Trivia: I met Randy Weaver at the Kalispell gun show back in the late 90’s. Seemed like a nice enough guy.
Tag Archives: burning hatred like a thousand suns
Article – New Law Will Install Kill Switches In All New Cars
Yet another reason used car prices continue to head north.
The usual crowd will say its about ‘safety’ and that ‘if it saves just one life’, etc, etc. But, realistically, it’s another poke in the eye to people who don’t like .gov having their thumb on them.
If you think this is just fine because “If you’ve done nothing wrong you have nothing to fear” then how would you feel if that technology was in your pacemaker, insulin pump, or internal defibrillator
It is my hope that people far more technologically savvy than I will have DIY guides to disabling this sort of nonsense.
This wouldnt have happened if he’d been in France
Still trying to figure out how its an accident when you purposefully point a gun at someone and purposefully pull the trigger.
The world we live in
I simply don’t have the words:
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown privately signed a bill last month ending the requirement for high school students to prove proficiency in reading, writing, and arithmetic before graduation.
……
Backers argued the existing proficiency levels for math and reading presented an unfair challenge for students who do not test well, and Boyle said the new standards for graduation would aid Oregon’s “Black, Latino, Latinx, Indigenous, Asian, Pacific Islander, Tribal, and students of color.”
This, more than anything else, is how a great society or great nation descends into mediocrity and, ultimately, collapse.
Because a particular demographic ‘tests poorly’, we should eliminate the requirement that they pass those tests. That way, when they go out to get jobs they’ll be qualified to….do what exactly? When you hire someone to do work and they can’t do math or read instructions, you know what you get? Unemployed. If they’re really concerned about these ‘marginalized’ groups, they’d raise the standards so that those folks can get thebest jobs they can.
This isn’t something that should surprise anyone. What’s surprising is that people think this is a good idea. And those people vote. And their vote counts as much as yours. (Unless, of course, they’re an Oregon ‘graduate’ and have trouble reading the ballot).
A long time ago I stopped thinking that society, mine or anyone elses, was capable of being saved from it’s inevitable decline. Remember the scene in one of the Terminator movies where the guy says that his destiny wasn’t to prevent Judgement Day, but rather to survive it? Same thing. I don’t have to prevent or decelerate the descent into whatever it is we’re heading into…I only have to survive it to come out on the other side of it. Thus, I’ve stopped worrying about the gaping hole in the hull and am simply working on making sure I have a clear path to the lifeboats.
But let’s recap: trillions of dollars for ‘infrastructure’ which we are told won’t lead to inflation, supply chain ‘disruptions’, a global pandemic, opportunistic nations jockeying for a better position as the main players deal with the Wuhan Flu, and an American populace that thinks its more important to use the ‘correct’ pronoun than it is to be able to be able to calculate your paycheck or read a job application. If that isn’t a recipe for a bright, new future…well!
And in this way, I feel vindicated for my growing misanthropy. Your mileage may vary, of course, but as for me I wash my hands of the rest of humanity and, frankly, they get what they deserve. If you don’t like what you see, be patient and let natural selection run it’s course. If you think this sort of virtue-siignalling-at-all-costs is a good thing, and it appeals to your ‘wokeness’, well….you’re an idiot but at least you have others to keep you company.
Keeping eyes and ears open
Hmmm….
President Joe Biden will unveil a package of executive actions to curb gun violence on Thursday — a step that is likely to be cheered by increasingly impatient advocates despite being relatively modest in scope.
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Among the actions Biden will take will be to direct the Department of Justice to begin, within 30 days, the process of requiring buyers of so-called ghost guns — homemade or makeshift firearms that lack serial numbers — to undergo background checks and, within 60 days, regulating concealed assault-style firearms, according to the White House.
And from WSJ:
And just like that….I spent a lot of money…again.
Airport follies
I had to do some unavoidable air travel during the week that Froze The South. My flights, naturally, had to go through Texas (which I have waxed affectionately about in the past), Arkansas (holy crap, it’s like every southern stereotype, good and bad, writ large), and North Carolina.
I made it as far as Arkansas before my flights got cancelled like a conservative speaker at a Berkley college. And…my flight was rescheduled for the same gate, same tytpe of plane, same departure time…but the next day. But, wait, there’s more….not only were the vast majority of hotels booked, but the one that was not booked solid was not sending an airport shuttle due to the road conditions. So…Refugee Status: Unlocked!
My only options at this point were to sleep on the floor of the airport until the next day. Not a new experience, I’ve done it before….but I haven’t had to do it in quite a while. And, being a southern airport, it wasn’t really built with the idea of keeping heat in. (By the way, it was Bill And Hillary Clinton Airport, which meant there was a wall mural of America’s greatest political sycophant…and her husband.) So not only was it going to be an uncomfortable night of sleeping on a bench like a homeless person, it was going to be a cold one. (So, really, it was an aptly named airport…it was unremarkable, relied on name recognition rather than actual merit, was frigid, and made me want to go find a 22-year-old to amuse myself with.)
I travel with one bag. One. So everything I need has to fit in that one bag ’cause Zero ain’t paying for a checked bag. But Zero also realizes that stuff happens. And I’d thought there might be a good chance of having to spend the night in the airport. (And, no, the days of the airline putting you up in a hotel for a flight cancellation are long gone, baby.) So…I packed with an eye towards spending the night in the airport. First thing, and the one that really paid off, was the Kifaru Woobie. Warm enough for interior of the airport, and compact enough that I could scrunch it down to the size of a Nerf footbal and get it in my bag. That one paid off. Other items were a small ‘travel sized’ packet of Clorox disinfecting wipes carried in my toiletries kit along with a ‘travel size’ roll of TP. The TP is self-explanatory and if you’ve ever had the misfortune of having to use a public restroom then you know the disinfecting wipes are pretty self-explanatory as well. Also brought a small Platypus water bottle so I didn’t have to roam around looking for a water fountain. Already had a small EDC flashlight with me.
And, of course, a wad of cash and a deck of bank cards.
Wandering the airport it was interesting to see how other people managed the situation. It was fairly evenly divided into two camps (almost literally) – the folks who piled all their belongings in a corner, draped their coat over themselves, and tried to sleep….and the group who sat at the tables determined to just power through by staying awake. Crom help them.
Having wifi available was a big plus. A laptop and phone go a long way towards keeping a person entertained. So, finally, around 2am, I found a quiet corner, wrapped my backpack strap around my ankle, curled up under my woobie, used my coat for a pillow, and managed to steal a few hours of sleep. Not enough to keep me from being sleepy the next day, but enough for me to be functional and relatively sociable. (Because when asking the ticket agent to please help me GTFO of this place it would be good to be as pleasant and obsequious as possible.)
Moral of the story? It’s not impossible that you’re going to get stranded at the airport when you travel. When it happens you can usually money your way out of it with a hotel for the night. But nothing in life is certain, so, if you can, be prepared to have to camp out by the baggage carousel for a night.
Space in my bag was at a premium, but what I did have worked well. What I would have done differently is to have brought earplugs (a couple foam ones would have been fine), and possibly a small freeze dried entree…because even though the food services are closed, there is always someplace that has hot water for coffee.
So, there you go…a little learn-from-experience.
Pass
Here’s a reminder for everyone:
CFR › Title 27 › Chapter II › Subchapter B › Part 478 › Subpart C › Section 478.34:
§ 478.34 Removed, obliterated, or altered serial number.
No person shall knowingly transport, ship, or receive in interstate or foreign commerce any firearm which has had the importer’s or manufacturer’s serial number removed, obliterated, or altered, or possess or receive any firearm which has had the importer’s or manufacturer’s serial number removed, obliterated, or altered and has, at any time, been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce.
I mention this because someone tried to sell me a lovely military Colt 1911 (not an A1) that had been nickeled and in the process of nickeling had removed the entire serial number. The owner didn’t understand why it was a big deal.
(To be fair, its possible the gun was a ‘lunchbox special’ that left the plant before the serial number process but those are exceptionally rare. It’s also possible it was an unnumbered replacement frame from military stores…again, pretty rare. But, you know what….not worth the risk.)
Link – Governor to take ventilators for NYC as hospitals buckle
Now Cuomo jumps in the seize-it bus, and throws property rights under it.
There is a proper response when someone tries to steal your life-saving equipment, however that response does not involve suing them.
Link – NJ Gov. Orders State Police To Commandeer Needed Medical Supplies
So, if I understand this correctly, organizations that do not have the tremendous purchasing power or the seemingly deep pockets of state government managed to acquire supplies and the state, rather than actually buying those supplies themselves previously, are going to simply seize them. I mean…it’s not like the state had resources and buying power to purchase these things months or years ago, right? Right?
This is why the first rule of Prep Club is……….
Travelin’ man
Im on the road again. The more I travel, especially in an easterly direction, the more I am made uneasy. Wandering through airports, killing time, I can’t help but feel at a tremendous disadvantage…completely unarmed, a carry on of clothes, a few bucks in my pocket….that’s not a lot to get me through a crisis if something unpleasant happens. Not necessarily something ‘Die Hard 2’-ish (that was the airport one, right?), but rather a having-to-sleep-on-the-floor-at-the-airport episode. In situations like that, the ultimate survival kit is simply a pocket full of cash and credit cards…sadly, those sorts of resources are always scarce.
And then there’s the grepos at the TSA security theater. Some high school dropout, given a blue shirt and a pretty badge, can validate his existence by stripsearching grandmothers and seizing toenail scissors. I have a long-standing hatred for the TSA that goes back almost to it’s founding, and in the intervening years they have done nothing to diminish the sentiment. When the revolution gets here, among the first groups put up against the wall, will be the brigade of blue-gloved scrotum-grabbers.
Anyway, I’m traveling for a few days and will be back to somehwat regular posting around the middle of next week. Assuming I can keep my temper in check next time some idiot in a blue shirt asks me to take my belt off.
