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Month: January 2015

It’s not a bad life

We’re having another of those moments where the sky is blue, the sun blinding, and the air so mild that fleece sweatpants and a turtleneck under the tee-shirt are almost too much.

So the guy who helps with my yardwork turned up to do some long-discussed brush clearing, trash hauling, and felling of small trees. (Totally blowing my January “minimalist” budget, but that’s another story.) Twice this week he and a couple of grubby kids (one of whom is his daughter-in-law, a tough bundle of charm) have crawled down the slope across the road and dug in. They’ve attacked noxious giant weeds (which my beekeeping neighbors won’t let me poison if I want to keep peace in the valley). They’ve taken down and heaped up small, malformed trees. They’ve hauled out every sort of trash, from microwaves and broken toilets to dozens of bags of cat poop.

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JPFO’s newly revised history (please brain-wipe any previous versions of JPFO’s history you erroneously imagine you know even if you were personally there to witness them)

Oh man. This is sick. And I don’t mean that in a good way. I’m not surprised at this slick rewrite of reality — especially not after reading the multitude of lies about JPFO that were carefully fed to the gun media during the sellout to SAF. Still. Gag a maggot. And equally unsurprising … how much do you see there about charging forward into the future with JPFO’s never-compromise message at the fore? Nope. Just aren’t we wonderful? Now send us money. No, definitely not surprised.

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Thursday links

Are mass shootings due to “entitlement culture”? Don’t say it; we all know they’re due to the individual murderers. And yes, the article is anti-gun in a so-soish sort of way. Nevertheless, interesting article that makes good points. Beware, beware of the “commonsense” cry to prevent the mentally ill from owning firearms. ‘Cause since 2013, crazy has been the new normal. Twenty photos that put the Holocaust in a different light. (H/T Y.B.b.A.) That DEA surveillance program I linked in the last post? It is/was aimed in part at gun buyers. Even the usually anti-gun ACLU is alarmed. The anti-Second…

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Midweek links

Surprise, surprise. Yet another fedgov agency is operating a vast, covert, random surveillance program. Hm. Do they still sell those anti-cam sprays and films for our license plates? Gottlieb’s CCRKBA endorses Matt Shea’s bill to repeal I-594. And note the ringing anti-background check language! (She says, rolling her eyes.) I’m not linking to this CNN op-ed because it’s brilliant. On the contrary, it’s an astonishingly logic-free defense of Obamacare. I’m linking to it because it may contain one of the single most bizarre justifications of tyranny oxymorons ever to occupy the mind of a human being. To wit: “The ACA…

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David Codrea doesn’t want this one forgotten

And neither does David Hardy. Who compared the revelations in the Dobyns/ATF case as being a “Watergate or worse.” The ATF and DoJ will bury this, exactly as they tried to get (and unfortunately all-but-succeeded in getting) Fast & Furious buried. No, I’m not expecting this audience of cynics to be “shocked, simply shocked” at what the fedgov did to agent Jay Dobyns. I even expect that some will say, “Well, he knew the kind of scum he was associating with (and I don’t mean the Hells Angels he infiltrated). He deserved whatever he got.” So why am I posting…

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Sunday-Monday musings

My apologies, all you people there on the upper east coast. I hear that the ghastly weather you’re having is our fault. Something to do with this monstrous ridge of high pressure plunging down on us; creates a monster low for you.

Believe me, I was thinking of you this afternoon while I contemplated whether or not I should wear the tee-shirt with a turtleneck or skip the turtleneck for a dog walk. I felt soooooo guilty.

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Great weekend reads

To keep you busy and out of trouble this weekend. The Authoritarians by Bob Altemeyer. Free ebook on conservatives’ (but not just conservatives) attachment to authority. Seems to be well written (by a guy with a sense of humor, too). (H/T Y.B.v.A.) Three non-boring and pro-gun law review articles, including the must-read “Gun Owners, Gun Legislation, and Compromise” (pdf) by David Hardy.

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Friday links

I agree with Brian Keith’s fine analysis of the “carrots” and the “sticks” in the gun-rights movement. Except, of course, when one of the “carrots” actually goes over to the other side, pretends he can prevent what the enemy really wants, and collaborates by helping write tyrannical legislation. “The Oyster Shell Game.” The fedgov uses pseudoscience, lies, etc. to destroy a small business. From Ellendra in comments: have a “go to zero” month. (Kinda what I’ve been doing this month, except this family went much farther than I would. Maybe another month this summer …) “My Old Dead Drunk Self.”…

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Wednesday links

“The Doughty Swiss” and their fabulous franc. If you thought the Obama administration and fed ‘crats had backed off on using banks to try to shut down gun stores, think again. In one California city citizens take direct action to try to get justice against brutal cops. The emergency room: a microcosm for misplaced priorities. We see this in animal rescue/welfare work, too, in the form people who can afford pricey tattoos, cigarettes, and weekly lotto tickets and scratch cards — but “can’t” come up with $25 to keep their pets from producing endless, unhealthy litters year after year. In…

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