Saturday, February 08, 2014

Pictures From The Other Russia

The one with actual Russians.

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Friday, February 07, 2014

"Fat Boy" Does Nagasaki

I've never seen this before, or even known the name of the plane. Everybody knows Enola Gay. Number two is...uh...who?

I hope the Iranians never get a chance to make a film like this....though I won't be at all surprised if they do.

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Hawaii Gun Ban Law: Ban Manufacturing Processes

The Hawaii State Legislature is up to it's same pranks. Now Senator Clayton Hee ("intellectually outclassed by the average drunken amoeba") has introduced a bill to ban any gun manufactured by 3D printing, CNC mills, or laser cutting machines, any gun part, anything which resembles a gun or piece of a gun, and anything which the police or a police lab is unable to determine is or resembles or depicts a gun, gun part, or depicts the nature of a gun or piece of a gun.

Clear enough for you? My reading is that unless the manufacturer has a federal firearms manufacturing license (only federally required of those who produce receivers, which for federal purposes are the gun), such parts as screws, pins, grips, stocks, springs, sights, magazine followers, barrels, bolts, firing pins, extractors, and butt plates would be a felony. So would toy and replica guns and their parts and pieces, assembled or unassembled. Possibly even 3D printed depictions of firearms because it includes anything digitally produced which "depicts the shape or nature of a firearm, ammunition, or any piece or part thereof". Which would make a CDC-produced Police Memorial a felony if it included a 'depiction' of a gun.

Think I'm nuts? Here is the text of Hawaii Senate Bill 2257 :
"§134- Digital manufacturing technology; prohibitions; penalty. (a) It shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly or intentionally manufacture, through the use of digital manufacturing technology, any firearm, ammunition, or any piece or part thereof that:
(1) When fully assembled or in pieces or parts, resembles or depicts the shape or nature of a firearm, ammunition, or any piece or part thereof; or

(2) When fully assembled or in pieces or parts, resembles or depicts the shape or nature of a firearm, ammunition, or any piece or part thereof and when inspected by law enforcement or by the use of law enforcement technology, cannot be detected or identified as a firearm, ammunition, or any piece or part thereof, unless the person possesses a license to manufacture firearms pursuant to title 18 United States Code section 923(a).

(b) It shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly or intentionally use any firearm, ammunition, or any piece or part thereof, manufactured through the use of digital manufacturing technology, that:
(1) When fully assembled or in pieces or parts, resembles or depicts the shape or nature of a firearm, ammunition, or any piece or part thereof; or

(2) When fully assembled or in pieces or parts, resembles or depicts the shape or nature of a firearm, ammunition, or any piece or part thereof and when inspected by law enforcement or by the use of law enforcement technology, cannot be detected or identified as a firearm, ammunition, or any piece or part thereof, unless the person possesses a license to manufacture firearms pursuant to title 18 United States Code section 923(a).

(c) It shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly or intentionally possess, sell, deliver, barter, trade, gift, transfer, or acquire any firearm manufactured through the use of digital manufacturing technology.

(d) Violation of subsection (a), (b), or (c) shall be a class C felony.

(e) For purposes of this section, "digital manufacturing technology" means the use of an integrated, computer-based system comprising simulation, three-dimensional visualization, analytics, and various collaboration tools to create product and manufacturing process definitions simultaneously. "Digital manufacturing technology" includes but is not limited to computer numerical control mills, three-dimensional printers, and laser cutting machines."
I wrote a polite comment in the bill's comments section, but this is my blog and I suspect State Senator Clayton Hee is too stupid to be a traitor. He is a plain, simple, unredeemable idiot. He is also a fool who doesn't even have the brains to hire staff who can read his own bills with enough clarity to understand what the bill actually does. He would ban manufacturing anything which is or looks like or resembles or depicts or cannot be determined to resemble or depict or be a gun or a gun part. Would this also ban an essay on the nature of guns, or the nature of gun parts, or the nature of screws, if only it was produced digitally? Why not?

The Democratic Party of Hawaii keeps running him for office, and the People of Hawaii keep re-electing this lump of protoplasm, which says something about both the Democratic Party of Hawaii, and the efficacy of the public school system in training people to vote for any quivering blob which resembles or depicts or cannot be determined to resemble or depict the shape or nature of a legislator so long as it has a (D) after its name.

The Democratic Party of Hawaii is an insult to Democrats. And when was the last time a Democrat disagreed with the statement that "shall not be infringed" means "of course we can make it a felony"?

UPDATE: Did I mention that Senator Clayton Hee is the Chairman of the state Senate's Judiciary and Labor Committee? Rather than tuck him safely onto a back bench, the Democratic Party of Hawaii considers him wise and thoughtful enough to give him an important position. That says a lot about the quality of his Democratic colleagues.

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"The Rifleman"'s Head Count: 120 in Five Years

120, yep, 120, and you can see every one of them here. I particularly like the suicide by pitchfork death.

This is, of course, conclusive scientific evidence that you should bring a rifle to a gun fight, not a revolver.

I can see why the Hollywoodies had to take it off the air, though: Chuck Connors aka Lucas McCain aka The Rifleman never shot a gun out of a bad guy's hand, just gunned them down, and always with multiple shots to save the poor long suffering taxpayers the expense of hospitalization followed by trial and incarceration. Now THAT is social responsibility.*

He should have called that gun "Rehabilitator".


* For any of you of the Humor Impaired persuasion: The above is intended as humor. Humor is an attempt to be funny, whether one succeeds or not. I do in fact believe that it is unacceptable to shoot miscreants more than necessary to stop them doing whatever justifies shooting them at all. "The Rifleman" was a TV show. It was fiction. If you can't distinguish between real life and TV, please stop reading my blog, go away, and fling yourself into a flock of sharks engaging in a feeding frenzy.

And get a life.

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Defending Yourself Against Unlawful Arrest

I have long wondered if one may lawfully defend one's self against illegal arrest, and if so, what degree of countervailing violence one may use.

These court cases suggest that courts have long held that potentially deadly force may legitimately be used.

Which, of course, will not prevent the police from killing you.

See here.

I'm not sure if attempted arrest under a statute later held to be unconstitutional falls under this, but I think it should. My understanding is that the Supreme Court held long ago that a law not authorized by the Constitution is no law at all.

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Thursday, February 06, 2014

America Hates Guns and The NRA

Maybe only part of America:
(The National Rifle Association's) magazine “American Rifleman” has broken into the top 25 magazines in the country, according to the Alliance for Audited Media.

The magazine...surged 29 percent to 2.2 million readers in the second half of 2013 over the same period the previous year.

At the same time, circulation for all magazines was down 2 percent during that time frame....

There was a massive increase in NRA membership last year from 4 million to 5 million that mirrored Mr. Obama’s second-term gun grab.

The magazine is one of three publications (“American Hunter” and “America’s First Freedom”) that members can choose when signing up for the pro-Second Amendment organization.
Membership is up only 20% in a year? Amercia must hate guns and the NRA.

A lot more women seem to be shooting these days. It would be interesting to see the membership breakdown by sex, age, and location.

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The Lipinski Stradivarius Violin Has Been Found

Apparently undamaged.

It seems that at least one of the suspects has a history of art thefts in Milwaukee.

UPDATE: Much more here.

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No Scary Knives In The Land Of The Free

I just came across this pathetic line in the 'Product Description' on Amazon for the Schrade SCHF9 Extreme Survival Knife:
Bowie / Fighting Knives cannot be shipped to Marin, Napa, Ventura and Yolo counties, CA; CO; CT; AL; Peoria, IL; D.C.; MA; Miami-Dade and Sarasota counties, FL; Canada or Puerto Rico. Please check your State, County and City laws for restrictions before ordering Bowie / Fighting Knives.
Folks, if it is a weapon, it is protected by the 2nd Amendment. Ask any of the Founders who left writings on the subject.

But legislators both Republican and Democrat piss on the Constitution for a living. So what's new about that?

I would say that Republicans and Democrats alike appear utterly convinced that their belief that a law is good policy makes it Constitutionally authorized, except most of them appear to think the Constitution is a worthless sheet of scrap paper.

As an irrelevant aside, since the blade shown does not have a clip point, nor does the knife sport a guard, knife people would be unlikely to call this knife either a Bowie or a fighting knife*. It is just a big utility knife. Our noble Solons though can define anything they want as a Bowie or fighting knife for regulatory purposes. Reality is no impediment to the authoritarian mindset.

As another irrelevant aside, knives were the hand weapon of choice when the Constitution was ratified because they were cheaper than handguns and because they weren't useless after one shot. They are arms, therefore they are protected. Don't like that? Fine. Amend the Constitution.

*UPDATE: Note that while the copy of the Rezin Bowie knife depicted at the linked Wikipedia article does not have a clipped point, it does have a guard. The very first Bowies were apparently little more than big kitchen knives, but rapidly evolved into clip pointed fighters with guards.

It would be interesting to see if any of the laws above actually define the term.

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Wednesday, February 05, 2014

"No Guns" Stickers Protect Illinois Schools

Illinois schools are putting up "No Guns" signs to ward off evil. If only we had known sooner how easy it is to keep homicidal nuts with guns out of schools:
The image can be frightening, Byrne said, “but if it keeps the world safer, that’s OK. The No. 1 thing we do for kids in general is keep their school safe...If it’s reasonable to tell people this is a safe, no-gun zone, then we’ll do it.”
What a shame that Sandy Hook and Columbine didn't have these stickers in place before nuts with guns killed people.

Guns are also banned at parades and festivals, so expect to see these talismans protecting such venues as well. Apparently churches too, whether they want to be gun free or gun protected: The legislature has decreed.

Now all the homicidal maniacs will look at these talismans and go elsewhere, because they know that the last place they want to shoot up is a place where they know that no one else will be armed.

All this time...so easy. If only we had known.

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Monday, February 03, 2014

Stolen: The Lipinski Stradivarius Violin, In Milwaukee

I have a terrible feeling that it was not stolen to order, but now sits in ashes or in a dumpster, destroyed by thieves too scared and ignorant to care for it.

The owner, who had loaned it to Frank Almond, Concertmaster for the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, released a statement which Almond put on his website:
It has been my joy and privilege to own the Lipinski Stradivari in recent years. I have thought of myself more as a guardian of a treasure than an owner, a treasure that needs to be seen and heard. It has been in my family for over five decades, deeply loved and used in performance across the world. As a non-violinist, non-public figure, it has felt more natural to me to remain relatively anonymous. Not expecting the violin to participate in this tendency, I had the good fortune to find Frank to take loving care of it every day and to use his musicality and virtuosity to express his vision with its glorious voice. That he was concertmaster of the MSO was especially appropriate, as another goal was to give Milwaukee the gift of being able to hear the violin frequently...

As a child overhearing long, expert practice sessions on the Lipinski, I didn’t realize that it was exceptional. To me, that was just how violins sounded. Understanding its capabilities came later: the pure, strong voice, clear, light and dancing, dark, brooding, poignant, tender, ebullient, expressing any emotion the player was feeling. Its loss is devastating.
My guess is that it is not so much the loss to the owner which is so devastating, but the likelihood that it has been damaged or destroyed.

I remember when my apartment in Milwaukee was burgled years ago. One of the police who responded to my call got in my face at my lack of being upset. I had to respond: No one was killed, no one was injured. No one was raped. None of the things which I value most highly was damaged, and they so easily could have been by simply sweeping things off the shelf, or tipping over a bookcase.

To someone who truly cares about the things they possess, losing them to theft is nothing compared to losing them to destruction.

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When A Magnet Meets A Copper Pipe

Clik here.

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Why God Can't Have A Hamster

Seen on the Internet:

We are advised to NOT judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few lunatics, but we are encouraged to judge ALL gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics. Funny how that works.
That does seem to some it up.

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Common Core Proponent: "the children belong to all of us"

Proponents of Common Core standards in education are at least open in their belief about our subservient nature:
Paul Reville, the former secretary of education for Massachusetts and a Common Core supporter, said...“An overwhelming majority of teachers are saying this is something...that makes sense.”

Reville continued, “Again, the argument about where it came from I think privileges certain sort of fringe voices about federalism and states’ rights.
"Privileges" fringe types who think the federal government ought to submit to the contract by which the states created and delegated powers to the federal government? Privileges fringe types who have the anti-social belief that they ought to directly control the schools for which their taxes pay, without having to persuade benevolent and all-wise bureaucrats in Washington to allow them to run schools as they believe proper for the collective's children? Those fringe types?
“Why should some towns and cities and states have no standards or low standards and others have extremely high standards when the children belong to all of us and would move [to different states in their educational lives]?”
How about because children are not the property of the collective, Benito? How about because when the federal government violates the constitution in order to impose federal standards, no matter how bad those standards are, no matter how suffocating the paperwork is, no matter how much money the system takes away from educating children and shoves into the pockets of test companies' pockets, there will be no escape? And how about because that is exactly what the collectivists are touting as a benefit: There will be no escaping their system, no matter where the parents take the collective's children? How about because fascism is anti-American? How about because there is exactly nothing in that radical fringe document called the US Constitution aka your favorite toilet paper, which empowers you to fund education or influence education in any way whatsoever?
But critics such as Lindsey Burke, a Will Skillman Fellow in Education Policy at The Heritage Foundation who has studied the standards, said the initiative is about federal funding and centralizing education rules.
That is indisputable: The proponents claim these as features.
“But most concerning, Common Core removes the ability of parents and teachers to direct academic content and will have a homogenizing effect on the educational choices available to families,” Burke said.
The collective's children shall be properly indoctrinated, as the Collective's rulers decree. 'There will be no escape from the Collective Wisdom of the State', quoth Benito.
But Jennifer Davis, co-founder and president of the National Center on Time and Learning who moderated the panel at CAP, told CNSNews.com that teachers are “truly embracing” Common Core.

“On the teacher side, I mean, all of the work were doing all over the country we’re finding teachers truly embracing and knowing that Common Core is important for their children and for their future in their schools,” Davis said, adding at one point, “It takes a village” to get this kind of education reform accomplished.
"this kind of education reform": yes, indeed, it does need a collective to get this kind of 'reform' accomplished. And once again, fascists like Benito Mussolini would have approved whole heartedly. Neither children nor their parents shall be allowed the anti-social option. No one shall escape the All Seeing Wisdom of the Village-State.

No one, because we all belong to Village-State.

All of us.

Submission is Freedom.

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Sunday, February 02, 2014

The Danger Of Gun-Free Zones

John Lott, president of the Crime Prevention Research Center and the author of More Guns, Less Crime, on the solution to crime in gun-free zones.
In November, Interpol’s secretary general, Ron Noble, noted there are two ways to protect people from such mass shootings: “One is to say we want an armed citizenry; you can see the reason for that. Another is to say the enclaves [should be] so secure that in order to get into the soft target you’re going to have to pass through extraordinary security.”

Noble sees a real problem: “How do you protect soft targets? That’s really the challenge. You can’t have armed police forces everywhere.”

“It makes citizens question their views on gun control,” he noted. “You have to ask yourself, ‘Is an armed citizenry more necessary now than it was in the past, with an evolving threat of terrorism?’”
An armed citizenry does indeed seem far preferable to a police state. Unless, of course, one rather likes the prospect of a police state. I have never understood why such people assume that 'their' faction will maintain control of the state. Nor has anyone explained how they would regain control of such a state once control had been lost.
His comments were made right after the terrorist attack at the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya, where 68 people were killed. Kenya bans both open and concealed carrying of firearms by civilians.
That worked well for the shoppers and their children.

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