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Monday Links
This one might be a bit scattered. As usual, we’ll start with Reason.
The Biden Administration is proposing a large increase in federal worker pay. It’s the annual pay raise that federal workers get as a COLA. Wow, the same inflation fueled by profligate spending results in government workers need higher wages.
Here’s an article on how fast-food joints are being attacked.
Finally, we have Reason’s coverage of the New Mexico governor’s blatantly unconstitutional “public safety order” banning carrying of guns. Yeah, this was clearly a publicity stunt. And it looks like it’s backfiring. Spectacularly. Particularly when she gets her own officials saying they won’t enforce or defend. Particularly with a US judge quickly handing down a TRO. Particularly when she is forced to narrow it down to playgrounds in Albuquerque.
I’ve got a couple articles from The Hill.
First, some school districts are looking at four-day work week due to teacher shortages and needing to prevent burnout. That will have interesting downstream impacts on parents who will need to figure out childcare.
Second, an article on how most women still take their husband’s last name after marriage. However, there’s an uptick of younger women keeping their maiden name. The Wife and I had the discussion if she wanted to take my last name when we got married. She’d built a strong work reputation on her maiden name, and there were some downsides of the change. Still, like most of the women in the study, she chose to take my last name.
On to some gun stuff.
Kevin Creighton muses on if there really is a Gun Culture 3.0 or if it’s more a matter of Gun Culture 2.5.
The British military has selected an AR-pattern rifle for its Royal Marine Commandos and Ranger battalions. I wonder when they’ll finally ditch the L85 series.
And Beretta’s got a new AR-pattern rifle. I kinda like their ARX-160, but it was never in the running for my home defense carbine. Beretta can be kinda weird sometimes.
I heard about this on ACP. A Michigan ammo manufacturer pissed off a politician, who then used campaign finance laws to threaten the company.
A couple of miscellaneous items.
War Is Boring has an article on China sanctioning LockMart and Northrop Grumman over sales to Taiwan. I think the phrase is “don’t threaten me with a good time.”
Rwanda is allowing a company to test a small-scale nuke reactor. Excellent. Wide spread cheap and carbon-neutral energy will do wonders to help lift people out of poverty.
Finally the light items.
WaPo talks about the 20th anniversary of the pumpkin spice latte.
Crunchyroll has announced the second season of Spy X Family will be debuting on Oct 7. Which I am looking forward to because the first season was uproariously funny.
Friday Quote – Derek Wills
What is liberty?
The right of the individual to invoke sole dominion over their own life to act as they see fit, provided the act in and of itself does not directly infringe on the right of another individual to do the same.
September Anime
I’m still mostly finishing up series that I previously put up. I have added some older shows into my rotation – both for when The Wife and I go to the gym and just quick viewing.
Forty Years of Knowing Is Half the Battle
This week the G.I. Joe – A Real American Hero debuted on televisions across the nation.
Was it a half-hour commercial for toys? Probably. But it also fueled my imagination as a child. As well as giving my generation a bunch of catchphrases.
And now there’s a livestream playing all of the episodes!
Friday Quote – Mark Skousen
“Taxation is the price we pay for failing to build a civilized society. The higher the tax level, the greater the failure. A centrally planned totalitarian state represents a complete defeat for the civilized world, while a totally voluntary society represents its ultimate success.”
Labor Day Weekend Happenings
Labor Day weekend has special significance for The Wife and me. We had our first date on the Sunday before Labor Day back in 2017. Previously, we have gone back to the same restaurant, but this year that wasn’t possible.
Saturday The Wife and I trekked down to Fort Meyers. A coworker of The Wife was in a local theater production of Willy Wonka. Overall, we enjoyed it, but we got done sooner than we anticipated. After discussion, we decided to trek back up and go to an Indian restaurant we’ve been looking to try for months. A restaurant we were originally planning on going for our birthdays. It didn’t disappoint. If you’re in the Bradenton/Sarasota area, we recommend Tandoor on University.
Sunday, BIL and SIL came over. The Wife and SIL needed to do some crafty stuff for SIL’s work. While they were doing that, BIL and I took the opportunity to clean some of our guns. I am trying to field strip, clean, oil, and replace batteries on my sidearm and home defense rifle every six months. I also took down my latest acquisition – the S&W FSC (which I still haven’t put rounds through).
Monday, I trekked up to The Brother’s place to help him put together a new bookcase for his boardgames. He also learned the fun of vacuum storage bags. For my help, The Brother purchased me these shells that would essentially allow me to use a AA battery for a D or C cell battery. I don’t have many items that run on D’s or C’s, which would mean I could use these to streamline my inventory. I’ll talk more when they show up.
Monday Links
This is going to be a little light – volume, not tone – this week. Hope everyone is enjoying their holiday.
First, from CNN, the mayor of Uvalde is calling on the DA to resign because she’s blocking their investigation into the school shooting. One hopes that someone actually suffers real consequences for the pathetic police response.
WaPo reports that DC is to pay $5.1 million to citizens for violating their Second Amendment rights. It would be nice if they could force the lawmakers who passed these laws to cough up the cash instead of passing it on to the taxpayers.
The Hill has a “Republicans pounce” article on DOE proposing new efficiency rules for ceiling fans. Do you want Florida to secede? Make it harder for us to get/afford ceiling fans. Because that’s how you get Florida to secede.
The Volokh Conspiracy discusses if Floridians can shoot looters in the wake of a hurricane. While I do not want people to run afoul of the law, the misfortune of looters doesn’t exactly move me. You help scavengers, you stop looters.
For our light item this week, we have a listicle of the 20 top female-fronted metal bands.