ARRRRRGH!

There’s a special place on the wrong side of my front sight fro the worthless sons of bitches who wrote the extortionware called Antivir Solutions Pro. I put these guys in the same category as pedophiles and Nigerian scam artists. I’ve seen versions of this scam before but have always managed to keep it off the home PC until tonight. This “thing” blocked me from every program I attempted to open with a “this program is corrupted” window. My malware program was the same. I couldn’t open Chrome and Firefox and IE opened but gave me a window that claimed the site I was trying to reach was hazardous. I couldn’t open regedit or windows explorer to attempt to track down its pieces of this “thing”. So after minutes of profanity I drove over to my friend Lee’s apartment and borrowed his machine to find a solution and now I know. I booted the machine in safe mode ran malwarebytes and got the little bastards. I’m up and running again but should I ever find myself face to face with the extortionists who wrote this “thing” their kneecaps are mine.

No excuse.

Most law enforcement officers obey the rules and enforce the law as best they can because they recognize that making up the rules as you go along tears down the society they’ve sworn to protect. Then there’s the other kind.

These guys, those that stood by without saying anything, the supervisors who didn't rein it in, and the Sheriff just because it's his responsibility, need to be on the street looking for new, non-LEO, related work.

H/T to Tam.

I'm reading...

...The Hidden Family by Charles Stross. I was always a sucker for H. Beam Piper and this series has the same flavor. Good stuff.

A genuine WTF moment

Tam and Breda posted about a woman and her two sons who were stabbed to death while police officers waited 45 minutes outside the apartment waiting for a supervisor to give them permission to kick in the door. For a moment I thought we were getting another story from the formerly Great Britain but this took place in DC. What’s worse the City is fighting the lawsuit instead of writing a check. The sad thing is they’ll probably win.

The lesson learned is that you can’t rely on anyone but yourself the police least of all.

As for the officers that stood outside the apartment because of policy while three people died, policy be damned. Get off your asses and do your duty and stop letting others make excuses for you.

H/T to Uncle.

I don't need no stinking probable cause...

Slippery slopes: we got bunches of them. We’re pawing our way slowly back up the 2nd Amendment slippery slope although there are twits out there ready to stomp on our hands and start us sliding downward again. Another is the slippery slope of our 4th Amendment rights. With the Patriot Act and gems like this we’re sliding down the slope towards a police state so damn fast we got holes in our pants. The FED wants to give the FBI the right to access, not the contents of our email, but damn near everything else about it without a warrant. Pesky things those warrants. To get one you have to show probable cause and prove you have a need. As easy as that rubber stamp is for a Federal Agent to get before a National Security Judge, that’s still one hurdle to many for them to cross. Enough. I understand we’re at war and our enemies want to destroy our way of life. Why then are we giving them the easy win by tearing our Constitutional protections down in our efforts to get to the bad guys? It’s got to stop…now.

Via Hot Air.

Another SAF Lawsuit

Alan Gura and the SAF have filed a lawsuit against Maryland. The Maryland concealed carry law requires that the applicant demonstrate need based on "apprehended danger". If the right to bear arms is a fundamwental right why should anyone have to demonstrate anything to anyone to exercise it. More details with analysis here.

Am Fricking Not!

You are 4% hippie.

 

Ok, you conservative soul. Do you even believe in global warming? Loosen that necktie a little, and try some organic food. It actually does taste better. And go to a farmer's market--they're fun.

Are you a hippie?
Take More Quizzes

Passage of the DISCLOSE Act...

...is apparently in doubt. Schumer can't count on all the DEMs going for it and the Republican Senators are standing firm against it so the DEMs won’t be able to get past a filibuster. The reason for Republican opposition? The Republicans have correctly identified the legislation as an attack on their party and its ability to get their apparatchiks elected. They’re opposing it not because its unconstitutional and wrong but an attack on their power. Oh well, any chair in a barroom brawl.

UPDATE: It's failed for now, but Schumer isn't giving up.

More noise from the Democrats...

...about reforming the Senate rules in regard to the filibuster. They’re getting tired of needing a supermajority to get anything done. I expect it will go along the lines of when the Democrats are in power filibusters won’t be allowed but if the Republicans take the majority the rules revert so they can obstruct any change. Honestly, I don’t think it will happen. If they change the rules and the tables turn they’re screwed unless they think the fix is in and they can keep the majority indefinitely.

I'd call it a WTF moment but...

...these twits have been doing this for seventeen years. The LA County Sheriff’s Department will destroy 8,300 confiscated firearms by having them melted into rebar. What a waste. With the economy in the pits the local bureaucrats will do this rather than sell the firearms to raise revenue. They deserve bankruptcy.

Via John Richardson.

Chicago is now accepting...

...applications for the city’s firearms owner ID. One of the bureaucrats in charge of the process said…

Believe it or not, we are trying to make registering handguns in Chicago as easy as possible,” he said previously.

Really? In a “lie down, spread your legs, and think of England” sense?

RightHaven LLC is the company...

...that has sued Clayton Cramer and others for copyright infringement because they posted excerpts of material published in their papers. They did so without any request the material be taken down. The CEO considers surviving off of judgements a viable business plan. The suits are on the behalf of Stephens Media LLC the owner of the Las Vegas Review-Journal and a multitude of other papers. John Richardson has posted a list of Stephens Media's holdings with a suggestion bloggers avoid linking to their papers. That's an excellent idea. I guess we'll see how viable that business model really is?

Charlie Schumer is pushing DISCLOSE...

...in the Senate and wheeling and dealing to get what it passed. He's good on the NRA exemption and he decided to throw the unions under the bus or so says the news. Except we all know that what goes into the conference committee ain’t necessarily what comes out and a violation of the First Amendment is a violation no matter who gets the shaft. Call your Senators and let them know where you stand.

FL: Castle Doctrine under attack

In Florida, a prosecuting attorney wants the Castle doctrine law overturned because it’s making his job more difficult. Alleged bad guys arrested in “gunfights” are using it, successfully, as a defense. Not a good thing but I damn well prefer not to rely on said prosecuting attorney’s good will if I had to shoot some goon to defend my family and home or the rest of the legal profession in civil court should the law be repealed.

A Frank Frazetta painting...

...of "Conan" nabs $1.5 million at auction and off into a private collection it goes. I'm just jealous.

via The Duck.

The perfect response to Fred Phelps.

The counter-protest at San Diego's Comic-Con.

Fred's got issues.

Heh.

Quote of the day.

A husband in Reidsville North Carolina shot his wife in the back with a black powder pistol. The projectile was a wad of toilet paper. The wad was expelled with enough force to injure the wife. He ended up charged with assault with a deadly weapon as he should have been. As stupid as his actions were the money quote in the article is this gem.

It's unclear how the toilet paper was propelled from the firearm if there was no bullet.

That writer should get an award of some sort.

Seriously.

Damn!

Clayton Cramer has turned off his blog. It's a shame that we lose his presence on the web because of a bullshit lawsuit.

The Armed Citizen Sued.

Clayton Cramer and David Burnett are being sued for violating copyright for posting excerpts of new articles on their website, The Armed Citizen. I would think fair use would apply, but the copyright holders obviously disagree and a simple cease and desist order is apparently beyond them.

If you have a few dollars to spare there is a donate button on the website. I sure all help will be appreciated.

H/T to Sebastian.

NC: Man Holds Burglar at Gunpoint

In Mecklenburg County, a homeowner returned to his house to find a burglar backing his pickup truck out of the garage. The homeowner blocked the truck with his vehicle then took his shotgun and held the bad guy at gunpoint until the police arrived.

In Ireland, new legislation gives...

...homeowners the right to use firearms to defend themselves from intruders.

The police association of superintendents and inspectors, the AGSI, stated that “the current situation, which legally demands a house owner retreat from an intruder, was intolerable".

It’s what amounts to a “castle doctrine”. Meanwhile in North Carolina antigun legislators are holding our castle doctrine bill hostage in committee in the sure and certain knowledge that should it reach the floor it will become law. What does one have to do with the other? Nothing really, except in Ireland where they have no acknowledged right to bear arms, they get it. People have a right to self-defense. To bad certain Democrats in the North Carolina Legislature can't figure that one out.

I'm reading...

...The Family Trade by Charles Stross. I've tried other books by Stross but haven't gotten more than a chapter or two into them before finding something better to read. This one is damn hard to put down.

Why Gun Owners should be...

...concerned about the U. N.'s Arms Trade Treaty.

Via David Kopel.

Forty-One Years ago today...

...the United States put the first man on the moon.

If its a tax...

...then Obama's health care penalty is unconstitutional, or at least that's what these guys argue. Per David Kopel, their argument comes down to this...

In brief, the argument is: The tax is not an excise tax, and it could not be a constitutional excise tax because it is not uniform. The tax is not an income tax, and it could not be a constitutional income tax, because it is not a tax on derived income. Accordingly, the tax must be a capitation or direct tax. Article I, section 9 provides: “No capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census or Enumeration herein before directed to be taken.” The tax is not apportioned, and therefore is contrary to Article I, section 9.

WBC to protest Comic-Con

Fred Phelps, or at least some of his followers, from the Westboro Baptist Church are going to protest the San Diego Comic-Con. They've scheduled a total of forty-five minutes to protest the idol worshippers. These guys would protest a bake sale by the local girl scout troop if got them one bit of attention. Twits.

The US Navy has a Death Ray.

Actually, its a 32 kilowatt laser and they used it to shoot down an unmanned aircraft. Death rays and railguns. Neat. We still need a spaceship to put 'em on.

Via AccurateShooter.com

This dick, Rick Glen Strandlof, claimed to be a...

...former decorated Marine. He was charged under the Stolen Valor Act of 2005 which made it illegal to make such claims and was convicted. He appealed the conviction and a judge in Federal Court dismissed the charge claiming the law was unconstitutional. So he gets to walk. It doesn’t make him any less a dick for making false claims, and it doesn't mean I agree with his actions even slightly. I do kinda agree with the judge. There may be a compelling public interest in forbidding dicks from claiming to be a soldier, doctor, lawyer, or policeman the last three of which are prohibited by law, but there is no such interest in forbidding dicks from claiming to be former doctors, lawyers, or policemen. Neither is there for dicks claiming to be former military when they aren’t. Now if said claims are made for gain of some sort then other laws can be used to disabuse them of the notion. In that case stick it to him.

H/T to Matt G.

Are these guys actually nurses...

...or just union muscle shipped in for the event? In any case, they need to be introduced to the guys at the local hoosegow.

via Breitbart.

Huh.

I write like
Cory Doctorow

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

This is after three submissions and three different results. Doctorow I can live with. I dropped some of the Declaration of Independence into the thing and apparently Thomas Jefferson writes like H. P. Lovecraft, or maybe its the other way 'round.

Summertime

For your enjoyment.



Via The Daily Bayonet.

It's a tax not a penalty, so sayeth the DOJ

Maybe I’m a bit slow, but in regard to healthcare the DOJ is now claiming in their response to the many state lawsuits against this BS that the “penalty” I have to pay if I don't have insurance is a tax and so Obamacare is constitutional under the Fed’s authority to tax. How is it a tax if you only have to pay it if you refuse to buy health insurance? I guess a tax is anything the Fed says it is.

I just finished reading...

...Tom Kratman's latest novel The Lotus Eaters. It's a sequel to A Desert Called Peace and Carnifex. The next one, D Minus X, will be along shortly. I will say this about his books. I don't really think I want to live in any world were Kratman is god, but its damn fun reading about them.

A test run for tyranny?

This is as simple as a test run for shutting up opposition to the Obama/Progressive agenda. Even if some bloggers out of the 73,000 blogs were posting copyrighted material they all weren't, and taking down the whole blogging platform and the seizure of their posts was not justified and seems a clear vioaltion of their 1st Amendment rights. Ya gotta wonder when they'll get to the rest of us. Ya know they thinking about it.

H/T to Glenn.

Illegal Alien Gets Taxpayer Funded Penis Pump

This is one of those headlines that just catches your attention and makes you wonder what the fuck! Not because Uncle Sam paid to have a device inserted into an illegals you know what, but that someone actually thought we needed to know this. Seriously? God, I need a brain scrub.

SAF sues in New York

The Second Amendment Foundation has filed a federal lawsuit against Westchester County, New York and its handgun permit licensing officers, seeking a permanent injunction against enforcement of a state law that allows carry licenses to be denied because applicants cannot show “good cause.”

Should anyone have to prove to the authorities that they have “good cause” to exercise a fundamental right? Guess we’re gonna find out. Alan Gura strikes again.

H/T to David.

Chicago's List of Banned handguns.

Chicago PD has issued its list of banned handguns. The stated reason is that they are unsafe. Looking at the list I’d have to say yes and no. Mostly they’re cheap and fall under the “class” of handgun called the “Saturday Night Special” by anti-gunners. Others are manufactured by companies like SIG and Walther and are by no means cheap. Mostly I think this list is intended to get Chicago’s foot in the door. If this list can weather legal challenges expect to see other firearms added to the list. I'd be interested to see what is Chicago's criteria for induction onto the list, and that may give us an idea as to whether the list will hold. In the end it looks as if the goal, barring a total ban, is to make firearms and the process of getting one too expensive for the little people, and that sounds just lie Daley.

via John and Sebastian.

M24 Remington Bolt-Action Rifle

The military's new sniper rifle.

Equal Protection, Obama style

Assault by bubble?

I’ll grant that the bubble girl was purposely being a juvenile dick and also that we’re seeing an edited video that leaves out part of the exchange. The bubbles hitting the officers also technically fits the elements of assault, but please tell me what the Toronto Police could possibly get from this arrest except looking like royal dicks. Talk about diminishing returns.

A Federal version of Lost and Stolen.

A bill that if passed would require gun owners to report a lost or stolen firearm to the police. Sound fairly reasonable on its face, but then Carolyn McCarthy introduced it and its on the agenda of Bloomberg's MAIG organization. Those alone are reasons enough to oppose it. Neither has any agenda but the eventual banning of firearms, and this would be one step down the slippery slope. Call your Congresscritters and let them know how you feel about it.

H/T to Sebastian.

Update: Some specifics via the NRA and the text of HR5736.

Judge rips sheriff for rejecting gun permit…

…because he violated the plaintiff’s first amendment rights not his second. The sheriff denied the permit because the applicant was an outspoken local anti-abortion activist and weird. Now the Judge has ordered the sheriff to take a court approved class on the U. S. Constitution. That might not be a bad idea for a lot of people currently in the government.

H/T to David H.

The Sitemeter tripped...

...30,000 visits at around 1026 hours. Thanks to all you guys and gals who pay me a visit. Ya'll come back now.

CO: Thieves go free while victim may face life in prison.

Wheat Ridge, Colorado: Two gentlemen, using the term loosely, pull their truck up to a trailer on private property, hook it up and start to drive off. The 82 year old owner of said trailer witnesses this activity, exits his house firearm in hand and orders them to stop. They try to run him over, and he fires on them hitting one in the face. The police arrest the bad guys and the old guy is hailed as a hero….

Actually, the local DA charges the old guy with twelve felony counts including four for attempted first degree murder while the bad guys are set free.

Seriously.

I assume that even in Colorado the office of District Attorney is elected. This particular one needs to re-enter private practice. Colorado needs another ambulance chaser.

Oh, and the benefit of a doubt goes to the property owner not the scumbag thieves.

H/T to Robb.

Zombies crash car.

A car crashes in Portland, Oregon and the people who stop to help initially think the passengers are in much worse shape than they are because they’re zombies or a reasonable facsimile thereof.

H/T to Radley.

Another funny from...

...GEICO.



This new run of commercials are consistently funny and beat the hell out of the caveman crap from a while back. Oh and I don't know jack about the quality of GEICO's service. I use AMICA with whom I am extremely pleased. .

State Department supports International Small Arms Destruction Day

We keep hearing from the left how the Obama Administration is at least neutral on the Second Amendment and private ownership of firearms. Then we get crap like this from said Obama Administration.

The United States is pleased to join the international community in observing International Small Arms Destruction Day as part of our ongoing efforts to reduce armed violence and support the rule of law around the world.

I could point out that the contempt shown the U. S. Constitution, our law of the land and a document that as a agency of the United States Government the State Department is bound, by the State Department shows just what they really think about rule of law. Support for the activities of the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) also show us where their heart is. Obama, Hilliary, and their ass kissers have no respect for our rights. If they can find a way to strip of our firearms and our rights, they will.

Liquid body armor

A British company seems to have come up with a viable liquid body armor. It’s lighter and more effective than current body armor. That would be a boon to the military, police, and anyone else who might need the protection of body armor. No telling when it might be on the market, and God knows if it will ever be available to non governmental types.

H/T to Firehand.

San Francisco is considering a...

...ban on pets or, as the numbnut in charge of their Commission of Animal Control and Welfare puts it, companion animals. I've got to wonder at what point even the people of San Francisco will finally say enough. Then again, they keep re-electing Nancy Pelosi.

It’s an old joke, but...

...do you know how to tell when a politician lying?

It’s unfortunate that at a time when our nation is facing enormous challenges, many in Congress have decided to delay critical nominations for political purposes. - President Barak Obama

To read that you would think the Prez appointed Dr. Donald Berwick by recess appointment because of obstruction by Republicans. Except there was none. In fact, Senator Chuck Grassley, a Republican, had asked that a hearing be scheduled to discuss Berwick’s appointment. Senators Harry Reid and Max Baucus, both Democrats, delayed. Why? The last thing the Democrats want before the mid-term elections is discussions of Obamacare and Berwick’s adoration of the British NHS and healthcare rationing [death panels].

Mr. President, your lips are moving.

via Glenn.

I Am America

H/T ot Mike V.

HA! Take that ya…

...goobers.

The AP excerpted a Woot post and Woot billed them for the use. That’s only fair since the AP have been such dicks about new media types using their content. It'll be interesting to see if the AP pays up.

Robert A. Heinlein's...

..birthday is today.










via User Friendly

This has potential...

NRA Supporting Chicago Residents New Suit Against Mayor Richard Daley and the City of Chicago

...and truly, it's the only way to deal with the likes of Richard Daley. Don't let him catch his breath. Kick him when he's down, and don't stop until he can't get up and the fight is over. He won't quit. Neither can we.

H/T to David.

Update: The filing is here.

Over at the Daily Kos a liberal...

...offers a well reasoned argument in favor of the Second Amendment. Based on the comments, it looks like it mostly fell on deaf ears. Too bad.

H/T to Glenn.

The Last Airbender…

…sucks. Sorry, as much as I wanted to like it I couldn’t. It’s not the actors. They do the best they can with the material they’ve been given. It’s not the story. The original material, Avatar: the Last Airbender, rocks. The problem is that M. Night Shyamalan, the writer and director can’t adapt that original material into a watchable movie. When you have to have narration to transition from scene to scene something’s wrong. It’s a visual medium. Show me, don’t tell me. There was also energy and humor in the original that ain’t in this version. It’s boring. I’d really like to see a live action version of Avatar, just not this one.

And because the FedGov...

...has shown itself to be so competent in so many other areas we should trust them to set up a universal ID for the internet that will make life easier and protect our security and privacy at the same time. Oh, and it will be voluntary.

Yeah, that what I thought too.

via Claire

That's Funny

H/T to Dick.

Another bit of evidence...

A Marist poll finds that 26 percent of Americans don’t know whom the United States declared its independence from.

...that we are utterly screwed, if only because they get to vote.

H/T to JammieWearingFool

Now I'm taking the rest of the day off.

Two hundred and thirty-four years ago today...

Happy Independence Day...

In Congress, July 4, 1776 the unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America

When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. — That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present king of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these States. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise; the state remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these states; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands.
He has obstructed the administration of justice by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.
He has made judges dependent on his will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies without the consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the military independent of and superior to the civil power. He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock trial from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states:
For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world: For imposing taxes on us without our consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of trial by jury:
For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighbouring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments:
For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection and waging war against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow citizens taken captive on the high seas to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have we been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends.
We, therefore, the representatives of the united States of America, in general congress, assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by authority of the good people of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that these united Colonies are, and of right ought to be free and independent states, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.

— John Hancock

New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

...and maybe this is our next.

Because I say so.

Apparently when you step onto the property of Miami-Dade Metrorail you leave the United States and rule of law for a third world country where the law is whatever the dipshit in uniform says it is because he says so. Oh, wait...

H/T to Tam.

NRA Set to Endorse Reid

I can’t stand that #%$&@# Harry Reid. I rather he enter the private sector, but compared to others he’s been good to the Second Amendment and if the alternative is Senate Majority Leader Chuckie Schumer then I won’t give the NRA too much shit if they endorse him. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth, but there it is.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

No fucking way.

I've been putting this off...

Several weeks back I had my AR at the range and it fired multiple times with one trigger pull. While my initial thought was “neat” I quickly realized this wasn’t a good thing. I removed the magazine[ empty] and clearerd the chamber [nothing popped out]. I took the rifle back to the work area and pulled the rear pin so I could get a look at the internals.. It wouldn’t break open so I thought [using the term loosely] I might need to pull the trigger to release pressure on the hammer. By now I’m sure you guys see where this is going. I pulled the trigger, fired the weapon, jumped about 12 inches, and stopped cussing about 30 seconds later. The muzzle was pointed down and toward the pond [a safe direction] and only my pride and the concrete were damaged. That’s the story of my first and [hopefully] last negligent discharge. I'm relieved no one was hurt and embarrassed that it happened at all.

As for the rifle, I took it to a friend, who is also an armorer, and got it fixed ASAP. The hammer was out of spec.

There is a solution to this kind of behavior...

There was a time when an action of this sort of behavior by a foreign power would have earned them a visit by the Marines. While those were in a less "enlightened" time, there are other responses that beat the hell out of this bullshit from the State Department to what amounts to theft.

"We would just call on them, if they did make such a move, to compensate the owners of those wells," Toner said. "This is the latest in such an instance where international investors, their investments are being nationalized by the government of Venezuela. It doesn't speak or bode well for the investment climate there."

What the hell is this guy smoking?

Oh wow. According to this guy the Supreme Court applied the Second Amendment to the States because a radical right block of the court sought to protect the influence of white people. This brings to question what alternate reality the writer originally came from. For those of you who, of course, care.

An alternative point of view might be that the radical left block of the Court opposed applying the Second to the States and even tried to argue for the reversal of "settled law" to protect the gains of a progressive elite from the righteous anger of citizens who have seen the gradual dismantlement of the Constitution over the last sixty years and are damn sick and tired of it. Makes as much sense or more than his rant. Just saying.

H/T to Mile V.

Mayor Daley's next move

The mayor is expected to demand registration of all handguns, mandatory training for gun owners and a limit of one handgun per person. This last novel idea comes from Corporation Counsel Mara Georges, who according to the Associated Press "says the court ruled people can have a gun for protection, but didn't say they're allowed more than one."

It's not like we expected him to just give up. He and his fellow travelers will pull whatever they can out of their ass to avoid the end consequences of the Second Amendment. Then when they've bankrupted their city and/or are in the grave the people of Chicago just might get to rejoin those of us able to exercise out Second amendment rights.

Via Glenn.

NRA opposes Kagan

The NRA has announced its opposition to the Kagan nomination.

I won’t pretend to understand the “great game” the NRA is involved in or why or when they do what they do. I'll leave that to others.

They’ve decided to oppose the nomination and grade congresscritters on their vote. Three days into the confirmation process, let’s hope it has the desired effect.

Via Sebastian.

It remains to be seen...

...whether any nation as far down the nanny state slippery slope as formerly Great Britain can reverse the trend, but this is encouraging even if one block is still missing.

H/T to Radley.

Here's a test

I think of myself as a small "l" libertarian and sometimes and would be damn well step over if a doorway to L. Neil Smith's Libertarian utopia from his novel The Probability Broach opened up in from of me, but it like most utopias depend on the perfectibility of man and that ain't happening. Apparently I'm not libertarian [anarcho-capitalist]enough based on this libertarian purity test linked over at Uncle's. I scored a 68 but would have scored higher if I could have voted get rid of most of it. I still want my wookie suit.

TX: Teen Thwarts Burglary

In Harris County, Texas two teenagers attempt to break into a house was met with deadly force when a fifteen year old inside used his father’s rifle to defend himself, his twelve year old sister, and his home. One of the teenagers was wounded. Both were taken into custody at a local hospital. The fifteen-year old’s father is a local deputy.

There were some questions about whether he'd [the father] be liable for the shooting since his son had easy access to the weapon, but ABC13's legal expert says that the 15-year-old's right to protect his home and sister trumps all child firearm access laws.

Damn right. Self-Defense is a human right, and you don’t lose that right because your underage.