Does This Worry Anyone Else?

Unintended Consequences

The editors at the Florida Journal News who published a map of gun owners in a couple of counties in Florida were fired from the newspaper. The firing may not have been directly related to publication of the map, but the article sums up the law of unintended consequences quite nicely.

Layoffs took place company-wide for the Journal News parent Gannett. There is no indication the gun map played a role in the layoffs, however the controversy may have had an effect on the Journal News’ bottom line as multitudes of subscribers bailed on the daily paper.

Go read it.

This is Just Downright Scary

I could scream "Treason!" or somesuch, but this is way beyond that point. Why would anyone in our government be able to work/request a deal like this? Why does no one seem to be paying attention?

I usually pull a quote from stuff I link to, but this one is summed up by the headline. Obama Requests 15,000 Russian Troops For “Upcoming” Disaster -- Go read it.
Scary stuff. 

So many other tinfoil hat things are turning out to be real, do you want to take a chance on this one? Be ready, be prepared. 

Size Does Matter

Scale and scope are pretty important, too. Many of us refuse to turn a blind eye to government surveillance. The extent to which this is taking place should scare the bejeebers out of everyone who is even remotely concerned with such things.
The new phraseology for today is "Main Core."

Are you on the list? Are you one of the millions of Americans that have been designated a threat to national security by the U.S. government? Will you be subject to detention when martial law is imposed during a major national emergency? As you will see below, there is actually a list that contains the names of at least 8 million Americans known as Main Core that the U.S. intelligence community has been compiling since the 1980s.

This is happening. Go read it and be prepared.

Well Doc, It's None of Your Business

To pediatricians, gun control is a public health issue, not a political one. But they're treading a fine line, and they know it.

If it's a public health issue, why is the American Academy of Pediatrics not pushing their members to educate and instead asking for: 

"an assault weapon ban, mandatory background checks and waiting periods before all firearm purchases, a ban on high-capacity magazines, handgun regulations and requirements for safe firearm storage under federal law."

A safe storage act I could understand them pushing to pass, but all the rest smacks of plain ol' garden variety politics.
Go read it.

Eeek, a Gun!

And it's made of plastic. Whatever shall we do? Criminals could make one in their own home. Sheesh. Settle down there Max/Carter before you wet yourselves.

Critics already perceived the recent gun bill to be inadequate to the challenge of gun violence; criminals and psychopaths need only wait for the printers to get cheaper before they can make all sorts of evil in their basements. And Congress will still be chasing the gun shows. . .

People can already make their own gun and more laws won't stop anyone from doing just that. Just ask prison guards who find homemade firearms in prisons. Can't stop it there, can't stop it in the outside world. And, it's not illegal to make your own, unreported gun, BTW.

What makes the 3D-printed gun so dangerous is that it muddies the waters of the gun control debate in a way that makes it harder for proponents of gun control and technologists to agree on exactly what they mean.

Ummm, what?
Anyway.
Interesting this.

Fewer than 1 percent of state prison inmates who possessed a gun when they committed their offense obtained the firearm at a gun show, the report said. Gun shows were central to the measure recently rejected in the Senate: ...

So maybe gun-controllers have it wrong, hmmm? I mean if the Justice Department said it, it must be true.
Go read it.

Pay No Attention

to the man behind the curtain, says President Obama at Ohio State. Here are a few of the juicy tidbits

And that’s precisely what the Founders left us — the power, each of us, to adapt to changing times. ...
To conquer fascism and disease; to visit the Moon and Mars; to gradually secure our God-given rights for all of our citizens, regardless of who they are, or what they look like, or who they love.

why does he get to say, "secure our God-given rights" when he's the one trying to take them away? Oh, that's right, he has the bully pulpit and we're just the peons who dare to challenge him.

The founders trusted us with this awesome authority. We should trust ourselves with it, too. Because when we don’t, when we turn away and get discouraged and cynical, and abdicate that authority, we grant our silent consent to someone who will gladly claim it.
So you can’t give up your passion if things don’t work right away. You can’t lose heart, or grow cynical if there are twists and turns on your journey. The cynics may be the loudest voices — but I promise you, they will accomplish the least. It’s those folks who stay at it, those who do the long, hard, committed work of change that gradually push this country in the right direction, and make the most lasting difference.

Amen to that. Wait, he meant the opposite of what I mean. Go back and reread that paragraph. It's quite telling. Silent consent and claimers of power have gotten us to this point. Rugged individualism will only serve to sink us deeper into the rights-stripping quicksand. Standing united we can regain the rights we have lost.

I think about how we might perpetuate this notion of citizenship in a way that another politician from my home state of Illinois, Adlai Stevenson, once described patriotism not as “short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime.” That’s what patriotism is. That’s what citizenship is. 

Defenders of the Second Amendment need to remember all these words. Go read the full transcript.

Break Out The Popcorn

This is about to get good.
AG Holder: Feds Will Ignore State Laws and Enforce Gun Grab

While They Chase The Boston Bombing Guys

Don't forget about this guy and the ricin letters. Bizarre doesn't begin to describe him. Go read it.

Fun With Math

I struck pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard at least, and came up with the following figures for what a stack the Department of Homeland Security is layin' in. That recent Forbes article said 1.6 billion, but that figure has creeped up since then to more than 2 billion. So, living in a modest home built in the 1950s where storage space is at a premium, I wondered what the DHS is looking at for warehousing all that brass, copper and lead.
Here's my scratchpad with roughish numbers.

Working from this link at MidwayUSA a 50-round .40 S&W carton is 6.1875 inches X 3.25 inches X 1.5 inches.

A football field, between the goal lines, is 300 feet X 12 inches = 3,600 inches long

and 160 feet X 12 inches = 1,920 inches wide

one layer of cartons would be 3,600 inches divided by 6.1875 inches = 582 cartons long

and 1,920 inches divided by 3.25 inches = 591 cartons wide

582 X 591 = 343,962 50-round cartons per layer

2 billion total rounds divided by 50 rounds per carton= 40,000,000 cartons

40,000,000 / 343,962 = 116.3 layers

116 layers X 1.5 inches = 174 / 12 = 14.5 feet deep

So, the DHS will have a football field's worth of .40 S&W hollowpoints stacked 14 and a half feet deep. Think about it. 

Action Speak Louder Than Words

More people should think like this:

"It is better to educate the public, and especially our children, that they should be vigilant, should be aware of their environment, should travel in groups, and should immediately report any early indicators of potential violence," he said. "Ultimately that will pay off far more than this armor."

I thought bulletproof fashion was pretty interesting and a cool niche right up until I read this:

The Colombian company's founder and namesake, Miguel Caballero, impresses visitors to his Bogota factory by routinely shooting ballistic-clad employees with a .38-caliber revolver. Unfazed, the employees take off the gear and go back to work.

Wow. I'm guessing he takes out no-fault life insurance policies on all his employees payable to the company. Go read it.

Yes, He's Serious

Wow, just wow. It's California. He could get elected. Go read it.

What Happens When...

...this thing is carrying a belt-fed something-or-other on its back with a remote operator? Just a little bit creepy. Something to think about. Go watch it.
Hat tip to MrMnmn911.