The Foundation

"[A] good moral character is the first essential in a man." --George Washington

Chris Kyle, RIP

2013-02-04-perspective-1

Former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, a Patriot from Texas and author of the outstanding book, "American Sniper," was killed Saturday while assisting fellow veterans suffering from PTSD. Chris served with the SEAL Team 3 Sniper Element Charlie platoon, and was the most lethal sniper in U.S. history. He accumulated 160 confirmed kills and another 95 probables, and was known to his enemies as Al-Shaitan Ramad (The Devil of Ramadi).

 

During his four combat tours, Chris was shot twice and survived six IED explosions. His longest shot was taken in 2008 near Sadr City, where he neutralized an RPG-carrying insurgent at more than 2,000 meters with his Lapua Magnum .338 PGM. He left military service three years ago after earning two Silver Stars, five Bronze Stars with Valor, two Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals, and one Navy and Marine Corps Commendation. He has devoted much of the last three years to working with fellow vets suffering from PTSD.

 

Chris leaves behind his wife Taya, two children, and a long list of family and friends. Kyle was a tireless defender of Liberty and the Second Amendment, and he will be sorely missed.

Read more here.

Essential Liberty

"Chicago's government, which is not normally known for elevated thinking, is feeling so morally upright and financially flush that it proposes to rise above the banal business of maximizing the value of its employees' and retirees' pension fund assets. Although seven funds have cumulative unfunded liabilities of $25 billion, Chicago will sacrifice the growth of those assets to the striking of a political pose so pure it is untainted by practicality. Emulating New York and California, two deep blue states with mammoth unfunded pension liabilities, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has hectored a $5 billion pension fund into divesting its holdings in companies that manufacture firearms. Now he is urging two large banks to deny financing to such companies 'that profit from gun violence.' TD Bank provides a $60 million credit line to Smith & Wesson, and Bank of America provides a $25 million line to Sturm, Ruger & Company. Chicago's current and retired public employees might wish the city had invested more in both companies. Barack Obama, for whom Emanuel was chief of staff, has become a potent gun salesman because of suspicions that he wants to make gun ownership more difficult. Since he was inaugurated four years ago, there have been 65 million requests for background checks of gun purchasers. Four years ago, the price of Smith & Wesson stock was $2.45. Last week it was $8.76, up 258 percent. Four years ago, the price of Sturm Ruger stock was $6.46. Last week it was $51.09, up 691 percent. The Wall Street Journal reports that even before 'a $1.2 billion balloon payment for pensions comes due' in 2015, 'Chicago's pension funds, which are projected to run dry by the end of the decade, are scraping the bottoms of their barrels.'" --columnist George Will