Category: RKBA

Monday Links

May 27, 2024 / / 0 Comments

I hope everyone is having a good Memorial Day weekend. There will be a bit of tab clearing since we didn’t have a links post last week.

I’ve got a slew of Reason articles to start.

A look into how bad science is keeping bad regulations around nuclear power. We need more nuclear power. Because we need more power. Because we need to reduce our dependence on oil. Not just climate change, but because of the politics and other environmental hazards of oil.

A look at how zoning regulations empower the people we don’t want to have power.

Surprise, surprise, the real reason for self-checkout bans is not the stated reason of stopping theft. Incentives matter, and that doesn’t change once the issue becomes political.

No, Super Size Me was not a documentary. It was a bullshit publicity stunt that did nothing to address what it purported to address. Other than getting Mickey D’s to change it’s branding.

NYT says that looser gun laws caused the spike in homicides. Um, yeah. Keep thinking that.

This one about a New York man being convicted of building guns made the rounds of the gunblogs, but here’s Reason’s coverage. The judge telling the defense the Second Amendment doesn’t work here was surprisingly unsurprising.

Now on to other sources.

From Ground News, we have an aggregation of Uvalde parents suing Meta, Microsoft, and Daniel Defense because the bad guy was on Facebook, played Call of Duty, and used a DD rifle. I’m kinda glad the plaintiffs are pulling in Meta and Microsoft, as they can slap down those better than Daniel Defense.

From 404 Media – all those nifty northern lights that folks were able to see earlier this month? Yeah, that same coronal storm caused issues with tractors talking with GPS, which has resulted in issues with planting. Which will definitely have some downstream effects in the food supply chain.

Nature published an op-ed decrying climate scientists being climate activists. This has been one of the big problems with doing anything about climate change. The moment you step out of being a neutral dispenser of information to a partisan, whatever information you provide is degraded. Either because a swath of the population will no longer believe you, or your information becomes shaded. Because incentives matter.

Ars Technica has an article on a company that had its Google Cloud account completely wiped out. Including the backups. Fortunately, the company had backups other than Google, but it’s an interesting case study.

Via The Brother, here’s the transcript from a talk Bert Hubert delivered on Cyber Security and war.

From the local TV station, we have an article about a homeowner who killed an intruder, by stabbing him, after the intruder shot her in the face. In a fight for your life, don’t stop until you can’t fight anymore. Or the threat is stopped.

Monday Links

April 29, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Reason links first:

Another reminder that cops have no duty to protect you.

Gasp, politicians helped killed the Amazon / iRobot deal. Can I tell you how much this annoyed me?

The Supreme Court is taking a look at another case of the ATF’s flexible rule making. This one involving so-called ghost guns. Or as we refer to them, unfinished parts.

FCC is bringing back net neutrality. Because we have to solve a problem that has never happened.

And the FTC is banning non-compete agreements, even though that may be beyond their powers. Okay, I can understand non-competes where you could bring trade secrets to a competitor. I can also understand wanting to stop non-competes being blanket issued on all employment contracts including fast food workers. Still think this should have been passed by Congress, not the FTC.

Colorado told HOA’s they can’t ban home businesses.

Now, on to the Ground News aggregations:

A quarter of adults over 50 say they don’t expect to retire.

The feds don’t think Putin ordered Navalny’s death. Okay, fine. But I’m good with using the felony murder rule.

Ukraine pulled its new-to-them Abrams tanks after losing some to drones. We are seeing the rules of warfare change on the fields of Ukraine and in the streets of Gaza. I doubt that tanks have been supplanted, but they will have to learn how to survive.

A company wants to build submersible superyachts. It reminded me of a wild-eyed scheme that The Brother and I once had to turn old Soviet Typhoon-class boomers into luxury cruise ships. You know, because they already had a pool built into them.

Now on to some other stories:

One of the local stations reports that the last big owner of Clearwater properties not tied to the Church of Scientology has sold out to someone with ties to Scientology. Clearwater is pretty much the company town for the Church.

John Richardson reports that Marion Hammer’s contract with the NRA has been quietly canceled. I’m kind of unsympathetic to someone who helped loot the organization that I dutifully paid into for many, many years.

The Verge has an article on Home Assistant. Ward Manor currently runs the Echo ecosystem for its smart home needs because they’re relatively cheap and easy to use. I’m not against switching to something that would work just as well without getting Amazon’s ads and curated articles pumped in.

Angry Staff Officer has another great article mixing science fiction properties and modern military theory.

Time for light items.

For ten grand, you too can have a robot dog with a flamethrower.

Space Battleship Yamato is celebrating its 50-year anniversary with new sequels.

The Quintessential Quintuplets are coming out with a new movie.

Monday Links

April 15, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Some of these are a little older, as I haven’t had the links post for the past couple of weeks. So, this is also kind of a browser tab dump.

The Reason segment:

Colorado decided not to join the blue wave in expanding the types of “sensitive places” where concealed carry would be forbidden.

Congress wants to limit credit card swipe fees. When they did that for debit cards, a bunch of companies dumped their rewards programs. I also wouldn’t be surprised to see brand new fees put in place.

Voters push back on sales tax to build stadium. I wish this would happen more. Particularly since the Tampa Bay area is looking at least one new “community-financed” sports arena in the next decade.

Now on to Ground News aggregations:

Several dead in a “mass stabbing” in Australia. While I can’t say a CCW in that instance would have helped the situation (although it has in the US), I wish that the Aussies had that option.

Anti-vaxxers are threatening elimination status of measles. Sweet FSM, it’s like everyone wants to drag us into the before times. I blame both sides for their bullshit on the COVID vaccine now spilling over to much more deadly diseases.

Zimbabwe has a new idea for combating rampant inflation – back their currency with gold. I’m not a gold bug, but I like the idea of taking some of the power away from central banks to artificially inflate the currency by “adding some zeroes.”

Microsoft learned from it’s Internet Explorer fight and is unbundling Teams from Office before getting dragged into litigation. Which is stupid, but unsurprising considering the recent state of activist regulators.

South of me, a house had some orbital debris fall through the roof. I don’t think most folks understand exactly how much space junk there is up in the orbitals that we’re going to need to clean up.

Now on to other stories.

WSJ has a story on the coming legal battles as to who’s responsible for what AI’s say and do. Note: paywalled.

The Verge is reporting that AI gun detectors installed by NYC as a pilot program resulted in an 85% false positive rate. H/t The Brother

War Is Boring analyzes the recent brouhaha over tweet from the Navy showing one of its captain’s requalifying on an M4. Let’s just say the picture was embarrassing enough that the tweet was deleted after everyone roasted it.

Speaking of service arms, TFB reports Taiwan has a new service rifle. Surprise, it’s an AR-pattern weapon.

More gun stuff. The Reload reports on the administration’s new “rules” regarding who needs an FFL. I use scare quotes because of they’re still fucking vague and leave too much open for interpretation by prosecutors and agents. Who, I don’t really trust to interpret.

DeSantis signed a couple of bills that worry me on the civil liberties front. One bans the use of civilian review boards of police in favor of the sheriffs/police departments appointing their own review boards. Um what? I can understand getting pissy about anti-cop activists worming their way onto those boards, but how is letting the cops review do their own reviews a way of holding them accountable? The other penalizes folks who “get too close” to first responders. It looks like it’s aimed at people video recording public servants doing public work.

Here’s a couple of critiques of the media.

The Freepress has an article from a long-time NPR reporter describing the change at NPR from “left-leaning” to “left-activist,” and the resultant loss of trust from the citizenry.

Almost as if to prove the point, NotTheBee has an analysis of a recent WaPo article on a Chicago Police shooting. Sweet FSM, there’s enough police misconduct, you don’t have to push a story claiming a man who opened fire on cops is some kind of martyr.

Monday Links

April 1, 2024 / / 0 Comments

There was some temptation to do a bunch of April Fools links, but in all honesty, I didn’t have the time to set that up. Maybe next year.

Let’s do our Reason segment.

DeSantis signed a bill mandating age verification for social media. There are some things that I think are good ideas, but don’t trust the heavy hand of government to do. Getting kids under the age of fifteen/sixteen off of social media is one of those things.

We keep hearing how long it will take to fix the Francis Scott Key Bridge. One of the reasons is a protectionist law? Cue shocked Pikachu face.

A court decision reaffirms the Second Amendment rights of public housing tenants. Who often are the folks most in need of those rights.

We end Reason’s segment with a trio of articles about squatter’s rights.

Stossel illustrating the problem.

Court cases on if laws surrounding squatter’s rights should be considered takings.

Finally, how big of an epidemic are squatters?

In case you were curious, no, I’m not big on squatter’s rights. If you’re occupying my building or land without a contract in place, I should be able to have you arrested for trespassing.

Now on to other items.

From Ground News, the people pushing a new geologic epoch because of all the damage humanity has done have been denied.

An article on drone swarms and the possible irrelevance of the Air Force. I learned a new term – air littoral space. Drone swarms are definitely going to change the battlefield.

Tam has an article over at Shooting Illustrated on the impact Glock has had on the pistol market. It was certainly the right product at the right time, and it certainly ushered in what I would consider the modern sidearm.

We end on a sad note. The passing of Louis Gossett Jr.

Monday Links

March 11, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Reason links first:

Reason’s coverage of the Supreme Court dismissing Colorado removing Trump from the Republican Primary. It would have helped the case if Colorado had something like a conviction or an impeachment to hang their hat on. It would also help if we hadn’t enshrined private corporation – which is what the Republican and Democrat parties are – elections as part of our political process.

Argentina’s radical president has shuttered the state media outlet for being a propaganda outlet.

New York is sending in the National Guard to patrol NYC subways. I have a real problem with bringing in soldiers to perform a police function outside of martial law or a natural disaster.

Alabama passes legislation to protect IVF after their Supreme Court ruling. You know, if Congress would follow this example, we would have a better functioning federal system. But, why would Congress do their job when they can foist their responsibilities on the executive and judicial branches and prance around like peacocks.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is now requiring climate disclosures. This is an agency that needs to be reigned in. I think a lot of the SEC’s bullshit has been flying under the radar due to the FTC’s louder bullshit.

Georgia gave luxury car maker Rivian a bunch of incentives to build a factory – which the company now has put pause on. Cue shocked Pikachu face.

Now for some Ground News aggregations:

Heather Guitirrez Reed, the armorer on the movie “Rust”, guilty of involuntary manslaughter.

Administration is going after credit card late fees. Funny. When Biden was the senator from Deleware, he wasn’t this vociferous about “junk fees”. Again, if this is important, why is it coming from the executive instead of Congress? Lastly, cue unexpected consequences in three, two, one…

The national debt is rising at an increasing rate. Rising interest rates aren’t helping, but again, a dysfunctional Congress is not helping.

Washington State Court dismisses challenge to state law allowing suits against gun makers. Lawfare and PLCAA invocation incoming.

Now on to other news stories:

Heroes who tackled gunman at Chiefs Superbowl rally are honored. Gentlemen, you have my utmost respect for your courage.

Five SAS troops are under arrest for murder in the shooting of suspected suicide bomber. On the face, this sounds very bullshit. The prosecutor better have some strong facts on their side.

New Jersey AG is invoking the state’s microstamping law after saying the tech was viable. Sure, let’s do something completely worthless to make gun owners’ lives more difficult. Must be a day ending in “Y”.

S&W released the newest version of their budget AR. Why am I putting this in? Because when I bought my first AR, it was the S&W M&P-15 Sport budget rifle. It was a great starter rifle, and I don’t expect this new one to be any less of a good deal. Plus, I love how the arms industry has advanced that a budget AR is now what an intermediate one was when I bought mine.

In sad news, Warner Brothers is shuttering Rooster Teeth. Hell, quotes from “Red vs Blue” still crop up in my everyday banter. And I’ve restarted watching “RWBY” when The Wife and I go to the gym. I really hope someone picks up the IP and continues the good work.

Monday Links

February 26, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Surprisingly, just one Reason link this week.

New York’s child protective agents bully parents to allow warrantless services.

I have a bunch from Ground News.

The administration is considering delaying the conversion to EV’s. While I think electrics will overtake internal combustion engines, prematurely forcing the issue will not help their adoption.

A privately-owned robot landed on the moon. Well, that’s an interesting wrinkle in the space race.

Alabama’s AG comments on their recent Supreme Court ruling on IVF. Great, you’ll use your prosecutorial discretion. How about getting the legislature to fix a bad law?

On a similar vein, the US Supreme Court’s approval rating falls to 40 percent. If there’s one thing that’s been coming out of recent decisions is that if Congress was doing its job instead of being a parade of wannabe talk show stars, then maybe the executive and judicial branches wouldn’t have to fight it out in the courts.

On to other news.

From Bloomberg, the US and 11 other countries did yeoman work to take down one of the biggest ransomware hacker groups. I am supremely unmotivated to feel any concern for the discomfort of the cyberbandits.

There’s been a brouhaha among the WorldCon community who run the “prestigious” Hugo awards. Seems they catered the Chinese government to censor or keep out works that could be critical of the regime. Cue Shocked Pikachu face.

Delta is offering “eclipse” flights so passengers can watch the total eclipse in April. Although I am highly interested, I have other trips that require that cash.

The Telegraph has an article on Finland opening 300 new shooting ranges to bolster defense. I mean, what could happen by getting a bunch of Finns interested in marksmanship?

Finally, an article from Active Response Training on “The Bag of Doom.” Interesting idea.

Monday Links

February 19, 2024 / / 0 Comments

This is going to be a combination of current stuff and backlog from when I wasn’t posting the links. So, buckle up.

We’ll start with Reason, of course.

Cop hears acorn hit his car and empties his service weapon into his cruiser. Which was occupied. The deputy has resigned, but based on the available information, he should be charged. Why? Because I don’t doubt that if I made that kind of mistake, I’d be up for attempted manslaughter, assault with a deadly weapon, and whatever else the prosecutor felt like throwing at me.

A think piece on why the US government shouldn’t be giving additional funds to Ukraine and Israel. I need to write a longer post on these. Because I have conflicting feelings on both of these situations.

Moving on to a couple of Ground News aggregations.

Justice Department issues damning report on Uvalde Police response to shooting. “No urgency.” The police had no urgency to engage the murderer. But if I give up my guns, I can just depend on the cops. When we have so many examples of them not.

Hardly any plastics are recycled. Plastic recycling is one of those bullshit “feel good” things that governments and NGOs push, but are boondoggles for the “recycling” industry. You know how I know? Because the manufacturing industry wasn’t pushing for recycling like they did with aluminum or glass.

Now on to other stuff.

Ars Technica has a story about private-equity owned hospitals having worse outcomes.

From War Is Boring, an article on lawmakers proposing a bill to ban civilian militias. Of course, it would impact firearms instruction. And it goes against voluntary association.

From Bloomberg, Amazon backing out of its purchase of iRobot. Because regulators. Which is annoying, because part of the reason we upgraded to iRobot was Amazon’s purchase would make it easier to get parts on subscription.

From Brian Niemier, an article on why Brandon Sanderson has issues with Audible. Which mirrors things I’ve heard on writing podcasts. Which annoys me because I listen to more books than read books.

From FEE, an analysis showing guns are used more times in self defense than people die in car accidents. Self-defense uses are more common than people know.

From a local station, Tampa had a loose kangaroo.

Here’s a New Yorker profile on the Advisory Opinions podcast and its host Sarah Isgur. I listen to this podcast to get the legal nuance skipped over by most talking heads.

Shooting Illustrated says Pennsylvania State Police will now field Walther PDPs. I certainly didn’t expect that.

And now for our lighter items.

The Drive has an article on a company converting old trucks to diesel-electrics. I find this concept intriguing.

Anime Herald has an article on Carl Macek’s impact on anime.

CBR has a listicle of the most “iconic” mecha.

Angry Staff Officer uses the Harry Potter world to demonstrate the principles of raiding. I lover ASO when he uses fiction to demonstrate good and bad examples relating to real-world military actions.

Monday Links – Backlog of Reason

February 12, 2024 / / 0 Comments

It’s been a while since I posted a Monday Links post. So, I’ve got a bunch of Reason links from the beginning of the year that I’m just going to post here.

The former NIH director remarked that ignoring the collateral damage of COVID policies was “really unfortunate.” The politics of COVID is making having a reckoning on the efficacy of government actions near impossible. And will make things worse.

Protectionism ruined U.S. Steel. Cue shocked Pikachu face. Protectionism protects inefficiencies and high prices.

Three economic myths that need to die. There are many more, but these would be a good start.

The modern miracle of cheap aluminum foil.

Is ESG over? Sweet FSM, I hope so.

Wisconsin is trying to make the cottage food industry unprofitable.

A couple of Florida stories that show the danger of single party rule – regardless of which political party rules the roost. Florida legislation would ban civilian police oversight boards. I could see reforming the boards to make sure they don’t get out of control, but do you really want a place like Broward not to have any oversight. Also, DeSantis wants to ban lab-grown meat. WTF? If customers want lab-grown meat, let them have buy lab-grown meat. It’s just as bad to ban the product than forcing it on everyone.

Ring will no longer hand over your camera footage without a warrant. I find it somewhat odd that they announced this about a month before they announced a hefty price increase on their cloud storage services. (link to The Verge)

The ACLU is suing the Ronald McDonald House for not housing folks with assault convictions. Let’s see. We have a charity that is housing the families of children undergoing medical treatment. It’s already a stressful environment. I can see not wanting people with a history of violence in that environment. And I’ll still give money to the Ronald McDonald House Charities. They do good work.

The Oklahoma governor is calling for reforms to civil asset forfeiture. Here’s a reform. Ban the fucking practice. It’s legalized theft.

Hawaii’s high court says there is no individual right to keep and bear arms under the state constitution. Continuing a long string of anti-gun states screaming their defiance of the US Supreme Court.

State of the Podcasts 2024

February 1, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Previous posts:

State of the Podcasts 2018

State of the Podcasts 2019

State of the Podcasts 2020

State of the Podcasts 2021

State of the Podcasts 2022

State of the Podcasts 2023

This is the seventh year I’ve reviewed which podcasts I listen to, how I listen to them, and when I listen to them. Part of it’s my own curiosity at how my podcast habits change. I’m also curious what others think about the same podcasts and which podcasts come and go.

I listen to my podcasts in Overcast. I prefer Overcast because the app deletes podcasts I’ve listened to, plus it has a smart speed feature which will speed up if it hears dead air. Generally, I listen to my podcasts at 2X speed.

Rather than try to fit podcasts into categories, I apply categories to the podcasts. Also, I try to listen to podcasts “with a shelf life” (i.e., current events) first. I’m going to include the show’s “blurb” and then any of my comments.

Podcast Categories

Comedy – One of the central themes of the podcast is making me laugh

Debate – The podcast uses a formal debate format

Economics – Discusses economic theory and impacts

Entertainment – Main subject matter is an entertainment form or persons

Free Speech – Discussing the current issues and assaults on free speech culture and laws

Government – Discusses the review of government operations

Guns – Discussing gun hardware and associated technology and skills

History – Delving into history in general or one facet/era

Legal – Discussing legal cases and theories

Libertarianism – Discusses libertarian theory

Interview – Substantial episodes interviewing guests

Opposing Views – Hosts regularly espouse politics or theories that are substantially different to my own

Prepping – Discussing prepping gear, methods, and skills

Politics Of The Day (POTD) – Discussion of current political events

Right To Keep and Bear Arms (RKBA) – Discusses issues around gun rights

Science – Discussing current science news and skepticism-related issues

Self-Defense – Discussing best practices for self-defense

True Crime – Podcast is a narrative/story of real crime events

War – Discusses issues surrounding armed conflicts

Writing Improvement – Helps me improve my writing

My podcasts as of February 2022:

Active Self Protection Podcast (Guns, Interview, RKBA, Self-Defense) – Active Self Protection exists to help good, sane, moral, prudent people in all walks of life to more effectively protect themselves and their loved ones from criminal violence. On the ASP Podcast, you will hear stories of life or death self defense encounters from the men and women that lived them. If you are interested in the Second Amendment, self defense and defensive firearms use, martial arts or the use of less than lethal tools used in the real world to defend life and family, you will find this riveting. One of the shows I listen to build up my “scenario card file” for self defense. Plus, the end segment with the host of The Reload (see below) is excellent.

Advisory Opinions (Legal, POTD) – Hosts David French and Sarah Isgur have a weekly conversation about the law, culture, and why it matters This one helps me understand how the law “thinks” and why it sometimes is at odds with what people think it should think.

Alienating the Audience (Interview, Entertainment, Science, Skepticism) – Andrew Heaton and an army of nerds plunge deep, deep into films, books, and TV shows to ask: what’s science fiction really about? What is The Twilight Zone really exploring? What are the underlying themes of Star Trek? What is the worldview of Star Wars? Also sometimes Heaton performs comedy on other planets. This hasn’t been active since April of 2022, but it has some excellent discussions on different aspects of sci-if. The comedy bits aren’t my favorite, and I tend to skip them.

Angry Planet (War, Interview, Opposing Views) – Conversations about conflict on an angry planet. Formerly known as War College, this podcast is an interesting look at politics and military issues through interviews with specialists, but definitely not from my political point of view.

Assorted Calibers Podcast (RKBA, Guns, Entertainment, Interview, Self-Defense) – Everything including the kitchen sink. Weer’d Beard and Erin Pallette are the real reason I listen to this, but the other segments are generally surprisingly good. I’m also a patron, and listen to the Mag Dump round tables, Film Tracks, and Blooper Reels (which are hysterically funny).

Blocked and Reported (Free Speech, POTD) – Journalists Katie Herzog and Jesse Singal scour the internet for its craziest, silliest, most sociopathic content, part of an obsessive and ill-conceived attempt to extract kernels of meaning and humanity from a landscape of endless raging dumpster files. This one is just full of amusing internet drama. Okay, sometimes the internet drama is more worrying than entertaining.

Bound By Oath (Legal, Libertarianism) – Bound By Oath is a new podcast by IJ’s Center for Judicial Engagement where the Constitution’s past catches up to the present. Article VI of the U.S. Constitution requires every judge to be “bound by Oath” to uphold “this Constitution”. But to understand if judges are following that oath, it’s important to ask, “What is in ‘this Constitution’”? In this podcast series, Short Circuit takes a deep dive into specific parts of the Constitution, starting with the 14th Amendment, which turned 150 in 2018. “Bound By Oath” features interviews with historians, legal scholars, and the real people involved in historical and contemporary cases. The first season was on the 14th amendment and the second was on qualified immunity. Good primer on the legal issues surrounding those topics.

The Bradenton Times Podcast (POTD, Interview, Opposing Views) – A weekly podcast by the Bradenton Times that highlights the people and issues in the Manatee County community. This is one I use to get to know what’s going on in my local community. And as much as I disagree with the host, at least he makes me think and re-evaluate my stances.

Bribe, Swindle, and Steal (Interview, True Crime, Opposing Views, Writing Improvement) – Alexandra Wrage, president of TRACE, interviews luminaries in the field of financial crime, including bribery, fraud, money-laundering, inside trading and sanctions. Each week, Alexandra and her guests will discuss who commits “white collar crime”, how it works, and what is being done to stop it.

The Charles C. W. Cooke Podcast (Interview, POTD) – A show about politics, music, technology, rollercoasters, golf carts, and the United States of America. The spiritual successor to Mad Dogs and Englishmen after Kevin Williamson’s departure to The Dispatch. Charlie Cooke’s still providing thought provoking takes and brings on guests to expound on them.

Clockwise (Tech) – Clockwise is a rapid-fire discussion of current technology issues hosted by Dan Moren and Mikah Sargeant and featuring two special guests each week. Four people, four topics – and because we’re always watching the clock, no episode is longer than 30 minutes. Generally enjoyable, even though it gets a little too Apple-centric or a little too media-centric.

Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History (History, Writing Improvement) – In “Hardcore History” journalist and broadcaster Dan Carlin takes his “Martian”, unorthodox way of thinking and applies it to the past. Was Alexander the Great as bad a person as Adolf Hitler? What would Apaches with modern weapons be like? Will our modern civilization ever fall like civilizations from past eras? This isn’t academic history (and Carlin isn’t a historian) but the podcast’s unique blend of high drama, masterful narration and Twilight Zone-style twists has entertained millions of listeners. This podcast is a master craft in how to tell history in an exciting and entertaining way. It’s probably better to treat the arcs as audiobooks and just listen to them all at once to get the width and breadth of the story. This updates very infrequently.

Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History: Addendum (History, Interview, Writing) – Interviews, musings and extra material from the makers of Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History. If it did not fit in the HH feed it’s probably here. A companion to the Hardcore History podcast where Dan Carlin does segments outside his normal narrative style. Often very informative.

The Dispatch Podcast (POTD, Interview) – Host Sarah Imgur is joined by Steve Hayes, Jonah Goldberg, and David French for a weekly thoughtful discussion on politics, policy, and culture. The panel rotates a bit more often with other members of the Dispatch staff which gives the panel discussion a wider variety. The interviews are always entertaining.

Econtalk (Interview, Economics)- Econtalk: Conversations for the Curious is an award-winning weekly podcast hosted by Russ Roberts of Shalem College in Jerusalem and Stanford’s Hoover Institution. The eclectic guest list includes authors, doctors, psychologists, historians, philosophers, economists, and more. Learn how the health care system really works, the serenity that comes from humility, the challenge of interpreting data, how potato chips are made, what it’s like to run an upscale Manhattan restaurant, what caused the 2008 financial crisis, the nature of consciousness, and more. I’ve been learning a lot on economics, and even more on some wildly different topics.

The Editors (POTD) – Unravel the threads of American politics with incisive commentary and in-depth analysis on the state of the political scene. Editors from National Review discussing the issues of the day. Part of my keeping an idea of the conservative side of the issues of the day.

Fall of Civilizations Podcast (History, Writing Improvement) – A history podcast looking at the collapse of a different civilization each episode. What did they have in common? Why did they fail? And what did it feel like to watch it happen? This is a good companion to Hardcore History and Revolutions. Not that they cover the same things, but this one does an excellent job in showing the decline and fall of various civilizations from every level.

FBI Retired Case File Review (Interview, True Crime, Writing Improvement) – Host Jerri Williams is a retired FBI agent and author on a mission to show you who the FBI is and what the FBI does by interviewing retired agents, her former colleagues, about their most intriguing and high-profiled cases, as well as fascinating but not as well-known FBI investigations. This has been very useful in dispelling some misconceptions about how the FBI works. Plus many of the cases are very compelling.

The Fifth Column (POTD, Free Speech, Opposing Views) – Your weekly rhetorical assault on the news cycle, the people who make it, and occasionally ourselves. Kmele Foster (Freethink), Michael Moynihan (formerly Vice), and Matt Welch (Reason) talk and laugh and drink their way to at least quasi-sanity in a world gone mad, often with the aid of clean and articulate guests. This is an excellent roundup focusing on the issues of the day and how the media reports them. They also bring on guests who will disagree with them and have excellent discussions.

GLoP Culture (POTD, Entertainment) – Jonah Goldberg, Commentary’s John Podhoretz, and Ricochet’s Rob Long discuss culture and politics. The hosts often muse on current POTD and culture through the lens of Gen X experiences.

Guns Guide To Liberals (RKBA) – Talking guns across the aisle with better communication and better arguments. This is a good podcast focusing on techniques to use when talking about guns and RKBA to those who don’t share our views. Not active, but would recommend going back and listening to the whole series.

The Handgun Radio Show (Guns, Interview, Self-Defense) – Your home for all the news, information and discussion in the handgunning world. Delving more into the history and technological aspects of guns – mostly handguns. Also, just fun musings on different aspects of guns. Sometimes they bring on interesting guests.

High Caliber History (Guns, History, Interview) – A podcast for enthusiasts about firearms, history, museums, and more, with a goal of providing an understanding of what it’s like to work with these items in an environment that is becoming less and less accepting of the scholarship and work being done in this field. Logan Metesh interviews specialists on the history of guns, as well as lending his own vast expertise.

The History of WWII Podcast (History, Interview) – A biweekly podcast covering the last Great War. Join Ray Harris Jr as he explores World War Two in intimate detail. This one is going through WWII chronologically, with interview episodes interspersed. Good for learning about areas where my own knowledge is skimpy.

Honestly (Free Speech, Interview, Opposing Views) – The most interesting conversations in American life now happen in private. This show is bringing them out of the closet. Stories no one else is telling and conversations with the most fascinating people in the country, every week from former New York Times and Wall Street Journal journalist Bari Weiss. Sometimes this one is interviews, and sometimes Bari brings on several guests for a panel to discuss an issue.

Honoverse Today (Entertainment, Writing Improvement) – Honoverse Today is a fan podcast providing review, commentary, and opinion for the Honor Harrington and Honorverse book series written by David Weber and published by Baen Books. The Honor Harrington series is one of the largest and most successful science fiction series in history. Yet it has never had a podcast. Until now. The series chronicles the life and world of Honor Harrington from her humble beginnings through the changing of the galactic order. The series includes 14 main series books, 2 spinoff series, several anthologies, 2 prequels, a comic series (which we will not be covering at this point), and several non-fiction reference and/or RPG game books. Honorverse Today will be covering the body of fictional stories, with the possible exception of the comics. More imporant, we will be covering all of the books in publication order. The three hosts analyze the Honor Harrington books. The nifty catch is that two of them are brand new to the series, while the third is a fan who has read the series multiple times. It’s interesting to hear the different items they pick out from the books.

How The World Works (Interview) – “How The World Works” features author, political commentator, and CEI writer in residence KEvin D. Williamson having a series of conversations with notable guests about work, specifically, the jobs he and his guests have had, why work matters, the role of work in our economy, and policy ideas for helping workers and employers get the most out of the work they do. Still in early days with this one, but I enjoy Williamson’s work.

The Incomparable Game Show (Comedy) – The people of The Incomparable play various games, including trivia, classic board games, word games, and even a few reimagined classic game shows from years gone by. Rotating panels playing rotating series of ostensibly board games. Often hilarious, sometimes dangerously so when driving. Some of the games I look forward to, others I bypass.

Just Asking Questions (Interview, Libertarianism) – One guest. One topic. Many questions. Reason’s Liz Wolfe and Zach Weissmueller put a current event, trend, or idea under the microscope and analyze it at length with help from an outside guest who knows a thing or two about it. We don’t have all the answers, but we do have lots of questions. The first episode with Russ Roberts on the changes in Israel since October 7 hooked me.

Left, Right, & Center (POTD, Opposing Views) – Left, Right, and Center is KCRW’s weekly civilized yet provocative confrontation over politics, policy and pop culture. This podcast covers the week’s political events with a progressive, a conservative, and a host who’s a left-leaning centrist. Guests are brought on to provide additional commentary – who tend to be overwhelmingly on the left-side of the aisles. Still, the debates are more conversational rather than confrontational.

The Michael Shermer Show (Interview, Science, Opposing Views) – The Michael Shermer Show is a series of long-form conversations between Dr. Michael Shermer and leading scientists, philosophers, historians, scholars, writers and thinkers about the most important issues of our times. Very thought provoking conversations as Dr. Shermer interviews scientists, scholars, and other intellectuals – generally on their new books.

The Political Orphanage (Interview, Libertarianism) – Politics minus bile plus jokes. Comedian Andrew Heaton interviews authors and thought leaders about policy and big thinky stuff. Andrew Heaton interviews a variety of individuals to discuss issues. Not necessarily just the POTD.

The Ponzi Playbook (True Crime) – Welcome to The Ponzi Playbook, the podcast that exposes the dark underbelly of the financial world. Join hosts Neal McTighe and Javier Levia as they take you on a journey through the seedy world of financial fraud, exploring some of the most audacious Ponzi schemes in history. The stories are interesting, but I wish the hosts would go from a half hour to an hour.

Quillette Narrated (Free Speech) – Narrated versions of selected Quillette essays.

Quillette Podcast (Interviews, Free Speech) – Quillette is an online magazine founded by Australian writer Claire Lehman. The publication has a primary focus on science, technology, news, culture, and politics. Interviews and articles focusing in on free speech issues and cancel culture.

The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie (Interview, Liberatarianism) – Want to know comes next in politics, culture, and libertarian ideas? Reason’s Nick Gillespie hosts relentlessly interesting interviews with the activists, artists, authors, entrepreneurs, newsmakers, and politicians who are defining the 21st century. Reason editor interviews a variety of guests. This would be an even better podcast if they had a different host.

The Reason Roundtable (POTD) – Every Monday, the libertarian editors of the magazine of “Free Minds and Free Markets” – Matt Welch, Nick Gillespie, Katherine Mangu-Ward, and Peter Suderman – discuss and debate the week’s biggest stories and what fresh hell awaits us all.

The Remnant With Jonah Goldberg (Interview, POTD) – In “The Remnant”, Jonah Goldberg enlists a “Cannonball Run”-style cast of stars, has-beens, and never-weres to address the most pressing issues of the day. Is America doomed? Has liberalism failed? And will mankind ever invent something better than ’90s-era “Simpsons”? Mixing political history, pop culture, rank punditry, and shameless book-plugging, Goldberg and guests will have the kinds of conversations we wish they features on TV. And the nudity will (almost) always be tasteful. Brace your bingo cards. The Wednesday show is interviewing pundits, politicians, and others. The Friday show is Jonah musings.

Revolutions (History, Writing Improvement) – A weekly podcasting exploring great revolutions. Really good series on various revolutions. Each season goes through one of the more pivotal revolutions in history, starting with the English Revolution. It’s ended its run, but I’m still getting through the appendices.

The Rewatchables – (Entertainment) – “The Rewatchables”, a filme podcast from The Ringer Podcast Network, features The Ringer’s Bill Simmonds and a roundtable of people from the Ringer universe discussing movies they can’t seem to stop watching. Variety panel of guests discussing a movie that is considered highly rewatchable. Depending on what movie they’re reviewing, if it’s one I haven’t seen, I’ll delete it. The categories are neat, but sometimes I get lost when they make sports references.

Self-Defense Gun Stories (Self-Defense) – Weekly reports and commentary on civilian self defense. I like the analysis of what went right and wrong from a variety of professional trainers. This is another I recommend to new shooters and those who are thinking about using a gun for self-defense.

Skeptoid (Science) – The true science behind our most popular urban legends. Historical mysteries, paranormal claims, popular science myths, aliens and UFO reports, conspiracy theories, and worthless alternative medicine schemers… Skeptoid has you covered. From the sublime to the startling, no topic is sacred. Another one that helped in developing my skeptical outlook. It takes a particular pseudo-science claim and investigates with a skeptical eye.

So To Speak: The Free Speech Podcast (Free Speech, Interview) – So To Speak: The Free Speech Podcast takes an uncensored look at the world of free expression through personal stories and candid conversations. FIRE’s podcast discussing free speech issues. The guests and legal theories put this more into theory although it sometimes delves into the issues of the day.

Tactical Tangents (Self-Defense, History, Writing Improvement) – Mike is a police SWAT team member, K9 handler, and tactical medic. Jim is an Air Force pilot with a background in close air support and combat search and rescue. Our goal is to elevate the conversation about all the things tactical for public safety, military, and concerned citizens. Join us to hear lessons learned about decision making, critical thinking, problem solving, leadership, and teamwork. I picked this one up originally because it has some excellent breakdowns of historical gunfights and mass shootings. It’s mostly geared to the professional, but the regular person can pick up some really good info.

Techmeme Ride Home (Tech) – The day’s teach news, every day at 5pm. From Techmeme.com, Silicon Valley’s most read new source. Fifteen minutes and you’re up to date. This is a relatively short, but thorough examination of the big news in tech.

We’re Not Wrong (POTD, Opposing Views) – Jen Briney, Andrew Heaton, and Justin Robert Young discuss the world of politics, government, and media. They have never, and will never, be incorrect about anything. This is another one of those I listen to because the guests bring different views than my normal feeds and challenge my ideas.

The Weekly Reload Podcast (RKBA, Guns, Interview, Opposing Views) – A podcast from The Reload that offers sober, serious firearms reporting and analysis. It focuses on gun policy, politics, and culture. Tune in to hear from Reload Founder Stephen Gutowski and special guests from across the gun world each week. The audio companion to The Reload newsletter. The host interviews a wide variety of pro-gun and anti-gun guests, or those who just have something to important to add to the world around guns.

What the Hell Is Going On (Interview, POTD) – The American Enterprise Institute’s Danielle Pletka and Marc Thiessen addresses the questions we’re all asking in their podcast, “What the Hell Is Going On?” In conversational and irreverent episodes, Pletka and Thiessen interview policymakers and experts, asking tough probing questions about the most important foreign policy and security challenges facing the world today.

White Collar Crime and Fraud Podcast (True Crime, Self-Defense, Writing Improvement) – An exploration of fraud and white collar crime. Your host is Gene P. Tausk of The Tausk Law Firm in Houston, Texas. We will discuss various aspects of fraud and white collar crim including: legal, historical, the personalities involved, law enforcement responses, and the victims of fraud. This show discusses more of the theory behind scams and frauds, but also discusses actual cases.

Words & Numbers (Economics, Libertarianism, POTD, Interview) – Words & Numbers touches on issues of Economics, Political Science, Current Events and Policy. An economist and a political scientist discuss different aspects of economics from a libertarian perspective. Sometimes dipping into issues of the day.

Writer Dojo (Writing Improvement) – The WriterDojo is different than most other writing podcasts out there – our primary purpose is to cut through all the bad advice and help you tell stories that people want to read (and get you paid in the process.) This is advice on becoming a Professional Writer from two very knowledgeable Professional Writers. Authors Steve Diamond and Larry Correia discuss the ins and outs of writing for fun and profit. Readers will find interesting tidbits as well and may come away with new insights into what goes into creating the stories they love. This one has helped me with the art of writing. If I ever decide to actually get my stories published, I’ll probably go back through those episodes. One of the podcasts I support financially.

Clearing Out the Tabs

January 3, 2024 / / 0 Comments

I had a bunch of links collected that I haven’t had a chance to put into Monday Links. Since this week’s Monday post was the 2023 wrap-up, I decided to just clear out all my tabs.

Per tradition, we clear out all of the Reason links.

First is an examination of Colorado removing Trump from the primary ballot. For the record, I think this was a bad move – mostly because there’s been no conviction of incitement or related charge. And that’s not even touching my issues with how we do primaries.

Let’s continue with populist leaders, and a rebuttal of Tucker Carlson’s attack on Dollar Stores.

Florida’s leaders are becoming more and more hostiles to immigrants.

Tens of thousands of students haven’t returned to public school since the shutdowns. And no one knows where they all went.

Magazine bans hurt those who want to defend themselves. This is a talking point that needs to be rebutted, as it seems like a reasonable issue to most non-gun folks.

The St. Louis attorney who used an old-school AR to fend off protestors in his gated community can’t get his guns returned. The dude’s an asshole, but he did nothing wrong – at least legally speaking. This is one of those fears that if the police get our guns for any reason – evidence, malicious red-flagging, etc – we will never get them back.

A case for letting foreign-flagged airlines service domestic air routes.

This is a personal issue. Who created the Cuban sandwich? How can anyone take Miami’s claim seriously. They don’t even use yellow rice for their arroz con pollo.

Now for some Ground News compilations.

There was a record drop in homicides for 2023. The article cites success of gun control. Um, no. This is regression to the mean after the insanity of 2020 and the aftershocks.

It looks like Steamboat Willy will enter public domain.

NASA demonstrates how to use a laser for extremely long distance streaming. By sending a cat video nineteen million miles.

Now on to the rest of the links in no particular order.

Gunsamerica has a checklist on what to look for in trainers to avoid bullshido. I’m pretty sure this is a h/t to Tam.

Bloomberg reports that the FTC has banned Rite Aid from using AI-powered facial recognition on customers. Apparently, there were a lot of folks falsely flagged as potential shoplifters.

Techcrunch has an article on music creation coming to Microsoft’s Co-Pilot.

The Intercept has a profile on FBI and NYPD entrapping someone they called a terrorist. This kind of shit is how you get degradation of trust.

War is Boring takes a look at how the crash of a V-22 Osprey could endanger the Army’s new tiltrotor.

Finally, The Firearms Blog discusses the passing of Gaston Glock.