Saturday, February 02, 2008
On those idiot Brady Coalition to Ban Firearms rankings,
Uncle points something out:
Even worse for Brady, violent crime trends are not spread equally across all states. RTC states (average Brady grade “D”) saw an aggregate 7.8% drop in violent crime, while non-RTC states (average Brady grade “B”) saw a 5.2% decrease.
Read it all.
Even worse for Brady, violent crime trends are not spread equally across all states. RTC states (average Brady grade “D”) saw an aggregate 7.8% drop in violent crime, while non-RTC states (average Brady grade “B”) saw a 5.2% decrease.
Read it all.
If you're looking for your first 1911,
go read this from Chris. Good information.
The carry piece I bought some years back is a Kimber Compact: 3.5" barrel, aluminum frame, Officer size grip. I can't say good or bad about Kimber customer service because I've never had to use them. That does not mean I wouldn't look at a S&W or Taurus, for instance. Matter of fact, I fired one of the S&W 1911PD models, and I really liked it.
In any case, good information from someone who knows the platform.
The carry piece I bought some years back is a Kimber Compact: 3.5" barrel, aluminum frame, Officer size grip. I can't say good or bad about Kimber customer service because I've never had to use them. That does not mean I wouldn't look at a S&W or Taurus, for instance. Matter of fact, I fired one of the S&W 1911PD models, and I really liked it.
In any case, good information from someone who knows the platform.
My great-uncle Ray died today
He was one of those people who hated the idea of a war, but there was a nasty job that had to be done, so...
Afterward, he came home and built a life and family. Hardly ever spoke of the war to anyone; the nasty job was done, and he didn't want to dwell on it.
Bye, Ray. I don't think it actually needs to be said, but God keep you.
Afterward, he came home and built a life and family. Hardly ever spoke of the war to anyone; the nasty job was done, and he didn't want to dwell on it.
Bye, Ray. I don't think it actually needs to be said, but God keep you.
Friday, February 01, 2008
And speaking of our "We're the only ones qualified
to tell you the news" media, why the hell aren't they all over possible treason at the State Department?
Two weeks ago, the London Sunday Times broke an exclusive story about FBI translator-turned-whistleblower Sibel Edmonds. For five years, the U.S. government has prevented Edmonds from speaking publicly on what she knows, claiming State Secrets Privilege. The Times got the exclusive on the story, eerily titled “For Sale: West’s Deadly Nuclear Secrets,” by talking to a number of Edmonds’ close associates who were not under a gag order, and by filling in pieces of the puzzle from Sibel Edmonds herself.
According the Times article, the U.S. government sought to gag Edmonds from revealing that corrupt government officials — specifically, State Department official Marc Grossman — were directly involved in the stealing and selling of nuclear secrets to foreign agents. In her role as translator, Edmonds listened in on, or translated, hundreds of secretly intercepted conversations between State Department officials and foreign nationals from 1996 to 2002.
I guess our 'journalists' are too busy kissing Clinton and Obama's butts, and too busy chasing Britney around, to worry about little things like this.
Two weeks ago, the London Sunday Times broke an exclusive story about FBI translator-turned-whistleblower Sibel Edmonds. For five years, the U.S. government has prevented Edmonds from speaking publicly on what she knows, claiming State Secrets Privilege. The Times got the exclusive on the story, eerily titled “For Sale: West’s Deadly Nuclear Secrets,” by talking to a number of Edmonds’ close associates who were not under a gag order, and by filling in pieces of the puzzle from Sibel Edmonds herself.
According the Times article, the U.S. government sought to gag Edmonds from revealing that corrupt government officials — specifically, State Department official Marc Grossman — were directly involved in the stealing and selling of nuclear secrets to foreign agents. In her role as translator, Edmonds listened in on, or translated, hundreds of secretly intercepted conversations between State Department officials and foreign nationals from 1996 to 2002.
I guess our 'journalists' are too busy kissing Clinton and Obama's butts, and too busy chasing Britney around, to worry about little things like this.
There are actually two stories
here, and both of them make the NY Effin' Times look like the untrustworthy rag it is.
First is the main:
Then further down, on the subject of all that toxic mercury the health nannies have been scaring people about for years,
The Times proceeded to warn of the risks for women who might become pregnant and children. It failed to mention that according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), not a single woman of childbearing age or child in the United States has mercury levels anywhere close to unsafe levels.
In fact, it’s impossible for American women to eat enough fish to put their newborns at risk, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Human Nutrition Information Services. It analyzed the diets of American women of childbearing years using several available dietary surveys and factored in endless possibilities — such as heavy fish consumption, eating fish varieties with the highest methylmercury levels, repeatedly eating the same fish, and the amounts of methylmercury in a range of commercial fish samples. After 100,000 iterations, they found it was inconceivable for a mother to eat so much purchased fish she’d put her baby anywhere near harm’s way. Dr. James Heimbach, former associate administrator with the HNIS, reported at the FDA Methylmercury scientific meetings that American women “simply are not exposed to levels of methylmercury that would place the newborn children at risk.”
The Times also failed to mention any of the research of the world’s foremost experts on methylmercury and health — even though it has been widely reported and internationally recognized. For more than 30 years, researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center, in Rochester, New York, have closely followed populations eating large amounts of fish, including Samoans, Peruvians and residents of the Seychelles, and found no associated adverse effects in adults or children. The most careful and exhaustive, double-blind, longitudinal methylmercury exposure study ever conducted on expectant mothers and children was done on the people of Seychelles. These people have the highest per capita consumption of fish in the world, typically 12 fish meals each week, the same types of fish Americans eat. Even though the Seychelles children get 10 to 20 times more methylmercury than U.S. children, the researchers have tested them for more than 14 years now (using multiple global tests and over 57 endpoints for neurocognitive, language, memory, motor, perceptual-motor, and behavioral functions) and found no detectable adverse effects.
So after all the God-cursed posturing politicians and food nazis lecturing us on the evils of our power plants and scaring hell out of people(remember Alar?), it turns out all the 'terrify people in the name of doing good(as WE see it)' was a large, steaming, maggot-infested pile of what comes out the south end of the northbound bull. That has syphilis.
And the NYeffin' Times once again reminds us of why only they are professional enough, edited enough, fact-checked enough and trustworthy enough totell us what they decide we need to heartell us the news.
First is the main:
We now have a national newspaper create a news story, then report it as news, incorrectly — and, incredibly, that is considered professional journalism.
New York Times bought tuna from twenty stores and select restaurants and had them all tested for mercury levels. What did it find?
All of the tuna it tested being sold commercially in New York had mercury levels nearly ten times below the lowest amount that has been shown might ever pose a danger to the most sensitive population (babies and children) with a lifetime of daily exposure.
Good news, reassuring news, helpful news. There is no evidence of anything to fear.
Then further down, on the subject of all that toxic mercury the health nannies have been scaring people about for years,
The Times proceeded to warn of the risks for women who might become pregnant and children. It failed to mention that according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), not a single woman of childbearing age or child in the United States has mercury levels anywhere close to unsafe levels.
In fact, it’s impossible for American women to eat enough fish to put their newborns at risk, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Human Nutrition Information Services. It analyzed the diets of American women of childbearing years using several available dietary surveys and factored in endless possibilities — such as heavy fish consumption, eating fish varieties with the highest methylmercury levels, repeatedly eating the same fish, and the amounts of methylmercury in a range of commercial fish samples. After 100,000 iterations, they found it was inconceivable for a mother to eat so much purchased fish she’d put her baby anywhere near harm’s way. Dr. James Heimbach, former associate administrator with the HNIS, reported at the FDA Methylmercury scientific meetings that American women “simply are not exposed to levels of methylmercury that would place the newborn children at risk.”
The Times also failed to mention any of the research of the world’s foremost experts on methylmercury and health — even though it has been widely reported and internationally recognized. For more than 30 years, researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center, in Rochester, New York, have closely followed populations eating large amounts of fish, including Samoans, Peruvians and residents of the Seychelles, and found no associated adverse effects in adults or children. The most careful and exhaustive, double-blind, longitudinal methylmercury exposure study ever conducted on expectant mothers and children was done on the people of Seychelles. These people have the highest per capita consumption of fish in the world, typically 12 fish meals each week, the same types of fish Americans eat. Even though the Seychelles children get 10 to 20 times more methylmercury than U.S. children, the researchers have tested them for more than 14 years now (using multiple global tests and over 57 endpoints for neurocognitive, language, memory, motor, perceptual-motor, and behavioral functions) and found no detectable adverse effects.
So after all the God-cursed posturing politicians and food nazis lecturing us on the evils of our power plants and scaring hell out of people(remember Alar?), it turns out all the 'terrify people in the name of doing good(as WE see it)' was a large, steaming, maggot-infested pile of what comes out the south end of the northbound bull. That has syphilis.
And the NYeffin' Times once again reminds us of why only they are professional enough, edited enough, fact-checked enough and trustworthy enough to
A letter to Europe
from P.J. O'Rourke:
After the events of the 20th century, God, quite reasonably, left Europe. But He's still here in the United States. The majority of Americans are Christians, and Christians can be divided into two kinds, the kind who think you should get Jesus and the kind who think Jesus is going to get you. Mike Huckabee is one of the latter. Then there are the Mormons such as Mitt Romney who believe some unusual things--things that no sensible European like Jean-Paul Sartre, Martin Heidegger, Benito Mussolini, Karl Marx, Emanuel Swedenborg, or Cherie Blair would ever believe.
...
The question of race in America is supposed to be a matter of what one looks like. But it is difficult to comprehend how a political interest group that contains both Al Sharpton and Halle Berry could be based on looks. Barack Obama looks like he was raised in Hawaii. He may have just a good tan.
...
A man can be a Democrat to the core, going into the voting booth to pull the lever with the donkey label no matter what. Then he sees Hillary's name on the ballot. And it all comes back to him . . . the first marriage . . . the time he came home a little late, it wasn't even midnight, and he'd only had four or five beers, and she threw his bowling ball down the storm sewer.
The Republicans will have a hard time coming up with someone who can't beat Hillary Clinton. But I don't put it past them. You may remember Senator Bob Dole in 1996.
...
Mitt Romney is supposed to be my own type of candidate, a true conservative. But Mitt was governor of Massachusetts. This is like applying to be pope and listing your prior job experience as "Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem."
...
Let us not forget Ron Paul who is very popular--with people who stay up all night in Ayn Rand chatrooms, bury Krugerrands in the yard, and think the Trilateral Commission causes sub-prime mortgage foreclosures.
...
The problem for Obama is that, as yet, he doesn't have much political stature. However, there is a "Disney factor" is American politics. Think of America's politicians as the Seven Dwarves. They're all short--short on ethics, short on experience, short on common sense, short on something. But we keep thinking that one of these dwarves is going to save our snow white butt.
...
Who else do the Democrats have? There is, of course, Nobel Peace Prize-winning Al Gore. May I ask you Europeans, are your Norwegians crazy? What does the Nobel Peace Prize have to do with global warming? Did Al forge a truce in the war with the penguins? I'm trying to lead a carbon-neutral lifestyle myself. I've given up cigars. I think Al Gore should give up blowing smoke out his . . .
John Edwards is a personal injury lawyer, the sort of fellow who covers North Carolina with billboards reading, "Y'all May Have Been Malpracticed on by a Doctor and Not Even Know It. Call (800) S-H-Y-S-T-E-R." One of the remaining virtues of European civilization is that you aren't overrun with his ilk. John Edwards should go sue Krispy Kreme doughnuts for making his supporters too fat to get into the voting booths.
Found thanks to Mike
After the events of the 20th century, God, quite reasonably, left Europe. But He's still here in the United States. The majority of Americans are Christians, and Christians can be divided into two kinds, the kind who think you should get Jesus and the kind who think Jesus is going to get you. Mike Huckabee is one of the latter. Then there are the Mormons such as Mitt Romney who believe some unusual things--things that no sensible European like Jean-Paul Sartre, Martin Heidegger, Benito Mussolini, Karl Marx, Emanuel Swedenborg, or Cherie Blair would ever believe.
...
The question of race in America is supposed to be a matter of what one looks like. But it is difficult to comprehend how a political interest group that contains both Al Sharpton and Halle Berry could be based on looks. Barack Obama looks like he was raised in Hawaii. He may have just a good tan.
...
A man can be a Democrat to the core, going into the voting booth to pull the lever with the donkey label no matter what. Then he sees Hillary's name on the ballot. And it all comes back to him . . . the first marriage . . . the time he came home a little late, it wasn't even midnight, and he'd only had four or five beers, and she threw his bowling ball down the storm sewer.
The Republicans will have a hard time coming up with someone who can't beat Hillary Clinton. But I don't put it past them. You may remember Senator Bob Dole in 1996.
...
Mitt Romney is supposed to be my own type of candidate, a true conservative. But Mitt was governor of Massachusetts. This is like applying to be pope and listing your prior job experience as "Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem."
...
Let us not forget Ron Paul who is very popular--with people who stay up all night in Ayn Rand chatrooms, bury Krugerrands in the yard, and think the Trilateral Commission causes sub-prime mortgage foreclosures.
...
The problem for Obama is that, as yet, he doesn't have much political stature. However, there is a "Disney factor" is American politics. Think of America's politicians as the Seven Dwarves. They're all short--short on ethics, short on experience, short on common sense, short on something. But we keep thinking that one of these dwarves is going to save our snow white butt.
...
Who else do the Democrats have? There is, of course, Nobel Peace Prize-winning Al Gore. May I ask you Europeans, are your Norwegians crazy? What does the Nobel Peace Prize have to do with global warming? Did Al forge a truce in the war with the penguins? I'm trying to lead a carbon-neutral lifestyle myself. I've given up cigars. I think Al Gore should give up blowing smoke out his . . .
John Edwards is a personal injury lawyer, the sort of fellow who covers North Carolina with billboards reading, "Y'all May Have Been Malpracticed on by a Doctor and Not Even Know It. Call (800) S-H-Y-S-T-E-R." One of the remaining virtues of European civilization is that you aren't overrun with his ilk. John Edwards should go sue Krispy Kreme doughnuts for making his supporters too fat to get into the voting booths.
Found thanks to Mike
Ah yes, the 'noble warriors of Islam',
sending the handicapped to do their dirty work.
You know, even for a bunch of murdering, terrified of women, self-immolating neolithic goatherds with dire need of Cialis, they've fallen low.
And, of course, the Harry Reid "We've already lost!" clowns are just drooling over this. CF notes:
With tedious predictability, bloggers on the political left jumped with self-satisfaction at the opportunity to write about the attack, "proof" in their eyes, at last, that the "surge" of American forces into Iraq, which they so reviled, was a (blessed) failure.
However, he also notes:
First, it tells us that al Qaeda in Iraq recognizes that attempts to use male suicide bombers and vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (VBIEDs), their preferred method of suicide attacks for those seeking martyrdom, are no longer effective. These attacks fail because the combination of coalition military forces, Iraqi security forces, and neighborhood militias, known as "concerned local citizens" (CLCs) creating a security system that increasingly works, and makes it very unlikely that these preferred attacks will succeed. There is also some speculation that the influx of would-be foreign suicide bombers into Iraq is drying up.
Today's attacks also tell us that al Qaeda in Iraq is getting very desperate in seeking the high-casualty attacks that they so value. They were forced to scrape the bottom of the proverbial barrel, and use not only women (which they'd prefer to subjugate), but mentally disabled women at that, suggesting that finding willing volunteers is becoming ever more difficult.
It's interesting, both that some lefties are so friggin' happy about these attacks and that the 'noble warriors of the faith' actually believe this will either terrify or delight the Iraqis.
Bah. Both groups deserve each other.
You know, even for a bunch of murdering, terrified of women, self-immolating neolithic goatherds with dire need of Cialis, they've fallen low.
And, of course, the Harry Reid "We've already lost!" clowns are just drooling over this. CF notes:
With tedious predictability, bloggers on the political left jumped with self-satisfaction at the opportunity to write about the attack, "proof" in their eyes, at last, that the "surge" of American forces into Iraq, which they so reviled, was a (blessed) failure.
However, he also notes:
First, it tells us that al Qaeda in Iraq recognizes that attempts to use male suicide bombers and vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (VBIEDs), their preferred method of suicide attacks for those seeking martyrdom, are no longer effective. These attacks fail because the combination of coalition military forces, Iraqi security forces, and neighborhood militias, known as "concerned local citizens" (CLCs) creating a security system that increasingly works, and makes it very unlikely that these preferred attacks will succeed. There is also some speculation that the influx of would-be foreign suicide bombers into Iraq is drying up.
Today's attacks also tell us that al Qaeda in Iraq is getting very desperate in seeking the high-casualty attacks that they so value. They were forced to scrape the bottom of the proverbial barrel, and use not only women (which they'd prefer to subjugate), but mentally disabled women at that, suggesting that finding willing volunteers is becoming ever more difficult.
It's interesting, both that some lefties are so friggin' happy about these attacks and that the 'noble warriors of the faith' actually believe this will either terrify or delight the Iraqis.
Bah. Both groups deserve each other.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
TT33 Tokarev
Had a chance to shoot one of these a few days ago and-since I helped clean it after- take some pictures. This is one of the Romanian TT33 pistols available now, this one coming from AIM Surplus.
It fires the 7.62x25mm Tokarev cartridge, a .30-caliber bottleneck pushing a 85-90 grain bullet at 1400-1500 feet per second. Hot little cartridge, same one used in the Czech CZ52 pistol.
It looks a lot like a Browning design; indeed, I've found a couple of descriptions like this:
"It is essentially a slightly redesigned, less polished and somewhat simplified incarnation of John Browning's legendary 1911,". Which isn't surprising, why not copy a good design? Makarov basically did the same thing with the Walther to produce the Makarov pistol, from what I've read. In any case, to specifics:
About 8" long, 4.75" tall, barrel 4.5", weighs about 1.9 pounds.
Single-action semi-auto.
8 round single-stack magazine.
Square-back front post sight, rear notch. Actually better than the original 1911 sights, taller and the blade's a bit thicker.
As originally designed, no manual safety. It does have a half-cock notch on the hammer(I've heard it called a quarter-cock on 1911 pistols), so technically you could carry it with the chamber loaded and the hammer in the notch. You could. Personally, I'd prefer not to. All versions that were imported(so far as I know) were modified with a thumb safety of some design, in this case a vertically pivoting lever mounted below the slide lock:
up is 'safe', down is 'fire'. However, unlike the 1911 safety(which locks the sear) this only blocks the trigger, so cocked & locked carry would be an iffy thing.
We fire this one mostly at about 21 feet with both some Romanian ball and S&B ball. The only problem it had with any was a few of the Romanian cartridges either had the bullet seated a bit far out, or shoulders a bit long, and would not let the slide go into battery. I think the bullet, as when we tried a several of them a second time, they did allow the slide to lock, making me think the bullets set back a touch in the neck the second time. All the S&B ammo cycled through without a problem.
That's about75 rounds, all fired offhand with the usual flyers from getting familiar with it, etc. Once got comfortable with it, it was easy to keep them in the center, helped by this one having a very nice trigger, breaking cleanly at about 5 pounds. This ammo speaks loudly, and in a dim range area gives an interesting muzzle flash. It's actually a comfortable pistol to shoot. The grip is more vertical than the 1911, a bit shorter and more rounded, and the action takes the bite out of that hot little cartridge. I think it's nicer to shoot than the CZ52.
Takedown is interesting. Look in the first picture, see that spring clip? It fits around a pin at the back and slides forward, locking through a groove on that end of the slide lock pin. Push the clip to the rear, push the slide back a touch and the slide lock comes out, then the upper slides forward just like a 1911. Take the recoil spring & guide rod out the bottom of the slide, rotate the barrel bushing 180 degrees and pull it forward, then tip the barrel link forward and the barrel slides out. And then, an interesting difference, the fire control group- hammer, hammer spring, sear and spring- are in a housing that lifts out of the frame.
Cleaned the thing appropriately(the Romanian is corrosive primed) and slid it back together.
This pistol was listed as 'refinished to excellent condition', and it was: the bore bright with sharp rifling, no pitting on the outside, good bluing, no signs of much use. A very nice pistol for the price, and shoots quite well.
If I had one of these for a defense pistol I would NOT use ball ammo: besides the FMJ bullet not expanding, at this velocity overpenetration would be a problem. Wolf makes a hollowpoint for it in their Wolf Gold line, and I think a couple of other brands do also. If they're a good design and upset as they should, that would be a wicked defense round.
Links
Oleg Volk has some nice pictures here.
A history of the cartridge here.
Review of a Polish model here.
A LOT of variants listed here.
Some history on Tokarev here.
Kim's take on it here.
It fires the 7.62x25mm Tokarev cartridge, a .30-caliber bottleneck pushing a 85-90 grain bullet at 1400-1500 feet per second. Hot little cartridge, same one used in the Czech CZ52 pistol.
It looks a lot like a Browning design; indeed, I've found a couple of descriptions like this:
"It is essentially a slightly redesigned, less polished and somewhat simplified incarnation of John Browning's legendary 1911,". Which isn't surprising, why not copy a good design? Makarov basically did the same thing with the Walther to produce the Makarov pistol, from what I've read. In any case, to specifics:
About 8" long, 4.75" tall, barrel 4.5", weighs about 1.9 pounds.
Single-action semi-auto.
8 round single-stack magazine.
Square-back front post sight, rear notch. Actually better than the original 1911 sights, taller and the blade's a bit thicker.
As originally designed, no manual safety. It does have a half-cock notch on the hammer(I've heard it called a quarter-cock on 1911 pistols), so technically you could carry it with the chamber loaded and the hammer in the notch. You could. Personally, I'd prefer not to. All versions that were imported(so far as I know) were modified with a thumb safety of some design, in this case a vertically pivoting lever mounted below the slide lock:
up is 'safe', down is 'fire'. However, unlike the 1911 safety(which locks the sear) this only blocks the trigger, so cocked & locked carry would be an iffy thing.
We fire this one mostly at about 21 feet with both some Romanian ball and S&B ball. The only problem it had with any was a few of the Romanian cartridges either had the bullet seated a bit far out, or shoulders a bit long, and would not let the slide go into battery. I think the bullet, as when we tried a several of them a second time, they did allow the slide to lock, making me think the bullets set back a touch in the neck the second time. All the S&B ammo cycled through without a problem.
That's about75 rounds, all fired offhand with the usual flyers from getting familiar with it, etc. Once got comfortable with it, it was easy to keep them in the center, helped by this one having a very nice trigger, breaking cleanly at about 5 pounds. This ammo speaks loudly, and in a dim range area gives an interesting muzzle flash. It's actually a comfortable pistol to shoot. The grip is more vertical than the 1911, a bit shorter and more rounded, and the action takes the bite out of that hot little cartridge. I think it's nicer to shoot than the CZ52.
Takedown is interesting. Look in the first picture, see that spring clip? It fits around a pin at the back and slides forward, locking through a groove on that end of the slide lock pin. Push the clip to the rear, push the slide back a touch and the slide lock comes out, then the upper slides forward just like a 1911. Take the recoil spring & guide rod out the bottom of the slide, rotate the barrel bushing 180 degrees and pull it forward, then tip the barrel link forward and the barrel slides out. And then, an interesting difference, the fire control group- hammer, hammer spring, sear and spring- are in a housing that lifts out of the frame.
Cleaned the thing appropriately(the Romanian is corrosive primed) and slid it back together.
This pistol was listed as 'refinished to excellent condition', and it was: the bore bright with sharp rifling, no pitting on the outside, good bluing, no signs of much use. A very nice pistol for the price, and shoots quite well.
If I had one of these for a defense pistol I would NOT use ball ammo: besides the FMJ bullet not expanding, at this velocity overpenetration would be a problem. Wolf makes a hollowpoint for it in their Wolf Gold line, and I think a couple of other brands do also. If they're a good design and upset as they should, that would be a wicked defense round.
Links
Oleg Volk has some nice pictures here.
A history of the cartridge here.
Review of a Polish model here.
A LOT of variants listed here.
Some history on Tokarev here.
Kim's take on it here.
Thanks to Mr. McCarville, I find that the Brady Coalition to Ban Firearms doesn't like our state.
OKLAHOMA STATE LAWS — Click On Law Below For Details
This is the first time I've looked at their site for their rankings on this crap. Interesting. Note that they call for things like "Are only authorized users able to operate handguns?", in other words the mythical 'smart gun'. Which not only doesn't exist, but laws pushing for them have always, I believe, exempted law enforcement. If they actually exist and work, why would you do that?(I know you know; I can't decide whether the Brady Coalition to Ban Firearms doesn't, or doesn't care. Probably the latter)
And 'Ballistic Fingerprinting', which has been such a spectacular failure in NY and MD. And worked so badly in the study that CA dropped the idea.
And things worded in the most dishonest and nasty way, such as "Is deadly force allowed to be a first resort in public?" Of course, they do think that, if you're attacked, you must do everything down to and including crawling on your belly and licking the shoes of your attacker before you consider any kind of violence. That is, except for the BCTBF members who think you should never be allowed to use force to protect yourself. Which idea is working so well in Britain.
In short, if your state
Hasn't trashed the 2nd Amendment completely,
doesn't make you wait for a gun you buy,
doesn't make you get a license to be allowed to buy,
doesn't limit the amount of ammo you own,
doesn't make you wait to be injured(or killed) before 'lethal force' is an option,
doesn't make you register your arms,
doesn't demand your guns be of a non-existant 'smart' type
etc.,
then YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT THE CHILDRENN!
I, on the other hand, am very happy to say to the Brady Coalition to Ban Firearms, "Screw you, nanny." We care about people, including the chilluns("Grab that extra brick of .22's, we want plenty when we hit the range, kids"),and about freedom. Which you don't.
OKLAHOMA STATE LAWS — Click On Law Below For Details
|
| ||||
|
| ||||
|
| ||||
|
| ||||
|
| ||||
|
| ||||
|
| ||||
|
| ||||
|
| ||||
|
| ||||
|
| ||||
|
| ||||
|
This is the first time I've looked at their site for their rankings on this crap. Interesting. Note that they call for things like "Are only authorized users able to operate handguns?", in other words the mythical 'smart gun'. Which not only doesn't exist, but laws pushing for them have always, I believe, exempted law enforcement. If they actually exist and work, why would you do that?(I know you know; I can't decide whether the Brady Coalition to Ban Firearms doesn't, or doesn't care. Probably the latter)
And 'Ballistic Fingerprinting', which has been such a spectacular failure in NY and MD. And worked so badly in the study that CA dropped the idea.
And things worded in the most dishonest and nasty way, such as "Is deadly force allowed to be a first resort in public?" Of course, they do think that, if you're attacked, you must do everything down to and including crawling on your belly and licking the shoes of your attacker before you consider any kind of violence. That is, except for the BCTBF members who think you should never be allowed to use force to protect yourself. Which idea is working so well in Britain.
In short, if your state
Hasn't trashed the 2nd Amendment completely,
doesn't make you wait for a gun you buy,
doesn't make you get a license to be allowed to buy,
doesn't limit the amount of ammo you own,
doesn't make you wait to be injured(or killed) before 'lethal force' is an option,
doesn't make you register your arms,
doesn't demand your guns be of a non-existant 'smart' type
etc.,
then YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT THE CHILDRENN!
I, on the other hand, am very happy to say to the Brady Coalition to Ban Firearms, "Screw you, nanny." We care about people, including the chilluns("Grab that extra brick of .22's, we want plenty when we hit the range, kids"),and about freedom. Which you don't.
Well, I guess they were bored:
probably no children to molest or enough women to set up brothels.
Spectacular prehistoric depictions of animal and human figures created up to 6,000 years ago on Western Saharan rocks have been vandalised by United Nations peacekeepers, The Times has learnt.
Archaeological sites boasting ancient paintings and engravings of giraffes, buffalo and elephants have been defaced within the past two years by personnel attached to the UN mission, known by its French acronym, Minurso.
Graffiti, some of it more than a metre high and sprayed with paint meant for use for marking routes, now blights the rock art at Lajuad, an isolated site known as Devil Mountain, which is regarded by the local Sahrawi population as a mystical place of great cultural significance.
Used to be, anyway.
Julian J. Harston, the UN’s representative of the Secretary-General for Western Sahara and head of Minurso, said that he had been shocked by the scale of the vandalism. After visiting two of the sites, including Devil Mountain, this week, he said: “I was appalled. You’d think some of them would know better. These are officers, not squaddies.” The UN would take action against any officers “kind enough to leave their calling card. We will report it to the troop-contributing countries. We can move them.”
That's punishment, all right!
...Minurso staff have felt entitled to destroy elements of Western Sahara’s and the Sahrawis’ cultural heritage, despite being aware of UN ethics in peacekeeping, and in breach of legislation enshrined in the 1954 Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict.”
Them Conventions really got teeth, don't they?
It concludes: “Minurso personnel have played a major role in damaging archaeological sites, and such staff are engaged in the systematic defacement of valuable archaeological sites over a large area . . . the recent damage at Lajuad is unprecedented.”
The vandalism will reignite the debate about the conduct of UN peacekeepers after a series of scandals. Last January the UN admitted that more than 200 of its troops had been disciplined for sex offences, including rape and child abuse, in the preceding three years; in May it emerged that Paki-stani peacekeepers had been trading weapons with Congolese militia.
UN Peacekeepers: Defacing History That Others Won't!
Added: I was thinking about the line as a mystical place of great cultural significance. I wonder if there's some reason they couldn't say 'as a holy place.'
Spectacular prehistoric depictions of animal and human figures created up to 6,000 years ago on Western Saharan rocks have been vandalised by United Nations peacekeepers, The Times has learnt.
Archaeological sites boasting ancient paintings and engravings of giraffes, buffalo and elephants have been defaced within the past two years by personnel attached to the UN mission, known by its French acronym, Minurso.
Graffiti, some of it more than a metre high and sprayed with paint meant for use for marking routes, now blights the rock art at Lajuad, an isolated site known as Devil Mountain, which is regarded by the local Sahrawi population as a mystical place of great cultural significance.
Used to be, anyway.
Julian J. Harston, the UN’s representative of the Secretary-General for Western Sahara and head of Minurso, said that he had been shocked by the scale of the vandalism. After visiting two of the sites, including Devil Mountain, this week, he said: “I was appalled. You’d think some of them would know better. These are officers, not squaddies.” The UN would take action against any officers “kind enough to leave their calling card. We will report it to the troop-contributing countries. We can move them.”
That's punishment, all right!
...Minurso staff have felt entitled to destroy elements of Western Sahara’s and the Sahrawis’ cultural heritage, despite being aware of UN ethics in peacekeeping, and in breach of legislation enshrined in the 1954 Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict.”
Them Conventions really got teeth, don't they?
It concludes: “Minurso personnel have played a major role in damaging archaeological sites, and such staff are engaged in the systematic defacement of valuable archaeological sites over a large area . . . the recent damage at Lajuad is unprecedented.”
The vandalism will reignite the debate about the conduct of UN peacekeepers after a series of scandals. Last January the UN admitted that more than 200 of its troops had been disciplined for sex offences, including rape and child abuse, in the preceding three years; in May it emerged that Paki-stani peacekeepers had been trading weapons with Congolese militia.
UN Peacekeepers: Defacing History That Others Won't!
Added: I was thinking about the line as a mystical place of great cultural significance. I wonder if there's some reason they couldn't say 'as a holy place.'
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Be it noted
the amount of habanero that just makes a pot of chili nice & warm, makes the same size pot of stew a touch on the hot side.
Good, though. Especially with cornbread.g
Good, though. Especially with cornbread.g
Another reason Britain ought to go back to having a death penalty
Islamic extremist gang 'plotted to kidnap British Muslim soldier and behead him like a pig'
An Islamist fanatic plotted to snatch a British Muslim soldier from the streets and film him being beheaded "like a pig" in a lock-up garage, a court heard.
Parviz Khan, 37, built up a terrorist cell in Birmingham and planned to kidnap the soldier before filming his "ghastly" death for release to the media.
The attack was designed to cause "panic and fear" amongst the Army and the wider British public.
...
Leicester Crown Court was told that the terror cell had sent money and equipment to Pakistan for the use of terrorists trying to kill British soldiers on the Afghan border.
Prosecutor Nigel Rumfitt QC said Khan wanted to get "physically involved" in the bloodshed but was prevented by "his bosses overseas" because his supply operation was so valued.
Instead, the court heard, he hatched the plot to kill a soldier in the UK.
Such lovely people, aren't they?
Thanks to Theo for pointing this out.
An Islamist fanatic plotted to snatch a British Muslim soldier from the streets and film him being beheaded "like a pig" in a lock-up garage, a court heard.
Parviz Khan, 37, built up a terrorist cell in Birmingham and planned to kidnap the soldier before filming his "ghastly" death for release to the media.
The attack was designed to cause "panic and fear" amongst the Army and the wider British public.
...
Leicester Crown Court was told that the terror cell had sent money and equipment to Pakistan for the use of terrorists trying to kill British soldiers on the Afghan border.
Prosecutor Nigel Rumfitt QC said Khan wanted to get "physically involved" in the bloodshed but was prevented by "his bosses overseas" because his supply operation was so valued.
Instead, the court heard, he hatched the plot to kill a soldier in the UK.
Such lovely people, aren't they?
Thanks to Theo for pointing this out.
Monster Hunter International
Finished it last night. Good book, well worth getting hold of.
Remember I said I found myself delaying finishing it for the same reason as the last Dresden book? Something struck me about it: it read similar to the first Dresden book, Storm Front. Not the same story, similarities in being a first book. Not a bad thing, that was a good book too, and look where it led.
Remember I said I found myself delaying finishing it for the same reason as the last Dresden book? Something struck me about it: it read similar to the first Dresden book, Storm Front. Not the same story, similarities in being a first book. Not a bad thing, that was a good book too, and look where it led.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Yup, gummint health care
is gonna be great.
Doctors are calling for NHS treatment to be withheld from patients who are too old or who lead unhealthy lives.
And if I remember right, Governor Sibelius has been a bit hostile to CCW, but she's all a-twitter over this:
“Fight your way through six different exciting locations in hopes of being granted parole,” the box reads. “Escape prison riots in the yard, slip glass into the mob boss’s lasagna in the cafeteria, steal painkillers from the nurse’s desk in the Infirmary, avoid being cornered by the Aryans in the Shower Room, fight off Latin Kings in Gang War and try not to smoke your entire stash in the Hole.”
So what influences from a buttoned-down Democratic upbringing led to a sexually charged board game with gang names like Zulu Nation, Texas Syndicate and Nazi Lowriders? A game that stipulates that “a guard finds you after you sold him some bad crack. Lose a turn and 50 packs” or “You slipped in the shower. Big mistake. Proceed to infirmary”?
Doctors are calling for NHS treatment to be withheld from patients who are too old or who lead unhealthy lives.
And if I remember right, Governor Sibelius has been a bit hostile to CCW, but she's all a-twitter over this:
“Fight your way through six different exciting locations in hopes of being granted parole,” the box reads. “Escape prison riots in the yard, slip glass into the mob boss’s lasagna in the cafeteria, steal painkillers from the nurse’s desk in the Infirmary, avoid being cornered by the Aryans in the Shower Room, fight off Latin Kings in Gang War and try not to smoke your entire stash in the Hole.”
So what influences from a buttoned-down Democratic upbringing led to a sexually charged board game with gang names like Zulu Nation, Texas Syndicate and Nazi Lowriders? A game that stipulates that “a guard finds you after you sold him some bad crack. Lose a turn and 50 packs” or “You slipped in the shower. Big mistake. Proceed to infirmary”?
Ah, the wonders of multi-culturalism
and its effect on gays.
I wrote before about the idiocy of groups like 'Queers for Palistine' demonstrating for a group that would, at the least, beat the crap out of them and tell them "Change or die." Well, here's some of what that good old tolerance for the 'poor muslims' has brought.
Not very long ago, Oslo was an icy Shangri-la of Scandinavian self-discipline, governability, and respect for the law. But in recent years, there have been grim changes, including a rise in gay-bashings. The summer of 2006 saw an unprecedented wave of them. The culprits, very disproportionately, are young Muslim men.
It’s not just Oslo, of course. The problem afflicts most of Western Europe. And anecdotal evidence suggests that such crimes are dramatically underreported. My own partner chose not to report his assault. I urged him to, but he protested that it wouldn’t make any difference. He was probably right.
The reason for the rise in gay bashings in Europe is clear – and it’s the same reason for the rise in rape. As the number of Muslims in Europe grows, and as the proportion of those Muslims who were born and bred in Europe also grows, many Muslim men are more inclined to see Europe as a part of the umma (or Muslim world), to believe that they have the right and duty to enforce sharia law in the cities where they live, and to recognize that any aggression on their part will likely go unpunished. Such men need not be actively religious in order to feel that they have carte blanche to assault openly gay men and non-submissive women, whose freedom to live their lives as they wish is among the most conspicuous symbols of the West’s defiance of holy law.
...
Alas, it is now very clearly the opposite. The number of reported gay-bashings in Amsterdam now climbs steadily year by year. Nearly half Muslim, the city is a front in the struggle between democracy and sharia, under which, lest it be forgotten, homosexuality can be a capital offense. Things have gotten so bad there that even on the part of the exceedingly politically correct, there has been a degree of acknowledgment that something has changed, and is still changing. After a group of Amsterdam Muslims beat up Chris Crain, the six-foot-five editor of the gay newspaper The Washington Blade, in May 2005, the head of the Netherlands’ leading gay-rights organization admitted that tolerance of gay people in that city was “slipping away like sand through the fingers” and that “gays and lesbians are less willing to walk hand-in-hand because they might be beaten up.”
I can testify that this is true. Yet politicians, journalists, activists, and others who cling to the multicultural mindset can’t bring themselves to acknowledge the Islamic foundations of all this bullying. Instead, they offer the same kind of nonsense that was served up by a Human Rights Watch spokesman after the Chris Crain incident. “There’s still an extraordinary degree of racism in Dutch society,” that spokesman said. “Gays often become the victims of this when immigrants retaliate for the inequities they have to suffer.”
Yeah, the muslims are ALWAYS the victim. Not just in their own eyes, but in the eyes of the PC-at-all-costs brigade. This is in Amsterdam, mind you, where they've bent over backwards to the point of no longer having a spine to show their 'tolerance'. Which, at this level is more accurately known as their society death wish.
In any event, another mayor, London’s Ken Livingstone, has already blazed that trail. In 2004, playing host to Sunni scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who has supported the execution of gay people, Livingstone hailed him as a “progressive.” When gay activists called him on this ridiculous assertion, Livingstone retaliated by putting out a dissertation-length report whitewashing Qaradawi and smearing his critics as racists.
Progressives, aren't they cute?
And for an illustration of a big part of the problem, the unwillingness of so many muslims to criticize anything done by the radical/traditional types, or- if they do speak a criticism- their making excuses for it, no matter what, we go back to Norway:
Perhaps younger, well educated Muslims are more enlightened? Another participant in the University of Oslo debate, Muslim Student Association head Usman Rana, said that he personally didn’t support making homosexuality a capital crime, but that he would not criticize other countries’ practices. “There is unfortunately a tendency in Norway to degrade religious people,” Rana told Universitas, the college newspaper. “It is due to an extreme secularism among the Norwegian public. I fervently hope that our participation [in the debate on the death penalty for gays] helps to create a more nuanced view of Islam. The Norwegian public needs to become more liberal.”
Got it. If you speak out against wanting to make being homosexual a death penalty offense, it means you're 'downgrading religious people', you're not 'liberal' enough. And, again, muslims are the victims, no matter what.
Happily, not all buy into this "We must be the victim, no matter what, no matter who" crap. These folks, for instance, seem quite willing to point things out. And just how much publicity do they get? Damn little, and I'll bet if you asked a lot of 'progressives' why they don't bring them up, you'd hear something along the lines of "We shouldn't criticize, or help those who do criticize Islam, it's insensitive." Even if the people criticizing are trying to keep their religeon from completely devolving to nothing more than a murder cult wanting total power. It's already that to far too many, we need to encourage those who want to save it from that.
I wrote before about the idiocy of groups like 'Queers for Palistine' demonstrating for a group that would, at the least, beat the crap out of them and tell them "Change or die." Well, here's some of what that good old tolerance for the 'poor muslims' has brought.
Not very long ago, Oslo was an icy Shangri-la of Scandinavian self-discipline, governability, and respect for the law. But in recent years, there have been grim changes, including a rise in gay-bashings. The summer of 2006 saw an unprecedented wave of them. The culprits, very disproportionately, are young Muslim men.
It’s not just Oslo, of course. The problem afflicts most of Western Europe. And anecdotal evidence suggests that such crimes are dramatically underreported. My own partner chose not to report his assault. I urged him to, but he protested that it wouldn’t make any difference. He was probably right.
The reason for the rise in gay bashings in Europe is clear – and it’s the same reason for the rise in rape. As the number of Muslims in Europe grows, and as the proportion of those Muslims who were born and bred in Europe also grows, many Muslim men are more inclined to see Europe as a part of the umma (or Muslim world), to believe that they have the right and duty to enforce sharia law in the cities where they live, and to recognize that any aggression on their part will likely go unpunished. Such men need not be actively religious in order to feel that they have carte blanche to assault openly gay men and non-submissive women, whose freedom to live their lives as they wish is among the most conspicuous symbols of the West’s defiance of holy law.
...
Alas, it is now very clearly the opposite. The number of reported gay-bashings in Amsterdam now climbs steadily year by year. Nearly half Muslim, the city is a front in the struggle between democracy and sharia, under which, lest it be forgotten, homosexuality can be a capital offense. Things have gotten so bad there that even on the part of the exceedingly politically correct, there has been a degree of acknowledgment that something has changed, and is still changing. After a group of Amsterdam Muslims beat up Chris Crain, the six-foot-five editor of the gay newspaper The Washington Blade, in May 2005, the head of the Netherlands’ leading gay-rights organization admitted that tolerance of gay people in that city was “slipping away like sand through the fingers” and that “gays and lesbians are less willing to walk hand-in-hand because they might be beaten up.”
I can testify that this is true. Yet politicians, journalists, activists, and others who cling to the multicultural mindset can’t bring themselves to acknowledge the Islamic foundations of all this bullying. Instead, they offer the same kind of nonsense that was served up by a Human Rights Watch spokesman after the Chris Crain incident. “There’s still an extraordinary degree of racism in Dutch society,” that spokesman said. “Gays often become the victims of this when immigrants retaliate for the inequities they have to suffer.”
Yeah, the muslims are ALWAYS the victim. Not just in their own eyes, but in the eyes of the PC-at-all-costs brigade. This is in Amsterdam, mind you, where they've bent over backwards to the point of no longer having a spine to show their 'tolerance'. Which, at this level is more accurately known as their society death wish.
In any event, another mayor, London’s Ken Livingstone, has already blazed that trail. In 2004, playing host to Sunni scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who has supported the execution of gay people, Livingstone hailed him as a “progressive.” When gay activists called him on this ridiculous assertion, Livingstone retaliated by putting out a dissertation-length report whitewashing Qaradawi and smearing his critics as racists.
Progressives, aren't they cute?
And for an illustration of a big part of the problem, the unwillingness of so many muslims to criticize anything done by the radical/traditional types, or- if they do speak a criticism- their making excuses for it, no matter what, we go back to Norway:
Perhaps younger, well educated Muslims are more enlightened? Another participant in the University of Oslo debate, Muslim Student Association head Usman Rana, said that he personally didn’t support making homosexuality a capital crime, but that he would not criticize other countries’ practices. “There is unfortunately a tendency in Norway to degrade religious people,” Rana told Universitas, the college newspaper. “It is due to an extreme secularism among the Norwegian public. I fervently hope that our participation [in the debate on the death penalty for gays] helps to create a more nuanced view of Islam. The Norwegian public needs to become more liberal.”
Got it. If you speak out against wanting to make being homosexual a death penalty offense, it means you're 'downgrading religious people', you're not 'liberal' enough. And, again, muslims are the victims, no matter what.
Happily, not all buy into this "We must be the victim, no matter what, no matter who" crap. These folks, for instance, seem quite willing to point things out. And just how much publicity do they get? Damn little, and I'll bet if you asked a lot of 'progressives' why they don't bring them up, you'd hear something along the lines of "We shouldn't criticize, or help those who do criticize Islam, it's insensitive." Even if the people criticizing are trying to keep their religeon from completely devolving to nothing more than a murder cult wanting total power. It's already that to far too many, we need to encourage those who want to save it from that.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Retired Green Beanie court martialed:
Trial Enjoyed by All
BREVARD, Jan. 19, 2008 – Retired Army Green Beret Smokey Taylor got his court martial this weekend and came away feeling good about it.
Taylor, at age 80 the oldest member of Chapter XXXIII of the Special Forces Association, was on trial by his peers under the charge of “failing to use a weapon of sufficient caliber” in the shooting of an intruder at his home in Knoxville, TN, in December.
...
Taylor said nothing in his own defense, choosing instead to allow his peers to debate the matter. After the trial he said the ammunition was indeed old and added the new information that the perp had soiled his pants as he crawled out of the house.
“I would have had an even worse mess to clean up if it had gone through his forehead,” Taylor said. “It was good for both of us that it didn’t.”
I had to create a 'Disarmament idiocy' link
for this crap.
"I would have stopped him," Knox said. "Because when I went to school, I carried a gun. It was legal; I did it."
Goddard, a Virginia Tech senior who was shot four times in the April 16 massacre, was taken aback, then said: "I feel sorry for you - the fact that you feel you need to protect yourself in every situation.
"You're afraid of crazy situations happening. I've lived through this and I know that I can't continue in my life afraid of things," he said, adding that he put his "full trust" in the police to protect society.
I have to sit here and marvel at the idiocy of this. He's sorry for someone who 'feels the need to protect himself'? SORRY?!? "...I know I can't continue in my life to be afraid of things," but is SORRY for someone who's not afraid, only prepared just in case?
Just frickin' amazing. Of course it fits in with the ADL jumping into the Heller case, commented on by the Pistolero here.
People who think A: there's something very moral about being disarmed and unwilling to protect themselves and B: want the rest of us to be forced into the same mindset, or at least forced to act like it. Wonderful.
"I would have stopped him," Knox said. "Because when I went to school, I carried a gun. It was legal; I did it."
Goddard, a Virginia Tech senior who was shot four times in the April 16 massacre, was taken aback, then said: "I feel sorry for you - the fact that you feel you need to protect yourself in every situation.
"You're afraid of crazy situations happening. I've lived through this and I know that I can't continue in my life afraid of things," he said, adding that he put his "full trust" in the police to protect society.
I have to sit here and marvel at the idiocy of this. He's sorry for someone who 'feels the need to protect himself'? SORRY?!? "...I know I can't continue in my life to be afraid of things," but is SORRY for someone who's not afraid, only prepared just in case?
Just frickin' amazing. Of course it fits in with the ADL jumping into the Heller case, commented on by the Pistolero here.
People who think A: there's something very moral about being disarmed and unwilling to protect themselves and B: want the rest of us to be forced into the same mindset, or at least forced to act like it. Wonderful.
Book update
Monster Hunter International
I'm about 3/4 through it, and I like it. I realized the other day the reason haven't finished it yet, I've been reading it same as I did the last Dresden Files book: don't want it to be over too soon, so haven't been reading the way I usually do.
Soon, soon...
I'm about 3/4 through it, and I like it. I realized the other day the reason haven't finished it yet, I've been reading it same as I did the last Dresden Files book: don't want it to be over too soon, so haven't been reading the way I usually do.
Soon, soon...
More information on the latest SWAT raids gone wrong
Sebastian had this with this link to Balko on this raid. And it does not look good. It looks like they set up the raid based solely on the statement of the informant with no investigation to see if the information was good. Looked a bit more recently and he's got this:
That’s not the case with Frederick. It took five days just to reveal that the police found drugs. We’ve yet to be told what quantity of drugs police found in his home. We do know that they didn’t find the major grow operation described in the warrant. It’s also probably time to start inquiring about the informant whose tip led to the raid. Who is he? Did he have a grudge against Frederick? What exactly did he see that made him think this was a major operation? Does he know enough about marijuana to know what a major grow operation would look like?
He told me a couple of interesting things that didn’t appear in the paper’s interview with Frederick. First, Frederick told the reporter that as the police were taking him out of the house in handcuffs, he told them he was sorry, and that he was scared because his house had been burglarized earlier in the week. According to the reporter, Frederick says the police arresting him then told him they not only knew about the burglary, they knew who had done it. Neither the reporter nor Frederick made the connection at the time that the person who broke in could well also be the informant.
...
More interesting, though, are the comments from neighbors who not only also vouch for Frederick’s credibility, they also say they never heard the announcement the Chesapeake Police Department insists was given before officers forced entry. One was outside at the time of the raid. That’s not to say there was no announcement. It is to say that if someone standing outside didn’t hear it, how could we expect Frederick, who was inside and in bed, to hear it?
among other things.
At this point it looks like the end result of this mess is that an unnecessary 'dynamic entry' was done on lousy reason, with no prior investigation of the information, on the home of a gardener who had a little grass for personal use. Who apparently had NO marijuana growing at all, let alone the 'sophisticated grow operation' the informant claimed. And a lot of other very flaky information as to who did what. Which led the the completely unnecessary raid and the death of a police officer.
Damn.
That’s not the case with Frederick. It took five days just to reveal that the police found drugs. We’ve yet to be told what quantity of drugs police found in his home. We do know that they didn’t find the major grow operation described in the warrant. It’s also probably time to start inquiring about the informant whose tip led to the raid. Who is he? Did he have a grudge against Frederick? What exactly did he see that made him think this was a major operation? Does he know enough about marijuana to know what a major grow operation would look like?
Here’s another scary thought: Frederick says one reason he was frightened was that three days prior to the shooting, someone had broken into his house, rummaged through his belongings, but didn’t take anything. The search warrant says that the confidential informant was in Frederick’s home within 72 hours of the raid. Could it be that the informant was the one who broke into Frederick’s house? Might be worth asking Frederick who was in his home in the previous week.
and this:He told me a couple of interesting things that didn’t appear in the paper’s interview with Frederick. First, Frederick told the reporter that as the police were taking him out of the house in handcuffs, he told them he was sorry, and that he was scared because his house had been burglarized earlier in the week. According to the reporter, Frederick says the police arresting him then told him they not only knew about the burglary, they knew who had done it. Neither the reporter nor Frederick made the connection at the time that the person who broke in could well also be the informant.
...
More interesting, though, are the comments from neighbors who not only also vouch for Frederick’s credibility, they also say they never heard the announcement the Chesapeake Police Department insists was given before officers forced entry. One was outside at the time of the raid. That’s not to say there was no announcement. It is to say that if someone standing outside didn’t hear it, how could we expect Frederick, who was inside and in bed, to hear it?
among other things.
At this point it looks like the end result of this mess is that an unnecessary 'dynamic entry' was done on lousy reason, with no prior investigation of the information, on the home of a gardener who had a little grass for personal use. Who apparently had NO marijuana growing at all, let alone the 'sophisticated grow operation' the informant claimed. And a lot of other very flaky information as to who did what. Which led the the completely unnecessary raid and the death of a police officer.
Damn.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)