Greg: A woman asked me to kill a spider. I told her no. It was here first. She told me it was her or the spider.
Josh: The spider is still in his house. It has taken over the bathroom. The entire bathroom is filled with webs and it lives in the skylight.
Greg: I don’t respond well to ultimatums.
This story has been told more than once. Caity’s version is:
Josh: So, Greg was dating a woman. She found a spider in the bathroom and asked that Greg kill it. He said no. She said, it’s me or the spider.
Greg: Well, the spider was there first.
Josh: Yea, I’ve met the spider. It lives in the skylight.
Greg: I don’t do well with ultimatums.
Brett’s version involves a discussion of the hotness of the woman and the attitude of the spider versus the attitude of woman. It turns out that the woman was “hot” but the attitude of the spider won out overall.
First, they came for the Jews.
Then, they came for the women.
Next, they came for the blacks.
Thereafter, they came for the queers.
Moving forward, they’ll come for the gimps.
After that, they’ll come for the dinosaurs.
Subsequently, they’ll come for the crazies.
In the end, they’ll come for the Commies — because, logically, that batch can’t last.
The self-defense movement’s coming for you, too. Yes, you.
Yesterday, Nicki Stallard of the gay gun group Pink Pistols had an op-ed featured in The New York Times. Yes, you heard me right, The NYT. The Gray Lady. The Lefty Rag.
Nicki nailed it. The L.G.B.T. Case for Guns is quite possibly the most crisp, concise, salient piece I’ve ever read about marginalized classes and their right to self-defense. I’m not exaggerating.
Says Stallard:
This is a call to L.G.B.T. people to take their own defense seriously, and to question the left-leaning institutions that tell them guns are bad, and should be left to the professionals. Become a professional. You’re allowed. That’s what the Second Amendment is for. We can fight back when our lives depend on it.
Big steps happen when gun packs branch out.
Prediction: The next specialty gun groups to mobilize will be, in descending order: disabled people, seniors, and “the mentally ill”. (The latter being all of us, except for the busybodies who define insanity, but those folks wouldn’t be reading this blog, unless they’re paranoid and planning to terrorize all of us gunfolk.)
Together, let’s see how this story unfolds. Send a thank you note to Nicki and the New York Times, while you’re at it.
Lastly, I’m not forgetting about the white guys. It goes unsaid: you’re already at the tippy-top of the endangered species list.
Now, the next eight times some right-wing nut goes on a shooting spree, they’ll have “but James Hodgkinson!” at the ready.
So be it. I abhor this shooting, and I abhor all such shootings. And while I would agree that it was a damn good thing that the police were there, I would not agree that that just proves that more people should have guns so that more Hodgkinsons can be stopped before inflicting the maximum damage. Teachers and regular citizens aren’t cops. They don’t do repeated drills on taking down perps, and they shouldn’t.
Michael Tomasky
June 15, 2017 One Left-Wing Gunman Doesn’t Make a Movement
[I found it very telling that he went through a long list of political assassinations. He correctly labeled almost all the assassins as left-wing. He exempts John Wilkes Booth from the left-wing label even though he almost for certain was a Democrat and murdered a Republican. Not one of the assassins listed is “right-wing”, and I can’t think of any of the many mass shooters in our country one could call “right-wing”. In fact they almost all clearly identify as Democrat with some being apolitical.
Tomasky then predicts something about “the next eight times some right-wing nut goes on a shooting spree”… Well, if past performance is an indicator of future results then there will be about 500 left-wing mass shooters before we get eight right-wing shooters. And this doesn’t even get into the leftist governments who were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of millions of people in the 20th century.
So, why does he claim we shouldn’t be doing this? The only reason I can think of is that he wants us to feel, and be, defenseless against both the left-wing individuals and the left-wing governments.
At one level it amuses me to see someone relate a large body of substantially correct data and then have that person arrive at a conclusion completely at odds with their own data. But on another level it’s a very sad commentary on the irrationality of the ordinary human.—Joe]
The study is small and I’m concerned about which is cause and which is effect but one could conclude that Dr. Joe’s Cure for Everything boosts brain power:
Having lots of sex when you get older boosts brain power, scientists have discovered, with people who have regular sexual relations scoring better on verbal, visual and spatial perception tests.
A team of researchers from the universities of Oxford and Coventry, U.K., carried out a study on 28 men and 45 women aged between 50 and 83. The participants were asked about their sex lives, including how often, on average, they had had intercourse over the last 12 months. Answers included never, monthly and weekly.
They were also asked questions about their general health and lifestyle, and undertook a test that measured their brain function. This test assessed attention, memory, fluency, language and visual and special abilities. For example, for the verbal test they were asked to name as many animals possible in 60 seconds.
Capitol Police officers were heroes last week — their bravery and quick thinking probably saved the lives of Rep. Scalise and my other colleagues — but self-defense is my responsibility, too.
As Americans in my district and across the country know well, responsible, legal gun owners have every right to protect themselves, and that applies to members of Congress as well. I’ve worked to make sure these core values, preserved in the Constitution, are upheld. For my own protection, and for the protection of those around me, I’m putting these values into practice. Now, more than ever, I truly believe that the best place to be, during a terrible episode like the one in Alexandria, is next to a good guy with a gun.
There was a short article in the latest issue of Front Sight, the official USPSA magazine, about this video. It was made for a school project and is well done and might even persuade a few “soft-core” anti-gun people that gun owners aren’t inherently evil:
The gunman who opened fire on a GOP baseball team in Virginia had a local storage locker with more than 200 rounds of ammunition that he visited daily, including less than an hour before he shot more than 60 times at the team during a morning practice June 14.
I sometimes reload 200 rounds in the morning before I go to work. And then I shoot that many or more at the range at lunch time.
This explains why he got so few solid hits. He didn’t practice enough. But they don’t even suggest anything along those lines.
[sarcasm] I wonder what their intended point is? [/sarcasm]
To me this demonstrates their ignorance and/or maliciousness.
A law found to discriminate based on viewpoint is an “egregious form of content discrimination,” which is “presumptively unconstitutional.” … A law that can be directed against speech found offensive to some portion of the public can be turned against minority and dissenting views to the detriment of all. The First Amendment does not entrust that power to the government’s benevolence. Instead, our reliance must be on the substantial safeguards of free and open discussion in a democratic society.
This should give gun owners protection against having their Second Amendment rights infringed upon because they belong to some extremist group such as the NRA or the Republican party.—Joe]
The State Department has opened a formal inquiry into whether former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her aides mishandled classified information while she was the nation’s top diplomat, Fox News has learned. Despite being under investigation, Clinton and her staffers still have security clearances to access sensitive government information.
The department’s investigation aims to determine whether Clinton and her closest aides violated government protocols by using her private server to receive, hold and transmit classified and top-secret government documents. The department declined to say when its inquiry began, but it follows the conclusion of the FBI’s probe into the matter, which did not result in any actions being taken against Clinton or any of her aides.
Depending on the outcome of the current State Department inquiry, Clinton and her aides could have their access to sensitive government documents terminated.
Read Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton’s Doomed Campaign. Hillary and Bill thought the email scandal was a literally a joke. They couldn’t believe people actually took the violation of the law seriously. Even their closest aides urging them to take it seriously was just ignored. I think they are so accustom to breaking the law, and getting away with it, that they can’t fathom why it was considered an issue.
They should be in jail (at least, a case might be made that the death penalty might be applicable). But it will be at least a minor vindication if they permanently lose their security clearances.
Howard Dully is a son, father, husband, and author. He’s also a lobotomy survivor.
In 1960, Howard was 12 years young when his stepmother sought a transorbital (“ice-pick”) lobotomy for him. The reason? He was a difficult daydreamer who couldn’t sit still.
I first heard Howard’s story via radio broadcast in 2005. It broke my heart, and opened my eyes. Listen to the recording here.
Image courtesy: Howard Dully/George Washington University Gelman Library
Howard Dully didn’t have to come out of the lobotomy closet. In sharing his experience with the world, he bravely faced his uninvited demons, opened doors for other survivors, while closing the door on a dark chapter of his life. Photos from his childhood medical records speak a thousand words. And then some.
In 2006, when I was the conference organizer for the Eris Society, I invited Howard to speak. He accepted.
Howard’s presentation was so moving, someone from the crowd passed out. As the audience member was wheeled out of the room, Howard held his head high, and resumed his speech.
Howard Dully, the Gentle Giant. Photo courtesy: GoFundMe.com
Howard has every reason to be ferocious, vicious, and hateful towards the world. Instead, he chose to become a warm, personable, kind Gentle Giant.
Recently I found out that Howard is having some health challenges, and needs help with medical expenses.
A slice of this blog’s readership consists of freedomnistas, anarcho-capitalists, libertarians, and the like – folks who espouse that free markets, charity, and private enterprise will help lift those in demise.
I’m asking you to please put your money where your mouth is. Donate here, now. Then spread the word.
Chin up, Howard. We’re rooting for you. The world’s a better place with you in it.
The idea that right-leaning citizens, let alone congressmen, should have a right to defend themselves against left-wing antifa thugs, whether on a baseball field, in a mall, in a nightclub, or on a college campus, leaves them cold.
So, it comes as no surprise that Democrats are opposed to people being allowed to carry guns for self defense. They are at risk of, literally, losing voters.—Joe]
Update: Kit O’ Connell has publicly corrected his error. Thanks, Kit! (Scroll to bottom of this post to view his acknowledgement.)
———————————————-
Dear Kit O’Connell,
You were wrong when you posted a photo to Twitter, declaring, “Oathkeeper with his hand on the trigger of his assault rifle, defending literal nazis”. Here’s your tweet regarding last weekend’s anti-Sharia law rally in Austin:
1. Correct yourself. Oath Keeper has his finger straightened alongside the frame of his gun. His hand is not on the trigger. Nor is his finger. It’s physically impossible for Oath Keeper to get his hand (five fingers) on the trigger. That’d be like fisting a trigger. There’s simply not enough space. Learn the basics of gun safety.
2. Recognize that Oath Keeper Jay Stang is defending free speech, peacefully monitoring the protestors. In a any crowd, it’s nearly impossible to decipher each person’s specific viewpoint. However, when your group raises a hammer & sickle flag, there’s no doubt: you’re sick enough to hammer into our heads that you stand for land-grabs and death camps for dissenters.
Though Mr. Stang disagreed with your perspective, he peacefully defended your right to free speech, even though during an interview, you repeatedly screamed, “F*ck you!”
3. Answer this question: “What’s a literal Nazi?” Just curious. Literally, I’m curious.
4. Assess your contradiction of defending the 1st Amendment, but not the 2nd Amendment.You state you’re “openly biased toward human rights and equality.” Your writings reflects otherwise. Guns are the great equalizer. Sort it out.
5. You’ve declared yourself to be a hands-on gonzo journalist. So do it. Get yourself to the gun range to face your irrational fear of firearms. Even if you don’t aspire to own a gun, at least learn gun safety basics, so you know what you’re talking about, when you write about guns.
You say you’re “proudly disabled, polyamorous and queer”. Yawn, snooze, snore. As you’re well-aware, those three self-declared factor categories make you an easy target for gimp bashing or gay bashing. Checkout the Pink Pistols. Their motto: Armed gays don’t get bashed.
Be pro-active. Refuse to be a victim. Learn self-defense. Stop whining. Go to seminars held by Black Guns Matter or Operation Blazing Sword; OBS’s basic mission: We teach LGBTQ how to shoot.
You might think gun owners/instructors are Nazi redneck racist gun nuts, but after training with OBS or BGM, your stereotypes will be quickly shattered. These gun teachers understand the value of human life — all lives — and the importance of self-defense.
Your website reveals you’re for hire. That means you need work, and are likely living on a meager budget. Great news! OBS & BGM don’t charge for their valuable services.
6. Chill out. You’re on the verge of violence, as evidenced by your tweet:
Kit, do you really want to bash someone just because they’re not a Communist?
Whatever the case, you’re unstable. The world doesn’t need another mass shooting from the political left. Given your agitated state, I doubt a gun instructor would let you hold a gun in your hand, even if your finger is off the trigger. Don’t let that deter you. You’ll still gain valuable to knowledge if you learn gun safety. It’ll help reduce your fear of guns, so you’re not triggered when someone’s openly carrying.
7. Wear some yellow-tinted gun safety glasses. It’ll go well with your crushed velvet jacket, and blue Antifa neckerchief.
Image credit: Jane Michael Stallings
Hunter S. Thompson, Father of Gonzo Journalism. Image credit: Sunglasses ID
Kit, good luck. I look forward to reading about your gun range experience, and how you connect with Operation Blazing Sword, Black Guns Matter, and Pink Pistols.
Readers: Peaceful people we are, let’s meet Kit’s madness with gladness. He’s a ticking time bomb, ready to explode. Let’s dismantle this time bomb, before another Communist goes on a killing spree.
If you are good enough shooter to shoot a perfect double then you are a good enough shooter to put them a little bit apart.
Kevin Imel USPSA NROI Range Instructor
June 3, 2017
[This was at the range officer class I was taking a couple weeks ago.
“A double” at a USPSA match is two bullet which created a single hole (which may be oblong in shape). “A perfect double” is two bullets which created a hole which is a perfect circle.
A shooter will get credit for two (or more) shots which are distinguishable but not if they are indistinguishable (a perfect double).—Joe]
Incidents like the Virginia and San Francisco shootings inevitably lead to a debate over gun control. Here again the media, politicians, and advocacy groups play their scripted roles. The media quote Republicans and conservatives repeating their claims that tougher gun-control laws wouldn’t have prevented the Virginia shooting, because the shooter could have obtained the gun illegally. And, they add, gun control undermines our liberties.
To provide “balance,” the media quote Democrats and gun-control advocates, repeating their claims that this specific shooting, and the epidemic of mass shootings, would be dramatically reduced if we restricted the sale of guns and ammunition, including sales across state lines, because shooters often obtain guns in states with lax laws and bring them to states with tough laws.
Peter Dreier
June 16, 2017 The Virginia Shooting Isn’t About Bernie. It’s About the Right’s Embrace of Guns.
[I’m more and more convinced that, as Michael Savage says, Liberalism Is a Mental Disorder. I haven’t read his book but I took a college class on, and have experienced enough, abnormal psychology to recognize it. In this case it is conclusive because he cannot see that his political beliefs contributed to the bad results. One thing common to all personality disorders is that, in their minds, they didn’t contribute, in any way, to a bad outcome. It is always someone else’s fault.
With that mindset he goes on to describe a delusional world that is nearly unrecognizable to normal people.
This nut job, Dreier, not only gets things wrong, but he gets his “facts”, essentially, backwards. In this case the guns were purchased legally in a state, Illinois, with some of the most strict gun control laws and brought the gun to a state with much more relaxed laws. Although I didn’t quote that portion of the article, he repeatedly claims the gun was an AR-15 (it was actually an SKS). Furthermore, gun sales across state lines are already restricted.
This idiot thinks he knows what his writing about but his story is very nearly wrong in a fractal way. There is no attention given to fundamental principles, he does not address the infringement of specific enumerated rights, his conclusions are wrong, the theme is wrong, the paragraphs are wrong, nearly every sentence is wrong, and some of the words are wrong.
Nearly everyone I work with is a shooter. I have two peers. One was in the army for several years then helped build targets for Boomershoot this year as well as participate. The other has more NFA toys than he is willing to tell me about. My lead is former special forces. My boss is a former cop. His boss, our director, and her husband have helped make the targets for Boomershoot for the last three years as well as participate.
There was one exception. The intern. Caity’s last day as an intern will be next week. After a break she will return as a full time employee in August. She did well as an intern but there was a flaw. She hasn’t done any shooting since she was 10 or 12 years old. And it wasn’t that much.
Today, we set out to fix that flaw.
I started her out with some dry fire and she was rock solid. No jerking the trigger, excellent follow-through, and she picked up the mechanics almost instantly.
I put her on a suppressed .22 pistol with slow fire at about eight feet. She was nailing it with about a 1” group. Okay, 12 feet. The group size increased some but still well within the black of the target. Okay, 20 feet. Still in the black.
Okay, let’s try something else.
I removed the suppressor to reduce the inertia and put the target at about eight feet. I had her starting at low ready and then put one shot on each of the four bull’s-eyes. Her splits were probably 1.5 seconds and she was still nailing the targets. She shot magazine after magazine and kept the shots all in the black with the splits decreasing into the sub one second range:
Okay.
I got out my powder puff loads for the .40. She couldn’t hold the gun firm enough to get reliable cycling but said the recoil wasn’t a problem so we tried a couple rounds of major power factor. She shot those just fine. No recoil issues. So, I gave her a full magazine.
Start at low ready and put one shot on each target…
Still almost exclusively in the black with the splits again approaching one second:
It appears that western society is in the process of killing something of equal import in this century. Something that has been a foundational building block of the psychology of our species for millions of years. Something that IS causing a vacuum of meaning and deep psychological trauma.
We are killing masculinity. Maleness in all its forms has been deprecated as an outdated bit of software. Something to be rewritten for the modern world.
…
We’re rewriting it and we can already see its ill effects. We can see it in the deep psychological distress it is causing in men and women. We can see a vacuum of meaning forming all around us. A void that new social movements are starting to fill from the online tribal nihilism that propelled Trump into the oval office to identity utopians who are being manufactured by the millions in US Universities.
As it stands right now, we’re likely screwed. If the last Century is any guide, it’s going to require oceans of blood to resolve this loss…
