Quote of the Day – Darrell Issa (9/25/2014)

Eric Holder is the most divisive U.S. attorney general in modern history,… by needlessly injecting politics into law enforcement, Attorney General Holder’s legacy has eroded more confidence in our legal system than any attorney general before him.

Darrell Issa – Quote to Fox News on Holder Stepping Down
September 25, 2014


[Nailed it and I have nothing else to add other than Christmas came early. -B]

 

I love my friends…

So yes I’ve been slacking on blogging. Too many irons in the fire and frankly writing on the blog is getting the short straw.

But I have to give a shout out to a friend of mine that is working a case that just makes my heart sing.

Mark Barnhouse filed a civil suit April 1 in U.S. District Court seeking more than $100,000 in damages stemming from the incident. Barnhouse is represented by Moscow attorney Jefferson Griffeath.

The complaint claims that when Barnhouse’s wife was stopped by Coeur d’Alene police officers for failing to use a turn signal, Barnhouse, a passenger, was “unlawfully arrested, seized, assaulted, and battered” by officers over a glass bottle of root beer.

I’ve been friends with Jefferson for a while now and am unbelievably happy for him with this case. He’s been working his ass off to get his practice going and it appears, ever so slowly, to be paying off.

If you need a Lawsmith and you’re in Idaho, hit up my buddy Jefferson.

Surprise, Feds making it up as they go along!

So some somewhere got his panties in a bunch.  even more entertainingly the feds are claiming they have the right and authority to ban it and regulate it.

There are so many things I can comment about that piece. Such as “lets run to the airport and tell some pilots people are shooting skyward.” Tell me, what the hell is trap and skeet shooting, there’s a reason they use shotguns in the sport not rifles.

Moving forward we have the feds claiming their aircraft and creates a safety hazard while then having the following Charlie Foxtrot:

But the question here is not why the FAA considers hand-sized drones to be aircraft, regardless of their size or the altitude at which they’re operated.  But why it can’t decide that an 1100 pound passenger-carrying Flying Hovercraft that looks like an aircraft – wings and all – and can fly at speeds of 70 miles per hour (and more) and at altitudes of 20 feet to more than 50 feet in the air, over water or land, is also an aircraft.  These flying machines, called WIG craft or wing in ground effect craft, fly on the air cushion created by aerodynamic lift due to the ground effect between the craft and the surface, the same as occurs between any aircraft and the ground on landing.  

Not to mention the complete destruction of the hobbyist activity of RC aircraft by reclassifying everything as a drone. Know why the FAA is now going that route to attack the activity? Because they keep losing their arguments on why they have the power.

So here’s a set of rhetorical questions:

  • If our elected officials are not held accountable to the same laws and regulations they create over us, why should anyone comply or care?
  • If regulatory agencies are constantly modifying and changing the rules to grow their power, why should anyone comply or care about them any more?
  • If regulatory agencies are using their power to stop activities which harm no one but the people in charge disagree with for political reasons, why should anyone comply or care?

America is a Republic, and what we’re seeing is the destruction of law through bureaucratic fiat. Me thinks I need to build a couple just for lunch time destruction during Boomershoot. Hey if it’s my own personal property, !@#$ off! There isn’t any commercial aspect involved.

Barron why do you want to shoot at drones?
Because !@#$ YOU!!! That’s WHY!

**Seriously I had no interest in doing such a thing until I saw they’re trying to stop it. Now it’s like owning a 100 round drum magazine that freezes after firing 10 rounds. I need one just because you said I can’t have one!

Hat tip “The short lady with the grey hair” (Otherwise known as my mom.)

Puritan: Someone that is afraid someone, somewhere is having fun.

Quote of the Day – Karl Denninger (8/15/2014)

A very large number of black people aren’t rioters and thugs just like a very large number of white people don’t go around pointing machine guns at people and kidnapping them.  The common thread among all of those who don’t do the nasty things is that they’re not criminals, and have an inherent civil right to resist violence attempted against their person — a right that is constantly under assault by those who do commit the evil acts, whether they happen to have magical blue suits on or not.

Karl Denninger – Let’s (Properly) Rewrite A News Story

August 14, 2014


[First go read the whole thing, it’s absolutely worth it and illustrates one of my biggest problems with law enforcement and how they’re treated. Here’s an illustrative picture of exactly what he’s talking about.

Outrage In Missouri Town After Police Shooting Of 18-Yr-Old Man

K, all read up? Here is another recent incident:

image33

That woman is pointing the firearm at another person, her finger is on the trigger. There is no question that woman is committing assault with a deadly weapon.  However thanks to the fact she’s a police officer in the LAPD this has just been kicked to internal affairs and she will at most get a slap on the wrist.

Think about that for a second. A cop can do this:

checkpointguns3

and it’s perfectly acceptable and OK. Never mind rule 2. Cops evidently are exempt and when they point a gun at someone it is NOT a threat of deadly force, it’s just them doing what cops do. This is NOT acceptable in a free society and should not be tolerated. The problem is, who’s policing the police. That’s right, they’ve made it us vs them and that’s why Ferguson has turned into a battle ground. If I heard there was a militia rolling that way tomorrow it wouldn’t surprise me one bit.

If you aren’t questioning the militarization of law enforcement compare it now to 20 years ago. This crap needs to stop.

Besides, when cops behave like the above is it any surprise that innocent unarmed people are shot? The rules exist for a reason. -B]

Quote of the Day – William McCormick (8/14/2014)

A valid point Mike. Not a contradiction of mine, but ….I have to say, one of my biggest beefs with the LE community. If you want my respect and consideration, that REQUIRES you to police yourself.

[Emphasis mine]
William McCormick – Facebook comment
August 13, 2013


[This was in reference to an incident by LAPD where they shot and killed a hostage after shooting every last square inch of a vehicle. I don’t know all the details of said shooting. I do know if I shot an killed an innocent person while trying to defend myself in such a reckless manner I would be prosecuted for not exercising judicious marksmanship.

Look I get it, some times bad things happen. Problem is just because of your job you shouldn’t be held to a lower standard than everyone else. If anything it should be higher. More importantly that statement above illustrates my issues with law enforcement currently quite accurately. I don’t hate them, I don’t think their all evil. I however have no respect for them as they cannot even keep their own house clean.

Doubly so as we then have people in the Seattle PD who go out and publicly endorse things like I-594, as members of the department. You want to make me a felon for teaching people how to shoot a firearm and I’m supposed to respect you for it? Thankfully WACOPS doesn’t support I-594 and it’s a glimmer of hope, but publicly denouncing that type of behavior goes a long way for the public trust, which at this point is dying. And at least WACOPS isn’t someone doing so as a member of the department but as an organized body. I view this as the equivalent of me stepping up and saying something while claiming to be representative of my employer. Military members are not to make political statements while in uniform, why is it different for the police? -B]

On Lists… (Alt Title: In which I make some people hate me…)

So currently there are a large number of people screaming about a list that someone compiled of all the politicians in Connecticut that voted for the assault weapons ban.  Predictably the other side promptly held up the list as an indicator as we’re out of control and attempting to “chill debate”.

A bunch of people on our side started screaming about how that not helping, stating that we must perceiver and rely upon the ballot box and the jury box.  I originally wrote this as a reply to someone on Facebook but figured it would be better placed here.

The problem here is we’re all forgetting the scope of the game we’re playing.  Not only that we’re ceding moves and pieces for a perceived moral stature increase that doesn’t actually count much at all in this game.  One side of this is already threatening force.  It however won’t be the politician who kicks in someone’s door at 3am, endangering everyone from law enforcement, to children, to the parents.  Honestly it should be the politician who pays, he’s the one that wrote the check that he’s making everyone else cash.

At the same time many also started screaming “well pack up and move.”  I’d like to point out packing up and moving only works for so long.  Believe me, my family knows quite well, we basically were chased across the US as we kept moving west to stay on the frontier.  The same will keep happening legislatively, and even worse when enough states have fallen, they can be used as examples to infringe on your rights from the federal level.  Think how concealed carry was finally forced upon Illinois.  If everyone had just packed up and moved, would that have changed there?  If everyone just packed up and left for “greener pastures” would concealed carry have been won in the states who didn’t have it?  Plus you end up ceding ground which they then use against you later as an example of what is “allowable”.  Think in the inverse, what if only one state had a CCW law and an attempt at a federal ban on carry was attempted?  49 other states might make SCOTUS go yeah that’s reasonable.

No, you must fight.  Retreat when you must, but do not do so hastily and you must have a plan for coming back.

Frankly inviting all these people from other states that are crashing eventually backfires because many of the same people start voting for the same crap that got them in trouble to begin with.  Believe me, Washington is being overrun with people from California and I’m watching it happen.  Ask people in Texas about the California invasion as well.

But back to the list, politicians, and the game.  I could give two shits about the list.  Doesn’t really matter other than it plays better as a political tool by the opposition than for the friendlies.  So do I wish it had not been published, yeah.  But at the same time it serves are a reminder to the politicians exactly the ballgame they’re playing.  If the card has been dealt in the open you might as well play with the damn thing.

But Barron, we must exercise the soap box, ballot box, and jury box.  We had successes in Colorado with the recall, we don’t need force yet.

Well what am I doing here, and you doing there, and what was he doing by publishing the list?  Last I checked, that all falls in the realm of soap box.  But to think that all states will be OK because one successfully recalled, and was lucky enough to have a recall process, is also naïve.  Not all states have a recall process.

Seriously, the game we’re playing the time periods are much shorter than election cycles and many are acting knowing they will loose their jobs.  They don’t care, they’re being bought by our enemies.  But why would that be?

The first rule of any game is to realize you’re in one.  Their goal is to do the damage with no way to hit “undo”.  Tell me, what is the punishment for passing an unconstitutional law?  What is the punishment for enforcing an unconstitutional law?  Who really pays to right the wrongs and who actually gets the reparations in the end?  Just look at New Orléans and the Katrina fiasco for those answers.

But Barron, I just don’t think the time is right yet…

That is your opinion and you have every right to it.  But, everyone has their own lines in the sand.  If them kicking in the doors to people’s homes and taking them by force, and let’s not bullshit here this is what’s being discussed,  good for you.  Not everyone however views this in the same light and for many that is the line in the sand of no going back.

The enforcement of any laws–local,state or federal–that through the action or inaction of the courts makes nugatory the individual means of resisting tyranny, justifies resistance.

Don’t like it? Get the police to say screw off regarding enforcement.  Currently though there are two sides of this coin, one side is the state wanting, and willing, to use force.  The other side is preparing to strike back, not strike first, at those truly responsible should it happen.

But Barron we should fully exhaust the political route before fighting back.

The British rolled up one April 19th, should we have continued to wait hoping our pleas to the king for a political solution panned out?

No we fought while also trying to achieve a peaceful political solution.   War is an ugly nasty business.  However to dismiss the violence they will bring against you by saying “ballot box” while laying down your arms is already admitting defeat.  Your enemy is willing to use force while you are not.  By default he wins.  You have lost the game.

And that folks is the problem.  Welcome to the pot of boiling water.  The heat was cranked up quite quickly and we very rapidly found ourselves in the very predicament we are in today.  Does it suck?  You bet your ass it does.  Do I  wish it was different?  Yup.  Do I want to have another civil war?  Hell no, but that isn’t really up to me now is it?

In the words of Malcolm Reynolds,

If someone ever tries to kill you, you try to kill them right back.

The answer to this problem is quite simple, “don’t start nothin’, won’t be nothin’.”  If this side was as truly blood hungry as the opposition thinks, crap would have already gone down.  At the same time, trying to make us all pacifists by screaming about the Soap, Ballot, and Jury boxes, implies that when a criminal is robbing us we should only every rely on those tools.  Why bother with the firearms at all if we can’t defend ourselves and then go after the person who tried to kill us by proxy?

The ball is truthfully in the state’s court.  All they have to do is respect the rights of their citizens and nothing will happen.  Trample those rights, and well some may fight back.  Some may go after the very people who passed the laws.

Quote of the Day – Marcus Luttrell (2/10/2013)

Fear is a force that sharpens your senses.  Being afraid is a state of paralysis in which you can’t do anything.

I have found that the best way to get through tough times is to surround myself with positive people.  If you spend time around people who are weak or always feel sorry for themselves, it’s bound to rub off on you.  Always look forward, never back.

Marcus Luttrell – Service: A Navy SEAL at War, P208


[Yes that’s more of a twofer, especially since there was another great quote in-between those two but I felt them fitting when paired.  Why?  Let me remind of you A Girl’s post.

You, you who hate guns, you gave me nothing.

No hope.

No tools.

All that was offered me was a life of fear, of resentment, of bitterness, of dependance…

The gun community has offered me hope and strength, and courage.

They have taught me to have belief in myself.

They have asked nothing of me in return and, yet, I would give them my life.

I do really need to write up on my visit to Olympia a couple weeks ago because that second piece of advice was quite apparent.  The opposition only showed up with emotion and hysteria.  Quite honestly the first day was nothing more than a pity party, which was obvious as how they went about championing their bill.

Entertainingly after arguing for a similar bill in Oregon, Mark Kelly went shooting.  Because we all know how they support their ability to exercise the 2nd Amendment as being exempted parts of the political elite while they despise yours.

I believe this man here nails it quite well.

When you see someone arguing to take away your right to keep and bear arms and then go an do the exact thing they were arguing against, they’re a hypocrite.  Mark Kelly borrowed someone’s firearm and the bill he was arguing for in Washington would make that a felony.  He also went and attempted to buy an AR-15 after arguing for an AWB in Connecticut.

All the other side has is self loathing, pity, and hypocrisy.  See this most recent incident involving the New York SAFE Act.

He was a well-known face in the movement for the SAFE Act, the state law that made carrying a gun on school property a felony. He was also a familiar presence in the hallways of the city’s Harvey Austin Elementary School, where he worked in the after-school program and mentored students.

No one imagined that on Thursday he would show up at the school in possession of a gun, touching off an hours-long lockdown, search and ultimately his arrest on two felony charges.

Ferguson, 52, told WGRZ-TV that he frequently carries the gun, for which he has a permit, and did not realize he had it on him when he went to the school as part of the mentoring program.

Had it been any other person would the other side be so lenient? This is exactly the type of issue our side regularly brings up regarding these measures but we’re told, “That’s not the intent of the law.”  Well intent or not, that’s what the law says.  Book ’em Danno.  Don’t like it, take your ill conceived, forced through without debate law off the books and come back and behave like an adult.  Until then you can suffer under the law you helped instituted and create.

Worth a note, a bunch of us are still working on fixing the problem but you deserve to be punished for what you did more than anyone.  -B]

Quote of the Day – Michael Z. Williamson (2/5/2014)

It may be time to start planting claymores instead of tulips.

Michael Z. Williamson – Facebook Comment

February 5th, 2014


[The catalyst was this event.  All I have to say is there is something very wrong in the system and they are not policing their own anymore. -B]