Foolish liberals

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Inspired by:

Foolish liberals who are trying to read the Second Amendment out of the Constitution by claiming it’s not an individual right or that it’s too much of safety hazard don’t see the danger of the big picture.  They’re courting disaster by encouraging others to use the same means to eliminate portions of the Constitution they don’t like.

Alan Dershowitz
Quoted in Dan Gifford
The Conceptual Foundations of Anglo-American Jurisprudence in Religion and Reason
62 TENN. L. REV. 759 (1995)

We can elaborate by saying:

  • The number of people murdered by those attempting to implement communism is sufficient justification to ignore the 1st Amendment guarantee of freedom of speech for books such as “The Communist Manifesto”.
  • The number of people murdered by attempting to force their religion on others is sufficient justification to ignore the 1st Amendment guarantee of freedom of religion.
  • The number of people killed and injured in riots is sufficient justification to ignore the 1st Amendment guarantee of freedom of assembly.
  • The number of people who get away with their crimes because the police did not have probable cause to search them or their property is sufficient justification to ignore the 4th Amendment guarantee from freedom of unreasonable search and seizure.
  • The number of people who get away with their crimes because the police were not allowed to question them without a lawyer present or force them to testify against themselves is sufficient justification to ignore the 5th Amendment guarantees.
  • The illiteracy and incarceration rates of people of color is sufficient justification to ignore the 13th Amendment and implement slavery.
  • The inefficiency of the legislative process in “making progress” is sufficient justification to ignore the constitutionally mandated separation of powers and allow the President to rule via Executive Order or delegate congressional powers to government agencies.

Foolish people who legislate, make a case in public opinion, or create case law for the restriction or extermination of any of specific enumerated right enable the extermination of not just the Bill of Rights but the entire constitutional principle of government.

3rd Amendment case

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The 3rd Amendment is a rarely seen topic in US case law. But we now have a real 3rd Amendment case hitting the courts. For those that forget, it reads:

No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

Short version of the case: The police demanded a homeowner vacate his own home, so the police could use it as a lookout point in a domestic violence case. When the homeowner refused, they forced him out, and took his house over. When he tried to literally walk away, down the street, they detained him, and booked them for “obstructing justice,” though they were not formally charged.

Long form details at Courthouse News Service.

Quote of the day—Say Uncle

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A day to celebrate freedom by going across state or county lines to buy fireworks because they’re illegal where you live.

Say Uncle
July 4, 2013
Happy Independence Day
[You shouldn’t really have to say more than that convince people that we are no longer free. You shouldn’t have to tell them the size of soft drinks in NYC is restricted. You shouldn’t have to explain Obama Care. You shouldn’t have to tell them about the New York SAFE act. You shouldn’t have to tell them our government is collecting data about every phone call and every letter mailed. You shouldn’t have to tell them that if you carry a cell phone the government can obtain your location with a few clicks on a website.You shouldn’t have to tell them the government says it has the legal authority and resolve to use unmanned drones to kill U.S. citizens on U.S. soil without trial or warning.

The scary thing is even if you tell people all of that they will do little more than shrug and turn back to finish watching the latest episode of American Idol, take another swig of beer, or another toke on their joint. They should be getting signatures for the recall petitions, spoofing encrypted email from government officials to overseas terrorists, and getting small arms training.—Joe]

The Stars Came Back -110- Descent

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Cut to

INT – DAY – Bridge of the HMS Hussein

The spacious bridge is crowded with people at stations and standing or moving about. The Watch Commander stands next to the command chair. The side door opens, and the captain walks out, adjusting his medal-bedecked uniform, swagger-stick under one arm. Continue reading →

Before I finish this sentence…

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…some of you will already be mulling over your misinterpretations of the first half of the sentence and you’ll thus miss the point entirely. This, after you’ve asked me a question, pretending to want an answer.

In groups, you’ll sometimes actually be discussing your misinterpretations amongst one another before the sentence is finished. Technically, the preparatory clause is mistaken and you run with that, missing the main clause. Hey; it’s just like the left with the second amendment.

In other words you’re not interested so much in communication, i.e. the exchange of information for the purpose of coming to a better understanding of something, as you are interested in judgement, looking for weaknesses to exploit, in manipulation, determining a hierarchy of some kind, or just watching my mouth flap at your behest and hearing noises coming out. I think probably half or more of the population fits that description.

I’m tempted to be very annoyed by it, but then I realize that you don’t know what you’re doing, really. Of course there’s a will and an intelligence of sorts behind it, but you can’t help it. It’s reflexive.

I just don’t know how to help you, and THAT’S the main point (if you’ve stuck around long enough to read it).

Gun Song – Schoolhouse Rock – Shot heard ’round the world

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Not Friday, but close enough, so I couldn’t pass it up. Happy 4th, folks!

A classic that would never be made today.

 

The Stars Came Back -109- Inbound

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Fade in

EXT – DAY – Space, a hundred thousand kilometers from the planet

Tajemnica and Borealis drift apart, the glow around Borealis intensifies and it starts veering away, leaving just Tajemnica alone, heading in for the planet. The glow around the Tajemnica is weak. Continue reading →

Quote of the day—Bill

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All you Bambi killers out there that want to tote around your rifles in your truck gun racks should grow up. Guns are for killing and killing for sport is immoral. If you have to hunt to eat fine buy a gun but if you aren’t native or Inuit or live in outer nowheresville stick to paying darts or bingo. Guns and the people that love them are dangerously stupid.

Bill
1:54 PM, June 27, 2013
Comment to Quebec court decision moves Ottawa closer to fully scrapping long-gun registry
[Every sentence of this rant could be the target of a blog post explaining in great detail why the commenter is either willfully ignorant or stupid himself. I don’t have the time or the interest to do that so I’ll just point out that it is good to know what he thinks of gun owners. He wants to control people and confine us to “playing darts or bingo” and he must dehumanize us to do that. He believes he is a “superior moral authority” and that should give him the authority to do with us as he commands with the government doing the dirty work of implementing his policies.

Mr. Bill should attempt to do his own dirty work.—Joe]

And you still use Android?

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Via a Tweet from Ry we have still more info on the security issues with Android (emphasis in the original):

The Bluebox Security research team – Bluebox Labs – recently discovered a vulnerability in Android’s security model that allows a hacker to modify APK code without breaking an application’s cryptographic signature, to turn any legitimate application into a malicious Trojan, completely unnoticed by the app store, the phone, or the end user. The implications are huge! This vulnerability, around at least since the release of Android 1.6 (codename: “Donut” ), could affect any Android phone released in the last 4 years1 – or nearly 900 million devices2– and depending on the type of application, a hacker can exploit the vulnerability for anything from data theft to creation of a mobile botnet.

While the risk to the individual and the enterprise is great (a malicious app can access individual data, or gain entry into an enterprise), this risk is compounded when you consider applications developed by the device manufacturers (e.g. HTC, Samsung, Motorola, LG) or third-parties that work in cooperation with the device manufacturer (e.g. Cisco with AnyConnect VPN) – that are granted special elevated privileges within Android – specifically System UID access.

Installation of a Trojan application from the device manufacturer can grant the application full access to Android system and all applications (and their data) currently installed. The application then not only has the ability to read arbitrary application data on the device (email, SMS messages, documents, etc.), retrieve all stored account & service passwords, it can essentially take over the normal functioning of the phone and control any function thereof (make arbitrary phone calls, send arbitrary SMS messages, turn on the camera, and record calls). Finally, and most unsettling, is the potential for a hacker to take advantage of the always-on, always-connected, and always-moving (therefore hard-to-detect) nature of these “zombie” mobile devices to create a botnet.

I’ve known there were lots of security issues with Android but this is much bigger than I imagined. If you were concerned about various three letter agencies sucking up data about you (or even your snail mail) then you should be even more concerned that just about anyone that is technologically competent can take complete control of your Android phone.

A little over two years ago I purchased a Android phone with thought of developing apps for it. I never got around to it and after releasing Field Ballistics for Windows Phone I gave it further consideration. I decided not do pursue Android as an alternate platform. I’m glad I made that decision. Would you want everyone and their brother looking at the map on your phone showing your location and the location of your next target? At Boomershoot that would be an invitation to have “your” target poached.

Power Problems

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Today’s post for The Stars Came Back was delayed by power problems. Specifically, this (click to embiggenate):

PowerProblems 032 PowerProblems 042

What’s wrong here, boys and girls? It seems that Novelty Hill Road was shut down for about 12 hours, starting at 4:55 PM 02July2013, because some wood failed. If you look closely at the right-side ends of the pair of 6″x6″ wooden beams hanging on to a couple bits of angle iron, you can see that the bolt that used to hold them to the power pole pulled through the end. You can also see the bolt that used to hold them on the pole, not holding anything. (You can also see a pair of wood-pecker holes lower down, but that may be the subject of a future post). When the beams fell out of place, a wire going across the road pulled free, crossed the three lower / outside 7200 volt wires, shorting them, causing them to arc, melt, and fall (still live) to the ground, right along / across Novelty Hill road (second picture; it’s a fairly major commuter road). A fire was started at the base of the wooden pole (creosote-covered wood burns pretty well) from sparks and arcing that went down something on the side of the pole. A nearby house got hit with a surge/spike, and the owner said “everything just hummed for a moment” then every fuse, circuit-breaker, GFI, power-strip fuse, fluorescent light, and a some electronics that were plugged in blew, big time. Blew as in totally defunct, needs replacement, black marks. Apparently, one or more of the falling 7200 volt wires fell across the line to his house. No one seems to have been hurt, though a person from another nearby house apparently had some of the falling / flying molten metal weld / melt itself into the windshield of her car, and some of the hood / roof panels got weld/melt/burn spots as she was sitting at the intersection right underneath the spot where it happened. I just heard a huge pair of BWAAAAAAANT! sounds, then the computer UPS started beeping and the lights went out. Fun times. Got the generator out for a while to make sure the frozen stuff stayed frozen, etc. Finally got power back around 5:30 AM.

The Stars Came Back -108- Approach

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[sorry for the delayed post. Had a minor power problem, details later]

Fade in

EXT – NIGHT – Space, not far from a large, angry, dimly lit orange gas giant.

In the far distance, the sun of the New Medina system glows, shedding what little light reaches out to this far distant orbit. In the near distance, space glows and Tajemnica pops into existence. The hull is covered with the same tanks, turrets, and missile pods as before. From an internal magazine, a launch tube pops up and a missile is launched, glowing slightly rather than using conventional rocket motor. It heads for the massive failed star in the distance, rapidly disappearing into the distance. Continue reading →

Quote of the day—WeaponsMan

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What convictions? Guy’s a politician, but he hasn’t been convicted of anything. Yet. And that’s the only kind of conviction you can expect from a politician.

WeaponsMan
June 29, 2013
Beretta: Not expanding in MD, or to WV or RI
[I hadn’t thought of this before but one could say politicians attempt to avoid convictions but if they stay in the business long enough sometimes the law catches up with them.—Joe]

What’s the best caliber?

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It happened again. Someone asked me what I thought the best caliber is. Granted they didn’t ask it quite that ambiguous. But it did raise the “insufficient information hackles” when I got the email.

The actual question was:

Tell me which caliber you think is best and why:  9mm, 40 S&W, or 45 ACP.

Had the question been, “Which caliber has the best stopping power?” I would have replied, “It’s tough to beat something chambered in 200 mm XM422 with the 40 kiloton yield option”.

The question isn’t quite that unbounded but still it’s insufficiently bounded to give an answer that is credible for even a fraction of the possible values of the unconstrained variables. One must really have more information about the use cases of the firearm before you can give an answer that someone couldn’t drive a Euclid truck through.

When someone asks a question like this what you really need to do is get the person asking the question to answer it for themselves. For all intents and purposes they already know the answer they just don’t know the proper questions to ask themselves. You can help them with this.

The top level question is, “What are you going to use this gun for? Recreation, self-defense, competition, all of the above?” One could drill down to a depth of three or more in the specifics for any of the answers given but here are few of the possibilities:

  • What is your ammo budget?
  • Self-defense against two legged varmints or four?
  • What is the body mass of the varmint you need to defend against?
  • One attacker or a mob?
  • Which sport?

Everything is a tradeoff. The smaller calibers tend toward higher capacities, higher velocities, lower costs, and, obviously, smaller holes. With the larger calibers the opposite is true. Once you figure out your application then the caliber question should pretty much answer itself.

If you are interested in self-defense “stopping power” then I answered that question nearly 15 years ago and I don’t see any reason to update the conclusion where I agree with Greg Hamilton who says:

The entire discussion of “stopping power” is both stupid and irrelevant.   Statistics cannot be applied to individuals. People that need to be shot need to be shot soon and often. They need to be shot until they run out of fluid, brains, or balls.

If during the time you were reading the latest “stopping power” article you were instead practicing to save your life you would be far, far ahead.

Greg Hamilton
May 08, 1998

Of potential interest is what caliber gun(s) do I own and use and why.

I have guns in all three of the calibers in question. I almost never use the 9mm or the .45. The reason has nothing to do with the caliber themselves. It is because a .40 with 17 or 18 round magazines is the best choice for Limited class USPSA matches which I compete in. I can compete in USPSA and Steel Challenge with it and I can carry it for self-defense. I figure the odds of me using it in self-defense are pretty low but the probability of me using it in competition are near 1.0. And even supposing that some other caliber/gun would be better for self-defense the fact that I am going to be practicing with the competition gun is probably going to make up for the (questionable) fact that I wasn’t shooting the optimal caliber.

The Stars came Back -107- Plans

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Fade in

INT – DAY – Officers mess

Helton, Lag, Harbin, Ahmed, Capt THRIM TOKAREV (commander of the 13th Mountain Shields, late 30s, short hair, goatee, medium skinned, scarred, tough, bull-necked and broad-shouldered) sit around the table discussing strategy. On a wall screen is the planetary alignment diagram, on the table screen is a layout of the expected battlefield. Continue reading →

Quote of the day—Don B. Kates

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Senator Schumer, America’s leading anti-gun legislator has just confessed that there are not enough votes to pass his universal background check bill. But what if there were? How futile is a proposal to have background check on all NEW guns sales for a nation which already has an estimated backlog of 319 million? Well, if  that were adopted today, and Senator Schumer lived to be 400 years old there would still be upwards of 300 million guns for which there were no background checks.

Don B. Kates
June 11, 2013
Futile, Stupid Gun Control Proposals
[Background checks are just a first step. Schumer and everyone of any intelligence on both sides of the gun control debate know this. And most everyone knows background checks are pointless. Registration and, ultimately, confiscation are the real goals.—Joe]

We defend our…

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Via email from Joey D.

WithGuns

But of course it is irrational to expect people to be rational.

And for those that are unwilling or unable to behave rationally we defend our guns with guns.

The Stars Came Back -106- visitor

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Fade in

INT – NIGHT – Tajemnica bridge.

Helton and Allonia sit, relaxed, chatting. Helton is in the command spot, Allonia is at com. Lighting is dim, background is quiet. Star diagrams and charts, systems status readouts, and a few internal passageway camera views are on the screens. One of the navigation chart diagrams suddenly starts blinking, then enlarges to take over several screens. Continue reading →

Quote of the day—Lalo Alcaraz

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How about a gun buyback program where instead of money, you get a penis enlargement? #NRA

Lalo Alcaraz (@laloalcaraz)
Tweeted on January 30, 2013

[It’s another Markley’s Law Monday!—Joe]

Random thought of the day

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In my hand I have a computer with nearly the human computational power of an entire planet of people. It has proximity, light, sound, acceleration, magnetic field, and location sensors. It is in near constant contact with a network of hundreds of millions of other computers most of which are far more powerful than it. You can buy one for about a day’s pay.

With all that power, data, and sensor input available what appears one of the easiest paths to fame and fortune with it is to program it to make fart sounds*.

Both Marvin and I have good cause to be depressed.

*Ry pointed this out to me last week. “Thank you” Ry.

Quote of the day—Dennis A. Henigan

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If an ‘armed citizenry’ is a constitutionally protected ‘deterrent’ to abuse by federal officials, this would imply that the greatest protection should be given citizens who are arming themselves against the threat of such abuse.

Dennis A. Henigan
(Former) Vice president for law and policy at the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence
January 28, 2008
DANCES WITH GUNS
[Yes. That is absolutely correct.

He also said he doesn’t argue that higher rates of gun ownership cause higher rates of crime.

Henigan “gets” it. He doesn’t like it, but he gets it.

Perhaps this is part of the reason he quit the gun control industry.—Joe]