Saturday, March 12, 2011

A couple of local politicians don't want to answer a question Updated again

The two in question are Charlie Swinton and Ed Shadid. The question: remembering that the Chief of Police and a couple of city councilmen said they liked the idea of forcing us peasants to register anything classed as an 'assault weapon', I wrote to both and asked
What is your opinion on this?

I've written twice; no answer from either of them either time.

So, the possibilities are
They're backed-up on questions and haven't see this e-mail(unlikely);
They don't think the question is worth answering(somewhat unlikely, and if this is it it pisses me off);
They figure whatever they answer they'll tick somebody off and don't have the guts to deal with that.

Update: came home from working on my heart health to find this reply from Swinton:
XXXX, I disagree with the police chief. Charlie
So I have a reply from one, good on him for answering.

Update 2: got a reply from Shadid this morning:
I apologize in the delay of response. I heard the comments by the Chief and Police and have been thinking a lot about it lately. We need to have a balance between public safety and the right to bear arms. Our constitution was designed to protect rights not take away from them. Let me know if I can ever be of service. Thanks for you questions.
Which says basically nothing, with a possible lean toward "Would registration be so bad?" So I just sent back 'Do you agree with the Police Chief?' We'll see what he says.
That kind of answer from a former governor is what started me in my ever-since low regard for politicians.

Swatting flies in Tal Afar



Found here

I wondered why it'd be such a problem to interdict

the Libyan air forces; looks like it was sort-of planned that way.
There are no American supercarriers in the Mediterranean. None. A helicopter carrier and a support ship from the Fifth Fleet in Bahrain were deployed there last week. An Aegis cruiser and a guided missile destroyer arrived in the Eastern Med around March 1.

The UK just retired its carriers because of budget austerity. So, unless our EU allies allow American planes to attack Libya from their territory, a no-fly zone or other action is not an option.

Nor is the Med (and the Suez Canal) the only strategic choke-point which the Obama Administration has uncovered...

The good thing:

it's been a flat beautiful day. Light wind, cool in the morning and warm now, partly cloudy.
The bad:
It makes you want to plant things. Even though you KNOW there's going to be at least one more solid freeze(usually upper 20's) before it's over.

I also have to note that it's been kind of dry, and on windy days like yesterday all it takes is a spark or one idiot with something hot to burn a chunk of the state down.

Ah, Spring, thou art a heartless bitch(to paraphrase Sheldon).

I may have to stop calling them Palisimians;

monkeys don't have this kind of evil mindset.
Five family members were found murdered in their residence in the West Bank Itamar settlement Friday overnight, after a suspected terrorist broke and entered the house and stabbed the five to death. Two children managed to escape and survived the attack, Army Radio reported.

A Magen David Adom team that arrived at the scene at 1:00 a.m. announced a couple, their 11-year old child, 3-year-old toddler, and a one-month baby girl dead from stabbing wounds.
Bad, right? Worse:
Gaza residents from the southern city of Rafah on Saturday poured out on the streets to celebrate the terror attack in West Bank settlement of Itamar, in which five family members were murdered in their sleep.

Residents handed out candy and sweets, one resident saying their joy "is a natural response to the harm settlers inflict on the Palestinian residents in the West Bank."
Just like they gave out candy and danced in the streets on 9/11.

God-damn these people. Both for what they do and what they teach their children to do.

No wonder the bastards don't want to talk about the actual test

results on the machinery; and, as I recall, they've NEVER released the actual safety tests, have they?
The Transportation Security Administration announced Friday that it would retest every full-body X-ray scanner that emits ionizing radiation — 247 machines at 38 airports — after maintenance records on some of the devices showed radiation levels 10 times higher than expected.

The TSA says that the records reflect math mistakes and that all the machines are safe. Indeed, even the highest readings listed on some of the records — the numbers that the TSA says were mistakes — appear to be many times less than what the agency says a person absorbs through one day of natural background radiation.

Even so, the TSA has ordered the new tests out of "an abundance of caution to reassure the public," spokesman Nicholas Kimball says. The tests will be finished by the end of the month, and the results will be released "as they are completed," the agency said on its website
.
A: Why should we trust them?
B: I wonder how long it will take for them to be 'completed'? And how they'll be edited before release?

Friday, March 11, 2011

When cops start making threats like this

it takes union intimidation to a whole new level.

That IS a good question for the FBI:

Second, red flags had to be going off in Clarksburg, WV where the FBI was processing all those NICS checks before allowing the sales to go through. The FBI has not been mentioned in connection with Operation Gunwalker previously but these sales could not have been processed without their assistance. This leads to the question of what the FBI knew about this investigation and were they ordered by higher-ups in the Justice Department to provide assistance to ATF's ongoing investigation. If so, who?
I've read of people who bought five handguns at one time getting a visit from the feds to ask 'who and why'; but it sure didn't happen here.

Tam's words

and a modification. The original:
The Mexican government is all upset at US law enforcement agents standing by and allowing guns to be smuggled into Mexico, which is a change of pace from the usual American anger at Mexican law enforcement agents standing by and allowing drugs and illegal immigrants to be smuggled into the US.

The modified in comments:
The Mexican government is all upset at US law enforcement agents helping guns to be smuggled into Mexico, which is a change of pace from the usual American anger at Mexican law enforcement agents helping drugs and illegal immigrants to be smuggled into the US.

and Tam's close:
In the Mexican government's defense, at least their cops are on the take and not doing it as a matter of agency policy.

Oh, for God's sake

There's no excuse for this.
A stumbling Framingham SWAT officer accidentally fired his rifle and shot a beloved grandpa to death as he lay face-down on the floor of his own home, authorities admitted yesterday, sparking incredulous outrage by the 68-year-old retiree’s family.
Bad, right? Read:
“As he stepped to his left, (Duncan) lost his balance and began to fall over backwards,” the report states. “Officer Duncan realized that his right foot was off the floor and the tactical equipment that he was wearing was making his movements very awkward. While falling, Officer Duncan removed his left hand from his rifle, which was pointing down towards the ground and put his left arm out to try and catch himself. As he did so, he heard a shot.”
Yeah. 'Heard a shot' because he had the safety off and pulled the trigger. Either incompetence or stupidity or both.

This, to my mind, makes it even worse:
On Jan. 5, police were searching for Stamps’ stepson, Joseph Bushfan, when they served a warrant on Stamps’ home. Bushfan was arrested outside the home, allegedly carrying crack cocaine and money.

Officers then hit the home, throwing a stun grenade and ordering everyone inside to put their hands up and lie on the floor, the report states. Stamps, a grandfather of 12, had obeyed and was lying in the hallway when Duncan attempted to cuff and frisk him.
So they've already arrested the guy they were after; so I'm curious as to why they decided they still had to throw grenades and kick doors and all the other Special Ninja-Suit-Wearing Officer stuff? I'm hoping they actually HAD a damned reason other than "Because we can and wanted to."

No, I'm not much willing to give benefit of the doubt anymore on crap like this.

Important people died while the 'news' worries about

a drug-addled fool.
“Charlie Sheen is all over the news because he’s a celebrity drug addict,” it said, “while Andrew Wilfahrt 31, Brian Tabada 21, Rudolph Hizon 22, Chauncy Mays 25, are soldiers who gave their lives this week with no media mention. Please honor them by posting this as your status for a little while.”

Well, well, TSA lied about the cost of private screening

vs. TSA molesters; I'd ask if anyone was really surprised, but I know the answer.
Five airports recently have applied to join the SPP but have been denied by TSA officials, Mr. Mica said.

In January, TSA Administrator John Pistole announced those applications were being refused and that no other airports would be allowed to participate in SPP unless they could demonstrate a “clear and substantial advantage” in doing so
.
And TSA gets to decide what a “clear and substantial advantage” is, of course.


Plain citizen can't find some receipt, or takes bad advice from the IRS, their whole life is screwed; wonder if anybody at this agency will actually get in trouble over this?


A Texas man who helped the FBI defuse a plot to firebomb the 2008 Republican National Convention is suing the New York Times for libel for claiming he was part of the violent conspiracy.
Hope he's able to hang their ass on the wall.


Hmmm.
The author of a book on the Oklahoma City bombing says a homeless man arrested in Quincy on Wednesday is the same man identified by several witnesses to the bombing as having been with Timothy McVeigh on the day of the deadly attack.

Quincy Police on Thursday spoke with the author and notified the FBI of the arrest of Hussain Al-Hussaini for slashing a man’s face with a beer bottle.
...
Both Dougan and the author of the Oklahoma City book said the man arrested in Quincy also has a tattoo on his arm that matches the description of one on the arm of the man in the book.

“His age, his name, the picture, the mugshot, that’s him,” the author of “The Third Terrorist,” Jayna Davis, told The Patriot Ledger in a telephone interview
.


Damn.
The dog handler was killed in a firefight with the Taliban - and his body returned to the UK on the same flight as the ashes of his devoted Army search dog Theo.

The springer spaniel suffered a seizure and died shortly after his master was killed last week
.


So NPR lied- again- and they're nailed for it. I'm sure there'll be lots of excuses made why we shouldn't care.
But we do.



“I’d almost be willing to get a job in order to participate in A NATIONAL GENERAL STRIKE.”
"No, dude, not that! Not at JOB!!"


On the current Gunwalker investigations,
Lawmakers in Mexico are demanding an investigation into a U.S. law enforcement operation that allowed hundreds of weapons to flow into the hands of Mexican drug cartels amid claims from a ranking legislator that at least 150 Mexicans have been killed or wounded by guns trafficked by smugglers under the watch of U.S. agents.
Let's note those are the guns DOJ and BATFE say 'never made it across the border'.
Mexican politicians have criticized the ATF program as a violation of Mexico's sovereignty and evidence of U.S. arrogance toward its southern neighbor.
More like certain officials thinking "What's a few more dead in Mexico if it helps us increase our budget and push laws we want?"

I flat fucking hate saying this, but I agree with Vanderboegh:
Backfired?

Backfired?!?

Bull.

Remember one thing -- apart from the fact that it was compromised by the ATF whistleblowers, "FAST AND FURIOUS" WORKED AS INTENDED. Hell, they're still trying to make it work, even now when the whole thing has been exposed as Fireman Friendly's secret life as a killer arsonist.
Right now BATFE and DOJ are trying to claim this was a wonderful idea that failed 'because you didn't give us more funding and authority'. I fear that he's absolutely right: they did this to pump up numbers and increase the carnage so they could use it to demand more gun laws and more restrictions and more power for them.

I still tend to think of LE as generally being good guys; when a piece of vicious idiocy like this shows people in control of powerful agencies are willing to do things like this to push political and personal ends and screw the damage done, I get a sick, disgusted feeling. Bad enough when some bastards fake-up stuff for warrants so they can put on ninja suits and kick doors, bad enough when a street officer demonstrates contempt for that Constitution he swore to uphold; enormously worse when the people in charge of whole agencies do things like this. And it again brings up "Why should I ever trust you again? You've given me reason for nothing but distrust."

Go over to Sipsey and start working down: lots more new stuff, and right now I don't really have the stomach to go through all of it here.

That's one big damn quake

The magnitude 8.9 offshore quake unleashed a 23-foot (7-meter) tsunami and was followed by more than 50 aftershocks for hours, many of them of more than magnitude 6.0.
Quake off the east coast of Japan; lots of damage there from the quake and tsunami, this report says more than 200 dead. And tsunami warnings all over the Pacific. A bunch of videos here, though when the site opens you have to listen to a Jag commercial before the first plays. And the commentator can't help making a idiot statement about 'places threatened by global warming' while talking about the whirlpool.

One thing strikes me: Japan, quake this size and all the aftermath, several hundred dead; quake this size hits a second- or(especially) third-world area you'd have thousands already. Advancing to better ways makes a big difference.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

For some reason this didn't catch me earlier:

The people who sent the long, detailed death threat to a bunch of WI senators signed it.

I wonder if the police will start acting like lawmen, or will diddle around until somebody dies?

And will, this time, there be any consequences for these dirtbags?

Multiple things getting very interesting

Possible use by nerve gas by the government in Yemen?
"The material in this gas makes people convulse for hours. It paralyses them. They couldn't move at all. We tried to give them oxygen but it didn't work," said Amaar Nujaim, a field doctor who works for Islamic Relief.

"We are seeing symptoms in the patient's nerves, not in their respiratory systems. I'm 90 per cent sure its nerve gas and not tear gas that was used," said Sami Zaid, a doctor at the Science and Technology Hospital in Sanaa
.
If true, major escalation in use of force. And opens a very big can of carnivorous worms.


DOJ, BATFE and their apologists- hell, their enablers- in Congress are trying very hard to make Gunwalker disappear.
...but sources on the Hill say Judiciary Chairman Pat Leahy won't allow it, refusing to call for an independent congressional investigation.
And the only reason for him to refuse is he's trying to help cover up this crap. Leahy sucks on so many levels they could probably put him in a room to test vacuum suits.


The North is believed to be nearing completion of an electromagnetic pulse bomb that, if exploded 25 miles above ground would cause irreversible damage to electrical and electronic devices such as mobile phones, computers, radio and radar, experts say.
A nut-level communist tyranny who sells things to terrorists with a EMP bomb... oh yeah, that's just freaking wonderful.



The 46-year-old lured his wife to the television studio where the couple worked on Feb. 12, 2009. He then attacked her with a pair of hunting knives, stabbed her 40 times, then severed her head.
...
The husband claimed as his defense that his wife was abusive toward him and that his actions were justified, claiming he suffered from battered spouse syndrome
.
Uh, yeah. Right.
"The prosecution has never asked, who started it?" the killer said during his trial, WIVB 4 News in Buffalo reported. "They never asked the question, who started it? That is the core question that needs to be answered."
Not really, counselor. And 25-to-life, assuming they actually keep the bastard in, is about right(considering the state).


To the cops in Wisconsin who can't/won't be bothered to live up to their oath: Screw You. You're a disgrace to the badge you wear. And you're telling people that if they're not of an 'approved' class by you and your union, they can't expect you to protect them when called on; which means when the time comes and they have to protect themselves, any blood spilled is at least partly on your hands, you bastards.


Speaking of union thugs and Democrats(bit of an overlap there, we have this:
Legislators can get into the building, but Republicans are being blocked from getting to their offices and into the Assembly chamber. It's the Assembly that needs to vote on the bill that the Senate passed last night, leading to the renewed protests. Meade heard from a source that Democratic legislators unlocked at least one door that leads to the doors for a cluster of Republican legislative offices. That would appear to be part of a scheme to prevent the vote.

"This is what democracy looks like" — that's the chant we've heard for 3 weeks. How do you like this new democracy, that has a mob storming the Capitol and, with the aid of the minority party, blocking the access of the majority party into their offices and into the legislative chamber? It looks more like anarchy to me
.
and this:
Among the threats the Justice Department is investigationg is one that was emailed to Republican Senators Wednesday night. Newsradio 620 WTMJ has obtained that email.

The following is the unedited email:

Please put your things in order because you will be killed and your familes
will also be killed due to your actions in the last 8 weeks. Please explain
to them that this is because if we get rid of you and your families then it
will save the rights of 300,000 people and also be able to close the deficit
that you have created. I hope you have a good time in hell. Read below for
more information on possible scenarios in which you will die
.
"We're going to kill you and your family, for the greater good of course." Go read the whole thing: bombs, mass-murder, etc. Fine progressive ideals. Time to arm up. And if the cop bitch about it, point out that their credibility as enforcers of the law has been trashed by their own actions.

Wednesday, March 09, 2011

So, make your choice: is Napolitano

A: Lying
B: That lax about knowing what's going on in the organization she's in charge of

I'm going with A. I have a hard time believing she would NOT know she had even one person taking part in an operation like this. We also know about the orders to use beanbags first, so this:
Grassley also wanted to know if Terry's team was under standing orders to use non-lethal force even against bandits clearly armed with assault rifles.

"I have asked that question, and my information is absolutely not," Napolitano said.
is bullshit. Note the 'my information is' crap, so she can later say "The information I had then was incorrect." So I believe.

Think I'll pass on the Land Rover...

everything leaked, things broke easily, it often had electrical fires, the steering was as useful in guiding the thing down the road as divining, and the noise the straight gears made obviated the need for any kind of radio. I have had more pleseant driving experiences bungee corded to the top of a bus in the rain.
...
...The momentary pleasure you’ll have in pride of ownership will be eclipsed the first time it strands you along the road, which will be on the way home from the dealership.

I like working on things, but when it comes to my transportation, unless I have something specifically to screw around with, I want the damn thing to work. All the time. Regular maintenance is one thing, having to carry a full set of tools and a shop manual so as to make sure you get where you're going, well, that just flat sucks.

The new TOW is nasty


Notice it detonates above the turret so it can strike down at the thinnest armor on the tank.

And they could do a live field test in Libya, just sneak some SpecOps people over the borders...


Found at Theo's

Tuesday, March 08, 2011

More than one Gunwalker?

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives allegedly let gun runners walk off with weapons - thousands of them - to see if they'd end up in the hands of the cartels. The Justice Department and ATF have denied it ever happened.

Special Agent John Dodson works in ATF's Phoenix office and has blown the whistle on the controversial strategy, known as letting guns "walk."

Dodson believes there are other ATF operations going on that have done the same thing.

Multiple sources now tell CBS News the questionable tactics were used in more than one operation, and date back as far as 2008 in the Tucson area. One case was called "Wide Receiver."

Sources tell CBS News licensed gun dealers often wanted no part of selling to suspicious characters who could be supplying the cartels.

But, sources say, ATF enlisted the gun dealers as paid Confidential Informants and encouraged them to sell even more.

"ATF has asked me to assist in an official investigation," reads one agreement.
My, my, my, isn't this interesting? We have DOJ and BATFE flat lying about having done this(which never really goes over well with politicians asking questions, especially when people are dead) and now this.

And, along with the other idiocies listed here(why the hell would you send people to work in a country and not be sure to find/train people in the language? Unless you didn't care if they did or didn't want them to actually succeed...), we have this:
The brazen daylight shooting has raised new worries about Mexico's longstanding ban on U.S. agents carrying weapons in most circumstances.

"Ever since Jaime Zapata was killed, the game has changed. They're killing federal agents now," one agent said. "If we got $20 million tomorrow to fully staff every office in Mexico, guys would say, 'We're not going. You won't protect us. The Mexican government won't protect us, and the U.S. government won't let me protect myself.' "
I wonder if Obama even considered that his 'No armed US agents in Mexico' policy might cause this particular problem?

I'd change it slightly

In the end, the difference between a mugger and a Nazi concentration camp commander or communist party commissar is the scale, not the mindset