No matter how much the advocates of gun control get, it will never be enough.
David T. Hardy
July 18, 2013
Why Gun Owners Are Right to Fight Against Gun Control—The anti-gun crowd doesn’t want “compromise.” They want confiscation and control.
[Via David and Bitter.
Brady Campaign board member Joan Peterson has confirmed this is true, repeatedly.—Joe]
More support for Dr. Joe’s cure for everything:
Dr. David Weeks, a British consultant clinical psychologist and former head of old age psychology at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital, made us blush with his research that claims regular sex can make you look younger. In a new study, Dr. Weeks found that older men and women with an active sex life appeared five to seven years younger than their actual age.
Following the links a bit we arrive at this:
The 59-year-old will tell a British Psychological Society conference today about his research, where he asked men and women questions about their sex lives. He found those who looked younger than their age claimed to have sex an average 50 per cent more – in the 40-to-50 age group equating to three times a week rather than twice.
I found no mention of results similar to that found by my students as to what happens when the frequency is increased to once or more per day. These researchers really need to keep up.
Bond movies. We’ve all seen them. Most of us have laughed at more than a few of them, too. Like them or not, just about everyone knows OF them. This one is a classic.
Lulu has been around for a while, since the 60s.
The most (maliciously) creative guys I’ve ever worked with were Army Special Forces soldiers. Their imagination can come up with a million fantastic ways to ruin someone’s day. They make authors look like pikers.
Larry Correia
July 18, 2013
Ask Correia 14: How to be a Professional Author
[Good to know.
There are a few reasons for this.
One, it’s their job and they do this stuff a lot so they get more practice than you, I , or Larry.
Two, they have a different mindset. When I used to do computer security stuff I would spend a lot of time “thinking like a bad guy” and try to break things. You don’t normally think like that. It sort of rubbed off onto other things I did and thought about. I could walk through the grocery store, or drive through farm country and get distracted by all the things someone could do to contaminate the food supply from a terrorist point of view. Or I would walk through a hardware store and “see” things for improvised explosive devices in nearly every aisle.
Three, they have had a lot of training and knowledge that has been handed down through the generations. It may seem incredibly creative to you or I but it’s only a minor variation on something that has been repeatedly done for the last 100 years.
Try changing your mindset. You might be surprised what you come up with if you decide to go all Firefly and “be a bad guy”.—Joe]
It’s easy to get bogged down in all the political stupidity and garbage going on in DC, as it slowly infects and infests the rest of the globe. But sometimes, you just have to get away. So, the other half, sprouts, the mutt, and I climbed into the minivan, and went out into the deep weeds. Continue reading
This Holder speech tells me that Holder, one of the main leaders of this Government, just advocated FOR the predation of his Government ON it’s own people, and he framed that advocacy in racial terms.
US Attorney General Eric Holder has just approved of violence by blacks on other races. President Obama now must decide to remove Eric Holder from leadership, or admit that he, too, supports race-based Government predation.
We may have just seen the line between simple bad leadership and outright Tyranny crossed here, with our Government having just clearly expressed tyrannical intentions.
Rivrdog
July 17, 2013
Comment to Quote of the day—Eric Holder
[While I agree there are tyrannical implications this is far from the first “line to be crossed”.
Examples:
These are just a few examples of a large set of “lines of significance” which have been crossed.—Joe]
Update: There are so many that I forget them… Add the IRS scandal and giving guns to the drug cartels to justify gun bans in the U.S.
Separate and apart from the case that has drawn the nation’s attention, it’s time to question laws that senselessly expand the concept of self-defense and sow dangerous conflict in our neighborhoods.
…
By allowing — and perhaps encouraging — violent situations to escalate in public, such laws undermine public safety.
Eric Holder
U.S. Attorney General
July 16, 2013
Holder wades deeper into Zimmerman battle, calls for review of ‘stand-your-ground’
[Does it “sow dangerous conflict in our neighborhoods” when the police stand their ground against a thug that threatens them or other innocent life? Or do they have a duty to retreat, as Holder thinks private citizens should, as well? If not then why the difference?
If this is “separate and apart from the case” then why bring it up now? I am suspicious that Holder is of the opinion that self-defense should be deprecated and the Zimmerman/Martin case is a convenient vehicle to further that agenda.
There are hints in Holders words above that indicate he believes all human lives are of equal value. This is not true (H/T to Robb’s Tweet). This is a collectivist mindset which, in essence, regards people as little more than cattle. The meat and milk from one cow is just as good as the meat and milk from another cow.
The thug threating to cause grievous bodily injury to an innocent life has reduced the value of their life to something less than their victim. When one or the other lives are certain to suffer severe harm the innocent victim is fully justified in using deadly force, risking the life of the aggressor, to defend themselves. This is a very individualist rights approach to the situation. The collectivist either does not understand the concepts or rejects them. In their mind damaged meat is damaged meat.
There is nothing wrong with “escalating” in self-defense when in a “violent situation” when an innocent life is put in jeopardy. I have seen what backing down to aggressive animals on the farm does. They get more aggressive because the behavior was successful in achieving their goals. If you can safely do so you must stand up to them, put them in their place, or get rid of them. If you don’t they will rule the barnyard. The same is true with aggressive animals on the street. Either Holder doesn’t understand this or his agenda includes violent thugs dominating innocent people in public.—Joe]
Earlier tonight my daughter and I were on the deck watching silent lightening. We could see, fairly close as lightening goes, large, naked bolts, and no sound but for the occasional very low rumble on the edge of hearing. Very odd.
I explained to her that distinct layers of different air density could reflect sound, not altogether unlike light reflecting on water, and so the sound was being carried away somewhere else, that submariners deal with this phenomenon in using sonar, as they travel up or down between layers of water. She responded with one of those, “Yeah, Dad. I know” dismissals than can make a father both proud and a little disappointed at the same time.
Anyway I figured that sooner or later the sound path would open up. It was much later. I’d forgotten about the lightening. A channel opened up though, wide open, and, rumble rumble CRACK! It was less than a half mile away, and it was as the sound of trees exploding and rocks cracking, which very well may have happened, just a moment ago. It shook the ground.
It haven’t jumped like that in years. Being around gunfire for so long, and several seasons of Boomershoot, plus a few private and up-close Boomer events, you get so the sound is as the regular waves along the ocean shore, or not much more alarming than that. Being out in my garage, maybe it was all context related, and the context was wrong. The dog came in and plopped down on the floor just now.
The result of overcriminalization is that prosecutors no longer need to wait for obvious signs of a crime. Instead of finding Professor Plum dead in the conservatory and launching an investigation, authorities can instead start an investigation of Colonel Mustard as soon as someone has suggested he is a shady character. And since … everyone is a criminal if prosecutors look hard enough, they are guaranteed to find something eventually.
Overcriminalization has thus left us in a peculiar place: Though people suspected of a crime have extensive due process rights in dealing with the police, and people charged with a crime have even more extensive due process rights in court, the actual decision of whether or not to charge a person with a crime is almost completely unconstrained.
Glenn Harlan Reynolds
July 2013
Columbia Law Review: Ham Sandwich Nation: Due Process When Everything Is a Crime
[This would appear to be the goal of those that wish to “prevent gun violence”. Government prevents there being a victim by prosecuting people for victimless crimes. An example is the prosecution of people for being in possession of gun in addition to prosecution of people who injure innocent people with a gun.
This makes a certain amount of sense but only if there is no value to the victimless act being prosecuted. The prosecution of severely drunk drivers has little downside because driving while drunk has a high risk of injuring innocent people with very rare benefits.
Even if firearm possession is legal the more laws there are regulating the possession of firearms all the better it is for government to “prevent gun violence”. When Huffman’s Rule of Firearms Law results in nearly every gun owner at risk for decades of prison time, without a single victim, we have serious potential for abuse and even a police state.
In order to claim prosecution of gun ownership is a net benefit one must demonstrate gun ownership has little value to society and/or a large societal cost. Small minds will present an argument of vigorous assertion that this is true. But a more compelling argument can be made that thoughts are more dangerous than guns. For example The Communist Manifesto and some religious books have been used as tools to kill and injure far more innocent people than firearms in the hands of private citizens.
The concept of “preventing crime” is a very risky and dangerous path to tread. We are already too far down this path and we should reverse course rather than continue to, what I fear is, a genocidal conclusion.—Joe]
From the ATF website:
However, because of the potential misuse of explosive materials, ATF’s role plays a vital role in regulating and educating the explosives industry and in protecting the public from inadequate storage and security.
The ATF role plays a vital role?
I sometimes mock the ATF but my interaction with them, on the whole, has been pleasant enough. I do want the storage of Boomershoot reactive targets to be theft and bullet resistant and their contribution to making that a reality was significant. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it was “vital” but it certainly was more than role playing.
They need a 30 round clip to get an erection. @sampuzzo @2enchantu @abynorml @mahvros27
TruthtoConservatives (@ToConservatives)
Tweeted on February 4, 2013
[It’s another Markley’s Law Monday!
H/T to Janelle for the email.—Joe]
There can be no doubt after the Not Guilty verdict in the trial of George Zimmerman that murder has now been legalized in half of the 50 states.
…
The acquittal of George Zimmerman is confirmation that the American promise of “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” will continue to be squandered until the NRA’s pernicious stranglehold on our legislatures is broken. Lawmakers in states with “Stand Your Ground” laws should immediately repeal these cancerous blights on American values, law and tradition.
Coalition to Stop Gun Violence
July 14, 2014
CSGV STATEMENT ON VERDICT IN ZIMMERMAN TRIAL
[It’s no wonder CSGV is irrelevant and fading away.
A jury found Zimmerman not guilty of both murder and the lesser charge of manslaughter. Yet CSGV, without the benefit of seeing all the evidence and testimony seen by the jury, is convinced he committed murder. A jury that took only 16.5 hours of deliberation to reach that conclusion. It was no surprise to nearly all the trial observers. The evidence clearly supported the conclusion that the shooting was in self-defense.
The wild claim of murder is the same as that by other anti gun people who claimed the Boston Marathon terrorist shooting at the police, and shortly thereafter shot by the police, was a “gun violence victim.” Apparently these people live in a world where everyone shot and killed are murder victims. The only thing that could make it more clear is if they declared Gary Gilmore a “gun violence victim.”*
Their world and reality only intersect to the extent that we can sometimes understand the words, but not the substance, of what they are trying to say.—Joe]
*Someone should ask Joan Peterson about this.
My eyes are starting to go buggy. Been spending a LOT of time recently working on editing The Stars Came Back. The story is done. I’ve addressed some of the issues people had, like the attempted rape scene (ubu), the no-alarm airlock (Sendarius, I think, or was it Defens?), the “sudden pile of bodies” shortly thereafter (several people), the poker game (ubu), the multiple planets in one system L3/L4 issue (forget who, but thanks, it helped later, too), etc. Also think I got all the to/too, breath/breathe, clothes/cloths issues. Still a few things to work on, and now awaiting to hear back from a few of those brave souls that said they’d be happy to look it over and see what errors they can find in it. (If you asked to do so, and haven’t heard from me, drop my a line, because apparently my email to your email address you use when posting isn’t working for me). Not sure on the going live on Amazon date. Still awaiting to hear back from a couple of people on possible cover-art things (still entertaining suggestions on that front, actually), and want to go through it at least once and not find another error of some sort.
I have just laid down in my sleeping bag near Boomershoot Mecca. No tent. Just the sleeping bag, pads, pillow, and a blanket.
I was going to fire up my computer and make a quote of the day post to go live at 6:00 AM but it is totally quiet except for an occasional dog barking a half mile or more away and the sky is moonless and clear. I can easily see the Milky Way. The QOTD blog post can wait. Tonight I’m going to watch the stars instead.
Posted from WordPress for Windows Phone
It isn’t eternal vigilance the residents of Illinois need, it is eternally outraged aggressiveness against their own government.
mikee
July 11, 2013
Comment to Three Yards And A Cloud Of Dust…
[It isn’t just in Illinois that this is needed. And there are lots of things to be outraged about.
The judge that forced Illinois to allow people the “bear” part of “keep and bear” arms didn’t prohibit the state from requiring someone to get a permit to exercise a specific enumerated right. Reading a book, even the most dangerous ones such as The Communist Manifesto, doesn’t require a permit. Worshiping the god(s) of your choice doesn’t require you to register with the state. And you don’t have to get the local sheriff to sign off on you exercising your right to have a lawyer present when you are being questioned by the police. The BATFB (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Books) can’t declare book as failing to meet a “religious purpose” test and forbid it being imported as they can with a gun that doesn’t meet its “sporting purpose” test.
Gun owners are like a child so badly abused that they are grateful just to be given a few scraps of bread in a bowl of water. The abuse has been going on for so long and so extensive that it is difficult for us to imagine what a “normal life” would be like.
Talk to someone that has lived in an abusive relationship for decades and then got out. Even after a year they will still marvel some little thing they are so grateful for but is really a normal human interaction. While in the relationship they didn’t, and probably couldn’t realize, that was another instance of abuse in their relationship. And probably just as, if not more, important is that the abuser absolutely does not see it as abuse. No matter how many times they are told, no matter how much data is supplied the abuser will insist the victim deserves it and no abuse is actually occurring.
It’s easy for someone from Idaho to see the abuse in New Jersey, New York, and Massachusetts. It’s much more difficult for the people being victimized to see it. And the legislators advocating even more abuse cannot imagine why the victims complain.
Just like an abusive parent or spouse whose actions result in the injury and death of those innocents under their control these abusive politicians, who infringe upon the right of the people to keep and bear arms which also results in the injury and death of the innocent, need to be arrested and given appropriate punishment.—Joe]
Or is it gunternet drama and internet shenanigans? Thankfully, aside from the regular stuff I’ve seen for many years and have learned to avoid for the most part, I’ve not the slightest idea what anyone is talking about. No, don’t go a-linkin’ to it here, neither. I don’t want to know. Thank you.
It’s a lovely July day here in Moscow today. Not too hot, and so my garden likes it too, and the last two evenings have been bliss, with a very gentle, cool, fragrant breeze wafting in through the open windows.
I tried to get my wife to notice, but she’s too busy with the drama in her head (and emanating from the television) and is more interested in planting said drama into my head (or the head of any who will listen, encouraging her with undue patience) than in most anything I have to say. It’s that “most” part that gives me any hope.
One thing I have learned, among the few others, is that I don’t have to coddle and germinate the seeds of drama that other people try to plant in my head. They just fall away and dry up, waiting for some other fool to pick them up off the floor and run with them (which is more often the case than not).
If it’s not actionable on my part or of some value to better understand how to live my own life or to help others live theirs, or of some value in understanding the immutable laws of physics or of human nature on the macro level, or of understanding history, I’m pretty much uninterested at this juncture I think. Mechanics and petty squabbles I mastered long ago.
Sorry there’s nothing to excite you here. I’m finding that excitement is vastly overrated and I’m of the opinion that we spend far too much time pursuing it at the expense of things that matter. It seems we spend the first half of our allotted lifespan seeking excitement and the second half, if we’re lucky, cleaning up the wreckage.
Carry on (as in, replace the “party” in the Wayne and Garth term “party on” with “carry”, so it has a nice double meaning for a gun blog).
Not exactly an an uplifting song, but gives a good story why someone might want to own a gun, and why they are called “equalizers.”
Miranda Lambert has been on the country music scene for about a decade. Decent body… of music.
Forget who recommended the song, but thanks.
If there are no stupid questions, then what kind of questions do stupid people ask? Do they get smart just in time to ask questions?
Scott Adams
[He has a very good point.
I think it is important to acknowledge there are stupid people and that even smart people sometimes say stupid things. One should not pretend that something stupid didn’t just occur but to handle it graciously when it does.—Joe]
I have no idea what the cartoonist was thinking. This makes absolutely no sense what so ever to me.
The right to keep and bear arms is an explicitly enumerated right in the Bill of Rights on equal ground with the rights listed on the sign. “Union rights” are not explicit in the Constitution or BOR but some aspect of a union have implicit protection such as freedom of association. But how do gun rights threaten any aspect of the other rights or of someone wishing to be a member of a union?
My best guess is the cartoonist has crap for brains. Does anyone have a better idea?
When I log into my Xenix system with my 110 baud teletype, both vi *and* Emacs are just too damn slow. They print useless messages like, ‘C-h for help’ and ‘”foo” File is read only’. So I use the editor that doesn’t waste my VALUABLE time.
Ed, man! !man ed
ED(1) UNIX Programmer’s Manual ED(1)
NAME
ed – text editor
SYNOPSIS
ed [ – ] [ -x ] [ name ]
DESCRIPTION
Ed is the standard text editor.
—
Computer Scientists love ed, not just because it comes first alphabetically, but because it’s the standard. Everyone else loves ed because it’s ED!
“Ed is the standard text editor.”
And ed doesn’t waste space on my Timex Sinclair. Just look:
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root 24 Oct 29 1929 /bin/ed
-rwxr-xr-t 4 root 1310720 Jan 1 1970 /usr/ucb/vi
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root 5.89824e37 Oct 22 1990 /usr/bin/emacs
Of course, on the system *I* administrate, vi is symlinked to ed. Emacs has been replaced by a shell script which 1) Generates a syslog message at level LOG_EMERG; 2) reduces the user’s disk quota by 100K; and 3) RUNS ED!!!!!!
“Ed is the standard text editor.”
Let’s look at a typical novice’s session with the mighty ed:
golem> ed
?
help
?
?
?
quit
?
exit
?
bye
?
hello?
?
eat flaming death
?
^C
?
^C
?
^D
?
—
Note the consistent user interface and error reportage. Ed is
generous enough to flag errors, yet prudent enough not to overwhelm
the novice with verbosity.
Patrick J. LoPresti
July 11, 1991
The True Path in alt.religion.emacs
[There is more but this should give you enough of a hint to get you to read the whole thing—assuming you GET OFF OF MY LAWN!
This remarkable piece of enlightenment is just as valid today as it was when it was originally posted 22 years ago today.
And as I was telling Ry the other day, not only would I rather not be running Windows 8, I still harbor some resentment DOS was replaced with Windows 95.—Joe]