Quote of the day—John Hinderaker

I am not sure how liberals expected the Kyle Rittenhouse murder trial to go. Anyone who had seen the videos of Rittenhouse’s interactions with the men who were chasing him, striking him and trying to kill him knew that he had a strong case of self-defense. But apparently the fact that Rittenhouse has a defense–and is so bold as to assert it!–came as a surprise to the Left.

John Hinderaker
November 12, 2021
RITTENHOUSE TRIAL BRINGS OUT THE CRAZY
[I don’t think it’s “surprise”. I think it’s indignation. It’s all about political currency. Violence is the political currency of the left. Non-leftists should stay in their lane and rely on the police. And since they had essentially neutered the police during this “summer of love” they expected, nay, they deserved an open field of operation. Someone dares to put out a fire they started? That is intolerable and must be punished. That Rittenhouse didn’t accept his well deserved beating was a gross violation of their expected rules of engagement. He had to guilty of something. He shouldn’t have even been there.—Joe]

Good to know

FBI document shows what data can be obtained from encrypted messaging apps:

App Legal process & additional
details
Apple
iMessage
*Message content
limited.

*Subpoena: can render basic
subscriber information.
*18
USC §2703(d):
can render 25 days of iMessage lookups and from a
target number.
*Pen
Register:
no capability.
*Search
Warrant:
can render backups of a target device; if target uses
iCloud backup, the encryption keys should also be provided with content return
can also acquire iMessages from iCloud returns if target has enabled Messages in
iCloud.
Line *Message content
limited.

*Suspect’s
and/or victim’s registered information (profile image, display name, email
address, phone number, LINE ID, date of registration, etc.)
*Information
on usage.
*Maximum of seven days worth of
specified users’ text chats (Only when E2EE has not been elected and applied and
only when receiving an effective warrant; however, video, picture, files,
location, phone call audio and other such data will not be
disclosed).
Signal *No message
content.

*Date
and time a user registered.
*Last date of a
user’s connectivity to the service.
Telegram *No message
content.

*No

contact information provided for law enforcement to pursue a court order. As per
Telegram’s privacy statement, for confirmed terrorist investigations, Telegram
may disclose IP and phone number to relevant authorities.

Threema *No message
content.

*Hash
of phone number and email address, if provided by user.
*Push
Token, if push service is used.
*Public
Key
*Date (no time) of Threema ID
creation.
Date (no time) of last
login.
Viber *No message
content.

*Provides
account (i.e. phone number)) registration data and IP address at time of
creation.
*Message history: time, date,
source number, and destination number.

WeChat *No message
content.

*Accepts
account preservation letters and subpoenas, but cannot provide records for
accounts created in China.
*For non-China
accounts, they can provide basic information (name, phone number, email, IP
address), which is retained for as long as the account is
active.
WhatsApp *Message content
limited.

*Subpoena: can render
basic subscriber records.
*Court
order: 
Subpoena return as well as information like
blocked users.
*Search
warrant:
 Provides address book contacts and WhatsApp
users who have the target in their address book contacts.
*Pen register: Sent
every 15 minutes, provides source and destination for each message.
*If
target is using an iPhone and iCloud backups enabled, iCloud returns may contain
WhatsApp data, to include message content.
Wickr *No message
content.

*Date
and time account created.
*Type of device(s)
app installed on.
*Date of last use.
*Number of messages.
*Number
of external IDs (email addresses and phone numbers) connected to the account,
bot not to plaintext external IDs themselves.
*Avatar image.
*Limited
records of recent changes to account setting such as adding or suspending a
device (does not include message content or routing and delivery
information).
*Wickr version
number.

Prepare appropriately.

How to Lie About Guns

By Frank Melloni:

How to Lie About Guns, New York Times Style

One of the easiest ways to lie and not get sued for libel is to simply do so through exclusion. The New York Times is famous for this and if you don’t know enough about guns they can make things sound pretty bad, just by leaving out a little bit of information. In the wake of the Kyle Rittenhouse Verdict we ought to brush up on the tactics of far-left media.

Quote of the day—Hugo Gurdon

Righting the listing ship of state requires that we once again recognize that process, tedious though it may be to political hotheads, is more important than temporary victories and defeats on policy. The idea that results alone are important is the same as saying might makes right. It is the maxim of bullies and tyrants. It is not the political philosophy on which America long stood and should still stand.

Hugo Gurdon
November 17, 2021
Damn the evidence, convict the white supremacist
[+1.—Joe]

James D. Zirin of The Hill is a liar

It starts with the headline and continues nearly non-stop with the lies:

A miscarriage of justice in Kenosha

The unimaginable has occurred. Kyle Rittenhouse, the admitted killer of two men and maimer of a third, has been acquitted on all counts.

It certainly was imaginable to me and millions of others. After the videos came out it was crystal clear to anyone who had a glimmer of knowledge about the use of lethal force in self defense. The author is a former federal prosecutor and cannot possibly claim ignorance of the law.

On Aug. 25, 2020, Rittenhouse armed himself with a borrowed AR-15-style assault rifle loaded with full metal jacket armor-penetrating ammunition and marched into downtown Kenosha, Wis.

FMJ bullets are not “armor-penetrating”.

An AR-15 is the same kind of gun, in design and function, that our troops carry in the field. But Rittenhouse from the evidence had never undergone any training, military or otherwise, in the use and operation of the deadly weapon, which was illegally purchased and given to him by a friend.

It is not the same kind of gun and does not function the same as any rifle used by any military in at least the last 60 years.

As a (formerly) certified firearms instructor I can say with 100% certainty this was not the first time Rittenhouse had used a firearm. Some people, and I agree with this, say:

Based on the videos I’ve seen Rittenhouse is one of the best weapons handlers under pressure I’ve ever seen.

This was not an untrained person.

The gun was not illegal purchased. There was nothing illegal in any of the transfers of that firearm.

One shot might have qualified as self-defense, but four shots, it would appear, doth a murder make.

False. This was drilled into my General Defensive Handgun classmates and I back in ‘97:

If it ever becomes times to shoot someone, do they need to be shot a little? Or a lot?  If that time comes you should shoot early and often — until the threat is over.  If you shoot a “set”, such as a double tap, you may stop shooting too soon.

Zirin is a former attorney. Having watched the trial we can conclude his education must have been suitably refreshed. That he still claims such falsehoods is evidence of deliberate lies.

Although his second victim, Anthony Huber, was “armed” only with a skateboard, Rittenhouse claimed he shot him dead because he believed Huber was threatening his life.

Rittenhouse was on the ground and Huber hit him in the head with the skateboard. This is clearly lethal force. You are legally allowed, and I would say morally obligated, to defend innocent life using lethal force when confronted with lethal force by your attackers. Zirin learned this in the trial as well because he quoted the judge saying essentially the same thing. The only question here is, “What is the objective of these lies by Zirin?”

The trial was highlighted by emotional and illuminating testimony from Rittenhouse himself, who wept as he protested that he had acted in self-defense when he fatally shot Rosenbaum not once but four times. Rosenbaum had thrown a plastic bag at him and chased him.

Lying by omission. Zirin left out the part about Rosenbaum threating to kill him, then chasing him, and finally attempting to take Rittenhouse’s rifle.

I find it interesting and someone comforting that the poll taken at the end of the article shows I’m not the only one taking issue with this liar:

image

Large increase in guns without serial numbers

From Los Angles:

Ghost guns accounted for more than 40% of guns confiscated by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and one-third of crime guns recovered by the Los Angeles Police Department in 2020.

On Oct. 19, the LAPD reported to the police commission on the “epidemic” of ghost guns, which department officials say have increased “exponentially over the last year.”

“The current trend shows these figures will continue to grow exponentially,” according to the LAPD report, which notes that 3D printing allows the components to be more accessible.

“‘Ghost guns’ are replacing firearms people would normally purchase, with no background checks required,” according to the report.

Between January and June of this year, 863 ghost guns were recovered, more than the 813 recovered during the entire year of 2020. So far in 2021, 1,445 “ghost guns” have been recovered, a 202% increase over last year, according to the LAPD.

“…one third of crime guns…” It’s already against the law to commit a crime with a gun. So what is it they hope to change with another law? It would be so easy to make it near zero percent of guns confiscated be “ghost guns”. Remove the restrictions on guns which have serial numbers and the “ghost gun” problem would go away.

That the ordinance was proposed by the same guy, Councilmen Paul Koretz, who said this tells the world all we need to know:

This is absolutely ridiculous to think that the manufacture, sale and marketing of these weapons is intended for anything but skirting a loophole in the state and federal gun laws to get firearms into the hands of people who law enforcement and we as a society have deemed as unfit to possess those guns.

As long as there are criminals in the public wanting a gun to commit a crime there will be guns available to them. This is Black Market 101 stuff here. Look at the failed 100 year long ban on some recreational drugs.

If society knows who are “unfit to to possess those guns” then there can be no justification for those people to remain in public. That Koretz makes no effort to remove such people from the public tells us he is representing them and their agenda. They are literally his constituents.

Koretz compounds his evil allegiance with criminals by making it more difficult for innocent people to obtain cheap firearms to protect themselves from Koretz’s criminal constituents.

One has to wonder if he is another Leland Yee who is running a gun smuggling business on the side and doesn’t want the homemade guns competing with his guns. Regardless, what he is doing is illegal and I look forward to his trial.

The next stop is SCOTUS

Via Tom Gresham @Guntalk and CNN:

A federal appeals court in California on Tuesday upheld the state’s ban on high-capacity magazines, reversing a lower-court ruling in which a federal judge in San Diego compared an AR-15 rifle to a Swiss Army knife.

The 7-4 decision by the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit says that the state’s restriction on the size of magazines that may be used with firearms only minimally interferes with the right to self-defense, and there is no evidence that anyone was unable to defend their home and family due to the lack of high-capacity magazines.

As Gresham said, “Time to appeal to SCOTUS.”

Quote of the day—Kevin Baker

“Democracy Dies in Darkness” is not a warning, but a mission statement to the Left.

Kevin Baker
November 13, 2021
Comment on Facebook.
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]

Winnie the Pew

Via email and Gab from Rolf with the comment “Peace does not come to the Hundred Acre Wood by magic.”

WinnieThePewPew

GoFundMe says Rittenhouse fundraisers are now okay

This is good news:

Since Rittenhouse was found not guilty on all charges against him on Friday, GoFundMe will allow any future fundraisers started to raise money for his legal fees.

I wonder as to the reason why those accused of violent crimes are not allowed to fundraise. My guess is they are concerned some people might commit violent crimes just for the money. They could get a cheap lawyer or even plead guilty, spend a few years in prison then have hundreds of thousands of dollars waiting for them when they get out.

Are there any other hypotheses? Or does anyone know for certain?

Alexandra Hutzler of Newsweek is a liar

The headline sets the tone with Black Lives Matter Says System Is Upholding ‘White Supremacy’ After Rittenhouse Acquittal. Technically that is true. @Blklivesmatter did tweet that on November 19th. That claim is absurd on the face of it but the author doesn’t even hint there is anything wrong with such a claim. She quotes numerous other falsehoods told by various people and then tells one of her own:

Rittenhouse, then 17, was illegally armed with a semiautomatic rifle and said he traveled from Illinois to help protect businesses during the protests.

False. The judge threw out that charge because it was false. The law is confusing and it would be easy for the average person to believe that claim but numerous lawyers and many ordinary people were able to build the flow diagram to conclude, as did Rittenhouse before carrying the gun, that it was legal. Hutzler even mentions the judge threw out the charge. Why didn’t she get the clue? I suspect she did get the clue but the truth didn’t matter to her. She is a liar and may even be proud that she can (mostly) get away with it.

Clever marketing

Via Kenarchist @kenb503:

RepealNFA

I like it!

Quote of the day—Joe DiSano @JoeDiSano

I have a constitutional right not to see someone’s substitute penis.

Joe DiSano @JoeDiSano
Tweeted on November 17, 2021
[It’s not only another Markley’s Law Monday it’s another science denier!

Via a Tweet from In Chains @InChainsInJail.

You have to wonder what color the sky is in this guy’s universe if that is part of the constitution of his government.—Joe]

Printing will continue

VIa Daniel Lambert @NavyLambo:

PrintingWillContinue

You can plan on it continuing beyond then too. But I don’t have a problem letting Giffords @GiffordsCourage, who this tweet was aimed at, believe it will stop after some incremental improvement in freedom.

Quote of the day—Michael Snyder

Sooner or later, this is what socialist regimes always do.

They tell us to study hard, get a good job and work as hard as we can.

And then they give our money to people that haven’t done any of those things.

Eventually they run out of other people’s money, and so then they just start wildly creating more.

Unfortunately, every time that this has been tried throughout history it has always ended in disaster, and now it is our turn.

Michael Snyder
November 14, 2021
This Is How They Intend To Get Us To “You Will Own Nothing And Be Happy”
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]

Stephanie Willis is a liar

Stephanie Willis rambles on about “privilege” and but never gives us any “meat” to back up her claims:

Kyle Rittenhouse being found not guilty on all counts after more than 24 hours of deliberations can be summed up with one simple phrase: White privilege. It’s an all too familiar theme we witness when White defendants are on trial for killing us.

I dare say Kyle Rittenhouse was cloaked with a privilege you cannot find in any legal precedent – The Rittenhouse Privilege. Throughout the trial there were instances in which it was quite apparent that the scales of justice tipped in favor of Kyle Rittenhouse.

Let’s start with the jury makeup. After the jury process, 18 individuals were selected to listen to the trial. Of these 18 individuals, 12 were selected at random by the defendant, Kyle Rittenhouse, to deliberate. These individuals consisted of seven women and five men – only one was a person of color.

The next thing to consider is the venue. The case was tried in Kenosha, which according to Census data is over 75% White. In the past, Kenosha country voted Democratic but went for Donald Trump in the 2016 election. It is also particularly important to consider the fact that Wisconsin is a gun friendly state. But we must also ask ourselves Gun Friendly toward whom?

How is the described jury makeup tipping the scales in favor of Rittenhouse? What, in her mind, would create a balanced trial? What should the composition of the jury be? Where would she think a venue be found? What does the predominate Democrat bias of the county with the outlier of 2016 going to Trump have to do with anything? She says these things as if these were obvious, unquestionable, evidence of bias. Absent a lot more explanation I can only conclude these are the ravings of a paranoid.

Nevertheless, she asserts her conclusion:

The Rittenhouse Privilege has set a precedent. There is now legal precedent which permits individuals to claim self-defense in the most outrageous of cases. Be forewarned – this precedent will only extend to individuals who can claim the Rittenhouse privilege.

With video and still pictures from multiple angles for nearly all the shootings and witnesses testimony consistent with the digital evidence the facts of the case could not be more clear. Rittenhouse met the requirements of the law and was justified in using deadly force against his attackers. That Willis claims to be an attorney, yet asserts this was an “outrageous” because Rittenhouse was found not guilty, only eliminates the defense she is ignorant, and not malicious, in her assertions.

Willis is a liar.

Headline writer is a liar

The headline reads Kyle Rittenhouse verdict violates these 5 standards for claiming self-defense. But if you read the actual article you will not find any such claim.

You can find errors in the article, such as in the Zimmerman/Martin case it is claimed the Florida Stand Your Ground law was an issue. But the writer doesn’t make the false claim the headline writer does.

I have to believe someone was making a deliberate effort to deceive the public and liable Rittenhouse.

Quote of the day—Noam Shpancer

Mature people use their fire to warm the house rather than burn it down, refrain from assaulting flight attendants, help old ladies cross the street, pack a sandwich for the long road trip, and can take a joke.

Our current cultural climate trends in the opposite direction. Instead of constructive sublimation, we celebrate raw destructive aggression; instead of suppressing dark emotions, we revel in them; instead of preparing for the future, we’re busy destroying it; instead of laughing at ourselves and our shared humanity, we either laugh at the weak or foreswear humor altogether.

In America today, the delicate and complex machinery of democracy is placed in infantile hands. You don’t need a child’s imagination to foresee trouble ahead.

Noam Shpancer, Ph.D.
November 13, 2021

Psychological Immaturity Threatens Our Democracy
Democracy requires psychological maturity, which appears to be in short supply.

[The article does a good job of describing the problem from the viewpoint of a psychologist. I wish he had some suggestions for a solution.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Jim Rickards

It’s hopeless to expect the government to cut down on deficit spending or money printing anytime soon. It’s all they know how to do.

Jim Rickards
November 9, 2021
First Down Payment on a Boondoggle
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Clif High

Let’s say the ultimate paranoid understanding is this is a collapse of civilization to some degree.  In order to understand this, we should extract ourselves from as many of these failing systems as possible.  If you can extract yourself from the money system as much as possible, the school system and any of these systems because they are all going to fail, and you don’t want to be dragged down by them.  Here’s how bad it’s going to get…

Members of Congress will be rushing out of meetings, heaving their guts out and vomiting all over the hallways because of the emotional shock because of the death of the dollar.  The death of the dollar is not going to be a slow thing.  It will come to the point, probably fairly rapidly, and it might even be in just a couple of weeks because we have this drop dead date on December 3rd.  Anyway … This is the thing to imagine, and that is we are coming to the end of a civilization.

Clif High
November 16, 2021
Collapse of Civilization Coming
[Don’t believe everything you read on the Internet.

While I can believe there is a very good chance of economic collapse of the U.S. within the next few years, and I can believe it will be “rapid”, my best guess is that “rapid” will be on the scale of months or possibly weeks.

My “prediction” is based on the time scales seen in other hyper inflation situations.—Joe]