Category: Libertarianism

Monday Links

December 4, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Starting with Reason – of course.

Flagstaff decides to take its ball and go home instead of running gun ads in public transit.

An analysis of Backpage’s hopeless battle against the DOJ.

Irish government about to crack down on memes.

Biden displays normal disdain of economics while threatening companies for “price gouging.”

A case before the Supreme Court will decide if people have to go through administrative judges.

State laws requiring permission to obtain guns look shaky under post-NYSRPA.

Detroit’s civil asset forfeiture program is gone.

I have a couple from Ground News.

US agrees to shutter remaining coal plants.

Nannites from human tissue used to repair damage in human bodies.

Other stuff time!

From Bloomberg, the story of a new anti-drone drone.

An item of local interest – Dakin Dairy is up for sale.

From the Verge, Ikea is introducing more inexpensive smart home devices.

From CBR, the anime streaming service HIDIVE is stopping service in most of countries. Considering how the app is becoming less and less useful, I’m not surprised.

From TFB, CZ is releasing a DMR version of the Bren 2.

Monday Links – Super Sized!

November 20, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Just as a heads up, I have a bit of a backlog that I’m clearing out today. So, buckle up buttercup.

Of course we’re starting with a mess of Reason links.

Do right-wingers believe conspiracy theories more than left-wingers? Short answer, no. Long answer, it’s complicated.

Some are estimating the US has about 20 years to get it’s financial house in order before a debt default becomes inevitable.

The FTC’s case against Amazon is based on a faulty interpretation of one statistic. You mean Kahn’s disregarding logic in her crusade against Amazon?

Re-examination of the teen vaping panic.

Retrospective of the effectiveness of the Endangered Species Act at 50.

NLRB looks to change rules aimed at how franchises work – particularly fast food franchises.

Supreme Court issues a code of ethics for the justices. One item of note is that they address recusal and the duty for the justices to stay on cases to avoid strategic recusals.

The Fifth Circuit slaps down the ATF’s recent receiver rule.

On to other stuff.

The Reload has an article on the Supreme Court granting cert on the bump stock ban. I see this less of a gun case and more of a restricting administrative agencies from making people felons with a rule change.

From Ground News, we have Sam Altman departing OpenAI. Not clear if he left on his own accord or was forced out.

From 9to5Mac, Apple surprised everyone by announcing they were integrating RCS alongside iMessage.

From NYT comes an article on a company pulling carbon and trapping it in concrete. I always thought engineering would help the planet better than trying to just cut emissions.

War Is Boring reports the Ukranian Army is trying to transition to a more professional and gender-equitable force. Um, okay. I guess improving its professionalism in the middle of a war is a good thing.

Angry Staff Officer has an article discussing the positive leadership traits of Grand Admiral Thrawn. Honestly, this kind of article was why I started reading ASO.

From The Allspark, Peter Cullen to receive lifetime achievement award.

Our last link is from Ars Technica. The old television series “Connections” is being revived! And James Burke is returning as host!

Monday Links

November 6, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Let’s start out with our normal Reason round up.

A bunch of federal offices sit empty while the taxpayers are still paying for them. One of the dirty little secrets is that no one wants to give up their little space empire – even if they’re not using it and others are paying through the nose other space. I would be all in favor of some kind of BRAC-type examination of all federal buildings/leases/land to see what could be sold off or condensed.

Speaking of government-owned stuff, here’s an article about a grocery store being run by Erie, Kansas with predictable results. What’s wrong with Kansas?

Here’s a think-piece on allowing in Gaza refugees. My sympathies lie with allowing refugees in. However, considering the current state of the immigration issue, I can’t see how they wouldn’t be turned into playthings of the demagogue politicians.

Moving on to other news articles.

A Bloomberg article on how Huwai managed to develop an advanced chip by reworking machines not part of the current tech embargo.

IntelNews has an article on how Ukraine is using assassinations as a part of their war with Russia.

From GroundNews, Orlando buys the Pulse site to build a memorial. I understand the need for a memorial. I just have a feeling that it will be used to push the narrative that the asshole was targeting gays instead of just wanting to kill people.

Also from GroundNews, the administration halts export of civilian firearms for 90 days. Because reasons.

I have a couple of articles on the administration’s executive orders on AI. One from Wired and one from aisnakeoil. Considering the stance of the administration, I can hear the words “regulatory capture” just behind their talking points.

Tampa International Airport is testing out air-taxis. I find them kind of interesting as their essentially EV helos.

Speaking of EV’s, The Drive reports that Ford is having to recall Mustang Mach-E’s because the batteries don’t respond well to the owners flooring it. What the hell did Ford think people would do with an EV sporting a Mustang badge? I keep saying that the Mach-E would have been a great EV, but it’s a sucky Mustang.

The Firearms Blog has an article about a new PCC with swapable magwells for different magazines. Well, color me interested.

For our light item:

Monday Links

October 23, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Let’s start with Reason links.

Confirming some of my priors, a new study finds helicopter parenting is detrimental to kids’ mental health.

An interesting piece on how Congress has not learned the lessons of high interest rates. They also haven’t learned that pumping money into an economy causes inflation, so why should anyone be surprised?

Going on to other news sites.

Related to the last Reason item, the deficit hit $1.7 trillion driven by – surprise! – higher costs for entitlements (Social Security and Medicare/caid).

A new threat to LLM’s from an old technique – prompt injections. As these LLM’s become more prevalent, we’re going to find all sorts of unexpected benefits and threats.

Via Erin Palette, comes this blog post about why Jews may be looking at others with some suspicion. I’ll admit, it hit me wrong. I dislike the whole “I can only trust people in my identity group” attitude. I understand how it arises, and that we’ll see more of this as America transitions to a low-trust society. I will still extend my hand – if you feel threatened and want to learn the basics of gun handling feel free to contact me.

Some gun news from TFB.

CSG – owner of CZ, maker of my beloved Bren – is now the proud owner of Vista Outdoors’ collection of ammunition brands. Including Speer, which makes the ammo I tend to use for my defensive purposes.

If I’d known Smith and Wesson was going to come out with this PCC, I might have not purchased my FSC. I prefer the “AR” rifle configuration over the FSC’s more “Uzi”-style configuration.

Steyr announced a new version of their Scout rifle. The original Scout debuted right when I was getting into guns, and it’s always had a place in my heart. Something about that integrated bipod and the mag holder in the butt. The new one looks like a worthy successor.

Time for light items.

Disney is developing a live-action version of Gargoyles. Well, that could be either very good or very bad. I should really introduce The Wife to the series.

And because I’ve had this song pinging around my head for some indiscernible reason.:

Monday Links

October 16, 2023 / / 0 Comments

I normally start out with Reason links, but I always believe that when faced with a horrific event, it’s important to look for the heroes. After Hamas’s murderous rampage in Israel, I have a couple of links to heroes.

A paramedic (who happened to be Arab) who gave his life tending to the injured at a music festival.

An Israeli couple who protected their twin infants. The couple died, but the infants were rescued.

I don’t have a link for this one, but heard on the ACP podcast about an Uber driver who dropped people off at that big music festival, saw the attack, raced back in, crammed nine people into his car, raced them to an IDF base, found the base under Hamas control, escaped to another IDF base, and then waited with his passengers for a couple of hours before soldiers showed up to help. Unfortunately, he was hit during all of this badassery and lost his life. If anyone has a link to this story, please let me know so I can add it here.

Now it’s time for a couple of Reason articles.

This may be considered by some to be in bad taste after the protests seen in the US, Australia, and others in support of the Palestinian cause, but it’s an important point. We can’t hold protest organizers liable for violence done by people not under their direct control/authority. Fight back the protests with counter protests. Resist violence with proportional force.

No, Matthew Sheppard wasn’t killed because he was gay. Were the murderers homophobes? Yeah. But the more I read this case, it more reads like if Aryan Nation did a meth deal with a black dealer, and then killed the dealer in a horrific way after the deal went bad. It was more about the deal than the hate.

On to other stories.

Ammoland has an article about four questions you should ask during your next gun control debate. A lot of good points about effective discussion and debate as well.

From The Record comes an article about the largest DDOS attack ever recorded.

Ground News (which is a service I use to get a bunch of news stories) has a collection of them on 17 Broward County deputies arrested for stealing $500K worth of COVID funds. Shocked face emoji that it came from Broward.

Our last story is from Variety about Michael Caine retiring at the age of 90. Thank you for decades of wonderful performances.

Monday Links

October 2, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Okay, we’re going to do the usual and start with Reason links.

As I’m sure you’ve heard, Diane Feinstein passed away last week. While I will extend my condolences to her friends and family, I won’t pretend to be horribly upset. And Reason encapsulates why.

Khan’s FTC is going after Amazon. I had a piece in here earlier this year that the FTC chairman/person/annoyance really doesn’t understand how online retail works – and it seems anything she doesn’t understand is bad.

And the FCC is going to reimpose net neutrality because reasons. Because it isn’t like they’ve had anything but hypotheticals to explain why it’s needed. Hey FCC, you want to fix things? Start fixing these stupid franchises localities make with internet companies to limit competition.

On to other things…

The New Yorker has an interesting think piece on someone learning about guns to write on guns.

The Brits had to temporarily mobilize part of their Army when a bunch of their weapons-qualified police officers refused to pick up weapons. Why? One of their own is facing charges after a shooting. The officers have since returned to their duties. I don’t know enough about the case to decide if the shooting was justified or not. But it was an interesting turn of events.

Light item alert!

Someone’s making amphibious campers that resemble Star Trek TOS shuttles.

Monday Links

September 25, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Let’s start off with a story of local significance.

Last week, the local baseball franchise managed to wrangle themselves a new stadium out of St. Petersburg. Reason has an article explaining why that’s a bad idea.

Moving on to some presidential actions.

Reason has an article on the administration streamlining the rules to allow migrants from some countries to work. I imagine catching heat from New York and Chicago is lighting a fire on the issue.

Something to placate the environmentalists, Biden announced establishing a Climate Change Corps. I guess he’s trying to soothe that faction with the “romanticism” of the New Deal.

And to placate the gun prohibitionists, Biden announced a new Office of Gun Violence Prevention. It sounds like a good way to give government largesse to lobbyists and activists.

But Biden needs some wins on the gun issue – particularly as courts continue to strike down laws under the Bruen Text History Tradition test. This time, Cali’s magazine ban was struck down – again. Maybe it will stay dead when the case goes en banc.

Now, on to something completely different.

The Wirecutter is pulling their recommendation for Wyze cameras after the company’s blasé attitude to a security breach that allowed customers to see others’ camera feeds.

Time for the light item.

Here’s an article discussing how the American dialect diverged from the mother tongue.

Monday Links – Catch Up Edition

August 28, 2023 / / 0 Comments

It’s been a bit since I’ve done the Monday Links. So, this might be a little scattered.

Of course, I have some Reason links.

First, an article about how JAMA purports to track COVID misinformation while still claiming that the lab leak theory is “misinformation.” You keep using that word like that, and it will become completely worthless as anything but political rhetoric.

Continuing on pandemic related issues, millions of students vanished from school rolls during the shuttering of schools. Since reopening, they haven’t returned. Of all the carnage wreaked upon society from the pandemic, the over-extended school shutdowns may have the most lasting impact.

Following in educational trends, Arizona’s public universities have dropped their requirements for DEI statements for job applicants. Because compelled speech is bad.

Also in education, it’s amazing how well the movie “PCU” stands up, even after 30 years. It’s still one of my favorite movies – and I find it was more prescient than people think “Idiocracy” was.

Going on to other news sources.

From the Financial Times, we have an article that criminal hackers are targeting and attacking cyber security professionals IRL. Considering some of the folks I know in that field (cough, cough, Borepatch), that might not be their best course of action.

WaPo is reporting that a “record number of children were killed by guns.” Yes, I use the scare quotes. Why? I give you two quotes from the article. The analysis, which looked at children and adolescents from newborn to age 19, found nearly two-thirds of the deaths among children in 2021 were homicides. (snip) Adolescents between 15 and 19 years old accounted for most of the gun-related deaths. Can anyone say “gang activity”?

Staying with guns, Greg from Active Response Training debunks the oft-repeated idea that the sound of a shotgun being racked will scare off intruders. Yes, I believed this myth many a moon ago.

More guns, an article from NSSF on Philly suing gun retailors. Y’know, instead of locking up violent criminals.

From The Vulture, an article on the looming crisis of not enough “bingeable” programming for the streaming services due to their habit of cancelling shows after only a season or two.

The Atlantic has an article examining dissatisfaction with The Wirecutter in recent years. Particularly since its purchase by the NYT. Admittedly, The Wirecutter is still my go-to site for most things – and I enjoy their coverage of the big sales, so this was kind of a shock to me.

Finally, from Car and Driver is an article on the 2024 Toyota Land Cruiser. I am intrigued. This may be a contender when we need to replace the Ward Wagon in the future. Unless these maintain their prices like the FJ Cruisers do. Forty grand for a ten-year-old car with more than 100K miles? Really?

Monday Links

August 7, 2023 / / 0 Comments

This is going to be one of those heavy weeks for links.

Let’s start out with probably the biggest media story – the new indictment against Donald Trump. The Dispatch has had the best take on the whole issue thus far.

What may actually be the more important story is Fitch downgrading the US credit rating from AAA to AA+ (Reuters article). Of course, Reason explains why this is a function of our current governmental disfunction.

In that same vein, Reason examines the broken budget process.

Sticking with Reason, here’s a couple of gun-related articles. First, an examination of how New Zealand can’t keep its registry of gun owners private. Second, a law professor advocating officials hiding behind qualified immunity to enforce unconstitutional gun laws.

Keeping in the RKBA vein, John Richardson discusses the latest push to rebrand gun control as “gun responsibility.”

From Ars Technica, an article about Reddit not having to reveal user names who discussed torrenting.

From Vox, an article advocating using “windfall profits” from AI companies to fund a universal basic income. For the entire planet. Let me be clear – when you use the term “windfall profits,” your whole proposal sounds uneducated.

From The Atlantic, an article debunking the common wisdom on learning styles.

From Cato, a fun little game called “The Green Card Game.” Can you navigate the current immigration system?

From Your Observer, a local library is offering teens a course on “Adulting 101.”

Whew! We need some light items.

First, you can now watch the first season of the original TMNT.

Second, T.REX Arms has done a bunch of detail scans to make holsters. They’re offering those scans up for other companies to use.

This last one you just have to watch.

Monday Links

July 31, 2023 / / 0 Comments

A couple of Reason links about cops. This is how you get BLM.

Police destroy a man’s business and stick him with the bill.

Arizona law limiting recording police struck down by judge.

From ABC, an article about the lack of infrastructure for recharging EVs. Something to consider if you’re looking to get one.

From The Verge, an article about a new tool that can do a lot of wireless tasks.

Still confused about large language models powering the new chatbots? Here’s a primer.

From Active Response Training, here’s a trick when practicing live fire with your weapon-mounted light. I started doing this after noticing the carbon scoring on my original Streamlight.