Chronicling the depravities of the State.
I know AOL hasn’t “gotten it” for years but they really flubbed on this choice:
In a bid to make itself relevant again, struggling Internet pioneer AOL Inc. announced late Sunday that it would buy the Huffington Post, the well-known news and opinion site, for $315 million in cash and stock.
Emphasis mine. If you want to make yourself relevant again buying an irrelevant “news” source that makes Fox News look unbiased is not the way to go about it.
First California Senator Boxer starts an attempt to change all states into California by mandating that every state be a may-issue state for carry permits. Now California’s other Senator, Feinstein, is trying to get the current administration to further restrict what types of rifles can come into the country. Her reasoning for this? Well:
Since December 2006, more than 30,000 people have been killed in Mexico in drug-related violence. Every day, there are reports of ruthless and brutal gun murders as Mexican drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) fight for control of smuggling routes and terrorize anyone who might get in their way. The DTOs have killed mayors, judges, and other officials who have tried to stop the carnage. They have even targeted young people, murdering 14 teenagers at a birthday party in Ciudad Juarez in October of last year.
First of all Mexico isn’t our problem. Second of all preventing guns from crossing the board is going to be difficult when the agency in charge of doing that is likely allowing those guns across the border. Oh I love this line:
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and other federal, state and local law enforcement are working to stop this gun trafficking and related violence, but they need additional help.
Actually, they’re probably not. You know what would be great? If California’s senators would stop trying to take a giant shit all over my rights. You people in California should seriously consider recalling the both of them and getting some competent people in their place.
Kimber is one manufacturer that people seem to either love or hate. I don’t own any of their pistols so I never formed and opinion. With that said this news story doesn’t bode well for their PR department:
Little more than a year after buying 150 collector-grade handguns, officials at the N.C. Division of Alcohol Law Enforcement say the $1,055 pistols were so unreliable they had to get rid of them.
ALE Director John Ledford said the Kimber pistols repeatedly suffered such problems as rounds jamming during training exercises, broken sights and the weapon’s safety button sometimes falling off. He made a deal with a local firearms dealer to swap the pricey pistols for less expensive handguns without spending any additional money.
Maybe my reading comprehension isn’t great but I can’t find anywhere in the article that states what cheaper pistol the department replaced their Kimbers with. Either way spending $1,055 on a pistol is a serious waste of tax payer money when there are so many good options on the market that are much cheaper (Heck a Glock or M&P is going to be less than half the price when law enforcement discounts are figured in). But it seems this particular department likes to waste money, although they claim it’s money obtained through seizures instead of taxes:
An avid gun buff and collector, Chandler ordered Kimbers with special sights and the ALE seal carved into their handles, spending $158,250 provided to the agency through federal seizures involving alcohol, drugs and illegal gambling. The purchase was also approved by Chandler’s supervisor, Gerald Rudisill, the chief deputy secretary of crime control.
I have a hard time thinking law enforcement agencies should get the spoils of their arrests and seizures. On one hand it’s a way to fund a department without tax money but it opens the door for a huge conflict of interest. In order to get more equipment a department has to increase the amount of property they seize which in turn gives grounds to start seizing property of non-criminals. When I say this people usually claim I’m being paranoid and that this type of thing could never happen but sadly they are wrong as evident by the actions of Minneapolis’s own Gang Task Force.
The department also replaced some of their assault rifles (correct classification as these rifles appear to have a selector switch to go from semi-automatic to rock ‘n’ roll):
In addition to the new pistols, ALE agents have been issued new assault rifles after leaders determined their $1,495 Swiss-made Sig Sauer rifles, bought in 2006, weren’t up to snuff, either.
You know they could have obtained an M4 pattern rifle for cheaper. Wait that’s exactly what they did and saved themselves some money:
In exchange, a Greensboro firearms dealer provided the agency 120 Bushmaster M4 assault rifles valued at $1,270 each.
Or not:
ALE also got special Eotech 512 “holographic” sights that make a red dot appear on a target, valued at $439 each.
It sounds as though the department just obtained the EOTech sights which requires me to ask what was wrong with the standard M4 sights that the Sig rifles had correct? Who knows but this story does give a nice how to on wasting money needlessly. I guess it’s a good thing I don’t run law enforcement departments as everybody would be issues the most reasonably priced reliable handgun I could obtain (probably a Glock or an M&P) coupled with the most reasonably priced reliable rifle I could obtain (probably an AR-15 or AK-47 pattern rifle).
I’ve been informed that our government has posted their investigation results of the Fort Hood shooting [PDF]. I’ve not had a chance to read through it yet but being it’s titled Counterterrorism Lessons from the U.S. Government’s Failure to Prevent the Fort Hood Attack I’m betting we’re going to find out that all our draconian anti-terrorism laws don’t work and the recommendation will be to pass additional laws.
I’ll try to find some time to read through it and report on anything interesting but I’m not sure exactly when I’ll have the time.
How can you make metal even more interesting? By tossing a hurdy gurdy, bagpipes, a flute, and a violin into the mix. That’s what Eluveitie does and thus create a pretty unique sound. Best of all they’re going to be playing at Station 4 in St. Paul on February 9th. Here’s their song Inas Mona:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iijKLHCQw5o]
And then there is this fucking idiot. Yes I found more things to write about in the Red Star’s Letters to the Editor section. Surprised? You shouldn’t be. It seems the intelligence of the average people who write to the Red Star is lacking. Let’s take a look at what A. Gail Bier of Duluth, MN wrote in regards to repealing Minnesota’s Permit to Purchase requirement:
Let us be clear about what a repeal of the state handgun purchase law would really mean.
Yes let’s be clear on what this will mean:
It would allow people with histories of stalking, domestic violence, mental illness and drug abuse to buy an automatic weapon with less review than one needs to obtain a driver’s license.
Um… I… I don’t know how to address such blatant lying. I believe Mrs. Bier is a politician with the type of lies she’s spewing. Criminals who are ineligible to purchase firearms are taken care of by the FBI’s National Criminal Instant Background Check System (NICS). Whenever you purchase a firearm the dealer makes a phone call to the FBI’s NICS hot line where your information is given to operator. The FBI then tells the dealer whether the sale is a go, no-go, or delayed (in which case you have to wait for up to three days for a decision).
The Minnesota system is purely a redundant waste of money as it performs the same thing as the FBI system which has to be performed every time you purchase a firearm from a dealer. Personally I’m sick of paying for redundancies which do nothing but inconvenience lawful citizens.
Repealing this law also won’t allow you to buy an automatic weapon, also know as a machine gun. This total fabrication makes me wonder if Mrs. Bier is really this stupid or has malicious intent. Here in the frozen tundra of Minnesota you can’t buy any automatic firearm unless it’s on the curio and relics (C&R) list (basically the machine gun has to be 50 years or older). If the the machine gun you want is on the C&R list you have to then get approval from the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF) as well as the approval of your local sheriff. Upon receiving approval from both agencies you need to pay a $200.00 tax stamp to the ATF and then when you receive your paperwork you can finally purchase your 50 years or older machine gun.
Repealing Minnesota’s permit to purchase requirement will not loosen the restrictions on purchasing a machine gun and most certainly will not allow you to do so “with less review than one needs to obtain a driver’s license.” You know how many federal checks I needed to be performed in order for me to get my driver’s license? Zero. You know how many federal checks I needed to purchase a firearm? One every time I go to purchase one.
But little miss Malice didn’t stop her lies there:
It would actually increase law enforcement costs by substituting homicide investigations and protection for law enforcement officers for the much less expensive and preventive measure of checking existing databases.
Really? How so? Every firearm purchased from a dealer will still require a NICS to be check be performed. Private sales between two resident Minnesotan’s doesn’t require a permit to purchase. Likewise the permit to purchase only applies to handguns and “assault weapons.” There also hasn’t been any state so far that has noticed an increase in homicide rates after repealing a gun control law. So how the Hell does Mrs. Bier come to her conclusion? Oh that’s right she’s an anti-gunner which practically guarantees she knows nothing about firearms. She doesn’t stop there though:
It would mean ignoring valuable state databases that contain information that does not exist at the federal level.
Such as? What valuable information is in the state database that also isn’t in the federal database? So far nobody has been able to tell me that. If you can’t tell me exactly what valuable information is in the state database then it can’t be that valuable. Likewise she mentions the federal system meaning she has some knowledge about NICS. This leads me to believe her entire letter was written with malicious intent as her previous statements lead readers to believe there were no checks on domestic abuses, the mentally ill, or other ineligible person.
I encourage lawmakers to support responsible gun ownership and the safety of Minnesotans by voting against the repeal.
And I encourage you educate yourself on subjects before you write letters for public display that make you look like an idiot. I’m also getting sick of the term “responsible gun ownership.” The way it’s always used seems to imply the only responsible gun owner is one who doesn’t own any firearms. I’m a responsible gun owner and a tax payer so support me, and yourself as a fellow tax payer, by repealing this expensive and redundant law.
Remember the days of the NES, SNES, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, and pretty much every other game console that has previous been released? You just pop your game into the console, power it up, and play it. Those days are sadly dead and buried as companies try to find ways to inconvenience paying customers while doing nothing to stop the piracy of their products. It seems Capcom is going to require you be connected to the Internet in order to play their upcoming released, Bionic Commando: Rearmed 2.
What’s most annoying is the simple fact that the game is mostly a single-player endeavor so there is no actual need to be connected to the Internet in order to play it. It also means at some future point when Capcom shuts down their servers you will no longer be able to play this game. So in the end at some future point you will have to pirate the game in order to play it.
What many software companies don’t seem to understand is the simple fact that pirating is easy. Digital “Rights” Management (DRM) makes life complicated and difficult for the user. It’s actually less of a headache to find and download a title illegally than it is to legitimately use some software. How is making the customer’s life more difficult supposed to prevent piracy? The simple answer is it won’t. DRM simply causes further loss of sales since potential customers (such as myself as I was previously planning to buy Bionic Commando: Rearmed 2) are willing to put up with the headaches.
Companies seem to believe an Internet connection is a constant and stable item. For most people this isn’t the case as their Internet connection dies with enough frequency to warrant a lot of complaining. Tying a piece of software to an Internet connection when there is no need only makes your software worthless when said Internet connection dies.
Remember when Obama said the first thing he would do when he got into office would be to close down Gitmo? Funny thing, it’s still operating although nobody in America seems to care anymore. Well it seems on of the prisoners there had himself an accident:
An Afghan inmate at the US prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has collapsed and died after exercising, according to US military officials.
It was of course due to mysterious circumstances. But what’s more interesting is the following paragraph:
Awal Gul, 48, was accused of being a Taliban commander and part of the al-Qaeda network. He had been held without charges since October 2002.
Think about that. He’s been held for over eight years without so much as being charged with a crime. Eight years in prison without any charges or trials. I don’t care if you support the War on Terror, you have to believe that this kind of treatment of people is unacceptable. If we really believed this man was part of al-Qaeda he should have been charged as such. If we lack the evidence to charge this man he should have been released. I don’t think I’m making any unreasonable demands here, just treat so-called prisoners of war as prisoners.
What kind of message does this send out to the world? “Oh hey we love freedom, but only for people inside of our borders the rest of you can all take flying fucks at rolling doughnuts.” Our country is supposedly a “bastion of democracy and freedom.” Maybe we should start acting like it.
Some disturbing news was brought to my attention by Linoge over at Walls of the City. Cold Creek Armory has stated the following in a Facebook update:
We are hearing that the importer of the Saiga 12 shotguns has ceased importation while waiting for the official ruling by the ATF. There are a limited number of these firearms already in the pipeline for distribution and we will be getting as many as available to us just as soon as they are available. Call now – 865-966-4545 – if you would like to be put on the list.
It seems the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms Explosives and Everything Fun (ATF) have managed to stop the importation of Saiga shotguns without even needing to perform an official ruling. I really hate all that government agency.
I will be sad if Saiga’s shotguns end up joining my SPAS-12 on the verboten for import list.
Nothing gives me material to write rants about quite as consistently as the Letters to the Editor section of the Red Star. There is always some statist asshole writing about things he doesn’t actually understand. Take Roger Harrold or Edina, MN who wrote a rather idiotic little letter:
I’d like to make a case that the Second Amendment, important if not essential 220 years ago, makes no sense today. The right to bear arms at the time of the Revolutionary War was understandable.
Makes no sense today huh? I can point to a great case that would demonstrate otherwise, the events in Egypt. The people of Egypt are in revolt but still have no managed to give Mubarak the boot. Part of this problem comes from the fact that the people of Egypt are unarmed, if Mubarak wanted to stop the rebellion and had an army willing to follow his orders there would be nothing the protesters could do except become martyrs.
We have the second amendment because the founders of this country threw off the shackles of a tyrannical monarchy and didn’t much care to see such events happen again. The second amendment ultimately exists as a final check against government tyranny, should the government get out of hand we can remove them through force if they’re unwilling to surrender their power peacefully. This makes the second amendment just as relevant today as it did over 200 years ago.
Another case for the second amendment is self-defense. As a living entity I have a right to self-preservation. There is no way to justify to me that I shouldn’t be allowed to defend myself against an aggressor with any and all means at my disposal. The second amendment gives me the best tool for the job, a simple mechanical device that can propel a projectile at high speeds towards my attacker. By trying to take this simple device from me you are stating you wish me harm at the hands of another. You are telling me you want me to die at the hands of another. You are flat out saying you want me dead. You’ll have to excuse me if I take some offense to your statement of wishing harm upon me. The letter continues:
We had no standing army to speak of, no National Guard, no well-trained and equipped police force to defend us. For many, guns were needed for hunting as part of their livelihood.
If our country had just gained its independence in 2010, I don’t think we’d see the Second Amendment.
I believe if we gained independence in 2010 we would have the second amendment codified in our system of law. Why? Because we needed those guns to toss the British out on their asses last time and we would have needed them if we decided to do it now instead of 200 years ago. Also I laugh at his statement of a “well-trained police force.” Most people I know who are into firearms are much better shots than the average police office who only has to qualify with their firearms once a year. I’d trust a man who competes in any competitive shooting sport to have my back more than a police officer. Mr. Harrold continues on with his poorly thought out diatribe:
Dolan points out the differences between the United States and other developed countries in homicide rates involving guns. They are staggering.
Yes Finland and Switzerland doesn’t have nearly as many homicides involving firearms yet are pretty well armed nations. The problem with violent crime in the United States is multifaceted. Unlike many other countries we are not made up of a homogeneous culture of people with means. Switzerland and Finland are well armed but their populations are made mostly of people with a decent amount of money, a similar culture, and similar beliefs. The United States populations ranges in every aspect including wealth, race, religion, and personal principals. That coupled with the war on drugs (which caused a spike in violent crime that has subsided since) are far more plausible explanations for our higher homicide than the tool that isn’t exclusive to our country.
I have a Ph.D. in counseling psychology. Don’t ever think that we will be able to stop deranged minds from doing what happened in Tucson
Having a Ph.D. doesn’t mean jack shit. I’d bet money Mr. Harrold is also a Keynesian which has been demonstrated to be a failed system of economics. But had Mr. Harrold stopped his sentence there he’d have sounded slightly more intelligent. Of course he didn’t stop there:
without better gun control.
If gun control is the answer why has violent crime been dropping in the United States even though the rate of gun ownership and carry permits being issued have gone up? We have more people legally able to walk the streets carry firearms yet our violent crime is going down? The “assault weapon” ban sunset and yet our violent crime rate is going down. Florida, one of the first states to convert to a shall-issue carry permit state, noticed their violent crime rate drop when they switched the law over.
How can you say with a straight face that gun control works at preventing violent crime? It’s been proven time and time again that gun control doesn’t reduce violent crime yet when we loosen gun control laws violent crime either remains unchanged or goes down.
The problem is anti-gunners don’t have a leg to stand on. Their arguments are proven false time and again yet they’re so invested in being right they’re unwilling to look at the actual data.