Obama's Blood Ballet, Plus Things that Make Me Wonder

Obama uses grieving mothers as props. 

Also, I would like to remind the NRA AGAIN that they did not help take out Harry Reid in 2010.  This should not even come to a vote.

Eighty or ninety percent of Americans believe there should be background checks?  Probably ninety percent (or more) of gun sales have background checks.  Every firearm sold by a licensed dealer already requires a background check.

The question should be what percentage supports requiring background checks for selling your old shotgun to your brother-in-law?  What percentage of Americans believes you need to run a background check on your daughter before giving her a revolver to keep in her nightstand?  What is the percentage who support universal background checks?  And, of those who do, what percentage understands that such a process requires a universal firearms registry?

How many people understand that they will be criminals if this law is passed, and they refuse to register their firearms?  We are not talking slippery slopes.  Universal background checks are simply unenforceable without registration, and, to be meaningful, such registration would have to include every firearm in America.

Meanwhile, the late and unlamented murderer of children in Newtown and the excuse for this nonsense '' ... had accumulated an arsenal that included pistols, rifles, revolvers, shotguns, swords, knives and other "cutting instruments."

The malicious murderer of unarmed and undefended schoolchildren

... shot his way into the building and killed 20 children and six adults with a Bushmaster .223 caliber model XM15 rifle. The Bushmaster was loaded with a 30-round capacity magazine. Fourteen rounds were in the magazine when the Bushmaster was recovered by police. There was one round in the chamber.

The shooter took his own life with a single shot from a Glock 10 mm handgun. He also had a loaded 9mm Sig Sauer P226 handgun with him. He also had three magazines for the Bushmaster, each containing 30 rounds, and additional ammo for the handguns.

When the carnage was over, police counted 154 spent bullet casings.

Emphasis is mine.

Something is interesting here:  ... [The murderer's] deadly rampage took no longer than five minutes from the time [the murderer] forced his way into the school to when he turned a gun on himself ...

How many magazine changes in five minutes?  Even if the punk emptied three 30-round magazines and half of a fourth, that is 105 shell casings.  However, it doesn't actually say that the other three magazines were emptied, it just gives details on the magazine in the Bushmaster.  He killed himself with the Glock 10mm.  Did he kill any of the victims with handgun rounds?  Also, though I take it to mean he had three mags in addition to the one in the gun, you could read that as three total.  In fact, assuming that the journalist here is a native English speaker, it kind of sounds like those three additional magazines still had 30 rounds in them.  That would be ... different.

Read the article and see what you think.

No matter what, at minimum, roughly a third of those shell casings would had to have come from handguns.  I would guess that it was probably more than that.  In any case, I suspect that it is inaccurate to say that he killed 26 people with a .223 rifle.  He probably used the rifle mainly for entry and for shooting the adults at longer ranges.  This was not a strong, healthy young man.  His picture reminds me of H.P. Lovecraft -- except less robust.  He was depending on the Bushmaster to keep the adults away.  (Murderer's image from Yahoo story link above.  Lovecraft image from www.listal.com)

Once he had brutally gunned down the teacher who tried to keep him out of her classroom, he had access to a huddled mass of shocked, terrified, and immobile little children who had, tragically, been herded by the teacher into a confined space.  It was too convenient.  The range was too short.  The punk would have pulled the handguns and begun firing at almost point-blank range. 

Consider the time frame.  The punk forces his way into a building.  He starts shooting while still in the halls.  The administrators call the police.  He had to get down the halls and past the teachers.  I can't see that taking less that a minute and a half.  After that, even averaging a round per second with magazine changes which had to have taken place, three minutes minimum, and our time is almost up.

Assuming the very best possible response from the police and patrol cars in the immediate vicinity, there are no officers in the building at this point.  Are the sirens audible yet?  They won't be to the punk.  He has been firing non-stop for three solid minutes in a closed room.  He couldn't hear thunder.  Was he wearing plugs?  That would be bizarre, but it wouldn't change the fact that he wouldn't be able to hear.  Maybe he was wearing high-end electronic hearing protection.  This was a trained shooter and wearing hearing protection would be a habit with him.  But, if he wasn't using electronic muffs which suppress the louder sounds and can amplify quieter ones, there's no way he stopped because he heard the sirens.  He clearly wasn't out of ammunition.

Were all the babies he could see dead at that point?  Perhaps he had expended his frustration and anger.  Perhaps the reality of what he had done, the unutterable horror of it broke through to whatever ephemeral humanity remained in his vile soul. 

Combat Mentality

I do not think it will ever get this hardcore in my neck of the woods, but Selco of SHTF School talks about the reality of combat. 

The world is getting so weird, so off an even keel, one does begin to wonder if it can continue to right itself.  Some places, like Selco's own Balkans twenty years ago, did fall apart.  It's interesting to think that the reason for the violence was ethnic diversity -- tribalism.  What seems to be at the forefront of political considerations in America today?  Diversity, subcultures, ethnic groups, demographic splits -- aka, tribalism.

Selco is worth the read even if, like me, you don't think it will ever get anywhere near that bad here.

Cyprus, TARP, MF Global, GM, Gunwalker -- How Come Nobody's in Jail?

We are a simple people out here in flyover-country.  We tend to think that stealing is a crime and should be punished.  One of the most "American" scenes in the classic Stagecoach is when the banker, Gatewood, is arrested for embezzlement.  Remember, too, that the plot in It's a Wonderful Life is driven by the threat of scandal and prosecution because Uncle Billy misplaced $8,000 which was stolen by Potter.

It used to be sort of intuitive that bankers and other fiduciary agents who embezzled monies, who committed fraud and otherwise illegally deprived working people of their hard-earned savings should be prosecuted as thieves. 

We are not for bail-outs.  I don't think the government ought to come in -- if my bank goes belly-up -- and make sure that I get all my money back.  We have deposit insurance and we should understand the limits of that.  We should also have the good sense to know that if bank failures are too widespread, the FDIC will be bankrupt itself.  Our expectation should be that if a banker has acted negligently or maliciously, he should go to jail.  That may not help me or the other defrauded depositors in a given case, but it will send a message to future agents that such irresponsible or criminal behavior has consequences.

After all, this is why we punish criminals.  Sending a rapist to prison or a murderer to the gas chamber does not undo the horror of the crime, but if we fail to act punitively we only encourage future misdeeds.  

Unless and until the people who were responsible for the condition of the Cypriot banks are prosecuted and jailed, no one has any business confiscating deposits.  If the banks have failed, they have failed.  Those who have insured accounts should be recompensed up to the limit, then the criminals -- whomever they might be -- should be dragged out in handcuffs and leg-irons and thrown so far down in the Hole that they have to pipe in daylight.

And while we are at it, the same should happen to Jon Corzine. 

And Eric Holder and everyone else involved in "Fast and Furious" up to and including NMP Obama. 

When we are finished jailing those who violated the law by smuggling guns to Mexico, we should drag them out and prosecute them for defrauding the bondholders of General Motors.   Every senator and representative who voted for TARP, to use taxpayer money to bail out the banks and financial institutions who had acted -- at the very least -- irresponsibly is an accessory after the fact to misappropriation of funds.

The looting, mismanagement, outright fraud and theft will not stop until somebody is dragged before a bench and sentenced to HARD time.  The government's job is not to save the banks.  It is to enforce the law and defend the citizens against criminal activity.

Prosecute the lawbreakers, the embezzlers, the thieves.  

Do your job.  Or get out of the way.

Establishing Credibility -- Updated with the corrected link

Oleg Volk, in addition to being possibly the best photographer of firearms on the planet, is a solid thinker.  He pinpoints the reason behind the mere presence of a firearm acting as a deterrent. 

If threatened by someone physically larger and stronger -- as is usually the case when males attack females, skill is not visible.  Muscle, weight, and physical presence are obvious.  A 98-pound woman may have the best Kung Fu there is, but she is going to have to use it if she is targeted by a 250-pound rapist.  On the other hand, if a woman or a fragile, elderly man had a gun in hand, an attacker may decide, as Falstaff, that discretion is the better part of valor.

This is why firearms are the best self-defense weapons in almost every situation. 

It Comes Down to A Simple Question -- Updated

Can you trust the government?

For the last several decades, many people in the West believed that a democratically elected government could be trusted to generally do the right thing.  I do not count myself among those, partly because of native, genetic skepticism and partly because I have had some experience as an employee of government entities.

Journalists, especially broadcast journalists, attack, defend, or ignore the government and government actions depending upon whether or not their favorite section of the oligarchy gets democratically elected.  Abu Ghraib was a really big deal because some Iraqi had panties put on his head, and George Bush was president.  Benghazi was not a big deal because a U.S. Ambassador and three other Americans were brutally murdered, and Barack Obama was president.  Journalists have become, more and more, simply reviewers of the latest political stage show which has all the gripping reality of "Real Housewives of Orange County Choppers" or "Fairies 'Cross the Jersey".  (Bonus points for anyone who knows the reference for the last one.  It means you are probably over 50 and/or watch too many PBS music features.)  

There is a good chance the Cyprus crisis will fade out of the news cycle, no matter what happens.  Life will continue to be "normal" for most of us.  The talking heads will go back to talking about Snoop Otter's drug arrest or Rand Paul's secret membership in Possum Lodge.  But for a lot of people, Cyprus has raised the question of who is actually in control.  Do the citizens of Cyprus have control of their own resources, lives and futures?  Or are they subjects, the pawns of international organizations run, ultimately by a fairly small group of elitists?

I am not suggesting an Illuminati-type of conspiracy.  I think it is much simpler than that.  You have people at the top of various organizations -- governmental, quasi-governmental, and seemingly private, whose interests often converge.  Those converging interests of the elite are often at odds with the interests of the masses.  In a truly free market where currencies are pegged to some sort of objective standard and correspond, at least in some degree, to measurable assets, that some rise to the top is not really an issue.  It may be done on the basis of talent and wisdom or by contacts and school ties.  We don't care because the market will determine our own success or failure.  The trouble is in our modern world of fiat currencies and obscure, occult manipulations of money supplies and markets, of regulatory machinations and centralized controls and "planned" economies, those various organizations can do about what they like.

Very few politicians are willing to play Toto and draw back the curtains.  Fewer still do so with any success.  It is a dangerous business for nosy dogs with youthful bones buried.

The danger of a Cyprus is not in the amount of money involved, but in the exposure of the controls of the system, in the spreading realization that we are being manipulated to the benefit of those doing the manipulating.  The parasites seeking only bread and circuses do not, for the most part, care -- so long as the circus is in town and their distended bellies are full.  But those of us who are working and producing, building and creating, investing and saving do care.  And if we stop, if we drop our harness and leave that wagon full of riders in the road ... well, they don't want that.

Updated with Zero Hedge -- Really, enslaving you and stealing your assets, it's for your own good.

I don't know about the Bitcoin thing, but I do know a little about barter.  As Denninger has pointed out recently, when you get right down to it, you possess what you can defend.  Some say your real wealth is your knowledge and your skill.   I would add wisdom.

Blessed is the one who finds wisdom,
and the one who gets understanding,
for the gain from her is better than gain from silver
and her profit better than gold. -- Proverbs 3:13-14

Take my instruction instead of silver,
and knowledge rather than choice gold,
for wisdom is better than jewels,
and all that you may desire cannot compare with her. -- Proverbs 8:10-11

How much better to get wisdom than gold!
To get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver. -- Proverbs 16:16

Just keep in mind that silver is really, really good.  Nothing wrong with having both.

And one more -- If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. (James 1:5)

One of These Is Not Like the Other

In price anyway:

SMKW Condor Golok Machete $49.99

Garrett Wade Personal Machete $79.99

The difference?  Garrett Wade markets to gray-ponytails and hipsters.  SMKW markets to rednecks and hillbillies. 

A Question of Possession -- Updated

I said that my wife was fixing to empty one or more accounts in the wake of the Cyprus debacle.

She called the bank to see about, hypothetically, pulling out cash, rather than, say, a cashiers' check.  The maximum that can be taken out at one time is $30,000, from this particular institution.  There are only so many hundred dollar bills in the house, and they probably have to get special-order a shipment in from the nearest Federal Reserve -- and my name probably goes on a list.

Just an interesting tidbit for consideration.

UPDATE:  Yes, indeed my name goes on a list because I could be laundering drug money.  The VP at the bank told my wife not worry because there is no way such a confiscation of accounts could happen here.  After all we are insured by the FDIC -- backed by the full faith and credit of the federal government.  The bank is sound as a dollar.  You don't want to keep money in your house.  What if it burned down?  You could be robbed.   

The fact that she was so quickly booted up to the VP -- I've met him, he's a good guy -- indicates that she is probably not the only inquirer they have spoken to the last couple of days.  (Interestingly, the VP suggested putting her cash in a safe deposit box.  I am not sure, but I think I have heard that is illegal.)
 
It can happen here.  It has happened here.  It almost certainly will happen here at some point.  All it takes is for a desperate government to levy a "tax" on existing bank accounts.  John Roberts said last summer that any kind of tax is "constitutional" if Congress passed it.  And, of course, it will be limited to the "rich", so those living off the government teat will not be adversely impacted.  There will probably also be waivers and exemptions for teachers and other public sector union members.

This may be no big deal, but it may be a crack in the public trust.  The worst thing that can happen is for people in general to perceive that the house is rigging the game -- not just working the odds, but blatantly and brazenly strong-arming.  It is as if, even when your bet pays off and you start to walk away from the table, the house's muscle comes over and demands a portion of your winnings.  At that point, the players understand, and it stops being a game at all.