90 Miles From Tyranny

Sunday, February 28, 2021

Democrats Block Rep. Andy Barr’s Amendment to Prevent COVID-19 Relief Funds from Going to China

Democrats in the House Rules Committee on Friday voted against an amendment by Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY) that would prevent any American taxpayer-funded COVID-19 relief dollars from going to the Chinese Communist Party.

His amendment would have barred any of the $1.9 trillion in COVID-19 relief bill funds from being made available to “any enterprise, agency, instrumentality owned by the Government of the People’s Republic of China or the Chinese Communist Party.”

Barr said when he introduced his amendment to the Democrat-controlled committee:

The coronavirus, as you know, started in China. It was made worse by the Chinese Communist Party suppressing information about the spread of the virus and in no way should the CCP be able to further benefit from weaponizing the global supply chain and receiving the U.S. taxpayer funds.

“My amendment ensures that none of the funding in this bill, and particularly none of the $10 billion dollars in the international affairs funding, goes to entities owned by the Chinese government or the CCP,” he said.

Barr said his amendment was “common sense.”

“There is no reason why my colleagues should oppose them. American tax dollars should benefit the American people during a pandemic, not undermine the national security interests of the United States,” he said.

He said allowing funds in the bill to subsidize the Chinese Communist Party would “only prove the lunacy of…a nearly $2 trillion dollar blowout that is being rushed through the House on a party line vote.”

After Democrats shot down the amendment, Barr said in a statement, “COVID-19 relief funds should not be used to subsidize businesses or entities owned by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).”

He added:
Any relief bill should be targeted to strengthen American businesses and the American economy, not be used as a vehicle to funnel taxpayer dollars to the CCP. Democrats are continuing their soft on China policies by voting against this common sense amendment. I will continue working on the House Foreign Affairs Committee to reject soft on China policies and better position the United States to confront the...

Marxists and Crony Capitalists Driving the Information Highway Bus

Dubbing Capitol complex ‘Fort Pelosi,’ Boebert draws cheers at CPAC over Natl Guard still being in DC

Republican lawmakers ridiculed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s ongoing deployment of National Guard troops and police as well as fencing and razor wire around the U.S. Capitol during speeches at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Fla., on Saturday.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if we start quartering soldiers in the committee hearing rooms,” said freshman Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, who dubbed the Capitol complex “Fort Pelosi.”

“There’s plenty in the parking garages at Fort Pelosi. Maybe we can start unreasonably seizing and searching members of Congress. Oh, wait, we’re already doing that in House chambers,” Boebert added, likely a reference to Pelosi’s unilateral decision last month to install metal detectors and post guards at each entrance to the House chamber following the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.

GOP lawmakers and political commentators including Fox News’ Tucker Carlson have repeatedly questioned why armed Guard troops and fencing remain in place around the Capitol nearly two months later, but they say their questions have gone unanswered.

Earlier this month, Rep. Michael Waltz, (R-Fla.), a former U.S. Army Green Beret and current National Guard officer, also dubbed the Capitol Complex “Fort Pelosi.”

“I’m still a serving national guardsman, and I can appreciate that those soldiers were pulled out of their businesses, their jobs, their families, and they’re sitting there with this open-ended mandate,” he told Fox Business Network.

“I’ve repeatedly asked, as have a number of my colleagues, the Army, the National Guard Bureau, the Department of Justice, what is the threat that is so large, specifically, that requires more soldiers on Capitol Hill than we have in Iraq and Afghanistan combined? And then what are we going to do about it? What are we going to do going forward?” Waltz continued.

“This is just this kind of open-ended mandate. I’m calling it Fort Pelosi at this point. The Guard can’t serve as her private security force, and we need answers and we’re not getting any.”

Added Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Mich.), in a separate interview with “Fox & Friends, “Myself and several of my colleagues have asked Nancy Pelosi for a briefing as to why do we need these troops here? And we have received zero information, zero.

“I feel like there’s a boogie man under my bed,” McClain continued.. “So, at the end of the day, is just explain to us why we have the National Guard troops.”

She said at the time, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) was considering a proposal to send an additional 1,000 Michigan National Guard soldiers to Washington, D.C., prompting McClain to argue those troops would better serve their fellow Michiganders “with the distribution of the COVID relief vaccination.”

Some Democrats have said the troops and fencing remain in place because security threats remain, and they blame Republicans and former President Donald Trump. And

As for Boebert, she has regularly triggered Democrats with her insistence on carrying a concealed weapon on Capitol Grounds, as rules in place since the 1960s permit lawmakers to do.

“I am legally permitted to carry my firearm in Washington, D.C., and within the Capitol complex,” she tweeted on January 12. “Metal detectors outside of the House would not have stopped the violence we saw last week—it’s just another political stunt by Speaker Pelosi.”

During her CPAC panel discussion, she accused Democrats of preparing, once again, to go after Second Amendment rights, noting they “don’t want you to be able to...

...But Not Da Check....

The Army’s New Howitzer Just Hit a Target 43 Miles Away. On the Nose.

Damn.

The Army’s new Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA) has now hit a record 43 miles.
That’s the longest verified distance for a U.S. military howitzer.
But a new Russian howitzer might be able to shoot just as far, if not farther.The U.S. Army has dramatically increased the range of its howitzer guns, setting a new distance record.

You like badass military tech. So do we. Let's nerd out over it together.

In a new test, the Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA) gun fired a precision-guided shell to a range of 43 miles, or enough to shell Washington D.C. from Baltimore. The Army says the gun now holds the world record for precision strikes ... but a new Russian howitzer could soon challenge that.

The Army conducted the test, according to Defense News, at Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona, firing an M109A7 Paladin Integrated Management (PIM) howitzer fitted with a longer, 58-caliber gun. (In field artillery, “caliber” refers to the length of the gun barrel and not the diameter of the bore. The 155-millimeter diameter of the barrel is multiplied by 58 to determine the overall length of the barrel, or 29.49 feet.) A longer barrel allows expanding gases triggered by the shell powder to act upon the projectile for a greater period of time, increasing velocity.

The other half of ERCA is a new “supercharged” propellant formulation designed to increase pressure inside the barrel.

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The two new technologies combined to allow the Army to fire a GPS-guided “Excalibur” artillery round to a total of 43 miles. The ERCA test involved firing three rounds; one missed due to high winds, and the second missed due to a hardware failure. The third, however, hit the target.

ERCA nearly doubles the range of existing Army howitzers. According to the Army, the existing M109A7 Paladin self-propelled howitzer can send Excalibur rounds to 39.3 kilometers (24.4 miles), which ERCA can now lob to 43 miles.

Excalibur is a Raytheon-developed shell with jam-resistant GPS, guidance fins, and a unitary high explosive warhead. First fielded in the early 2010s, new versions of Excalibur can strike a target within...