Category: RKBA

Monday Links – Tab Clearing

July 10, 2023 / / 0 Comments

This is going to be a bit long and scattered. That’s what happens when I have a couple weeks’ worth of links.

Let’s get the obligatory Reason/Volokh Conspiracy links out of the way.

The FDA is lying about vaping. Is it better than not smoking? Nope. Is it better than smoking? Oh hell yes.

CBO is projecting huge deficits. This is my shocked face.

Welcome new rent control, same as old rent control. I swear, it’s like no one understands how this is a bad thing.

Let’s go on to some gun-related articles.

First, Tam has a post about psychologists and guns.

TFB has one about a federal judge slapping down ATF – on how it defines what constitutes a firearm.

Gun Digest has an article on debunking revolver myths.

The coward Scot Peterson has been acquitted. Which, to those of us who know that the cops have no duty to protect, is unsurprising.

Here’s a couple of think pieces.

From Mike Munger, an article on the good versus the perfect. It’s not what you think.

From Ben Thompson, an analysis of the latest kerfuffle between the FTC and Amazon.

Our final link is from Active Response Training on medical care for cats.

Monday Links

June 26, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Surprisingly, this week only has one Reason link.

An article on how insurance – both government and private sector – are driving up the cost of healthcare. This is my surprised face.

And now for some random tab clearing.

From Active Response Training, Greg presents the “bag trick.”

From Bearing Arms, an article about an Indy defense attorney blaming gun owners for criminals not getting charged. Cam is skeptical, and so am I.

Heard about this on the “Word and Numbers” podcast. Pew has a calculator to see where you stand in global income rankings.

I was concerned what would happen to the 1632 universe with the death of Eric Flint. Apparently, there’s a new online magazine to continue the franchise.

The Brother sent this my way. An article on how maps shape how we see the world. It’s always surprising just how big Africa is.

Monday Links

June 19, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Y’know, there are weeks I think I should just rename this feature the Monday Reason Links and Other Stuff. Yeah, it’s going to be that kind of week. As long as you count the Volkh Conspiracy (since they’re publishing under the Reason banner).

First, California is killing fast food jobs. This is my surprised face.

Second, on the Free Range Kids front, an article about a mom confused how her kid made friends with another kid she didn’t know. Or, as us Gen X folks used to call it – summer vacation day.

While the Florida legislature was busy playing right-wing social justice this past session, they also decided to play the crony capitalism game with their dealership friends.

I first heard this story over at Borepatch’s place, but now it seems the esteemed Eugene Volkh is asking Amazon some pointed questions about booting a guy off his account and making him unable to use all of his Echoes. This is of some concern due to the fact that Ward Manor’s smart home environment is Echo-based. However, I also have a backup – read “manual” – system if Amazon decides to play silly buggers.

Last Reason article explains that over half of Protestant churches have at least some reliance on armed citizens for their security. While I am not a church-going person, I do want parishioners to be safe in their chosen house of worship. I will always recommend churches, synagogues, mosques, little storefront pagan meeting spaces to discuss and have a security plan. It needs to be more than “call 911 and wait for police.”

Semi-switching gears as we leave Reason territory:

Massad Ayoob has some thoughts on Daniel Perry’s indictment in New York.

Also, Rand has a meta-analysis on studies regarding effectiveness of firearms safety training requirements. TLDR; not enough rigorous studies to make a determination.

And for our light item this week? A new Babylon 5 animated movie is coming out. I should really introduce The Wife to B5.

Monday Links – Lots of Links

June 12, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Sit back, this is going to be a long one this week.

First, let’s start out with a bunch of Reason links.

Here’s an article on the recent Trump federal indictment.

No, Adam Smith was not a progressive.

Critics of lockdowns were muzzled.

Firing professors for the political views is unconstitutional – left-wing views edition.

SPLC is still overcounting hate groups.

Finally, the Biden administration is still refusing Second Amendment rights to cannabis users.

In other gun news, the deadline for pistol brace owners to submit the proper paperwork or be considered felons as passed. According to The Reload, only a quarter-million did so. In the best case, that’s 250,000 out of 3,000,000 – or about 8%. However, using industry numbers, it’s more like 250,000 out of 40,000,000 – or about 0.6%.

Now that the serious stuff is out of the way, let’s go on to our light items.

First, here’s some teasing that there’s a new Macross animation in the works.

Speaking of Macross, here’s an article that AnimEgo is going to crowdfund a release of the old Macross II anime from the nineties.

From The Brother, we have the top 10 finalists for Illusions of the Year.

Also from The Brother, we have an Ars Technica article about Redditors using Stable Diffusion to create working anime QR codes.

Monday Links

May 29, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Happy Memorial Day! We’re going to start off with several Reason articles.

First, the face of teachers’ unions during the COVID pandemic only taught for three years, but is expected to get a full pension. I’m of the opinion that if you’re working for the union, the union should be dealing with your benefits.

Next are a couple items on the reshuffling of the political parties. I’ll let the headlines speak for themselves. The left-right spectrum is mostly meaningless and the rise of right-wing progressivism. Just as the labor market is in flux, the political market is similarly in flux. Fun times.

Finally, an article from The Volokh Conspiracy discussing a recent Florida Supreme Court decision that loading and openly carrying a gun on your property is not criminal use of deadly force. Although, if you’re having to face multiple attackers on your property, it may be more prudent to have your weapon already loaded. Or get behind cover to load and wait for the police.

In the vein of self-defense, we have an article from The Hill about a “prank robbery” going horribly wrong when the pranksters came across an armed civilian. And this kind of outcome won’t slow down these kinds of pranks. Because the dumb fucks think it won’t happen to them.

Now for our light items.

I think this is probably vapor-ware, but this Extreme Tech article depicts a “laptop” with six monitors, dual AMD Epyc “Genoa” 96-core CPUs, and 24 DIMM slots for up to 6TB of DDR5 memory. And it weighs 55 lbs. Um, yeah. There’s part of me that wants one in a kind of morbid fascination way.

Finally, we have a Variety article on Weird Al. Because Weird Al.

Monday Links

May 22, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Well, this week’s links will probably be all over the map.

First, let’s start with an AP article on Disney scrapping a billion dollar project because of DeSantis fighting with them. Y’know, I hear a lot of gunnies decrying when certain states use their power to compel companies to do gun-prohibitionist things. Or when they chase companies out of states with ridiculous regulations. Shoe. Other foot.

Speaking of Disney, this article from Techradar, states that when Disney merges their Disney+ and Hulu services, they will probably shrink the available library. One of the tech podcasts I listen to was commenting that the Streaming War is over, and now the Great Streaming Consolidations will begin with the survivors. Guess I should watch the Willow television show before it disappears.

It’s not Monday Links without Reason articles.

First is Reason’s take on the Durham report. When a report like this makes a stalwart like National Review’s Andy McCarty think hard on if the FBI is salvageable in its current state, then it’s a damning report. IMHO, it’s high time to, at the very least, split the FBI’s intelligence role off of its law enforcement role.

Second – can Uvalde’s authorities not do things to prove how incompetent and authoritarian they are? From the article: “Adam Martinez’s youngest son was at Robb Elementary on the day of the shooting—though thankfully he was physically unharmed—and, like many other parents, he became a vocal critic of the police department. However, in retaliation for his criticism, the school district banned him from school property—and school board meetings—for two years.“

A couple of other headlines that grabbed my interest.

From Insider, a Michigan teen used a slingshot to stop the kidnapping his sister. The suspect was apprehended with wounds consistent with being hit by a slingshot.

From CNET, a new company is going to be offering free 55-inch televisions. The catch? It has another screen to just for ads. Maybe other stuff too.

Finally, a light item.

Monday Links

May 15, 2023 / / 0 Comments

This may be a bit of a hodgepodge.

First, we go to Reason for:

Debt ceiling fight is hitting a hard deadline. Yes, we need to cut spending. No, we should not allow the government to default.

Inflation ticks up again in April. Surprisingly, the culprit is rent. Which is a big issue in my neck of the woods.

No, universal background checks do not stop mass shooters. It’s a complicated issue. As previously discussed.

Now that we’ve consumed our vegetables, we can have some fun dessert articles.

First, Recoil has a review of the Beretta A300 Ultima Patrol shotgun. This one is in the running for the new Ward semiauto shotgun.

Next from The Drive, an article on FHP’s Mercury Marauders.

Finally, from the local news station, the local high school drama group is garnering some well-earned attention for their version of Disney’s “Frozen.” Like the movie or hate, the kids done good.

What Kind of Mass Killings?

May 3, 2023 / / 0 Comments

This isn’t going to be revelatory for those who study violence in depth, but I’m trying to get to an analogy that most people will understand. Particularly when the media splashes all of the “mass shootings” and bring on panelists asking for the same laws. Those panelists who sneer at me when I say that what they’re asking for won’t work.

I was listening to The Reload podcast back on the 17th, and they were talking about mass shootings / mass killings. The first part, is of course, on definitions. Because, as the host describes, depending on the definition used, the Louisville bank could have been the 156th, 46th, or the fourth.

Definitions matter for another reason. How to prevent these events will change depending on the motivations for the shooting.

The best analogy I can come up with is cancer. Cancer is not one disease. It’s a series of different diseases with similar features. You also cannot treat lung cancer the same way as you treat prostate or breast cancer.

And Florida Becomes Number 26

April 5, 2023 / / 0 Comments

I’m sure there are a variety of feeds talking about DeSantis signing permit-less carry in Florida. I’m linking to The Gun Writer’s substack feed. Per the article:

The new law allows law-abiding Floridians to carry concealed handguns without seeking a Concealed Weapon or Firearm License, or CWFL, from the government. However, the state’s successful CWFL program will remain in effect.

I fully intend to renew my license for a variety of reasons. One is reciprocity when I travel out of Florida. Two is the waiving of the waiting period.

For those who want to carry without the permit, it becomes law on July 1.

Monday Links

April 3, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Let’s start with getting one of the big stories out of the way. Some asshole decided to shoot up a small private Christian school in Tennessee. The fact the asshole identified as transgender has sent the normal talking points all skewed. Here’s Operation Blazing Sword’s press release which probably encapsulates my feelings on the issue. I don’t judge a movement by its lunatic fringe – unless the moderates are celebrating the lunatic fringe.

Moving on to a couple of Reason articles.

US Trade Commission admits that tariffs caused increased prices to consumers. Which is what I’ve always said.

DeSantis signed a bill banning rent control and pre-empting local zoning. This could be good or bad. Particularly in the current housing market.

A couple of other serious items.

How do you treat someone who’s been a fixture of the local television and radio market for better than fifty years. According to The Tampa Bay Times, you fire him after a show to cut costs. I listened to Jack Harris for many a year – particularly before I got into podcasts.

According to Mac Rumors, General Motors is going to phase out CarPlay and Android Auto in favor of its own infotainment system. Great way to make sure your vehicles are not in the running the next time the Ward household is in the market for a vehicle. Or renting a vehicle.

Wrapping up with a couple of light items.

Gizmodo discusses Makita’s portable microwave. Which, the prepper side of me is interested in, but the more realistic side is telling me I’m not the target audience.

And because of the explosion of crochet in the Ward household, we have a Guardian article about how crocheters tried using ChatGPT to create patterns and hilarity ensued.