Russian target ONLINE shooting game

Screw politics.  I wanna shoot something ... and it's raining outside!

So you think you can shoot a handgun. Check this one out.  Try it: see how good you are with a Russian pistol.( All text is in Russian. ) Save money and ammunition too!
The virtual pistol is a Soviet Tokarev Model 40, in caliber 7.62 mm.  It is quite accurate.Being virtual, it will lack the actual 'feel' and the recoil.  In real life, at each shot, the recoil will throw your aim off the target.
When the pistol appears, click on the trigger, take aim, and fire.  It’s very much like the real thing.The longer you hold the pistol, the more your aim will wander.
You have 3 shots in 30 seconds to hit the target and get your score.
CAUTION: It’s addictive.
click here:
Russian Shooting Range
Click on the white dot on the trigger guard to start, after your 3 shots click on first line in box to try again.Enjoy!

(H/T:  Big Dawg)

The link opens in the same window ... you may wish to right-click it.

Geek addendum:  yes, I tried and and it is addictive.  I got a lot of high-twenty scores out of 30 possible, but never got the perfect score.  I quit after 10 minutes.  

Here's the real challenge: can you do this for 10 minutes and quit?

Merry Christmas ... early, and horrible!

Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer original video - YouTube:

How's that Catch 'n Release program working?

US government offering $5M reward for Al Qaeda leader freed from Gitmo | Fox News:

The Obama administration is scrambling to track down an Al Qaeda terrorist released from Guantanamo Bay years ago, offering a $5 million reward for information on him and placing him on a global terrorist list.
  Ibrahim al-Rubaysh was originally released in 2006 by the George W. Bush administration and put into a Saudi Arabian "rehabilitation" program. However, al-Rubaysh returned to the battlefield and now serves as a top leader with Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula -- one of the most dangerous Al Qaeda affiliates.

(emphasis added)


Amazingly, this "catch and release" policy is one  which the Obama Administration has continued to support.

And in fact still is trying to  effect.   But he's getting some criticism as he is making the issue one of 'financial considerations"..

Silence Of The Lambs

Peshawar school attack: Taliban 'burn teacher alive in front of pupils and behead children':

Taliban terrorists allegedly burned a teacher alive and made the students watch during their attack on a Pakistan school which left over 130 people dead. According to a NBC News report, citing an unnamed military official, the terrorists stormed the Army Public school in Peshawar, in north-west Pakistan, and committed the horrific act as well as detonating a suicide bomb which killed a number of students. "They burnt a teacher in front of the students in a classroom," the unnamed military source told the US TV network. "They literally set the teacher on fire with gasoline and made the kids watch." At least six militants entered the Pakistani school wearing security uniforms, before massacring an estimated 132 people and injuring another 122.

(H/T: Irons in the Fire)

Compare this to Sandy Hook:

The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting occurred on December 14, 2012, in Newtown, Connecticut, when 20-year-old Adam Lanza fatally shot 20 children and 6 adult staff members.Prior to driving to the school, Lanza shot and killed his mother at their Newtown home. As first responders arrived at the scene, Lanza committed suicide by shooting himself in the head.

I don't mean to denigrate the tragedy of the Sandy Hook school shooting.  I merely offer it in comparison.

In America, we acknowledge that this kind of "Silence of the Lambs" slaughter of the innocents is rightfully considered to be an aberration of of Civilized society.  In other societies, it's Business As usual.  It's political.

Here ... we hold our people and our governments to a higher standard.   

In America, Liberals hold the peaceful citizens responsible for their actions ... and acknowledge (if reluctantly) that there is perhaps a reason why citizens should be allowed cannot be prohibited from owning guns.

We say: "When Guns Are outlawed, Only Outlaws Will Own Guns"

Liberals say"  "Small Penis Gun Nuts, Fearful Of Imaginary Bad Guys, Salivate Over The Prospect Of Getting To Shoot a Burglar".

Well .. here's what it looks like when "only outlaws own guns".

With all respect to the victims of Sandy Hook and their families .. and I had no intention to minimize their grief at the tragedy .... I recently watched a video in which teachers who survived Sandy Hook discussed their experiences and announced that the solution was to remove all firearms from private hands .. by law.

Condescending Co-President

Biden to code-writing girls: ‘You’re as smart as any boy’ | Fox News:

Don't worry, girls. "You're as smart as any boy." That was the message Monday from Vice President Biden as he pep-talked a group of young women during a White House technology event, in a uniquely Biden way.

How precious that the second-best Democrat in the nation should reassure "girls" that way.

Biden is, and always has been, an idiot.  The worst thing is not that he is clue-less, but that the Democrats decided that he was ... acceptable ... to represent our nation.

After a CBS News reporter tweeted the comments, Biden's office retweeted them. 

They're proud of their boy, they are!

Go, watch this!

Never Yet Melted L Flash Mob: The U.S. Air Force Band at the Smithsonian

It will exalt you, and it will heal your heart.

Happy Anniversary

I have been thinking that December 8 was the ten-year anniversary of Cogito Ergo Geek.   But when I looked for my first post, I discovered it was published on December 01, 2004.   Not December 8.

This calls for something special.  I'm thinking ... Fireworks!

Oh ... go Full-Screen! You know you wanna!

Kids 'n Guns ... Good? Bad? Indifferent?

Watch How Network Reporter Acts as 10-Year-Old Handles Her Favorite Guns — Then Wait for the Girl’s Response | Video | TheBlaze.com:
(December 03, 201)

The ABC News profile of ten-year-old Shyanne Roberts, a young firearms enthusiast, seemingly raised the blood pressure of the reporter covering the story.

I teach people how to compete in "Run and Gun" competition:  IPSC/USPSA.

I'll teach anyone.  If they can handle the gun safely and responsibility, I'll encourage them to try competition.  If they can't .. they can't I won't.

Has LEO equipment become too complicated?

Gun-mounted flashlight plays role in another Denver police misfire - The Denver Post:
(December 05, 2014)

A Denver police officer accidentally fired his gun while trying to turn on a flashlight mounted on his weapon in March, the department's third flashlight-related discharge in two years, records show.

Perhaps we're asking too much of Law Enforcement Officers to keep track of multiple levels of lethality when arresting accused felons.

What part of "Free Speech" do you not understand?

The entire concept of "Free Speech Zones" on College campuses is Anathema.

The First Amendment was established to recognize the right of Americans to 'indulge' in 'unpopular speech'.   Anywhere.  Any time.   But Higher Education Institutions across America don't recognize this.

California college settles First Amendment suit with student | Fox News:

"Freedom of expression is crucial in the higher education community, and the District and its Board of Trustees have done much to protect and advance this cherished right," the statement read. "As part of the settlement, the District will be implementing new procedures that will expand its current free speech area to include most open spaces on campus ....... "

[emphasis added]

A student on a California campus spoke in a "free speech zone", and was not the subject of harassment by college administers.  But when he (literally) stepped over 'the line' to discuss the fine points of his opinion with another student, a college administrator threatened him.

 Claiming that a political discussion could not take place outside of the free speech zone, the unidentified school employee threatened to eject Sinapi-Riddle from campus for violating the policy.

Since when is "policy" more important that the Constitution?

What are we teaching our children?

Thank GOD no guns were involved!

Attack in China leaves 15 dead, 14 injured | Fox News: BEIJING –
(November 29, 2014)

Chinese state media say 15 people have been killed in an attack in the country's troubled western Xinjiang region. The official Xinhua News Agency says 14 other people were injured in what it said was a terrorist attack Friday in Shache county. The Tianshan news portal said Saturday that the attackers used vehicles, knives and explosives in the assault. It said the dead included 11 of the attackers. Such attacks have claimed dozens of lives in Xinjiang over the past year. Members of the region's Muslim Uighur minority group have bristled under what they say is repressive Chinese government rule.

Let's Get Rid of the ATF

Backfire | Watchdog Update - Bill eliminating ATF introduced in wake of botched operations:
(September 17, 2014)

ATF!  Whoo-ah!  What is it good for? Absolutely NOTHING!

 A bill that would eliminate the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and fold its duties into the FBI and other agencies was introduced Wednesday in Congress. The bill, by U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), would impose an immediate hiring freeze at the ATF and require that a plan be submitted within six months on how to move its activities to other agencies. The bill calls for eliminating the agency a year after the bill's final passage, moving its functions into the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration and Treasury Department.

Recap?  Fast and furious.  Bogus 'scam gun stores' to no discernible purpose. (Both programs got ripped off, putting more full-auto weapons in circulation than they might have prevented.)

It's time to put this ineffective dinosaur to bed.  Or better, in the grave.

What are they good for?

When White People Riot

Ferguson protests v. white people's riots (Opinion) - CNN.com:
(November 20, 2014)

CNN has fulfilled it's mission once again.  By the clever manipulation of Moral Equivalence (even before the riots started) they have assured rioters that anything they do is just fine with their friends in Major Media.

 Just days after the Pumpkin Fest, riots erupted in the largely white town of Morgantown, West Virginia. Why? Because West Virginia University's team beat Baylor at football. The rioters "lit fires, pushed over street lights and threw rocks, beer bottles and other items at police," reported the local news. Police and fire vehicles were damaged. Eight people were arrested.
  Were the riot police, the National Guard, or a state of emergency declared? No. the city is just considering a law to ban upholstered furniture from outdoor areas, since the "tradition" of setting fire to couches apparently fueled the protests.
  Could you imagine a news story about a black community with a "tradition" of burning couches? The media would be pointing out how they're "destroying their own community" and the right would make assertions about black people not deserving public assistance.

[emphasis added]

No, I think that "... a news story about a black community with a 'tradition' of burning couches" would be a welcome relief.

The MAP is not the Terrain!

The Obama Administration has worked hard to convince America that the British National Health Care model is so superior to our (former) "independent provider" model, we have almost forgotten just how BAD the NHC (National Health Care) system really is.

Here's how bad it really is.

Jeremy Hunt: 'I took my children to A&E because I didn't want to wait for GP appointment' - UK Politics - UK - The Independent:

Jeremy Hunt has admitted taking his children to accident and emergency [A&E] because he did not want to wait for a GP appointment. The Health Secretary has spoken numerous times to urge the public to avoid A&E departments in all but the most urgent cases and turn to pharmacies, doctors’ surgeries and walk-in centres instead. But speaking during today’s health questions in the House of Commons, he appeared to go against his own advice. Mr Hunt said: “I took my own children to an A&E department at the weekend precisely because I did not want to wait until later on to take them to see a GP.”

[added by editor for clarification]

The Future of Obamacare

The problems with a National Health Care System (ake: Obamacare .. or earlier, Hillarycare" are threefold:

(1) Somebody has to pay for it
(2) It's run by the Government
(3) It completely ignores the advantages of capitalism

I don't blame him: I'd do the same damn thing!

Reports: Top Iranian Negotiator ‘Frequently Shouts’ at Kerry, Western Officials | Washington Free Beacon:
November 23, 2014 12:30 pm

 VIENNA—Iran’s foreign minister and lead negotiator in nuclear talks is known to frequently scream and shout at Western diplomats, including Secretary of State John Kerry, a practice that has caused alarm among bodyguards stationed outside the negotiating room, according to a member of the Iranian diplomatic team who spoke to the Farsi-language press.

"Like a five year-old trying to hold Hulk Hogan"

In His Own Words: Wilson's Account of Michael Brown Shooting | MRCTV:

Ferguson, Mo., police officer Darren Wilson - in an exclusive interview with ABC News - recounted his fatal encounter with 18-year-old Michael Brown.

I've deliberately held back from voicing an opinion about this shooting, because we just didn't have any idea at ALL what happened that night.  There were many statements from so-called 'eye-witnesses' ... many of whom either changed their stories or refused to discuss their previous statements when questioned by both police and media.

Now we have the public statement from the officer involved in the shooting.

Personally, I think three things:

It wasn't Murder.
It wasn't even an arrest.
It was survival.

Security breach at USPSA

Email to members from USPSA:

We have become aware of a security breach r

USPSA.org Security issue We have become aware of a security breach that happened on USPSA.org within the last 24 hours. The USPSA login database was compromised and at least a partial list of usernames and passwords were exposed. USPSA staff has taken steps to address the vulnerability and we have changed the system to ensure this type of attack will not be effective in the future. Members are encouraged to change their passwords on USPSA.ORG and any other web site for which they used the same password.  It is important to note that the breach did not involve the credit card processing system or any financial data.  All credit card processing is done using a separate industry standard secure vendor - no credit card information is stored on the USPSA server. We will keep the membership updated as more information is available.

Copyright © 2014 USPSA, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you are a USPSA member.

Feeling a little "JUMPY" today?

Epic World-Record Truck Jump by EMC and Lotus F1 Team 

*(Background story here)

Cover-up

Bracken: Stonewalled In Obama’s Garden Of Beasts | Western Rifle Shooters Association:
(November 23, 2014)

It is truly a great pity that in stark contrast to the Nixon Watergate era, today’s American Pravda reporters are not interested in uncovering the truth, but instead, they are an integral part of the cover-up. Today’s Woodwards and Bernsteins are secretly taking their marching orders from Obama’s White House. Welcome to the USSA, comrades.

If you don't regularly read David Codrea's "The War On Guns", you might want to check out this article which he recommended.

It's very long, quite 'imaginative', tells a complicated story, and unfortunately makes President Obama's administration look like a proper Dog's Breakfast.

You might even consider reading either or both of the books cited there.

UPDATE: For background,  Susan Rice's infamous Benghazi interview on YouTube

Gun Sales Surge in St. Louis Suburbs Ahead of Jury's Ferguson Decision - NBC News.com

"We're selling everything that's not nailed down," (gun store owners declare .. which may prove to be an economic boon to save Colt Manufacturing LLC from bankruptcy.)

It's an old story, reminiscent of the surge in gun sales when Barack Obama was elected President.

You never need a gun, until you really need one.  That's the story.

Apparently, folks in the Saint Louis area expect they will 'really need one'.

Why?

Riots, of course.   Also known as "Civic Disturbances" (not to be confused with "Civil Unrest" because there's nothing 'civil' about a Race Riot), the population expects that police officer Whatshisname will be acquitted of murder charges, and the fine, gentle Citizens (much like Michael Brown was a 'gentle giant'?) will be tossing beer barrels, overturning police cruisers and torching Korean grocery stores.

Unless the Koreans have their AK47's handy.  Which may evince more protection of private property than will the PO-lice and their MRAPs (or whatever ...)

THIS JUST IN: 

1. Islam is the Nation of Peace!
2. Obama to enforce Immigration Laws!
3. "Global Warming" is now "Global Cooling"

Well, one out of three ain't bad, in the Teens of the 21st Century.

File this under: "What a Maroon!"

Great Open Carry Video

This is the best way for cops to handle 'scary things'.

Our encounter one week earlier with an UNLAWFUL police officer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uipObT... We saw the a OC Sheriff car pull up so we all took out our camera-phones right away, anticipating trouble. This officer gets out of his car, waves to us, and walks right over. He shakes all of our hands, introduces himself, and states his purpose for walking over to us. (Somebody got scared and called). He never asked us to disarm, never threatened us, never asked for our names or identification. I think I can speak for everyone in the group that it was an honor to meet this man. Thisis what we need to see from police officers everywhere! THIS MAN IS A HERO

Note the people in cars, honking in support as they pass by.

Now, compare that with THIS.

President Obama to Replace Attorney General Eric Holder With Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch - The Atlantic

President Obama to Replace Attorney General Eric Holder With Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch - The Atlantic:

President Obama has settled on the chief federal prosecutor in Brooklyn, Loretta Lynch, as the nation's next attorney general. The White House said late Friday that Lynch was the president's pick to replace the departing Eric Holder, confirming a selection that CNN first reported earlier in the day. By choosing Lynch, Obama is bypassing a pair of candidates with more senior roles in his administration in favor of a prosecutor who could, potentially, be more easily confirmed by a Senate that Republicans will soon control.

Attorney General .. old

Attorney General ... new

Giving Obama his choice is like giving a kid his choice between recess and vacation,

Why I Carry ...and why not to say so

From time to time I have held break-room conversations with co-workers.

They knew I'm a "Gun Nut", and some of them know I have a license to carry a concealed firearm.

 But of course, my co-workers are are Academics, who are more concerned with the concept and have no idea that I had been carrying a firearm on my employer premises (a university campus, where concealed carry is illegal) since the first day of my employment .. which lasted for over 15 years.

That's another story, which I shall not visit today.  They never knew; they never asked.

In our conversations over coffee, when the subject came up (rarely), I asked them:
"Do you have a driver's license?"

All did, of course.

I asked them: "Do you carry it at all times?  Do you have it on your person now?"

They said yes.

"Why do you carry it?"

Bread and Circuses ... and Pot

2014 Oregon election results :: The Oregonian | OregonLive.com: regon [sic] results

For those who care ...

Oregon voted FOR Democrats in most significant races, and FOR Marijuana legalization ... but  AGAINST mosquitoes and flies. *

Apparently, the weed-heads are more annoyed by flies than by Democrats.
(Which seems a good reason to oppose the legalization of Marijuana.)

Democrats only annoy them the one day a year when they can't ignore them.  Perhaps if Oregon held elections more frequently, the preposterous Dem campaign ads would be seen as more pernicious to those of us whose perception of reality is more concerned with pot and television than with reality.

*(for party splits by state, see this graphic)

Politicians and Diapers ....

"Politicians and diapers should be changed often, and for the same reasons."

Often cited to Mark Twain and Winston Churchill  (and others, without rhyme or reason), the aphorism seems to work.   The defination of "an honest politician is one who, once bought, stays bought" also seems applicable.

To tonight we are witnessing another evolution of the same old revolution ... "kick the bastards out".

The only CHANGE is that the bastards are the 'other' group;  the only HOPE is that the newest group of lying bastards will provide sufficient resistance to the current Clown In Chief to force a degree of ... well, conservatism ... in his constant flow of outrageous, arbitrary social changes.

If nothing else, (a) the tendency toward acceptance of unrestricted/illegal immigration of people into this country, and (b) abrogation of our constitutional rights.

Yes, we will continue to deal with President Obama's "revolution by fiat"  (aka: "I have a phone and a pen") zeal as he will doubtless continue to attempt to establish his leadership in a manner reminiscent of a nascent Community Organizer on a national scale.  (God protect us from naif in power!)

But the Legislature has to duty of forming the laws (senate), and will not pay for the enforcement of inane laws (house); so we now have resumed a balance between the judicial, the legislative and the executive branches.  Well ... sort-of.

Nobody wants any political party to rule both the Executive and the Legislative branch; it is a conundrum which has ALWAYS led to extreme measures, when one party is in power.  When a 'new' (different from last week?) party gains control, we usually see excessive policies undermined, or boldly cast off.

Both parties are guilt of excessive legislation, arbitrary decision-making, and fear-mongering.

So what if you DO save your family and home from predation?

[Video] Couple Who Shot, Killed Burglar Last Year Discuss the Toll the Incident Has Taken on Them:

.... one thing that we don’t talk about often enough is the toll that is taken on you and your family after a defensive shooting.

Guns Save Lives is one of the few websites which I visit every day.

But this day, Dan Cannon talked about the burden which defending your family against a home-invasion imposes on the people who choose to defend themselves, their home, and their families.

It's a subject which deserves your attention.

Is it better to shoot?  Or to be shot?

Is The Law less threatening than the Lawless?

Politics! What is it good for? (Absolutely Nothin'!)

I've been reading my ballots (Oregon is a "Vote By Mail" state) and I admit that I am despondent.

When I think about the presidential elections  ... yet to come ... it's even worse.

Oregon cannot field a decent candidate in the Senatorial elections.  This sorry state of affairs (pun intended) has existed for years.

When it comes to local elections, it's even worse.  I'm sure that there are honest folks out there who would represent their constituents honestly and in good faith .. but are they capable?  We can't know.

I'm reminded of the quote (often attributed to Mark Twain and/or Benjamin Disraeli .. but perhaps even those citations are wrong) concerning the three types of lies:

"Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics"!

Perhaps the more mordant quote should be:  "Liars, Damn Liars, and Politicians!"

And how about war?  Watch the video ... and substitute "Politics" for the word "War":

About Washington State's Competing Gun Measures

... the NYT has an opinion:  it's still all about the "notorious" Gun Show Loophole.


The People’s Choice on Gun Safety - NYTimes.com:

Actually, Washington voters face two ballot measures on this nationally significant question. Initiative 594 would close notorious loopholes in gun control laws by requiring background checks for criminal activity and severe mental illness for would-be buyers at gun shows and on the Internet. The rival measure, Initiative 591, supported by gun rights advocates, says there can be no background checks without “a uniform national standard” — a Catch-22 ploy because, of course, there can be no such standard without congressional cooperation.

War is Hell

I watched the Bob Hope Christmas Tour (1967) on You Tube last night.  Of special interest was the rapt attention of tens of thousands of military men and women watching small-talent/big name entertainers perform acts which wouldn't "make it" on TV.

For the first time I realize just how BORING the Viet Nam War was.

Happy Halloween! (Curmudgeon Style)

Halloween has changed.  Gone are the belly-aches of yesteryear.

Gone are the caramel apples .. victims of razor blades embedded by evil people (and if you never believed that evil exists, this was my first clue when I heard about it decades ago).

It's Halloween, and I celebrate it the way I always do ... with no doorbells ringing.

 I turn off my porchlight (which I leave on 24/7 364 days a year) because I don't choose to spend my evening watching parents chivy their children down my sidewalk, checking to ensure that the 'treats' they receive from me don't include drugs, razor blades or other harmful "stuff".

In fact, I disconnected my doorbell years ago.  Nobody who ever rang my doorbell had something to say that I wanted to hear.  Most of them wanted to express their disappointment that I did not accept Jesus as my personal savior.  It never occurred to them that  "Personal" was the operative word.

Or else, they wanted to campaign for their favorite politician.  As the lone Conservative in a Liberal college town, I soon learned when I moved here that the doorbell ringers didn't want a dialogue .. they wanted to proselytize.  The smarmy bastards soon left when I presented a counter argument.

Or maybe the fact that I answered the door NUDE was a bit off-setting.

(Okay, I never actually did that .. but I wanted to!)

Still, I don't think that's an entirely appropriate way to greet trick-or-treaters.

Makes you glad to be an American!

TSA Confiscates Raygun Belt Buckle BECAUSE TERRORISM! - Hit & Run : Reason.com:

I pointed out that even if it was a "replica", which is dubious, it would be a replica of a fictional weapon used by Flash Gordon... Which, you know, makes confiscation of the belt buckle even MORE insane than it already was.

Is there a point when absurdity becomes reasonable?

Maybe .. especially when even REASON magazine treats a TSA confrontation as ludicrous.

In this case .. the writer attempts to board an airplane with a 'RAY GUN" replica belt-buckle in his luggage .. and the TSA in charge attempts  to confiscate it.  Because it is .. you know .. a "replica" of a firearm, and therefore banned.

(NOT, we should emphasize, a replica of an existing firearm.  A replica of an imaginary firearm.)

Alternative title:

TSA and "Belt Buckle" Reasoning .. from REASON!

I'm just amazed that REASON would find this ... unreasonable.

I know, I should have filed this under the heading: "Massacre Thwarted"!

But even I have limits to my sarcasm!

[H/T: Say Uncle]

Quick Question For Gun Control Advocates

#1 Why Do You Care? Quick Question For Gun Control Advocates - YouTube

In the 2009-2010 period, "this guy" presented 26 videos (there may be more) lasting 2 minutes or less asking "Quick Questions for Gun Control Advocates".

I sent though them all, and I was impressed by the straight-talk manner of his presentations.

If you are interested, go walk though the series of short videos.

Or not.

Here's the first one, just to get you started.



PS:  If anyone has more information about "this guy", let me know.  I'd like to shake his hand.

Moxie: "This is not your father's Oldsmobile!"

Not Network News: When Grandpa Shoots Three Home Invaders:
(October 28, 2014)

 While many on the Left spent last week using the terrorist attack in Canada to promote their gun control agendas, all three major networks managed to overlook a newsworthy story that supported gun rights. On October 20 in Lumberton, North Carolina, a grandfather used a gun to successfully protect his family from violent home invaders.

Home invasion, attempted rape, violence begun by the attackers was ended by the resident grandfather

Forgive my "bloodthirsty" attitude, but I'm liking this story.

Pathos, drama, a happy ending and the hero of the day is An Olde Pharte.

What's not to like?

True Lies, as promulgated by the New York Times

Please Take Away My Right to a Gun - NYTimes.com:
(January 19, 2013)

 A FEW years ago, I awoke at 2:30 a.m. to more than a “rapping, rapping at my chamber door.” It was a full-force pounding of a body trying to break into my little house in Washington, D.C. It was the sound and scenario that, as a single woman living alone, I feared more than spiders in the house.

What I really like about the New York Times (NYT) is that this publication provides a forum in which the most angst-ridden, dysfunctional East Coast quasi-Bramins are comfortable with expressing their worst fears in public.

Wow.  It's easy to believe that story, isn't it?

The original story ( click the link at the top of the page ) is admission from a Metropolis-Dweller who is so afraid on "Home Invasions" that she has considered buying a GUN!

But (she says) she won't, because she is even more afraid that if she owned a gun ... she might use it to kill herself.

DEAR WENDY:  SOME PEOPLE SHOULD NOT OWN GUNS

 You personally should not be trusted with a pen knife.

Actually .. you should not be trusted with a pen.  There's poison in it; and lies, deceit, and a hidden agenda.

Stupid Civilians Screw Up Space-ship Shootoff

Unmanned Antares rocket explodes after liftoff | Fox News:  (Video in the article)
(October 28, 2014)

An unmanned cargo rocket bound for the International Space Station exploded Tuesday over a launchpad in Virginia.
 No injuries were reported following the first catastrophic launch in NASA's commercial spaceflight effort.
 The accident at Orbital Sciences Corp.'s launch complex at Wallops Island was sure to draw criticism over the space agency's growing reliance on private U.S. companies in this post-shuttle effort.
 NASA is paying billions of dollars to Orbital Sciences and the SpaceX company to make station deliveries, and it's counting on SpaceX and Boeing to start flying U.S. astronauts to the orbiting lab as early as 2017.

Note:
"NASA is paying billions ... "

and later in the article:

President Obama has long championed this commercial effort, urging that NASA focus its human spaceflight effort less on nearby orbit and more on destinations like asteroids and Mars. He was in Wisconsin for a campaign rally Tuesday evening and was kept abreast of the accident and its developments.

Nowhere in the article was mentioned President Obama's 2013 decision to shut down NASA. and place the effort of space exploration on private industry.  This was his decision.

According to an Editor's Update to a September 30, 2013 article in  space.com:

Editor's Update (Oct. 17): NASA is officially reopened for business after a late-night Congress vote ended a two-week government shutdown.  [content link deleted] NASA would be among those federal government agencies  to experience a near total closure if the threatened government shutdown becomes reality on Oct. 1, U.S. President Barack Obama said Monday (Sept. 30). But a government shutdown should not endanger American astronauts currently in space.

Of course, the decision to shut down NASA was blamed on the GOP protest shut-down of national government enterprises.  In fact, Obama was undermining (and distancing himself) from budget items which he was personally unwilling to support.

Now we've seen a rocket blow-up,  (An attempt was made to embed the video here, but the FOX NEWS source was not functional in the embed HTML  Another example of private industry ineptness?  Probably not.)

Family -- The Jig Is Up!

My Favorite Daughter-In-Law (Mrs. Squidkid) texted me today with the astonishing news that she JUST discovered I have a blog!

It hasn't been a big secret .. I've been writing nonsense and other opinions here for ten years as of December the 4th.   My daughter knows about it (and sometimes read this opinionated trash; I think she gets bored).

My sister knows my shameful secret, too.  I doubt she visits often; our interests do not always coincide; nor do our politics.  

 Now that Mrs. Squidkid knows, I would have to be more careful when I rant .. except every one of the 2,530 articles I have written are available in archive.  So .. screw that.  It just never occurred to me to mention it.  I'm often embarrassed the next morning when I read what I wrote the night before, but I'm not ashamed.

Those of you who have also blogged for a while, has it ever occurred to you to tell friends and family that you are A Blogger?

Me?  I have a small handful of people who read me often, and others who find me here as a result of in internet search they have performed.

Mrs. Squidkid did that .. her teen-age daughter (her name is ELIZABETH, dammit, not LIZZIE!) was scheduled to go to the Oregon school that got shot up the other day(that night, not during the day) but that inter-scholastic was cancelled.  Favorite-Daughter-In-Law was surprised when during her search on related articles  she found my one on website .. with my photo.

Sorry, Missus S.Q. -- I wasn't trying to keep secrets.  It just never occurred to me to mention it.

Now that you're here, I expect to see my readership stats to soar.    Don't disappoint me .. my will is a Work In Progress!

(family joke)

Peace through Superior Firepower: Lewis and Clark and an air rifle

Girandoni air rifle as used by Lewis and Clark. A National Firearms Museum Treasure Gun.: Girandoni Air Rifle as used by Lewis and Clark. A National Firearms Museum Treasure Gun.

Uploaded on Feb 1, 2011

http://nramuseum.com Lewis and Clark's secret weapon - a late 18th Century .46 cal. 20 shot repeating air rifle by Girandoni , as used bin (sic) the Napoleonic Wars. A Treasure Gun from the NRA National Firearms Museum. See more at http://NRAmuseum.com. Narrated by Phil Schreier.

(link here)

Twenty +.46 caliber bullets in seconds, almost semi-automatic.  Awesome!

Lewis and Clark Expedition .. incredible

And the gun-grabbers thought that the Second Amendment didn't apply to large caliber, high capacity, fast-shooting firearms, because these were beyond the technical capacity until the 20th century?

[giggle]

(H/T: Big Dawg)

Another School Shooting .. by a student

And the press is trying, once again, to figure out "Why This Happened?"

People Go Crazy.  Go figure!  If it wasn't a gun, it would be a knife.  Or a base ball bat.

Or a hatchet.

You can't understand it; you can only prepare for the crazies.
Or expect the police to save you .. unless they are the first targets of random violence.

Marysville school shooting as student opens fire in cafeteria | Daily Mail Online:

 The shooter who opened fire at a Washington high school this morning was a popular 15-year-old boy who played on the football team and was crowned homecoming prince. Jaylen Fryberg killed one classmate and wounded four more before turning the gun on himself in the cafeteria of Marysville-Pilchuck High School at 10.39am. The horrific attack has left the entire community reeling as friends described Fryberg, a member of the Tulalip Native-American tribe, as a 'well-respected, great guy'. Authorities are now scrambling to determine a possible cause for the shooting as the four survivors fight for their lives in hospital. Pupils have told news stations Fryberg was suspended from the football team in recent weeks after being involved in a fight over 'racist' comments. Others said he had been rejected by a girl,

NY Hatchet Man

Zale Thompson shot dead after axe attack on cop in New York | Daily Mail Online:

New York police fear that a crazed hatchet attack on four police officers in Jamaica, Queens, today could be linked to terrorism. Suspect Zale Thompson, 32, pictured in surveillance footage, was shot dead on the scene after slashing one cop in the arm and the other in the head at around without warning about 2pm.

Right. And it's not about Muslim hate-stuff, either.

So much for the religion of peace.

Right.

I've Been Phished .. again

I recently received a 'confirmation of subscription' email from an online website (never mind their content), but I did not subscribe to them.

The confirmation was sent to an email address which I do not connect to my blog, to business accounts, or to my family correspondence; this address is used for 'general' purposes, which includes USPSA/IPSC and related issues.

I can only assume that someone with whom I have recently corresponded in relation to 'non-personal' issues has used my public email account -- which is available on 'some' websites -- to enter this subscription (which includes assumption of a minor charge).

Of course, I immediately wrote to the business involved, using the same email address, to disavow the charges and the subscription.  It's too soon to determine whether the charges will be debited to me.  Although I can't imagine how they would connect my email address and my credit/debit accounts (which do not use the same identity),

"Oh, Canada ..." How's that "Pretty tight gun control laws" thingie working for you?

Canadian Press Correspondent: Gun Control Discussion Imminent In Coming Days:
(October 22, 2014)

 As news about the attack on Canada's Parliament Hill continues to unfold, Canadian Press correspondent Lee-Anne Goodman says these kinds of things weren't suppose to happen in Ottawa where there are "pretty tight gun control laws" and suggested a talk on gun control is imminent in the coming days.

[emphasis added]
(H/T: New Jovian Thunderbolt: More Gun Control)

The funny thing about Gun Control is .. it only works to infringe upon the rights of legal, responsible citizens.  They just want to protect themselves, but since they're ... you know .. "Law Abiding"?

.. they give up their guns in accordance with the gun-control-laws-de monde?  Which doesn't do YOU much good, does it?  Think about it.

Iron Fist/Velvet Glove

University threatens students passing out copies of U.S. Constitution (Video) - Liberty Unyielding:
(October 15, 2014)

Four students enrolled at Southern Oregon University (SOU) were threatened with arrest last Tuesday for passing out subversive documents. According to Campus Reform, “university officials threatened to call the police and [take] disciplinary action against students” in question. So what were the students handing out that got the administration’s hackles up? Copies of the U.S. Constitution. The group was also collecting signatures to end the university’s restrictive speech policies, which limit free speech to an area that equals less than 1% of campus.

Other than that Oregon is a "Red State", I have rarely been ashamed of being a native Oregonian.

Still, I am ashamed of the way the People in Power, here (as elsewhere) treat our citizens.   More, I'm ashamed that the gene pool is so small here, small-minded people find themselves in a position where they can feel empowered to undermine the people they are pledged to serve.

And never more so than when the colleges (and actual "universities" in the Oregon University System) attempt to brow-beat and discourage the bright young minds,  with whose "positive" education they are charged.

Does your NAME define your life?

Statehouse Shootout: Pa. lawmaker exchanges gunfire with would-be robber | Fox News:
(H/T: Lagniappes Lair)

The two suspects were caught close to the scene of the robbery, and two more teens were later arrested as accomplices. The Inquirer reported the suspects, 17-year-old Jamani Ellison, 15-year-old Jyair Leonard, 17-year-old Derek Anderson and 15-year-old Zha-quan McGhee, were all charged as adults. The group was charged with multiple crimes, including attempted homicide, conspiracy, robbery, and aggravated assault.

Is there something about your given name which drives you to crime?

I lost my cell phone yesterday - Random Search Patterns

Stupid little black box, my cell phone hides itself in the most inconvenient places.

The worst of it it is, we take phones for granted.  When we get up to go someplace, we put it in our pocket and forget about it until we need it.

And when we need it, we really need it.

I sometimes forget how much I depend upon my stupid phone, but there comes a time when it can make all the difference.

Other Technical Issues:
This week, my COMCAST Internet connection changed on me.  Well, it's not the general theme, but my modem was deemed 'outdated' (COMCAST's definition is "end of life", but that's another story) and I had to buy a new, improved modem.  When it showed up in the mail yesterday (actually, I think it was shipped via UPS and who knows how much cost to me) I was delighted.  Every time I signed onto the Internet for the past couple of months, I had to change my "adapter settings" (whatever THAT means!) to establish the Internet connection.   So I was glad to get the new modem, which was ... one assumes .. not near "end of life".

But as soon as I installed the new modem, it quit working!  And within moment of that realization, when I tried to get to my cell phone to complain .. I realized I didn't know where it was.

Looked for the cell phone all yesterday, and most of today.  Searched all the usual places (pockets, charging stations, between my mattress and the bed frame); looked in the freezer and the refrigerator *you've never put your car keys in the fridge?  You're too young to understand.*

I even performed a "Drunkard's Walk", which computer programmers understand, but 'real people' don't.  It's often more effective than a Binary Search, in 'hectic' ir 'chaotic' situations.  When your life is chaos, your solutions are often most effective when they, too, are chaotic.  That means 'unstructured' or 'unplanned'.  Or just 'not logical'.  Logic is the curse of the Programmer, and of society.  Life is not Logical.

Finally, I performed the ultimate search pattern:  I quit looking for my cell phone.

I spent today reading, tried to forget that I was needing my cell phone.

At 8pm I started doing my dishes (oh, I didn't mention that my dishwasher is also kaput?  Bad news comes in threes --- I need new brakes on my car, too).  At 8:15 pm I decided to wash the dishes, since my dishwasher is non-working, and when I grabbed an apron to keep from getting soaked .. I found the phone in an apron pocket.

I could have sworn that it has been two days since I washed dishes, but there was the cell phone.

If I had focused on searching, I would NEVER have found the damn phone. It wasn't where I would expected it.

The Drunkard's Walk search didn't work, but the "stop looking for it" did.

Such Is Life:

You know, when you strive to force 'Life' to meet your requirements, it never happens.  Sometimes ... often ... usually, the best thing you can do to achieve success is to not TRY so damn hard!

Fortunately, I'm lazy and irresponsible.  I function best, when I TRY least to be funtional.

I'm getting really good at being incompetent.    Hey, I found my cell phone, and I got my new modem working by (Real Men will not like this) not trying, and by asking for help.

Oh, my modem?  I re-installed my old modem, got online, asked COMCAST for help, and they performed some magic which is not mentioned in the installation manual.  As it turned out, there are things that need to be done to convert to the New Generation modem which the customers can't do.

PS:

Oh, yeah .. I managed to find my phone without using Find My Iphone.

Center For Disease Control: Why NRA lobbied to stop their 'research' on "Gun Violence"

New Jovian Thunderbolt: CDC:
(October 12, 2014)

 I'm getting tired of liberals whining, "if only the Rethuglicans didn't block the funding the Centers for Disease Control could study gun violence and help put an end to it."

I'm so grateful for this opening. I've been wanting to talk about the CDC and their campaign against private firearms ownership.

---

Several years ago (1993+), the Center for Disease Control (CDC) .. a federal agency ... experienced a Rite of Passage wherein their researchers were spending an inordinate amount of their time and efforts, not to mention (public) funding, railing against Gun Violence.  They had tons (figuratively speaking) of comments about the injuries incurred upon the American Citizenry due to firearms injuries.

Well .. they're doctors,  They can't help but be outraged (even though they are not Emergency Room First Responders, or whatever the terminology is) by the number of people who appear in hospitals all across America with Gunshot Wounds.  You can't blame them for their societal concerns.  Only for the way in which they misused their office to effect their personal goals.

You would have to be a callous person .. perhaps even an NRA member .. not to be appalled by the injuries which gun violence performs on Americans every single day. Of course .. firearms violence is no more driven by guns and inexpert firearm owners than crappy music is by guitars and singers with nasal blockages.

Gun Violence is to Violence as as Country Music is to Music ...Horrible.  A bad influence, perhaps, but not the single driving cause of Badness.

And for those who really LIKE Country Music, I offer my apology;  I think it sucks, but I'm not blogging against Buck Owens singing "I've Got A Tiger Tail It's Plain To See .. although I think somebody should.  But that's just me.

Perhaps that's a better model than it seems.  Just because you don't like Country Music, that doesn't necessarily mean that all music is bad.

And just because Gun Violence is horrible, that doesn't necessarily  mean that Guns .. and the people who own them .. are also bad.

Somewhere, CDC got all confused about the cause, and the effects.  They assumed that Guns were the progenitor of Violence.

Just as I think Country Music is the progenitor of Discord.

Maybe we were both wrong?

Well, I've learned to enjoy listening to Patsy Cline.  And just because I cannot abide Buck Owens is no reason to tar all Country Music with the same brush.

But the CDC's attitude toward firearms is another story.

For one thing ... perhaps The Most Important Thing ... they are a Public Trust.  That is, we pay them to protect us from Disease.  You know?  Like .. Ebola?  We don't pay them to decide that a social situation that is also a Civil Right should be treated as if it were a disease.

The word "Disease" has a clear, well established definition: and that no more includes the free exercise of a Civil Right (eg: ownership of a firearm) than it does to exercise of a Privilege (eg: ownership of an automobile). .. both of which lead to thousands of deaths, annually.  These deaths occur because of abuse, not because of the inherent utility of the right or the privilege, but because of the inherent lethality of both mechanisms.

[Liberals like to say that a firearm has only one purpose: to kill people.  Based on the statistics, one would be inclined to say the same about automobiles.  People say that automobiles have "a useful purpose": transportation.  Realists might counter by saying that firearms have an even more 'useful purpose':  Freedom.  But that's a subject for another discussion.]

Getting back to the CDC:

These fine, well-educated, well intentioned folks took it upon themselves a few years (a couple of decades) ago to provide cherry-picked statistical 'facts' which proved (to their own satisfaction) that firearms were a blight upon society.

The provided reams of statistics which proved, without a shadow of a doubt, that firearms murdered thousands of people every year.

And their statics were correct ... thousands of people ARE murdered every year by firearms!

However, in their zeal, they neglected to document (as a famous New Reporter once considered important) :"The Rest Of The Story".

They forgot to consider the number of lives which were SAVED by firearms.

Not in the hands of the police, but in the hands of individual civilians.

So .. what about " ...  if The Rethuglicans didn't block the funding the Centers for Disease Control"?

Set the WayBack machine to 2011: from the New York Times:

The reality is that even these ...  basic questions cannot be fully answered, because not enough research has been done. And there is a reason for that. Scientists in the field and former officials with the government agency that used to finance the great bulk of this research say the influence of the National Rife Association has all but choked off money for such work.
“We’ve been stopped from answering the basic questions,” said Mark Rosenberg, former director of the National Center for Injury Control and Prevention, part of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which was for about a decade the leading source of financing for firearms research.

From 2013:

Research on the prevention of firearm-related injury, supported by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and coordinated within CDC's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC), has come under attack from Rep. Jay Dickey (R-Ark.) and the National Rifle Association (NRA). The House Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee initially rejected Rep. Dickey's attempt to eliminate the $2.6 million dedicated to CDC firearm-injury research. However, Mr. Dickey prevailed in the full Appropriations Committee. The Dickey amendment would transfer the $2.6 million to regional health education centers. This research has attracted a powerful and wealthy opponent — the NRA. The NRA has taken the position that firearm-related injury research at the CDC amounts to 'antigun' political advocacy and has also attacked the quality of this research. However, research proposals submitted to CDC are subject to a peer review process that follows standard practices. APA's Public Policy Office (PPO) has distributed accurate information to Congress on the nature of CDC-supported firearm-injury research and is advocating against the Dickey amendment.

Also from 2013: CDC Ban on Gun Research Caused Lasting Damage

April 9, 2013
President Obama may have ended the 17-year ban on gun violence research at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but even if Congress restores research funds, experts say the damage runs deeper than funding cuts.
Since the 1996 ban, many of the leading researchers of the 1980s and 1990s have moved on to other specialties, and some said they've even discouraged students from specializing in gun violence research because the work doesn't pay. The ban also helped make gun-related questions controversial even for studies not funded by the government, and it will take years to restore available data to what it once was.
"Good research was being done by Art [Kellermann] and by us and by others on what the risk factors were for firearm violence, and how it might be prevented and so forth," said Dr. Garen Wintemute, an emergency room physician and leader on gun violence research at the University of California at Davis. "I won't say it halted, but it decreased substantially in scale."

From 2012:  "The ugly campaign by the NRA to shut down studies at the CDC."

In the 1990s, politicians backed by the NRA attacked researchers for publishing data on firearm research. For good measure, they also went after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for funding the research. According to the NRA, such science is not “legitimate.” To make sure federal agencies got the message, Rep. Jay Dickey (R-Ark.) sponsored an amendment that stripped $2.6 million from the CDC’s budget, the exact amount it had spent on firearms research the previous year.

(BTW, nobody stopped the CDC from researching "Gun Control" issues .. we just stopped giving them our hard-earned tax dollars to pay them to undermine the Second Amendment.  Whoo-- EEE!  You can't believe how quickly they shifted their attention to issues which did NOT undermine the constitution!)

(You may wish to search information on "kellerman", who famously announced that if you had a gun in your home, you were "43 times more likely" to be a victim.  Here is one analysis of that decision.)

The Face of War

The War Photo No One Would Publish - The Atlantic:

" .... war is ugly. It’s hideous."

We need to be reminded of that, from time to time.

“If we’re big enough to fight a war, we should be big enough to look at it.”

Lest we forget.

Rolling Stone interview with "Sonny Crockett"

Don Johnson on 30 Years of 'Miami Vice' | Rolling Stone:

The stubbled star talks about being showered with women's underwear and why the Reagan-era series is ready for a reboot

No, really!  He thinks he's going to do it all over again.

Background checks on gun transfers ARE a hidden "Gun Registration" measure

Last year I was at an IPSC/USPSA match in Oregon when a friend searched me out.

His pistol had fallen out out of his skeleton holster and hit the ground, and by the rules of Practical Pistol competition he was forbidden to touch it without the supervision of a Range Officer.  So I obliged him, of course, and I (safely) picked up his $3,000 race gun and handed it to him.

Then he went looking for someone else who had a similar pistol that he could use to complete the match.

He found another competitor who had a spare similar pistol, and safely completed the match.

He needed it: his C-More sight had taken the brunt of the impact on the hard-packed ground, and was broken.  Eventually, it cost him several hundred dollars to replace the broken electronic-dot sight, but at least he didn't have to drop out of the match.

Under the "Universal Background Check" rules, he would not have been able to rely on the largesse of his friends.


Bloomberg-Gates background check ploy first step to registration, confiscation - National gun rights | Examiner.com:

The first point is, a background check bill is impossible without creating registration data. That was admitted by no less an authority than Greg Ridgeway, Deputy Director of the National Institute of Justice, who wrote a summary report on gun violence prevention strategies in which he concluded “Effectiveness depends on the ability to reduce straw purchasing, requiring gun registration.

Now, let's look at the same scenario under the "Universal Background Check" rules:

Universal Background Checks (may) apply even to temporary "loaning" of a gun at a range, except under certain narrowly defined circumstances.  See below.

The popular understanding is that this applies only to the transfer of ownership of firearms.   That's not necessarily true.

Breaking: Oregon Retro-Gov Kitzhaber PWND by Illegal Alien and his fiance

Oregon ‘first lady’ cops to green-card ‘marriage of convenience’ in exchange for $5G | Fox News:

 Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber got one hell of an October surprise, as his fiance tearfully admitted Thursday to having a green-card marriage to an 18-year-old Ethiopian immigrant. The stunning admission comes after an alternative newspaper first reported that Cylvia Hayes – who despite being engaged goes by the title “first lady” in the state – had been married, and divorced, three times before. Two of those were known. But the Democratic governor to whom she’s engaged, and the public, apparently didn’t know about the third.

This comes as absolutely no surprise to Conservative Oregonians (both of us!).   Doctor John has been making "bad choices" during his entire political career.

Five Grand?  He should be flattered; his probably-no-longer-to-be wife can honestly claim that she is worth more than he is.

The Real "Gun Show Loophole"?

What happens when Liberals get control of a county?

Several years ago (and this is a true story, children.. well, mostly ... but the names have been changed to protect the innocent) in a small North-Western town which we will call "Corn Valley",   which was the County Seat, The County took control of The People.

One day, the County Commissioners (we'll call the county ""Benjamin"),  decided that gun shows would no longer be permitted at the Benjamin County Fair Grounds.

Now, there had been no complaints registered about the Benjamin County Gun Shows, which had been an annual event for decades.  The Citizens of Corn Valley, or of Benjamin County, had not objected to a "Free Market" in firearms.   There was no external reason for the Benjamin County Commissioners to establish a restriction on County Fairgrounds events. In fact, it was a money-making event for both the county and the fairgrounds.

They just decided this was The Right Thing To Do .. and the decision was passed seven-to-one by the Board.

The people of Corn Valley and Benjamin County objected to this arbitrary decision, and so a hearing was held one Tuesday evening at the fairgrounds.