One of the indicators ...

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... that we are losing:

Gavan told a court on Tuesday that she took desperate measures to get her son, Clayton, now 19, clean. She slept next to him as he shook and sweated through withdrawals. She enrolled him in a new school to keep him away from a bad crowd. She sent him off to live with relatives and even took him to work with her.

But a jury decided she went too far when she struck the 22-year-old man who helped supply heroin to her son with a baseball bat.

The penalty is not that bad, and I don't see the government having Gavan serve time (though I have been wrong before!).

But in rural GA where I live, I can't see charges being brought, let alone a conviction, against a 54 yr old who hit a drug dealer a couple of times with a baseball bat, especially when the thug would have been shot and killed by police had he reached in his car and brought out a 'brick-like' object.

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Vox notes that making people be tolerant ...

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... results in intolerance:

The arguments for the anti-racist position are weak and everyone knows it.  That is why the one thing they cannot permit is free and open discourse on the subject, which is a red flag in the eyes of those of every sub-species, color, or creed who happens to value human liberty. 

In life, we all have to interact with those who are different because of race, and we all know the bad apples from the good. But when those more 'in the know' than we are tell us that other races are no different (or worse, that we are the beneficiaries of white privilege) we immediately see it for bullshit and harden our defenses.

And the result is the opposite of what is intended.

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This is a long over-due ...

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... show of civil disobedience:

Jared returned to school on Monday with many supporters greeting him outside.
"There's a lot of people wearing this same exact shirt, showing great, great support and I really appreciate it," Jared said before walking in to school.

Stupid dictates should be challenged and their supporters made to explain themselves. I'm also glad to see that other students joined in.

Maybe there is hope for the future!

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More debate ...

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... what's the point:

But neither brother appears to have been legally entitled to own or carry firearms where they lived, a fact that may add to the national debate over current gun laws. Last week, the U.S. Senate rejected a bill to expand background checks on gun purchases, legislation that opponents argued would do nothing to stop criminals from buying guns illegally. 

Ya think? Of course they didn't have a permit to own ... criminals don't follow the law.

If there was ever any doubt, firearms laws do nothing ... NOTHING to stop criminals from obtaining firearms.

Why do we still ahve them then?

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Vox points to an organization ...

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... that I didn't know existed:

Bikers Against Child Abuse is an example of the vast superiority of the libertarian model based on good people freely contributing their time and energy to other individuals in their community to the statist model of permitting a parasite class to forcibly extracting resources from everyone and pay itself to pretend to address the problem through government regulations and bureaucracy.

Bikers Against Child Abuse is one of those organizations that has a goal and then makes it happen ... regardless. I suspect it's also a lot more effective than a protective order.

I have the same feelings with regards to, at least, my own daughter. Anyone who abuses or beats her while I'm alive ... well, their life is forfeit.

I don't think there's a jury that would convict me.

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Well ...

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... this is a bit harsh:

Listen up, you incompetent and defective sack of meat -- your son is dead because you are unfit to be parents.

You sat silently by while your state and our nation erected signs telling people who are criminally insane where they can find the maximum number of defenseless people to murder.

You are personally, jointly and severably responsible for the consequences.

You are unfit to possess a uterus and your husband is unfit to possess testicles.

You, Mrs. Wheeler, having willingly and intentionally refused to take responsibility for your acts of omission and commission that led to your son being murdered by a madman now have the audacity to stand in front of the nation and demand that everyone else give up their children to murderous goons as well.

Go to Hell Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler and take your state and its alleged laws with you.

Harsh, but it's true.

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Just like a loberal; file a complaint ...

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... rather than adjusting her behavior:

After sternly warning college students to stop harassing his wife or they would face consequences, former Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., now finds himself the target of a complaint.

I encourage the poor offended flower to get a restraining order and rely on the police to protect her. Let me know how that goes for ya!

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This one ...

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... gave me a little chuckle:

First, let me start by saying that I'm pretty sure that it may not be entirely legal to use a Mountain Howitzer Cannon for deer hunting, at least not in Wisconsin.

I especially liked step #8!

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Remember, who they say is responsible ...

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... is almost certainly wrong:

A former justice of the peace is reportedly set to be charged with three murders, including a former Texas district attorney and assistant DA, after he was arrested on Saturday. Eric Williams, 46, has been arrested by authorities investigating the murders of District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife, Cynthia, last month - and the fatal shooting of ADA Mark Hasse in late January.
Hmmm, not the white supremacists that authorities were certain committed the murders.

More and more often we find out that police are simply clueless ... with guns and badges.  h/t Vox

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Everything gun owners claimed ...

.
... is coming true:

What happened, he explains, is that the state has a special HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) unit to search private medical records without warrants, and that Lewis was simply the first person to be caught up in that net.

It’s a scheme “to deprive New York citizens of basic protections,” Bauerle charges, where the state wants “carte blanche to look at every person’s medical records and cross-reference them with pistol permit holders” for purposes of confiscation and permit revocation. According to Baurele, his sources tell him this is being coordinated with officials in the Department of Homeland Security, and there was a meeting in Albany with the New York State Police and the Division of Criminal Justice Services “at the impetus of DHS.”

It's just as firearm advocates predicted. You can be assured that no one will be charged in this crime, since it's a 'D' doing it.

You know it's just a matter of time before someone gets capped. h/t Jeff

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Rush has it right ...

.
... ours is a world governed by the aggressive use of force (Undeniable Truths #6).

I had the occasion to comment on one of Old NFO's posts about governmental over-reach (in general) and the IRS (in particular), noting that maybe someone in the IRS needs to have his ass whipped.

I know these kinds of sentiments aren't kosher in polite company, but you're all thinking it, right?

In the community where I live, there are a couple of reasons that I don't go on profanity-laced rants. The first, the consequences which I know, is that I might be thrown in jail. The second, the consequences of which I'm not sure, are that someone might put a fist in my face.

Which one do you think controls my actions more effectively?

There are three things that should be a permanent part of the offices or and meeting places for all government officials: two barrels - one filled with tar and the other with feathers, and an 8' rail resting on top.

But to be effective, they'd have to be periodically refilled.

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Headed back ...

.
... to the funk.

Here in rural GA, I am saddened that my two senators, Chambliss and Isakson, voted for cloture on the absolutely useless background check bill in the senate. A bill that hasn't even been written (though we know some of the details of what's proposed).

I called and called ... and all for naught.

Why do we even bother?

The NRA, as 'much' good as it does, is damn near useless with regards to firearms rights. There is not one NRA A-rated politician who has proposed actually repealing any, ANY gun law now on the books.

No politicians have proposed a repeal of the Hughes amendment, even though there has never been a showing that legally-obtained machineguns have any incidence of use in crime. A fuckwad pol from NJ got a machinegun boner and just had to introduce Hughes, and the NRA has shrugged it's shoulders ever since.

No NRA-rated politician is proposing that suppressors be taken out of Title II weapons and sold without restriction.

And now, we have A-rated senators from a minority party siding with the majority in the effort to further curtail the rights protected by the Constitution.

Because the 'issue needs to be debated'.

We are fucked again.

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When you hear cops saying they've got a dangerous job ...

.
... remember that they're lying:

I've pointed out a number of times that the job of police officer has been getting progressively safer for a generation. Last year was the safest year for cops since the early 1960s. And it isn't just because the police are carrying bigger guns or have better armor. Assaults on police officers have been dropping over the same period. Which means that not only are fewer cops getting killed on the job, people in general are less inclined to try to hurt them. Yes, working as a police officer is still more dangerous than, say, working as a journalist. (Or at least a journalist here in the U.S.) But a cop today is about as likely to be murdered on the job as someone who merely resides in about half of the country's 75 largest cities.

Like Radley, I'll note that this post doesn't intend to diminish the job that police officers have to do; rather to note that the danger facing cops is greatly overstated.

Add to that the fact that they're rarely if ever held to account for what they do on the job, well you've got the makings of a US storm trooper right there..

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If you haven't seen it somewhere else ...

.
... Aaron has his monthly roundup of shooty goodness giveaways.

Sounds more like ...

.
... Soviet Russia:

Beyonce and Jay-Z are the latest “tourists” to take advantage of the Obama administration’s eased travel restrictions to Cuba, an island nation once off-limits to U.S. travelers. But some lawmakers are protesting the changes.

Have no fear, Republicans do it too. Only difference is that when Repub's do it the media howls.

Too bad that the governing class doesn't look for more liberty. just more control.

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How much longer ...

.
... will they stay?

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, ... was expected to sign into law Thursday sweeping new restrictions on weapons and large capacity ammunition magazines similar to the ones used by the gunman.

If CT manufacturers haven't seen by now that they are no longer welcome in the northeast there may be no hope for them.

And what will this say about how divided our country has become when the manufacturers wind up in the South and we are the only Americans buyign their wares?

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Oh Hellz Yeah!!

.
Who wouldn't want one?!



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Is it just me ...

.
...or does it bother others when Democrats are called 'Democratic'?

To me, it lends a kind of official sanction when Chuck Schumer is introduced as 'Democratic Senator Schumer' rather than 'Democrat Senator Schumer'. And I notice that this is pervasive in media.

Maybe I'm just overly-semsitive.

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