- “Pro gun” Donald Trump wants your guns taken away with no due process — at least if you live in Chicago.
- Creepiest use of facial recognition technology yet?
- Remember those floating coffins in Louisiana? They present most unusual problems.
- Speaking of unusual problems … much has been said about the importance of swing states in the current electoral debacle. But here’s something new and unsurprising: swing-state v*ters deplore both mainstream candidates.
- But wow. Just wow in a very bad way. After nearly eight years of experience with the man many within the professional commentariat somehow continue to believe that Obama is some kind of noble, elevated spirit who is simply above the unaccountable troubles of the world. That article is typical of what’s floating around (like unidentified coffins) in the wash of Big O’s U.N. speech.
- The 10 most ridiculous professional licensing laws.
- Which reflects handily on the theme of Timothy Sandefur’s just-published The Permission Society: How the Ruling Class Turns Our Freedoms into Privileges and What We Can Do About It. The book’s starting to get quite a bit of buzz (though so far few Amazon reviews).
- So it took Yahoo two years to figure this out?
- Just in case you were worried that the universe might be stretching in the wrong direction.
- When a wrong-number drama queen texts you, respond with style.
- The Oatmeal: How to be perfectly unhappy. (Actually a pretty damn good observation on life.)
The “happy” thing was very interesting. Fits my idea of “happiness” quite well. I’ve had a great deal of trauma, tragedy and disappointment in my life. I accept that as part of “life” itself. I find joy, fulfillment and meaning among it, and sometimes because of it… weird as that may sound. Some of the best people I’ve known and most wonderful experiences I’ve had would not have come along (or maybe not have been noticed) without the sad, the tragic and the painful…
I took a look at “The 10 most ridiculous professional licensing laws.” The only thing that came to mind was… only ten?
Thanks for posting the perfectly unhappy link. It just makes so darned much sense.
There’s a particular one-eyed, machine gun dealing, FFL here in MA who’s also a licensed fortune teller: “In a nutshell, and being a trouble maker, many years ago I was listening to the Gene Burns radio show when he told about how a woman in Norwood, Ma applied for a fortune teller license and was voted down by the selectmen. So, I wondered how a male in Acton would make out to see if the discrimination was sex or geography. To apply, you needed to live in the town for 2 yrs and come up with 2 bucks. I applied and was approved. Then the local paper interviewed me and the shit hit the fan. In the article I explained why I did this and asked just what the hell gave the selectmen the authority to vote on this. The town got pissed and complained that I cost them $250 to research my application. I told them that if they don’t STFU, I would apply for every state license issued by the town to keep them busy. I also told them that selectmen who would spend $250 to research a $2 license should be ridden out of town on a rail. All this is in print in a series of “Beacon” articles. I have been sending in $2 in cash to renew each year for the last 22 just to keep the shaft up their ass so as not to forget me. Jack. ” (http://www.northeastshooters.com/vbulletin/threads/55943-Fortunes)
Always got a chuckle out of that. Then, in 2014: “For the last 22 years I have been renewing my fortune tellers license with the town of Acton for $2 each year. Says $2 on the license. I’d always send in a copy of the expiring license and two $1 bills. This year I got the 2014 license in the mail along with a $1 bill and a note saying that they only need $1. Remember that these are the same folks who (mis) manage millions of our tax dollars. Jack.” (https://www.northeastshooters.com/vbulletin/threads/241349-Fortune-teller-senior-discount)
Oh M…. that’s just too funny. LOL
Via Roberta X, why we elect lizards. (Yes, both Trump and Clinton are reptilian space aliens, taking human form.) I don’t know that I credit Adams as the unique source for this meme. I’m more in favor of parallel evolution.
And more linky amusement: Hillary polls lower than Bigfoot.
From the “swing v*ter” story: “One of the candidates must win the election…”
Ummm… no. Where do people get these crazy notions?
“Permission society”- I get scolded by relatives because I often “forget” to get permission. I just can’t get my brain around the fact that so many bullies believe they have the “authority” to give (or deny) permission for things that are quite simply none of their business.
I have a damaged car port that desperately needs a new roof. It might be cheaper to tear it down and buy a prefab one, but the problem is that the town has a newish rule (or one they just started enforcing) that says carports can only be beside or behind a house, not in front. My current carport is in front of the house because that’s where the curb is cut, and that’s really the only place it can be put. It is “grandfathered” so as long as I just repair it, and don’t replace it, I can “get away with it” being there. I have no “behind”, because my house sits at the rear of the lot. I can’t really put it beside the house without moving the house. So, as bits of rotting plywood rain down on top of my vehicle, and ripped shingles blow off with every breeze, I do nothing because I don’t like the options I am allowed, and wouldn’t have the money in any case. And, obviously, they demand a building permit to even repair the roof. Vermin. How can anyone even see these parasites as legitimate? If I thought I could do the repair fast enough to not be noticed, and it if wasn’t right there by the street, I certainly wouldn’t bother with their “permits” and stuff.
I loved the drama queen text response.
Via Obama:
[Around the world, he has seen young people yearning “for freedom, and dignity, and the opportunity to control their own lives.”]
[In the end, international security depends on the willingness of governments to support and defend a rules-based world order.]
These goals are mutually exclusive. Guess which one President Obama wants.
My state has finally repealed the requirement that hair braiders who just wanted to braid hair (not cut or dye or any other treatment) could be exempt from the 1,800 hours of classroom work and six months apprenticeship requirements before they could apply to test for a license.
You should have seen the letters and complaints that this was in place for the good of the public and to prevent the spread of disease! (because anything with hair care can result in the next ebola spreading like wildfire with out massive training!)
The best counter was given by my state house rep: To get a state license to be a paramedic, you need 800 hours of classroom work, 400 hours of clinical time and 400 hours of field time, pass a six station skills test and a 80 to 150 question written test. And then you can provide invasive medical treatment out side of a hospital with limited supervision making life and death choices. But to cut hair or braid hair, you need two and a quarter more hours of classroom time, three times as much apprenticeship time, and a 200+ question exam.
I guess the “logic” was that if a paramedic screws up you just die, but if a Cosmetologist screws up you have a bad hair cut and your life is ruined for ever.
Re Trump and Chicago: Since for all practical purposes there are no CHLs in Chicago, almost everybody who has a handgun and is out on the street is breaking the law. His view of 2A? Good one-on-one interview in the new issue of The American Rifleman/Hunter; mine came today. Per my FFL guy, he’s also spoken strongly as pro-2A to at least one of the Georgia US senators.
A strong positive for Texas: Outside the city limits? No permit needed for building a house. No inspections. No code requirements (I went equal-to or above).
Professional licensing laws and DEA/ FDA restrictions are the root cause of the health care crisis. Obamacare et al are just arguments over who pays for the health care that is permitted.
Before Trump started running as a republican for president he was for outlawing so-called assault weapons, IMHO the reason he pretends to be pro 2nd right now is he wants to win in November and he needs to get the pro-gun vote to do it.
If he wins IMHO he will go back to his old ways which is the real Donald Trump, btw when he first said he was for taking people guns it wasn’t just for Chicago but the whole country if you care to read his original statement;
http://www.redstate.com/leon_h_wolf/2016/09/22/nra-strongly-condemn-trumps-stop-frisk-comments/
Obviously someone got ahold of him (was it the NRA?) and made him change his statement (like he does with just about every position he has taken) and say he meant only in Chicago so that he didn’t sound like a complete fascist (just one for Chicago only).
“Re Trump and Chicago: Since for all practical purposes there are no CHLs in Chicago, almost everybody who has a handgun and is out on the street is breaking the law.”
And Trump advocates random stop-and-frisk tactics to find the lawbreakers. Desertrat, do you favor stop-and-frisk?
And have you read the article behind Comrade X’s link?
‘On the reception and detection of pseudo-profound bullshit’: http://journal.sjdm.org/15/15923a/jdm15923a.html
Since for all practical purposes there are no CHLs in Chicago, almost everybody who has a handgun and is out on the street is breaking the law.
“The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in December, 2012 that it’s unconstitutional for Illinois to ban concealed carry. After much debate Illinois passed a shall-issue concealed carry law. The first Illinois concealed carry gun licenses-about 5,000 of them-were printed and mailed March 1, 2014. As of the first day of 2015, there were more than 90,000 active concealed carry license-holders in the Land of Lincoln.”
As of July 2016: “For example, more than 47,000 permits have been issued to residents of Cook County — by far the most in the state — but the county ranks dead last for the number of license holders per 1,000 people.”
Still, 47K isn’t “no CHLs.”
Given the problems in Chicago, I can see it as a partial solution. My dislike is irrelevant. If bad guys get scared of toting, there would be fewer dead bodies. Then the issue is whether or not dead gang-bangers is a public service. And, of course, do we care about the uninvolved victims of mis-aimed bullets?
Trump says that he’s evolved since the passing of the AW ban. Well, so have many others. Remember the gun-writer who bum-rapped them for hunting until that use was demonstrated to him, and he publicly apologized? I remember a comment of my father’s when he was told that a particular policy was one he had instituted some ten or more years earlier: “Anything I said ten years ago is probably wrong. Let’s fix it.”
“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” Benjamin Franklin
Obama pulled off, with a lot of background help, becoming president; and he’s gone a long way towards the “fundamental change” he wanted for us to endure. I’ve heard the opinion expressed that he is campaigning to become Secretary General of the U.N. I see nothing inconsistent with that hypothesis. He may get there. I submitted that theory once in a comment to the Washington Times. It never showed up in their postings.
Everyone has heard of the saying about how an “October Surprise” can save a campaign, here’s my prediction of one;
Bill Clinton dies of natural causes (of course no one would ever suggest otherwise), imagine the state funeral, the media frenzy, and how the overwhelming mandate Hillary would demand & the impact on her election?
Does anyone else have a possible “October surprise” that could effect the out come in November, I am sure there are many?
I think the “October Surprise” tag came from WikiLeaks saying there would be a Clinton surprise from them in October (i.e. info they were going to leak).
However I keep thinking of the novel, “Hope” by L. Neil Smith, wherein one candidate was arrested just before election and the other, an HC sound-alike, was killed in an accident leaving the Independent candidate, Alexander Hope, the only viable candidate to vote for. (In this case, it would be Johnson who is nowhere near the quality of Alexander Hope. But then, they never are; fiction is always better than real-time politicians.)
The term “October Surprise” is a very old one in politics. I’m not sure how far back it goes, but it usually refers to something negative happening to one candidate that harms that person’s campaign.
What Wikileaks has planned could be a fine example — except that October surprises aren’t usually announced in advance!
47,000 in Cook County, but how many are there among the problem-people, and in the problem areas? The county population is 5.2 million.
I don’t know if “stop and frisk” is subordinate to “probable cause”. Is it? Courts have held that a cop can ask anybody for their name, any time–and an ID card need not be possessed nor shown. But that’s not a frisk.
All I’m saying is that I understand the locally-probable reason for stop and frisk. But one question arises: What level of death is justifiable in the name of Liberty? In order that there be Liberty in the ghettos of Chicago, have you any limit to the number of dead bodies that is acceptable to you? (‘Nuther Q: If, “Nah, no limit,” is that racist? :-))
“What level of death is justifiable in the name of Liberty?”
That kind of statement makes me ask you Desertrat; How do you feel about the 2nd amendment”, in your opinion should the “liberty” of owning a gun be restricted when in your opinion the level of death justifies it? And what level is that?
The problem in our inter city plantations for the poor people of this country has been create by the “powers that be” whereas those “powers that be” can stay being the “powers that be”;
All they (the poor) have to do is keep voting for “the powers that be” and the “powers that be” will keep giving the poor free stuff so they (the poor) don’t have to be responsible nor have any self respect which over a period of time can turn good people into bad just like when you free da bears which we all know you shouldn’t but the “powers that be” advocate constantly for “we the people”.
Oh and the “powers that be” also know;
Taking away the liberty of those they want to make into their (voting) slaves who live in our inter city plantations or the rest of the country for that matter can also keep “we the people” on their plantation too? So make sure you keep voting for those powers that be so we can all get more free stuff, don’t ya know!!
But Desertrat is anything I just said racist in your opinion?
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” have you any limit to the number of dead bodies that is acceptable to you? ”
Do you, or any of us, have any control or say about that? How does that work? I have not shot anyone lately… but if I did, I’d consider that dead body “acceptable” in place of my own. Don’t think this is a numbers game…
The “police” (and all gov. employees and politicians) should be held to the exact same standard of behavior and accountability as they expect for the least of us mundanes. I don’t know how this could be done, but it would solve a lot of the problems.