What limits?

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From Computerworld:

In a decision that could have broad privacy implications, a federal court in New York Thursday ordered Microsoft to comply with a U.S. government demand for a customer’s emails stored on a company server in Dublin, Ireland. The decision upholds an earlier magistrate court decision.

In an oral ruling, District Court Judge Loretta Preska rejected Microsoft’s argument that a U.S search warrant does not extend beyond the country’s borders.

“The production of that information is not an intrusion on the foreign sovereign,” Courthouse News reported Judge Preska as saying. “It is incidental at best,” Preska noted, adding that the magistrate court order was not an extra territorial application of U.S. law.

I liked this response in the comments:

So does this ruling mean that the Syrian government, for example, could force U.S. companies to turn over the email records of human rights activists in the United States, even if their messages are stored on servers located in the U.S.?

What about the Chinese government forcing Google to turn over the records of U.S. companies, even if these records are located on servers within the United States?

This ruling, if allowed to stand, opens a Pandora’s box of allowing foreign governments access to U.S. business’ and individual’s records, even if this data is stored in the U.S. After all, what is good for the goose is good for the gander.

Another thing I wonder about is what about the case of a company that doesn’t have a physical presence in the U.S. Suppose it was a U.K. company with a Hotmail type service and a U.S. customer. Would the U.S. government claim it had jurisdiction to force the U.K. company to turn over the email? The U.S. government has “twisted arms” such that Switzerland and other countries with strong banking privacy polices have submitted to U.S. demands for the banking records of U.S. citizens. I suspect the U.S. will or is doing similar things in the case of email.

Our government is way out of control.

I’m glad Microsoft is the one fighting this rather than some small business that can’t afford to spend millions on lawyers to fight it.

Wonderdonkey

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Here is a website devoted just to mocking anti-gun people modeled after the Onion. For example; in regard to D.C. suddenly becoming Constitional Carry they posted Washington, D.C. area-rapist “staying in tonight” totally unrelated to Washington, D.C. area-residents “carrying guns legally”:

When asked about his routine, area-rapist Dan stated that, “Normally, Friday nights are ideal for my pastime, but right now, gosh, my kitchen’s spice-rack is a jumbled disaster and I should probably straighten that situation out instead of doing rape-stuff.”

The fact that he could now be shot and killed by a woman defending herself apparently has nothing to do with his homebound plans for the night. “Nah, it’s absolutely TOTALLY not that…besides my cat also seems a little pensive lately. I really ought to stay home and soothe Señor Boom-Boom and not go out to rape people.”

Gun cartoon of the day

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Deranged

When has the NRA or even an NRA member caused harm to anyone in our schools? Sure there probably has been someone, somewhere, who abused his or her spouse or kids, but the correlation of the NRA with violence of any type anywhere is almost for certain to be near zero or even negative. Get me a citation and then we can talk about it. But violence in the schools? Only in their dreams. Such a correlation would be their favorite wet-dream come true.

What if they had drawn the 2nd Amendment or the Bill of Rights at the door trying to get in? That would have been more accurate portrayal of their true concerns but their ill intent would have been more obvious.

These people are the enemies of freedom and want to knock down all barriers to unlimited government power. Private ownership of firearms is one of those barriers.

Quote of the day—JamesBondo

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Do you mean every time a police officer prevents a crime or captures a criminal – without getting off a couple of shots – that is a defacto OFF LABEL use of a deadly device?!?!?!

Do you think it is wise for police to operate outside the manufacturer’s design and application? What is really atrocious is when a sportsman uses it to shoot paper donuts, don’t they know they are supposed to be killing or maiming everything in sight?

JamesBondo
July 31, 2014
Comment in Canadian Politics Forum in response to bluebrd35 who said of guns “…the only purpose of which is to kill or maim”.
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]

Connecticut Carry Responds to ‘Will You Stop This?’ Video

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From Connecticut Carry here. Well done!

Releases Transformative Video With a Worthwhile Message

North Branford CT, July 31, 2014

Connecticut Carry has released on its You Tube channel a transformative video meant as a commentary to the ‘Everytown for Gun Safety’ video campaign ‘Will You Stop This?’. In their graphic video, the anti-rights group inadvertently provide an advertisement for women to be armed while arguing that citizens should be less armed. The video shows an enraged man kicking down a door, taking a child and pulling a firearm on the defenseless woman in what appears to be her own home. If the woman was armed, the video could have a very different ending; a positive one instead of the negative one that was portrayed.

As women all over the state of Connecticut are arming themselves and seeking firearms and self-defense training, Connecticut Carry felt it was appropriate to transform this video into an educational message for women everywhere:

“Refuse to be a victim. Get Armed. Get Trained.”

That is a positive and empowering message that stands a chance of saving lives instead of the gun bans and restraining orders advocated by anti-rights citizen disarmament groups. Studies like the Kleck study have shown that annually there may be up to 2.5 million defensive gun uses. Only 8% of those actually involve gun fire to stop the threat. Guns save lives.

Connecticut Carry cares for all of its members and the public alike. We want women to be safer, and that means that women have the means and the ability to defend themselves against violent criminals who do not obey laws or restraining orders. As the nation saw in Castle Rock v Gonzalez, a restraining order cannot replace lawful self-defense.

“We see and hear from women and men alike on a regular basis that have an immediate need for a firearm to defend themselves against violent criminals in domestic situations. We find it shameful that Connecticut residents end up having to wait 2 years or more in some cases to get a pistol permit to be able to lawfully defend themselves.”

–          Connecticut Carry President Rich Burgess

“This video is a great exercise of the First Amendment’s freedom of speech. This is speech that is far too important to be restricted in any way.”

–          Connecticut Carry Director Edward Peruta

“Everytown for Gun Safety has made the best NRA commercial I have seen in a long time. What better argument could be made through a 30 second video for being armed and trained in using force with a capable tool?”

–          Connecticut Carry Director Raymond Johansen

Watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3VCqyHRC2g

Atlas Shrugged 3: Who is John Galt? Trailer 2

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I posted the first one a while back. Here is a second one:

Progress on Fast and Furious

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This just now in the news via Katie Pavlich. BREAKING: Judge Orders DOJ to Release Fast and Furious Documents Withheld From Congress Under Obama Executive Privilege Claim:

This order forces the Obama DOJ, for the first time, to provide a detailed listing of all documents that it has withheld from Congress and the American people for years about the deadly Fast and Furious gun running scandal,” Judicial Watch released in a statement.

It doesn’t mean the DOJ has to turn over the documents being requested. It just means they have to give a list of all the documents and the reasons they were withheld. The judge and the FOIA requester can then evaluate the justification for withholding them. It’s a step in the right direction. It’s still a long and difficult trail before anyone in the DOJ or Whitehouse goes to jail over this.

503 errors fixed?

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For months people have been getting 503 errors from my websites including this blog. They would all go bad at the same time and come back at the same time. My hosting provider was of almost no help. Ry suggested I try something and it sounded better than anything anyone else suggested so I have implemented it on the more important domains.

It may take an hour or so for the changes to drift your way over the “intertubes” but should you see strange behavior or errors on my websites after about 2:15 PDT today please let me know.

Update: I’m still getting the errors. Don’t bother to tell me about them.

Interesting Mideast development

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From CNN:

“Israel’s ongoing battle against Hamas is part of a wider regional war on the Muslim Brotherhood,” says the Soufan Group, which tracks global security. “Most Arab states share Israel’s determination to finish the movement off once and for all, but they are unlikely to be successful.”

“From the perspective of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the UAE and some other Arab states, what the Israeli Prime Minister is doing is fighting this war against Hamas on their behalf so they can finish the last stronghold of the Muslim Brotherhood,” Younes says.

“Arab governments and official Arab media have all but adopted the Israeli view of who is a terrorist and who is not. Egyptian and Saudi-owned media are liberal in labeling the Muslim Brotherhood as ‘terrorists’ and describing Hamas as a ‘terrorist organization.’ It’s a complete turnabout from the past, when Arab states fought Israel and the U.S. in the international organizations on the definition of terrorism, and who is a terrorist or a ‘freedom fighter.'”

So most Arabs states would regard the people I took pictures of the other day as on the same side as terrorists? That gives me some comfort. Or at least not as much discomfort.

Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood are threats to nearly all peaceful societies. I’m all for Israeli finishing the job this time and if the other Arab states contribute to the extermination of their culture of terror then more power to them.

Gun cartoon of the day

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WhatWeLove

This is what they think of the NRA. They think guns are more important to us than the lives of children. If this was true then why, after the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre was it that the NRA advocated for armed guards at schools? And why did President Obama advocate for restrictions on gun owners that would not have affected any of the school shooters?

The more accurate cartoon would have been one where President Obama is depicted as hating guns more than wanting to protect children. Every school shooting is another opportunity for him and his ilk to attack the specific enumerated right to keep and bear arms rather than mitigate or solve the problem.

Quote of the day—Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn

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Owning a pistol meant an obligatory conviction for terrorism.

Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn
The Gulag Archipelago, 1918-1956: An Experiment in Literary Investigation (Volume One) Page 196.
[Does this sound familiar to those of you who read what the anti-gun people have written occasionally?—Joe]

Gun cartoon of the day

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Evolve

This is what they think of you.

They think gun ownership is a relic from the past. What they don’t realize or want to admit is that restrictions on weapons is from the dark ages and the time of kings and tyrants. Free people own weapons to protect themselves and other innocent life. Serfs, peasants, and slaves may not. They want to return to the time of serfs, peasants, and slaves. They are the ones stuck in the distant past.

Brian Judy

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This was is the Seattle news this morning. I know Brian Judy quite well (he used to be the Idaho liason for NRA-ILA). If the tone of what amounts to a personal attack on Brian wasn’t so venomous I’d think this was funny: the only group of people I’ve ever heard Brian express intolerance toward is anti-rights bigots.

Washington already has registration of handguns sold at retail. While the word “registration” doesn’t appear anywhere in the text of I594, the initiative would extend all the state requirements for retail handgun sales to private transactions- thus creating complete registration. This ain’t about “background checks”.

The people who are attacking Brian might find it enlightening to familiarize themselves with Joe’s test or maybe look at the this website.

Quote of the day—Windy Wilson

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What right wing nut job massacring children is he referring to? Or is there a sort of poshumous declaration of rightwingedness similar to how the deceased in Chicago all begin to vote Democrat?

Windy Wilson
July 27, 2014
Comment to Quote of the day—Mark Wilson
[The closest thing to a right wing nut job who massacred U.S. children in recent times that I know of is Timothy McVeigh. I was unable to identify a political affiliation for The Sandy Hook Elementary shooter but the Columbine shooters were most closely linked to the left, not the right.

In general Wilson’s speculation is correct. Initially the right gets blamed for mass shooting, the truth comes out that they were most closely associated with the left, and the media go silent about the political affiliation. The mass of people on the left remember the initial accusation and use the accusation as if it were a conviction.—Joe]

Gun cartoon of the day

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f2e37c112f215bb64ba459656cc57e6d

This is what they think of NRA supporters:

  • They are fat
  • They are dirty
  • They don’t know their right hand from their left
  • They don’t care about the lives of people

That makes them ignorant, prejudiced, bigots.

Quote of the day—Don Gwinn

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We’ve reached a level of cultural domination where the most effective anti-gun groups have adopted a strategy of demanding concealed carry.

Don Gwinn
July 27, 2014
Comment on Facebook about MDA Supporters Protest TOPLESS Against Texas Open Carry Group (bonus Markley’s law in one of the pictures)
[There is a certain amount of truth to that.

In the article the author says he failed to see the connection “between bullets and boobs”. But it seems to me it was all about open carry. Just for the record, I’m fine with the open carry of bullets, guns, or boobs.—Joe]

Who needs walls?

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Roberta recently said:

Is there an end to my shelf-building?  Probably when I run out of walls to put them against.

Bah! Who needs walls for your shelves?

WP_20140723_001

Plus the shelves are wide enough that I can double the depth of the books and easily access them from the other side.

I cannot comprehend these people

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Here is some of what I saw at Westlake Park in downtown Seattle today:

WP_20140728_003WP_20140728_002

What are these people thinking? Where were they for the last several years as the Hamas fired hundreds, if not thousands, of rockets into Israel?

How could they not get the message that Israel has been trying to resolve this as humanely as possible and the Hamas continues to attack?

IdfCeaseFires

This is not an attempt by Israel to commit genocide. This is an attempt by Israel to defend against genocide. I find it hard to believe these people are that ignorant and that stupid or even that evil. What can they possible be thinking? They are incomprehensible to me.

This really, really irritates me. I have my gripes about Israel but on this issue I just want them to finish the job with Hamas. Show us how it’s done because it won’t be that much longer before we will have to do something similar to defend against scum like this.

Gun cartoon of the day

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PledgeToMyGun

This is what they think of you:

  • They have some sort of empty headed mutant view of NRA members.
  • They believe gun manufactures influence gun owners more than the other way around.
  • They believe increased gun ownership increases “the carnage”.

All those beliefs are easily disproven. They have a prejudiced view and they are sticking with it. This makes them bigots.

Quote of the day—Trysha (@MapleysMorsels)

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[It’s another Markley’s Law Monday! Via Mark‏ (@tazcat2011).—Joe]