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.
A recent news headline declared, “11,500 shootings occurred within 500 yards of US schools last year.” The obvious implication is that American school children are under daily fire on school campuses nationwide. But, as with most gun control narratives in national media written by reporters who mostly don’t understand the basics of firearms or criminal gun use, that narrative collapses under the slightest scrutiny.
The first glaring red flag in this story is that Hearst Television Data Visualization Journalist Susie Webb and the WCVB Get the Facts Data Team built their agenda-driven narrative by relying on gun control advocacy site The Trace’s “School-Adjacent Shootings” dataset, which tracks Gun Violence Archive (GVA) incidents that fell within 500 yards of a K-12 school. Even that dataset warns that each row is a shooting-to-school match and must be deduplicated before anyone totals up the incidents, deaths or injuries. However, that was not done before Webb and WVTM’s story went live on severalnewsoutlets, on social media, on Hearst Television’s YouTube channel and was even—unsurprisingly—picked up by MSN.
This blatant error is not a trivial methodological footnote. It is the difference between measuring school-related crime and measuring a broad circle on a map. It’s also a trick that’s been seen time and again from the likes of Everytown’s propagandist at The Trace and GVA.
The central problem is in the dataset’s own limitations. Each row is a “shooting-to-school match,” meaning one shooting can be linked to multiple schools if several campuses fall within the 500-yard range.
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The public hears “31 shootings a day near schools” and is encouraged to picture students dodging bullets at recess. But the GVA data are more often than not actually criminal and gang activity near or after school hours, accidental discharges, suicides, police interventions near a campus and/or juveniles getting caught with a firearm at school. This means the methodology sweeps in a much wider universe of incidents with duplication risk baked in.
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The result is predictable: bad facts drive bad policy. The issue here is not whether crime near schools is serious. The issue is whether the public is being told the truth. On that question, the answer is clear. The methodology does not support the headline, and the headline does not deserve the public’s trust. We all have a right to expect more from those who hold themselves out as objective journalists.
Black woman from South Africa: “Black people have been patient enough for more than 400 years of colonialism. We are coming for you, and we are going to get everything that you own.”
White people are facing racism, hatred, and brutal violence in South Africa. This is not… pic.twitter.com/3a5R93TzOs
I have to wonder what the political left thinks of the blatant racism. Will they demand divestment like they did because of apartheid in South Africa 40 to 60 years ago? Or will they cheer the hatred, confiscation of property, and the murders?
What kills me is as I get older and find myself yelling at clouds more, I’ve come to a greater empathy for conservatives. Now my wife texts me from the grocery store and says “The full-grown adult in front of me is wearing a tail” and I just think “these fucking idiots. No way we survive this. The answer to Fermi’s paradox is that the high order civilizations destroy themselves….”
John Schussler Via email April 13, 2026
I understand what he is talking about. But I’m an optimist and am not as fatalistic as John. But I have an underground bunker in Idaho. Also, last month ago I added another ~50,000 pounds of dirt on top of the bunker. Just in case.
You might think I’m joking (well, maybe I am a little bit).
This is the blend from the field to the north edge of the bunker:
This is the bucket loader I used to move the dirt. The ground was a little wetter than it should have been, but it got the job done:
If you attend Boomershoot this year, I’ll give you a tour of both the inside and outside. Friday evening at 6:00 PM.
All gun control is stupid as a means to reduce violent crime and unconstitutional. Banning 3D printed guns is extra stupid.
Never forget:
One thing that humbles me deeply is to see that human genius has its limits while human stupidity does not.
Alexandre Dumas Circa 1865, Grand Dictionnaire Universel du XIXe Siècle: Français, Historique, Géographique, Mythologique, Bibliographique, etcetera, Volume 2, Entry: Bêtise, Quote Page 650, Column 1, Published by Pierre Larousse, Paris. (Google Books Full View)
The Second Amendment protects the rights of law-abiding citizens to own and use AR-15 style semiautomatic rifles for lawful purposes.’ Just last year, the U.S. Supreme Court made clear in a unanimous opinion that the AR-15 is “both widely legal and bought by many ordinary consumers.” Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos, 605 U.S. 280, 297 (2025). See also Garland v. Cargill, 602 U.S. 406, 429-30 (2024) (Sotomayor, J., dissenting) (AR-15s are “commonly available, semiautomatic rifles.”). Unfortunately, Virginia appears poised to infringe on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens to enjoy and use AR-15 rifles for lawful purposes by making it a crime to purchase and sell them. This Civil Rights Division will seek to enjoin any attempt to infringe the right of law-abiding Virginians to acquire constitutionally protected arms that are possessed by literally tens of millions of Americans. See Snope v. Brown, 145 S. Ct. 1534 (2025) (Kavanaugh, J., statement respecting denial of certiorari).
In addition, laws that require constitutionally protected firearms owned by law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes to be maintained in an inoperable state are unconstitutional. See D.C. v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570, 630 (2008) (“[T]he District’s requirement … that firearms in the home be rendered and kept inoperable at all times … [is] unconstitutional.”). We are aware that the Virginia General Assembly has forwarded to you several bills that, if enacted as currently written, would mirror the unconstitutional restrictions struck down in Heller 18 years ago. There are also other provisions contained in those bills that otherwise prevent lawful use of constitutionally protected arms for self-defense.
In all, the General Assembly has forwarded to you over 20 bills that restrict Second Amendment rights. I urge you to reconsider allowing any bill that would infringe on the lawful use of protected firearms by law-abiding citizens to become law. In an effort to avoid unnecessary litigation, the Second Amendment Section stands ready to meet and confer with attorneys in the Virginia Attorney General Office. Your counsel may contact Acting Chief Andrew Darlington at Andrew.Darlington@usdoj.gov. The Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens shall not be infringed.
Harmeet Dhillon Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division Posted April 10, 2026 on X
It is thrilling to have a Second Amendment Section of the Civil Rights Division, let alone them writing, “shall not be infringed.” It is not an 18 USC 242 event, but it is still Enjoy Your Trial time.
In experiments using a mouse model of colorectal cancer, researchers observed an extraordinary outcome after administering E. americana through a single intravenous injection. The treatment completely eliminated tumors in every case, resulting in a 100% complete response (CR) rate. This level of effectiveness was far greater than what is typically seen with established cancer therapies such as immune checkpoint inhibitors (anti-PD-L1 antibody) and the chemotherapy drug liposomal doxorubicin (chemotherapy agent).
Looking at the “future directions” in the article, I found it odd there was no mention of moving toward use in treating human cancers. Perhaps other scientists will pick up on this and see if it works in humans.
Section 1715 of title 18, U.S. Code, is unconstitutional as applied to constitutionally protected firearms, including handguns, because it serves an illegitimate purpose and is inconsistent with the Nation’s tradition of firearm regulation. See N.Y. State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen, 142 S. Ct. 2111, 2129–30 (2022).
The Department of Justice may not, consistent with the Constitution, enforce section 1715 with respect to constitutionally protected firearms. The Postal Service should modify its regulations to conform with this opinion.
I wonder why the legacy media has not been talking about this. Are they drowning their sorrows in cheap boxed wine? Have they finally decided gun laws are now a lost cause?
But as Copilot told me:
The OLC opinion is a quiet admission that the 1927 handgun‑mailing ban was never compatible with the Second Amendment — it simply took a century for the government to say it out loud.
If a man wants to cum on his girlfriend’s face because he saw it in porn, and she doesn’t feel like getting her face cummed on, we cheer go-girl and frown at the man for even watching porn at all. But if a woman wants her boyfriend to buy her flowers because she grew up being fed this action in movies, and her boyfriend doesn’t feel like it, we have no sympathy for him. We are horrified even at comparing the two things. It’s obvious to us that porn should not influence what happens in sex, but we have been so immersed in romance-porn that the idea of buying flowers for a woman is seen as what romance ought to be. The romance narrative has become romance, and rejecting the narrative becomes rejecting romance itself. We have lost the ability to distinguish!
I love how Aella can see alternate realities and express them in ways that make me laugh and almost whoop for joy at the twisting of everyone’s view of the world.
The same sort of things applies to gun ownership. “Guns are icky and only criminals have them” versus “Everyone should have guns and know how to use them because they are tools for self-defense against criminals and tyrants.”
Framing matters. Media and your peer groups dominate the positioning of the framing. Try to see through framing and get a grasp on the true reality. Seeing things other people cannot see gives you a huge advantage. We cannot all be Aella or Elon Musk, but we can do better than what we currently do. Realty is tough, really, really, tough.
People on the right who have been mentally modelling the world since they were kids, constantly updating and revising their mental model so that it’s able to reliably anticipate basic functioning of the world around us, so we can navigate the world without being blindsided all the time; have trouble internalising this:
leftists don’t abide by the principle of non-contradiction
they do not understand the world through abstract or ideal first principles which they then apply universally, in a predictable and stable manner
like situations are therefore not alike
everything is its own thing & has no bearing on anything else
noticing patterns is racist hateful and evil so they stopped doing that a long time ago, pattern recognition is haram
Every position they hold is a unique stance that they imbibed from the media. They don’t start from an abstraction and think critically to rach their conclusion. They literally watched Colbert and had it drilled into their brain. They don’t have first principles or universal values. They do what they are told. Because it benefits their coalition to do so. That’s it.
That’s their whole worldview and it’s why they don’t flinch when they contradict themselves. They don’t have an “ideology” arrived at through abstract reasoning or critical thinking, they’re part of a cult that does everything humanly possible to prevent them from ever thinking about anything for any reason. They regurgitate the party line and experience affirmation and inclusion from their peers when they do. So they keep doing it. It’s that basic. They are Pavlov’s dog.
I can see this being true for a high percentage of the people on the left. Those who are also known as “useful idiots”.
But there are also those who are rational, deliberate, and carefully choose their words and actions. These are the Lenins, Castros, Pol Pots, Mao Zedongs, Sanderses, Schumers, and Clintons of history — the folks who promise progress but somehow always end up needing more of your land, your money, and your compliance, all enforced under pain of death.
Researchers at Flinders University have concluded that the global human population surpassed Earth’s sustainable carrying capacity more than six decades ago, entering a prolonged period of ecological overshoot fueled by fossil energy and accelerating resource consumption. The peer-reviewed study, published in Environmental Research Letters, applied ecological growth models to more than 200 years of population records and found that a shift to a “negative demographic phase” began by 1962, roughly eight years before a measurable global biocapacity deficit emerged in 1970. The findings add quantitative weight to a growing body of evidence that civilization is operating well beyond the planet’s regenerative limits.
Now that Paul Ehrlich is gone and his book The Population Bomb has been proven dramatically wrong, of course someone else has to take up the cause. Genocidal tyrants everywhere can now use this as another excuse to murder tens of millions of people.
On Dec. 1, 2025, Washington reported 706,046 active CPLs. On April 1, that number had plummeted to 696,015. The alarming decline has been explained by many gun owners, saying they’ve either left Washington for more Second Amendment-friendly environs in Idaho, Texas, Oklahoma and elsewhere, while others have decided to carry without a CPL because they refuse to pay the state to exercise their right to bear arms, which is specifically protected by both the state and federal constitutions.
I think the Washington state gun laws will be straightened out by the Federal courts in less than five years. But the taxes and crime situation will probably continue to deteriorate. So, with that in mind I am working on an escape plan. I can’t leave right now because I need to save up money for retirement. Underground bunkers in Idaho are expensive.
The underground bunker be completed soon (only a few more days of work). I will then start counting the days until I can retire and have the option to leave Washington state as well.
Are you thinking of fleeing the tyranny of your state too? I’m giving free tours of my underground bunk to people attending Boomershoot this year (the first weekend of May). It would give you something to think about…
Less than 30 years later, they’re being arrested for Facebook posts.
That’s not “safety.” That’s the speed of tyranny once a government knows its citizens can’t push back.
When people are disarmed, the state no longer fears the people. And when governments have zero fear of the people, they do whatever the hell they want.
The average American today lives better than John D. Rockefeller did in 1926. That is not an exaggeration. It is a fact.
Rockefeller could not fly across the country in five hours. You can for $200. He could not video call his family from another continent. You do it for free. He had no antibiotics, no MRI, no air conditioning in July. He could not carry every book ever written in his pocket. You are reading this on a device that does all of that and more.
Americans throw away 30-40% of their food. Not because they are wasteful, but because food is so abundant that waste is affordable. Your car has climate control, navigation, and safety systems that did not exist at any price a century ago. Your home has heating, cooling, refrigeration, and entertainment that emperors could not have imagined.
None of this was voted into existence. None of it was redistributed from the rich. It was created by free minds operating in what remains of a free market. Every comfort you enjoy today is the product of a man who thought, invented, produced, and traded voluntarily.
This is what the remnants of capitalism still deliver, even while it is being dismantled. Imagine what a fully free society could build.
Today, I moved 2,000 pounds of chemicals from my brother’s shed to the Boomershoot explosives production facility:
There are some chemicals left over from 2025 so there will be plenty of targets this year.
I also inventoried other supplies, checked the functioning of the mixers, scales, and timers. I’m going to have to purchase two new heat guns. They are used to heat the shrink wrap plastic used to keep the targets (cardboard boxes) closed and dry. The last heat gun has reached it’s end of life.
It is going to be another great event. Boomershoot is the first weekend of May and is only four weeks away.
This year’s big shooting event is May 1, 2, and 3. It is a smorgasbord of shooting goodness. You do not need to participate every day. Choose the events you want. See Boomershoot.com and the entry site for details.
I finally have the registration up and running on a new host.
Registration for last year participants opens tomorrow Sunday 4/5/2026 at 12:00 PM (noon).
Everyone else can sign up Monday 4/6/2026 at 12:00 PM (noon).
We should not underestimate the prevalence of microplastics. They are everywhere—in our rivers, our lungs, and even in our blood. But researchers tracking this global pollution crisis may have inadvertently contaminated their research samples. The protective lab gloves they wear are shedding microplastic-like particles that tamper with their numbers.
The culprit, according to a University of Michigan study, is a soap-like residue used to pop disposable gloves out of factory molds. Even a light, dry touch sheds thousands of these false-positive particles onto lab equipment. Because this residue can produce a very similar vibrational signature to common plastics under a lab laser, scientists have been accidentally counting microplastics from their own lab gear as environmental pollution.
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The University of Michigan researchers mimicked typical lab handling across seven glove types. Across common nitrile and latex gloves, they found an average of roughly 2,000 false positives per square millimeter, with some glove types exceeding 7,000.
Two to seven thousand per square millimeter! That is 1.3 to 4.5 million per square inch.
SAF fully supports Secretary Hegseth’s decision to enable our service members to be able to carry personal firearms on military bases, with any denials requiring a written explanation. SAF believes any “gun-free zones” are constitutionally questionable, and also create soft targets that are enticing to criminals and others bent on violence.
The fact that military bases, of all places, have been under such restrictions has long been perplexing to us. Serving your country should not require the wholesale abandonment of the Second Amendment right of armed self-defense. It’s excellent to hear that this dangerous policy is finally changing.
— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) April 2, 2026
My inclination is that service members should not have to ask permission to bring personal firearms on base and carry when off duty, but I would be willing to listen to an argument in opposition to that assertion. Perhaps some military bases have reasonable justifications for such a policy.