Category Archives: Quote of the Day

Her Cause is Hopeless

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The gun-friendly Court has made a near-impossible feat Sisyphean. We have a Republican Congress utterly unwilling to pass meaningful legislation to stem the scourge of gun violence, backstopped by a Supreme Court that sees the Second Amendment as untouchable.

…

Still, dropping the subject cedes significant ground to the right. The United States is not the only country with hyper-partisanship and an irresponsible, bloodlusty leader. It’s the guns.

Kate Riga
September 11, 2025
We Don’t Even Talk About the Guns Anymore

Riga is delusional and/or stupid if she really thinks it is the guns rather than the culture and/or people. But that may be giving her too much credit.

At this point I don’t much care. She has an opinion that is just so much dust being swept into the dustbin of history. I’m just happy to see the acknowledgement that her desire to enable tyranny anytime soon is hopeless.

Blasphemy is still a crime

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Blasphemy is still a crime, but you see, the Gods, they have changed.

friedcheese
September 17, 2025
Comment to JUST ANOTHER CLASS OF “EXPERTS” TO IGNORE

Whether the gods are spiritual, tyrants, or political beliefs it probably always has been a crime in one form or another. And as demonstrated last week, it carries a death penalty in certain social circles.

People do not like having their most cherished beliefs challenged. Especially when the challenger is correct.

This is why we have the First Amendment.

Controlling Your Crazies

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Party politics has always had this weird aspect where the party that had a better handle on controlling its own crazies, usually captured the middle and won elections. The DEMs have been imploding since about 2017, and today the whole party almost sounds fringe. If the GOP wants to avoid the same fate, they have work to do.

Don Kilmer @donkilmer
Posted on X, September 16, 2025

The context in which he said this is important. It was this post on X:

Interesting assertion by Kilmer. I had not thought of it that way. Even after thinking about it some, I’m not sure I agree. But as I think of myself as more of an observer of the two major parties than a member of either, I may not be a “normal” person. The Libertarian party platform is a far better match for my understanding of the U.S. constitution. But it has an asymptotic close to zero chance of getting someone into national office. Hence, “winning an election” is an alien concept to me.

It is true that the Democrats have been riding the crazy train for many years now and do seem to have imploded. But I don’t have to do much more than close my eyes and point at a random Republican to see more crazy than I want in a national office holder.

For example, I’m flabbergasted that the AG of the U.S. in the video above did not know that “hate speech” is not a legal thing. That was crazy talk.

The political left could not prosecute people for it and the Republicans have no legal authority to “go after” speech that is not inciting violence or threatening imminent danger of permanent injury or death. It took some significant blowback before she “clarified her remarks“:

Still, it is always good advice to control your crazies.

FYI, I made this post and put it in the queue about an hour before I read Rolf’s comment on the same topic.

Psychologists Will Disappoint You on This

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As a reminder, the field of psychology cannot predict homicidal likelihood well at all. The base rate is so low, it is an extremely difficult prediction.

If you are looking to us to predict who should not be allowed to own a gun, you are going to be disappointed. I don’t know.

Nicole Prause @NicoleRPrause
Posted on X, September 12, 2025

Prause is a research psychologist. Although she seems to be generally opposed to private gun ownership, I believe her to be reasonable honest following where the data leads.

There are other reasons not to expect psychologists to do a good job on determining the fitness of someone to own a gun. It would be extremely generous to call it an inexact science. Hence, when confronted with the responsibility to make that type of decision they would probably error on the side of “public safety” and deny far more people the right of gun ownership than is appropriate.

The appropriate way to address this is to remove guns from the question. The appropriate question to ask is, “Is this person a threat to themselves or others?” And if so, the response should be involuntary confinement at state expense with appropriate, if any, treatment.

None of this is Agency

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I’m seeing a lot of us vs them rhetoric right now.

A man was shot and the timelines lit up with tribal chest beating.

There’s a sort of engineered frenzy that tells millions of strangers to feel attacked on cue and to answer with collective blame.

People graft their sense of self onto a mass identity because it is easier than standing alone. I get it. The group supplies ready-made meaning, ready-made enemies, and ready-made scripts for grief and anger.

When something happens to a figure near that group, the borrowed self experiences it as a personal wound. The nervous system fires as if family was hit. The algorithm notices, pours gasoline, and a person forgets they are a person.

They become a role. They perform the role loudly because the role rewards them with belonging. This is how the individual dissolves.

Parasocial attachment finishes the job. A commentator speaks into your head for years and your mind, built for villages, mistakes proximity for kinship. Suddenly the stranger is “ours,” and the event is “about me,” and the most primitive circuitry takes the wheel.

Outrage feels like virtue. Blanket blame feels like clarity. Calls for payback feel like strength. None of that is agency.

Power feeds on exactly this. Political machines live on attention, emotion, and fear. They need you sorted into blocs, preferably angry ones, because angry blocs are easy to mobilize and easy to tax.

The chant writes itself: “This proves everything I already believed!”

Notice how perfect that is. One incident becomes a voucher for every preloaded narrative. Nothing new is learned, but the leash is tightened.

The class that benefits is the same class that always benefits, and it is not you.

Dylan Allman @dylanmallman
Posted on X, September 10, 2025

I’ve always liked psychology and sociology.

This seems plausible.

A Simple Truth

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It’s two days out. We don’t know shit. The internet is undefeated in getting it wrong to begin with.

Bill Maher
September 13, 2025
Bill Maher Decries Political Responses After Charlie Kirk’s Death: ‘Let’s Not Debate About Who’s Worse’

Truth.

This Time the Biggest Legal Gun in the Nation is on Our Side

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We have the United States Department of Justice not only filing an amici brief on behalf of the challenges to the Illinois gun ban, they have asked for time to come in and argue the government’s position.

Todd Vandermyde
September 12, 2025
DOJ arguing against Illinois’ gun ban ‘monumental,’ advocate says

It is rare but not unheard of for the Feds to support the 2nd Amendment. See the DOJ amicus brief: Office of the Solicitor General | District of Columbia v. Heller – Amicus (Merits) | United States Department of Justice.

Still, it is definitely a worth celebrating when you find that you have the biggest legal gun in the nation on your side.

Advocating for Personal Safety

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The first time I went to a shooting range I was shaking so bad I couldn’t even write my simple five letter name on the forms and I almost threw up in the waiting area.

Now I am a second amendment advocate.

I do not advocate for violence. It is never the answer. But evil exists and it is up to us to protect ourselves. In fact, one of the first things you learn in a gun safety class is that you never want to pull out the gun unless you absolutely have to. Your wallet, watch, jewelry, phone, car, whatever are not worth taking someone’s life. I want to make that clear.

I also want to make it clear that if you are not comfortable around guns or in using one, then make that a top priority now. Start small. Get comfortable. Get trained. This is especially directed at women! If you aren’t comfortable with a gun please consider other options for personal safety. I am a runner. I have MACE and even a taser that I carry whenever I’m running alone. I’ve heard too many stories.

This is in no way advocating for violence. What it is though is advocating for personal safety. It is us against evil and no one is coming to save us. It is your right to protect yourself and your family.

sarah @swkyhokie
Posted on X, September 11, 2025

This is about 1/3 of her post. Most of the rest is her Virginia Tech mass shooting story. She was unhurt but blamed guns for many years. Eventually she thought it through and realized she had it wrong.

Via a post from Chuck Petras @Chuck_Petras.

Mistake or Intentional? Leftist Speech or False Flag?

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we all deserve gun safety. Gun violence is too prevalent in America.

Washington State Democratic Party
September 10, 2025
Washington state elected officials react to fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk | The Daily Chronicle

This seemed a little off and I wanted to verify the exact details. As this was posted on Bluesk I had to create an account and search from probably close to an hour before I finally found it. The text searches did not find it because the words were in an image:

That is interesting. Do you see the difference? It still throws in the idea that the assassination is a gun problem rather than a people or rhetoric problem. But it is not the primary point.

The article was written by Paige Cornwell at the Seattle Times. But it was picked up and posted elsewhere:

No one, apparently, noticed the error in the quote.

If you haven’t noticed the difference, I’ll point it out for you. Ms. Cornwell substituted “we all deserve gun safety” for “we all deserve safety.”

Perhaps I am hypersensitive to the phrase “gun safety.” Or perhaps Ms. Cornwell mistyped the quote in a hurry to get the article finished. Or the Washington State Democrats changed their post after Cornwell grabbed the quote. But a case can be made she did this intentionally. Copilot could not find any history of reporting on gun ownership in any form and tends toward it being an inadvertent error.

I have sent Ms. Page an email about the error. If I get a response, I will edit this post.

In related news, there are both Democrats and the Republicans jumping to conclusions about the motive of the shooter without evidence to support their beliefs. Some Rs claim the Ds are terrorists and should be hunted down and held responsible. Some Ds claim it was a false flag operation to distract from Trump’s involvement with Epstein and/or to justify the creation of a fascist state.

Having just finished Gun Control in the Third Reich: Disarming the Jews and “Enemies of the State” (a good book, BTW), I can easily see the parallels to Nazis using political assassinations as justification for extermination of minorities/political-opponents. And, of course, the political left has a tendency to view violence as just another form of speech.

I’m going to wait for evidence before expressing an opinion. However, it is full speed ahead on getting the underground bunker in Idaho livable.

Update: It has been almost 24 hours since I sent her an email asking if it was intentional or not. I have not received a response.

Draw your own conclusions.

A Magnet for Criminals

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Gun control doesn’t stop bad guys. It’s a magnet for criminals.

Erich Pratt
Senior Vice President
Gun Owners of America
September 9, 2025

I really admire the ability to succinctly express powerful ideas.

Realistically Throwing Orgies

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When ppl imagine dating me (a promiscuous poly woman) I think they probably are imagining me leaving them at home while I go off and get railed.

But realistically it also includes me recommending u to other girls and throwing orgies that I invite you to. It’s hot when u get laid.

Aella @Aella_Girl
Posted on Twitter, February 14, 2023

There are alternate realities that one would think are impractical or even impossible. Yet, the evidence seems convincing they do exist and are at least somewhat practical.

Negative Activity

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We are funding non-profits and public health to pass out foil, meth pipes, other paraphernalia – I question what harm is being reduced by that, by helping people get high?

Sara Nelson
Seattle City Council President
September 3, 2025
‘Bouts of negative activity’ lead to temporary closure of 3 Seattle parks

This was prompted by the city park department fencing off and temporarily closing three parks then saying:

We recognize that this park has been impacted by bouts of negative park activity, and we will continue to work to ensure that all parks are clean, safe, and welcoming.

I’m more that a little surprised that someone on the Seattle City Council would say something that reasonable. In contrast, the “negative park activity” statement is entirely in character with what I would expect.

The use of euphemisms and outright lie to gloss over gross acts of neglect and enablement which what one can only conclude are deliberate acts of societal destruction are what I have come to expect.

Perhaps times are changing, and City Council President Nelson can lead that change. Seattle used to be beautiful and safe. It would be nice if they can fix the damage done by all the leftist politics of the last several decades.

I am generally an optimist. But I suspect the Marxists who have been running Seattle into the ground still have a power base enabling the continuation of their destruction.

A Marxist Tell

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Gun makers are increasingly competing for a decreasing market share. That’s why you see this push for an aggressive deregulatory agenda … That’s what animates this attack on the NFA.

 Hudson Munoz
Executive director of Guns Down America
September 5, 2025
Inside the gun absolutists’ bold plot to repeal one of America’s strongest firearms laws

What you see is here is a very strong indicator of a Marxist. The attribution of something they see as bad in the world as due to “corporate greed”, “capitalism”, etc. You used to hear organizations like the Brady Campaign insist that gun manufactures were “flooding the streets” with guns.

It seems beyond their comprehension that markets drive the direction of corporations. Apparently, in their minds, people do not have free will or ability to decide for themselves what they want to spend their own money on. And that extends to people pushing legislators to pass, or repeal, laws that further the interests of individuals. Do they think corporations vote instead of individuals?

And if you doubt this organization has an evil agenda, check out this line from their website:

Gun violence can’t happen where there aren’t guns, and guns are not inevitable.

The organization is probably just one person, Igor Volsky, and is only of significance because it demonstrates the Marxist tell in how they frame the view of gun owners being allowed to purchase gun accessories with fewer restrictions.

Seriously Unconstitutional or Trolling?

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Gun owners already know what it’s like for the government to penalize them for crimes they did not commit.  We shouldn’t even consider such an extreme response to heinous act committed by one disturbed individual, much less implement it, no matter how horrible the crime. The deranged Minneapolis killer is no longer a threat to anybody, and we needn’t make scapegoats of others who had nothing to do with that outrage, just to create the impression something is being done.

The ironic aspect of this controversy is that some in the liberal media are suddenly supporting gun rights because somebody in the Trump administration is talking about restricting transgenders from exercising their Second Amendment rights. Perhaps they will learn something from this.

The government, no matter who is in charge, must understand that enumerated rights protected by the Constitution cannot be stripped away for what amounts to a publicity stunt. If we allow that to happen to one minority group, it could happen to another group, and then another, until the right becomes a distant memory, especially for those of us who have worked so hard to protect it. This is a bad idea, and it needs to go away immediately.

Alan Gottlieb
CCRKBA Chairman
September 5, 2025
CCRKBA: DOJ SHOULDN’T BAN GUNS FOR TRANS PEOPLE OVER INDIVIDUAL CRIMES | Citizens Committee For The Right To Keep And Bear Arms

Mark Smith has a different take, which I think is more likely. And I would not be surprised if Gottlieb also is inclined to believe Mark’s take but plays it straight to score points with the rights are for everyone concept.

The TL;DR; version from Mark is that Trump is trolling the political left to get them to proclaim gun rights are for people of all sexual orientation and the Trump administration is going to violate the constitutional rights of an oppressed minority.

Assuming Mark has the correct angle on this, I could see this causing a few heads to “explode”. If it doesn’t, it was still a good try.

Fear of Success?

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I think they are afraid that people will see what can be done if politicians commit to taking action and really want to make a difference. That’s really the only reason I can think of because otherwise, it makes no sense. And if you look at what Mayor Muriel Bowser has done in D.C. – she’s embraced it and it’s made a huge difference. I wish they would learn from her.

Jody Weis
Former head of the Chicago Police Department
September 2, 2025
‘Afraid’: Ex-Chicago police leader criticizes Dems for rejecting federal crime aid

There are other plausible explanations:

  • The politicians want people to be victims, so the politicians have that as an issue to campaign on. To be fair, this could be an implementation detail of the reason Weis is suggesting.
  • If successful, it will implicitly be giving credit to Republicans and diminish the likelihood of Democrats being returned to office.
  • They are sadists and enjoy seeing the death and destruction of others with no serious risk to themselves.
  • Trump Derangement Syndrome, TDS. We have an epidemic of it in this country.

And, of course, we should always consider embracing the healing power of AND.

If You Begin with Talking About Honesty, You Probably are Dishonest

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You have to be honest, and say what will actually work, which is what nobody wants to hear, which is that there are just simply way too many firearms, and they are way too accessible.

And they’re too powerful, even handguns too, again, that’s why in Australia … It doesn’t matter if it’s not politically acceptable to say it. I’m not here as a politician or anyone who works in politics. I’m a journalist. Whether or not you like it, the only thing that really works, if you really wanted to bring down gun violence, was to do what Australia did and to do what many other countries in Europe do.

Mike Spies
Senior Staff Writer The Trace
August 27, 2025
Corporate Media Outlets Only Too Happy to Help Regurgitate Michael Bloomberg’s Anti-Gun Agitprop – Shooting News Weekly

Whenever someone starts a conversation with something to the effect of, “I’m going to be honest with you…” Then that, almost for certain, means their normal state is dishonesty. Furthermore, they are being dishonest now and trying to convince you to believe their lies. Here, Spies* is demonstrating a minor variation on that maxim.

Heinlein once made a similar observation with, “Money is truthful. If a man speaks of his honor, make him pay cash.”

Also, never let anyone get away with telling you that no one wants to take your guns.

* One has to wonder, is his dishonesty so embedded in his ancestor’s behavior that they were given this as a family name?

Game Theory of Police Interrogation

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got a call from a criminal defendant I believe is innocent. Before calling me, he voluntarily participated in a police interrogation for several hours. He believed that “I have nothing to hide” and that he could explain to the police why they had the wrong guy.

Defense attorneys might call this naïve, but look at the responses to Fleishman’s OP. Even high-IQ people really believe this is how law enforcement works.

Here’s the problem. When you agree to a police interrogation, you and the police are playing two different games.

As the suspect, you believe you are playing a multiplayer, collaborative game.

But the police aren’t even playing a multiplayer game. They’re playing a one-player game, like Tetris.

As the suspect, you’re not a player in the game. You’re more like the game environment, producing falling blocks for the player—the police.

The police play this game by collecting your statements like blocks and fitting them into a picture that incriminates you. When enough blocks have fit together, the police have won the game and refer the case to a prosecutor.

You believe that, once you convince the police that you are innocent, you will all win. But that’s not a real outcome of the game. “Evidence that I am innocent” is not even a game element. From the cops’ perspective, if they fail to assemble the blocks into an incriminating picture, they have lost the game.

Suspects who think “I have nothing to hide” are always surprised when the interrogation lasts several hours. “I’ve already explained everything – why am I still here?” they think.

That’s because the longer the game goes on, the more falling blocks the police have to assemble their case. It’s in their interests to keep the game going long past what your game required.

All suspects eventually sense this on some gut level and become frustrated. You think: “Wait a minute, – all of their questions are subtly premised on my guilt! But I can prove to them that I’m not guilty. I need to appeal to them to really hear me out.”

I.e., “Let’s start over with a different game where we can all work together.”

But even as you’re trying to change the game, you are speaking and therefore generating more blocks.

Here’s the only solution. The moment you have any reason to believe you’re a suspect, exit the game. Politely ask if you are free to leave. If they say “no,” calmly tell them “I invoke my right to remain silent and my right to counsel.”

If you’re in custody when you say this, the cops will actually physically stand up and leave the room as if you’ve just uttered a magic incantation.

Ian Huyett @IanHuyett
Posted on X, September 1, 2025

I have never heard it explained like this before. This is awesome!

I have had similar thoughts, but I had no idea how to explain it so well. And my thoughts were more based on the assumption that the police were outright evil. It goes like this…

Every bit of information I give the police could be used to construct evidence and motivations that is consistent with my alibi and innocent reasons for my actions such that my alibi and reasons are neutralized.

Exercise your Fifth Amendment rights. Do not talk to the police if you might be a suspect in a crime.

Society is Changing

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Americans are having a record low amount of sex. We find that in 1990, 55% of adults ages 18–64 reported having sex weekly, according to the General Social Survey (GSS). But around the turn of the millennium, that number began to dip: by 2010, less than half reported having sex weekly, and by 2024, of the more than 1,000 men and women queried on this topic by the GSS, that number had fallen to just 37 percent.

…

While the decline in sex has been most acute among younger generations, older adults have not been left unscathed. And notably, the sex recession is making inroads among married couples. Between 1996 and 2008, 59% of married adults, ages 18-64, reported having sex once a week or more. That number fell to 49% for the period of 2010 to 2024. Married couples are seeing declines in sexual frequency across age groups.

It’s no coincidence that a decline in marital sex follows the digital revolution. Today’s electronic opiates not only depress partnering and marriage among young adults—they also weaken already established relationships. A 2023 IFS study found that married adults reported lower sexual frequency when their spouse substituted couple time for phone or computer use. Furthermore, bedtime procrastination is a rising habit. So-called bedtime procrastinators spend two hours using some form of digital media in the three hours leading up to sleep. It’s not surprising that more social media, Netflix, or gaming on the part of spouses translates to less intimacy.

I was about 2010 when a co-worker at Microsoft told me she wanted to have a second child, but she was having doubts about the desirability of her husband being a long-term partner. He, basically, was no longer interested in sex. He also was a computer programmer at Microsoft and when at home he played video games and wrote software for new video games. He was a decent enough father to their child. She was, and is, quite attractive. They did not lack money, but she wanted physical attention in multiple ways. He spent his time in the digital world.

I suggested counseling and some books, but I don’t think she followed up on any of my suggestions or found an alternate solution. She is still married to the same guy and only has the one child.

It has been years since I last talked to her or even corresponded with her, but it still makes me sad to think about her situation.

The Devil is in the Details

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It’s easy to talk about “sensible gun control” when you don’t actually lay out what that means.

spf4000
August 31, 2025
What “Meaningful Gun Control” is this author talking about? : r/liberalgunowners

You see this all the time in various forms. People will make some statement or series of statements that sound good, but do not include details. It might be better roads and bridges but no details about how it will be paid for. It might be affordable housing but do not mention they intend to take money from other people to pay for the housing.

Politicians are great on broad stroke statements. But they either don’t understand details are important, or they are deliberately hiding the devil in the details of what they intend to do.

Building Things Atom by Atom

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By using an electron beam, or e-beam, to remove and deposit the atoms, the ORNL scientists could accomplish a direct writing procedure at the atomic level.

“The process is remarkably intuitive,” said ORNL’s Andrew Lupini, STEM group leader and a member of the research team. “STEMs work by transmitting a high-energy e-beam through a material. The e-beam is focused to a point smaller than the distance between atoms and scans across the material to create an image with atomic resolution. However, STEMs are notorious for damaging the very materials they are imaging.”

The scientists realized they could exploit this destructive “bug” and instead use it as a constructive feature and create holes on purpose. Then, they can put whatever atom they want in that hole, exactly where they made the defect. By purposely damaging the material, they create a new material with different and useful properties.

“We’re exploring methods to create these defects on demand so we can place them where we want to,” Jesse said. “Since STEMs have atomic-scale imaging capabilities, and we work with very thin materials that are only a few atoms in thickness, we can see every atom. So, we are manipulating matter at the atomic scale in real time. That’s the goal, and we are actually achieving it.”

To demonstrate the method, the researchers moved an e-beam back and forth over a graphene lattice, creating minuscule holes. They inserted tin atoms into those holes and achieved a continuous, atom-by-atom, direct writing process, thereby populating the exact same places where the carbon atom had been with tin atoms.

“We believe that atomic-scale synthesis processes could become a matter of routine using relatively simple strategies. When coupled with automated beam control and AI-driven analysis and discovery, the synthescope concept offers a window into atomic synthesis processes and a unique approach to atomic-scale manufacturing,” Jesse said.

Dawn M Levy
September 24, 2024
‘Writing’ with atoms could transform materials fabrication for quantum devices

They can create new materials atom by atom. I can’t imagine the limits to such a tool. What sort of “alloys” could be made? Could there be energy storage devices like batteries and capacitors far beyond the capacities of our current devices? What about explosive compounds? Imagine drones the size of a mosquito carrying a super toxin or explosives payload to someone’s middle ear or up a nostril. Or nanobots roaming the bloodstream to clear an infection, clogged blood vessels, or cancer.

Living in the future is wild.