"Looks like they’re replacing the kilt with a skirt."

Anyone caught carrying a knife in town and city centres in Scotland in the coming weeks faces a potential four years in prison, under a new crackdown announced today.

The six-week pilot scheme will see cases automatically prosecuted as more serious offences, increasing the length of jail terms available to sheriffs from one year to four.
Not for actually doing something bad, mind you; just for carrying a knife. Like the pocketknife I never leave home without. Because it's the objects, not behavior, that's important.

Have I ever mentioned how glad I am some of my ancestors got the hell out of (fG)Britain before it turned into what it is?

Two critter posts:

one funny
Well, I wasn’t about to let go of the damned gun. Yes, there was an insane ravenous hellbeast on the other end of it, but the last thing I wanted was an insane ravenous hellbeast in my backyard with a GUN, right?


And the other, not funny in the least
With confirmation the other day by the Alaska Department of Fish & Game that at least two wolves were responsible for killing a young high school teacher, the debate about wolf management in the Pacific Northwest has erupted anew.
Years back did some reading on the subject of maneaters(ok, a lot of reading over time) and one thing that's kind of striking is the way wolves have been, call it 'cleansed' of such things in North America, at least among the many affected by Disney Syndrome. Look at the history in Europe, Russia and some of Asia and they've got a long record of people-munching, though it tends to get clouded over nowadays; but in the US it's largely been, as I say, cleansed. Reason more of a record in the Old World? Probably a combination of better records and more population for a long time there, combined with- in many areas- the peasants being rather discouraged from having weapons suitable for killing them. Here the critters were facing people armed as a matter of course, which probably made things quite a bit more difficult*.

Simple situation: put big predators back- in numbers- in places were there are people, and the people are prevented from killing the predators(sufficiently to instill a bit of respect for the two-legs) and people are going to get munched.

Hard to disagree with the Terry family

Terry’s family wants Obama administration officials held accountable with criminal charges.

“Our priority continues to be the successful arrest and prosecution of all the individuals involved in Brian’s murder,” the family said in a statement. “However, we will continue to press for answers and accountability from our government. Those responsible for such a misguided and fundamentally flawed operation must be held fully responsible for their decisions which allowed so many weapons to flow to the criminal element on both sides of the border. We now believe that if it can be shown that laws were broken, then all those responsible for Fast and Furious should be held criminally liable.”
...
“The family believes in the rule of law,” McGroder told TheDC. “Brian Terry upheld the rule of law and all they want is to ensure that whoever may have criminal culpability as measured by the investigation’s results and the discretion of the U.S. Attorney’s office that whomever may have criminal culpability is brought to answer for those criminal charges. That’s all they’re saying. They’re not pointing the finger, they’re not trying to do the job of the FBI, they’re not trying to do the job of the U.S. Attorney’s office — they’re simply ensuring that that which Brian stood for, and that is upholding the rule of law, in fact does apply to their family.”
Let's add to that 'those who lied under oath should be prosecuted to the fullest extent for doing so.'


Speaking of whom, the reason some don't want Holder fired or to resign:
If Eric Holder resigns, it could bring the investigation to a halt, because in the public’s mind, that would suggest Holder was admitting responsibility and falling on his sword as the 2012 re-election bid of his boss, Barack Obama, shifts into high gear.
Which may mean Obama will start pushing for Holder to resign, possibly for reason of health("You stay in place and ruin my chances for reelection, I'll see you dead!" possibly?)

And don't let people forget:
Fast and Furious is even worse than Watergate for one simple reason: No one died because of President Nixon’s political dirty tricks and abuse of government power. But Brian Terry is dead; and there are still 1,500 missing guns threatening still more lives.

What did Mr. Obama know? Massive gun-smuggling by the U.S. government into a foreign country does not happen without the explicit knowledge and approval of leading administration officials. It’s too big, too risky and too costly. Mr. Holder may not be protecting just himself and his cronies. Is he protecting the president?—Jeffrey T. Kuhner, Washington Times

Well, yeah

Baldrick: "What I want to know sir, is before there was a Euro there were lots of different types of money that different people used. And now there's only one type of money that the foreign people use. And what I want to know is, how did we get from one state of affairs to the other state of affairs"

Blackadder: "Baldrick. Do you mean, how did the Euro start?"

Baldrick: "Yes sir"

Blackadder: "Well, you see Baldrick, back in the 1980's there were many different countries all running their own finances and using different types of money. On one side you had the major economies of France , Belgium , Holland and Germany , and on the other, the weaker nations of Spain , Greece , Ireland , Italy and Portugal . They got together and decided that it would be much easier for everyone if they could all use the same money, have one Central Bank, and belong to one large club where everyone would be happy. This meant that there could never be a situation whereby financial metldown would lead to social unrest, wars and crises".

Baldrick: "But this is sort of a crisis, isn't it sir".

Blackadder: "That's right Baldrick. You see, there was only one slight flaw with the plan".

Baldrick: "What was that then sir?"

Blackadder: "It was bollocks".

Found at Theo

yeah, Obama seems allergic to the word 'victory', doesn't he?

At least when applied to the US.
Those are fine and inspiring words to be sure. But what is more notable is the one word America's commander in chief could not bring himself to say to the assembled troops: Victory. He called the end of the American sacrifice in Iraq a "moment of success." And he called it an "extraordinary achievement." He even called it the fullest "expression of America's support for self-determination than our leaving Iraq to its people." But he didn't call it a victory, even though by his own description, Iraq was, before the arrival of American troops, a land of intense suffering under one of the most cruel and ruthless dictators in history. Today, the people of Iraq are no longer terrorized by their own government; they are instead its masters. If that result does not deserve to be called a victory for America, Obama owes an explanation to the families of the 4,500 Americans who gave their lives to bring it about.


The PROM State Police: "We don't want to, so we won't; screw you peasants." When cops start acting like a Praetorian Guard, it's bad. Seriously bad.




Ah, Texas:
A few folks may remember the killing and shooting on Falcon lake down here. I know bass fisherman from Michigan like to fish the lake. The Sheriff down here requests you be armed(sure hell won't see that in the PROM). Well I am happy to let the tourist fishermen know the first Texas DPS Gunboat (There will be atleast 6) has been commissioned today. And yes, those are machineguns. Texas is not counting on the Feds anymore to protect bass fishermen or jet skiers on the border! Come on down and visit!

Gun mounts are a twin M240 (7.62) in the front, single mounts on the sides. Secondly, these things were built expressly for Lake Falcon and the border down by Brownsville.
Son spent a lot of time with the M240; he likes it. A lot. Reliable, accurate, and .308.

Yeah, this has downsides, on the 'militarization of law enforcement' problem. It's also probably their only real option: when the feds won't do crap, the state will have to. And when they're dealing with armed drug/illegal alien/weapons smugglers(and considering the information on Hezbollah working with the cartels), there's no telling what they'll run into.
Found at Sipsey; other links here and here
I'll note that in Oklahoma, the Lake Patrol is part of the Highway Patrol, but nothing like this. Of course, we don't have lakes on the border with Mexico, either.


"We broke the law, and got people killed, which proves we need more gun laws!"
"Earlier this year, the House of Representatives actually voted to keep law enforcement in the dark when individuals purchase semi-automatic rifles and shotguns in Southwest border gun shops," Holder said. "Providing law enforcement with the tools to detect and to disrupt illegal gun trafficking is entirely consistent with the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens."

But Republicans take issue with that point.

Law enforcement was not 'in the dark' when individuals purchased Fast and Furious weapons, they say. Rather, ATF agents received real-time -- and sometimes advanced -- notice from cooperating gun dealers when suspected straw buyers purchased weapons. Buyers frequently called in their order before showing up. Gun store owners would give the straw buyers a pick-up time specifically to give ATF agents plenty of time to set up their cameras and surveillance teams.

In one email, Burke called the gun stores 'evil' and ATF brass in Washington also cooperated for a story in The Washington Post in December 2009 suggesting border-state gun stores were responsible for Mexico's cartel violence.

Internally, ATF officials admit cooperating gun stores like Lone Wolf in Phoenix -- singled out in the Post story -- actually helped the operation, dutifully faxing the names, addresses and serial numbers of the guns that the straws bought, often the same day. Lone Wolf also allowed the ATF to install cameras inside the store, giving ATF officials coast to coast real-time information about purchases and purchasers.


This shouldn't be a surprise: you make it hard for businesses to operate, and you want to ban/restrict what a company makes, they'll start looking for another place to set up.
Hey, S&W: Oklahoma would love to have you move here.


I'll borrow a post from Sipsey(again, for those who can't go there):

From Tickle the Wire:

Thomas E. Brandon, the straight-shooting, well respected and extremely able veteran of ATF, who was sent around the country this year to try and mend some of the agencies pressing problems, has been named ticklethewire.com’s Fed Of The Year for 2011.

Brandon, an ex-Marine who is currently ATF’s number two person in Washington, started the year off as special agent in charge of ATF’s Detroit office, where he was very well respected.

In the spring, after the agency started coming under Congressional fire for Operation Fast and Furious, Brandon was sent off to Phoenix to head up that office and try and improve morale and straighten out matters. . .

In late August, acting director Ken Melson stepped down. In October, as part of a major shakeup at the agency, Brandon was summoned from Phoenix to become the number two guy in Washington.

Much respected? Yes. Even the guys at CleanUpATF.org welcomed him. "A straight shooter"? Well, you be the judge. Sources tell Sipsey Street that right after he was transferred to Phoenix, Brandon screwed up. That is, he took his charge to clean up Phoenix seriously. In the process, he began to follow the leads that the dissident agents of Phoenix Group VII had followed before being pulled off the surveillances of the straw buyers which were leading to the smugglers and money men.

In short order, Brandon was told to back off, say our sources. He continued to push -- until he was summoned to a meeting with the FBI and DOJ higher ups and given the "national security" warning. The FBI paid informant that the ATF agents had unknowingly identified was a "piece of slime, but a protected piece of slime," according to one source. Brandon was ordered to back off and he very meekly did.

My sources say that the Issa Committee could very profitably interview this "stand up guy" for information on who warned him to stay away from the protected FBI paid informant.

So, is he "Fed of the Year"? Oh, yeah, I'll go along with that. Brandon is everything craven and cowardly that we have come to expect in the senior executives of the ATF and FBI.

Fed of the Year? Yeah, I'll sign that.

Yeah, sounds like someone Issa and Grassley should talk to.


Oh man, if I had one of these it'd be the centerpiece on the dinner table.


Nancy Pelosi really is a corrupt bitch, isn't she?

People where Great Britain used to be freak out over pocketknives. I do have to note that just having that in (fG)Britain will get you thrown in jail, even if all you use it for is opening boxes, cutting rope and other useful purposes.


Jennifer also notes
A: Reporting that was an attempt to be thorough, but someone who should have had a gunny check it before publishing, and
B: Some really bad gunhandling by a cop.

Obama's DoJ really doesn't like whistleblowers

Especially when they get in the way of his 'save Gaia' scheming.

Should be a rule: you see something really bigoted/idiotic/stupid on a site,

save it, so when they realize just what they've done, it'll still be around. Among other things, I like the "Jews who aren't as well-educated and experienced as I might fall for something bad here" crap.


Yes, Breuer and Holder and every other clown who lied under oath should be prosecuted for it. As to whether there's enough ethical sense and balls in DC to do it, that's a question.



If the OWS movement had any brains, they'd throw this frickin' idiot out. Immediately.

And that's about all I feel like putting up today. More later, if I start feeling more like a human being.

The Empire Strikes Back is the title at one blog;

seems a reasonable assumption.
CLIMATEGATE UPDATE: UK police seize computers of skeptic blogger in England. Hmm. Could it be politically motivated? Some think so.
Two links there with lots more. Might it be that some government weenies with a stake in AGW hysteria are upset over the second batch of Climaquiddick e-mails?

About the NTSB demand to ban cell phones while driving,

found this through Insty; an excerpt:
Yes, texting while driving is inherently dangerous: It takes your eyes off the road and your hands off the wheel. That is presumably why texting while driving is already illegal in Missouri for drivers under 21. But there’s a big leap from the Missouri accident to the NTSB’s suggestion for a broad, new national ban.

First, the Missouri crash was largely caused by more mundane safety issues that the NTSB seems to have deliberately downplayed. For all the discussion of the dangers of texting and driving, the NTSB report contains this rather significant finding: “Had the driver of the following school bus maintained the recommended minimum distance from the lead school bus, she would have been able to avoid the accident."

That’s right: Don’t follow too closely, just like they teach you in driver’s ed. And why did the first school bus rear-end the pickup? According to the NTSB, that was “the result of the bus driver’s inattention to the forward roadway, due to excessive focus on a motorcoach parked on the shoulder of the road."

So, despite the focus on texting as a cause of this particular accident, and on this accident as purported evidence that drivers should be banned from using portable devices, NTSB’s own report shows that the drivers involved in this scary wreck were involved because of driver inattention having nothing to do with cellphones, texting, or any other personal electronic devices. It was just the old-fashioned kind of driver inattention that has caused most accidents since the beginning of the automobile age, and that could have been prevented by a little attention to proper following distance and the road ahead.

Yet the No. 1 recommendation of the NTSB to the states is to "ban the nonemergency use of portable electronic devices (other than those designed to support the driving task) for all drivers." This selective focus suggests an agenda, and certainly those of us who have been paying attention to the various pronouncements coming from the NTSB and other highway-safety advocates have noticed a strain of hostility to cellphones and other devices for quite some time, despite a paucity of evidence suggesting that such devices are especially dangerous. (As the Cato Institute’s Radley Balko notes, while the number of cellphones on the road has skyrocketed in recent decades, traffic deaths and traffic accidents have declined.)

My suspicions here are only supported by the NTSB’s leap from the already-banned texting to something completely different: talking. The Missouri accident had nothing to do with hands-free talking, and it’s not at all clear to me that talking on a hands-free cellphone is any more distracting to drivers than talking to passengers in the car—or having screaming kids in the back seat, something that the NTSB has not, as yet, sought to ban.

A whole-village uprising in the PRC

is not good news for the commies.


What? The EPA used either bad methods or falsified results to try to stop fraking?
Looks like.
Here’s the story: the EPA says tests it conducted in Pavillion, Wyoming “indicate that ground water in the aquifer contains compounds likely associated with gas production practices, including hydraulic fracturing.” However, it turns out that the EPA drilled two monitoring wells to some 900 feet – much deeper than water wells which are usually at about 300 feet – and indeed found hydrocarbons. In short, they drilled into the natural gas reservoir that has long attracted industry producers. It may the single most productive moment in EPA history.
...
In addition to noting that the EPA had in effect discovered natural gas by drilling into a natural gas reservoir, the company faulted the EPA’s “discovery” of various several man-made chemicals in the deep wells. Curiously, the agency found the same chemicals in the so-called “blank” water samples— the “ultra purified water commonly used in testing to ensure no contamination from field sampling procedures.” As Encana points out, the conclusion suggests “problems associated with EPA methodology”. No kidding.


You know, Holder's anal sphincter must be having problems lately; got to be cycling between 'locked up like Sheldon at a broken routine' and 'open like a massive dose of prunes just hit'.
All that was the preliminary bombardment before Issa’s planned assault. After hours of waiting, Issa leaned forward to speak into his microphone and began in part by asking, “Do I need to serve a subpoena on you . . . or will you come before my committee?”

After several exchanges, Holder said, “I will consider it.”
While Issa was probably thinking "I'm considering the reaming you're going to get by the time this is over."
Holder didn’t answer the question; meanwhile, Issa focused his attack with the tone of voice a prosecutor might use with a hostile witness. “Don’t you think it is a little conspicuous that there is not one e-mail from or to you on Fast and Furious? . . . Isn’t it true that executive privilege does not include you?”

Holder answered, “We have not withheld any documents that are responsive. We have withheld information about ongoing investigations.”

Issa said, “That’s how John Mitchell responded.”
Let's see, Mmitchell went to prison for how long...
Holder acknowledged during the hearing that he has an official e-mail address and a private one, but he wouldn’t say how often he uses these accounts. He also said he had not seen e-mails that were printed in a CBS report that argued new gun-control regulations might have been the reason for Operation Fast and Furious.

Moments later Franks said he understood that Holder doesn’t read all the memos his staff sends to his desk, and Holder seemed to agree with this. Then Franks asked, “Do you read letters from Grassley and Issa?”

After a pause, Holder said, “I think it’s fair to say over the last few months I’ve read all of Issa’s and Grassley’s letters.”

This also drew a laugh from the spectators, but it was really a set-up.

Representative Franks next said, “Mr. Holder, these e-mails were attached to one of those letters.”

Holder tossed his head and replied that he “doesn’t always read attachments.”
"Oh, I NEVER read all the stuff I get from people who can probably get me time in the Graybar Hotel; that kind of thing isn't important enough for my valuable time." Sure, Holder.


No idea how many times I've seen someone at a convenience store using their food stamp card("We have to make it easier for people to use, so there's no stigma") to buy chips and cokes and candy, so I don't doubt a word of this.


Ok, I agree Christina Hendricks is hot; but WHY do they always have to slap enough makeup on a woman for a seal to camo itself from sharks?


All Obama needs now is a military uniform a chestful of fake medals and his transformation to dictator would be complete. Yeah, that 'separation of powers' thing seems to trouble him.

So the Navy's paying $15/gallon for biofuel

and the company selling it is connected to the White House; Chicago Way in action.


Possible muslim connections to terror attacks, and the media and some governments don't talk about it... Nah, couldn't be. Of course, such attacks aren't possible, as having hand grenades, a revolver and an assault rifle is highly illegal in Belgium; and shooting people is illegal as hell in Californicated.


I don't like Gingrich, for a number of reasons; doesn't mean he's incapable of pointing out a real problem.


I'm going to post this whole piece from Sipsey Street for those who can't go there:

As Neil McCabe reminds at Human Events reminds us, tonight is the one year anniversary of the murder of Brian Terry with a weapon provided through the good intentions of the United States government, which only exists to help the American people.

A year. And still we wait for the FBI to figure out a way to prosecute the one wounded killer they were forced to retain without compromising their cover-up of the involvement of their one-armed paid snitch.

A year. And still we wait for the much ballyhooed Office of Inspector General Report. You know, the one that the administration always uses to justify not telling you anything about the Gunwalker Scandal.

A year. And still we wait for the "mainstream media" to actually engage on the story of the greatest scandal of federal misadventure to date.

A year. And all the RINOs who run the GOP in the Senate can muster is this meeching piece of garbage as reported by Newsmax (as a "slam" no less):

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says senior Justice Department officials, especially Attorney General Eric Holder, have misled Congress about the government’s mishandling of Operation Fast and Furious, which backfired in deadly fashion. “I don’t know what they’ve got to hide,” the Kentucky Republican said today on “Fox News Sunday.” “It’s really quite unusual to be stonewalled like this.” McConnell also said Lanny Breuer, head of the Justice Department’s criminal division, has been dishonest with lawmakers. “I understand it’s embarrassing for them,” he said, adding that the officials should be “more forthcoming” with the details. McConnell would not go so far as to accuse Holder of lying to Congress, nor did he press for his resignation, as others have.

OOOOOH. I betcha the White House trembled at that.

And it has been a year.

A year of lying, cover-up, subterfuge and cowardice.

A year.

More later

Our noble AG Holder doesn't care any more about fair elections

than he does about obeying subpoenas. Or stopping arms traffickers. Or filling FOIA requests.


As they seem to be of the same mind about a number of things with our noble AG, I'll throw in here that the clowns at Center for American Progress and Media Matters for America threw their 'Israel firsters' and Jew-hating crap out once too often, and the Simon Wiesenthal Center calls them on it.

It appears the crew of Hawaii Five-0 is a sucky

bunch of assholes.
No excerpts; you need to get the full flavor of this. CBS, screw you; I've seen the show a time or two, but I won't be watching it again. I think I'll wander over to their feedback form and say so.

Oh, and Empty-Hat Salazar, our Secretary of the Interior, is even more worthless a bastard than I thought before(not an easy level to reach, I assure you).

National Academy of Sciences & Dr. Ann Maest

They need to be more careful who they let in.
Maest is in high demand as an expert for those looking to stop oil and mineral exploration. She’s also heavily used by the federal government, even though after new details about her past work are coming to light as a result of a lawsuit. From The New York Times:

An environmental consulting firm named as a defendant in a racketeering suit filed by Chevron Corp. over a landmark pollution lawsuit in Ecuador is continuing to work on another blockbuster case: the Deepwater Horizon oil spill investigation.

Boulder, Colo.-based Stratus Consulting, a long-term contractor with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other federal agencies, is gathering and analyzing data concerning the Gulf of Mexico spill.

Chevron has is suing those behind the Ecuadorian case including: the lead attorney Steven Donziger; Stratus Consulting; and Maest. As part of their lawsuit, Chevron obtained through discovery, outtakes from a documentary called “Crude” that show Donziger and Maest colluding ignore their own findings and make up some new unsubstantiated claims. Watch this:

Totally unrelated(I think) to anything else,

two comments at Ace on the hunt for Higgs Boson:
6 What can I say, I like screwing with physicists.

Posted by: God at December 13, 2011 11:31 AM (GBXon)

followed later by

41 From the linked article: "I think we are getting very close," said one of the people whose livelihood depends on the project.

I may have corrected that last part for them a little.

Posted by: Andy at December 13, 2011 11:40 AM (5Rurq)

And the excuses for Holder & Obama & Co. roll on,

with the Congressional Bigots Conference coming down to two lines:
“I think this is another manufactured controversy by the second amendment, NRA Republican tea party movement,” Johnson said outside a Judiciary Committee hearing where Attorney General Eric Holder was testifying on the scandal last Thursday.
Yeah, I did write about this bullcrap before; well worth noting again because of the level of stupidity displayed by the clown saying it:
...Georgia Democratic Rep. Hank Johnson, a member of the House Judiciary Committee made infamous by wondering aloud if Guam would capsize from overpopulation...

And the other main line of argument(note the use of BUSH STARTED IT!!! thrown in):
Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, disagreed with Johnson’s claims that the tea party movement and the NRA “manufactured” the controversy.
...
“No, no, I don’t think so,” Cummings said. “I think what happened is there were some agents on the lower level who — and by the way it did not just start during the Obama administration. We know of three instances of Fast and Furious type operations during the Bush administration.”

“I think you had some people who were a little bit overzealous on the lower level and did not communicate properly to the upper levels and botched an operation and it should have never happened,” Cummings added.
Yeah. Some 'lower level' ATF agents decided to
Push gun dealers to make illegal sales
Suborn the NICS system to let illegal sales to prohibited persons happen
Let the guns be smuggled into Mexico, violating national borders and arms export laws
Involved half a dozen other Federal agencies in the scheme
Etc.,
and we're supposed to believe they did this with NO authorization from above and NO reports to higher levels, or at least reports that NOBODY passed on to higher levels, and so on? Really, Rep. Cummings? You really think we're going to believe that? For that matter, are YOU dumb enough to believe that, or is it just the best excuse set you can come up with for Holder? I tend to think the latter because of this:
Though the CBC hasn’t taken an official stance on Holder and Fast and Furious, the caucus staffer who spoke with TheDC said that “the caucus sentiments concerning this issue falls in line with Ranking Member Elijah Cummings.”

“They see [the investigation] as a witch hunt,” the staffer said. “Mistakes were made which do deserve investigation. But we can’t forget that the predecessors to these programs began under the Bush Administration.”
And once again, "IT'S BUSH'S FAULT FOR STARTING THIS!!! YOU'RE RACIST FOR GOING AFTER HOLDER!!!" Etc. ad Bullshit.

'Witch hunt' my ass, especially when you consider e-mails like this:
Congressman Chaffetz to Eric Holder: Let me move on to -- you have access to obviously the e-mails of Dennis Burke. On Wednesday, November 24th, 2010, he sent an e-mail that said, quote, "Some of the weapons bought by these clowns in Arizona have been directly traced to murders of elected officials in Mexico by the cartels. So Katie bar the door when we unveil this baby," end quote. How is it that you've never had a discussion with your counterpart in Mexico about this?
From Sipsey: The email text is pretty disgusting proof of the gun-control intent of Fast and Furious and excitement at the deaths of Mexican officials with F&F weapons. The Univision reporter I explained that to at the hearings was pretty pissed off when I I told what it meant. A pdf of the exchange can be found here.
And please note: Burke was saying this to a USA in Washington, but supposedly Holder & Co. knew NOTHING about it? Really? Screw you, Cummings.
(Burke is about to be asked questions again; they better make sure he knows he's under oath, and not play games with the bastard)


I wonder if these excuses will also be used for Holder & Co. involvement in this?
According to a spokesperson for Mexican president Felipe Calderon, Mexico’s government was left in the dark about a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration drug money laundering scheme that allegedly facilitated the transfer of millions of dollars to Mexican drug cartels.

The program was similar to Operation Fast and Furious in that the U.S. Department of Justice, under Attorney General Eric Holder, was allegedly furnishing narcotics traffickers with laundered drug proceeds in an attempt to discern how those funds would move, and to whom.

On this week’s Al Punto, a Sunday news program on the Spanish-language television network Univision, Calderon spokeswoman Alejandra Sota said the Mexican government was not aware of, or involved with, any DEA money laundering scheme.

An ATF agent writes to Holder;

Holder won't like it.
You said those who created “Fast & Furious” will be held accountable, but you still don’t know who did it and no one will be fired? You have to consider their overall service to the department???? Do you consider their overall service for any other crime?

It’s been nearly a year since you assigned the investigation of Fast & Furious to the DOJ IG, although not in writing. Interesting. So, the DOJ is investigating itself? How long does it take for the IG to investigate? Is this the same IG that cooked up the false $16 muffin story? Is this the same IG that took (as gospel) ATF’s word that 90% of the guns recovered in Mexico and traced came from the U.S. – statistics later discredited – by ATF themselves?

We watched and listened as you and your Democrat sycophants on the Committee parroted the same tired scripted mantra praising you for advancing gun control and begging for more gun regulations and more ATF funding. The same old figures were quoted about how many guns were traced from Mexico. Did your figures include all the duplicate traces from Mexico? All the.22 rabbit rifles and farmer’s shotguns that Mexico traced? Did they include 100 year old guns used by Pancho Villa? Did you explain that the average age of those guns traced from Mexico is over 14 years? ATF calls that “time to crime”, but may have nothing to do with a crime.
There's more. Lots more. Another bit:
Did you explain that the new multiple rifle regulation which you are so strongly supporting would not have stopped a single Fast & Furious gun from being smuggled to Mexico? And won’t stop any future smuggling? And the multiple rifle purchase report requirement is so overly-broad that it includes 50 to 100 year old rifles of interest only to collectors – which will now be reported as ‘crime guns’? What’s with that? Oh, yeah….. Those sales are now permanently ‘registered’ in ATF registration databases. Was this supposed to be “under the radar”, too?

Did you explain why your buddies at ATF are reporting personal information (name, address, height, weight, date of birth, drivers license number, etc.) of totally innocent American gun owners to corrupt Mexican cops – through eTrace? Enough information for ID theft? These gun owners may have disposed of the guns many years ago – but ATF still reports the original owner as a ‘suspect’ to Mexican cops. Thanks a lot. That makes me feel really good while I’m here in Mexico…..

More over at Nice Deb, including a link to the Cleanup ATF site where the letter was posted.

Just to get my blood pressure up,

further idiocy from the TSA, including breaking their own rules and lying about it.


And in one of the more idiotic misuses of a SWAT team,
Though the affidavit supporting the warrant included Javier Jr.'s rap sheet and noted that he had spent the last six months in prison serving out a two-year sentence for receiving stolen property, the SWAT raid went ahead as planned. The team showed up at 5:30 a.m. with flash-bang grenades, burst into the home and pointed their weapons at the Bravos and their 8-year-old grandson, who ran screaming into the bathroom, the ruling states. The officers left after Hope Bravo showed them a recent letter from her son, mailed from prison.
Fucking idiots.

And more wonders from Holder & Co.

When deputies arrived, they stopped a vehicle backing out of the driveway of the home driven by Castellanos, Sprong said.
As a deputy approached the driver’s side door, Castellanos rolled down the window and pulled out an AK47 assault rifle and pointed it at the deputy in a threatening manner, Sprong said.
The deputy then reportedly fired his handgun at Castellanos and struck him in the hip and head.
Castellanos was taken to the Maricopa County Medical Center with life-threatening injuries where he later died.
And Holder & ATF's contribution?
Kommander forwarded me this tweet of Noah's while Chris and I were out and about last night:

@TheSpoonyOne Noah Antwiler
The man my brother shot in the line of duty was carrying guns provided by Operation Fast and Furious. Bravo, ATF, for handing him an AK-47.

The effects of Operation Fast and Furious. In my hometown. 130 miles north of the border.

That's. Just. Bloody.Wonderful.

Mr. Completely gets some news

Very good news.

Sorry start to a morning

News on the current efforts of the UN to make sure the peasants aren't armed:
“So, what might an ATT look like?” they ask. Here are two highlights from the report:

• We predict that small arms will be included, because that’s what this treaty is all about in the first place. But ammunition has, at best, a 50-percent chance of inclusion.
• We predict that a minimal Implementation Support Unit (ISU) will be approved, and will ultimately grow into a global BATFE on steroids.

What's the liklihood of administration support?

As for the US, it might seem confusing that the Obama government has taken a position against the inclusion of SALW [Small Arms and Light Weapons] and ammunition in the forthcoming Treaty. Yet, the US officially supports the inclusion of SALW into the UNROCA [UN Register of Conventional Arms] itself, as clearly stated in October 2011 by Laura E. Kennedy, one of the representatives to the UN.

And we know that Hillary Clinton is responsible for reanimating the discussion.
...
I would not make that assumption because I would not put any underhanded maneuver beneath the enemies of freedom, and that includes a caution to those who (correctly) maintain a treaty cannot supersede the Constitution—if the folks behind this power grab had any respect for rights, they would not be behind it in the first place. It is incumbent on each of us to be aware of threats, including those which may appear to be on a distant horizon, and to be prepared to mobilize and repel it not when our backs are against the wall, but while we have the time to do so without expending too much effort--kind of like speculative scenarios for an approaching asteroid. Better to deflect it a fraction of a degree when it is still far off than wait for it to enter the atmosphere.

It won’t hurt us or distract from our other efforts to take a mere five minutes of our time—today—to contact our Senators and convey our expectation that they oppose any UN Arms Trade Treaty that may make it to the floor for their consideration.
Definitely yell at your Senators.

Also from Examiner,
Texas Congressman Ted Poe is convinced there is more to Operation Fast and Furious than just a monumental screw-up by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and he said so in an exclusive Monday afternoon interview with this column.

“To me this whole operation is just a ruse to go after gun sales in the United States; don’t punish the people involved in the killings, punish the guns.”—U.S. Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX)

... Poe – a former prosecutor and judge who appears to have the instincts of a Texas Ranger –asked a simple question about that the other day during the House Judiciary Committee hearing and he did not get a simple answer from Holder:

Poe: So, we don’t know the person that signed off…I mean, and I know how the federal government works, everybody’s got to sign off on something, especially something like this. But, we don’t know who that person is yet, is that what you’re telling me?

Holder: With all due respect, I’d be surprised if we’re going to see a document that somebody signed off on that said ‘you can let guns walk.’

This exchange came immediately after the embattled attorney general told Poe during his appearance before the House Judiciary Committee that the operation actually kicked off at the Phoenix office of the ATF, and about a month later, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Phoenix got involved.

"It's only been a few months, you expect ME to know who started this?"

Yeah, keeping people from getting to work- which means they don't get paid- is a 'victory for the 99%'. Right.


This is something I've wondered about: why hasn't this happened earlier, with more companies?
Colt Firearms appears to be one of the many Connecticut companies looking for a less hostile home.

To clarify, Florida is a Right-to-Work state and Connecticut is not. Which may be why the UAW is so concerned about keeping jobs in the anti-business state:.

via The Miami Herald:

Colt Manufacturing Co. announced earlier this month it is bringing 63 jobs and a new regional headquarters and product manufacturing center to Kissimmee, Fla., next year.

Of course, Colt’s move may also have more to do with the hostile nature Connecticut has toward businesses, or the largest tax increase in the state’s history that was just imposed in June.
Not to mention politicians who keep wanting to restrict/license/ban guns, but they also want the company there so they can keep taxing it to death. I imagine CT politicians are having heartburn right now and wondering "Why do they want to hurt us this way?"


A bit of history on how NASA wound up with a Space Pen. Which they had nothing to do with the development of.


If you or I did something like this, we'd be in jail; but for a Friend of Obama and the Democrats? Nah.
The Rev. Al Sharpton’s nonprofit paid him nearly $242,000 — even as it carried $1.6 million in debt, according to documents obtained by The Post.

In all, the controversial activist and his empire, including the National Action Network and two for-profit companies, were $5.3 million in the red, public records show.

Most of NAN’s money woes stemmed from more than $880,000 in unpaid federal payroll taxes, interest and penalties. It also paid more than $100,000 to settle two lawsuits, byproducts of the unpaid bills.

And it still owed $206,252 in loans to Sharpton’s for-profit Bo-Spanky Consulting Inc. and Sharpton Media LLC, the records show.


And, lacking anything else, the gun bigots are still pushing the "People didn't have guns at home" crap.

Things have to do here, see you later.

What the Green Nazis want to do to us

Yeah, that's kind of a nasty way to put it; read this and see just how much you disagree with the sentiment:

• Ø A new International Climate Court will have the power to compel Western nations to pay ever-larger sums to third-world countries in the name of making reparation for supposed “climate debt”. The Court will have no power over third-world countries. Here and throughout the draft, the West is the sole target. “The process” is now irredeemably anti-Western.
• Ø “Rights of Mother Earth”: The draft, which seems to have been written by feeble-minded green activists and environmental extremists, talks of “The recognition and defence of the rights of Mother Earth to ensure harmony between humanity and nature”. Also, “there will be no commodification [whatever that may be: it is not in the dictionary and does not deserve to be] of the functions of nature, therefore no carbon market will be developed with that purpose”.
• Ø “Right to survive”: The draft childishly asserts that “The rights of some Parties to survive are threatened by the adverse impacts of climate change, including sea level rise.” At 2 inches per century, according to eight years’ data from the Envisat satellite? Oh, come off it! The Jason 2 satellite, the new kid on the block, shows that sea-level has actually dropped over the past three years.

• Ø War and the maintenance of defence forces and equipment are to cease – just like that – because they contribute to climate change. There are other reasons why war ought to cease, but the draft does not mention them.
• Ø A new global temperature target will aim, Canute-like, to limit “global warming” to as little as 1 C° above pre-industrial levels. Since temperature is already 3 C° above those levels, what is in effect being proposed is a 2 C° cut in today’s temperatures. This would take us halfway back towards the last Ice Age, and would kill hundreds of millions. Colder is far more dangerous than warmer.
• Ø The new CO2 emissions target, for Western countries only, will be a reduction of up to 50% in emissions over the next eight years and of “more than 100%” [these words actually appear in the text] by 2050. So, no motor cars, no coal-fired or gas-fired power stations, no aircraft, no trains. Back to the Stone Age, but without even the right to light a carbon-emitting fire in your caves. Windmills, solar panels and other “renewables” are the only alternatives suggested in the draft. There is no mention of the immediate and rapid expansion of nuclear power worldwide to prevent near-total economic destruction.

But wait! There's MORE!!

“International Climate Court of Justice”: This kangaroo court is to be established by next year “to guarantee the compliance of Annex I Parties with all the provisions of this decision, which are essential elements in the obtaining of the global goal”. Note that, here as elsewhere, the bias is only against the nations of the West. However badly the third-world countries behave, they cannot be brought before the new court. Though none of what the draft calls the “modalities” of the proposed marsupial dicastery are set out in detail, one can imagine that the intention is to oblige Western nations to pay up however much the world government run by the Convention secretariat feels like demanding, just as the unelected tyrants of the EU demand – and get – ever-larger cash payments from the ever-shrinking economies and ever-poorer tribute-payers of their dismal empire.
And no, that's NOT all of it; here's one more bit:
Who pays? Oh, you guessed it before I told you. The West pays. The third world (UN code: “non-Annex-I parties”) thinks it will collect, so it will always vote for the UN’s insane proposals. But the UN’s bureaucrats will actually get all or nearly all the money, and will decide how to allocate what minuscule fraction they have not already spent on themselves. As a senior UN diplomat told me last year, “The UN exists for only one purpose: to get more money. That, and that alone, is the reason why it takes such an interest in climate change.” The draft says: “Developed-country Parties shall provide developing-country Parties with new and additional finance, inter alia through a percentage of the gross domestic product of developed-country Parties.” And, of course, “The extent of participation by non-Annex-I parties in the global effort to deal with climate change is directly dependent on the level of support provided by developed-country Parties.”

See why I called them that?

Does kind of put things in scale

Oh, this is GREAT!

Found over at Ace.
And you'll notice the 'objecting' guy they interviewed only seemed to think guns weren't proper for Christmas presents; that's it.

'remarkable restraint' is right

Over at The Atlantic there’s a piece on the problems with the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial. The subject’s been much discussed, of course. But one reader thinks its biggest failing hasn’t been discussed enough. Here’s the first comment on the piece from a user named “nicholas1987″:

Or maybe because it’s at a mall? You seem to gloss right over that. The memorial is a disgusting corporate perversion of MLK’s legacy and twisting it into a ploy to draw people to a mall.

This drew a response from another commenter (Zinger1905) who showed remarkable restraint when he told Nicholas1987:

The National Mall is not a shopping mall, it’s a wide-open green space.

Yeah, there had to be strong temptation to end that with "..., you farging' idiot."

There was a double murder at Weleetka

in 2008. OSBI says they've got the guy but he got rid of the weapon used. They're trying to find it, here's the information:
So if anyone out there knows something about it, get hold of OSBI.

Tam had that post on the real-life Tueller drill

a few days back:

Dashcam video shows Spencer attacking officers: wlfi.com

Which reminded me of this from a while back:

which Gun Free Zone posted. To borrow:
1) This was a triumph and failure of mindset. The Crazy Ex won because his mind was already decided in fighting with deadly consequences. His intent was to inflict deadly force and take out as many people as he could. It was not a righteous use of mindset, but illustrative nonetheless.
...

The cops in the video were basically overwhelmed by a decisive action from somebody that was poorly armed but was aggressive enough to short circuit whatever scenario they were used to and expecting to happen. I mean, who would be crazy enough to confront a bunch of cops right at the police station in a place were you have no rights? One guy did and they got reamed.

Also illustrative in the video is the ease and speed that a man just armed with a knife was able to to inflict serious damage and death against multiple opponents. Internet Gun Experts are already bashing the cops’ lack of training and saying how they would have taken care of the nutjob in a Call Of Duty enhanced Bullshit enhanced self-delusion trip. The fact is that someone mildly efficient with a knife will shred you to fajitas before you have the chance of retrieve your uber tactical HK USP with nuclear tipped .45 caliber rounds out off your titanium reinforced BlackHawk Tactical Kydex Thigh Holster as used by the Seal Teams according to what you read in the interwebs last week. And bear in mind that weapons were already drawn and aimed at the guy, but they were not able to deliver accurate shots to stop the threat.

Back when I took my CCW class, one of the instructors(both were cops) was asked about knives; part of his response was "If you're within 21 feet of me and you pull a knife I'm going to shoot you twice in the chest and once in the head; that's the way we're trained." All things considered, generally seems a good point of view.

Recommended reading

Meditations on Violence. The subtitle is A Comparison of Martial Arts Training & Real World Violence; almost done with it; good book. Lots on training, types of violence, staying OUT of violence, problems with lots of training, types of bad guys(types of predators, general dumbass troublemakers and such).

He has this on the subject of shooting:
There is a statistic floating around: "At seven yards or less, officers miss 92% of the time." I've heard this statistic from our police academy and in training sessions with the U.S. Marshals. I have no idea where it came from and I haven't been able to find the source. However, NYPD statistics from 1994-2000 show a hit percentage at zero to two yards of 38%. Think about that- a trained officer at contact range to six feet away misses 62% of the time. At the firing, range, it would be almost unheard of to miss at six feet.

At three to seven yards, they missed 83% of the time.

Why a lot of muslims really ARE the enemy

Not all, by any stretch; but the ones that are...
Interviewer: Should the Muslims fight the People of the Book [i.e., Jews and Christians], in order to force them to pay the jizya poll tax? Should the Muslims fight all the People of the Book worldwide?

Sheik Ahmad Abu Quddum: This fighting is in order to remove obstacles. It is waged against countries, not against individuals. When we declare Jihad against Germany, for instance, it is declared against the German state, for refusing to allow Islam to spread to the people of Germany. We give them a choice: Either to convert to Islam, or to pay the jizya and submit to the laws of Islam. The jizya is the only tax paid by non-Muslims, whereas the Muslims pay the zakkat, the kharraj, and the rikkaz, as well as other taxes, if there is not enough money for the army. . .

Note well: not allowing Germany to be controlled by islam, by its religious laws and dictates is the same thing as 'not ALLOWING islam to spread'. So, by their definition, 'spreading' doesn't mean those who choose to can convert; 'spreading' means "Your country WILL be ruled by Islam." And if you don't want to? You will be forced to.

Interviewer: Exactly, you want to fight the states. . .

Sheik Ahmad Abu Quddum: We will not fight the people, we will not kill the people, but if a certain state insists on preventing the spreading of Islam on its soil, we will fight that state.(So conquering you isn't attacking YOU, it's attacking the State. Interesting bit of logic there, huh?)

Interviewer: So Samuel Huntington’s book The Clash of Civilizations, and even before that, Fokoyama, who predicted that the next conflict would be between Islam and the West. . . What you are saying means that they were right. . .

Sheik Ahmad Abu Quddum: There is indeed a clash of civilizations. They brought colonialism to us. . . If not for Jihad, Islam would not have reached us and all the other places. Within a quarter of a century, Islam reached most of the ancient world by means of Jihad. The common people want Islam. Anyone who doesn’t can stick to his own religion. Here in the Levant, most of our forefathers were not Muslims, but they converted to Islam because of its goodness and justice. The small minority in the Muslim countries that remained. . . (Admission that islam spread by conquest, and they want it to continue to spread that way. 'They brought colonialism to us'; interesting, that sounds kind of like what islam did to countries in the first place, doesn't it?)

Interviewer: Fine. Let me just ask you an important question. So, we are commanded to fight in order to spread the religion of Allah…

Sheik Ahmad Abu Quddum: Yes, this is Islam’s way of spreading.

Interviewer: If you come to power, will you liberate Palestine?

Sheik Ahmad Abu Quddum: Yes, yes. Jihad should be declared in order to annihilate Israel. This is a monstrous entity that must be eradicated.
So, in the case of Israel, submitting and paying the "You're not fully human tax" isn't enough, they want to kill every Jew there.

Nice people, aren't they, in the Religion of Submission?