Nancy Pelosi, Lloyd Austin, and Mark Milley are the finest, most honest, and competent leaders ever!
[Via bondmen]
UPDATE: Going to where the site I linked to got is information, this could be limited to members of the Office of Naval Intelligence.Brazil's Bolsonaro Says Everyone Should Buy a Rifle [More]
Naturally, the communists have a different idea, and it looks like there may be enough stupid voters to help them make it happen.
[Via bondmen]
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, who has presided over skyrocketing violent crime, a lead crisis that imperiled children, and a city with some of the nation’s worst racial disparities in poverty and other areas, was nominated by President Joe Biden to be the ambassador to Luxembourg. [More]
He ought to fit right in. They have so much in common.
[Via bondmen]
Antifa militant and accused "ringleader" Jason Charter, alleged to have committed various serious crimes ranging from destruction of government property to destruction of a veterans' memorial, has pled guilty to the much lesser federal charge of disorderly conduct on restricted grounds. [More]
That and he fought with police?
Seems fair. It's not like he's Ashli Babbitt or anything.
[Via Roger J]
The incompetence is stunning. [More]
Before being too hard on them it's important to remember that not everyone is upset.
[Via Michael G]
The FBI, already under fire for its handling of FISA warrants and confidential informants, is enduring more scrutiny as the Justice Department admits agents failed to disclose to a court that they had paid — to the tune of six figures — a white supremacist publisher for years to be an investigative source. [More]
[Via Michael G]
Washington, D.C.’s top prep schools implement “antiracism” curricula in lockstep. [More]
And when they're all grown up ... I don't know why I suddenly thought of Pinkley...
[Via Michael G]
Trump's Supreme Court just showed why court-packing is necessary to save U.S. democracy -- Law professor Stephen Feldman explains why court-packing should be defended on both moral and political grounds [More]
Democracy! Just like the Founders intended!
[Via Michael G]
A Missouri judge just ruled in our favor. This time we won defending a new Missouri law protecting our #SecondAmendment rights. St. Louis City & Co, Jackson Co & the Biden administration sought to strike down #SAPA… they were unsuccessful. #2A
Fun fact: A dismissal is not a win. The judge dismissed the case because of a pending remedy at hand, actually 2 separate pending cases. These are co-suits with the DOJ arguing that MO can’t nullify federal law.
As much as I hate to admit it, she's got a point. I owuldn't be breaking out the champagne just yet.
Dad grabs dying 24-year-old son’s gun after shootout with off-duty NYPD and opens fire...The dad has around 60 prior arrests on his record on charges including drug possession, assault and weapon possession, source said. [More]They ought to put such people on an island or something. Oh, wait...
Police say the suspect in Friday’s school shooting, 13-year-old Juan Saucedo Jr. brought the gun from home where it belonged to his dad. That man, Juan Saucedo Sr, was accused in a 2018 shooting in the pick-up line outside Highland High School. [More]
Obviously requiring you and me to lock up our safety would have prevented all this!
[Via Jess]
Bruh ... they dragged him out ... Haha! [More]
The brainwashing is damn near complete.
[Via Michael G]
The Russian Ammo is gone... It will BACKFIRE on the LEFT GLORIOUSLY... Here's how... [Watch]
Let's hope. Two concerns:
What's produced in other countries can be sidetracked by State.
Craft beer is typically a lot more expensive.
[Via Jess]
Untraceable ‘ghost guns’ are a threat. It’s time we banned them [More]
Right. Because then this would stop happening.
How cause-and-effect-challenged must one be to sit on the "CST Editorial Board"?
Forget it, Jake. It's Chi-Town.
[Via Jess]
The question is worth asking because if Senate Democrats get their way, they’ll weaponize S230 reform to target online gun marketplaces. Conservatives urging repeal of Section 230 are playing right into their hands. [More]
Yow.
Now what?
[Via DDS]
Tangentially-Related UPDATE:But applied to entities such as Facebook that handle millions of items of third-party content a day, the laissez-faire approach threatens free speech by concentrating unchecked censorial power in the hands of a few companies. [More]
Survivors and advocates say they are frustrated that Biden has failed to deliver on his campaign promises to try to curb gun violence. [More]
Not that what they're demanding would...
Still, it's always nice to see thwarted control freaks sputter.
[Via Jess]
While Washington, D.C. was riveted Jan. 6 on events at the U.S. Capitol, the FBI quietly released a trove of files from an "urgent" — yet seemingly controlled — investigation 60 years ago into Nancy Pelosi's father. [More]
Hey, it's not like a bred communist domestic enemy in control of the House of Representatives is news or anything...
[Via Jess]
Director Marion Hammer used her email list to attack the “hateful” article and encouraged list members to vote in the poll. [More]
Actually, the article did not share my cynicism. I think the companies involved chose an answer they could all use that would least alienate customers.
Also from NRA in Danger:
[Via Laocoön]
A spokesman for the Taliban said that Afghans who have government-issued weapons, ammunition, or vehicles need to hand them over or face punishment. [More]
SAF CHALLENGES ‘ASSAULT WEAPON’ BAN IN COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS [More]
That the complaint acknowledges "And they are, moreover, exactly what they would bring to service in militia duty, should such be necessary" is something I hope to see emphasized. Miller left us some tools that far too few ever pick up and use.
About 500 Afghan refugees, special immigrant visa holders coming to Akron, mayor says [More]
[Via Sweet Babboo]
UPDATE: Well, that didn't take long:Convicted rapist reached the U.S. on Afghan evacuation flight
BOOM! Judge Orders New Election After STAGGERING 78% of Mail-in Ballots Discovered As Fraudulent — Multiple Arrests Made [More]
Better send Michael Byrd down there. It sounds like they're gonna need "utmost courage".
[Via Jess]
UPDATES:Armed Picnics and Snipers at Family Dollar: Life in a Town With a Government-Approved Militia [More]
Horrors!
How many gang-related killings do they commit each weekend?
Funny-- a grenade is featured prominently in the accompanying illustration but not even mentioned in the story. It's almost like they want to create an impression for effect or something.
What can I say but "Mother Jones"...?
“The National Rifle Association will continue to lead the way to preserve our rich hunting heritage within our shores and indeed across the globe." [More]
Be vewy, vewy quiet. I'm hunting wabbits.
Pay no attention to the men behind the curtain.
