Category: No More Bullshit!

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Dane-Geld

From a PJ Media article,

“Garcetti discussed his “defunding the police” plan of reducing the police funding by $150 million and moving another $100 million from other city budgetary priorities to hand over to the mobs for special placative programs.”

Because paying “protection money” to thugs works so very well, as Kipling noted:

Dane-Geld
A.D. 980-1016

It is always a temptation to an armed and agile nation
To call upon a neighbour and to say: —
“We invaded you last night–we are quite prepared to fight,
Unless you pay us cash to go away.”

And that is called asking for Dane-geld,
And the people who ask it explain
That you’ve only to pay ’em the Dane-geld
And then you’ll get rid of the Dane!

It is always a temptation for a rich and lazy nation,
To puff and look important and to say: —
“Though we know we should defeat you, we have not the time to meet you.
We will therefore pay you cash to go away.”

And that is called paying the Dane-geld;
But we’ve proved it again and again,
That if once you have paid him the Dane-geld
You never get rid of the Dane.

It is wrong to put temptation in the path of any nation,
For fear they should succumb and go astray;
So when you are requested to pay up or be molested,
You will find it better policy to say: —

“We never pay any-one Dane-geld,
No matter how trifling the cost;
For the end of that game is oppression and shame,
And the nation that pays it is lost!”

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Marketing Fluff = BS

Saw some bedding (sheets and pillow cases) touted as “literally the stuff dreams are made of.” Queen size: $240/ Ah! But they are made from organic cotton!

*pfui* I’m throwing the BS flag on the whole concept. ALL cotton is made up of hydrocarbon chains and is therefore organic. A premium price for BS? Nah. I’ll pass.

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Do NOT Make YOUR Problem MY Problem

You won’t like it if you do.

Well, the rumbles I’ve been hearing about Fedex deliveries in recent months going from average/poor in service to execrable have another data point. Call from Fedex Freight. Nope, the package they accepted to deliver to me? Nah. They can’t get here from there, not with the truck they want to “deliver” it with. . . And it is too big for our vehicles. Oh, and it’s a gig they accepted from another freight company–Pilot Freight–that accepted the package for delivery, then decided to fob it off on Fedex. Now, the original company says it’ll “try to work something out.” There is no try. There is only do and do not. Neither one did their due diligence, and neither one wants to be troubled to deliver the package they accepted to deliver.

Ain’t it grand when folks make a commitment w/o doing their homework and with little apparent intent to fulfill it? *shrugs* Next up: the company that sold me the product. We’ll see if it intends to earn its money. (Just to be clear: I kinda enjoy holding folks’ feet to the fire when they try to back out of fulfilling a commitment. Makes me smile. 🙂 “YOU took the gig. Don’t make it MY problem that you don’t want to do your job.” *heh*)

Progress. Called the retailer. The retailer’s the 500 pound gorilla in this. Retailer kept me on while conferencing in the company that accepted the original contract to deliver. Ruh-roh. Response: “I’ll fix this,” and a promise to call me back with a delivery date/time. We’ll see, , ,

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Semi-Sorta Random Thought on the Passing Scene

In response to absolutely nothing, “ex nihilo,” as it were (from the vast, empty spaces between my ears) issues this random thought:

I believe the only proper gun regulations are self-regulations (with a tip o’ the tam, and an apology to Jeff Cooper):

1. Always treat ALL guns as loaded and ready to be discharged.
2. NEVER let the muzzle cover ANYTHING you are not prepared to destroy.
3. KEEP YOUR BOOGER HOOK OFF THE BANG SWITCH until you have acquired your target and are ready to fire.
4. Be ABSOLUTELY sure of your target and what lies beyond it.

If those four self-regulations are followed, and the Second Amendment were enforced with more than the *wink-wink-nudge-nudge* pseudo-acknowledgement now practiced (IOW, the current open, blatant, and oppressive disregard for “shall not be infringed”), then methinks the proper and ideal “gun regulations” would be in effect.

But maybe that’s just me. . .

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Well, It’s No “Instalaunch” But. . .

A comment I made on another forum got a “thumbs up” from The Puppy Blender–Glenn Reynolds.

Oh, the comment?

I rarely read or hear any critique of Trump’s policies that cannot be summed up as “Orangeman bad! Therefore, this (and everything else he does/has done) is bad!” Classic ad hominem fallacy: dismissing something because of the character or personal circumstances of the person who does/utters it. Or simply because of personal rancor. Oh, I have read/heard rationalizations that purport to be arguments against his policy decisions that attempt to throw enough manure over the ad hominem nature of the fundamental argument being made, but I have read few cogent, sound arguments against most of the things he has done.

To be clear, I voted for neither of the distasteful candidates in 2016, and I find Trump in many ways to be distasteful still (not someone I would, by personal preference, select to join me for a cuppa joe and conversation), but in November, I’ll most likely vote for him, because his actual policies are at least mostly mainstream, and some of them have been better than those of recent presidents–some much better.

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Move Along. Nothing to See Here: Just Another Evil Anti-Gun Whacko

Texas gun control activist shoots her three children dead

“Auzenne was a vocal advocate for stricter gun control in the United States with multiple social media postings calling for an end to gun violence and Facebook profile pictures that bore the hashtags #Enough and #EndGunViolence.”

Well, killing her own children certainly makes her point. Not. The article hand waves a bit of “depression” and “anxiety” along with physical problems, NONE of which are excuses or reasons for killing her own children. The only explanation is that she embraced evil and made it her own.

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Taking Aim at Subordinate Enemies of Liberty

Yeh, well, it’s a reasonable target, but there are worse societal ills.

Music company “manufactories” can (and do) produce bad music, Academia Nut Fruitcake Bakeries can (and do) produce bad art, crony capitalism (which is not capitalism at all but a government thumb on the scales of the market) produces economic and social disparities, and a society focusing on privileges instead of actual, real, inherent individual rights produces outright evil.

Better: the government that governs least governs best. Get remote educrats out of public school meddling; get government thumbs off the markets; stop catering to crybullies, etc. Socialism is no threat if the government boot is taken off common citizens’ necks and placed instead on that of real outlaws who violate the actual, inherent rights of others (that would, of course, include socialists of all stripes), instead of government–as now–encouraging outlaws and suppressing citizens expressing/exercising their natural, inherent rights.

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Systemic Injustice

Yet another example of “The Law is for (the oppression of) the little people.”

The INjustice system once again demonstrates that Article 1 paragraphs 9 & 10 are easily circumvented and effectively made into dead letter law by the simple means of bestowing all the benefits (and none of the responsibilities) of “nobility” without a label that can be called a “title of nobility.” Thus, those who deem themselves our “betters” can have all the privileges and powers and immunities from consequences they can buy (or use influence, political/status rewards, etc.) without overtly violating fundamental, constitutional law. . . just thumbing a collective nose at it.

It is the ultimate reward for scoundrels, monsters, and other political animals resulting from a policy of fostering anarcho-tyranny (the policy< of rewarding evil and punishing good/em>).

Ah, but

“. . .As it was in the beginning
Is to-day official sinning,
And shall be for evermore!”

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About That HIvemind Myth of Rampant “Gun Violence”

Yes, I said “myth.” In fact, in 2013, gun violence was at its lowest point–in a steadily decreasing occurrence–since 1993, and the trend has continued even as gun ownership has increased. That is not to say that gun violence has abated uniformly across the country. No, some of locales with the most restrictive gun laws are also where the most gun violence occurs.

In fact, one can almost take all the “anti-gun” talking points and directly refute them with facts, readily available to ordinary people. So, why do the Mass MEdia Podpeople Hivemind and various anti-gun groups and individuals promote more restrictive policies that have no rational basis? Well, many are just (self-made) useful idiots adopting irrational ideas based on fiction as an emotional response to Hivemind media and political manipulation. But why the manipulation via lies and purely emotional appeals to begin with? To any thinking person, the answer is obvious: because the ends of the manipulators cannot be served by truth and reason.

Here Are 8 Stubborn Facts on Gun Violence in America Here are the bullet points, but do read the whole thing:

  1. Violent crime is down and has been on the decline for decades.
  2. The principal public safety concerns with respect to guns are suicides and illegally owned handguns, not mass shootings.
  3. A small number of factors significantly increase the likelihood that a person will be a victim of a gun-related homicide.
  4. Gun-related murders are carried out by a predictable pool of people.
  5. Higher rates of gun ownership are not associated with higher rates of violent crime.
  6. There is no clear relationship between strict gun control legislation and homicide or violent crime rates.
  7. Legally owned firearms are used for lawful purposes much more often than they are used to commit crimes or suicide.
  8. Concealed carry permit holders are not the problem, but they may be part of the solution.

(Further development and links to sources at the article)

The crux of the matter is that those advancing the myths about “gun violence” need scared people reacting irrationally to false facts in order to advance more and more government control over individuals’ lives. “Gun violence” scare tactics serve the same purpose as whatever drug du jour scare tactics to: calls for more government intervention. (Yeh, the “opiod crisis” is another manufactured crisis intended to keep pumping up fear and calls for more control, and so far the “war on opiods” seems to do more harm than good, making it increasingly difficult for doctors to prescribe pain meds that are legitimately needed.)

Just always keep in mind: any government action that does not protect actual individual rights is almost assuredly an illegitimate power grab and a violation of individual rights. Period.