Quote of the day—Cliff Mass

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Take a walk around downtown Seattle.  You will be shocked by a shuttered, dystopian city and made angry by the inaction and ineptness of its political leadership.   It is simply beyond words.

…

I swung by the infamous McDonalds* on Third Ave– infamous for both drug dealing and violence, and I could not believe what I saw:  an obvious drug deal going down right in front of me.

…

What didn’t I see on my two-hour walk? Not a single police officer.  Not one police car.
A boarded up central core of a major U.S. city was being left to the homeless, drug dealers, and security guards.  Even the most notorious, crime-ridden corner of the city had no police.  The streets of the city had become a fearful abandoned place.

Cliff Mass
August 5, 2020
Seattle: A City in Fear Can Be Restored
[Mass concludes with some suggestions and hope that Seattle can recover. I’m not so certain.

This morning I spent most of an hour talking with daughter Jaime about the death spiral of Seattle and other major cities. We’re not so sure Seattle can be saved. A significant part of the success of cities the last 200 years has been because most of the best jobs were in cities. Part of the response to the pandemic, many workers being able to work from home, has proven that reason is no longer valid. And just the existence of the pandemic is a deterrent to city life. Another attraction of city life was the restaurants and nightlife opportunities. Those were among the first casualties of the pandemic. So, why should people stay in the cities?

Many have already left. The people staying are those who contribute the least, if not a net drain, to the tax base. In New York Governor  Andrew Cuomo has been begging rich people to return to New York City from their second-home retreats so they can pay taxes to help offset the state’s growing coronavirus-related revenue shortfall. The people the politicians want to come back are those most sensitive to the loss of police protection for their property. So what is their motivation to return?

Add violence and property destruction to the ability to be prosperous and safe outside the mega cities and we may have a death spiral for Seattle, New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, and other large cities. Those cities have been accepting and even encouraging the terrorists who have been making the cities less desirable. So what are the plausible outcomes?

Add mega cities to the list of causalities of 2020..—Joe]

* This is ground zero of Mugme Street.

Quote of the day—GOFORBROKE231 @goforbroke231

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Vasily Blokhin. Soviet executioner at Katyn. His count of 7,000 shot in 28 days remains the most organized and protracted mass murder by a single individual on record. Somewhere in Portland, his successor rises.

GOFORBROKE231 @goforbroke231
Tweeted on August 7, 2020
[The conclusion is plausible. It’s the communist way.

I wish Portland law enforcement (this includes the prosecutors and judges) would do their jobs.and put the terrorists away for a decade or so. The more they let the problem fester the more blood that will ultimately be shed. The weak government response is so eerily like the government response to the Nazi brown shirts in the 1930s.

As a side note, just think about those numbers. 7,000 people murdered in 28 days. Assuming eight hours per day that’s more than one person every two minutes.

Be prepared to respond appropriately.—Joe]

First pistol match in eight months

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I think the last time I shot in a match was last December. Today I participated in an ASI match at the Renton Fish & Game Club. I had practiced Thursday evening and I think once the previous week as well. Before that it was probably a month or so. And before that, maybe sometime in February or March.

It turned out surprisingly well for as little as I have been to the range the last several months. I came in at 10th place out of 52 shooters. I felt I did great on all but two stages. I have to remember to shoot for 100% accuracy. If I push the speed a little bit, like I would in a USPSA match, the penalties are just too high. It’s a constant battle in my mind to make every shot a “down zero” hit.

USPSA Area 1 Championship

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As I had mentioned before, I had signed up to participate in the USPSA Area 1 championship in nearby Puyallup. In June it was postponed and then last month it was canceled:

It is with much regret that we are forced to withdraw from hosting 2020 Berry’s Area 1 Championship. We held on with high hopes and heartfelt dedication that the COVID-19 pandemic would subside and that we would, surely, be in Phase 4 of the current governing Phase Plan and that travel restrictions would have been lifted. We feel it is in everyone’s best interest to hold off until next year. Our Area Director, the Area Section Coordinators and the Paul Bunyan Rifle & Sportsman’s Club Board of Directors, have agreed to allow us to host 2021 Area 1 scheduled for August 4-8. This, of course, would be contingent on the current pandemic situation happening at that time. An alternate venue for 2020 has been established and will be announced by our Area Director. This will be an entirely separate match from the current posted match and will require new registration.

We want to give those intending to participate next year the opportunity to remain registered and maintain their spot in the match scheduled for 2021 at PBRSC. Any PAID participant, who chooses to remain in the match, will be awarded a ticket for entry into a drawing for a Springfield Range Officer Stainless Steel 1911. Those wishing to withdraw will be refunded the full registration fee, minus the Stripe processing fee. Refunds will be handled in as timely fashion as possible.
We appreciate all the support from everyone throughout these fluid times and the dedication of everyone who has continued to help us work toward bringing this match together. Our gratitude can not be expressed enough for their loyalty. We wish for everyone to maintain good health and remain safe as we hope that you can join us for Area 1 next year!

Most sincerely,
Tessina Hurley
Match Director

As I have had near zero practice since January I would have done rather poorly anyway. This will give me the possibility to get my skill level back up closer to where I would like it to be. The problem is that the range is about five minutes from where I work and I used to go to the range several times a week during the lunch break. As I work from home now the range is further away and I find it more difficult to schedule a visit.

Next month

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Via Rev. Meghan Gurley – Creative Clergy @Beyond_I_Do:

I had an asteroid for next month. Maybe re-check that.

SuperVolcano2020

That’s almost not funny because of the chance it might be a valid concern.

Quote of the day—Alan Gottlieb

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Fortunately, for the gun rights movement, the strength of the NRA is not only in its leadership but in its members. Its members will not abandon the fight to protect Second Amendment rights.

Alan Gottlieb
August 6, 2020
Is New York’s Attack on the NRA Meant To Punish the Gun Rights Cause for Executive Malfeasance?
[It’s even possible that if the New York AG succeeds what comes back in place of the NRA will be a stronger and more effective fighter for gun owner rights than the NRA.

As hostile as it sometimes is to gun owners I know long time gun rights advocates have told me there were times the ATF was vulnerable enough to be abolished. But the good guys preferred they be kept in a weakened and relatively ineffective state than have the existing laws enforced by a strong and well regarded agency like the FBI (this was nearly 20 years ago).

If the NRA is taken down our side will have recourses that would have gone to the NRA and the memory of a martyr killed by our enemies.

Perhaps the anti-gun people should be careful what they wish for.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Alan Dershowitz

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I’ve never heard of a case where an attorney general’s tried to dissolve a first amendment – and in this case First and Second Amendment protected political organization – that is a bridge too far constitutionally.

If she is selectively prosecuting and selectively investigating the NRA because she disagrees with its politics, that’s wrong,

…

I believe in the Second Amendment, but I also believe in reasonable gun control. But I would defend the NRA’s right advocate its position without being subject to selective investigation and prosecution if it turns out that the attorney general is looking into this organization because she disagrees with its politics.

Alan Dershowitz
August 5, 2020
Alan Dershowitz to Newsmax TV: NRA Move Political Prosecution
[I’ve known about the NRA’s wasteful use of money since 1997 and have put the vast majority of my 2nd Amendment dollars elsewhere. But I’m with Dershowitz. I strongly suspect New York Attorney General Letitia James is attacking the NRA for political reasons.She openly says this:

Strong gun laws in NY haven’t been enough to stop the gun violence that rips communities of color apart every day. Today, I’m announcing my plans as Attorney General to stop gun violence & take on the NRA, gun manufacturers, retailers & banks that fund these weapons of death

I would like to see NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre out but that can be done without destroying the NRA.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Terri Conley

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If you inch towards suggesting that people who do something other than monogamy might not be miserable or that they might have some advantages, they were just so hostile to that. I found that really fascinating.

Terri Conley
August 4, 2020
How One Psychologist Upended Everything We Know About Women, Sex, & Monogamy
[As well as being fascinating I think making people uncomfortable with clear factual data is great fun! I love doing it with the stupidity of gun laws as well as human psychology.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Daniel Greenfield

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It’s not the Confederacy, long defeated, they are out to kill, but the thing that all radicals hate the most, the moderate ideas on their own side that compete with them for the hearts and minds of their base.

…

The mobs aren’t just here to smash up old Confederate officers. They’re out to destroy Lincoln and Grant, to tear down the Columbus statues erected by Italian immigrant groups who wanted to plant a civic flag to show they belonged, and the statues of assorted Union officers put up by other patriotic immigrant groups to show that they too had a place in the nation.

And what the mobs are out to destroy, most of all, is that old liberal vision of America. And, by the time they’re done, if there are any liberals still left, they will throw them in the same rivers and fires in which they’re casting those old symbols of progress, the explorer who defied the skeptics, the men who envisioned a representative republic, the emancipation of the slaves, and a modern America.

The mobs are coming for our history and our future. They’re coming for America and for progress. Americans used to believe that things will get better. The mobs are here to destroy that hope.

Daniel Greenfield
June 26, 2020
When Marxist Mobs Come for the Liberals
[This is somewhat consistent with what happened in the Russian Revolution. Once power was consolidated the moderates were executed.

We live in interesting times.—Joe]

Beirut explosion

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Via MSN:

A large cache of explosive material seized by the government years ago was stored where the explosions occurred, according to top Lebanese officials — specifically ammonium nitrate…

The cache was estimated to be 2,750 tons. Boomershoot uses about 1 ton each year. Timothy McVeigh used (IIRC) about 2.5 tons in the Oklahoma City bombing.

This is the best video I’ve seen so far:

Incredible tragedy. I’m sure the death toll will rise for many days. And of course the property damage will be horrendous as well.

As Boomershooter Aaron M. said in email:

Check out that white in that explosion. Remind you of something? They are now saying it was something like 2000 tons of ammonium nitrate. It looks correct for that.

I agree. The white “smoke” is probably the water vapor from the ammonium nitrate decomposition.*

* NH4NO3 –> N2 + 2H2O + 1/2 O2

Quote of the day—Sam Jacobs

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Most Americans have never heard of these acts of terrorism from leftist groups that were so numerous throughout the 1970s. But this is a prime example of “those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” The urban unrest, which has rocked America in the early 2020s, is nothing new. The 1960s saw both race riots and left-wing terrorist groups looking to exploit animosity between racial groups in America.

The question is what are we going to do about it? The answer so far from our elected officials is “not much.” If leftist terrorist cells were willing to go this far when they had active opposition from government and corporate figures alike, what are they going to do when confronted with apathy or encouragement from elected officials and the business sector?

The answer remains to be seen, but will certainly be some variant of “nothing good.”

Sam Jacobs
July 2020
America’s “Days of Rage”: The Extensive Left-Wing Bombings & Domestic Terrorism of the 1970s
[See also:

It’s a great book with surprising parallels to the current leftist violence..—Joe]

COVID-19 tip

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Via someone on Facebook:

Covid-19_Tip0

I love sick humor.

Quote of the day—Elyssa Khalifé

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So here is what happened yesterday at the “protest.” We were waiting and watching live from the precinct as the rioters set 5 portable construction offices on fire. They then completely destroyed, looted, and lit the Starbucks on 12 ave and E Cherry St. on fire. As the group was walking they were breaking random car windows, car prowling, and spray painting everything…

They made their way to the East precinct with all of us inside. They spray painted the building, tried to break the fence, they threw a mortar that left an 8 inch hole in the wall… We could see a person pouring gasoline around the building that we were occupying, which is when all of us came out. We commanded people to “move back” as we advanced. People who assaulted us were arrested. We formed a line guarding the block. People threw paint, rocks, metal, frozen water bottles, glass and improvised EXPLOSIVES at us which is when we used our dispersal tools. In the process I was injured along with 20 other officers. Yes, I was injured even though I was wearing shin guards, and other protective gear.

The puzzling part is people were chanting “I don’t see no riot here, take off your riot gear.”

Why didn’t we deploy and stop them when the looting started? Our instructions were not to respond to property damage. The fire department was delayed in response because of the big hostile crowd but they made it and started putting out fires. We only responded when they were about to literally burn down our precinct with everyone in it and the connecting apartment complexes. This is insane. I don’t know what the message here is anymore. These people were 99% white and young. They were saying the most horrible things you can imagine to officers of color. They were also assaulting each other in the crowd. I saw signs and shirts that indicated Anarchy, Anti-Christ, abolishing religion, bringing down the government, defund/abolish SPD, defunding Seattle Parks and Rec (huh?), abolishing America?! I don’t think that the point to those riots is anything but inflicting as much damage and injury as possible.

About my injury: I sustained a torn medial meniscus and I most probably will require surgery to be able to live an active lifestyle again.

Elyssa Khalifé
City of Bothell Police Officer
Posted on Facebook July 26, 2020
[This is about what happened in Seattle.

It’s not so “puzzling” to me. The bigger the lie…

The stories of the “weak government” of pre-Nazi Germany keep coming to mind.

These “people” are closer to feral animals. The officials who give orders for the police to not protect property are showing their true colors. Both groups should be dealt with appropriately. They all should be arrested and prosecuted.—Joe]

Lakes trail

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We arrived at Mount Rainier National Park on Thursday. Our first hike on the way into the park was thwarted by closed gate on a Forest Service road:

20200730_120109

We found a different trail nearby and walked in about a mile or so and crossed a small stream. We found a log to sit on and ate our lunch. It was a hot day and snuggled down in the bottom of the ravine with the creek a few feet from us made it a lot more pleasant.

After lunch we continued on to our campground, set up camp, then ventured out to a nearby trail which promised great views of Mount Rainier and multiple lakes. The temperature climbed to 98F. And we were going to be climbing up a mountain trail. Hmmm… Well, the hiking is what we came for. And it wasn’t going to be any cooler at our campsite.

The view of the mountain from Reflection Lake was nice and was visible from the parking area:

IMG_3004Adjusted

Continue reading →

The mountain has a hat

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In the last few months I’ve occasionally posted about Mount Rainier 50 miles to the south of where Barb and I live. Last year at this time we went camping and hiking on the mountain. Last Thursday went back to the same campground for more camping and hiking in Mount Rainier National Park. We returned home yesterday.

One of our big joys was to see Mount Rainier up close with a “hat’”: Over 30% of the pictures Barb took are of this “hat”. Although my percentage is lower I took 27 pictures of the mountain with its “hat”.

IMG_3026Adjusted

Continue reading →

Quote of the day—James Rickards

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But getting back to Biden’s solid lead in polling, should we just cede the election to him — and his VP candidate who’d probably be in power within a year?

Not so fast. For over 80 years, pollsters have asked two key questions in election polling. The first is, “Who are you voting for?”

That’s the intention question. The second question is, “Who do you expect to win?” That’s the expectation question.

The answer to the intention question gets all the headlines. Those are the polling results we describe above. The answer to the expectation question gets buried and is scarcely discussed.

But guess what? In cases where the intention and expectation questions have different answers, (in effect, “I’m voting for A, but I expect B to win”), the expectation answer had the correct result 78% of the time.

The intention question had the correct result only 22% of the time.

And, Trump is leading the expectation question right now 55% to 45% for Biden. So, Trump actually is ahead in the polls. You just have to be looking at the right polls. That’s key. So don’t write Trump off just yet.

James Rickards
July 27, 2020
How Secure Is Biden’s Lead?
[Interesting! Very, very interesting.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Jayant Bhandari

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Western culture, which developed organically over at least the two and half millennia, starting from Greco-Roman philosophers, is not easy to duplicate. This culture requires thrift, honesty, hard work, liberty, individuality, dispassionate reason, objective justice, loyalty, honor, stoicism, a desire to rise above oneself, and many other factors that perhaps cannot be seen or isolated but must be absorbed subliminally in all their complex interactions. These are reflected in social, religious, and political structures of the West — the three independent branches of government, the rule of law, compassion for others, charity, family system, etc.

The West and East Asia, including China, comprise a mere 2.5 billion people.

“The Rest,” the Third World, comprises 5 billion out of 7.5 billion people on the planet. The cultural factors underpinning the West sound like clichés until one who gives up political correctness for the truth starts to see that the Third World, despite its several centuries of interactions with the West, simply fails to understand them.

The Third World is blind to what makes the West a civilization. It is as if the Third World cannot rise above animal instincts — craving for food, power over others, sex, and for the material.

Jayant Bhandari
June 24, 2020
The Decline of the Third World
[Via email from Chet.

I have three children. Each of them exhibited personality traits in the first few hours after birth that they still exhibit 30+ years later. I’ve seen an insane, counter productive, behavior by a mother regarded as profoundly brilliant by her children. Then as years passed this behavior gradually blossomed as self-destructive behaviors (literally culminating in multiple suicide attempts) by one of those children despite repeated attempts, over many years, by her spouse to get her professional help. The help was not only refused as unnecessary, it was vigorously asserted it was the spouse who was in need of professional help and behavior modification.

I’m convinced there are aptitudes and personality traits hardwired in the brain which destines certain genetic lines to aspire for, and literally reach, the stars. And other genetic lines which lack the capacity to grasp rational thought or fully understand numbers, let alone arithmetic and math.

These people can’t be reasoned with. They can’t be taught. If those who aspire for the stars are serious about their goals, or even avoiding being dragged into and out of sight into the mud, they must make some uncomfortable decisions very soon.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Victor Davis Hanson

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The angry and the demonstrating are loud and visible; their opponents are angry and quiet.

The election will reveal not just who is more numerous — but sadly also who is the angriest.

Victor Davis Hanson
June 24, 2020
2020 Election Will Be a Contest of the Angry
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]

Quote of the day—J. KB

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These protesters and activists are the most supremely ignorant people in history.

They literally have the entire wealth of recorded human knowledge at their fingertips. It’s all available online and immediately accessible through the smartphones that they all have.

I can only believe that they have to be willfully ignorant because they should have at least accidentally stumbled onto some bit of knowledge by now.

J. KB
June 27, 2020
Splatter is coming, Part 5
[And/or lying and/or delusional.

In any case J. KB concludes with:

There is no reasoning with them. That is abundantly clear.

As they used to say “civilize ’em with a Krag.” I have a feeling it will come to that.

I don’t think it has to come to that. I think arrests, convictions, and a few years in prison will help them reconnect with reality. Getting them out of their bubble for even a few months will be therapeutic.

H/T to less fat Dave @BigFatDave for the pointer.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Maj Toure

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I believe that more Black people would be alive if they were armed. So when I hear ‘unarmed Black man,’ I’m sad because there should be no such thing.

Maj Toure
Founder Black Guns Matter
July 28, 2020
Black gun ownership rises after pandemic and protests
[From the same article:

Phillip Smith, the president of the National African American Gun Association, told Politico he’s getting 2,000 membership requests per day – what used to be the annual numbers. There are now 90,000 members on the organization’s Facebook page.

This could change the voting demographics. Do these seem like people who are going to vote for someone who says things like:

The idea that we don’t have elimination of assault type weapons, magazines that can hold multiple bullets bullets in them, is absolutely mindless. It is no violation of the Second Amendment. It’s just a bow to the special interests, the gun manufacturers, the NRA.

It’s gotta stop.

It’s Biden that just has to be stopped. The dramatic increase in first time gun purchasers, and, in particular, the increased ownership by black Americans will decrease the likelihood that he will win the election.

We live in historic times.—Joe]