The next level of surveillance

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Via Bruce Schneier:

Here, we develop an approach to translate chemistries recovered from personal objects such as phones into a lifestyle sketch of the owner, using mass spectrometry and informatics approaches. Our results show that phones’ chemistries reflect a personalized lifestyle profile. The collective repertoire of molecules found on these objects provides a sketch of the lifestyle of an individual by highlighting the type of hygiene/beauty products the person uses, diet, medical status, and even the location where this person may have been.

Wow!

Perhaps the next level beyond this will be similar type of analysis of the air around you. Imagine going through airport security and the scanning machine blows air over you and determines your health, how recently you fired a gun, what pets you have, your DNA as well as that of your spouse, children, and mistress.

“Mad Dog” Mattis

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This being a sophisticated and educational sort of blog, thought I’d post something about the likely next SecDef, General (ret) James “Mad Dog” Mattis. It’s an interview by Peter Robinson of the Hoover Institution from 2015. Mattis sounds like a very thoughtful sort that will bring some much needed clarity to the position. Continue reading →

Gun Song – Lawyers, Guns, and Money

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A classic by Warren Zevon.

Quote of the day—Kevin D. Williamson

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Gun control that doesn’t annoy the NRA isn’t considered proper gun control at all. We could be putting violent criminals away for gun-related crimes for longer terms and monitoring them more aggressively through an improved parole system. We could do that before they graduate to murder — remember how many of those charged with possession offenses have prior arrests and convictions. But this isn’t on any gun-control agenda.

Why?

For one thing, it probably would mean locking up a lot of young black men in Chicago rather than hassling a lot of old white guys living out weekend-warrior Rambo fantasies in Tulsa. And for the Democrats, that isn’t an option. The enemy is the enemy, and, guilty or not guilty, he must be punished.

Kevin D. Williamson
June 17, 2016
Their fight isn’t about stopping shooters, it’s about identity politics.
[H/T to Glenn Reynolds.

I think the “old white guys in Tulsa” figured this out on or before November 8th this year. I also suspect “punishment” will turn out a little different than the Democrats had planned on.—Joe]

Rounds in the last month

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Lifetime reloaded ammunition totals:

223.log: 2,424 rounds.
3006.log: 543 rounds.
300WIN.log: 1,351 rounds.
40SW.log: 57,147 rounds.
9MM.log: 21,695 rounds.
Total: 83,160 rounds.

In November I reloaded 1500 rounds of .40 S&W. All were 180 grain Montana Gold JHP for practice at indoor ranges.

Quote of the day—Jeff Snyder

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For years, feminists have labored to educate people that rape is not about sex, but about domination, degradation, and control. Evidently, someone needs to inform the law enforcement establishment and the media that kidnapping, robbery, carjacking and assault are not about property.

Crime is not only a complete disavowal of the social contract but also a commandeering of the intended victim’s person and liberty. If the individual’s dignity lies in the fact that he is a moral agent engaging in actions of his own will, in free exchange with others, then crime always violates the victims dignity. It is, in fact, an act of enslavement. Your wallet, your purse, your car many not be worth your life, but your dignity is; and if it is not worth fighting for, it can hardly be said to exist.

Jeff Snyder
2001
Nation of Cowards page 16.
[Yes. Enslavement. The perpetrator is using force, without moral or legal right, to take that which you have labored for. Lethal force is justified against those who are in the act of enslaving others.—Joe]

Ammonium nitrate supplier

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As I reported a few months ago Amazon was selling ammonium nitrate. I ordered some and last weekend I finally got around to testing it in reactive targets. I didn’t do any low velocity tests but it worked fine from 30 yards away with .223 ammunition.

What is a little more interesting is the sheet of paper I found in the box:AmmoniumNitrateForSale

I don’t know what the “new regulations” or if they have gone into effect or not. But Amazon is still selling AN at a price people wanting to make their own reactive targets can afford. And if Amazon stops selling it there is still Ammonium Nitrate For Sale which also has exploding target mix.

Quote of the day—Adam Kredo

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A summer camp operated by the al-Quds militant group has trained more than 30,000 children this summer to carry out terrorist attacks using various knives and firearms, according to a new report by an organization that monitors activity in the Middle East.PalestinianChildTerrorist

Adam Kredo
August 8, 2016
Terrorist ‘Summer Camp’ Trains Children in Stabbing, Firearms
[H/T to Robert J. Avrech.

Ohio State anyone?

Our enemies are training their children to murder innocent people. We should be training everyone to defend themselves and others. Simultaneously we need to get rid of the gun free zones.—Joe]

This explains some things

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We have speculated court rulings have been influenced by blackmail and others have claimed to have evidence of it. And while I haven’t seen hard evidence of it yet there is proof some politicians have no qualms about applying political pressure on judges:

Remember back in 2012 when the Supreme Court narrowly upheld the Obamacare mandate with a 5-4 decision but only after Judge Roberts, a Bush appointee, seemingly parted with his conservative counterparts on the bench to effectively, single-handedly preserve perhaps the most destructive piece of legislation in American history (if not, we wrote about it here)?  Many people were shocked by Judge Roberts’ decision and subsequently alleged that it was driven more by politics than his interpretation of the Constitution. 

Turns out those people were proven right today as a new Podesta email confirms that the Obama administration applied political pressure on Roberts to sway his decision:  “it was pretty critical that the President threw the gauntlet down last time on the Court…that was vital to scaring Roberts off.”

…

While it’s fairly disturbing that the Clinton team would flippantly admit such things, what’s even worse is that they plotted to use Obama’s same strategy of applying political pressure on the Supreme Court in 2015 to overturn “King v Burwell” which also threatened Obamacare’s future.

The email below from Neera Tanden, clearly shows Clinton staffers colluding with the President of the Center for American Progress on a scheme to apply political pressure on the Supreme Court to overturn the challenge.

When some decisions just don’t make any sense, this might be the reason.

Drain the swamp.

Quote of the day—Tracie

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Did I get it?

Tracie
November 26, 2016
This was after her first shot with a rifle. Which was at two pounds of explosives from 30 yards away.

[I’ve blogged about Tracie and Kurt before (see also here). A few months ago they were new shooters. On Saturday they came to Idaho for a Boomershoot Private Party and shot boomers. In the dark.

My answer to Tracie was, “I think so. Do you want to try again?”—Joe]

She wanted to be president…

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But she can’t use a calendar. I’m talking about Jill Stein, of course. She raised millions of dollars, ostensibly to do a recount of the ballots in three close states. But she missed the filing deadline for PA, so she can’t call for one even if she had the money to pay for it. I’m sure she’ll find something to do with that money, of course. But I wonder how many who donated will realize they’ve been duped (again)? And how many will realize that someone this flaky could not possibly have done a respectable job as president. Ever.

The arrogance of the left: Wants to run the biggest economy in the world, and has more than 1.2 million  votes for her to do it, but not only can’t run a scheduler, she can’t even be bothered to ask a supporter to do it for her.

FacePalm  (my favorites are the variation of the Implied FacePalm)

Sign up for the New York Bubble

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Saturday Night Live did a surprisingly insightful ad for “The Bubble”

That’s right out of the “right wing” talk show sarcasm circuit. If Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh got together, they’d have come up with the same ad. Who thought of that? How did it get past the network editors?

Quote of the day—William Stone ‏@WTStone1075

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Not afraid of guns. Dont need one to have a pair of nuts. Like you, sissy boy. -points and laughs-

William Stone ‏@WTStone1075
Tweeted on February 16, 2016
[It’s another Markley’s Law Monday! Via a tweet from Linoge.—Joe]

A short gun story

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I received the following via email from Bruce L.:

A wild eyed 69 year old woman  walked into a crowded bar in downtown Washington, District of Columbia, waving an un-holstered pistol and yelled out, “I have a .45 caliber Colt 1911, with a seven round magazine, plus one in the chamber.

I want to know who’s been sleeping with my husband!”

A female voice from the back of the room called out, “You need more ammo Hillary!”

Obviously, it’s fiction. Hillary doesn’t know that much about guns.

Quote of the day—Glenn Reynolds

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I feel sorry for the NYT. First Trump gets elected, now Castro’s gone. Their whole world is shattered. . .

Glenn Reynolds
November 26, 2016
GOOD RIDDANCE. HE WAS A BRUTAL DICTATOR, EVEN THOUGH HE REMAINED THE DARLING OF AMERICAN LEFTISTS.
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Dr. Justin J Lehmiller

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Nearly half of men and one-third of women would, ideally, like to be practicing some form of non-monogamy. However, just 8% of men and 7% of women said they wanted to be in a completely open relationship. This means that most of the people who are into non-monogamy want there to be at least some rules or restrictions in place.

Dr. Justin J Lehmiller
October 31, 2016
Would Your Ideal Relationship Be Monogamous Or Open? 1,000 Americans Weigh In
[Isn’t that interesting?

Anonymous Conservative would say it’s validation of r/K theory in a nearly free resource environment.

The authors of Sex at Dawn: How We Mate, Why We Stray, and What It Means for Modern Relationships would probably say the only surprise is that the percentage is so low.

Here is where it gets even more interesting:

open2

Behavior doesn’t change much with age but openness with their partners does.

Fascinating.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Neve Campbell

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But his honesty is terrifying.

Neve Campbell
March 1, 2016
‘House Of Cards’ Star Neve Campbell Admits She’s ‘Terrified Of Donald Trump White House Victory’
[Via email from Jeff.

Well, to be fair, as a supporter of the political left I can see how something so unfamiliar to her could be frightening.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Beth Alcazar

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He does not simply teach them to assume all firearms are loaded or to keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction. Instead, he tells his students, “Assume the bullet is traveling down the barrel right now.”

Beth Alcazar
November 15, 2016
Treat Every Firearm as Though It’s Loaded…and a Bullet is Traveling Down the Barrel
[Via email from Paul Koning who said, “I thought the headline — and the explanation — makes an interesting point.”—Joe]

Quote of the day—John R. Lott

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Since at least 1950, every single one of Europe’s public mass shootings has occurred in a place where general citizens are banned from carrying guns. In America, there have been only four exceptions to that rule.

John R. Lott
November 16, 2016
It’s already too late for gun control to work
[And what can we learn from this?—Joe]

I thought he moved on

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Via the Huffington Post article What Does The NRA Want? (And What To Do About It):

Following the massacre of first graders at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre infamously said that the lesson to be learned was: “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.” That phrase perfectly captures a core premise of Trumpism: that the nation is neatly divided into “good guys” (who have been forgotten by the elites controlling our government) and “bad guys” (Muslims, undocumented immigrants and “the others” who have been allowed to threaten the safety and well-being of the “good guys”). LaPierre’s slogan likely will animate the entirety of the NRA’s Trump Administration agenda.

This is “a core premise of ‘Trumpism’”? Really? It’s implied the good guys are difficult to distinguish from the bad guys and the bad guys are based upon immigration status, religion, etc. But it is extremely clear from the context LaPierre identified the bad guy as the one murdering the children and their teachers. The good guys would have been anyone in a position to take a clean shot at the bad guy.

The rest of the article has similar distortions and half-truths. It is very skillfully worded so as to be almost true but extremely misleading so as to put gun owners and the NRA in a bad light. As I was reading the article I wondered, “Who is this person?”

It all made sense once I saw the author’s name. It is Half-Truth Henigan. I thought he had moved on. Oh, well…

One more interesting observation is that if Henigan thinks distinguishing good guys versus bad guys is difficult he must have a much different set of the people he associates with than I do. I suppose it makes sense since he is almost for certain a Democrat. And, after all, Democrats prison inmates outnumber inmates of all other political persuasion combined by a factor of two to one.