Despicable Me

Yes it's for kids, but Despicable Me is easily the funniest movie I've seen this year.

Preemption wins...

...in both Ohio and New York.

More wins for the good guys.

Oh @*#!

We're screwed.

Journey into Mystery #29

Another Joe Maneely cover.

Journey into Unknown Worlds #47 (1955)

A very nice cover by Bill Everett.

Wham!

Well if that didn't damn near knock me off my seat. The Fourth Circuit is going to receive whether the Federal statues barring possession of weapons by anyone convicted of a domestic violence charge is constitutional. I can hear the screams in Bradyland already.

H/T to Glenn.

Mattel M16 Marauder

This ad came from the back of Hawkman #21 published 1967. I was six years old at the time. Damn, wish I'd had one.

Do you have to reach a certain level of stupid to be a school administrator?

I’m not sure this is a zero tolerance moment since by the Principal’s own admission he can determine discipline based on the circumstances. This smells of engaging stupid and going full bore. A High School student accidentally mistakes her father’s lunchbox for hers and brings a paring knife to school. The knife was found during a search of student belongings. She was suspended for 10 days then the rest of the year. The story doesn’t say she was charged but implies it. She has never been in trouble before. Anyone engaged in this little farce deserves to find themselves unemployed and out on their butts.

Update: She was charged.

Update: Appears the schools administrators dispute the facts as reported in the news and are holding a hearing on the matter. I'm curious to see the outcome, but I think I understand why they went to the press rather than use your appeals process. You had their daughter arrested rather than dealing with the matter administratively.

Primeval

I wasn't even aware there was a third series of Primeval until today. Each episode you get a creature of the day terrorizing London. Actually it's better than it sounds. During the first episode a prehistoric Croc eats a British cop putting a ticket on a car. My thought was that if he'd had a gun he could have fired at the thing and...missed.

NJ Governor Christie may have commuted...

...Brian Aitkens' sentence, but that doesn't make him a friend of gun owners in New Jersey or anywhere else. Bob Owens tells the tale here. Too bad. I liked the way he was standing up to the left in New Jersey.

WAPO Jumps on the Bandwagon

The Washington Post is supporting the ATF in their push to require reporting of multiple sales of long guns along the border even thought hey admit it’s probably illegal. They also repeat the bogus claim that it guns bought in the United States being used by the cartels. No one denies that some firearms are finding their way across the border. The truth is that the numbers are only a small fraction of the weapons seized by the Mexican government and being used by the cartels. The numbers don’t justify attacks on our Second Amendment rights. Our rights come before Mexico’s problems, but this isn’t about helping the Mexicans. It’s a gun control in the United States. The WAPO certainly supports that.

H/T to Sebastian.

Joel Rosenberg

If you wish to donate to the Joel Rosenberg defense fund you can go here to do so. The donate button is to the right.

A poll on the FCC regulation of the Internet.

American voters believe free market competition will protect Internet users more than government regulation and fear that regulation will be used to push a political agenda.

H/T to Glenn.

I like this...

...if only because I can't help but wonder if my oldest daughter, who was labeled ADD in 1st Grade, became the self fulfilling prophecy of her teachers, school administrators, doctors and their drugs. Maybe not, but I don't see that the drugs ever did her a damn bit of good. In any event, this is a cool video.



H/T to Claire.

This is getting old...

The New York Times has an editorial in support of a crackdown on the border. Not a crackdown on illegal immigration but a crackdown on all those evil guns shops selling their wares to the drug cartels south of the border. They want the long gun reporting requirement being pushed by the ATF put into effect. I truly don’t believe they think for a minute it will make a damn bit of difference in the all out warfare going on between the corrupt Mexican military/police and the drug cartels. They aren’t that stupid. Well, yeah they are but this strikes me as more of a push for gun control through the Federal bureaucracy. Mexico is just the excuse. It's the same old shit.

H/T to Sebastian.

A new Repairman Jack novel is out.

Fatal Error, the new Repairman Jack novel by F. Paul Wilson, is out. Actually it came out in October and I just noticed it. Some fan I am. I just finished reading it. If you liked the others, you will like this one. Nothing really new here just more of the same. I happen to like "the same" and highly recommend it.

Clear skies.

The Sun is shining. The only snow falling is from the trees. It's a start.

Does this joker have a sense of entitlement...

...or not? Public office is not your livelihood Mr. Driehaus. Your livelihood is the job you return to once you get kicked out of office. Lying during a campaign is SOP for politicians and the PACs that campaign for and against them and not grounds for a lawsuit. Mr. Driehaus, how many promises did you make during your first run for office and how many did you keep once elected? The ones you did not keep are called lies. You've lost your seat now maybe you'll lose your shirt.

H/T to Radley.

No Doubt

H/T to Firehand.

Kill Off The FCC

Works for me.

NC: State of Emergency

I see on the news that Governor Perdue has declared a state of emergency in North Carolina because of the snow. Which means you can't carry a firearm off your property without fear of arrest. This one of the many firearms related laws that need changing with the new legislature come January. Here's a wish list at An NC Gun Blog. I can't argue with a one of them.

Screw the Daisy Red Ryder...

H/T to New Jovian Thunderbolt.

What I woke up to this morning...

...and it's still falling.

Update: Stopped for now. Thanks for the link Tam.

I have no problems with it

"I understand her side of it, and their side as well, but it is for our protection so I have no problems with it," said Gwen Washington, who lives in Killeen.

This was the response when a woman refused an enhanced pat down/grope at a Texas airport. In the end, it’s the sheep that will bring about the end our liberty as we've known it.

Christmas Day

Merry Christmas to you and yours where ever you may be, and if you're celebrating something else, well, merry whatever to you as well.

Shake your head in utter WTF.

A teacher has her student arrested…no, let me get this right. A teacher conducts a citizen’s arrest for the crime of writing on his desk and possessing an permanent marker. Clearly a WTF moment, surpassed only by the police officer not telling the teacher to pound sand and taking the 13 year old into custody. Whatever happened to send a kid to the principal’s office? What the hell is wrong with these people. It’s moments like this that make you wish you were an ambulance chaser just so you could stick it to them. Lawsuit anyone?

Christmas Eve

My son and I went to the Christmas Eve service at his church. I'm not so much a church goer, but he is and it made him happy I joined him. He had to nudge me a few times, but that's to be expected. I don't know what it is. I can be wide awake and rested but the moment I sit down in church I start nodding. Must be genetic. My Dad had the same problem.

Merry Christmas

H/T to Firehand.

UPDATE: I meant for this to pop up tomorrow but apparently made a mistake on the date. So Merry Christmas a day early.

If you can help...

The jewelry store owner in Houston who was wounded in a gunfight with three robbers needs help with medical bills. Sounds like a worthy cause to me. You can donate here.

H/T to Uncle.

How dare you offend your betters,

Sacramento-area pilot punished for YouTube video

I want...

...one.

H/T to Firehand.

More on the ATF's Two A Day...

...reporting requirement here.

So what's their excuse going to be when this doesn't have any impact on the violence in Mexico?

I'd buy a t-shirt with this on it.

BATFEIEIO

That's funny.

The results are in...

New York lost two seats in the House. Illinois, Massachusetts, and New Jersey lost one each. Many of the seats are moving south and west but not so far a California. People are voting with their feet. These census results are a good thing and, in my mind, unexpected. I was afraid the White House was gonna fiddle with the Census for their own gain. Maybe they did and this is the result.

Another power grab.

The ATF has it’s own power grab in progress. They have a new regulation that would require dealers to report multiple long gun sales even though said regulation is in violation of existing law. Time to call your Congresscritter.

The FCC is pushing to...

...regulate the Internet. The market seems to be handling that just fine. Congress and the courts agree. The FCC apparently doesn't. Maybe the Congress can disabuse them of that notion in the new year by, say, cutting their budget.

Good News

Brian Aitken’s sentence has been commuted.

Just say no.

Over at Popehat, Patrick has a few words to share on the lawsuit against McDonald's and their Happy Meal toys. My suggestion to Monet Parham-Lee,who is suing Micky D's, is that she shut the fuck up until she develops the ability to tell her daughter "no". Until she manages that essential parental skill she has nothing to offer to the rest of us, and what problems she has with her children are the result of her own failure and lack of the essential backbone required of good parents. Not McDonald's or anyone else. Her's alone. Just saying...

TX: Store Owner Kills Three Robbers.

The handgun is intended to get to a long gun with which you then take care of business or so they say. Personally if my life is on the line, it’s whatever tool works. A jewelry store owner in Houston seems to have put the rule successfully to the test when three bad guys entered his store the other day. Two entered as customers but when the third entered with weapon drawn the first two got into the act was well. Two took his wife into a backroom. The store owner pulled his pistol and shot one robber. He then took a shotgun and finished off the other two. The store owner’s wife was unharmed, but he was wounded. Here’s to his recovery.

H/T to the Duck.

145 years ago today...

...the 13th Amendment was ratified and slavery in the United States abolished.

Snowing Again

I was on the roof trying to put up lights when the snow began. Every time I find time to put them up weather gets in the way. At this rate I'll be putting them up Christmas Eve.

...and since I'm noting special dates in history...

...here's another.

1997 – The United Kingdom commences its Firearms (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 1997, which extends the state's gun ban to include all handguns -- with the exception of antique and show weapons.

That's the wish of every gun banner in the United States and where we end up, despite the Second Amendment, despite Heller, despite McDonald, despite every gain we've made in the last few years unless we keep fighting the fight. It's their dream. It's our nightmare.

107 years ago today...

...the Wright Brothers made their first powered and heavier-than-air flight in their Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

Want!

A Kindle. The big attraction to me is the number of file formats it will take and also lack of DRM requirement. The others seem limited to ePub and PDFs. Oh well, another item on the wish list.

To the New York Times

What is it with these twits. The Mexico canard is continually debunked but the WAPO, Times, and other liberal rags keep bringing it back up like we'll forget they're full of bushwa. I guess they expect most people wasting their hard earned shekels on those rags to have the attention span and memory of a spider monkey on speed. So guys, pound sand.

Mad Mike's new blog

Michael "Mad Mike" Z. Williamson has his new blog up at Speaker to Morons. Go take a look. If you're interested in his books you can find them here. It's the good stuff.

237 years ago today...

...members of the Sons of Liberty, in a protest against the Tea Act, disguised themselves as Mohawks and dumped crates of tea into Boston harbor. This was the original Tea Party.

Reduce Spending.

It's one of the simple messages the electorate sent to Washington in November. They didn't get the message. It stinks of one last great act of defiance.

The Washington Post on the...

...big bad NRA.

More here, here, and here.

219 years ago today...

Today is the 219th anniversary of the ratification of the Bill of Rights.

Hagan needs to go.

Hagan announced Monday that she would not vote in favor of a bill that would give tax cuts to people making over $1 million a year and add $858 billion to the national debt.

Of course if you don't plan to spend money before you actually have it then it won't add to the deficit will it, and God forbid you actually vote to cut spending. One more reason to kick this piece of work to the curb come 2014.

Think things are bad in your hometown?

It could be worse. It could be Detroit.

H/T to Claire.

A State Gun?

A politician in Utah wants to honor John Moses Browning by naming the 1911 as the State gun. I kinda like the idea. Of course, others have a problem with it.

H/T to Claire.

Nightmares

Found it over at Political Math.

Backdoor Gun Control

Those of who strongly support the Second Amendment know President Obama is not our friend. The antis will loudly lament that he's soft on gun control. While he may avoid in your face gun control like a renewal of the Assault Weapons Ban, he has still pushed the gun control agenda. David Kopel tells the tale here.

H/T to Jeff.

I know what gonna be in their stockings...

H/T to the Cajun.

Robert "BooBoo" Ford

Damn funny.



While it lasts.

H/T to Radley.

Obamacare Unconstitutional...

...in at least one Federal Court. At least one Federal judge isn't drunk on the Commerce Clause.

Tis the season...

Thunk…thunk…thunk. That’s the sound of my forehead against the wall. My wife and kids decorated the Christmas tree this afternoon while I was at work. She sent me this picture of the tree with a complaint that they had only put 5,000 lights on it. 5,000 lights! That doesn’t even take into account what we’ll end up with outside the house. Guess I better expect a spike in the electric usage, but hey, just doin’ our bit for climate change. Bite me you Commie, Marxist environmental greenie weenies.

What’s The Point Of Concealable Guns?

They give me comfort and don't bother the sheep.

Riley, you're a twit.

H/T to the Duck.

Sweden: Suicide Bomber Prematurely Detonates

This guy's bomb went off before he reached his intended destination, and he was the only person killed. This is a good thing.

In honor of that accomplishment...


Then again, maybe the Swedish version of the FBI should have given him better parts.

Thanks to Alan.

American Exceptionalism

The Small Arms Survey estimates that there are 270 million privately owned firearms in the United States, which equals approximately .9 firearms for every American. To my mind, that’s a good start.

That number represents a large percentage of the approximately 650 million firearms in private hands across the globe. This is why Americans enjoy much more freedom, peace, and prosperity than so many of our brothers in other lands.

The figures cited are from a 2007 survey and are the mid-range estimates. These figures don't even take into account the rise in gun sales here in the U. S. when President Obama came into office and people who had never considered buying a firearm suddenly entered the market. So do I hear an AMEN from the audience?

H/T to Uncle.

Lèse Majesté

I was wondering what the MPD's response would be to this. No need to wonder any longer. They arrested Rosenberg for carrying a weapon into a Courthouse Complex even though he had permission, as required by law, from the local sheriff to do so. Methinks the unstated charge against Rosenberg is lèse majesté.

Close Call

H/T to DavidH.

NC: Home Invasion goes bad for Invaders

In Durham County, North Carolina three thugs attempted to break into a residence and found the owner home. The owner was armed and shot two of the three. One of the wounded was apprehended by deputies. The other two were taken into custody at a local hospital while seeking treatment. It's my castle. Enter uninvited with ill intent at your own risk.

It ain't the gun...

Police departments around the country are finding that the .40 calibers aren't as effective if an unfortunate incident occurs and they're forced to have to use their weapons," Rutherford said. "[The larger caliber] is safer for the deputies and for the public if the unthinkable happens and we have to do what no one wants to have to do.

I'd argue it's not the .40 caliber that's not effective, but the shooters. My experience is with North Carolina Law Enforcement Officers. North Carolina requires that an officer qualify with whatever firearm that officer carries on duty. With a duty handgun that's thirty to a fifty rounds each for a day and night qualification once a year. The minimum score to qualify is 70%. There may be tactical firearms training included in the mandated yearly in-service but that's not guaranteed. I suspect this is probably the case in other states as well. Sheriff Ruthterford, I suggest the money you're going to spend on new gats for your officers might be better spent on training.

H/T to the Duck and Uncle.

I came home down and watched a couple of movies...

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Honestly, I'm not sure what the hell that was, but I enjoyed it.

Hot Tub Time Machine. I usually get about ten minutes into a movies like this and turn it off because I'm embarrassed for the characters and the actors. I made it all the way through. Not great but not a waste of 101 minutes of my life.

...and not so down no more.

Long time comin'

SpaceX launched it's Falcon rocket carrying an unmanned spacecraft called Dragon. Two orbits later the capsule returned safely to earth. The first private spacecraft to do so. Maybe the beginning of the end of space travel being a government only monopoly? I hope.

Thanks Roberta.

A zero tolerance moment

A Montana high school student who is a varsity cheerleader, honor student, and member of the student council faces expulsion for having a cased rifle in the trunk of her car. She'd been hunting over the break and forgot to remove the cased weapon from the trunk of her car. Zero tolerance is what you get when school officials are too cowardly to base decisions on the circumstances.

H/T to Uncle.

This day in history

USS Virginia, December 7, 1941.

Looks like more newspapers just joined...

...the Righthaven ignore the worthless gits list. I'm sure we bloggers can find enough blogfodder without giving these guys any attention at all.

H/T to Sebastian.

Heh.

Here we have a funny. Courtesy of Simon Jester.

When running, it is best to keep you finger...

...off the fracking trigger, otherwise bad things happen.

In Ohio the police responded to a report of shots fired. When they arrived a “gentleman” decided to run from the scene. The police, being who they are, gave chase. It's a kind of Pavlovian response. During the chase the runner shot himself in the leg. He was taken to the hospital where he died. must of clipped an artery. Finger on the trigger while you’re running: borderline suicidal. The end result’s the same.

H/T to the Duck.

Wow!

H/T to the pistolero.

So much on my mind...

...right now I'd forgotten that November 25th was my blog's second anniversary. Seeing Borepatch's congrats to Bluesun reminded me.

On tactical pens...

The Duck has a few observations on the utility of the tactical pen. A plain old BIC will serve you better as a writing implement and just might make a better weapon.

S&W 640 .357 revolver

Beautiful.

You've got to wonder...

...how many times our representatives in Congress have pulled this gig before, then again shouldn't those same congresscritters have noticed their vote was tallied wrong and called Rangel on it? Curious isn't it?

H/T to JohnR.

It's snowing...

...in Durham, North Carolina.

Seriously?

Disconnect brain. Connect explosives and detonator. Boom.

Via DavidC.

Heh.

The small penis rule.

H/T to Radley.

An escapee from the People's Republic of MA...

...just bought his first firearm. Borepatch got himself a Winchester 190. May it be the first of many.

This would be neat...

...but I figure the operative words here are snowball in hell.

H/T to Simon Jester.

The Commerce Clause

It's the governments in to regulate anything damn thing they want according to a Federal Judge in Virginia. Fortunately, the question, involving Obamacare, is still open before other courts. Maybe those judges hold a little more give a damn for the Constitution.

H/T to Uncle.

Hell NO!

Let China bail 'em out. We got enough on our plate already.

Our future?

This was released a couple of months back but I never saw it then. I'm sure most of you have already seen it. I'm posting it anyway. Scary stuff.