Alison Airies, thanks for sharing

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I have pinned this post to the top of my blog. It is to remind people of what many of our opponents want. Alison Aires wants a tyrannical government. They want summary execution for private possession of firearms.

This is why we have a Bill of Rights. This is why I created Boomershoot.

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Freedom From Fear–NOT!

Quote of the Day

“Freedom from fear” offers freedom from everything except the government. Anyone who sounds the alarm about excessive government power will automatically be guilty of subverting freedom from fear. Presumably,the fewer inviolable rights the citizen has, the better government will treat him. But as John Locke warned more than 300 years ago, “I have no reason to suppose, that he, who would take away my Liberty, would not when he had me in his Power, take away everything else.”

Why not simply offer voters “freedom from the Constitution”? “Freedom from fear” means security via mass delusions about the nature of political power. Painting the motto “freedom from fear” on shackles won’t make them easier to bear. Perhaps our ruling class should be honest and replace the Bill of Rights with a new motto: “Political buncombe will make you free.”

Jim Bovard
October 23, 2024
The “Freedom From Fear” Ticket for Tyranny | The Libertarian Institute

I have nothing to add.

News You Can Use

Quote of the Day

Privacy experts say disabling or deleting your device’s MAID will have no effect on how your phone operates, except that you may begin to see far less targeted ads on that device.

Any Android apps with permission to use your location should appear when you navigate to the Settings app, Location, and then App Permissions. “Allowed all the time” is the most permissive setting, followed by “Allowed only while in use,” “Ask every time,” and “Not allowed.”

Android users can delete their ad ID permanently, by opening the Settings app and navigating to Privacy > Ads. Tap “Delete advertising ID,” then tap it again on the next page to confirm. According to the EFF, this will prevent any app on your phone from accessing the ad ID in the future. Google’s documentation on this is here.

By default, Apple’s iOS requires apps to ask permission before they can access your device’s IDFA. When you install a new app, it may ask for permission to track you. When prompted to do so by an app, select the “Ask App Not to Track” option. Apple users also can set the “Allow apps to request to track” switch to the “off” position, which will block apps from asking to track you.

Apple also has its own targeted advertising system which is separate from third-party tracking enabled by the IDFA. To disable it, go to Settings, Privacy, and Apple Advertising, and ensure that the “Personalized Ads” setting is set to “off.”

Finally, if you’re the type of reader who’s the default IT support person for a small group of family or friends (bless your heart), it would be a good idea to set their devices not to track them, and to disable any apps that may have location data sharing turned on 24/7.

There is a dual benefit to this altruism, which is clearly in the device owner’s best interests. Because while your device may not be directly trackable via advertising data, making sure they’re opted out of said tracking also can reduce the likelihood that you are trackable simply by being physically close to those who are.

Brian Krebs
October 23, 2024
The Global Surveillance Free-for-All in Mobile Ad Data – Krebs on Security

Getting recent location information on a person given just a few bits of data was not the original intent. But it isn’t that hard to do with the Mobile Advertising ID:

The Mobile Advertising ID or MAID — the unique alphanumeric identifier assigned to each mobile device — was originally envisioned as a way to distinguish individual mobile customers without relying on personally identifiable information such as phone numbers or email addresses.

However, there is now a robust industry of marketing and advertising companies that specialize in assembling enormous lists of MAIDs that are “enriched” with historical and personal information about the individual behind each MAID.

I protested a similar loophole when I was working on the location services for Windows Phone 7 at Microsoft. People didn’t see the problem with a phone being assigned unique random number for each phone and tracking it. I had to explain it to them:

Supposed I know where my Ex works (or picks up her mail) and where our kids go to school. I search the tracking data for the sets of IDs which visit both locations. Even if there are a dozen of them, I can find out where each of those phones spend their night. I can then easily visit each of those locations to find which one is my Ex.

If I only have one location for my Ex I still find the home of my Ex. I isolate a sibling/parent/close friend of hers. I use that ID to see if it meets with one of the IDs from my Ex’s work/school.

They seemed understand the problem, but the corporate utility of having the tracking ID seemed to outweigh user risk. I don’t remember what ultimately happened with that.

I know there was similar location tracking risk to users that I called out and they went ahead with. About a month before it was released there was a bit of a scandal with Google’s Android phones. Google was doing almost exactly the same thing as what MS was about to release. The word from the same manager who insisted I make the enabling code change changed his mind. It was with great pleasure that I backed out my code changes.

Smart phones are awesome tools. Smart phone users have a huge advantage over others who don’t have one or don’t use their full potential. But as you can imagine, and as surviving Hezbollah members can attest, in certain situations even a pager is risky.

What About a Zero Inflation Target?

I recently finished Judy Shelton’s book Good as Gold. Today I ran across this article about her: Trump’s former pick to join the Federal Reserve has proposed a radical solution to solve inflation (msn.com).

I have never even taken and economics class, but I found her book ideas interesting. Among other things it outlined a way for the U.S. and the entire world to ease into a gold standard. Since gold reached a new all-time high today.* The idea of returning to a gold standard has more than a little bit of attraction.

As the article points out she is also an advocate for a target of zero inflation. The article is more than a bit down on that idea. But if I were President Trump, I would set up a debate. The debate would be between Shelton and a couple opponents of her zero-inflation suggestion. A compromise of a target of 1% inflation would still be beneficial. It would provide useful data about the utility of zero or near zero inflation.


* Or, the dollar hit a new all-time low.

Racial Minorities Voting for a White Supremacist?

Quote of the Day

In other words the entire event despite its marathon length and hodgepodge of z-list speakers, delivered over and over again a very focused message. The Trump campaign is about retribution and revenge. It is about the white supremacist desire to purge America of all their neighbors of different colors and beliefs. It is about Trump’s desire to seek out his enemies and punish them. And over the course of its Wagnerian length (and resonances) it single out group after group that would be deported or punished.

From a political perspective the strategy is pure suicide. The rally will almost certainly alienate more voters who might have voted for Trump and it is hard to imagine it has earned him one single new vote. (Unless there is a Franz Liebkind somewhere who has been too busy writing “Springtime for Hitler” to have paid attention to the campaign until now.) It was a play to the base when the biggest problem Trump has in this election is breaking through his rock solid ceiling of around 47 percent of the electorate.

David Rothkopf
October 27, 2024
Opinion: Donald Trump’s Racist NYC Rally Was Vile. It Was Also Political Suicide

I found these claims very interesting. How do we reconcile Rothkopf’s white supremacist and Hitler assertions with:

Do these increasing numbers of non-whites want a white supremacist in the White House?

And on the gun control issue Kamala Harris has far better alignment with Hitler than Donald Trump.

The only way I can resolve the issue is to conclude is that either in Rothkopf’s universe the sky is a different color, or he is deliberately lying.

Expectations

Quote of the Day

Eight years later, after being dragged from courthouse to courthousetwo assassination attempts and being labeled a “fascist” by his opponents daily, Trump has a real chance at another victory against long odds. The Daily Caller spoke to various experts across the political landscape about what to expect if that happens. From violence in the streets, to Democrats’ plans to contest a Trump win, to the media meltdown, to election lawfare from Democratic super-lawyer Marc Elias, they all predicted a much more dangerous and extreme response this time around if the “threat to democracy” is democratically elected.

McGinniss told the Caller he is preparing for unrest across the country that will be more intense than what was seen in 2016. He says nearly a decade of persistent anti-Trump messaging will be an accelerant for extremism.

“[We’ve been] told that, effectively, our country is going to be under a dictatorship if Trump wins,” McGinniss told the Caller.

He predicted that violent activists throughout the country would target the nearest avatar of the government they could find, whether that be federal courthouses or police precincts.

Julio Rosas, a national correspondent for The Blaze who has years of experience covering riots and social unrest, had a similar prediction, adding that migrants who have been let into the country under the Biden-Harris administration may join in big cities such as New York and Chicago. Above all, Rosas said protests can be expected because violent demonstrators have never learned their lesson.

Reagan Reese
October 27, 2024
What Happens If Trump Wins? (msn.com)

Expectations by other people are similar.

I don’t want to be in the city for the next few months. Unfortunately, my employer insists we be in the office four days a week. And, I don’t have an underground bunker in Idaho to live in. It is a lot of work to keep my small camping trailer there livable in the winter. And with two people in it, it is miserable to live in for extended periods.

Proof of Inability to Think Clearly

I just have to shake my head at things like this:

An Arizona prosecutor said the man arrested in the three-time shooting of a Democratic National Committee office in suburban Phoenix had more than 120 guns and over 250,000 rounds of ammunition in his home, leading law enforcement to believe he may have been planning a mass casualty event.

How it the world can someone extrapolate from the given data to the stated conclusion? How many guns and rounds of ammo can someone utilize in “a mass casualty event”?

I could see two or maybe three guns. And what, perhaps 300 rounds of ammunition? If you are shooting a rifle quickly, you should let the barrel cool down. Do this every minute or so. So, switch guns for a minute and then continue with first gun. A third gun in case one of your guns gets a jam. After a couple hundred rounds your kill zone is almost for certain going to be empty.

My assertion is that most gun owners can supply the needs of a near maximal “mass causality event”. And they would not have to buy more than one or two extra boxes of ammo to do it.

120 guns and 250,000 rounds of ammunition is evidence of something much different than a “mass casualty event.” It could be any number of things. However, the prosecutor’s hypothesis doesn’t even get on the bottom of that very long list.

The only thing the prosecutor has done with this claim is provide proof she is unable to think clearly.

Bezos Clarifies and Becomes a Heretic

Four days ago, I posted about the Washington Post not endorsing a candidate for U.S. President. I had a firm idea on why they decided to do that. But as near as I can tell, 100% of Kamala Harris supporters had another opinion.

Last night Jeff Bezos clarified the reason:

In the annual public surveys about trust and reputation, journalists and the media have regularly fallen near the very bottom, often just above Congress. But in this year’s Gallup poll, we have managed to fall below Congress. Our profession is now the least trusted of all. Something we are doing is clearly not working.

Let me give an analogy. Voting machines must meet two requirements. They must count the vote accurately, and people must believe they count the vote accurately. The second requirement is distinct from and just as important as the first.

Likewise with newspapers. We must be accurate, and we must be believed to be accurate. It’s a bitter pill to swallow, but we are failing on the second requirement. Most people believe the media is biased. Anyone who doesn’t see this is paying scant attention to reality, and those who fight reality lose. Reality is an undefeated champion.

I found his opinion peace straightforward, candid, and believable. His reference to reality echos my frequent references to some people. I imagine these people must have a different color of sky in their universe.

Bezos goes on to say the people who believe the decision was in fear of Trump retaliation are mistaken:

I would also like to be clear that no quid pro quo of any kind is at work here. Neither campaign nor candidate was consulted or informed at any level or in any way about this decision. It was made entirely internally.

But that is not what the “journalists” and subscribers want to hear. They insist they need to be told to do what they already planned to do. And if Bezos’ newspaper is not going to do that, then they are going to stomp their feet and pout:

NPR reported Tuesday that The Post has shed more than a whopping 250,000 subscribers since it revealed its editorial board would not formally endorse Vice President Kamala Harris after it had planned to do so. 

A veteran Washington Post insider tells Fox News Digital that Monday’s initial NPR report noting the massive drop in subscribers was “the talk of the newsroom.”

“People are outraged at such a boneheaded decision,” the insider said.

This is further evidence of the emotional basis of their belief system. Their belief system is not based on facts and rational thought. If it were, they would not require the opinion writers of a newspaper to reinforce their faith. They need a power figure to maintain that faith. That their faith leader failed to do this is heretical.

See also Jeff Bezos speaks on WaPo drama: We have to ‘increase our credibility’ (msn.com).

Bezos should be careful. Heretics/traitors are considered worse than simple non-believers.

What is the Margin of Fraud This Year?

I received the following text message exchange regarding the election in Pennsylvania. One person lives in Idaho. The other is in Pennsylvania. Make what you will of it.

ID: Monday, Sep 9 · 7:25 AM
I was talking to a friend of mine who’s a lobbyist here in Idaho and she’s been hanging out with DC people who say that PA is the key to the election. So who’s going to win?

ID: 7:26 AM ·SMS You’re state

PA: Monday, Sep 9 · 9:06 AM
I can’t imagine Harris winning Pennsylvania but they sure ha e been hanging out here a lot
Latest poll shows Harris up +0.2 which means it’s even. The Dems will pull out all stops and cheat their way to victory. The repubs have to cheat also to overcome the Dems cheating

ID: Monday, Sep 9 · 2:22 PM
Mail in ballots are a gift if you want to cheat

PA: Monday, Sep 9 · 5:08 PM
The Repubs totally screwed up allowing those things
I worked the 2020 election and every morning the election commission staff would come to work with fists filled with ballots. Old ladies in the neighborhood they would say. Fair enough except it was illegal
Multiply that by how many precincts? We’re fucked.

ID: Yea

PA: Repubs have to cheat even then the Democrats will out cheat them by a lot in the big cities.

Communism is no Longer an Economic Theory

Quote of the Day

So the idea here is that the dominance in the Academy of skeptical and irrationalist epistemologies provides the academic Left with a new strategy. Confronted by ruthless logic, harsh evidence, they have a solution: “That’s only logic and evidence. Logic and evidence are subjective. You can’t really PROVE anything. FEELINGS are deeper than logic, and my feelings say Socialism.”

That’s my second hypothesis about the origins of Postmodernism. I call it the Kierkegaardian hypothesis, that Postmodernism is the crisis of faith of the academic Left. Its epistemology justifies taking a personal leap of faith in continuing to believe your Socialist ideals.

Communism is no longer an economic theory. It has failed utterly at that. It’s now a religion. And it’s proselytized in our education systems.

Kevin
October 23, 2024
More Quora Content – The Smallest Minority

Unfortunately, I am of the opinion this change does little, if anything, to make it less destructive. Politics have been an emotional team sport for a long time. Team communism will lose a few supporters, but they will pick up others. And those they pick up will be the type of people who thrive on strong emotions. Seeing those that opposed them piled up in a ditch will only give them a thrill and the wish to see more dead non-believers.

A Markley’s Law Troll

Quote of the Day

If you want to use Guns join the military and fight the Russians, if you limp dick ammosexuals aren’t too cowardly!

Only soldiers and cops need guns. No one else can be trusted.

Cussing-Chan @SwearingSama
Posted on October 23, 2024 on X.

It’s not only another Markley’s Law Monday, it is another science denier (see also here) … or a troll.

I’m about 75% convinced it is a troll. The claim that cops can be trusted was their first tell. Their bio was the second:

Are you reading this to see if you’re being trolled/mocked or not?

Probably yes.

For doing such a great job of creating uncertainty as to the proper interpretation of their posting I moved them to the head of the Markley’s Law Monday queue.

Wildlife Pictures

These pictures were taken in the last two weeks from my property in Idaho.

Elk:

This was the first time I have ever got a picture of a woodpecker: They tend to be very shy birds. It is just stretching its wing. There is nothing wrong with it:

I didn’t even know there were raccoons in the area:

Mostly unrelated, but early this morning I saw the Northern Lights for the first time ever. This picture was taken from the door of my camping trailer in Idaho. The lights were too far away to be very impressive, but still, I saw them:

We Live in Interesting Times

Quote of the Day

Gold has been on a parabolic run since October last year, rallying from near the $1,800 level to score consecutive back-to-back all-time record highs – not once, not twice, but on 37 separate occasions, so far this year.

Yes, you read that correctly. That’s 37 all-time record highs, so far in 2024.

On Tuesday, Gold prices skyrocketed to a new all-time record high of $2,758 an ounce, surpassing the precious metals previous all-time high of $2,749 an ounce reached only a day earlier – extending its gains by an impressive 53%, from this time 12-months ago.

According to GSC Commodity Intelligence – “Gold’s record-breaking run has been nothing short of impressive. Never before in history have we seen the precious metal score multiple back-to-back all-time record highs in such a short space of time”.

Phil Carr
October 24, 2024
Will The New BRICS Currency Supercharge Gold Prices? | FXEmpire

Of course, another way to read this is that the dollar has reached a new low.

Prepare appropriately.

Good to Know

Quote of the Day

Standout details from the complaint include an RV stash and an attempted “boating accident.” Turns out ATF just sends a dive team, by the way. Freeman continued the Gravedigging tradition by asking his friends to unknowingly hold his hottest products and, unsurprisingly, this backwoods network collapsed the first time a lawman made a phone call.

legio
October 22, 2024
Obnoxii Civitati

Via a post on X by Chuck Petras @Chuck_Petras.

There are multiple lessons to be learned here. Here are the two most obvious to me:

  • Don’t have your “boating accident” underneath a bridge in diveable waters.*
  • Three people can keep a secret… if two of them are dead.

* If I recall correctly, in the book Breaking Blue (spoiler alert) a gun was disposed of in the Spokane River Falls. The river was diverted, incidental to gun retrieval, and the gun was recovered during the diversion.

In the classical use of a “boating accident” one should claim the accident occurred “somewhere” in a large and deep body of water, such as “somewhere in the Pacific Ocean”. This would reduce the risk of the ATF “sending a dive team” to demonstrate you lied to them. But Lake Michigan (22,405 square miles and 928 feet deep) or Lake Pend Oreille in Idaho (148 square miles and 1,158 feet deep) would be beyond the practical capabilities of almost all dive teams. Keep in mind the U.S. Navy does conduct acoustic underwater submarine research in Lake Pend Oreille and may have capabilities beyond what one might expect.


More “Bad Luck” Coming Their Way

Leftist-Run City in Vermont Having 2nd Thoughts After It Defunded Police: ‘A Mistake’

Burlington Vermont, population about 45,000, decided to “defund the police” and went from 105 police officers to 74. Then, when they realized it was a mistake, upped the approved staffing level to 87. The result:

According to Fox, “violent crime is up significantly in Burlington, with crime data showing that aggravated assault has increased 40 percent and gunfire has gone up nearly 300 percent. Some local residents told Fox they find it ‘dangerous’ to be out in public at night.”

In a letter posted to its Facebook page on Wednesday, the Burlington Police Officers Association — the union that represents the city’s officers — charged city leaders with failing to support its officers, which the union said was reflected in the fact that Vermont Police Academy cadets showed no interest in working in the city.

They now have 68 police officers.

It isn’t going to get better anytime soon:

If Burlington residents are truly making the connection between leftist policies and the results that follow, it isn’t showing up in the election results. In the March election that returned Traverse to office, VTDigger reported, the city elected a candidate from the Progressive Party as mayor and gave Progressives a fifth seat on the 12-member city council.

Democrats hold six seats and an independent holds one.

So a city that was run by a Democratic mayor and council in 2020 is now run by a Progressive mayor and Democratic/Progressive council.

They are going to have a long string of, as Robert Heinlein called similar circumstances, “bad luck.”

Interesting Psychology Lesson

The L.A. Times and the Washington Post both decided to not endorse a presidential candidate this time.

My initial thought was they had decided to try appearing to be more factual rather than cheerleaders for their preferred political party. Perhaps it would be better for business, right?

But other people have a much different interpretation the decision. From the article linked to above:

… a desire to avoid angering Donald Trump, and/or a move to avoid angering readers.

I never saw that coming. After calling him a threat to democracy, a felon, a rapist, and literally Hitler they are now concerned endorsing Harris will make Trump and/or his supporters angry. Really?

That sounds like the rational of a paranoid person. They have the mindset that Trump is incredibly evil and will use any power he acquires to exact a business and/or life-threatening revenge. And anyone that appears to give Trump the slightest of concessions must be doing it out of fear.

But shouldn’t the failure to endorse Harris result in a concern about invoking her wrath?

See also:

What I find most interesting is that my immediate thought of why they did that apparently did not occur to anyone writing in the legacy news media. I am not a normal person.

Elections are a Team Sport

Quote of the Day

With both political parties over the last few decades, there has developed a more ‘team sport’ mentality of voters within their respective parties supporting the candidate of their side regardless of how the economy is treating them and their families.

Alex Beene
A financial literacy instructor for the University of Tennessee at Martin
October 22, 2024

It has been decades since I went to a public sporting event. The rate of my watching professional ball games on T.V. is probably right at one every 10 years. I can feel the emotional pull, but I find the level of emotional involvement by the audiences frightening. This is what people are like when their mask drops just a little bit. Given just a little different circumstances and these same people would cheer on “their” gladiator team as they fought another team to the death. Or lined up all the capitalists next to a ditch to be shot.

That type of emotion served a useful purpose over the millennia. But like fire it is a troublesome servant and a fearful master*. Our political parties have leveraged it to great effect, and I think it has essentially taken over. Look at the political rallies with thousands of yelling people. Look at both sides totally convinced the other side is evil. Both sides may be more right than wrong in their description of the other.

I look at the political landscape and see overwhelming evidence supporting my need for an underground bunker in remote Idaho.


* George Washington didn’t really say anything like this. See:

CNN Being Sued for Defamation

Quote of the Day

The judge in a high-stakes defamation lawsuit against CNN ruled on Tuesday that U.S. Navy veteran Zachary Young “did not act illegally or criminally” despite what the network reported on air. 

Young alleges that CNN smeared him and his security consulting company, Nemex Enterprises Inc., by implying it illegally profited when helping people flee Afghanistan during the Biden administration’s military withdrawal from the country in 2021. Young believes CNN “destroyed his reputation and business by branding him an illegal profiteer who exploited desperate Afghans” during a Nov. 11, 2021, segment on CNN’s “The Lead with Jake Tapper.”

Brian Flood
October 23, 2024
Judge declares Navy veteran suing CNN for defamation ‘did not act criminally or illegally’

To get the views you need to skew. In other words, they lie for the money. This is true in almost all news media. If you want to know something closer to the truth you need to dig down to the original source.

KKK Returns as Prop. KK

Via email from the creator about a proposition on the ballet in Colorado:

See also:

Air Defense with a Laser

Quote of the Day

In a statement in January, the defense ministry said the weapon was so accurate it could hit a small coin at a range of 1 kilometer (0.6 miles), but its maximum range remains classified.

And compared to other air defense systems it’s cheap, with the DragonFire costing around $13 a shot, the MOD said, compared to air defense missiles that can cost millions of dollars each.

The MOD released an animation sequence showing a hypothetical scenario where a Royal Navy ship used the DragonFire to take out a small enemy ship and then three drones — one by blowing it up and two by disabling their control systems in precision strikes.

Tom Porter
March 14, 2024
Britain Shows Off DragonFire Laser Weapon, Can Take Out Drones for $13 – Business Insider

That is very cool. But I have questions.

  • Can it be defeated with an appropriate coating that reflects the laser light?
  • Can it be used for anti-personal?
  • What about radar guided missiles on cloudy days?

See also A new anti-missile laser downed 100% of its targets while fighting multiple threats at once, UK defense officials say (msn.com).

Six Month Wait for an Appointment to Have Your Fingerprints Taken

Quote of the Day

Massachusetts law prohibits the issuance of a firearms license before the State Police complete a background check based on an applicant’s fingerprints. For individuals residing in Boston, after an application is submitted to the Boston Police Department, the Department’s Licensing Unit makes them wait for many month before they are provided with an appointment to have their fingerprints taken. It is currently estimated the wait time is more than six (6) months for an appointment.

Prior to this litigation, the Licensing Unit engaged in a practice that made individuals seeking licenses wait for months on a “wait list” to merely submit their applications – a practice that was abandoned in response to litigation from some of the Plaintiffs in this case. The Boston Police Department has seemingly traded one mechanism to effectuate lengthy delays with another, all in an effort to prevent peaceable Bostonians from obtaining firearms.

Second Amendment Foundation
August 31, 2024
White v. Cox – Second Amendment Foundation

People who do this sort of crap should be prosecuted.