Parts of Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee are experiencing severe drought and wildfires. This has led to the closure of certain sections of the Appalachian Trail due to hazardous conditions. 

The latest weekly data from the US Drought Monitor shows large swaths of the Southeast are in “exceptional” to “severe” drought.” 

The EPA’s AirNow fire detection map shows dozens of wildfires stretching from Oklahoma to Mississippi and all the way up to the Mid-Alantic region. 

Multiple wildfires in Virginia and North Carolina forced the US Forest Service to close parts of the Appalachian Trail. 

The Hill explains which parts of the trail are closed: 

A Friday release by the Forest Service in the George Washington and Jefferson National Forest and the National Interagency Fire Center’s Southern Area Incident Management Red Team announced a closure of the Blue Ridge Parkway from “from milepost 66.3, near US Highway 501, to milepost 85.9, at VA Route 43 until further notice” in relation to the Matts Creek Fire

The release on the Matts Creek Fire also said a section of the Appalachian Trail from “from James River Foot Bridge to Petites Gap Road” was closed in relation to the wildfire.

The U.S. Forest Service in North Carolina noted another portion of the trail, “from Interstate 40 to Max Patch,” was being closed in relation to the Black Bear Fire. The announcement was made in a Facebook post Friday.

The Matts Creek Fire and the Black Bear Fire were 2 and 0 percent contained respectively, according to officials. The Matts Creek Fire is significantly larger than the Black Bear Fire, having a coverage of 5,148 acres, versus Black Bear’s 1,193 acres.

Shenandoah National Park also said a vehicle fire had spread into the park and caused a closure of the trail.

“The Appalachian Trail is closed from Jarman Gap (mile 98.6) to Rockfish Gap (mile 105) due to wildfire,” Shenandoah National Park posted Friday on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. -The Hill 

X users shared dramatic scenes of the wildfires:

Wildfire in North Carolina mountains sparked by Interstate 40 crash grows to nearly 1,200 acres https://t.co/1oCz6UkrjK pic.twitter.com/5RT1eAHenM

— FOX8 WGHP (@myfox8) November 18, 2023

The Southern Area Blue Incident Management Team has taken over the Black Bear Fire in North Carolina. The fire is pushing 400 acres and is 0% contained. #ncfire #wildfire #ncwx #Raleigh
Additional resources are on order. Hand line and dozer lines are currently being… pic.twitter.com/PZOqmiQfwV

— The Hotshot Wake Up (@HotshotWake) November 17, 2023

If you noticed the smell of smoke outside, you’re not alone. It’s not from Canadian wildfires. This time it’s from Virginia & North Carolina 🔥🔥🔥 transported by a gusty SSW wind!

The yellow dots show air quality issues for very sensitive people.#smoke #nywx #airquality pic.twitter.com/zy0kry3YfW

— Peter Hall (@PeteWeatherBeat) November 17, 2023

A surreal moment watching a wildfire run down a mountain – in Virginia.

I watched Matt’s Creek Fire from this spot on Rt. 501 for a few hours last night. The sky was orange as the 10+ ft flames advanced through the canyon. pic.twitter.com/tbEcu4Tljy

— Peter Forister 🍁🍂🍁 (@forecaster25) November 16, 2023

🔥Smelling smoke this morning? There is a large wildfire ongoing in Virginia & a prescribed burn happening in south-central PA today. Southwest winds are causing smoke to drift north.#PAwx pic.twitter.com/KMWH05jfsB

— NWS State College (@NWSStateCollege) November 17, 2023

Where are Greta and corporate progressive media blaming ‘climate change’? 

Authored by by Jackson Richman and Joseph Lord via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) has subpoenaed Bank of America (BoA) for information over the company’s alleged sharing with the FBI of private customer data from around the time of the Jan. 6, 2021, events in Washington.

The subpoena is part of the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government’s probe “into major banks sharing Americans’ private financial data with the [FBI] without legal process for transactions made in the Washington, DC, area around Jan. 6, 2021″—the day that supporters of President Donald Trump breached the U.S. Capitol as Congress was certifying the 2020 election, which the former president has called rigged and stolen. Politico first reported the Nov. 16 development.

The committee subpoenaed relevant documents from the bank, including internal communications about the decision to transfer the information to the FBI, any communications that the bank had with the agency, and any other information. The lawmakers gave Bank of America a June 8 deadline to comply.

In a 78-page whistleblower report released by the House Judiciary Committee on May 19, whistleblowers allege that in the aftermath of the riot, Bank of America gave the FBI information about customers who made transactions in the Washington area on or near Jan. 6, 2021.

Those who had used Bank of America accounts to purchase a firearm, regardless of when or where the transaction took place, were bumped to the top of that list.

George Hill, a retired FBI supervisory intelligence analyst, told the panel: “The Bank of America, with no directive from the FBI, data-mined its customer base. And they data-mined a date range of [Jan. 5, 2021, to Jan. 7, 2021] any BoA customer who used a BoA product [meaning a Bank of America credit or debit card].

“They compiled that list. And then, on top of that list, they put anyone who had purchased a firearm during any date. So it was a huge list.“

No further action was taken with the information, according to testimony from the special agent in charge of the Boston field office, which received the information.

Bank of America told the Judiciary Committee that its conduct was “within a legal process initiated by the United States Department of the Treasury.”

However, in a Nov. 16 letter to Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, informing him of the subpoena, Mr. Jordan, who also chairs the Weaponization Select Subcommittee, wrote that, “it is unclear what ‘legal’ process permits the FBI or BoA to share the sensitive customer information of potentially thousands of BoA customers and implicate them in a federal law enforcement investigation without any clear criminal nexus.”

After all, the Ohio congressman wrote, “If such a lawful authority exists, as BoA asserts, for BoA to freely share private financial information without any legal process or specific nexus to criminality, Congress has a responsibility to consider reforms that adequately protect Americans’ information.”

Mr. Jordan went on to say that “it should not be the case that federal law enforcement has carte blanche access to Americans’ financial information by deeming a transaction or class of transactions as ‘suspicious’ or otherwise.”

The bank told The Epoch Times in an email: “We followed all applicable laws in our interactions with the Trump Administration’s Treasury Department and law enforcement. These interactions began when the Trump Administration’s Treasury Department urgently gathered major banks and law enforcement on Jan. 15, 2021, and shared information regarding potential criminal activity that could disrupt the upcoming inauguration. We have cooperated with the committee as they evaluate whether the laws we complied with should be changed.”

In a May 25 letter to Mr. Moynihan, Mr. Jordan and Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust Chairman Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) expressed concern over the allegations, which they called “alarming.”

Aside from other privacy concerns, the Republican lawmakers wrote, “This information undoubtedly included private details about BoA customers who had nothing at all to do with the events of January 6. Even worse, BoA specifically provided information about Americans who exercised their Second Amendment right to purchase a firearm.”

In the wake of surging violence inflicted against Palestinians by Jewish West Bank settlers, the Biden administration is poised to impose sanctions and visa bans on the perpetrators, according to a directive leaked to Politico and reported by the outlet on Saturday night.  

Via the document, President Biden notes that settler violence has destabilizing effect on the entire Middle East, and orders Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and other officials “to develop policy options for expeditious action against those responsible for the conduct of violence in the West Bank.” 

Politico hasn’t seen the document. Rather, an anonymous senior government official read passages to a reporter. The official said the decision was preceded by intense debate among administration officials. 

Israeli terrorist settlers are now murdering farmers in the west bank. They are armed militias of israel outside of the IDF. Israel is the jewish ISIS. pic.twitter.com/mKCsndlmAX

— Syrian Girl 🇸🇾🎗 (@Partisangirl) October 30, 2023

Even before the Oct 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel, 2023 was already considered the worst year for settler violence in more than a decade. Since, settlers have ramped up their killing of Palestinians, leaving threatening leaflets ordering them to leave their homes, blocking roads with boulders, cutting electricity lines to Palestinians’ homes, shutting down water wells and destroying olive trees. 

“Yesh Din, an Israeli rights group, reports that 197 Palestinians in the West Bank have been killed by settlers or Israeli forces since Oct. 7. The United Nations reports that, in the same time frame, at least 121 Palestinian households — about 1,150 people, including 452 children — have been displaced by settler violence and access restrictions.” — Politico 

Biden’s directive charges US agencies to target those who “have directly or indirectly engaged in actions or policies that threaten the security or stability of the West Bank,” violate human rights, or take “actions that intimidate civilians in the West Bank with the purpose or effect of forcing displacement actions in the West Bank.” It’s not clear how the Biden administration will identify specific targets for sanctions and visa bans.

#JewishTerrorists Settlers Attack & burn Palestinian property in Deir Sharaf, northwest of Nablus, and attack Palestinian vehicles near the village of Jit, between Nablus and Qalqilya.

Video from Deir Sharaf https://t.co/7GxfLl9D0r pic.twitter.com/hTaWC3hfLx

— Being Human (@Indiandude007) November 11, 2023

Biden’s move was foreshadowed earlier on Saturday, when the Washington Post published an op-ed piece with Biden’s byline that ventured to outline a path out of the current war. Biden reiterated his opposition to ceasefire demands, despite reports of more than 11,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza — including more than 4,000 children — and despite polls showing 68% of Americans want a ceasefire and negotiation.  

Biden also trotted out the usual disingenuous calls for a two-state solution, when Jewish settlements have so riddled the West Bank as to preclude the possibility of contiguous Palestinian state in the territory seized by Israel in 1967. 

Biden also spotlighted the scourge of settler violence:   

“I have been emphatic with Israel’s leaders that extremist violence against Palestinians in the West Bank must stop and that those committing the violence must be held accountable. The United States is prepared to take our own steps, including issuing visa bans against extremists attacking civilians in the West Bank.”

“I hugged the olive tree… I’d raised the tree like my child.”

On November 27, 2005, a Palestinian woman was photographed hugging an olive tree after it was attacked by Israeli settlers.

Get to know the story behind this iconic image. pic.twitter.com/YUS57QjrFc

— Al Jazeera World (@AlJazeeraWorld) November 10, 2023

Authored by Nicole James via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

In the world of electric vehicles, where the allure of green technology meets the practicality of everyday life, there are those who embrace the electric revolution with a unique flair.

Enter the unapologetic connoisseur of contradictions, the embodiment of the unexpected, the aficionado of electric eccentricities, and a character worthy of exploration.

Here are 18 reasons why you really need an electric car:

1. You’re a Tolstoy enthusiast who’s never quite conquered the monumental War and Peace.

Fear not, for that long charging queue becomes your literary sanctuary where you can immerse yourself in 1,225 pages of Russian opulence while your electric steed gains its much-needed energy boost.

2. Fine dining at Chiswick, Margaret, and Quay is a given, but have you truly lived until you’ve sampled the delights of the local servo?

Post-War and Peace, dive into the exquisite world of slurpees, gristly meat pies, and try-hard coffee at the gas station. Breakfast and lunch might just be a charging queue away. YOLO.

3. Forget Bill Gates and his private jets; your guilty pleasure is the toasty warmth of a winterised garage. Electric cars, much like their owners, detest the cold. Embrace the synergy by parking your electric chariot in a heated garage—a warm welcome indeed.

4. Having dabbled in the vaccine, insect, and windfarm markets, your financial portfolio is diverse, and now you’re eyeing a substantial tax break. The depreciation of your EV will outpace its traditional counterparts so why not amass a fleet to elegantly trim that hefty annual tax bill?

5. Hitchhiking adventures or solitary contemplation on a deserted country road, anyone?

Electric cars need to charge frequently. So if you’re going on a long journey, there’s a chance you may not make it to the next EV charging station. This is where War and Peace also comes in handy.

6. Virtue signalling ascends to new heights as the Tesla logo joins forces with needles and any flag that isn’t your own country. The EV isn’t just a mode of transport; it’s your declaration of values to the world.

7. You have a longing for Victorian times and it’s not just the taxidermy and corsets.

Children learned the value of money in those times. Maybe sending them down a coal mine wasn’t ideal but better than being stuck up a chimney and having someone light a fire.

Child slave labour is alive and well today in Africa where children are used to mine cobalt by hand in order to produce the 60 pounds of cobalt needed for one EV battery.

8. Unveil your inner Victorian Goth with a penchant for blackouts, cold baths and for the truly avant-garde, cockroach milk. Electric cars may shine but the allure of darkness prevails in this world of renewables.

9. Coal mining is so pre-COVID.

No, it’s lithium, cobalt, graphite, and aluminium all the way. A single EV battery needs 30 pounds of lithium, 60 pounds of cobalt, 130 pounds of graphite, and roughly 500 pounds of steel aluminium, manganese, plastic and other materials. Happy. Happy. Joy. Joy.

10. You’ve always wanted to live in a permanent Disneyland—believing that electric cars have zero emissions. California awaits.

11. Are you concerned about pollution emissions in first-world countries?

Just shift the burden to the third world where toxic substances required for EV batteries become an unavoidable reality.

12. Anything a diesel Mercedes C220 D can do your Tesla Model 3 can do better e.g. emit 11 to 28 percent more CO2 over the lifespan of the Mercedes.

13. You’re a great delegator and will happily delegate power regarding your movements to the government. Of course, they should be allowed to turn your car off at any time because SCIENCE.

14. Do you live in an inner city Teal electorate where electricity prices skyrocketing become inconsequential?

Teal and Tesla go hand in hand. That $5,000 power bill is a small price to pay for coolness. And the seventh needle in your profile seals the deal for the ultimate in virtue signalling nonchalance.

15. MI5 dreams come true with a tracking device worthy of James Bond. And the cherry on top? Celebrating the gender and potential trans identity of 007 while cruising in your Tesla.

16. Do you have a soft spot for China? You can acknowledge their prowess in lithium processing 40 percent of the world’s raw lithium and dominating the market with an 80 percent share.

17. For you the intricacies of how the EV charges and the origin of coal-fired electricity remain a mystery. It’s battery-operated and that’s all that matters.

18. And then there are those with aerostatiophobia, an affliction not to be taken lightly.

The genuine fear of gas stations, it seems is a reality. While it’s unfortunate to miss out on the gourmet treats these stations offer, the silver lining of a battery-operated car is the blissful avoidance of gas station visits altogether.

After all, who needs to confront their fears when the hum of an electric charge is music to your tax-saving ears?

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times or ZeroHedge.

Reports from Arab media indicate that the “Galaxy Leader,” a vehicle carrier vessel, was hijacked in the Red Sea on Monday by the Houthi group, which is supported by Iran, as reported by The Jerusalem Post.

An Israeli ship named “Galaxy Leader” was hijacked by Yemen’s Houthi rebels in the Red Sea on Monday, according to Arab media.#Israel | #Houthi | #Yemen https://t.co/5Ai3Q32Tqf

— The Jerusalem Post (@Jerusalem_Post) November 19, 2023

The Galaxy Leader was last seen in the Red Sea (Position: 19.88°(lat) /38.84°(Ion)). The ship is underway, cruising at 17.5 knots. 

Additional info on the vessel.

Some X users are saying the vessel is an Israeli-owned ship. 

Initial, unconfirmed reports that #IRGCterrorists-backed #Houthis have hijacked the Galaxy Leader vessel with 22 people on board. Follows Houthi threats over the last 24 hours to target #Israel-linked ships. https://t.co/XIFOxsggcz pic.twitter.com/JJuvfoTc5K

— Jason Brodsky (@JasonMBrodsky) November 19, 2023

🇾🇪🇮🇱🚨‼️ BREAKING: The Houthis in Yemen hijacked an “Israeli cargo ship” called “Galaxy Leader” sailing in the Gulf. There are said to be 22 crew members on board the ship. — Israeli Media

Also the spokesman for the Yemeni Armed Forces: An important statement in the coming hours pic.twitter.com/ZQnmN3Dh1H

— Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) November 19, 2023

BREAKING: The Houthis have reportedly hijacked Israel’s Galaxy Leader ship in major maritime escalation

— Samuel Ramani (@SamRamani2) November 19, 2023

The IDF says the hijacking of the shipping vessel in the Red Sea by the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen is a “very serious incident on the global scale.”

It says the ship was sailing from Turkey to India with an international civilian crew, without any Israelis aboard.

“This is…

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) November 19, 2023

We have reported multiple Israeli-owned vessels have been attacked in 2023: 

• Israeli-Owned Tanker Reportedly Attacked By Iranian Drones In Persian Gulf
• Israeli Merchant Ship Hit With “Unknown Weapons” In Persian Gulf

*Developing… 

Authore by Ziare via ReMix News,

The European Commission has ordered Hungary, Romania, and 10 other member states to comply with EU air pollution legislation and reduce their emissions of several pollutants to reduce air pollution.

The EU executive sent a letter of formal notice to Luxembourg, Poland, and Romania, and a reasoned opinion to Bulgaria, Ireland, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Austria, Portugal, and Sweden for failing to ensure the correct implementation of their commitments to reduce several air pollutants as required by Directive (EU) 2016/2284 on the national emission reductions of certain air pollutants (“NEC Directive”).

The NEC Directive sets national emission reduction commitments for five important air pollutants: nitrogen oxides (NOx), non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs), sulfur dioxide (SO2), ammonia (NH3), and fine particulate matter (PM2.5).

These pollutants contribute to poor air quality and have a significant negative impact on human health and the environment, the European Commission noted in a press release. National commitments must be met by each member state every year between 2020 and 2029, with more ambitious reductions from 2030 onwards. Member states are also required to establish National Air Pollution Control Programmes (NAPs) to show how these reduction commitments will be met.

In January 2023, Brussels sent a letter of formal notice to 14 member states that had not met their 2020 emission reduction commitments for one or more pollutants covered by the NEC Directive. In February 2023, member states submitted their most recent national emission inventories, which included emissions for 2020 and 2021, accompanied by an informative inventory report.

The European Commission is sending additional letters of formal notice to Luxembourg, Poland, and Romania, which have two months to respond and remedy the shortcomings identified.

…

Read more here…

In a landmark decision, a Missouri jury has ordered Bayer AG’s Monsanto unit to pay more than $1.5 billion in damages to three former users of its Roundup weedkiller. This ruling, one of Monsanto’s largest trial losses in the five-year litigation over the herbicide, raises new questions about the safety of the controversial product and the company’s future legal challenges.

In a late Friday decision, jurors awarded James Draeger, Valorie Gunther, and Dan Anderson $61.1 million in actual damages and a staggering $500 million each in punitive damages. They claimed that years of using Roundup on their properties led to their non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas. This verdict is one of the largest against a US corporate defendant this year, eclipsing even a significant $1.78 billion verdict in a federal real estate case (which could balloon to more than $5 billion), Bloomberg reports.

Bayer officials said on Saturday that US judges have allowed what they see as mischaracterization of regulatory decisions on Roundup’s safety. Despite recent plaintiff victories, the company says it remains confident in overturning these verdicts, citing ongoing regulatory support for glyphosate, Roundup’s main ingredient. Bayer plans to phase out glyphosate in the US consumer market by year’s end.

Bayer also noted in the statement the US Environmental Protection Agency continues to find Roundup and its main ingredient, glyphosate, as safe and a federal appeals court recently backed a rejection of calls for Bayer to include safety warnings on the product’s distinctive white bottles. The company agreed to transition from the version of Roundup containing glyphosate to new active weed-killing ingredients in the US consumer market by the end of the year. -Bloomberg

The punitive award in the Missouri case may be subject to reduction, as US Supreme Court rulings generally limit such awards to ten times the actual damages. However, Monsanto has previously seen substantial damage awards in similar cases, including a $2 billion verdict in California, later reduced to $87 million.

The Burden of Legacy Litigations

Bayer, which acquired Monsanto in 2018, has allocated up to $16 billion for over 100,000 Roundup cases. The company’s legal challenges extend beyond Roundup, encompassing other Monsanto products like toxic PCBs. With more trials on the horizon in Arkansas and Delaware, Bayer’s legal landscape appears increasingly precarious.

Plaintiffs in most of the Roundup casess argue that Monsanto was aware of glyphosate’s potential carcinogenic properties and attempted to suppress this information. Internal documents have revealed efforts by Monsanto officials to influence scientific studies supporting glyphosate’s safety.

“These are the kinds of verdicts Bayer can look forward to in future trials,” said Dallas-based attorney Jay Utley. “Monsanto has done wrong for so many years in selling Roundup that it’s a beautiful thing to have a jury recognize that wrongdoing and punish them for it.”

The Missouri case, which brought together plaintiffs from across the US, illustrates the widespread usage and impact of Roundup. The varied backgrounds of the plaintiffs, from landscapers to homeowners, underscore the herbicide’s broad reach and the potential scale of its health effects.

Authored by Kyle Anzalone via The Libertarian Institute,

Tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers have been trained across Europe for the war with Russia. French trainers say they are careful not to get close to the Ukrainian cadets over fears they will be killed on the frozen front lines. The AP reported that Ukrainian soldiers preparing for deployment have resigned themselves to the “grimness of the future.”

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the US and its partners trained thousands of Ukrainian soldiers. Many of those troops have been killed along the relatively stagnant frontlines. Washington had pushed Kiev to utilize high-casualty tactics even when the US accessed Ukraine was unlikely to make any breakthrough. 

Members of the European Union are on pace to train 35,000 troops in 2023. 7,000 Ukrainians have learned battlefield maneuvers from French instructors. Capt. Xavier, a French trainer, said it’s important not to get close to the trainees.

He explained, “You have to burn bridges because otherwise you ask yourselves too many questions. When you find out that this or that person is dead, you’re bound to ask yourself what you did wrong: ‘Did we work enough on this or that tactic? Should I have insisted more on this point?’”

According to the AP, the Ukrainian soldiers preparing to leave France for the battlefield are aware of the “grimness” that awaits them.

“With their return to Ukraine just days away, the grimness of the future that awaits the trainees at the French base was perceptible in the men’s determined, unsmiling looks,” the outlet reported. 

As the conflict has dragged on and turned into a war of attrition, Kiev has become increasingly desperate for men to conscript into its armed forces. The Ukrainians training in France were recently civilians, unprepared for war.

The UK has already long been engaged in a major training program out of bases in England…

30,000 Ukrainian recruits have now been trained on Op Interflex.

The UK package of support to Ukraine also includes training medics, chaplains, tank crews, and more.

🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/7HmnPZY8e0

— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) November 16, 2023

The French trainers have the troops engage in tracts while firing blanks and throwing training grenades. Additionally, the instructors place animal carcasses on the training field to get the soldiers familiar with blood and gore. 

Authored by John Waters via RealClear Wire,

The following is an excerpt from River City One: A Novel. 

The safety was flicked off, the hammer cocked.

The gun was one inch above the seam of my pants pocket. A sudden move and the thing might go off. I closed both eyes and held my breath to slow everything down, breathing only to catch my breath. It was a couple of pounds, maybe three, and I felt it hanging, the weight of bullets pressed inside the hollow grip and tugging down on the waistband of my khakis.

The gun had been an accessory, a set of car keys slipped into my pocket on the way out of the house; I had taken for granted that it would follow me everywhere. Metal grooves and small notches of the grip filled with rust when shamal winds whipped sand into the air, the heavy rotations of a dust-off grinding blue skies into dust. Oiling and scrubbing. Oiling and scrubbing, cleaning each nook with a toothbrush to make sure the bolt didn’t jam up with grit, just to make sure the thing fired when I needed it to. I carried it inside dust-filled trucks rumbling over potholes and every cut and groove in the road. I carried it standing in line for a plate of hot food, holding a plastic tray in my hands, letting my elbow rest at my hip, in the small space between the hammer and sight posts. I took the gun off my hip only to clip the holster into the nylon straps of the flak jacket that covered my chest, so high up I could rest my chin across the long steel grip and fall asleep.

But there was risk in taking it off, so I took the gun with me into the green plastic porta-shitters, the dense sound of metal striking the soiled plastic floor when I unfastened my belt, pants sagging to my knees. When I slept, when I ate, it stayed clipped into my pants, welded to my side through so many places I forgot it was on me until I saw somebody else’s pistol lodged in a leather-strapped shoulder holster—dangling under his armpit like he was a police detective in an old movie—reminded me. The calm returned only when my palm grabbed onto a fistful of black grip stock.

That was years ago.

Today it was new again.

“Wait for the natural pause in breath,” a voice said.

The words sounded strange coming from the blonde with a pistol tucked into the top of her white pants. She was hanging close enough that I could see the brown of her irises and the freckles splashed across the bridge of her nose.

I pressed the soft flesh between my thumb and forefinger into the smooth notch and let my right hand fold around the outside of the three-inch handle, forefinger resting straight along the barrel, just above the trigger well. The rough surface of the gun’s handle grated like sandpaper against the insides of my fingers. I drew in a long breath and held it. One, two, three counts.

My heartbeat thudded through the insides of my ears, each beat deepening the longer I held the breath. The air exited as my right index finger touched the holster’s release button. I swept the pistol forward in one smooth motion until my arm reached full extension. My left hand molded onto the opposite side of the pistol, cradling the gun in both hands, index fingers pointed to the target.

She was smiling.

“Slow and steady pressure—let the weapon surprise you,” the voice said.

I pulled my fingertip back gently and waited for the sound.

Crack.

The hammer dropped into a bright spark of flame and the barrel jerked upward, my shoulders rocking me backward onto my heels.

I exhaled then waited.

Crack.

Inhaled.

Crack.

The firing became automatic, shell casings leaping from the barrel and falling soundlessly to the ground. The empty magazine dropped from the handle and I took one long breath, relieved, noticing for the first time the smell of charcoal smoke and sulfur. I set the pistol down on the metal tray and stepped back, eyes panning left and right. The room was small, only a few shooters standing within arm’s reach of one another. A hand reached beside me and turned the switch, making the sheet of paper come flying toward me, stopping so close to my head I felt the brush of air on my cheeks.

The report was good. Five holes clustered like a honeycomb inside the target’s chest.

John J. Waters graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy. He served in the Marine Corps on deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq. He lives with his family in Nebraska, where he was born.

House Speaker Mike Johnson has released over 40,000 hours of J6 footage including capitol police body cam footage to the public in the interests of transparency, an action which should have been taken years ago.  Each new piece of footage only confirms what many Americans already understood – That the few scant minutes of available video recycled by the media paint a false picture of what really happened.  Many would argue that J6 was nothing more than a protest that was turned into a riot by police incitement and establishment spin. 

Even worse, there are many people now languishing in prison because of that spin.

The latest footage shows capitol police inviting protesters into the building as they peacefully assembled in the corridors (the same people who would later be prosecuted and labeled “insurrectionists”). 

🚨Newly released footage of Matthew Perna (seen in red sweatshirt) shows Matthew walking calmly in the Capitol shooting video.

Matthew pled guilty to initial charges, believing he may face 6-12 months in prison.

Only after pleading guilty did the DOJ inform Matthew that they… pic.twitter.com/1vu0vrLCFe

— Brandon Straka (@BrandonStraka) November 18, 2023

However, what about what happened before the “riots” started? 

Did they happen spontaneously, or were they incited? 

New video clips seem to show capitol police firing rubber bullets, tear gas grenades and stun grenades into crowds of peaceful protesters on J6 before anyone tried to enter the capitol building, possibly triggering the violence that would follow (and creating the footage that was played ad nauseum on major news networks as proof of insurrection).

Look at all this early J6 footage @TuckerCarlson could show the world, but won’t.

His producer @gregg_re and his team at Fox were given all of this last year. #J6CoverUp

J6 protestors were fired upon with NO warning. USCP Chief Waldow lied saying he gave warnings but never did. pic.twitter.com/xNNsB8XfBy

— InvestigateJ6 (@InvestigateJ6) September 6, 2023

Keep in mind that if such tactics had been used to incite BLM or pro-Palestinian riots there would undoubtedly be 24/7 news coverage of it.

These revelations further confirm why J6 footage was withheld from the country for so long.

It’s easy to control the narrative when you have all the evidence under lock and key.