I don’t understand why this crap isn’t declared unconstitutionally vague:
Nevermind, for now, the Second Amendment and other issues, Can someone explain how this can avoid being unconstitutionally vague?
I don’t understand why this crap isn’t declared unconstitutionally vague:
Nevermind, for now, the Second Amendment and other issues, Can someone explain how this can avoid being unconstitutionally vague?
We are going to have to figure out the OAN and Newsmax problem. These companies have freedom of speech, but I’m not sure we need Verizon, AT&T, Comcast and such bringing them into tens of millions of homes.
Alex Stamos
January 17, 2021
[Of course they consider free speech a problem. Their ideas can’t compete in a free marketplace of ideas.—Joe]
Would I say there will never, ever be another financial crisis? … Probably that would be going too far. But I do think we’re much safer, and I hope that it will not be in our lifetimes, and I don’t believe it will be.
Janet Yellen
Federal Reserve Chair
June 27, 2017
Yellen: I Don’t See a Financial Crisis Occurring ‘In Our Lifetimes’
[I wonder, given the current state of things, if she would like to update that assessment. Or is that that she has a rather low expectation of our lifetimes?—Joe]
Just when Barb and I thought we were getting a pretty good view of the light at the end of the tunnel.
Next Epidemic Could Be a Potentially Deadly Fungus
The next pandemic could be a sometimes deadly fungal infection called Candida auris, according to experts with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The yeast-like fungus can be fatal if it enters the bloodstream, experts said, namely if it enters the body via healthcare and hospital settings.
…
“One of the things that makes Candida auris so scary is the fact it can linger on inanimate surfaces for long periods and withstand whatever you throw at it,” Johanna Rhodes, an epidemiologist with London’s Imperial College, told the New Scientist several weeks ago.
Dr. Tom Chiller, who runs the CDC’s anti-fungal division, said it’s unclear where the fungus originated.
“It is a creature from the black lagoon. It bubbled up and now it is everywhere,” he said, according to the New York Post over the weekend.
I want an underground bunker someplace where the nearest neighbor is at least a half mile away. With Barb, a good Internet connection, reliable electricity, a well, and a few acres, I could be relatively content, and survive the pestilences and plagues.
This was a very slow year. I basically stopped shooting in late December because of a work project that was really, really cool. I worked pretty much night and day, including weekends, (except for a week of vacation for our anniversary) until sometime in March. It resulted in a patent application (still pending). Then with the COVID concerns I only went to like two or three matches and not many more trips to the indoor range for practice. Hence, my ammo needs were very modest last year. Then there was the whole primer shortage thing…
I already had a fair amount .40 S&W so I spent a lot of time reloading and brass prepping for rifle ammo.
As you can see in the table below I reloaded 657 rounds of .223 last year and another 88 rounds this month. A good portion of that was using up random types of bullets that had been purchased for load testing and found lacking. They are still good for teaching new shooters at 25 yards or Boomershoot High Intensity type events. It does include a new load for a 55 grain match grade bullet that turned out well.
The 98 rounds of 30-06 were for a Garand someone was receiving as a Christmas present. I wasn’t the gift giver or receiver but since ammo in general and Garand compatible ammo in particular were next to impossible to find I purchased a few clips to add to the ammo I reloaded. I used some 168 grain Sierra Match Kings, Federal Match primers, and Varget powder (Garand load data here) which was all at least 20 years old.
The Garand went to someone who had never owned a gun! But she had expressed a strong liking for the gun saying how much she liked the way it looked and she had apparently shot one before. So… her significant other consulted with me as to what a Garand was (!) and we conspired to find and purchase one for a Christmas gift.
[Update: I’ve been informed that while in high school she drilled with a Garand in Junior ROTC.]
So now she has nearly 100 rounds of ammo for her “new” gun and if the loads work well, and she returns the brass, I could make another 150 rounds or so from components on hand.
Hitting exactly 4,000 rounds of .40 S&W in 2020 was entirely a coincidence. These were all 200 grain Black Bullet International loads. I continued this month with mostly the same load but used up some random 180 grain bullets I found laying around. I have about another 20 primers and a couple of pounds of CFE Pistol powder left. I’ll probably not load much .40 S&W for a while. Of course I’ll need primers but also I have more .40 S&W stacked up than I imagine I will use this year.
This brings my total for the year to only 4,755 rounds. This is the first time since 2014 that I didn’t reload more than 10,000 rounds.
This brings my lifetime total of rounds reloaded to 149,484. I really expected to break 150K last year but it was a special year. But this year, almost for certain, I’ll break 150K.
223
Rounds
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
1998
160
–
–
–
–
–
–
140
20
–
–
–
–
1999
1,777
–
–
181
578
25
–
–
–
–
140
653
200
2000
43
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
43
–
–
–
2001
47
–
–
–
47
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
2016
397
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
140
257
–
–
2017
296
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
296
2018
4,177
418
180
1,195
300
–
–
–
–
–
–
1,997
87
2019
695
–
60
80
125
216
61
111
–
–
–
42
–
2020
657
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
252
215
190
2021
88
88
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Total
8,337
506
240
1,456
1,050
241
61
251
20
183
649
2,907
773
30-06
Rounds
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
1997
180
–
–
40
20
79
41
–
–
–
–
–
–
1998
150
–
–
–
80
–
–
–
–
–
40
–
30
1999
90
20
70
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
2003
47
–
–
–
18
–
–
–
–
–
–
29
–
2016
76
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
76
–
–
–
2017
213
–
–
–
–
–
–
65
148
–
–
–
–
2020
98
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
98
Total
854
20
70
40
118
79
41
65
148
76
40
29
128
300Savage
Rounds
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
2018
50
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
50
–
Total
50
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
50
–
300WIN
Rounds
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
1999
250
–
–
–
–
–
151
60
–
–
39
–
–
2000
467
50
127
142
–
57
–
–
–
–
20
60
11
2001
382
25
–
–
185
15
20
–
73
–
–
–
64
2013
499
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
100
399
2018
212
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
212
2019
316
167
149
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Total
2,126
242
276
142
185
72
171
60
73
–
59
160
686
40SW
Rounds
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
1997
31
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
31
1998
11,537
570
258
718
1,850
1,812
1,710
402
–
–
1,200
900
2,117
1999
2,795
–
894
–
299
693
506
–
–
–
–
–
403
2000
3,187
795
–
–
–
–
1,095
400
396
–
501
–
–
2001
2,295
–
300
497
300
–
–
1,198
–
–
–
–
–
2002
898
–
–
–
–
–
–
198
–
200
300
–
200
2003
602
–
300
302
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
2004
1,345
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
300
600
445
–
2005
1,059
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
659
400
–
–
2006
1,000
–
–
–
–
400
–
–
–
–
200
400
–
2007
1,136
–
–
–
–
–
–
118
518
300
200
–
–
2008
2,398
–
300
–
–
–
–
900
399
–
200
–
599
2009
1,702
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
102
300
900
400
2010
1,400
–
–
–
–
100
200
700
–
200
–
200
–
2011
2,300
300
–
400
100
–
500
500
200
–
–
–
300
2012
399
–
200
–
199
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
2014
530
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
530
2015
7,012
1,699
1,630
1,137
–
–
–
547
200
400
100
200
1,099
2016
17,792
2,197
700
1,462
837
1,899
1,999
1,000
1,500
1,000
1,700
1,500
1,998
2017
20,840
3,300
975
525
200
1,899
3,700
2,048
2,644
2,063
1,015
1,699
772
2018
18,105
–
–
–
750
1,699
797
1,193
2,396
3,300
4,069
919
2,982
2019
11,103
–
–
–
–
2,509
–
–
–
–
691
2,117
5,786
2020
4,000
–
307
–
–
104
896
100
806
628
1,159
–
–
2021
1,003
1,003
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Total
114,426
9,821
5,864
5,041
4,535
11,115
11,403
9,304
9,059
9,152
12,635
9,280
17,217
45ACP
Rounds
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
2017
2007
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
500
1,507
Total
2007
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
500
1,507
9MM
Rounds
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
1996
11,274
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
10,944
141
189
1997
7,374
300
–
–
1,190
640
65
–
100
1,088
804
1,060
2,127
2015
2,993
–
1,066
1,927
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Total
21,641
300
1,066
1,927
1,190
640
65
–
100
1,088
11,748
1,201
2,316
Yearly and Monthly Totals
Year
Rounds
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
1996
11,274
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
10,944
141
189
1997
7,585
300
–
40
1,210
719
106
–
100
1,088
804
1,060
2,158
1998
11,847
570
258
718
1,930
1,812
1,710
542
20
–
1,240
900
2,147
1999
4,912
20
964
181
877
718
657
60
–
–
179
653
603
2000
3,697
845
127
142
–
57
1,095
400
396
43
521
60
11
2001
2,724
25
300
497
532
15
20
1,198
73
–
–
–
64
2002
898
–
–
–
–
–
–
198
–
200
300
–
200
2003
649
–
300
302
18
–
–
–
–
–
–
29
–
2004
1,345
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
300
600
445
–
2005
1,059
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
659
400
–
–
2006
1,000
–
–
–
–
400
–
–
–
–
200
400
–
2007
1,136
–
–
–
–
–
–
118
518
300
200
–
–
2008
2,398
–
300
–
–
–
–
900
399
–
200
–
599
2009
1,702
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
102
300
900
400
2010
1,400
–
–
–
–
100
200
700
–
200
–
200
–
2011
2,300
300
–
400
100
–
500
500
200
–
–
–
300
2012
399
–
200
–
199
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
2013
499
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
100
399
2014
530
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
530
2015
10,005
1,699
2,696
3,064
–
–
–
547
200
400
100
200
1,099
2016
18,265
2,197
700
1,462
837
1,899
1,999
1,000
1,500
1,216
1,957
1,500
1,998
2017
23,356
3,300
975
525
200
1,899
3,700
2,113
2,792
2,063
1,015
2,199
2,575
2018
22,544
418
180
1,195
1,050
1,699
797
1,193
2,396
3,300
4,069
2,966
3,281
2019
12,114
167
209
80
125
2,725
61
111
–
–
691
2,159
5,786
2020
4,755
–
307
–
–
104
896
100
806
628
1,411
215
288
2021
1,091
1,091
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Grand Totals
149,484
10,932
7,516
8,606
7,078
12,147
11,741
9,680
9,400
10,499
25,131
14,127
22,627
Ms. Unger is right to compare the GME short squeeze to the Jan 6 ‘insurrection’ only because both events are causing the ruling class to panic; not because of a real threat to ‘free markets’ or democracy but due to the ruling class feeling threatened by both.
danwiddis @BeNiceToRobots
Tweeted on January 29, 2021 in response to this:
One of the most revealing 40-second video clips you’ll ever watch: https://t.co/5v3q1HrPqu
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) January 29, 2021
[It’s good to know she is a former commissioner.
But it’s not former enough. Any news media with a lick of sense should have never have published something as wacky as this unless they were going make an example of her.—Joe]
Truth is attested to by actions as well as words. Wearing a mask, Mr. Biden has told us, is essential to saving lives. But on inauguration night, there he was, celebrating, maskless. His press secretary, in a searing moment of truthfulness, told us it was fine because he had “bigger issues” to worry about.
That admission, in its own way, was a clarifying one, capturing as it did the real meaning of our new era of truth and unity: the truth is that our unity will be achieved by your doing what we tell you to do.
Gerard Baker
January 25, 2021
America, It’s Time for ‘Unity’—or Else
[Via email from Paul K.—Joe]
To the best of my knowledge Boomershoot is the last publicly accessible “dynamite shoot” in the country and perhaps the world. For 40 years there were one or two each year in Gateway Colorado. June 8, 2019 was their last one. Cancellation details are here.
There were a few shoots in Missouri back in the 2006 timeframe. But they have been gone for a long time.*
There are some explosives and fireballs at Knob Creek each year. But there aren’t 1,500 or more targets consuming over a ton of explosives.
Via “(no attribution, please)”:
Imagine:
On July 4th 2021, Congress passes the America’s Freedom From Fear Act.
It prohibits all gatherings of 5 or more people when shooting firearms, outside of sanctioned shooting range events and licensed hunting events.
You would now risk jail time if you went to Boomershoot in 2022, and Joe would risk far more jail time to host the event. Boomershoot is toast.
How will you feel about how you spent April 30th to May 2nd 2021, The Last Boomershoot?
There’s still space available.
Don’t wait.
We’ve had a surprising number people sign up this month. There was nothing since at least early April. Then starting on January 3rd.through today there were 11 different positions reserved or people added to existing positions,
There are still 28 positions left and if the weather cooperates I can make space for a couple more. If you are thinking you might need an opportunity to hone your long range rifle skills this is the place and time. The earthshaking, echoing, thunder of a Boomershoot target is most pleasurable feedback I know of for connecting your bullet with a target.
* There is a very sad story to go with this. It’s not really appropriate Internet material but I’d be glad to share if you ask me about it face-to-face sometime.
Of course, that is a bit of an idealistic take, one where hedge funds finally are forced to pay for their stupidity. Alas, in a country as corrupt as this one, that’s unlikely to ever happen.
Tyler Durden
January 28, 2021
JPMorgan Has Some Bad News For Hedge Funds Hoping The Nightmare Ends Soon
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]
They believe they have contained the spark with their fraudulent election victory; installation of an empty senile vassal as their conduit for the great reset; having their media mouthpieces propagate the falsity of a right wing white supremacist insurrection at the Capital; crushing dissent by censoring the truth through totalitarian social media conglomerates; proceeding with an impeachment farce based on Trump telling his supporters to peacefully protest the fraudulent election outcome; and threatening to destroy the lives of all vocal Trump supporters.
I am highly doubtful they have contained the spark. I believe there are smoldering embers just waiting to be stirred into a conflagration which will engulf the entire world in a fiery purging of the existing social order, which has exhausted itself and needs to be cleansed.
Jim Quinn
January 25, 2021
FOURTH TURNING DETONATION
[That is a plausible assessment.
So when and how will this conflagration happen?
I’m not seeing it happen unless there is a major trigger like hyperinflation or door-to-door gun confiscation, that sort of thing.—Joe]
Repeal of the PLCAA would potentially have even more devastating impacts than new federal prohibitions on the types of firearms Americans could own. That is because it would leave to the imaginations of thousands of greedy trial lawyers and activist judges reasons for why this or that type of firearm or ammunition is “too dangerous” to be available to the American public. These suits, moreover, would undoubtedly be underwritten by any number of billionaire activists, creating a litigation war chest that no single player in the gun industry could match.
NRA-ILA
January 25, 2021
Biden Plots Sneak Attack Against U.S. Firearms Industry
[It was because of the existential threat of lawsuits that 21 years ago Smith & Wesson agreed to not manufacture firearms with a capacity of more than 10 rounds, that dealers who sold their firearms would not sell normal capacity magazines or “semi-automatic assault weapons”, restrictions on sales at guns shows, and a host of other restrictions. Gun owners spontaneous boycotted S&W and they very nearly went bankrupt from the boycott.
In 2005 the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) gave manufactures and dealers some relief from the fear of being crushed by lawsuits on one side and being boycotted into bankruptcy if they flinched in their stand against the forces of evil.
Now, the forces of evil have announced they are going to strip this protection and destroy the entire firearms supply chain.—Joe]
As a mother of two beautiful baby girls, I have the inalienable right to protect them. How many children have been kidnapped? How many times have you heard ‘I was so terrified?’ How many mass shooting(s) have taken place in ‘gun-free’ zones? How many women will be victims of rape? We are making our voices heard to our local government. We are saying, ‘You do NOT have the right to restrict my right as a law abiding citizen to protect myself and my babies.
Steffanie Hardin
January 21, 2020
Gun activists seek ‘Second Amendment sanctuary’ designations in Ohio
[This is old news but the quote is timeless.—Joe]
From here via email from Paul K:
Q: Why would liberals be upset about me having an AR-15?
A: They assume you would use it on them.
Q: But why do they assume that? I would only use it in self-defense.
A: Yes.
Q: But … Oh.
A: Yes.
They aren’t all stupid all the time.
One might even be able to make the case that the Second Amendment isn’t only not about hunting–it’s about protecting us from liberals.
This is incredible on so many dimensions:
For details read World’s fastest RC aircraft hits a stunning 548 mph – without a motor.
Rooted in America’s ugly history of white supremacy, indigenous dispossession and anti-blackness, multiracial whiteness is an ideology invested in the unequal distribution of land, wealth, power and privilege — a form of hierarchy in which the standing of one section of the population is premised on the debasement of others. Multiracial whiteness reflects an understanding of whiteness as a political color and not simply a racial identity — a discriminatory worldview in which feelings of freedom and belonging are produced through the persecution and dehumanization of others.
…
In the post-Trump era, the challenge will be to prevail over the extremism of Trump’s White majority while trying to prevent the politics of whiteness from becoming an increasingly multiracial affair.
Cristina Beltrán
January 15, 2021
To understand Trump’s support, we must think in terms of multiracial Whiteness
[See also what Ed Driscoll has to say about this.
Just as it was in the USSR there is an ever changing, ever increasing, level of purity required by the political left. Their creativity has no limits. The absurdity is applauded, not scorned, because it allows them to continue their programs of hate and destruction. The exercise of power intoxicates them and they will say and do whatever they must to feed and justify their addiction.
This is our future.
If gender doesn’t depend upon biology then what makes you think whiteness depends on skin color?
Try to keep up comrade. Be thankful that today it is just being doxed and deplatformed. Soon, if you don’t understand these things as they have been revealed, you will be spending time in a reeducation center having things such as this explained to you in much simpler terms.—Joe]
What we are witnessing right now is the final phase of a collapse scenario that was more than a decade in the making, and Biden is about to help finish the job.
Biden will no doubt seek to hyperinflate the dollar in the name of offsetting the losses and keep things afloat for a short time, but the real agenda will be to trigger price spikes in goods as well as eventually killing the dollar altogether. No amount of stimulus will stop the crash that has already been set in motion; the bailout measures from this point on are Kabuki theater, a show put on for the masses to make us believe that the government and the banks “did everything they could” to save us. The elites have no intention of stalling or stopping the collapse; their “great reset” demands it.
One’s initial assumption would be that Biden would then take the blame for the economic crisis, but it appears that the establishment is going to set up a Herbert Hoover narrative and lay all the blame squarely on Trump and conservatives. In the past I have noted that Trump’s trajectory was very similar to Herbert Hoover’s, in that he was a business mogul and Republican that pushed for corporate tax cut policies and also extensive tariff’s.
Brandon Smith
January 20, 2021
Biden’s Presidency Will Be A Catalyst For Secession – And Perhaps Civil War
[I’ve been listening to the book When Money Dies: The Nightmare Of The Weimar Hyper Inflation. There are a bunch of takeaways which I think are relevant to our current situation. The ones I have taken note of so far include:
We live in interesting times.—Joe]
* The capacity of the infrastructure for producing and distributing the currency was exceeded. With the denomination of the bills increasing at an exponential rate even the limits on things like the speed of the design of the bills was exceeded. The ability to produce and delivery the paper to the printers, get it through the printing presses, and distribute it to the banks exceeded the truck transportation capacity.
Via Oleg (of course):
And now we have widespread repression of the speech of political opponents and the President of the United States openly claiming he can and will defeat the nations oldest and largest civil rights organization.
The main idea of MMT is that since government creates money there are exactly no limits to how much money government can create. Back when money was backed by gold (say, with one ounce of gold being worth $20) there was a physical limit – by definition you couldn’t have more $20 gold coins than you had ounces of gold. MMT says, “Hey, since Nixon took the world off of the gold standard, we’ve been making up this money stuff anyway. So let’s go all in.” This is not exactly like a drunken 21 year old with Mom and Dad’s credit card in Las Vegas. Not exactly. The credit card has a credit limit.
The Post That Gave The World Bikini Economics: Why MMT Is A Bad Idea.
[It would appear that the U.S. is in the process of testing MMT.
We live in interesting times.—Joe]
A couple of things for people who like to think about political conspiracies.
This first one is via Brother Doug:
If the Dominion election voting systems really can be controlled to produce a desired result then could the controllers of those systems have used them in the 2016 presidential primary? Donald Trump was largely considered a joke. And he didn’t even participate in one of the debates.
Could it have been that the conspirators in control of the voting machines decided Trump was the most easily defeated candidate and rigged the primary voting to get Hillary an easy win?
When the November election was looking like a 90% probability for a Clinton win the conspirators didn’t bother to risk tweaking the results.
By 2020 the same conspirators knew better than to leave it to an honest vote and disposed of President Trump by flipping the cheat switch on the voting machines.
Number two is something I thought up a couple days ago:
Could it be that the whole QAnon thing was actually a ruse by Democrats to make the political right look foolish? An additional benefit would be to lull many on the political right into a false sense of security that things were going to turn out in their favor in a glorious manner. This would leave them far less motivated to get out the vote, donate money, and be prepared for a takeover by the political left.
Discuss and enjoy.
One of Biden’s first Executive Orders should be to prohibit the airing of FoxNews, Newsmax or OANN in any federally owned property or any military unit or installation, and to remove it from any cable plans that are offered in government owned business or housing complexes.
Pam Keith, Esq. @PamKeithFL
Tweeted on January 19, 2021
[This is not some random deranged person. From her Twitter profile:
DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE FL 18th Cong. District, former US Navy JAG, litigator & expert on workplace law. BC Law School Grad.
This is a lawyer and Democrat nominee for congress openly advocating that the U.S. government suppress opposing political opinion.—Joe]