Beware the Unintended Consequences

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It’s been slow coming, and far overshadowed by the rise of Trump. But one movement that’s finally seeing a bit of a breakthrough is “tax the rich.”

The landslide win this past week of a tax on millionaire pay in Seattle is the latest sign the public is agitated by massive wealth inequality — and finally willing to do something about it.

Danny Westneat
February 15, 2025
From Seattle to the Okanogan, ‘tax the rich’ is stirring | The Seattle Times

The unintended consequences of more taxes are so obvious and yet they did it anyway.

I am reminded of something Heinlein wrote in Time Enough for Love:

Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.

This is known as “bad luck.”

I give up on these people. They deserve what is coming.

Constitutional Carry for the Win

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Via 2A History @2aHistory.

The only surprises here are how well Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Hawaii ranked. These are particularly oppressive states for gun owners.

Some jurisdictions, like Chicago, do not supply complete numbers to the FBI UCR. I wonder if this is why the oppressive states show up in this table.

Related–Map shows most dangerous US states – and where’s best to raise a family:

Of particular interest to me:

Eight categories of crime, including homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, arson, burglary, larceny theft, and motor vehicle theft, were considered in the analysis.

Washington and Colorado were identified as the second and third most dangerous states, respectively.

New Hampshire emerged as the safest state, boasting a violent crime rate of just one-third of the national average and significantly lower crime rates than other US states.

Idaho also has the lowest rate of motor vehicle theft and the second-lowest rate of aggravated assault.

Idaho was ranked the second safest state for families, followed closely by Maine, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.

People that Understand Versus People Who Have Power

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The people who understand things have no power but to scream at the people who don’t understand them, and they never listen, because stupid people don’t know they’re stupid.

They will try communism again.

“DON’T DO THAT, YOU’LL KILL EVERYONE.”

“I didn’t know that would happen!”

They will open the borders and let in millions of hostile people.

“DON’T DO THAT, THEY WILL TAKE OVER ONCE THEY OUTNUMBER YOU.

“I didn’t know that would happen!”

Speaking to the stupid is a waste of time and giving them power is suicide.

hoe_math @ItIsHoeMath
Posted on X, February 1, 2025

While this applies to a sizable portion of the population. Those with the power and creating the disasters know what are doing. While some of them are stupid, most are not. Their motives are unrelated to the needs of their constituents.

Part of the problem is that “the people who understand” are totally outclassed when it comes to persuasion. Those who have power are at the top of the persuasion game.

I Hope They Enjoy Their Trials

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As Trump and Musk’s DOGE continue to drain the DC swamp—and begin dismantling the “off-the-books” shadow government (read: here)—internet search trends for “Criminal Defense Lawyer” and “RICO Laws” have erupted in the DC metro area and surrounding counties, including Northern Virginia and Maryland, according to new internet search trends uncovered by Rasmussen Reports head pollster Mark Mitchell. These spikes strongly suggest that federal workers in the area are scrambling to secure legal counsel. 

“Over three times more people in DC are googling “Criminal Defense Lawyer” than anywhere else in the US!” Mitchell wrote on X.

Tyler Durden
February 13, 2025
DC Internet Searches For “Criminal Defense Lawyer” & “RICO Law” Erupt As DOGE Drains Swamp | ZeroHedge

This is very telling. This means they knew they were involved in corruption.

I have zero sympathy for them. I hope they enjoy their trials. They earned them.

A Plant in the DNC?

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James Carville suggested there could be a “plant” in progressive Democratic politics during his podcast on Thursday to see how many “stupid things” the party could embrace while discussing the Democratic National Committee (DNC) chair race.

The political consultant read a description of former DNC Chair Jamie Harrison’s announcement during the elections that they must be “gender balanced.” Harrison said during the election process, “Our rules specify that when we have a non-binary candidate or officer, the non-binary individual is counted as neither male nor female, and the remaining six offices must be gender balanced with the results of the previous four elections.”

Hanna Panreck
February 9, 2025
James Carville wonders if there’s ‘plant’ in progressive wing to see how many ‘stupid things’ they can embrace

No. They really are that stupid. They drank their own Kool-Aid, and the poison caused brain damage.

I don’t have any sympathy for them. It was all self-inflicted. From the same article:

We ran a presidential election, if we were playing a Super Bowl, we started our 7th string quarterback. That’s what happened, okay?

James Carville

Microclimates

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These are the weather summaries for the Boomershoot weather station and my weather station about 0.75 miles away at my pistol range (and underground bunker).

Boomershoot:

Pistol range:

Ignore the pressure difference. One is relative and the other is absolute. Also note that the second weather station is at least 50 feet from any man-made thing the generates heat.

Notice that the low temperature for Boomershoot was -13.4. and the low for the pistol range was 4.8 F. That is 18.20 degrees different!

The difference in the average is 3.7 F.

When I purchased the second weather station, I had some people roll their eyes at me. The implication was there is no significant difference between the two locations. Yet, from many years in the area, I suspected the Boomershoot site was colder than the surrounding fields. It just felt colder there.

I was right.

History is Being Made

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The permanent bureaucracy built their administrative state over decades, brick by bureaucratic brick. They thought it would last forever. They thought it was too big to map, too complex to understand, too entrenched to change.

They were wrong.

Four young coders with laptops proved that. One thousand pre-positioned personnel proved that. A president counting weeks proved that.

The sun continues rising over Washington. Classical columns still cast their shadows. But inside those buildings, everything has changed. The administrative state finally met its match: preparation plus presidential will plus technological precision.

This isn’t the end of the story. This is just the beginning.

The revolution isn’t just continuing. It’s becoming the new normal.

And for those who thought the D E E P S T A T E would rule forever?

They’re about to learn what happens when smart strategic minds meet determination. When preparation meets opportunity. When a new generation decides it’s time for change.

The storm isn’t just gathering. It’s here to stay.

The sun continues rising over Washington. But now, for the first time in generations, it illuminates something new:

A government that works.

A bureaucracy that serves.

A system that delivers.

The revolution isn’t just beginning.

It’s already won.

EKO
February 5, 2025
OVERRIDE – EKO LOVES YOU

If you are a little bit of a geek, read the whole thing. It is absolutely AWESOME!

The following was pointed out to me by Chuck Petras @Chuck_Petras. Almost for certain this is what the “mapping” referred to in the article is talking about.

History is being made.

Don’t Capitulate, We Are Winning

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I’m convinced that woke strategy is to create more racists by the continual name calling and aggravating of white people.

Then they can point to them and say, “Look at all those racists! We told you they were all racists!”

Don’t capitulate to racism.

Alice Smith @TheAliceSmith
Tweeted on March 29, 2022

Good advice.

On a related note…

You know that the Executive Order to remove all DEI in the Federal Government is actually behind private industry, right? Politics follow culture.

That is why it is important to keep improving and expanding our gun culture. Take someone to the range and teach them to shoot. Bring a newbie or even a non-gun person to Boomershoot this year.

Unnoteworthy

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But it hurts tiny-penis-big-pickup-truck-with-trump-decal-wrap-mommy-never-loved-me crowd’s fee-fees.

Annoying Liberal @CodeAficionado
Tweeted on May 27, 2022

It’s not only another Markley’s Law Monday; it is another science denier (see also here)!

They are a self-admitted “Leftist libtard.” And they were so “successful” on Twitter their last post, repost, or reply was in 2023.

That makes them unnoteworthy and even repeating their extremely tired old insult, not even a little bit annoying.

I had them in my Markley’s Law queue and just wanted to take them off the list.

Blocking Inflammation May Lead to Chronic Pain

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I’m not surprised. The inflammation probably occurs for a reason:

Blocking Inflammation May Lead To Chronic Pain – Neuroscience News

Using anti-inflammatory drugs and steroids to relieve pain could increase the chances of developing chronic pain, according to researchers from McGill University and colleagues in Italy.

Their research puts into question conventional practices used to alleviate pain. Normal recovery from a painful injury involves inflammation and blocking that inflammation with drugs could lead to harder-to-treat pain.

Growing up we didn’t have any pain killers in the house. I did not even take an aspirin until sometime after college. Yes, I had anesthesia for dental procedures, but nothing afterward.

In later years I had sports and related injuries but almost never took pain medications. And some interesting things did not happen.

I injured my left knee playing tennis in my early 30’s. As a result, the medial meniscus was removed. I had bone-on-bone action from then on. The orthopedic doctor told me I probably would be looking at a total knee replacement in 20 years. Nope. I’m still using the same knee for hiking, shooting action pistol, and shoveling tons of dirt for my underground bunker.

It is not that I am just pushing through the pain. Unless I push things with really long hikes or carrying a heavy load, I don’t feel any pain in that knee. It does have a lower threshold than the undamaged knee. But I still have endurance that exceeds most of my five children*.

Barb calls me amazingly durable. I feel pain sometimes. But I almost never take medication for it, and it goes away and I heal up quickly.

There are some exceptions. A few years ago, I had a pain in my shoulder. I tried some anti-inflammatory drugs, but it did not seem to help beyond the short term. The doctor finally got an MRI. I had a bone spur tearing up the soft tissue. They removed the bone spur. Then without pain medications and just a few days of rest, I was back to shooting again.

* Xenia and Maddy are exceptions. Xenia competes in long-distance running events. Maddy is a competitive dancer.

$1B/week in Unequivocal and Obvious Fraud

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Yesterday, I was told that there are currently over $100B/year of entitlements payments to individuals with no SSN or even a temporary ID number. If accurate, this is extremely suspicious.

When I asked if anyone at Treasury had a rough guess for what percentage of that number is unequivocal and obvious fraud, the consensus in the room was about half, so $50B/year or $1B/week!!

This is utterly insane and must be addressed immediately.

Elon Musk @elonmusk
Posted on X, February 8, 2025

Tar, feathers, and rail rides are too good for them. We need prosecutors and “hanging” judges.

Rewarding Student Feedback

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A few minutes ago, I received a text message from former co-worker Vick:

Thought you’d like to see Mya’s 1 Shot 1 kill. The entire gun club came over and congratulated her.

It was 25 yards to the target and shooting with a Smith and Wesson EZ Shield in 9mm:

That is quite remarkable.

I have given lessons to Mya on two different occasions. The first was in 2019.

It is really rewarding to get this type of feedback from a student. The big smile is heartwarming. Knowing that they are continuing to develop their skills is wonderful. It’s gratifying that they are able to protect themselves and others. She is over 2,000 miles away and is getting support from others in the gun community is awesome.

Vic and Mya, thank you for sharing.

Executive Order to Protect Second Amendment Rights

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This executive order could be a really big deal:

Trump Signs Executive Order To Protect Second Amendment Rights

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order aimed at safeguarding the Second Amendment rights of American citizens. The order, titled Protecting Second Amendment Rights, directs the Attorney General to review and address potential infringements on the right to keep and bear arms that may have occurred during the Biden administration.

In the order, President Trump emphasized the foundational importance of the Second Amendment, calling it “an indispensable safeguard of security and liberty.”

He stated that the right to bear arms is essential for protecting families, preserving freedoms, and maintaining all other rights enshrined in the Constitution.

…

The Attorney General is tasked with examining all orders, regulations, guidance, plans, international agreements, and other actions taken by federal agencies from January 2021 through January 2025. The review will assess whether these actions infringed on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens under the guise of promoting safety.

…

The Attorney General’s office is expected to begin its review immediately, with a proposed plan of action due within 30 days. Once finalized, the plan will outline specific steps to ensure that federal policies align with the protection of Second Amendment rights.

The NRA says:

The order is a monumental win for gun rights in America and a clear statement from President Trump that he intends to uphold his promise to protect Constitutional freedoms.

SAF says:

“Joe Biden and Kamala Harris waged war on American gun owners and the Second Amendment for four long years,” Gottlieb recalled, “treating the right to keep and bear arms like a government-regulated privilege. That ended January 20, and we are looking ahead to actions by the Trump administration which will reverse Biden’s policies and correct the harm he has done.”

Mark Smith of the Four Boxes Diner:

I will celebrate when prison cell doors slam shut behind politicians who have been violating our rights for decades. They need to enjoy their trials before I really believe things have permanently changed.

People Will Tell You Exactly Who They Are

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It’s a particular and peculiar benefit of free speech that most people will tell you exactly who they are when you let them.

Anon
February 6, 2025
Comment to Whiteness is a Demonic Force of Evil

Interesting. That probably explains why I have had so many people tell me stuff that I am shocked they tell anyone. I let people talk and don’t interrupt them. I also probably don’t react as much to unusual things as most other people.

I’ve had the most racist, homophobic, sexist, anti-Semitic person I have ever heard of rant for many minutes, multiple times. A far-left woman told me that she and I were one of the new humans, superior to ordinary people. One person, who spent considerable time in a psych ward, told me about the CIA reading our minds. One guy raved about extreme conservative stuff and repeatedly told me that he thought I was a conservative, just like him. Multiple women have told me about their “body count” being in the multiple hundreds.

I just listen.

Another Step Toward My Vision

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A federal judge in Mississippi has just dismissed a machine gun possession charge, marking the second time in recent history that such a case has been thrown out. Chris Eger of Guns.com first reported on the case, U.S. vs. Justin Bryce Brown, explaining that Judge Carlton W. Reeves ruled the federal charge was inconsistent with American history and tradition regarding firearm regulations.

The case is yet another test of the 2022 Supreme Court ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, which established that gun laws must align with the nation’s historical precedent.

Lisa Greene
February 6, 2025
Another Machine Gun Case Gets Tossed Out of Federal Court—What This Means for Gun Owners

Another step toward my vision of machine gun competitions in high school by 2032.

And, as I predicted back in November of 2022, this is the expected result of the Bruen decision.

Whiteness is a Demonic Force of Evil

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Whiteness is an unrelenting, demonic force of evil.

Bishop Talbert Swan @TalbertSwan
Posted on Twitter May 16, 2022

People said Twitter would become unsafe if Elon Musk took over and allowed free speech.

The Twitter takeover was completed in October of 2022. Above, you see an example of what happened. Musk went back in time and allowed the haters to speak their minds.

This is a really far-out alternative hypothesis, but I’ll throw it out anyway. Twitter moderators did not see anything controversial with statements like this one.

No. That’s just too far out there. The time travel explanation makes more sense.

Imagine a World with No Guns

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To imagine a world with no guns is to imagine a world in which the strong rule the weak, in which women are dominated by men, and in which minorities are easily abused or mass-murdered by majorities. Practically speaking, a firearm is the only weapon that allows a weaker person to defend himself from a larger, stronger group of attackers, and to do so at a distance. As George Orwell observed, a weapon like a rifle “gives claws to the weak.”

The failure of imagination among people who yearn for a gun-free world is their naive assumption that getting rid of claws will get rid of the desire to dominate and kill. They fail to acknowledge the undeniable fact that when the weak are deprived of claws (or firearms), the strong will have access to other weapons, including sheer muscle power. A gun-free world would be much more dangerous for women, and much safer for brutes and tyrants.

Dave Kopel, Paul Gallant, and Joanne Eisen
Independence Institute
December 5, 2001
A World Without Guns

I believe the people active in the anti-gun movement know this. I believe they try to tell the truth as much as they can to create the illusion of morality.

Read and or listen carefully to their words. They speak of reducing “gun violence”. They do not speak of reducing violent crime. This is because they know eliminating private gun ownership does not reduce violent crime.

They know the death by gun numbers they offer as evidence for gun control include legitimate self-defense and police shootings. Some of them act from a belief in moral superiority tied to passivism. They may think that “all lives have value.” But the majority engage in the distortions, deceptions and lies to preserve and/or enhance their power and/or bank account.

These people are evil. They don’t rank as high on the evil scale as comrade gun controllers Hitler, Stalin, and Pol Pot. But they are evil and fully deserve the prosecutions, convictions, and sentences of other common criminals.

No Clue About Human Nature

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It’s kinda weird that deplatforming Trump just like completely worked with no visible downside whatsoever.

Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias
Tweeted on January 21, 2021

I can’t find the original tweet, but Marc Andreessen @pmarca (and others) have preserved the quote for our enjoyment:

One has to wonder what type of mental deficiency is responsible for believing such a statement would be true. My model of human psychology predicts a white-hot rage in a narcissist. More normal people will be very unhappy and welcome an opportunity to repay the insult, with interest, even years later.

To be fair, democrats are seldom accused of understanding the true nature of humans (or even animals). They are more likely to assert human nature can be changed to match their beliefs.

Every Civilian Owner of an AR-15 is Unhinged

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I don’t think there are any “good guys” with AR-15s. It’s only used to massacre people. I think every civilian owner of an AR-15 is unhinged, can’t wait to use it and is a danger to everyone around them. And are almost certainly insecure in their manhood.

Cenk Uygur (@cenkuygur)
Tweeted on May 28, 2022

It’s not only another Markley’s Law Monday; it is another science denier (see also here)!

Odd. If they are only used to massacre people, I have a problem to report. I have owned one or more AR-15s for nearly 30 years now. I’ve fired thousands of rounds in them without massacring even one person. They must be malfunctioning. I wonder if they are still under warranty.

Millions of people own AR-15s. Tens of millions of these guns are in civilian hands. You would think there would be evidence of Uygur’s concern. However, in the U.S., there are only about five to six hundred rifles used in murders per year. These rifles are a superset of the AR-15s. Hence, those “unhinged” gun owners who “can’t wait to use it and are a danger to everyone around them” don’t exist outside Uygur’s imagination.

Furthermore, constitutionally protected rights are evaluated based the text of the law. They are not judged on how they are or may be misused by criminals.

Uygur view of reality is faulty. There is not a problem with the gun owners. Tell the Uygur’s of the world to seek counseling and leave the rest of us alone.

Do not Compromise with Evil

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Via Firearms Policy Coalition @gunpolicy:

I can see pragmatic consideration being advantageous in certain circumstances. One could argue that is what happened with the bump stock ban. I’m not convinced that was the best route, but I heard that argument.

But as the bedrock principal, yes. Gun control is evil. Do not compromise with evil.