Category Archives: Current News

This is about stuff in the mass media that generally has a short interest life span. Speculation about an election outcome a few days before the election is an example.

Quote of the day–Robert Higgs

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For the economy in general, doing nothing is vastly preferable to doing the stimulus package, but doing nothing is not a political option; indeed, it would be political suicide. Given the dominant ideology and the political institutions that now exist, economically rational public policy is incompatible with political viability…. Having hit bottom, the politicians can only do one thing: keep digging. If Hell is down there, they’ll reach it, sooner or later.


Robert Higgs
Senior Fellow at Independent Institute
The Lighthouse Volume 11, Issue 7: February 16, 2009
[I was tempted to just use “rational public policy is incompatible with political viability” as the QOTD, but the mention of politicians attempting reach Hell was just too appealing.–Joe]

Our New Castro

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Via Limbaugh’s web site, we have a transcript of a PBS broadcast in which Obama is being compared to Fidel Castro.  It’s a favorable piece.  If you’re a 24/7 subscriber you can get the PBS audio.  I heard it this morning on the radio.



And that is, one, this notion of feeling that now we have a guy named Obama in the White House, we have President Obama now, there are many young people who are as ecstatic and as excited and as enthused about President Obama as you were about your new president, Fidel Castro.


They’re “ecstatic and excited”.  Now they have what they believe is the American version of the Cuban revolution, poised and ready to roll.  I would have thought they’d have been a little less overt about it, but I guess they think they can take off the masks now.

Quote of the day–Titanium Halo

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Let me tell you story. I know a guy. He’s a financial planner/investment banker type who from time to time helps me out. In November I had lunch with him after the first initial crash and wanted his opinion on the gather storm clouds I saw just over the horizon. He told me a few interesting things one of which kinda scared your Hero Halo a bit. He said, ‘Halo, I am advising my clients who have enough liquid assets to secure remote, sustainable property. I’m advising this because for very little capital outlay, they can have a lot of security.’


Ted, I looked right into this guys eyes and saw a certain fear that I have never seen before. This is a man who manages literally billions of dollars worth of assets and he looked as though his entire concept of reality had been shaken to the core. I wasn’t really sure what to do. In all the years I had been dealing with him I had never seen this and wondered why now? What’s different this time? Well, there are many things, but when a guy with these kinds of resources at his disposal says stuff like this, it might be time to start listening.


Titanium Halo
February 5, 2009
Sheep Say, “Baaaaaa”
[I’ve been putting a lot of time into economics recently and hope to have a post on the results of my research sometime this weekend. As a teaser let me just say:



  • The “stimulus plan” violates my Jews In The Attic Test.

  • Daughter Kim’s economics class is reading books that talk of the U.S. government and the CIA “forcing free trade”, and how “capitalism destroys community ties”.

  • My research has involved talking to people from China, India, Ireland, Romania, and Sri Lanka. People speak in hushed tones with a very somber demeanor. It’s bad everywhere.

  • While discussing the politics of our new socialist nation, even without explicit mention that my Jews In The Attic Test was being violated, a friend recently told me that an AK has an expected life of about 50K rounds and even though they have several such rifles it wasn’t enough to solve the problem even if they had enough rounds and didn’t encounter resistance.

We have very, very big problems ahead of us. And the worst part is that the people that caused the problems will likely get more support as the situation gets worse. They will demand more and more “help” from those that put everyone in jeopardy. And the unless very aggressive action is taken by people, who have shown very little backbone in the past, the last people to go down are likely going to be the people that created and aggravated the problems.


I know who John Galt is, but where is his gulch?–Joe]

And the bigots were made to pay

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Via the Apex of the Triangle Of Death we get to read about San Francisco Paying NRA $380,000 for Successful Proposition H Lawsuits.


While it makes me happy the bigots had to pay up for conspiring to deprive people of their rights they should have been arrested, prosecuted, convicted, and sentenced to time in jail as well. This sort of nonsense is going to continue until the laws against this sort of outrageous behavior are enforced.


Other bloggers have their view on the issue as well:


Just so you know

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From our friend in Israel;



Friends:

 

Considering the number of Kassam and Grad rockets and the increasing number of mortar rounds being fired into Israel by Hamas in Gaza, I’ll keep the “Gaza War” group designation for a while longer.  As a practical matter Israel gained nothing but the world’s condemnation for its recent attempt to stop the terrorist fire.

 

The election rhetoric here is twilight-zone material.  The folks in power speechify as if they were the party in opposition.  They cry about how much change there needs to be.  Hell you are the government.  You should have done long ago what you attack (who?) for not having done.  How dumb do you think the voters are?  Obviously you think they are even dumber than I think they are. 

 

GO STEELERS!

 

Israel and the U.S. do have a lot in common.

 

And being as Israel isn’t doing anything about it right now, it isn’t “news”.

 

How hard is it to understand that since you’re going to be condemned either way, you may as well do the right thing?  The Republican Party leadership, for instance, continues to fail in that regard, though we can hope.

 

The War against the German national socialists and Imperial Japanese wasn’t won through decades of “ceasefires” for example.  It was won and they became allies after they were defeated.  Republicans; are you listening?

The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008

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Economics has been on a lot of people’s minds recently. Microsoft had a lay-off last week–the first ever that was motivated by external economics. I know two other gun bloggers that also dodged “the axe” in the last couple of months. I’ve had people approach me wanting information on buying guns and bulk food in a similar manner as I did just before Y2K. Federal interest rates are effectively zero. That has never happened before in my lifetime. Another economic indicator that we are in unusual circumstances is the money supply, or as Kevin put it, It’s Official: You May Now Panic. When you look at that graph note that the doubling of the money supply in the last year (yes that difficult to see spike is real, not just an artifact of the graphic) is unprecedented in the last 100 years. I attended a speech (if you want to call it that) by economist Paul Krugman yesterday–the auditorium was packed. The first hundred people or so received a free copy of his new book — The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008. It’s so new it is copyright 2009 and had to come directly from the printer. I have a copy in my hands now.


This blog post is mostly to capture my notes from listening to Krugman yesterday. I’m formulating a big blog post in my mind and hope to post it this weekend.


If in italics below it means it was a direct quotes (as best as I could capture).



  • Not as bad as the 30s–yet.

  • It is as bad as the early 80s.

  • This isn’t your fathers recession. This is your grandfathers recession.

  • All of the 1st world is falling at approximately the same rate.

  • The problem with the stimulus bill is that it isn’t big enough.

  • A trillion here and a trillion there and pretty soon you are talking about real money. A twist on Dirksen’s quote which got a laugh.

  • I’m not feeling panicky but uneasy.

  • I thought I was intellectually prepared.

  • It’s a whole lot harder to head off a second great depression than we thought.

  • The trouble with a big tax cut is that they aren’t spent. Tax cuts are a very bad tool for this type of problem. See also this blog post by Krugman.

  • Tax cuts made permanent won’t work because we can’t afford them.

  • We should seize troubled assets, clean them up, and then sell them. Just take the hit. “We” meaning the U.S. government.

  • There are no safe options. He was responding to a comment from someone about the risks of massive government spending–which Krugman is advocating. He is of the opinion that the stimulus package should be twice the size as the one proposed and passed yesterday.

  • The thing I’m most worried about is Kindelberg’s law: When given two options we will pursue both half-heartedly. I must have the spelling wrong on “Kindelberg”. I can’t find any such “law” on the net.

I’ve read the introduction and the first chapter of his new book. He says socialism is dead and it’s obvious to everyone except a few extremists who have their heads in the sand. But in his talk yesterday he said that “universal health care” would be a good thing to spend some of the two trillion in government spending he is proposing. His attitude was that “universal health care” was obviously a good thing. You could tell from his tone and the words he used that it wasn’t even open to debate with him. I have to wonder if maybe he is one of the extremists he was talking about in his book. See also Phil’s post from day before yesterday.

Quote of the day–Paul Krugman

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This isn’t your father’s recession. This is your grandfather’s recession.


Paul Krugman
January 29, 2009
Speaking to the Microsoft Political Action Committee in Redmond, Washington.
[I attended this presentation and I’ll have more on his talk later. He is also an active blogger — The Conscience of a Liberal.–Joe]

I hope this is a typo

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I’m not an editor but I play one on the Internet.


From the Washington Post:



Officials said the report reflected Obama’s desire for greater transparency in the bill-writing process, as he sought to fully map out what he plans to do with the $825 trillion package.

Quote of the day–Michael Gaddy

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Leave it up to New Yorkers to defeat those who support the constitution and elect those who seek to destroy it.


Michael Gaddy
Buy, Buy, Buy
January 5, 2008
[As pointed out by Clayton, Jeff, SayUncle, and Sebastian, this is not always true so -1 point for Gaddy. He still gets a 99% on his essay.–Joe]

The anti-Christ

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First I would like to draw your attention to SayUncles post that we have an extraordinary number of news stories about Obama’s inauguration. I would like to further point out the following:


There were one or more songs written just for this inauguration. There were “Inauguration Cupcakes” in my company cafeteria!


It was a “religious experience” for a lot of people. Of course they overlook that “Barack Hussein Obama” can be rewritten as “Barack Hussei Nobama” which is obviously a synonym for “666”.


I think I need to buy more ammo and explosives.

I don’t even recognize his name

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Some might ask if I know this guy who is sort of a neighbor of mine:



A 65-year-old Spokane man has been ordered held in custody on federal charges of illegally possessing automatic weapons and illegally storing explosives in a Bellevue commercial storage shed while agents investigate how he came to possess a huge military-grade arsenal that included grenade launchers, machine guns and plastic explosives.


Ronald Struve, heavyset and bearded, appeared in Seattle before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mary Alice Theiler on Tuesday after being extradited from Spokane, where he was arrested Jan. 7 during a raid by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF).


In four searches in Bellevue and Spokane, agents seized 37 machine guns, 12 silencers, two grenade launchers, more than 60 high-explosive grenades, several pounds of military-grade C-4 plastic explosives and thousands of rounds of ammunition.


…


One box contained 54 M406 high-explosive grenade rounds — 40-millimeter shells that can be launched from a shoulder-fired weapon to distances of 300 yards or more, according to military specification.


Its explosion creates a “kill radius” of up to 16 feet from the point of impact and injuries dozens of yards beyond that.


Agents also found several other anti-personnel grenades, including a Korean War-era “Chicom” stick grenade.


In another box, agents found six blocks of C-4 plastic explosives.


Agents counted 32 apparent machine guns, including M-14s, M-16s, and several “Sten guns,” a mass-produced submachine gun known for its high rate of fire — upward of 500 rounds per minute.


They also found nine silencers and the parts for several others, as well as thousands of rounds of ammunition and various other military hardware.


“All of the military explosive items seized are considered contraband and cannot be possessed by anyone other than the military,” Wallace wrote in a search warrant. “The majority of the items seized appeared to be stolen military explosive materials.”


Spokane isn’t that far away from my home in Moscow and I think I could literally throw a rock from the front door of my office in Redmond and have it land in Bellevue. But this guy has never appeared on my radar of “people of the gun” in the circles I run in.


He shouldn’t have been storing the stuff in an ordinary storage unit or be in possession of stolen property. That’s just wrong and he should “pay the price” for that. But other than that he’s being charged with a victimless crime. Had he purchased those items on the open market (as they should be) and had he stored them in a proper manner all would have been fine.


So, for the most part, all this effort and money being spent on investigation and prosecution is because the government has repressive laws on the books. Sort of like laws against sex toys. Except sex toys aren’t constitutionally protected like “arms” are. [Updated with the following sentence.] Except while protected in general by the constitution, sex toys aren’t a specifically enumerated constitution right like “arms” are.

Quote of the day–Speed

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The “prosperous” divested after hearing:



“this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control — and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous.”


Speed | 01.20.09 – 4:47 pm |
Speed is quoting President Obama’s inauguration speech after noting the stock market crash yesterday.
[I may have this slightly wrong but as Ry told me the other day, “Difficult times are never dull.”–Joe]

Another step closer to Incorporation

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David has the details on what he declares a Win For Our Side!

This could be interesting

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If I recall correctly predictions are that if this blows with the same sort of destruction as in previous eruptions all life within about 300 miles is likely to be killed. Areas as far away as Kansas, depending on the wind direction and duration, will get up to 10 feet of ash falling from the sky.

A Report on Recent Days from Inside Israel

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I’ve posted some of Howard’s letters in the past.  He’s a journalist living in Israel, a lawyer, an IDF sniper trainer and counterterrorism specialist.  Here’s a list of his communications from the last several days.  I’ll preface them by pointing out that the Kassam rockets, mortars and etc., have been fired into Israel from the Gaza strip ever since it was ceded to the Palestinians, “ceasefire” or no “ceasefire”.  This makes the news only when the Israelis get around to shooting back.



Dec. 17, 2008


Friends:
 
What isn’t reported are the Kassams that continue to rain on my daughter’s college down south despite the fake cease-fire about to end (sorry, very sorry not a joke) in 48 hours.
 
Howard


===========================


Dec. 21, 2008


Friends:
 
We are in the Christmas and New Year’s home stretch.  Hanukah starts tonight.
 
My friends in local ERT units have been ordered to turn there IDF issued M16s back to the IDF.  They were given something like 72 hour notice.  The Israeli government only arms Fatah and allows Hamas and Hezbollah to arm themselves unhindered.
 
Have a good week.
 
Howard


===========================


Dec. 22, 2008


Friends:
 
Here is the latest.  So far still no significant effort to stop the rain of rockets!
 
\\\Howard


===========================


Dec. 24, 2008


Friends:
 
Traffic around the Old City and in the direction of Bethlehem was already clogged at 13:30 despite the cold, raw weather.
 
Down south the Gaza terrorists are setting a new record for the number of Kassam, Grad and mortar bombs being fired into Israel.  The reach of the rockets get farther and farther.  Only heaven knows if the Israeli government will act to stop the attacks.
 
Have a Merry Holiday.
 
Howard


===========================


Dec. 25, 2008


Season’s Greetings


=========================


Dec. 27, 2008


It has started.
 
Howard
—– Original Message —–
Sent: Saturday, December 27, 2008 12:23 PM


Subject: CORRECTION: IDF SPOX ANN: IDF Targets Hamas Government Terroris Infrastructure In The Gaza Strip 


Dec 26th, 2008


IDF SPOKESPERSON ANNOUNCEMENT


Israeli Air Force aircraft, attacked a short while ago, a series of Hamas targets and infrastructure facilities, in the Gaza Strip. All Israeli pilots returned safely to their bases. The IDF will continue its operations against terror in accordance with constant state assessments held be the IDF Chief of General Staff. This operation will be continued, expanded and intensified as much as will be required.


The Air Force activity came as a result of the continuation of terror activity by Hamas terror organization from the Gaza Strip, and the duration of rocket launching and targeting Israeli civilians.


The targets that were attacked were located by intelligence gathered during the last months and include Hamas terror operatives that operated from the organization’s headquarters, training camps and weaponry storage warehouses.


The Hamas government leaders and operatives, which activate terror from within civilian population centers, are the sole bearers of responsibility for Israel‘s military response. This response is crucial for preserving Israel‘s security interests.


The IDF Spokesperson wishes to emphasize that anyone sponsoring terror, hosting terror in his house, housing terror in his basement and sending his wives and children to serve as human shields- is considered a terrorist.


The IDF will continue its activity against terror activities according to operational assessments held by the Chief of the General Staff.


The IDF is ready to widen and deepen its activity against all terror organizations in the Gaza Strip, as long as it is necessary.


In addition, the Homefront Command and emergency authorities, took all necessary measures for preparing the civilian population.


=========================


Dec. 29, 2008


Friends:
 
Israel only hit the terrorists after they fired 60 rockets into Israel proper in one day.  No one, the UN included said a word. 
 
Thousands of calls are placed to the cellular telephone of the civilians in the area of an impending strike before it takes place telling then to get out of harm’s way!!!
 
So far today (16:10) approximately 35 rockets have been fired into Israel.
 
Howard


==========================


Dec. 30, 2008


Friends:
 
Israel already has its back to the wall being attacked in the media worldwide.  Hamas is never mentioned.
The phone calls I told you about, being placed to civilians to get out of harm’s way, was reported on Israel radio network “B” at 06:00 today as having reached 90,000.  I called the IDF Spokesman’s Office and asked for confirmation of the report.  Rather than answering my question I was challenged as to who I was and for who I reported.  Send an Email I was told.  That was 6 hours ago.  So far no response.  And they can’t figure out how  winning the fighting on the ground doesn’t result in winning the war.
 
Howard


==========================


Dec. 31, 2008


Friends:
 
Not reported is today’s Israeli Supreme Court decision in favor of the Foreign Press Association permitting reporters access to Gaza.  It was forbidden since Nov. 24th. 
 
“What are you hiding,” was on the lips of those whose written and broadcast words and images[.  They] lose Israel its war despite victory on the battlefield.  How to make friends and influence people. 
 
Howard


==========================


I find the whole thing surreal.  I recently heard U.S. reporters haranguing one of Bush’s people in Crawford, demanding to know when Israel was going to stop the violence.  No matter how many times he told them that it depended on Hamas stopping their rocket and mortar attacks, they kept asking the same questions, over and over, merely rephrasing them.

Brady Campaign sues over National Park carry

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As predicted here the Brady Campaign is suing to stop the implementation of the new rule on carrying in National Parks. Unfortunately we won’t have (vice) President Palin in office next month to direct the Justice Department to arrest and prosecute the offenders.



The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence sued the Bush administration Tuesday in hopes of stopping a new policy that would allow people to carry concealed, loaded guns in most national parks and wildlife refuges.


…


The lawsuit said members of the Brady Campaign will no longer visit national parks and refuges “out of fear for their personal safety from those who will now be permitted to carry loaded and concealed weapons in such areas.”


If they were consistent they would stay out of states (and even countries) where concealed carry were allowed. I’d would be much happier if they did.


But if they were consistent that might mean they had the capacity to use logic and data for the basis of their actions. And we all know that would be the end of their organization and they would have to get real jobs rather than being professional bigots.

More Seattle gun ban news

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From the Second Amendment Foundation yesterday:



For Immediate Release:   12/15/2008


BELLEVUE, WA – Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels is asserting that he has the authority to skirt Washington State’s long-standing firearms preemption statute, but in a 2006 letter to House Speaker Frank Chopp, he admitted that state law prevents him from taking any such action.



The letter is being made public at tonight’s special hearing at City Hall by Alan M. Gottlieb, founder of the Bellevue-based Second Amendment Foundation.



In his letter to Speaker Chopp, dated May 4, 2006, Mayor Nickels acknowledged that “State law preempts any and all local regulations related to firearms. Our hands are tied at the local level and we are unable to adopt any local laws to protect our residents from gun crime.”



“This is what Attorney General Rob McKenna’s office told Mayor Nickels in October,” Gottlieb noted. “Despite all of his bluster over the past six months, it is evident now that Mayor Nickels has known all along he cannot ban legally-carried firearms, by executive order, by ordinance or by wishing upon a star. He knew this in 2006 and he was reminded of it two months ago by McKenna’s office.



“Mayor Nickels has tried to capitalize on a single unfortunate incident at the Seattle Center,” he continued, “in order to push his long-standing anti-rights agenda. More than 20 years ago, the state legislature wisely enacted our common-sense preemption law that is now preventing the mayor from acting like a monarch, answerable to nobody. Essentially, he wants to use executive authority as though it were a royal decree, to not only defy state statute, but also to violate our state constitutional right-to-bear-arms provision.



“The May 2006 letter to Speaker Chopp clearly proves that the mayor knows he cannot legally do this,” Gottlieb said. “If Mayor Nickels goes forward with this ban, he will leave the Second Amendment Foundation no alternative than to take immediate legal action to stop him.”



The Second Amendment Foundation (www.saf.org) is the nations oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 600,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control. SAF has previously funded successful firearms-related suits against the cities of Los Angeles; New Haven, CT; and San Francisco on behalf of American gun owners, a lawsuit against the cities suing gun makers and an amicus brief and fund for the Emerson case holding the Second Amendment as an individual right.


And today:



For Immediate Release:   12/16/2008


BELLEVUE, WA – When a cross-section of firearms owners gathered at Seattle City Hall Monday night to oppose Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels’ gun ban scheme, the mayor was nowhere in sight to defend his plan, and the Second Amendment Foundation wonders why.



“If ever an audience reflected the kind of diversity that elitists like Greg Nickels normally rave about, Monday night’s turnout of gun owners certainly measured up,” said SAF founder Alan Gottlieb. “There were gays, straights, men and women, including one self-described feminist Democrat party activist. I was proud of the broad spectrum represented by the firearms community.



“Under any other circumstances,” he continued, “Mayor Nickels and other Seattle establishment insiders would be drawn to such a group like moths to a flame. But these were law-abiding gun owners, outraged over the mayor’s arrogant plan to ignore state statute and advice from the state attorney general. In short, it was an audience of citizens that Nickels and his ilk claim to represent, saying that he doesn’t. The mayor wanted no part of such a public embarrassment.



“Mayor Nickels started this controversy by proposing the gun ban,” Gottlieb observed, “yet he lacked the intestinal fortitude to defend his scheme before the very people who would suffer. Elitists like Nickels are always quick to sneer about ‘cowardly gun owners,’ but when he had the chance to face them, he vanished.



“Many department heads were there to take the heat,” Gottlieb added, “except for Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske. It is not clear whether he skipped the meeting because he doesn’t care for armed citizens, or because he was still out looking for his stolen pistol, which is more of a threat to public safety than anybody who testified at Monday night’s hearing.



“This proposed gun ban is nonsense,” he concluded. “It will not prevent a single crime. It will only leave citizens more vulnerable. As usual, Mayor Nickels chooses symbolism over safety, and he is clearly afraid to face the people whose rights he plans to abrogate.”



The Second Amendment Foundation (www.saf.org) is the nations oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 600,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control. SAF has previously funded successful firearms-related suits against the cities of Los Angeles; New Haven, CT; and San Francisco on behalf of American gun owners, a lawsuit against the cities suing gun makers and an amicus brief and fund for the Emerson case holding the Second Amendment as an individual right.

Sex toys

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In another gift to gun owners before leaving office the adminstration arrested Illinios Governor Rod (Pocket Rocket) Blagojevich today.


Now instead of restricting access to guns which he mixed up with a popular sex toy there is a chance he might well become a sex toy himself while visiting Club Fed. After working so hard for so many years to screw gun owners we can only hope he discovers what it’s like to be on the receiving end for a few years.

Their lies are catching up with them

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The company that owns the anti-gun Chicago Tribune, the anti-gun LA Times, 10 other newspapers, and 23 television stations is filing for bankruptcy. They have 13 billion in debt.


They will continue to operate but the future isn’t bright and I’m hoping they will at least fade away into obscurity.


There still remains the anti-gun New York Times and Washington Post but it’s a pretty good start.

No more lunches at Wingers

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James and Kim just had lunch there this weekend. Barb and I go there fairly frequently but it’s going to be a while before we go back. I took these pictures this morning about 0800 at the University Mall in Moscow Idaho:




And before someone asks, I haven’t been within 30 miles of my chemistry set since Thursday evening.