Vox pegs it ...

.
...'You'd better sit down for this one':

U.S. intelligence officials knew within 24 hours of the assault on the U.S. Consulate in Libya that it was a terrorist attack and suspected Al Qaeda-tied elements were involved, sources told Fox News -- though it took the administration a week to acknowledge it.  The account sharply conflicts with claims on the Sunday after the attack by U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice that the administration believed the strike was a "spontaneous" event triggered by protests in Egypt over an anti-Islam film.

Don't expect to hear any spittle-flecked ranting from the media, though ... wouldn't fit the narrative.

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Today ...

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... I have nothing.

Ah, to be a blogger who can glean content from thin air ...

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At least someone's ...

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... being compensated:

The April verdict by a Frederick County jury that awarded $620,000 to a Taneytown family after their dog was shot by a sheriff's deputy was upheld by a Montgomery County judge. 

The award was reduced to a statutory amount $7500 v $20k  ... the rest is for emotional distress.

I generally disagree with 'emotional distress' arguments, but whatever needs to happen to get law enforcement to start thinking.

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MPAI ...

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... and this tends to prove it:

About half of the participants did not detect the changes, and 69% accepted at least one of the altered statements.

People were even willing to argue in favour of the reversed statements: A full 53% of participants argued unequivocally for the opposite of their original attitude in at least one of the manipulated statements, the authors write. Hall and his colleagues have previously reported this effect, called 'choice blindness', in other areas, including taste and smell² and aesthetic choice³.

This article is about a 'survey' in which a deliberate trick is used to get people to answer questions and then have it revealed that they've answered the exact opposite .

And 53% are willing to argue against themselves.


This reminds me of the Great Foggy Interstate Wreck on 75S around Calhoun, TN (there's a big paper plant there that is generally considered to 'cause' the heavy fog in the area). I was selected to be surveyed by (it turns out) a legal firm that was considering legal action against the paper company. During the survey, I noticed that I was asked the same question with different nuances several times, and when I answered differently on a set of questions, it was pointed out that maybe I did consider the company at fault for the crash. I told the surveyor that no matter how many times she asked me the same question different ways, I would not believe the company to have caused the accident.

She promptly hung up.

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Of course they did ...

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... his questions won't follow the narrative:

Seems the trickle-down theory must work, as a Democratic candidate for state office in Colorado worked to exclude a member of the clergy from moderating a local debate because his supporters were “uncomfortable” with a church leader asking questions.

One day Republicans will come to the realization that the media and Democrats (BIRM) will not play fair, nor will they give any quarter.

Republicans - bringing knives to the gun fight for over 100 years.

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i really didn't think ...

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... this would happen:

Three-year-old Kydalynn Robinson was playing with her 2-year-old cousin when the pair apparently found a .45-caliber handgun and Kydalynn was shot in the head.

Kydalynn lived with her grandparents, mother, aunt and cousin in one house in the Benwood subdivision off Old Parksville Road in Bradley County. Her mother was home when the accident occurred.

The pistol belonged to a retired state trooper, who is charged with criminally negligent homicide;  he, along with three other family members, is also being charged with reckless endangerment.

I really don't see the charges against the 3 non-owners of the firearm; that said, it's amazing what a grand jury will do when you bring an event in front of them.

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OK ...

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... this is funny!

Wow ...

.
... just, wow:

A key realization: the enemy uses cheap night vision gear in the form of cameras that have night functions.  When our IR lasers, our IR strobes, our IR illumination or our IR spotlights are radiating, they can easily be seen using cheap digital cameras.  I recently told this to some Norwegian soldiers, who were as surprised as our soldiers to learn it.  I learned this from the enemy, not from our guys.  The Taliban even use smart phone cameras to watch for invisible lasers.  The enemy in Afghanistan has been caught using cameras for night vision.  It is just a stroke of common sense: I have been doing it for eight years since I noticed an IR laser one night in Iraq.

Now I know that the militant muzzies are a pack of camel-humping inbreds, but that doesn't mean that they're completely stupid. When you realize that the gap between what the military uses on a regular basis and what's available to the general public is not that large, then you shouldn't be surprised that someone within the terrorist ranks figures it out. They're 15th because they want to be, not because they can't handle the 20th.

Technology doesn't discriminate.  h/t Ace's ONT

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Sounds to me like ...

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... vaporizing 100 cities is gaining popularity:

Our foreign policy towards the Muslim world should simply be this: leave us the f*ck alone, if you don't we will utterly annihilate you. We will not invade. We will not depose. We will not nation build. We will destroy.

And if after being destroyed you choose to f*ck with us again, we will destroy you again. Until either you stop f*cking with us or you are all dead.

The nuclear option is on the table.

 The process he went through to arrive here is interesting, so read the whole thing.

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What if ...

.
... people voted in a strategic manner?

In a post at PA Gun Blog, Sage Thrasher makes a point that got me to thinking:

if you are a Democrat in Wyoming or a Republican in California, the electoral college guarantees your vote for president is a waste of paper.

There's been a lot of talk about how real conservatives don't trust Romney, and with justification (though I sense there's a coalescing of voters, holding their noses!).

So why don't conservatives (whose vote is destined to be 'wasted' anyway) in deep blue states start moving the Republican party to the right? How?

By voting for libertarian-oriented candidates in both the primary and the general election (and no, not necessarily Ron Paul!).

Unless there's a modern Reagan, California will not vote for a Republican ... they just won't. So why then, does the conservative electorate not use it's vote strategically? I don't mean voting for the most conservative Republican, I mean voting for the most conservative candidate regardless of party (and arguably, not in the Republican party).

The GOP will never get past their moderateness until they understand that they will not get conservative support until the GOP starts meeting conservatives needs.

The NRA understands this; look at what happened in TN. If you don't support us, we won't support you (and might even work for your opponent).

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Damned if you do ...

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... damned if you don't:

In a complaint filed Wednesday and settled the same day, Justice claimed that California-based Luther Burbank Savings violated the 1968 Fair Housing Act and 1974 Equal Credit Opportunity Act by setting a policy that had a "disparate impact" on minorities. Between 2006 and mid-2011, 5.2% of Luther's single-family residential mortgage loans went to African-Americans ...

What the DOJ means by "disparate impact" is that the bank set standards that would ensure repayment of loans, and blacks couldn't meet them. h/t Radley

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May soar?

.
I don't think there's any doubt:

President Obama and the Democrats won't be the only big winners if he's reelected in November.

Gun retailers and manufacturers are expecting a significant rise in gun sales if the president remains in the White House for a second term, The Wall Street Journal reports.

And God help you if you don't have a gun if Obama wins.

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So I was thinking ...

.
... about the conversation going on at Sebastian's place about machineguns.

Now Sebastian is not anti-machinegun, he just doesn't see a way to either 1) get Hughes invalidated legally or 2) get Hughes repealed.

As far as getting Hughes repealed, I believe that Sebastian has no faith that if put to a vote that Hughes would be repealed. I say that our side should at least try; after all, it was 12 years ago that the Democrats snuck Hughes into the FOPA in the first place, fraudulently and against the wishes of (apparently) a majority of representatives, and at a time when the tide was just beginning to turn towards our side, culturally (meaning that we were at a low point).

And, wow ... if the NRA got behind a push to get Hughes repealed and return machineguns to their original regulated status, then there would be a much better chance of getting something done. They are, like it or not, the 800lb gorilla.

As far as getting Hughes invalidated legally, well that's a tougher row to hoe. Right off the bat I'll concede that Sebastian is correct regarding the NFA tax argument on machineguns, and that 922(o) is controlling.Heller

Think back to the 'assault' weapons ban of '94. The ban never touched on the type of weapon with regards to how it operated; rather the ban simply said you can't have an AR-15 that looks like an AR-15 (insert your favorite EBR for AR-15). Can't have detachable magazines? Then we'll make them with 'buttons'. No muzzle devices? Then they come with bull barrels. No pistol grips? Then have a thumbhole stock.

Don't even get me started on reduced capacity mags ...

As we all know, the AWB had little effect on the functioning of the weapon itself (you can still get AR pattern rifles in ban or pre-ban configurations ... they all shoot bullets).

But a machinegun is different. The only qualifying trait of a machinegun that differentiates it from non-machineguns is that it fires more than one round per pull of the trigger, an actual design element of the firearm. It matters not how sedate or menacing a weapon looks, if it only fires one round per pull of the trigger, it's not a machinegun.

So 922(o) actually bans a whole class of firearm ... machineguns. That has never happened before. And it would seem violate the police powers inherent with the states, which the statists that gave us the NFA regarded as a disqualifier (relying instead on Congress' power to tax). It would also seem to go beyond what is currently thought of as appropriate commerce clause jurisprudence (Raich not withstanding) as 922(o) doesn't regulate commerce as much as it bans commerce for post-May '86 machineguns, while at the same time regulating commerce for pre-May '86 machineguns.

So it seems to me that a truly gifted genius like Alan Gura could design a case and the arguments* surrounding it to take a stab at Hughes in the courts. Locate a willing plaintiff that is squeaky clean, file in a friendly court and go from there. It would only take a favorable decision at the appeals court level, for the government would surely appeal to SCOTUS.

But hey ... what do I know?!

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* I know there are some that say that Scalia in his opinion in Heller all but green-lighted machinegun bans - I disagree. He mentioned that in Miller, both prongs mentioned must be considered - military utility and common use. Given that later in the opinion he notes that even though a militia might not have the weapons capable of defeating it cannot mitigate the right. I'll admit that Scalia's declaration that machineguns don't fit the 'commonly in use' standard, that is not the militiamans fault, especially when machineguns were (and pre-May machineguns still are) regulated with no problems by the government.

If only ...

.
... Republicans were this smart:

The goal is to create an enveloping data matrix which gives the Honey Boo Boos a sort of half-aware impression that the narrative we’ve concocted for them is not simply a partisan narrative fighting for their allegiance but rather is simply the way things are.

To that end, the headlines need to be as unsubtle as possible, but still hewing to reality — reality through our lens.

I call this approach “truthaganda,” to contrast it with the leftists’ more traditional and more mendacious “propaganda.” The progressives have a massive advantage over us because their Gramscian predecessors have gotten a hammer-lock on the mainstream media which they have no intention of ever letting go; but we at least have truth on our side. All we’ve got to do is turn that truth up to 11. Perhaps even 11.5.

RTWT ... it's informative, and nothing conservatives (who want to win) should find out of line.

I've thought the same thing myself. Instead of Romney playing the medias' game, he should respond to questions of his timing thusly:

"So, after we know that there was lax security (authorized by Hillary Clinton) at the consulate, that the whereabouts of the Ambassador were unknown for roughly 10 hours, that the president couldn't be bothered to answer the 3am call, and instead of getting to the bottom of having a US ambassador assasinated he jets off to Las Vegas for a fundraiser ... you want to question me on my timing?"

The media are not our friends ... I see nothing wrong with turning their malfeasance back on them and making them justify their choices.

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More of this ...

.
... and as quickly as possible:

A few months ago, New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch signed a bill declaring that "in all criminal proceedings the court shall permit the defense to inform the jury of its right to judge the facts and the application of the law in relation to the facts in controversy."

It seems to have worked,too, as a 59 year old Rastafarian was acquitted of marijuana cultivation when it was revealed it was for his own personal religious and medicinal use.

The judge even got into the act, stating "even if you find that the State has proven each and every element of the offense charged beyond a reasonable doubt, you may still find the defendant not guilty if you have a conscientious feeling that a not guilty verdict would be a fair result in this case."

Wow!

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Machinegun bleg ...

.
... if Hughes were repealed (or invalidated), how many of my loyal readers (or folks you know) would buy a real assault rifle (select-fire)?

How many would buy light or crew-served machineguns up to .50 caliber if you had the money?

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JPFO alert

.
Rosh HaShannah greetings!

Join together ...

.
... with the band:



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JPFO alert

.
Taking aim.

Unfortunately ...

.
... nothing will be done:

He approached the gate without entering and whistled to Scout, saying, “Come here pup,” and the dog “jumped off the deck and ran at me. I began backing away as fast as I could in a backward direction. I immediately noticed the dog was showing its teeth and I could hear the dog growling very loudly.”

The 'he' is a police officer, who, after calling the dog, was astounded that the dog actually came towards him ... got scared and shot the animal.

Of course, the chief circled the wagons and declared the officers' actions justified.

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Damn!

.
This guy is good:

The gallows structure seems to be complete. There are four square holes under a single beam. Workers are screwing down some hardware for traps not yet installed. The grim work of execution will be done in two shifts, on consecutive mornings. I shall outlive Dennis by twenty-four hours. At times like this, I almost wish I believed in an afterlife, like those fools deluded by the opiate of religion. The only afterlife I shall achieve is what I am writing on the pages of this spiral notebook, and they will be cold comfort in the ground. To come so far, to get so close, and then to be consigned to oblivion—it just seems so damned unfair, after three generations of dedicated struggle.

Matt Bracken has another essay up at Western Rifle Shooters ... kind of a companion to the last one.

Read it!

I especially liked Rule 308!

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This needs ...

.
... wider distribution:

You see, now that the 4th DCA has said an officer can arrest Scummy McScumbag for being on his own property and accidentally exposing his pistol, it means Officer Friendly can do the same thing to you. When you refuse to stand up for rights, you lose yours. It’s cases like these where they violate the rights of someone nobody wants to defend that the violation becomes precedent . When it’s your turn in court, don’t expect the judge to suddenly realize you’re the good guy and that you should get better treatment.

Robb gets it exactly right ... it's the worst actors in society whose rights we should protect the most.

This is one of the reasons that I butt heads with Sebastian so much. Yes, Leonard Embody is probably a douchebag and has questionable legal sense, but, dammit, he still has rights that deserve to be defended.

Because Embody's rights are your rights ... and Sebastians rights ... and my rights.

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Matt Bracken ...

.
... puts some fucking knowledge:

In response to recent articles in mainstream military journals discussing the use of the U.S. Army to quell insurrections on American soil, I offer an alternate vision of the future. Instead of a small town in the South as the flash point, picture instead a score of U.S. cities in the thrall of riots greater than those experienced in Los Angeles in 1965 (Watts), multiple cities in 1968 (MLK assassination), and Los Angeles again in 1992 (Rodney King). New Yorkers can imagine the 1977 blackout looting or the 1991 Crown Heights disturbance. In fact, the proximate spark of the next round of major riots in America could be any from a long list cribbed from our history.

The spark he uses in his example? Welfare payments stop one day..

If you don't take any of my advice but this, Read. The. Whole. Thing.

I also note that it's not strange that you should see an article this dire on a website like Western Rifle Shooters, but I saw this on protein wisdom - not your usual source for subversive dogma.

It's getting believable, folks.

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We already knew this ...

.
... the TSA is not about security:



Time to out this organization out of our misery.

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Why can objectively smart people be so fucking stupid?

.
A relative of mine is going through a divorce, she has a restraining order on her ex-husband-to-be and she's considering getting a permit and a handgun. But given that, within the family at least, I am the recognized duty expert on firearms and legalities, does she take my advice?

Of course not ...

She was offered her mother's revolver for the immediate need (a horrid thing, in .22lr and a 20lb double action pull) but she didn't want to do that.

Another relative said she needed to pick something with 'real stopping power' like a .38, but she doesn't want anything too heavy.

I also took that pistol to the house and ran a brush through the bore and cylinders (it looked like it hadn't seen solvent in 20 years), gathered up some ammo, and brought my pistols back with the revolver, offering to let her shoot any of them. Nope ... she didn't want to do that.

What did I suggest? Spend the $100 or so it would cost to go to the local indoor range and rent a variety of handguns and find one that she could handle and shoot well, and pick caliber later. Then buy the handgun she likes. But is she going to do that?

Of course not ...

She's going to run by the local pawn shop (which, admittedly has the largest selection in town but that's not saying much) and pick something.

Living in a rural area has a lot going for it with regards to firearms and sho)oting in general. It also has a lot of out-dated notions about some of the finer points of gun ownership and self-defense.

But, hey ... I made my offers ... it's out of my hands now.

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Teacher's strike ...

.
... for the children!

For the first time in 25 years, teachers in the Chicago school system will walk off the job Monday after failing to reach a contract deal with district officials, NBC Chicago reported.

I note that there are no 'children's' issues at stake here, so the next time you hear a teacher say this, you need to call bullshit!

This is the reason that public sector services should not be allowed to unionize - because it's a rigged game. Unions donate (monolithically to one party) to politicians, who are then beholden to labor unions and then who negotiate for the people who pay teacher's salary.

And trust me, the only reason that teachers don't strike more often is that the public wouldn't stand for it.

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I'm traveling today ...

.
... going to take my daughter to spend some quality time with my dad before the amusement park seasons close.

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JPFO alert

.
"Innocents Betrayed" showing in Arizona.

About pleating a kilt ...

.
... I'm telling you fellas, you need to Google 'pleating board'!

Where have you been all my life?!

Of course, the most easiest way to wear a kilt is to buy one. Well, I did, but they haven't arrived yet so it's up to me to make one (ok, my wife's going to do all of the stichery, I just have to do all the grunt work!).

Maybe tomorrow?

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War on Drugs + Civil Forfieture ...

.
... = Utter Fail:

…I believe that they came into the house, and they found what they were looking for, and that after that all they continued to look for was money. I think they were trying to find a lot of money, which we had none…they ripped our whole house apart looking for that, because what they were looking for was pretty obvious, the grow was pretty obvious…

Yes, I know that growing marijuana (in most places) is illegal but come on ... one plant? One plant does not a growing operation make.

You would think that our infatuation with prohibitions would have ended in 1933 ...

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JPFO alert

.
Who is the gun lobby?

I knew they were bad ...

.
... but not this bad:

“There’s nothing American about what just happened,” protested Nevada Republican delegate Wiselot Rouzard after the convention refused to seat the delegation from Maine. “This is the death of the Republican Party.”

What Wiselot and fellow Ron Paul delegates had experienced was a memorable display of the Republican Party’s fetid essence. The tactics employed by the GOP establishment to isolate, intimidate, and ultimately to expel Ron Paul delegates were the natural product of the party’s totalitarian genetics. By using criminal means to impose a monolithic, top-down process in which an entrenched oligarchy can re-write the rules to suit its whims, the Republican Party was simply living down to its odious pedigree.

From what I've read, what the party has done is make it almost impossible for us knuckle-dragging Hobbits to mount challenges to those who more closely hew to the party lines (like Dickie Lugar and Bob Bennett), and given the uneasiness that some conservatives have in supporting Mitt Romney, folks should be a lot more worried about this.

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Aaron's monthly opportunity ...

.
... go here and win!

And don't forget to give at the links at the top of my home page ... it's for the children!

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Kilts ...

.
... will be delayed.

Who knew setting all those pleats was such a pain in the ass ...

But this is the real reason it's taking so long ...




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I don't mean to harp ...

.
... but maybe the GOP should have at least counted to ten:

A new poll paid for by the Family Research Council, a pro-life group, indicates pro-life Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin now leads pro-abortion Sen. Clair McCaskill in the race despite the controversial comments he made about abortion and rape.

Now, I know that on the face of Akin's comment, it was ripe for misinterpretation. That said, given that the media and Leftists (BIRM) will try to misinterpret anything a Republican says the GOP should have had that fact as their guiding principle ... NOT how the media was going to portray Akin and how he would be perceived.

Now a poll that indicates that Akin leads McCaskill. Granted the internals of the poll are a bit suspect (but not to the level of campaign internal poll) but it does make the point that maybe the GOP has miscalculated.

And if they insist they won't help Akin no matter what, then I suggest that if Akin wins, he needs to have a little sit down with Reince Priebus and Mitch McConnell and let them know that in response to the shunning and brow-beating, he would return the favor by opposing every rule change and political manipulation that the GOP supported as long as he was in the senate.

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JPFO alert

.
Help boost the 2nd Amendment.

Note: this drive is cheap considering all that JPFO does. pm

I've wondered ...

.
... why this threat isn't immediately on the lips of every gun maker:

Two venerable American gun manufacturers — Remington and Colt — could head for the West their weapons helped win if New York and Connecticut force them to implement microstamping technology.

Especially since the experience of Smith and Wesson when they slighted the very people who buy their wares.

Every gun maker should be prepared to move to more favorable climes any time the politicos mention any of this kind of crap, and also not to sell to areas that mandate this kind of crap (a la Ronnie Barrett).

And you know there are plenty of vacant manufacturing facilities that would gladly take them in.

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The fundraising ...

.
... begins today! Click on the link of your choice at the top of my blog. Give 'till it hurts!

Because my 5.11 Tactical Kilts are going to be later than hoped, I may be in pants for a couple of more days ... I'm going to attempt to cobble together a kilt to get started (hopefully by the first day of daughter's school).

Until then, pay no attention to that scary looking Italian who's wanting you to donate (or else!). I mean ... he rides a Hardley fer Chrissakes!

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