I was hoping I would bring you triumphant news of the SHARE act passing a vote in congress this week. Instead I am writing you on the heels of a legit massacre and hoping we don’t have more gun control crammed up our asses by Thanksgiving. For those of you that just awoke from a coma, a guy took an actual arsenal to the 32nd story of the Mandalay Bay Casino and rained death into a crowd of 22 thousand country music fans. Roughly 60 dead, 500 injured. The perpetrator of what has now become the worst mass murder in modern American history? 64 year old Stephen Paddock: accountant, gambler, lover of old Filipino women, and millionaire. Yes, you read that right. This guy was loaded. Regularly dropped bills in Vegas, and had no problem clearing his tab. So why murder a bunch of drunk white people? Good question! If you know, please call your local libertarian gun blogger and let me in on it, cause right now it’s driving me insane.
I’m not going to mince words about it: this one is bad. In terms of optics this is the worst shooting in history. This wasn’t an easily explained case of schizophrenia or Islamic terrorism. This guy was the model gun owner. He passed every background check and followed every law, right up until he didn’t. How bad was this shooting? Let me just say that it made even me briefly question my belief in the second amendment. If that doesn’t make you nervous then you aren’t paying attention.
The focus now has shifted onto the guns the killer used. More specifically, the stocks. He had 12 rifles equipped with slide fire stocks. If you’re unfamiliar with them, I went over the particulars in one of my previous articles here. Basically, it’s almost full auto, and it allowed the shooter to crank out hot lead in record time. Bills have already been introduced to ban them, and it turns out the NRA are who we thought they were in the words of the immortal Dennis Green because they have decided to completely abandon their principles and throw gun owners right under the public opinion bus. You can do what you want, but when the NRA asks me to renew my membership I am going to tell them I spent the money on a slide fire and then tell them to get fucked.
I am not here to argue about the various efficacies of the proposed bills nor am I going to wax on about the effectiveness of full auto or bump fire in a combat scenario. Quite frankly, I have no answers this time. What do you say to someone to defend private gun ownership after an attack this heinous? Do you simply state #notallgunowners? Do you argue about personal responsibility and individual liberty to someone that was shot through the stomach at this event? What can you even say that doesn’t make you sound like Satan’s personal defense attorney?
Comments
486 responses to “Firearms Friday: Mandalay Massacre”
Remember the brown tone?
https://pjmedia.com/trending/2017/10/12/american-diplomats-heard-cuba-made-sick/
Related:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloop
I’m not saying it’s Cthulhu, but it’s Cthulhu.
Also related:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hum
Any relation to The Ring?
I love that band.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rfbn3ieVUYU
Or the Taos Hum
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGHe7rdq0Ds
… Hobbit
That sounds reasonable
Bloop…
i feel like you underappreciate my contributions to the PM links
As I’ve said before, I can’t be expected to pay attention. I demand protected status and government subsides.
fair cop
I’m sure they have to know what sound it is by now…Hillary having sex with Huma.
So is that Hillary or Huma having an orgasm then?
They have synced cycles and orgasms.
The hum is actually produced from their tribbing.
Like rubbing a finger on a wine glass.
A force of nature.
Way to ruin the weekend
*calls home*
“No, I shan’t be having dinner tonight.”
The way this shooting was set up – elevated position into a tightly packed mass of 20,000 people – might be about the only circumstance I can think of where a bump-stock is actually useful.
Yeah. The binary triggers/bump stock/slide fire are kind of hard to defend from any other angle than, fuck you, I buy what I want cuz I’m a free man.
How about — a spring and a tube are not something that will go away once bump stocks are banned?
That’s the real answer. People will innovate their way around this ban, just like bump stocks are a work around for the full auto ban. Using that as an answer won’t help. I say take the hit and look evil for this news cycle, because there is no appeasing the anti-gun crowd.
Yep. There’s nothing complicated about this setup. Banning them doesn’t make them go away. It just enhances the penalty when the guy goes on a spree. At that point, I don’t think he cares. So all a ban accomplishes is restricting law-abiding people’s rights. As usual.
Except for the hundreds of people who will go to jail every year who didnt go on a spree and wouldnt have. Maybe a few oftheir kids will after they grow up pissed off because their parents are in jail for owning a piece of plastic.
Not even a spring, just a tube.
I saw a 3D printer for the first time this week, and thought about all the illegal gun stuff I could make. It’s to the point where anyone can pretty much make/get anything.
Yes. A bump stock does not contribute to accuracy. If you are trying to perforate the side of a barn it could be handy, otherwise not so much.
I don’t get it
Exactly – If he wasn’t dumping rounds into a huge crowd from an elevated spot, the accuracy penalty wouldn’t have been worth it.
I’m really not convinced that the debil bump stocks are anything significantly worse than simple theatrics as far as that particular circumstance was concerned. I read he spent 10-12 minutes tops doing his thing. I doubt very much that the carnage would have been less in real terms than if he just sprayed down semiauto for the hour he was up there. Just my POV.
If someone is planning on mass murder, how would any law stop them? If they wanted full-auto they could buy a drop-in auto sear, buy an illegal automatic weapon, etc. In the case of this shooter, he had the means to buy a legal NFA weapon. Around 90% of gun murders are committed by people who can’t legally carry the guns they use. How is making something more illegal going to make a difference? What’s a few gun charges added to 60 murder convictions?
All this incident caused me to do was buy more guns.
That is my reaction to Phil Murphy’s double-digit lead in the NJ Governor’s race. Since I just got my permission slip from the state, I think I will.
This was actually written last week but they were too lazy to post it and I was too lazy to write a new one, so eat your stale gun shit and like it peasants.
Don’t let us see behind the curtain!
*runs away crying*
This one smells and I don’t even have my tinfoil hat on.
Maybe it smells because you don’t have it on. Uncovered bacon does tend to get a little moldy.
You take that back right now!
*looks for mold*
Some bacon… has already started out quite moldy.
I agree. We know the guy owned the guns. We know he was found dead in the hotel room. Do we know he was the one pulling the trigger?
Remember the security guard? The timeline was changed again that states it was only 40 seconds between him getting shot and the crowd getting shot. Also, he was supposed to make a big news conference and was a total no show.
http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2017/10/robert-farago/mandalay-bay-hotel-shooter-opened-fire-crowd-40-seconds-shooting-security-guard/
I’m starting to wonder about this guard.
He was also apparently not registered with Nevada as a guard?
It’s like the perfect scenario for gun control:
* lot of dead and wounded
* no motive or history on shooter
* no other issues like racism or politics to cloud gun control argument
That’s one hell of a setup. Get the guy to buy the guns, kill him, dump his body, shoot a crowd.
Soros paid the guy to be a patsy with the promise that the security guard would get the guy to safety. Then the guard killed him.
If that’s the case the other guy in hallway would have to be in on it.
It depends on the timing, doesn’t it? Hell, maybe the guy didn’t kill Paddock, he just threatened to kill him if he did anything, and then killed everyone. Then he left, Paddock realized he was the fall guy and tried to kill the guard (firing down the hallway), and once the guard got away, he killed himself.
Sadly, I don’t think this is outside the realm of possibility.
Except for the security cameras.
I meant to add that even Holiday Inn Express has camera in the hallways.
Funny that they can’t even find footage of him checking in or bringing in bag after nag into the lobby.
There are room service receipts for two, early on there were reports of him on video with another woman.
There are numerous reports of a woman at the venue before the concert saying “they’ve got you surrounded. You’re all gonna die”.
I’m pretty sure shooting randomly into a crowd is already illegal. What makes anybody think a lack of laws was the problem?
That’s the whole point of this set up. Only solution is to ban the guns since no laws would prevent it.
Try “Why does one evil asshole killing people mean I should give up my property and rights…?”
“Do you propose banning knives, hands, feet?”
Don’t get me wrong I agree with that statement 100%, but how do you say it without coming off like a baby eater?
Baby is the other, other white meat. Caving because you’re talking to someone who feels bad is how we end up with the bullshit laws we have now. Tell them to be principled instead of a pussy.
Mmmmmmm baby
…with bacon.
Dude,
Bacon wrapped baby with A1 sauce and pineapple.
I know what I’m putting in the smoker this weekend!
Baby, it’s what’s for dinner!
Milk fed baby, dredged in flour and served in a wine marsala sauce.
I am OUTRAGED at this line of discussion. Outraged! Those babies could have grown up to work in my diamond mines!
Nah, you want the babies that got away. They move faster. I just increased your production, that’ll be a 10% fee sir. I’ll take that in weed, silver or orphans babies.
orphansWell, once your orphans reach puberty you can start having them produce more either for the mine or the BBQ, so orphans’ babies are acceptable.
Try
“If you have to appeal to emotion to take away my property and rights…maybe I am not the problem here.”
Teach me!
Just make sure not to drop your hands and prepare for the incoming right cross.
It doesn’t matter. The anti-gunners already hate you and everyone like you. Might as well let them enjoy the frission of interacting with a genuine lunatic.
^This^
Unless you truly believe that repealing the 2nd amendment would change anything and is worth the sacrifice of your own freedom, who gives a shit what other people think about you?
If you own guns, they probably don’t think much of you anyway.
How do you say it without coming off like a baby eater?
“Fuck you. You cant have my guns.”
Stop trying. I have been having this argument for 40 years. They lie. They slander. They will say anything or do anything. If they ever get the guns we are going to be royally fucked, and by fucked I mean have a look at the commie country of your choice and see what I mean. Sack up and dig your heels in and quit worrying about what you look like.
I’ve reached that point myself regarding just about every topic where the govt is the proposed solution.
Bad shit happens. Fuck you it’s my shit both your shit.
It’s my shit not your shit.
Too many people are too timid to nut up and defend the concept of the long term benefits of a highly armed and distributed, civil power, as a check to tyranny, and to be at hand to help repel hostile invasion in a real SHTF type of situation. It’s not a fucking joke, it’s not a fantasy, and it’s a primary basis of the 2A. Too much sick shit has happened during the 20th century at the hand of dictators, to fucking handwave away.
I need to revise that. Spontaneous ethnic cleansings with simple chopping tools are a thing too.
No pineapple, put some jalapenos in there!
“How do you say it without coming off like a baby eater?”
Reminds me of the conversation I had last night with some folks on a gaming site. Someone made a joke about not being able to kill children in the game. I made some silly reply and here comes some SJW like fuckwit. I said ‘relax, no one is getting killed, it’s a fucking game’. Then this asshat went completely off the rails and said ‘That’s like saying porn is just an image, but it’s disgusting!’. So I was like WTF? Most people don’t think watching sex is disgusting, what, you a Puritan or something? Then they completely freaked out and started calling everyone porn addicts. It was like I was at Politico again.
“Most people don’t think watching sex is disgusting”
Those people have never experienced HM’s pornhub playlist.
Maybe that’s what happened to the poor prude. It was the cummies I tell you!
I would point out that Anders Brevik killed more people than Paddock without a bump fire stock, so such a ban would not necessarily save any lives.
Progressives have zero intention of saving any lives. Every event like this is an excuse to whittle away at gun rights, full stop.
You’re dead-naming Fjotolf Hansen
Hard to wound 500 with knives, hands, etc…
Don’t get me wrong, you should be free to buy whatever you want. The crime is the murdering.
Fertilizer and fuel oil will get you 500 in a split second.
I was gonna say. If he wanted to do more damage he could have just brought in a homemade bomb. Guns can’t compete with that.
Didn’t he own an airplane? Imagine if he had just stuffed that airplane full of gas cans and crashed it into the crowd.
He’d have killed thousands. THOUSANDS.
The Happy Land fire killed 87, which is more than were killed in Vegas.
Gasoline FTW!
33 killed in a knife incident in China last month.
I’m not saying it’s not possible, but obviously having a high rate of fire, high capacity firearms allowed this guy to do more damage. A bomb may have caused more damage, but a think firearms are more user friendly than bombs.
Again, I’m against any type of firearm regulation. The murder is the crime, not the tool.
You don’t even need a bomb. Fill an SUV fill of plastic gasoline containers; through a road flare into the back; and drive into a crowd at high speed.
It doesn’t take much talent or planning to kill a bunch of people in crowd.
I’m surprised no one has gone after natural gas lines or tanker truck.
Most people are too stupid to realize that most tanker trailers have so many fail safe systems that they are in no way going to go ‘boom’ without making an actual bomb beforehand.
Tanker trailers are not the high explosive accidents waiting to happen that people think they are.
Plenty of fail safes, actually less dangerous when loaded versus empty (less fumes on board).
One would need an actual bomb to use as a primer to turn a tanker into a bomb itself.
Hollywood is not to be believed.
SQIRRELS! From TOS!
Depends on what caused it – either last Winter or the year before they had that one run off the interstate during the bad weather near Baltimore – went up in a fireball.
China would like a word.
I’m really not trying to get in a debate, but if knives are as effective as firearms, why argue against gun restrictions? You could just carry a knife.
Because knife restrictions would be next.
/See Britain
My line of though is firearms is, guns are efficient at killing, that’s why I carry/defend my home with firearms and why they shouldn’t be restricted.
I’ve seen stab wounds. no thanks.
One of the last traumas I did before I moved into a less stressful job, was a knife wound to the pulmonary artery. Massive blood loss and had to take the guys lung to save his life. Knives are no joke, but I still prefer a gun.
I can’t imagine. part of why I’d rather have a gun than a knife. I don’t want to be stabbed while trying to stab a guy in self defense. I’d much prefer just shooting him or being shot.
ideally, no one ever tries to hurt me with a knife or a gun or anything else.
if knives are as effective as firearms, why argue against gun restrictions?
1. Freedom
2. Effectiveness at killing defenseless people in crowds and effectiveness in fighting an assailant are two different things
(although, I’m not saying I agree with the premise to begin with)
My whole point is that saying people can kill with other means is a dead end argument. You have to argue from the stance of living in a free society has some negative aspects, but freedom is worth it. Trading Liberty for safety and all that jazz.
I’d also say it’s important to keep the debate focused on self-defense rather than murder. Yes, evil people can use guns to commit murder and sometimes mass murder. That doesn’t have any bearing on the right to self-defense.
I have sent this link to many a gun grabber. I think it flies over their heads most of the time though.
https://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/NOTE1.HTM
Just to give perspective on this incredible murder by government, if all these bodies were laid head to toe, with the average height being 5′, then they would circle the earth ten times. Also, this democide murdered 6 times more people than died in combat in all the foreign and internal wars of the century. Finally, given popular estimates of the dead in a major nuclear war, this total democide is as though such a war did occur, but with its dead spread over a century.
Flying planes into high rise buildings can kill a few thousand in a short amount of time.
As far as the shooting: you stick with the tried and true argument that liberty should always trump (illusory) safety. Free will is messy and if we’re most concerned about safety, we might as well just put everyone in government run cages with three squares and a cot.
This is not trivialize the horror of this incident; and I frankly think there will be more to the story (if we ever get to hear it). The circumstances and his behavior leading up to it are just too bizarre. I, for one, still believe that my freedom is more important than feel-good legislation that won’t have any effect on safety other than psychology. Full stop.
I’m still waiting for a breakdown of cause of death and cause of injury. Anybody seen one?
The Mandalay thing is fucked up. And to be sure, the gun grabbers are seizing on it as their ‘moment’.
But to me the more interesting thing is Trump’s move on healthcare and that Trump seems to be starting to listen to Rand Paul on things, which would be really great for liberty. I think the best thing outside of Rand being POTUS is him still being in the Senate and getting Trump taking advice from him.
I had to go to the grocery because the wife hurt her knee is all hobbled up. And I still almost made it back in time to be first on links. I should have been first, you fakers!
*EDIT FAIRIES HEARD YOUR PRAYER*
You have to prioritize if you want to accomplish your goals H.
I hope Rand and Trump become besties and ruin the 2 party system in favor of a better one.
Trump taking advice from Rand and acting on it mike actually be a real life libertarian moment. Fuck off, McCain!
“Rand Paul seems to be starting to listen to Rand Paul”
It’s not a tumah! I had one beer! Well, not a whole one. Edit fairy!
All hail Edit Fairy. Edit Fairy is supreme!
Trump seems to be starting to listen to Rand Paul on things, which would be really great for liberty.
Ken Shultz hardest hit.
Okay, you win today.
*throws hat and buys a gallon of milk*
And all this after Ken had one post of the day.
won, geez, I have to give edit fairy a break, it’s getting to be like slavery.
No, I think you were right the first time.
BTW, do any of you work?
Probably not.
Only Edit Fairy works.
Beer Ninja
He is the one!
EPIC!
Why the fuck did she start attacking him?
She goes straight for the high-capacity assault nachos, but is no match.
She looks pretty damn drunk to me.
Wow.
They just changed the timeline again. Now the security guard was shot seconds before Paddock began shooting at the crowd.
Did they find an actual full auto, that was 100% legit as far as paperwork and whatever? I had read that there was, but of course information on this thing has been… Well… Fluid.
Here is the thing I can’t quite figure out. The guy had the money and the lack of red flags to actually buy machine guns. Why didn’t he?
The worst part: The proposed legislation apparently doesn’t mention bump fire or slide fire stocks specifically. Instead it’s about devices that enhance the rate of fire.
Potentially say good bye to echo triggers, your nice light competition trigger, magazines, etc. It will all be under the purview of the AG’s office if this thing passes. And it’s all because the NRA and Republicans are uncomfortable with standing on principle when the rabid old boomer leftists and traditional media are tearing into them. They learned nothing from Trump’s election.
Oh. Also say good bye to national reciprocity and deregulation of suppressors.
The NRA was trying to pull a sneak, and it got rammed up their collective ass.
They were hoping that, by asking BATFE to review the NFA status of bump stocks, they could head off any potential legislation at the pass. Who thought that this was a good idea, I have no clue, but it obviously didn’t work at all.
The NRA seems to have forgotten that their core mission is to fight for gun rights. Don’t offer up your opponent’s position for them. Instead, force them to whittle as much away from their proposals as you can, if you can’t stop them outright.
I usually say something like, “I didn’t do anything wrong, so step the fuck off my dick.”
I feel this tragedy especially. my mother died the same way
Before or after you were born? Also I’m pretty sure this was in the links.
actually my mistake, i was thinking of someone else’s mom.
Yeah, it’s stress…
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/love-sex/british-couples-too-stressed-sleep-same-bed-partner-bedtime-routine-habits-a7998306.html
Amish in disguise is my guess
Holy fuck that girl is hot.
Yes, but keep the matrix in mind.
I have handcuffs.
I think that is taking the “sticking it in crazy” to an extreme.
Dude, look at her. Worth it. Bonus is that she’s a radical muslim and I’m a jew. Larry David would be proud.
“You make him take off his Jew hat!”
Hot-crazy matrix applies.
Preserving freedom and our rights as US citizens is more important than the illusion of safety.
Theories I’ve heard about Paddock:
– He was laundering money through the casinos – his game was VIDEO poker and nobody consistently wins big in that game (Ann Coulter).
– He was selling the guns, that’s why he had so many. Set up and killed during the deal and framed for the slaughter.
– He used his pilot’s license and planes were used to smuggle guns, cash, drugs, etc…
– He had a full psychotic break – John Ringo explains his personal experience with such an event.
– The ridiculous number of guns Paddock possessed was the anti-gun protest statement (Steyn)
– His partner in crime double-crossed him and took off after killing him.
Paddock was old enough that an actual psychotic break is vanishingly unlikely. Organic brain disease is a possibility, but people close to him would have noticed something, if only in hindsight.
When old people twist off, it’s generally either a long-standing grudge, or politics. My money is on politics.
I’m not ruling out an honest-to-G-d conspiracy with so many holes in this story and so few details have being reported.
a psychotic break would suggest he was delusional and was having trouble understanding the reality around him (e.g. VA tech shooter, james holmes, Jared laughner) He never showed any signs of that sort of mental illness AFAIK
but someone can be sociopathic or psychopathic without being ‘psychotic’
there’s no age-association with sociopathic tendency like there is with psychotic breaks. he could have always harbored desires to kill people, and just never acted upon it (*as far as we know)
Still, almost all rampage killers are young men.
nope. the average age is ~ mid 30s
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/12/mass-shootings-mother-jones-full-data/
which is misleading, because its more of a barbell-graph: they are either in their 20s, or past their 40s.
They are also counting shootings where only 3 people died, and also workplace shootings. This guy was 64 and shot a double-digit number of strangers for no apparent reason.
Fine. Take the average of when 10 (or more) people were wounded by gunfire.
you still get 32.
take the average when 8 or more people is killed in a mass-shooting
you still get 32
7 out of 20 incidents, the perp is over 40. Its not unheard of for a guy in his 50s to go ballistic
my point here and below is that i think the public is prone to generalizing from selected incidents, and creating assumptions about “how these sort of crimes work”. they tend to be wrong. There are often dozens of incidents overlooked which counter the narrative.
its true that its incredibly rare for someone to kick off and indisciminately murder large numbers of people. but its not so rare that it either fits solely in one category (eg. “all rampage killers are young men”), or evades categorization altogether.
i think people are too-quick to assume that spree-killers fall into the schizo variety (holmes, laughner, Vtech), or of the “retribution” variety (“workplace shootup”) or the ideological variety (san berdoo, orlando, dallas). There have always been incidents of middle aged dudes just “snapping” and deciding to shoot up a lot of people. i think we tend to overlook them because they are harder to rationalize.
The “schizo variety” (holmes, laughner, Vtech, Sandy Hook, Columbine) were all young men. The “ideological variety” (san berdoo, orlando, dallas) are still mostly young men. That San Bernardino had a woman shooter is rare. The 101 California Street shooter was 55, but at least he left some crazy-ass paranoid screed blaming the world for his problems. The shooter in Las Vegas wasn’t some failed loner. He had a house, a girlfriend, a couple of planes, etc. And no known stressors that would make him snap. It also seemed like he was involved in some shady dealings, and might have been laundering money through video poker. If that’s true, then that would make him a successful criminal. Not some disgruntled postal worker.
and?
my point is that ‘rampage shooters are (not) all young men’
the older-dudes who decide to go on kill-sprees dont fall into any neat categories, so people exclude them. and even pretend they never happened. when reminded, they start narrowing their definition of what they mean by “rampage shooters’” to only mean exactly the few examples they CAN think of.
my point is that they are all outliers. its an error to try to assume there’s a solid “type”, and that this guy was very atypical. he’s not, really, because there is no single type.
Psychotic break is the only one that seems even mildly plausible to me, and even that one isn’t very convincing.
People who do this sort of thing for notoriety, to be remembered, to satisfy a grudge or grievance…..they either explicitly say why they’re doing it or they leave the equivalent of a flashing neon sign. Someone who guns down an enormous number of total strangers and leaves absolutely no indication as to why is unheard of as far as I know. They write notes, they videotape rants, they leave behind journals, they have a history of making threats, etc.
The whole thing feels totally off.
I guess I just don’t buy into the commonality of “suicide notes”, etc. Seems too TV-show drama queen-y to be close to reality. A few want notoriety, others probably just don’t care. There doesn’t have to be a narrative.
Maybe not a note, but almost all of them give some kind of indication as to motive. George Hennard, for instance, didn’t leave a note but did do a lot of screaming about how much he hated women as he shot up a Luby’s in Texas in 1991.
That they have been so silent about motive leads me to believe that he was involved in something larger than just himself and maybe the police are attempting to track down others in his group.
Or it’s being covered up because the guy was acting on behalf of the DNC (adjusts tinfoil hat).
Maybe someone forgot to return a phone call?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Ysidro_McDonald%27s_massacre
Maybe he’d been fighting with his mom?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luby%27s_shooting
Well, yeah, as I said above, while Hennard didn’t leave any notes or videotapes, his behavior gave a decent indication as to his motivations.
“he hated women, so he shot 8 guys too”
i think you have a more-expansive understanding of the term “motive” than most
Sounds like his hate wasn’t exactly limited to women, though.
“generally misanthropic” is not, in the strictest sense, an explanatory motive.
basically, i think your general characterization re: mass-shootings…
“almost all of them give some kind of indication as to motive”
isn’t correct at all. Looking at the higher-end of the most indiscriminate mass killings (10 or more wounded; 23 incidences since 1982)
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/12/mass-shootings-mother-jones-full-data/
….very few actually have an ‘explicit’ motive, or one actually stated by the killer (i.e. like a note, or like Mateens 911 call)
saying “fuck all y’all bitches I hate you” isn’t really meeting the Peter Faulk-test.
i think the most common characteristic of all of them is that they either had some explicit mental health problems, or had been showing signs of personality disorders in other aspects of their lives. about half were “work or school-related”, and about half of those were ‘triggered’ by some event… (like suspension or firings)… but the other half weren’t. many were just “dude snapped”.
only 3 or 4 of them had any political/ideological motive. (ft hood, orlando, Dallas, san berdoo)
*ignore most of those #s. I filtered the list incorrectly. I think the ratios, however, are probably consistent. a quick look at the better cut (total # of events with 10 or more shot: 49)…
…and ~30 out of 49 had some clear mental health connection, and about half were ‘workplace/school’ (higher if you include military/churches). so, more or less the same.
Maybe someone was singing that “So ronery”-song?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binghamton_shootings#Possible_motives
Or maybe he was just loony, since he actually did mail a letter to a TV station which was mostly incoherent ranting about cops.
Seeing as how every square inch of Vegas casinos is video recorded/monitored, I would think a couple of these theories could be resolved pretty quickly. There’s a lot of information on the sidelines for this thing, and no one is in a rush to put it out there.
I don’t think Steyn was serious about that. Here’s a link to his column, which is worth reading.
https://www.steynonline.com/8185/what-happens-in-vegas-doesnt-stay-in-reno
“Set up and killed during the deal and framed for the slaughter.”
That is plausible. Just not for the same reason.
“The ridiculous number of guns Paddock possessed was the anti-gun protest statement (Steyn)”
Again, legit thought.
I still think the most likely scenario is Islamic inspired terrorism, and I’m not convinced Paddock was the shooter. Next most likely possibility is that it was a push for gun control.
Why murder a bunch of drunk white people?
“Let me just say that it made even me briefly question my belief in the second amendment.”
You answered your own question.
the theory that he was a gun control nut and took one for the team has been floated. And it seems to have been successful if true.
Frankly, that seems plausible. The jihadi angle I think is at least conceivable as well. The guy could have been radicalized online.
Jihadis are usually pretty keen to market their behavior, though.
ISIS took credit multiple times and the FBI brushed it off within hours. How can the FBI be so sure, so quick, unless this guy was already on their radar?
I’m speaking of the Jihadi himself — ie, leaving literature, videos, etc., behind; bitching to loved ones, associates, and everyone else within earshot about decadent Western culture; screaming allah akbar, etc.
Ah. Well, since there has been bupkis released by the authorities it makes me wonder if perhaps there was something that hasn’t been made public, but your point is well taken. There is just so much chicanery surrounding this that it practically begs for conspiracy theories.
Agreed. Developments in this case are incredibly slow to come out. I mean, I haven’t even seen The Sun or some other UK rag print a breathless “I had a spooky encounter with the killer in an elevator”-type story. What the hell is the British press good for?
That’s the theory Steyn discusses – that the medium was the message. He shot hundreds of people to prove how horrible guns are so they’d be banned.
Seems beyond daffy, though, to think that anyone could be so consumed by gun control that they kill scores of people for the cause.
And not have a long history of anti-gun activism. Seems kind of weak.
You obviously don’t listen to very many gun control people.
http://www.opencarry.org/gun-rights-advocates-begin-receiving-death-threats/
http://iowafc.org/blog/2015/01/21/gunsense-anti-hunters-make-death-threats-to-competitive-british-shooter/
Not if I can help it, no.
Didn’t he already own several guns before the big ramp up in purchases last year? That’s a hell of a long con.
Sorry, shit happens. Just like when my uncle ate a gun 15 years ago because he was depressed. The price of a relatively free society.
Being a 2A absolutist, be prepared to counter the “should individuals be allowed to own nuclear weapons?” reductio ad absurdum. My standard answer is that if someone has enough resources to plausibly obtain a nuclear weapon, you’re not going to stop them either way so it’s a pointless question. But, yes, such an individual should be allowed to own one, and that person must accept the consequences should he choose to use it. Principles can be a bitch sometimes.
I usually say ‘No, because a nuclear weapon kills indiscriminately and therefore cannot be used morally without massive NAP violation. I also don’t believe that governments should own nuclear weapons either.’
Even for my Orion drive?
Maybe I like the way mushroom clouds look and I own an abandoned or maybe, as below, I wish to engage in interstellar travel. If you can’t create a situation where use of atomic weapons doesn’t violate NAP you’re not being creative enough. Violations only exist in the context of others, and if nobody is around that is typically good enough.
I agree on natural rights principles. However, from a US constitutional perspective, the second amendment clearly distinguishes Arms and Ordnance. This distinction is important to cabin any debate within US domestic policy framework and remove that particular rhetorical attack.
“the second amendment clearly distinguishes Arms and Ordnance.”
How?
By virtue of not using “Ordnance” and referring explicitly to “Arms.”
I suppose I should add, lest the point be missed, the distinction between Arms and Ordnance is important if you consider the construction of the US Constitution from an originalist/texturalist perspective.
I see where the constitution forbids the government from infringing on the right of the people to keep and bear arms. I also see the constitution as document that grants the government certain powers. I don’t see where the governmemt is granted power to restrict ordinance.
Our rights don’t come from the government, they exist despite it. The constitution grants the government the power to do the things spelled out in the documemt. Just because the government is strictly forbidden from restricting arms, it doesn’t mean they have the right to restrict ordinance. Or at least that’s how I see it.
I believe that’s his (sarcastic) point.
I think your analysis is close to where it should be but lets be clear on our terms. In the US, Government doesn’t have rights only individuals have rights. Government, by virtue of our constitution, is granted powers and you’ll see each clause beginning generally with a granting and enumeration of powers. These powers given to government are then limited by the construction of the clause and explicit limitations like the Bill of Rights. Without getting into an analysis of natural rights, it is sufficient for our purposes to say the powers given government are grated at the expense of your individual rights. Where the government chooses not to exercise its power you are, in return, given liberty.
For every “Government must ban X,” question the test begins, as you suggest, by first conducting an analysis of powers. Does the constitution grant the particular branch of government the power to act with respect to X? If yes, are those powers limited by any subsequent clause within the constitution? Let us presume we can find among the many grants of powers that there exists a power to pass regulation of things including Y and that X is a subset of Y. This meets our first test, and therefore government may act with respect to X.
So, the second prong – is there a limiting clause? Turns out we have something along the lines of “A well regulated Z, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear X, shall not be infringed.” Structurally, this means the government may regulate away the set of all of Y != X and which does constitute an “infringement” upon X. The government has exercised its power, with respect to Y, to rescind the liberty granted to you with respect to Y but it cannot invade the right “to keep and bear X” because it was never exchanged for liberty in the first place by virtue of the restricting clause.
Structurally, this means the government may regulate away the set of all of Y != X and which does constitute an “infringement” upon X.
No. The enumerated right to keep and bear arms (X) “shall not be construed to deny or disparage” the right to keep and bear ordnance (Y, or a subset of Y). (9A)
The government has exercised its power, with respect to Y
The United States Government is not granted any such power. Thus, it is a power “reserved to the States respectively, or to the people”. (10A)
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people
The 9th amendment is excellent guidance to a court sitting in interpretation of a constitutional clause, it really ought to be a judicial cannon of statutory construction for such cases. Sadly, most don’t view it that way. That said, he 9th question isn’t reached until you define what X is in the first place. It doesn’t have structural bearing on the problem posed above unless you first define a fixed meaning of X and then start a separate analysis including, inter alia What are other rights? Are they created? Were they retained? What is disparagement? And, add other legal structures – i.e. State constitutions. Those questions can only be answered in the context of X, which is seprate question from what we’re illustrating here – “Does where X is a right that ‘shall not be infringed’ may government nonetheless pass legislation regulating Y where X is a subset of Y?” You’ll note, I’m sure, that the text doesn’t read “shall not be construed to infringe” and that, even today, individuals and private entities can and do own ordnance.
The United States Government is not granted any such power. Thus, it is a power “reserved to the States respectively, or to the people”.
You’ll note that above, I presume arguendo that “we can find among the many grants of powers that there exists a power to pass regulation of things including Y and that X is a subset of Y.” No 10th amendment analysis necessary. If you don’t like presuming things for the sake of argument then simply refer to Art. 1 §8 c1.
Privately owned ordnance is not unheard of and was used by militia in this country in the past.
ordnance = cannons, mostly
Primarily because, at the time, there were no laws restricting private ownership of ordnance.
Thus one comes to the dividing line between textualism and originalism.
If it was well understood that the militia was composed of individuals, some of whom owned ordnance, at the time of ratification, and that the “militia [is] necessary for the security of a free State”, and moreover that Congress is granted the power over “organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia”, then the narrow textualist reading of the second (active) clause of the 2A would, in originalist interpretation, undermine the intent and meaning of the first (explanatory) clause of the 2A.
I want to make sure I understand your operating definitions of textualism and originalism. Can you explain them to me?
Being a 2A absolutist, be prepared to counter the “should individuals be allowed to own nuclear weapons?” reductio ad absurdum.
I’ve received that one already. My response was, “If the owner doesn’t hurt anyone with it, what’s the problem?” No response.
“Well, if Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Benjamin Netanyahu, Whoa Fat, the Iranian mullahs, whatever ahole is running Pakistan, the Red Chinese, etc. etc. can have them, why not ?”
“What do you say to someone to defend private gun ownership after an attack this heinous?”
Easy: PROHIBITION DOESN’T WORK.
Bullshit. Banning guns in Mexico worked, didn’t it? What do you have to say now smartie pants?
Here’s a random thought. In the time this event took to transpire, the shooter probably could have killed sixty people even without a bump stock.
With the $100k + the guy spent on guns recently, he could have easily obtained a belt-fed 7.62 machine gun with spare barrels and slaughtered far more people. Easily could have acquired one illegally with a plane and that kind of cash, maybe even legally if he was willing wait and submit to that level of government scrutiny.
Or he could have filled one of his planes with fuel or explosives, and flew kamikaze into the crowd.
Semi-OT, but I spent last weekend in Vegas at a wedding. I was located in the middle of the strip, and the strip didn’t seem any less populated/absurd than it usually is. But then, the reception was at… the Mandalay Bay. In a suite on the… 31st floor. Mandalay Bay was pretty much a ghost town.
New conspiracy theory – the Mandalay staff pissed in his cornflakes.
I’m more interested in the chain of reasoning that would lead you to question your belief in the second amendment.
You know the Star Trek episode where spock gets emotional? Kind of like that.
Tesla recalling 11,000 Model Xs.
The house of cards continues to sway in the breeze.
Somehow, $TSLA will go up 5% on this news, just because.
Cuz Elon’s a fuckin’ GENIUS who FUCKIN’ LOVES SCIENCE! Do you even visionary bro?
Virgin just put some money at the fucking hyperloop…
Sucker born every minute.
womp womp
via Weatherbell, which has quickly become my favorite weather website, even if I have to pay for it, on to-be extratropical storm former hurricane Ophelia’s journey towards Ireland on Monday, the “OMG global warming” reaction to it, and the reaction in general to this hurricane season.
[the NWSEYW (National Weather Service Key West) discussion is too long to cut and paste, but the highest gusts it estimates (based on damage, not recordings) are 120-130 MPH. Category 4 hurricanes are 130-155 MPH sustained winds, not gusts]
I was just in the keys. Key west was on the west side of the storm, which is the gentle side. They were also outside the eyewall. I will say that the news exaggerated everything because the storm surge was half of what was reported (8 feet tops) but there were lots of houses completely destroyed on big pine and marathon. There were no operating gas stations between marathon and key west when I first got there.
The damage assessment on that area from the National Weather Service, which still types everything in all caps
Reading through that it seems that on Big Pine Key they estimate 150-160 MPH gusts which were potentially enhanced by a mesovortex (seen in large hurricanes, result in pockets of wind about 10% higher than elsewhere in the eyewall). That’s gonna fuck up anybody’s day (especially in an area with a lot of mobile homes and a lot of older structures). Gusts are typically ~1.3x-1.45x sustained winds (see: , so if you go at the absolute maximum and say there were 160 MPH wind gusts in Big Pine Key, the maximum sustained winds would have been somewhere between 110-123 MPH, or cat 3 range.
His point is asking whether, based on this data, the NHC would drop the Keys landfall of Irma from Cat 4 to Cat 3, and he’s saying that’s unlikely, because the NWS/NHC wouldn’t want to detract from a certain agenda.
Thats reasonable and a high cat 3 actually does fall more in line with what I saw on the ground. My parents house is on cudjoe, where the eye made landfall, and there are many more buildings standing than not.
Fuck you.
I don’t care, anymore than the ACLU cares when defending the 1st Amendment on behalf of Illinois Nazis.
I know this is not a popular line of thought among, well at least this audience, but I actually try to come off as an approachable, reasonable person to non gun people. An ambassador of gun owners, if you will. Those two answers, while correct, certainly would not win me any favors and would cause those on the fence to probably decide all gun owners are assholes.
To fight assholes (i.e., gun grabbers), must become an asshole. They aren’t going to approach you with such consideration and nuance. There can be no compromise concerning the fundamental right to defend one’s self.
BuT yOu DoN’t NeEd A mAcHiNe GuN 2 pRoTeCt Ur FaMiLy, U gUn NuT
Part I, Art. 10 of the New Hampshire State Constitution affords me the right of revolution:
Government being instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security, of the whole community, and not for the private interest or emolument of any one man, family, or class of men; therefore, whenever the ends of government are perverted, and public liberty manifestly endangered, and all other means of redress are ineffectual, the people may, and of right ought to reform the old, or establish a new government. The doctrine of nonresistance against arbitrary power, and oppression, is absurd, slavish, and destructive of the good and happiness of mankind.
That’s what I need a SAW for.
Well, that was written, like, a long time ago probably by some white shitlord so it doesn’t count.
Indeed. I don’t recall any other Commonwealth or State constitutions that specifically enumerate this right, but it was very much a sign of the times and the political will at that time.
Pennsylvania state constitution, article 1, section 2:
Article 1, section 21:
Oh, and the current constitution of Pennsylvania was ratified in 1909, so these aren’t strictly revolutionary sentiments.
Nice, I love this.
Pffffft…..forget wasting time with the SAW, go for the Golf instead
Meaningless words on paper. Do you really think that if it comes down to shooting, this provision, equivalent provisions in other states’ constitutions, or the lack of a such a provision, will matter?
There’s room for both styles of argument, you gotta play to your audience. A youngster who only has heard one side their whole life, give the benefit of the doubt and engage them thoughtfully, The die hard liberal you’ve know for years and he’s always been an idiot…’Fuck you’ is as good an retort as any.
It would make life easier if the ACLU actually acknowledged the existence of the Second Amendment.
You are young Vhyrus. I am a crusty old fucker. I already know that gun grabbers are not reasonable people nor honest ones. I appreciate what you are saying but Heroic is right. In the end you just have to tell them to go fuck themselves.
The debate is not for the participants, it is for the audience. I don’t intend to convince gun grabbers, but there are fence straddlers that can and will be swayed based on perception and behavior.
An American cat.
I was expecting a John Lee Hooker video.
That’s kind of depressing.
Thicc kitty.
Sort of like the American poor, fat and sassy.
Bet he has the sugah.
I had a cat once that was about that fat. Orange Tabby. One of the girls I worked with found her hanging around the dumpster outside and took her and put her in a box and went around at work trying to give her to someone to take care of. I wound up taking her. She was literally starved to death. When I say you could see every one of her ribs, I’m not exaggerating at all. She couldn’t have been more than days from dying of starvation. I’m guessing she was maybe 10 weeks old. When my daughter saw her, she was really startled. After she first was able to eat much, she just started eating and would beg for more food. I’ve never in my life seen a cat eat like that. I blame myself for letting her eat so much, but I felt sorry for her. She was a BIG freaking cat, not just fat, but long and tall. I’m not sure if almost starving caused her to be such a glutton. I eventually cut her food down as recommended and she lost weight.
You know when your pet has been through starving when it overeats like that.
My parents have an old siamese mix we got at a shitty mall pet store. He was underweight and slightly sick and probably would have died if he had stayed at the pet store much longer. He’s now near the end of his life but still weighs about 20 pounds and eats like garfield.
Cat origin story
That is another level. *tips hat*
My late lamented cat was 23 pounds when I got him from the shelter. He was a BIG cat and fat on top of it. A good weight for him would have been 15 pounds. He could stand up on his back legs and put his front paws on top of the counter. At one point, I had his weight down to 18 pounds, but when he died (at 18) he weighed 22 pounds. He’s been gone for 7 years, and I still miss him
I had a yellow and white tabby barn cat offspring once that was one of the most massive cats I’ve ever seen for a common house cat, not a hybrid or a Maine Coon or anything like that. He was 22 lbs and not an ounce of fat on him, just pure muscle. Before I had him fixed, he used to like to fight and would beat the shit out of all the other male cats in the neighborhood. He was sort of famous. One day I came home and some construction workers working on some new additions down the street came down and started talking to me. They were like ‘Wow, we saw a cat fight this morning, and your cat is a badass!’. LOL. One of my co-workers in the hood started complaining about how he’d come over, beat her cat up, piss on her porch, eat the fish from her Koi pond, and stare at her menacingly when she tried to shoo him away. He was 21 years old when he apparently went off somewhere and died. Never had the heart to keep him confined to the house, which he liked until he wanted to go out venturing.
I had some distant relative in NC who had a cat like that. it tried to hide under their car and couldn’t fit. their car was a truck.
We just had to put one our cats down due to cancer this past Tuesday.
Hard as fuck. He died in my wife’s arms.
Sorry to hear. We put down my Wifey’s Burmese last spring. Twenty years old and weighed five pounds at the end. For all intents and purposes I am a hard man but I cried like a little girl when we had to do it.
Do you argue about personal responsibility and individual liberty to someone that was shot through the stomach at this event? What can you even say that doesn’t make you sound like Satan’s personal defense attorney?
What gun laws would have actually prevented this. Yes, I understand that what happened was horrible. I’ve nothing but sympathy for the victims. But, good law isn’t made from sympathy and outrage. It’s made from reasoned assessments. So, what laws would someone pass that would stop a guy with vast resources and a willingness to engage in significant planning from doing something like this? Otherwise, aren’t we just dealing with another example of this?
We neeeeed to copy Austraaaaaaaliaaaaa!
BAN ALL GUNZ!
But, as others have pointed out, he could just as easily have used a bomb or an SUV filled with gas cans. A guy with the resources and planning is going to kill people if he chooses to do so.
BAN EVERYTHING!!!
/just doing my best impression of an irrational, emotion-driven prog
That’s just it. That’s essentially what you’d have to do.
Mike Cernovich, proving that neither peak derp nor Presidential cults of personality are the exclusive domain of the left:
He makes sure to swallow every drop when he’s done.
Obama can’t have all the sycophants.
Hannity is another
But….but he’s a great American!
You could say these girls have “specs appeal” yuk yuk yuk.
http://archive.is/FR8b9
Yes
5.5.13
*saw double on 5*
All these women are advertising their genetic deficiencies by wearing glasses. Bring me healthy breeding stock, damn it.
Yeah, but how many are wearing actual rx glasses?
Any woman in the world + glasses = Better looking than she is without glasses.
It’s a universal truth.
People like you is why humans don’t all have 20/10 vision. You disgust me!
No way. The ones with glasses are defective and should be ashamed of their poor ocular genetics.
This guy gets it’s it. ^^
Not all glasses are corrective, many women wear non prescription glasses to look smarter and thus foil the patriarchy.
So you’re saying it’s like wearing a wedding ring to a club? With the ring the message is, “I’m not available (unless I’m drunk and you’re super hot).” With glasses the message is, “I am of inferior breeding stock, so don’t bother unless you have low standards and want blind babies who will probably crawl right off the stairs they can’t see and suffer brain damage.”
Look, women are dumb, it is known. Smart people wear glasses, also known. Thus women in an attempt to trick men into thinking they are smart wear glasses. I know that some of you cretins like a ditsy blond with big hooters and legs so long you have to ask for directions at the knee, who knows shit about cooking and is arrogant loo…where was I going with this?
A grinder, a bumper, with a pre-moistened dumper.
It’s all the librarian obsession. When you were a kid, you grew up being oppressed by the insane tyrannical librarian who yelled ‘SHUT UP, THIS IS A LIBARY!’ And so when you started developing raging hormones, you looked at her and thought ‘I’d really like to fuck that bitch’. That’s it.
Orgy. Excluding the dead looking #8.
My bullshit detector is pinging, hard
No way. Complete BS.
Maybe *MAYBE* he had some kind of blood vessel malformation that caused a hemorrhage when his blood pressure went up from the drinks, but the details of the story are utter horseshit.
Not unless it was fired out of a cannon at his head.
I laughed when I read the headline. Then read the article which does not support the headline at all.
Slide stocks were invented to skirt a ban on automatic weapons.
Any law to ban slide stocks will be skirted by new inventions before the law can take effect.
The only way to stop the next Paddock is by creating a total surveillance state that knows what every single person is doing every single moment of every single day.
“The only way to stop the next Paddock is by creating a total surveillance state that knows what every single person is doing every single moment of every single day.”
And that’s a problem why? /prog
Britain practically has that and they don’t prevent fuck all.
Britain has jack shit until they have two way TVs in every room.
We all have two TVs in every room, and pretty much everywhere we go. I’ve no doubt that Paddock had one in his hotel room. (They’re also known as smartphones.)
two-way TVs
They aren’t banned, but they are incredibly expensive, and limited in number due to a ban on new automatics/select fires for “civilian use”.
The easiest response to this is always going to be “he would have stopped trying if bump stocks were never allowed in the first place.” I don’t really subscribe to this point of view though, those 23 semiautos were just as capable of raining down the same kind of death from above, and he probably would have done the deed anyway if bump stocks weren’t a thing.
That crazy motherfucker was rich enough that he could have gone through the whole process of acquiring real automatic firearms, but he didn’t.
Step two – ban belt loops/
The only way to stop the next Paddock is by creating a total surveillance state that knows what every single person is doing every single moment of every single day.
A toothless surveillance state doesn’t prevent anything. But it does have video coverage from every angle after the fact.
A totalitarian surveillance state doesn’t prevent the next act of wanton violence so much as perpetrate it.
A casino pretty much IS a total surveillance state and they didn’t prevent squat.
Have any news stations shown video of Paddock making 200 trips to his room with luggage, skulking around the casino, etc? I ask not from a conspiracy theory angle, but because this is the type of stuff that nightly news usually shows after a mass shooting event.
This is how all local news reports should go
How much did they pay that cat to sit there?
Seems just as hyperbolic as any national news story.
The graphic says “Large Cat Spotted,” but it actually looks striped.
What can you even say that doesn’t make you sound like Satan’s personal defense attorney?
A universally enforced national 15mph speed limit would save the lives of of 35,000 Americans per year. We need to get the speed limit lowered. #fightforfifteen.
That reply sparked quite a debate on the facebooks the other day.
You aren’t even going to share some of the derp??
I would like to see the study that says a 15 mph speed limit would save 35K lives. Or did you just make that up? Doesn’t basing your argument on something you made up kind of weaken it? But since you brought it up, US highway deaths peaked at 54K+ in 1972. In 2016 they were down to 37K+, or almost exactly half their peak. On the other hand, US gun deaths in 1979 (the oldest year I could find) were about 33K. Last year they were also about 33K. In a very short time, total yearly gun deaths will exceed total motor vehicle deaths. Maybe we could lower gun deaths by limiting bullet speed to 15 mph.
Derp
I like how they poked holes in the “no proof it’d do anything” and not immediately walk away in shame for using that argument elsewhere..
That’s not reality-based policy, Lachowsky. Semi-automatic arms bans are reality-based. Just look how successful Australia has been.
Bonus on-point Remy
I love that the sane Independent was from NH. Free State Project FTW!
That’s good stuff
The best (subtle) part is : “Alcohol deaths are exceeding comparisons. Black people, white people, native americans…” [Camera immediately cuts to Elizabeth Warren]
What we need is common sense helmet laws. Go out in public in a car or as a pedestrian, strap on your helmet. It saves lives.
If concentrating the children into camps where only responsible, government-vetted adults looked after them could save the life of just one child, don’t we have an obligation to try?
(I actually thought of this one when Obama had his hissy fit after the post-Sandy Hook gun control bills failed.)
I can’t….what?
it’s a rule for a reason, I suppose.
She looks like ted cruz in what way exactly?
That’s unfortunate
What has happened to this country. Previously free men could mail order destructive devices and have them delivered to your house directly. I wish I could be free like my forefathers.
and from California…
I would love to have one of those.
$190? I’ll take two!
You pulled that ad out of your copy of unintended consequences. I know you did.
Oh I only know about it from reading Unintended Consequences. Someone else’s scan.
They sold surplus bazookas and rockets via mail order catalog up through 50s IIRC.
I want to be able to buy Dynamite from the hardware store.
I ordered my first deer rifle from Sears for $29.95. Used 7×57 Argentine Mauser M95. Came by mail. The world did not end (this was circa 1967).
… Hobbit
Hadn’t heard this point about the shooters gambling before.
http://www.anncoulter.com/columns/2017-10-11.html
“Why was Paddock wearing gloves if he was about to commit suicide?”
Uh, because rifles get hot?
She’s completely correct about the gambling imo. Very suspicious narrative.
I suspect that the story about Paddock’s “success” as a video poker player stems from the ignorance of “Journalists” regarding the way gambling wins are typically reported to the IRS. Somehow NBC got a report of Paddock’s “earning at least $5 million in 2015. Some of that could be from other investments.” From this I infer that they got his Total Income or Adjusted Gross Income line on Form 1040.
A high-stakes gambler will get a bunch of W-2G forms in the course of a year. Even a low-stakes poker tournament player like myself gets a few. These have to be reported as gambling winnings under Misc. Income, and the full amount is included in Total Income and Adjusted Gross Income. Typically, the gambler will deduct gambling losses on Schedule A to arrive at Taxable Income. I very seriously doubt that the crack “journalists” at NBC and their sources considered his Schedule A gambling loss deductions. Rather, I think that they just jumped to the conclusion that he was a slot machine success story. Given the fact that he spent a lot of time and money at the video poker slots, this is virtually impossible.
Paddock was likely making money, but probably not at gambling. I’d have to guess that the guy fell in with some very shady characters and that is tied to the shooting.
This is pretty good coming from Coulter, who I do not respect at all for being intelligent, or anything else.
“losing a percent or two on millions of dollars doesn’t make sense as an investment strategy, but it does make sense as a money laundering operation.”
“If this were a movie script, a terrorist would go to Paddock’s room on the pretense of buying guns, kill Paddock, commit the massacre, put his gunshot residue-covered gloves on Paddock’s dead hands and slip out of the room when the coast was clear. ”
Heh, it’s not like you’re the only to think of this, giraffe girl.
Not firearms related but.
My wife went to the revenue office to pay our property taxes today. For the past 6 years they have been around $800. Thus year the lady at the revenue office tells my wife we owe $1200. WTF? How does ones taxes go up by % 50 without warning. I don’t recall any increases being voted on thus year. Can the revenue office adjust tax rates without legislation? I am still at work and haven’t had a chance to dig down to the bottom of this, but it smells like bullshit.
I suggest you spend some time at the tax assessor office, and just document all the material information.
They reassessed your properties value? happens around here every so often, I’ve know people to fight the increase but they had to do some work and show that their property wasn’t worth what the assessors claimed it was, comparable recent sales and what not.
Here if your home is your primary residence, they can only increase the tax like 3 percent or something. If it is an investment property you don’t get that protection.
I have a hard time believing they could come up with an increase in the value of my property. My house and land is in bum fuck nowhere. I have no neighbors who could have sold their properties at high prices. Maybe it’s just an error, but I’m gonna be really pissed if it’s not.
I just remembered I haven’t paid my property tax yet…. sheeeeeeeeiiit.
You don’t pay it out of an escrow account?
Not if there is no mortgage.
No, mortgage….but how do you finance 4 wheelers and ski boats?
By not having a mortgage payment?
I’m new at this. The gov tells me to pay something and I pay it.
I always get an assessment letter about 6 months before it’s due. But beyond that, Virginia does not have a law capping how much the jurisdictions can increase assessments each period, which is for shit. At one point, I tried to email my state rep* about this, and gave examples of other states that had these kinds of laws. THe response I got back was related to some sort of transportation bill.
*I’ll give you two guesses as to the party, and the first one doesn’t count.
Green?
Cosmotarian, obviously.
Sounds like something with your land use, assuming your county offers that for your farm. If so, maybe they didn’t receive your form this year or forgot to apply your tax reduction.
I don’t get any type of break for my ‘business’ related to property taxes. I did get to buy my side by side tax free though. That saved me about $1500.
Not a business deduction. Your state doesn’t have a land-use program? I thought most places did. It knocks about 50% off your real estate tax if the land is for agricultural use (includes forestry, aquaculture, fields for hay, etc). It’s purpose is encourage keeping rural land agricultural and out of the hands of developers.*
*I know, not very libertarian.
I don’t know. I’ll look into that.
“The Revenue man wanted Lachowski bad, Headed up the holler with everything they had…”
How’s this for an uncomfortable picture in retrospect?
profound.
Sexual predation:Powerful men as Mold:Humidity
Most (convicted) rapists are not “powerful men” and “powerful women” have been known to engage in “sexual predation” as well.
I dunno, maybe she was about to step into oncoming traffic? I mean seriously, I can’t make much of that. That this guy gets accused of something and all of the sudden several prominent actresses step up and say he raped them, to me that is 100% not believable. Sure, maybe the guy is a horn dog sleeze bag. That’s not the same as rape. I don’t believe one word of it. I slept with someone to get ahead and now I regret it is not rape. STEVE SMITH TELL YOU WHAT IS RAPE AND BY TELL MEAN RAPE.
Who actually has said he raped them?
I’m not following this closely, but I believe that Rose McSomething woman.
Rosey McRoseface?
That’s one of them.
I can’t remember, but there are at least 3 of them. It’s Cosby all over again. All you have to do today is accuse someone famous of anything and the victims will start to line up. Line up for cash.
I’m still pissed, btw, that Harvey picked Matt Damon’s script over mine just because I wouldn’t suck his dick.
Harvey’s I mean.
I would totally suck Matt Damon’s dick.
I think you’ll have to wait in line
https://youtu.be/eSfoF6MhgLA
Kevin Spacey could’ve just killed one guy in “Seven” if they had casted Harvey in it.
Had cast.
I just got up, man. *Coffee. Eyes whiskey bottle*.
Hey, are we getting another article tonight/this morning or is this it? My pipes are backed up with links.
OT. Hijack the thread, bro.
Yeah, it’s been up 2 hours, I would consider it open for links by now. It’s not like we haven’t been talking about this subject for two weeks. The management may have other ideas.
I thought Firearm Fridays was the de-facto PM lynx and thus open for OT posting as long as it’s not one of the first ten numbered comments and you don’t post more than three in within seventeen minutes, and your link hasn’t been linked to in the AM lynx, it’s all clearly explained in the TOS (not that TOS but the other TOS).
I tend to just do what I want.
Oh good grief, my wife is listening to opera. Is that grounds for assault in the US? Or should I just put my headphones on?
You should listen and become enlightened
I refuse to be enlightened. The last enlightenment failed and now we have progs.
If you start singing along maybe she’ll turn it off.
Small mammals in the neighborhood would die. I can’t do it.
What Hollywood taught me is that Hookers like Julia Roberts love Opera. They even cry when they first see it.
Like Japanese girls do in pornos? Hawt.
To the layman *snicker* that high squeaking sound appears to be coming from their mouths.
I’ll be in my bunk
^this is correct. he is a philistine
I like certain movements from certain composers but sometimes it seems a bit much. What the fuck do I know? I dress the same now as I did forty years ago.
Put on Bohemian Rhapsody and crank it.
Won’t work, she likes that too. I mean I like that one. Even worse, she tries to make me listen to Brazilian Pop and I swear to the gods, it’s worse than American Pop. I know that’s hardly believable, but it’s true enough.
OK, here’s my advice. I used to live on board a sail boat and there was this fat goofball in the harbor who would go out for day sails wearing nothing but a Speedo while Jimmy Buffet was CRANKED on the cockpit stereo. Several of us took to awkwardly dancing every time he went by the dock and eventually he’d try to avoid our attentions by slipping past with the stereo turned town, only cranking it until he was by. So I suggest you walk into whatever room your wife is in and start dancing. She’ll laugh at first, but don’t stop. Just keep dancing. Flap your belly fat in her face if necessary. Eventually she’ll turn off the opera, ask why you have to ruin everything she likes, and leave the room in tears. Mission accomplished!
And he moved on to libertarian political conventions?
+1 Welded disaster.
Opera? Cool! I love opera!
How the Radical Left Has Taken Over Higher Education: 7 Professors Who Promote Violence
Organic Prepper. Hmmm.
This is the same professor who tweeted last December of his desire for the deaths of white people. Interestingly, Ciccariello-Maher appears to be white and is a self-proclaimed “actual communist.”
Huh, how about that.
Not sure why they need violence. They control the public school system and universities. All they need to do is to continue on their present course of increasing the percentage of children that they turn into idiots every year. Not to mention the return to tribalism and diviseness that they’ve turned into a religion. How long can a country survive that?
Regression to the mean is your friend in this case. There will be a tipping point when even the 110 or so IQ people decide it isn’t worth getting the piece of paper anymore. Given that you have mankind’s knowledge at your fingertips, it’s hard to see how paying 100K to get pure, unadulterated bullshit is a working model in the future.
I hope that point comes soon.
Cheers to that.
Have you seen my fair trade, non GMO bug out bag?
Lol
Nixon in China totally isn’t a pantload opera.
What do you say to someone to defend private gun ownership after an attack this heinous?
“More people were killed by a truck in France. Should France outlaw private ownership of trucks?”
‘Swedish Dads’ photo exhibition captures the benefits of paternity leave
But a woman is a sell out if she decides to become a housewife.
Is it a possibility that mass shootings S o occur in other “civilized” nations and we just never hear about it in the states?
“Do” occur.
Cougar!!!
I larfed
Commiesplaining
Kind of like Caitlyn lecturing Octomom on childbirth.
Great Gif from the replies.
Molyneux made that first, right?
I don’t know, t’wasn’t attributed, and I don’t know who Molyneux is,If he made or could have made this I’ll have to give him a look.
Here. HT: Slammer.
I really have to love this image. A libertarian standing at the bully pulpit, lol.
Rand
Hey, Staff! Are we getting another posting this evening? I’ve got a long post myself I don’t want to submit on a nearly dead thread.
Something like this?
Weinstein: I’m telling you right now, get in here.
Gutierrez: What do we have to do here?
Weinstein: Nothing. I’m going to take a shower. You sit there and have a drink. Water.
Gutierrez: I don’t drink.
Weinstein: Then have a glass of water.
Gutierrez: Can I stay on the bar?
Weinstein: No. You must come here now.
Gutierrez: No…
Weinstein: Please.
Gutierrez: No, I don’t want to.
Weinstein: I’m not doing anything with you, I promise. Now you’re embarrassing me.
Gutierrez: I know, I don’t want to. I’m sorry, I cannot.
Weinstein: No, come in here.
Gutierrez: No, yesterday was kind of aggressive for me.
Weinstein: I know –
Gutierrez: I need to know a person to be touched.
Weinstein: I won’t do a thing.
Gutierrez: I don’t want to be touched.
Weinstein: I won’t do a thing, please. I swear I won’t. Just sit with me. Don’t embarrass me in the hotel. I’m here all the time. Sit with me, I promise –
Gutierrez: I know, but I don’t want to.
Weinstein: Please sit there. Please. One minute, I ask you.
Gutierrez: No, I can’t.
Weinstein: Go to the bathroom.
Gutierrez: Please, I don’t want to do something I don’t want to.
Weinstein: Go to the bathroom… hey, come here. Listen to me –
Gutierrez: I want to go downstairs.
Weinstein: I’m not gonna do anything and you’ll never see me again after this. OK? That’s it. If you don’t, if you embarrass me in this hotel where I’m staying –
Gutierrez: I’m not embarrassing you –
Weinstein: Just walk –
Gutierrez: It’s just that I don’t feel comfortable.
Weinstein: Honey, don’t have a fight with me in the hallway.
Gutierrez: It’s not nothing, it’s –
Weinstein: Please. I’m not gonna do anything. I swear on my children. Please come in. On everything. I’m a famous guy.
Gutierrez: I’m, I’m feeling very uncomfortable right now.
Weinstein: Please come in now. And one minute. And if you wanna leave when the guy comes with my jacket, you can go.
Gutierrez: Why yesterday you touch my breast?
Weinstein: Oh, please. I’m sorry. Just come on in. I’m used to that.
Gutierrez: You’re used to that?
Weinstein: Yes, come in.
Gutierrez: No, but I’m not used to that.
Weinstein: I won’t do it again. Come on, sit here. Sit here for a minute, please?
Gutierrez: No, I don’t want to.
Weinstein: If you do this now you will [unintelligible]. Now go. Bye. Never call me again. OK? I’m sorry, nice to have – I promise you I won’t do anything.
Gutierrez: I know, but yesterday was too much for me.
Weinstein: The guy is coming. I will never do another thing to you. Five minutes. Don’t ruin your friendship with me for five minutes.
Gutierrez: I know — but, it’s kind of, like, it’s too much for me. I can’t.
Weinstein: Please, you’re making a big scene here. Please.
Gutierrez: No, but I wanna leave.
Weinstein: OK, bye. Thank you.
‘I DON’T WANT TO GO ON THE CART!’
‘Oh, don’t be such a baby.’
Evening links dropping in 50 minutes.
Thanks, bud. Cheers!
So Google is pushing a project about lynching that they’ve sponsored and are advertising on youtube. “Even if you were born in 2017 you are effected by it.”
https://youtu.be/Su9gQTITzv8
(narrows gaze)
Now,now. Grammar is so racist.
Affizie?
Is you woke, or wat?
Nah, just used to lived in a predominantly black neighborhood for five plus years.
No visible outline to your avatar makes it really difficult to tell if I just made a threading fail.
That, and the Lemon Skunk. Fuck it, I’m rolling with it.
the misspelling was an affectation from a slight rephrasing while transcribing. Or at least the effect of.
So it’s a high-tech lynching….
Let us constantly rehash all of the historical traumas we can find (that comport with the narrative, anyway), so that we can build a completely dysfunctional culture where everyone mistrusts his fellow man and can only judge in terms of group affiliation and not individual merit.
What could possibly go wrong?
I was shooting heroin and reading “The Fountainhead” in the front seat of my privately owned police cruiser when a call came in. I put a quarter in the radio to activate it. It was the chief.
“Bad news, detective. We got a situation.”
“What? Is the mayor trying to ban trans fats again?”
“Worse. Somebody just stole four hundred and forty-seven million dollars’ worth of bitcoins.”
The heroin needle practically fell out of my arm. “What kind of monster would do something like that? Bitcoins are the ultimate currency: virtual, anonymous, stateless. They represent true economic freedom, not subject to arbitrary manipulation by any government. Do we have any leads?”
“Not yet. But mark my words: we’re going to figure out who did this and we’re going to take them down … provided someone pays us a fair market rate to do so.”
“Easy, chief,” I said. “Any rate the market offers is, by definition, fair.”
He laughed. “That’s why you’re the best I got, Lisowski. Now you get out there and find those bitcoins.”
“Don’t worry,” I said. “I’m on it.”
I put a quarter in the siren. Ten minutes later, I was on the scene. It was a normal office building, strangled on all sides by public sidewalks. I hopped over them and went inside.
“Home Depot™ Presents the Police!®” I said, flashing my badge and my gun and a small picture of Ron Paul. “Nobody move unless you want to!” They didn’t.
“Now, which one of you punks is going to pay me to investigate this crime?” No one spoke up.
“Come on,” I said. “Don’t you all understand that the protection of private property is the foundation of all personal liberty?”
It didn’t seem like they did.
“Seriously, guys. Without a strong economic motivator, I’m just going to stand here and not solve this case. Cash is fine, but I prefer being paid in gold bullion or autographed Penn Jillette posters.”
Nothing. These people were stonewalling me. It almost seemed like they didn’t care that a fortune in computer money invented to buy drugs was missing.
I figured I could wait them out. I lit several cigarettes indoors. A pregnant lady coughed, and I told her that secondhand smoke is a myth. Just then, a man in glasses made a break for it.
“Subway™ Eat Fresh and Freeze, Scumbag!®” I yelled.
Too late. He was already out the front door. I went after him.
“Stop right there!” I yelled as I ran. He was faster than me because I always try to avoid stepping on public sidewalks. Our country needs a private-sidewalk voucher system, but, thanks to the incestuous interplay between our corrupt federal government and the public-sidewalk lobby, it will never happen.
I was losing him. “Listen, I’ll pay you to stop!” I yelled. “What would you consider an appropriate price point for stopping? I’ll offer you a thirteenth of an ounce of gold and a gently worn ‘Bob Barr ‘08’ extra-large long-sleeved men’s T-shirt!”
He turned. In his hand was a revolver that the Constitution said he had every right to own. He fired at me and missed. I pulled my own gun, put a quarter in it, and fired back. The bullet lodged in a U.S.P.S. mailbox less than a foot from his head. I shot the mailbox again, on purpose.
“All right, all right!” the man yelled, throwing down his weapon. “I give up, cop! I confess: I took the bitcoins.”
“Why’d you do it?” I asked, as I slapped a pair of Oikos™ Greek Yogurt Presents Handcuffs® on the guy.
“Because I was afraid.”
“Afraid?”
“Afraid of an economic future free from the pernicious meddling of central bankers,” he said. “I’m a central banker.”
I wanted to coldcock the guy. Years ago, a central banker killed my partner. Instead, I shook my head.
“Let this be a message to all your central-banker friends out on the street,” I said. “No matter how many bitcoins you steal, you’ll never take away the dream of an open society based on the principles of personal and economic freedom.”
He nodded, because he knew I was right. Then he swiped his credit card to pay me for arresting him.
I think that this is supposed to making fun of libertarians, but I kind of like it.
it’s like if a sophomore english major commie was told to write a short story based on Ayn Rand.
I think it’s beautiful (wipes tear)
…. Hobbit
That’s a great story. It’s a pretty good cartoonish description of some of our people. I think it just needs to be SF’d up a bit
I thought it was pretty damn funny
“The bullet lodged in a U.S.P.S. mailbox less than a foot from his head. I shot the mailbox again, on purpose.”
That made me laugh.
Me, too. It really has a good-humored air to it.
Is this a screenplay for the libertarian equivalent of Comrade Detective?
I am drinking a Virgil this evening. One bottle and one bottle only.
That looks tasty!
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/28/61/
^I’ve been craving a few of these myself lately but they’re kind of difficult to find in my neck of the woods.
I’ve had the Anchor Porter – tasty but not nearly as potent as Virgil. I’m quite happy at the moment. Might have to nightcap with some Jameson Caskmate (in a while).
That looks delicious.
Pimpin’ this week’s review again – especially for the folks in Japan. Amazing satire – highly recommended – For the Love of Pete – someone please get the rights to release this in the US!
The Man Who Stole the Sun.
Thanks. Well done and your pronunciation in Japanese is pretty good.
3 semesters of Japanese in ’01-’02. ;p Never did get stationed there 🙁 But I spent a fortnight there for one exercise ;p
Man, I wish I had started Japanese my Freshman year instead of wasting my mandatory 3 semester language requirement on latin. The instructors and program at UNC-CH were really tight.
I figured you must have taken some courses. Pronouncing the “w” in を “wo” is something I learned in class myself, but they never do that. I took a year or so before I moved here permanently in 1999. What I had learned in class and the way they spoke were two different things, but it did give me a framework to start.
I tested out of the language requirement (German). I wound up majoring in Russian because I like learning foreign languages.
Tested out of French – coulda done just one more course but I was sick of French. Latin seemed different. Didn’t hear about Japanese till I spoke to my roommate.
There should be evening links. I’m saying LATE NITE LINKS. For gawd’s sake, we didn’t escape slavery for nothing.
“Another active participant, “David Eppstein,” is apparently, and to his genuine credit, a real name. It belongs to a computer science professor at UC Irvine. He argues for deletion and maintains that Bechly’s “turn to fringe creationist views does not seem to be notable at all.” At one point Bechly himself enters the discussion, offering “dozens of more secondary sources from the print press, TV and radio” plus “three described new insect orders, more than 160 described species, and insect family Bechlyidae, a genus and 8 species named after me, 2 edited books and numerous book chapters, 1 book in German about me, and a ResearchGate score that is higher than 85% of ResearchGate members.””
https://evolutionnews.org/2017/10/wikipedia-erases-paleontologist-gunter-bechly/
I hope this thread isn’t dead because thisnisnsome cool news about Utes.
https://www.yahoo.com/style/maga-hats-newest-form-pre-162306243.html
Presumably for being too offensive?
“Among the first items on O.J. Simpson’s to-do list upon re-entry to the free world last week was to find some “companionship” after nine years in prison, an insider said.
“He sent word … to the Bunny Ranch,” the insider said of Nevada’s famed legal house of prostitution.
“As far as I know, things are going down,” the ranch’s flamboyant owner, Dennis Hof, told The Post. He had earlier told Radar Online that Simpson buddy Tom Scotto had called looking for “a Nicole Brown look-a-like.””
https://pagesix.com/2017/10/07/o-j-simpson-looking-to-spend-his-free-time-at-the-bunny-ranch/
If he has money for a prostitute then I think he needs to go back to prison cause I’m pretty sure there is a bill he’s past due on.
As long as he was only wearing one glove and not two.
Since I didn’t see anyone else mention it: this wording is incorrect. It’s the worst mass shooting in US history, but the worst mass murders are all bombings. The worst mass murder in US history (excluding terrorism, on the grounds that it falls into the category of “act of war” more than murder, but I know that’s debatable) would be the OKC bombing (1994), with 168 dead. The worst mass murder at a school (Bath School – 1927 – 58 dead) was also a bombing, not a shooting. This conflation of “mass shooting” with “mass murder” is common in the press, I suspect to push the “guns are bad” line by eliding the fact that there are worse, more effective methods at committing murder.
Good point, it should be mass shooting.
And not counting those perpetrated by the U.S. govt (Wounded Knee, Waco).
It’s not murder if you wear the right uniform.
The worst mass shooting in American history happened at Antietam.
Yeah, but that was all self-defense*, so it really doesn’t count.
*Everybody was shooting at someone who was shooting at them.
Don’t know if you’ve ever been there, but at most battlefields (and especially at Gettysburg) you can get a feel for how the battle would flow over the landscape. Not at Antietam – nope, the artillery sat up on the two respective pieces of high ground and the infantries marched into each other beneath them. This year I plan to get there for this.
“A year ago, a bipartisan bill aimed at reducing the risk of wildfires from overhead electrical lines went to Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk.
It was vetoed.
The author of the measure — passed unanimously by both houses of the Legislature — now says the governor missed out on a chance to tackle one of his state’s longstanding vulnerabilities: massive wildfires endangering residential communities. But the governor’s office and the California Public Utilities Commission say the bill duplicated efforts already underway among the CPUC, Cal Fire and utilities like PG&E.
Brown’s sister Kathleen, he pointed out, served on the board of the energy services holding company, Sempra. Power and utility companies, Moorlach said, “didn’t want to spend the money” making things safer by moving lines underground.”
http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/10/11/wine-country-fires-gov-brown-vetoed-2016-bill-aimed-at-power-line-wildfire-safety/
And to think, he’ll soon be life long leader of the new nation of Calizuela do Norte.
http://thepeoplescube.com/peoples-blog/dove-cleans-lousy-first-ladies-and-makes-them-great-again-t19758.html
LOL
Good one.
Wife and I got started on cats because of the earlier conversation here. We currently have no pets. She wants a Maine Coon or Ragdoll. I want a Savannah. I suggest we do some evil breeding experiments here.
Also, this isn’t cute at all, no idea what she’s thinking.
Ragdoll, not cute
I like this toxic masculinity better.
Savannah, chillin
Get a Harvey.
You might want to do a BUNCH of research on Savannah behavior patterns before committing. IIRC, they’re semi-wild, and they’ve popped up on “My Cat From Hell” wreaking havoc in the typical middle-class urban home setting.
“they’ve popped up on “My Cat From Hell” wreaking havoc in the typical middle-class urban home setting.”
You’ve sold me, thanks bro. Wife, not so much. I’m thinking both. I guess if her cat annoys me too much, my Savannah can make it go away. Seriously, the one Tabby I had, I forgot to mention Persian mix, was the meanest cat I have ever seen. I mean to other cats and wild life. Perfectly fine with the kids and other pets.
Let me suggest a, err, Staffordshire Bull, umm, Cat.
Dude, that’s not a cat. I mean, if that is a cat, someone seriously beat him with the ugly stick.
Ugly? Seriously?
LOL, I am sure my wife will fall for those sad puppy eyes, how you think I scored that?!
Breeders have learned that posting photos, videos, even live feeds, of new litters is like, well, catnip to fans of the breed. I just dodged a Staff puppy bullet last month – I was relieved as hell when the puppies left for their new homes and we weren’t getting daily pupdates anymore.
My last fav pet, an blue merle Aussie, was the prize of the litter. Both of his parents were champion cattle herding dogs. I’ve never really gotten over him getting ran over by a truck when he was 7 years old. I had an 8 foot high fence, but he could jump over it when determined enough. What can you do?
Get a Russian Blue or something else that’s mostly slate-gray.
I had 2 Russian Blues when I was a kid. One of them got bit by a rattler, the other ran over by a car. Very athletic cats. I mean except for meeting up with a rattlesnake or car.
You’re gonna love my new avatar when it becomes available. He’s not a Russian Blue but he is Grey-hued and Fabulous!
Real cat people just get ‘Cat’-flavored cats. If you care what breed it is, you’re one of those cat-fancy-magazine people
get a cat. feed it. if it likes you, keep it. if it runs out of the room every time you walk in, or hides under the couch for 6 months, throw it in a lake then get a different one.
You can do what you want, but when the NRA asks me to renew my membership I am going to tell them I spent the money on a slide fire and then tell them to get fucked.
I’m a life member that has never given money to the NRA beyond my life membership dues. I’ve been a life member long enough that I probably cost them money. They’d probably love it if I canceled my membership.
I think the ACC looks ridiculous forcing its best fucking team to play in the goddamn Carrier Dome on a Friday night. Granted I am Clemson fan so I may a bit sensitive to the subject, but I cannot imagine a situation where the SEC calls down to Tuscaloosa and tells Nick Saban his boys have to travel 12 hours on a short week and play Vanderbilt on a Friday night.
That’s because Nick Saban would bend over and shoot firebolts out his arse.
So, I got my CZ 75c back from Cajun Gun Works. I got the defensive carry package with the CGW race hammer. Dry fired only at this point. I’m really excited to get it to the range. The single action breaks cleanly at 3.5 lbs. There is some take up and a very tiny bit of over travel. The double action is a little under 7 lbs. All very impressive based on the package chosen and vastly different from stock.
Is it worth it? I think so. I’ll know for sure after getting some rounds through it.