Author Archives: Joe

Joe and Barb’s unexpected bonus

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Barb and I went on a walk to Poo Poo Point via Chirico Trail yesterday.It was a little more elevation gain than we wanted (1760 ft.). But it was supposed to have a nice view at the top. The weather was nice so we decided to go for it. We figured we should leave the house before 9:00 AM to be able to get parking easily.

We arrived at the parking lot about 8:15 to find the lot full and the sides of the road filled with cars. “What’s going on?” [Grumble, grumble] We found a place a couple hundred yards away that let us park for $5.00. [Grumble, grumble]

We were at the trail head at 8:27 and saw people with radios who explained this was the landing zone for paragliders and to not dilly-dally around as we cross the zone. [Grumble, grumble]

The hike was more than I was really prepared for. I got winded easily and sweat profusely even though the temperature was in the low 60s. There were a lot of people on the trail. [Grumble, grumble.] It was a nice trail though:

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We stopped to rest many times and it took us an hour and 45 minutes to make it to the top.

It was a nice view. It was a very nice view:

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But there were all these people:

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Oh. They were launching paragliders from here! Cool! No more grumbling.

This was an unexpected bonus. More pictures below the fold:

Continue reading →

End times

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Stop the plane! Calculus is threating.

When math becomes something to raise a terrorist alert over the end times must be near.

See also what Say Uncle has to say.

Quote of the day—Carlo Di Falco

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Our gun laws completely miss the mark when you realise the chance of any one of Australia’s 800,000 licensed gun owners committing murder are so minuscule that you are more likely to die from a bee sting.

Carlo Di Falco
May 5, 2016
Talking Point: Gun control laws the biggest con job in our nation’s history
[Even aside from the violation of the natural right to defend yourself, the anti-freedom side doesn’t have sufficient data to support a plausible argument for public safety.—Joe]

Quote of the day—HIDIPUS BAN THEM ALL

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BACKGROUND CHECKS or ASSAULT WEAPONS BAN hasnt worked so far , you can tell by everyday shootings and increasing gun deaths ,theres only one way to deal with it ,BAN THEM ALL there aint no time for HALF-MEASURES ,RADICAL LAWS AND CHANGES NEED TO BE MADE

HIDIPUS BAN THEM ALL
May 6, 2016
Bill Clinton Recalls Enacting Gun Control Measures as a Proud Moment at Celebrity-Filled Gala
[Don’t ever let anyone get away with telling you that no one wants to take your guns.—Joe]

Minor errors in defensive gun use

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In the Seattle area where self defense use of guns is still legal:

The drama unfolded at about 2:50 a.m. when the 44-year-old husband, his wife and two daughters, age 19 and 11, were awakened by the noises of someone yelling and kicking at the front door of their home in the 100 block of NE 174th Street, according to Shoreline police.

The homeowner grabbed his 9-mm handgun as his oldest daughter called 911 and the family locked themselves in a back bedroom of the house, said Sgt. Jason Houck of the King County Sheriff’s Office.

…

The husband, hearing the breaking glass, left the bedroom with his gun. He went to the front of the home, where he saw the suspect standing just outside the front window and door, which were broken out by lawn furniture that the suspect had thrown through.

As the suspect began advancing toward the homeowner from just outside the smashed-out door and windows, the homeowner fired two rounds, hitting the suspect once in the upper right thigh, Houck said.

…

Police say the homeowner and his family were shaken up by the ordeal. No charges of any kind are expected to be filed against the homeowner.

While things turned out okay, unless there is more to the store, I would tend to say the husband should not have left the bedroom. He put himself at greater and unnecessary risk by advancing toward the bad guy. Let them come to you through the “funnel” of the door. This give the cops more time to arrive and deal with the situation as a team and possibly end the situation without shots being fired. Also, it might be said, his accuracy could use some improvement.

They did do some things really well. They moved, as a group, to a back bedroom. One person called 911 while another deployed the gun. Most importantly, they had a gun and it was accessible.

Think through possible scenarios ahead of time. If you do this you are more likely to have a plan that only needs minor changes should the real thing come down.

Thinking skills test: 0/10

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Mike Volkerding asks this question for five points:

Please tell me how many of these violent criminals are members of the NRA…thanks.

Williem Stone answers a question requiring a number with a statement instead:

All of them, since having a gun means being in the NRA.

Later, with another five points available, Stone explains why looking at data is irrelevant in determining the level of violence in Australia:

Guns=violence. No guns, no violence. It’s simple.

Stone gets another zero for a total of 0/10 on the test.

That is the type of “thinking” our opponents engage in. Rational thought and data is irrelevant to their world view. When their world view does not intersect with real world data and rational thought you have fewer good options in dealing with them. But recognizing what options are available is useful because you now know to not waste time on other options.

Quote of the day—John Charles Lemr

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The only real solution would be to ban the sale of all semi-automatic rifles. All rifle purchases should be relegated to single shot, bolt-action receivers.

John Charles Lemr
April 24, 2016
California’s half-measures on guns and ammo clips won’t work
[H/T to Sebastian.

Don’t ever let anyone get away with telling you that no one wants to take your guns.—Joe]

Deception and trickery

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From Firearms Policy Coalition in California:

Earlier this morning, Senate and Assembly Democrats “gutted and amended” 4 bills that were stalled and changed them into 4 brand new, ANTI-GUN measures.

“Gutting and amending” is the controversial practice of stripping out a measure’s contents and replacing it with entirely new language, for a new issue, well into the legislative process.

Here is a list of the new bills and what they will do:

  • AB 156: Formerly dealt with global warming, but now places restrictions on ammunition and will be authored by Asm. Kevin McCarty and Sen. Kevin deLeón.
  • AB 857: Formerly addressed greenhouse gasses, but now restricts curios, relics, and home-built firearms. It will be authored my Asm. Jim Cooper and Sen. Kevin de Leon.
  • AB 1135: Formerly centered around creating the Kings River East Groundwater Sustainability Agency, but is now a broad gun ban. This will now be authored by Assemblymembers Marc Levine and Phil Ting.
  • AB 1511: Formerly dealt with energy conservation, but now criminalizes loaning firearms. It is now authored by Asm. Miguel Santiago.

In doing this, they have totally skirted the legislative process. It is shameful that elitist politicians would invoke such secretive procedures in an effort to shove even more gun control down our throats.

But it is not surprising.

Correct. This sort of thing is what we have come to expect. I watched with shock and incredible anger as the Speaker of the House keep the voting open for an extra 10 or 15 minutes past the vote expiration time to get enough votes for the Federal “Assault Weapon” ban in 1994. The Hughes Amendment, banning new sales of machine guns, was “passed” on a voice vote in the early morning hours despite requests for a recorded vote. The anti-gun people have a long and sordid history lies and deception. It is just how they do business.

I can overlook the ignorance of the average “person on the street” who is anti-gun. But I know the politician and anti-gun groups continuously engage in deception and trickery to get their way. I do not forgive them. They should be prosecuted.

Quote of the day—Sebastian

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I’m becoming more convinced that free people need a frontier, because without one, eventually, the meddlers, swindlers, and sycophants of the world catch-up to us.

Sebastian
April 25, 2016
Science Nerd Post: Reactionless Drive
[I’m in general agreement but things will have to get a lot worse here before living on a distant rock under a dome with a huge portion of your economic output consumed just to stay alive. And without an industrial base to produce medicine, electronics, vehicles, buildings, I can’t see it being able to be independent and have anything approaching the quality of life we have here.

If there were a terraformed planet with a population of a million or more with incredibly accessible natural resources I could see it being plausible. But it becomes a chicken and egg problem. Terraforming and industry building robots might be the answer. I remain a skeptic for now and believe the better, at least short-term, option is to fix things on our existing rock.—Joe]

The political currency of the left

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As everyone expects May 1st is a day of violence in Seattle:

Hurling rocks, bricks and even Molotov cocktails, anti-capitalist protesters clashed with police in downtown Seattle Sunday, as May Day mayhem erupted again following a peaceful march.

By 10:30 p.m., at least five officers had been injured and at least nine people had been arrested, Seattle police reported. One injured officer suffered a gash to his head when he was struck by a rock.

Police said Monday that all five officers were at home recovering from their injuries.

The city unleashed a massive deployment of police officers in riot gear — on foot, on bicycles, on horseback and in vehicles — to control the crowd of dozens of masked-protesters who began massing in Westlake Park for the unpermitted march shortly after 5 p.m.

This is across the street from where I used to work. I’m glad I don’t work there anymore.

As soon as they started lighting up the Molotov cocktails I would have given the green light to the snipers. But this is Seattle and they like communists.

Notice they call them “anti-capitalists”? They want to avoid associating lawless, violent, behavior with their political leanings.

These people can’t win a debate with ideas. The can’t demonstrate a better way of life in the places their ideas have been implemented. What do they have left? Violence. It’s the political currency of the left. And it’s why we need our guns.

Quote of the day—Jay Caruso

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Harriet Tubman was an American hero. A gun-toting, no nonsense, devout Christian spy who fought during her retirement to obtain better treatment for African-American soldiers. She was a remarkable woman and totally deserves a place on our currency.

Jay Caruso
April 22, 2016
What You Might Not Know About Harriet Tubman, Gun-Toting Slave Liberator
[I’m good with Tubman replacing Jackson on the $20. I would have rather it been Ayn Rand and dumping Hamilton, but Rand isn’t going to get serious consideration anytime soon. And I’m not a huge fan of Jackson either.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Clayton E. Cramer

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The evidence is clear that AW bans fail rational basis scrutiny because AWs are seldom criminally misused relative to more readily accessible weapons.  The disproportionate minimum sentences in California’s AWCA law relative to much more dangerous weapons suggests a panic reaction that is hardly rational.  The comments of journalists, elected officials, and gun control activists reveal bigotry that makes Colorado Amendment 2 seem pretty calm by comparison.  Even the courts are reduced to arguing that perceived benefit as opposed to actual benefit is a sufficient reason to uphold bans. There is no way to hold that AW bans which deny a fundamental right, as Heller determined the Second Amendment to protect, survives the “rational basis” standard of scrutiny.

Clayton E. Cramer
April 13, 2016
Assault Weapon Bans: Can They Survive Rational Basis Scrutiny?
[This is a well researched paper and brings to light some fascinating information. An example is the ruling upholding the Chicago AW ban. Cramer rewords a section of the ruling and explains as follows:

The same reasoning could have been applied to uphold the constitutional provision struck down in Romer: “Colorado voters may be irrational in their bigotry against homosexuals, but if it reduces their perceived risk of homosexuals being given free rein to molest children, that’s a substantial benefit.”  Clearly, when the courts argue that feeling safer is a legitimate reason to do something that makes no real difference in public safety, this is the definition of irrational.  It makes people feel better, but without any actual basis in fact.

Numerous other examples of irrationality abound. It’s great fun to go through the enumerations of the crazy talk of our opponents.—Joe]

Rounds in the last month

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Boomershoot made April a busy month and I didn’t do as much reloading or shooting as I usually do. Still I did do some reloading.

Here are my lifetime numbers:

223.log: 2027 rounds.
3006.log: 467 rounds.
300WIN.log: 1351 rounds.
40SW.log: 46549 rounds.
9MM.log: 21695 rounds.
Total: 72089 rounds.

Last month the total was 71252 rounds for a difference of 837 rounds. The only caliber I reloaded was .40 S&W.

Washington state women with CPLs

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Via Dave Workman we have this article in the Kitsap Sun:

Since January 2013 through the end of April, the only period for which the department has data available, the number of women license-holders in Kitsap grew about 71 percent, to 6,419 from 3,748.

In other words, at the beginning of 2013, in Kitsap there were about four men with the license for every woman with the license. As of last week, the gap shrank to about three men with the license for every woman.

Statewide, the number of women holding the license increased nearly 62 percent, to 129,428 from 80,016. Washington state has 535,596 people with active concealed pistol licenses.

And in the state’s most urbanized areas, women are increasingly becoming licensed to carry pistols. King County saw the number of women holding the license grow by nearly 39 percent during the same period.

Workman also points out:

Washington state has added more than 25,000 new concealed pistol licenses during the first four months of this year…

This is known as winning.

Quote of the day—Shaun King ‏@ShaunKing

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Guns are the ULTIMATE phallic symbol. No item in our society looks, and even functions more like a penis than a handgun.

Shaun King ‏@ShaunKing
Tweeted on December 5, 2015
[It’s another Markley’s Law Monday!

Via a Tweet from Michael Z Williamson ‏@mzmadmike.—Joe]

Boomershoot 2016 is almost complete

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This morning I completed the last major (two people still haven’t paid for their last minute changes, but this is relatively minor) work item for Boomershoot 2016.

Before:

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Barb and I named one of of the blobs of mud on the hood as we drove home after Boomershoot. I was almost getting attached to them. But the droppings in the garage were not nearly as endearing.

After:

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The difference on the inside was comparable.

The guy at the car wash said, “I’ll bet you are here for the coffee, right?”

Nice try but not really. I don’t drink coffee.

Quote of the day—Emmett Rensin

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The wages of smug is Trump.

Nothing is more confounding to the smug style than the fact that the average Republican is better educated and has a higher IQ than the average Democrat. That for every overpowered study finding superior liberal open-mindedness and intellect and knowledge, there is one to suggest that Republicans have the better of these qualities.

Most damning, perhaps, to the fancy liberal self-conception: Republicans score higher in susceptibility to persuasion. They are willing to change their minds more often.

The Republican coalition tends toward the center: educated enough, smart enough, informed enough.

Emmett Rensin
Deputy First Person editor at Vox
April 21, 2016
The smug style in American liberalism
[This is from Vox!

H/T Kevin Baker.

We live in interesting times.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Alan Korwin

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An arbitrary list, with no checks and balances, no functional controls or due process of any kind, will deny our fundamental constitutional civil and human rights. The man currently in the White House is calling for the list. You’re insane if you object, he says.

By implication, if you can’t buy a gun, you certainly aren’t free to possess any of the firearms you already own, right? Someone should come and take all those dangerous guns away from you because they must be contraband. You’re too dangerous to own them.

Alan Korwin
February 19, 2016
Obama Announces No-Buy List for Guns
[If the government can, which they do, add people to a secret list without notification, justification, or chance to defend yourself and prohibits you from exercising a specific enumerated right they are in possession of tool which enables an end-run around the constitution.

If you think there is nothing wrong with this then what is your argument as to why the government couldn’t just as well say you may only exercise “constitutionally protected” rights if you are on their secret list?—Joe]

Of course you can trust the government

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From David Hardy on the Waco investigation:

The House Committee on Government Reform hired Carlos to examine the tapes. Unfortunately, he died from a heart attack (a weakness that ran in his family). The Committee thereupon issued statements that he’d never given them a report, that they were about to fire him, and essentially disavowing everything to do with him.

There was one problem with that story. Carlos had faxed me the report right after he gave it to the committee and briefed its staff. He found there were indeed gunshots. In fact, he pieced together an encounter. A Davidian appeared to throw something at an armored vehicle, and the something went off with a quick burst of heat. The hatches on the vehicle opened, some people dismounted, and fired in the direction of the fleeing Davidian. The battle went on from there. Carlos told me that as he played and paused the video for the congressional staffers, explaining what they were seeing, they looked like they were sucking on lemons.

Reading David’s series of posts on Waco is bringing back some very unpleasant memories and way too much adrenaline:

What the government did to Randy Weaver and his family and what they did at Waco are a why I purchased my first gun, why I’m involved in the gun rights movement and why there is Boomershoot.

Never again.

What’s the real reason?

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Today President Obama said:

As I said in January, these commonsense steps are not going to prevent every tragedy, but what if they prevented even one?

This is incredibly simple minded thinking. There are tradeoffs involved in nearly everything. In this case the tradeoffs include:

  • How many people will be unable to save innocent lives because the gun failed to fire when it was required?
  • How many people will be unable to purchase a gun to save innocent lives because of the increased cost?
  • How many lives could be saved if the resources put into “smart gun” technology were instead spent on safety training?

I think it is very telling President Obama and his anti-freedom cohorts haven’t proposed increased gun safety instruction. This demonstrates this isn’t about safety. This is about increasing the price of guns and making firearms less user friendly.