And With That Boston Has Fallen

Just got in from shoveling. Will probably have to do one more round in the morning when the troops are up to shuffle the cars around so I can get a few spots I missed.

Feels like I’m CONSTANTLY shoveling, and given the weather and the spotty nature of public transit I had to take the day off from work AGAIN.

Yeah, I’ve practically quit my job, and taken a NEW job of moving snow around.

Tuesday is my day with the Baby, but the wife will be home too BECAUSE BOSTON IS CLOSED!

MBTA rail service will be suspended after 7 p.m. Monday and all day Tuesday due to the heavy snow, MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo has confirmed. This includes all subway, trolley, and commuter rail service running in or out of Boston, as maintenance crews continue to clear snow and ice from the tracks.

Bus service will be available on an extremely limited basis with various buses on “snow routes.” Bus delays should be expected due to traffic congestion and local street conditions, according to the MBTA. The MBTA also notes that passengers will not be able to make transfers at usual intermodal points due to the suspension of rail service.

“The accumulating snow is making it virtually impossible to keep rail lines operational,” according to the MBTA website.

Let the gravity of that sink in. It is 9pm here and the snow is practically stopped. My neighbor works for the T and is working 24 hour shifts right now, and the T will not be open tomorrow!

There is so damn much snow, that even when it isn’t snowing they can’t keep the shit working. Took me 3 hours to make a 1 hour trip on the train on Friday, and the sky was blue!

They don’t even know where to put this stuff!

As Boston grapples with recording-breaking snowfalls, the city may dump snow into Boston Harbor, Mayor Martin J. Walsh said.

In an interview Monday, Walsh said the city has run out of space to deposit snow after more than 61 inches fell in the last 30 days. Snow melters cannot keep up with the demand, Walsh said, and the city’s “snow farms” — vacant lots where bulldozers take snow – are full.

“We’re going to explore the opportunity of putting this snow in the ocean,” Walsh said. “We’re looking at that now because of the amount of snow we have.”

The city would be required to notify the state and the Boston Conservation Commission that it needed to plow into the ocean because the snow had become a public safety hazard, according to Edmund Coletta, a spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Protection.

…Under normal circumstances, state law prohibits dumping snow in public waterways because plows pick up salt and other contaminants. The practice is allowed in extreme circumstances when public safety is at risk, Coletta said, and Boston has done it within the last few years. City officials believe the last time Boston pushed snow into the harbor was 2009.

Now the environmental hazards of snow isn’t TOTALLY bullshit. The Mall in my home town would use earth movers to make massive mountains of snow in the worst places of their parking lots. We’re talking 15′ high 30′ wide MOUNTAINS of snow. It would be white in February, but by late March it would be a big brown mound. By June they’d be shoveling dump truck loads of crap off the lot. Stand, salt, gravel, asphalt, and trash would be what the snow would leave behind.

Still, Salt, gravel, and Sand IS what the ocean is made of, and that other stuff DOES still get into the ocean. I think it’s great if the city avoids dumping snow into the bay, but there is a limit for everything.

And that limit is RIGHT NOW! Really amazing, as we have a LOT of snow out there, but frankly it doesn’t seem like it’s THAT much snow…

Posted in Random, Safety | 4 Comments

Again Anti-Freedom, not Anti Gun

Sounds like a VERY good law will be presented in Wisconsin:

A Wisconsin lawmaker has proposed repealing Wisconsin’s 48-hour waiting period to buy a handgun, calling the inconvenience of having to return later to pick up the weapon a “time tax,” reports Channel 3000.

Sen. Van Wanggaard (R-Racine) is circulating a bill to eliminate the requirement enacted to allow for time to run background checks as well as for a “cooling off” period designed to help guard against acts of impulsive violence by purchasers.

OK more like a law that corrects a TERRIBLE law.

“Generally within the hour, they know whether or not someone can purchase the firearm, and by that time, you’re about finished up with your purchases in the store,” Wanggaard said. “This just doesn’t make any sense to keep this restriction on the books.”

Wanggaard calls the 48-hours waiting period a “time tax.”

Yep, NICS checks frequently take less than an hour to perform, once the shop gets the OK there’s nothing new that will be uncovered in the remaining 47 hours. The “Cooling Off Period” is nothing short of a lie. When the Brady Bill was first passed it was done 100% on paper via post mail. It took DAYS for a background check to be performed because requests and responses needed to hand carried by postal workers between the gun shops and law enforcement. A 7-Day waiting period was added to the law in case paperwork was mishandled by incompetence or malice. Don’t hear back in 7 days, you get your gun.

Then the FBI National Instant Check System (NICS) was invented, and everything could be done over the phone line, and what took a week, now takes less than an hour. Of course that 7-Day waiting period was a bother, and a chilling effect on lawful gun owners, so the anti-gun cult invented the “Cooling Off Period”. They cooked up a fictitious story of somebody getting mad at somebody else, walking past the kitchen knives, the blunt instruments, to their car filled with flammable gasoline, grasping the wheel with their fists, operating the petals with their booted feet, driving at deadly speed to a gun shop to buy a gun to return home and shoot somebody.

See what I did there?

Of course there was NEVER anything about “Cooling off”, first up, most killers have had their gun for a long time before they shoot anybody, all the spree killers we read about in the news acquired their guns weeks, months, or years before the deadly event, and this applies to ALL GUN SALES. So somebody like me, might walk into a Wisconsin gun shop WITH A GUN ON THEIR HIP, and several guns at home in their safe…but still need to “Cool Off”. Yeah, that makes PERFECT sense.

According to domestic violence groups, the waiting period is necessary to protect potential victims, allowing them time to seek assistance or help from authorities.

“You have to ask yourself if someone wants a gun instantaneously or within an hour or two, why do they really need it that quickly?” said Tony Gibart, with End Domestic Violence Wisconsin. “It seems if someone needs it very quickly, chances are they are up to no good.”

Gee thanks, End Domestic Violence Wisconsin. Have you ever thought that maybe the VICTIM of domestic violence might want a gun? I’ve known several people who got into bad relationships, they didn’t get into them to be beaten, and threatened, they found out about that later, and it took time to realize that what at first just seemed like a “bad day” for their partner, was an ongoing escalating event of violence. Maybe they even did the right thing and packed their bags and left…only to be stalked by their ex.

Not everybody who has a gun got into it in the fun hobby-oriented way, some people got their first gun as a reaction to a potentially life-threatening event. Of course End Domestic Violence Wisconsin thinks that even those people are “up to no good”, because ANY gun ownership is “No Good” to “Progressives”.

Wangaard — a former police investigator — dismisses those concerns, saying there are no restrictions on long guns and other items that can be used as weapons to assault someone.

“There’s also no waiting period on knives and edged weapons and a lot of homicides occur that way,” he explained. “Are we going to put a 48-hour waiting period on a set of kitchen utensils or baseball bats?”

Have you ever noticed that when a cop says something anti-gun their opinion is infallible, but when a law enforcement officer says something pro-gun, their opinion is garbage! His points of course are very valid, I mentioned the little story above on how many deadly weapons the average person ALREADY has, plus this waiting period is ONLY for handguns. So the domestic abuser could easily buy a rifle, shotgun, or carbine, and walk out that day to shoot somebody…not that that happens.

A local gun seller is not entirely supportive of Wangaard’s bill, calling the waiting period “just part of business.”

According to Brett Fankhauser, owner of Deerfield Pistol and Archery Center, his customers might enjoy the instant gratification of walking out the door with their handgun purchase, but he has some reservations.

“I would say yes for the fact that I wouldn’t want someone to buy a gun here and run off out the door and hurt somebody or themselves,” Fankhauser said. “There’s that aspect that as a guy that sells guns, I don’t ever want someone to get hurt with one I sell.”

Well thanks, dummy! So you LIKE the waiting period, because it is might prevent somebody from “running out the door and hurting somebody”, but you’ll still sell them a long-gun and let them leave, or a knife, or even a can of gun cleaner they could drink in the parking lot. Also I’m sure this dude runs a shop like everybody else, there are customers who are in every week or two buying ammo, and looking to see what’s new in stock. Mr. Fankhauser probably even knows many of them by name, and can recall the last few purchases they made. In other-words he KNOWS they have guns at home, so if their intent was hurting somebody, they’d have already done that, but HEY let’s make them wait…because reasons.

Deerfield Pistol and Archery Center sounds like an AWESOME place to drive right by on way to spending money at a gun shop with common sense.

Again, this isn’t about safety, because any story the antis can cook up as to why waiting periods are good ideas quickly fall apart when the reality of the American Lawful Gun Owners is placed in the story. Really this is glorification of anything that hassles lawful gun owners, because they aren’t anti-gun they’re anti-freedom.

Posted in Freedom, Guns, Politics, Safety, Self Defense | 1 Comment

“Gun Death” Alleged “Good Mom”

A sad one,

Detroit Police Chief James Craig says the mom of a two-year-old boy is in custody after the child died at the family’s home Friday morning.

…Detroit Police Chief James Craig says the mom of a two-year-old boy is in custody after the child died at the family’s home Friday morning.

So why the arrest?

The boy’s father was at work when he got the call: the boy’s mom claimed something was wrong with the toddler. He rushed home and called 911 but it was too late; he was pronounced dead at Children’s Hospital and his 26-year-old mom was arrested.

“[The] preliminary examination by treating doctor that there was some force resulting in the death of the child,” Chief Craig said.

The boy’s father was at work when he got the call: the boy’s mom claimed something was wrong with the toddler. He rushed home and called 911 but it was too late; he was pronounced dead at Children’s Hospital and his 26-year-old mom was arrested.

“[The] preliminary examination by treating doctor that there was some force resulting in the death of the child,” Chief Craig said.

…An autopsy will be conducted to confirm the exact cause of death. That information will then be compiled in a report and sent to the prosecutors office to determine what if any charges will be filed. we’ll stay on top.

Might just be an accident, still the arrest implies that it was something suspicious. Either way, it wasn’t a “Gun Death”.

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Play Me Out: Infected Mushroom

Some classic Goa Trance

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GunBlog Variety Cast!

You know the drill! Show notes here, podcast below!

If you aren’t listening to it yet, you ought to start now!

Posted in Guns, Podcast, Politics | Leave a comment

In Bad Taste

Isn’t my Daughter a Little Young to be riding the cotton pony?

Cotton Pony

Man this was the best toy for her when she figured out how to swing that leg over the “Pony”.

Posted in Family and Friends, Random | Leave a comment

Images of the Antis: Disease

The antis are dumb, and they are dishonest:

Disease vs gun death

So first up we have a bad faith argument. Up until our recent kowtowing to anti-vaccine cultists, and “Progressive” views to illegal aliens and their children, Measles essentially didn’t exist in the United States. Most children had been vaccinated, and the virus can only survive in humans, so no infections, no virus. No virus, no deaths.

Still why don’t we look at a disease that is so common it isn’t even talked about on the news. THE FLU! (PDF)

2.5 MILLION deaths per year! When you go even further and note that about 17,000 of that 30,000 number are suicides, and the United States has a rather unremarkable suicide rate compared to other countries, many with deeply prohibitive gun control laws, we’re looking at a fairly small number.

And even with the 13,000 violent “Gun Deaths” in this country, it isn’t a fair comparison because the diseases CAUSE the death, but say in this story, where shootings were down, but murders (specifically stabbings) were UP, the guns cannot be said to CAUSE the deaths.

When we eliminate the measles vaccine in this country, we eliminate the deaths from the disease, and since the virus is an organism, not a cultural issue, there isn’t anything that would “Take it’s Place”. Antis focus on “Gun Death” because indeed if all guns disappeared, so would “Gun Death”, and even severely limiting guns in a country would diminish the “Gun Death”, that’s not looking at WHY person A shoots person B. VIOLENCE is the issue, and it has been shown time-and-time-again that when one tool is eliminated, but violent culture is not, different tools simply take the place of the gun.

Posted in Biology, Freedom, Guns, Safety | 2 Comments

“Gun Death” Commuter Rail Crash

As a rail commuter this is REALLY scary!

Federal investigators probing a deadly crash involving a New York commuter train and a SUV have focused on the behavior of the vehicle’s driver, who was identified Wednesday as a 49-year-old mother of three.

…The crash was so powerful that the electrified third rail came up and pierced the train and the SUV, and the SUV was pushed about 1,000 feet, Sumwalt said. The blaze consumed the SUV and the train’s first car.

Horrifying, six people died in this crash! That’s no joke, but it’s also not a “Gun Death”.

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Hey! I Have a Blog!

Sorry all, but the weather has been DESTROYING me! Lots of shoveling, commuting to work has been rough, so yeah my blogging has been REALLY light.

So time for a good-old news dump. First from Farm Dad, a story that mirrors the blackness of my heart, but not my actions:

A Massachusetts man faces multiple charges after allegedly shooting cars left in parking spots that had been shoveled of snow, days after two feet of snow blanketed the town.

Jose Osorio was arrested Friday after witnesses reported he fired multiple shots at two parked cars that were parked in shoveled spaces on a street in Fall River, Massachusetts.

…Furtado said when officers arrived they found Osorio in the area and later found a handgun at his address. Osorio faces multiple charges, including carrying a firearm without a license, carrying a firearm after being convicted of a violent crime and discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a dwelling.

I don’t know if any other cities have this ritual. The only other snow-locked city I’ve lived in was Portland Maine, and even in places with little to no parking, you don’t see this, but in the urban areas of Massachusetts, after a snow storm you see all sorts of sundry junk on the side of the road, from traffic cones to lawn chairs to cardboard boxes. See the city can’t plow parking spots if a car is in them, so residents move their car and shovel the spot. When they leave the tradition is to leave a trinket in the spot to note that it was shoveled by somebody who expects to have it back when they return.

Of course they don’t OWN the spot, so anybody can park there. Every winter you hear about fist fights and vandalized cars when somebody moves some trash that isn’t theirs from a city space and parks there. Still this story takes the cake. Also interesting that given Massachusetts’ “Universal Background Checks”, and requirement for license for ownership, this violent felon still seemed to have a gun, and given his behavior, certainly deserves the trouble he’s in!

Next up from the Bubblehead Les News Network, a story on my “Snow Shoveling Medicine”:

Producers of Kentucky bourbon and Tennessee whiskey scored another round of U.S. sales growth in 2014, while exports topped $1 billion for the second straight year, a distilled spirits trade group said Tuesday.

Mixed together, U.S. revenues for bourbon and Tennessee whiskey rose by 9.6 percent to $2.7 billion last year, the Distilled Spirits Council said. Domestic volume shot up 7.4 percent to 19.4 million cases, it said.

The revenue and volume gains last year were similar to increases the category registered in 2013.

“Consumers in the U.S. and around the globe are increasingly enjoying bourbon and Tennessee whiskey because of their distinctive flavor profiles and authentic American heritage,” said the council’s chief economist, David Ozgo.

The domestic numbers reflect sales from producers or suppliers to wholesalers.

I’ve always loved bourbon, my Dad’s a bourbon drinker. I’ve drank a fair amount of Scotch in my life, and while that stuff is GOOD, I like the characteristics of Bourbon better. Still when it comes to “Status” drinks, we have the various Cognac, like Hennesy, Tequilas like Padron, the myriad of small-batch craft vodkas, and Scotch. Scotch for all of my life has been the “Status” drink that you imagine two gentlemen sitting down for business or pleasure, maybe over a fine cigar and/or a rare steak. Reading older novels and films set in the early 20th Century or before, it seems that Brandy was the “Status” drink enjoyed by men in the evenings, often with crushed velvet smoking jackets.

Now it appears that Borbon is in vogue. I’ve been watching the prices, and so far my favorite whiskey is not going up in price, but I’m sure that will happen, given how long it takes to make a good barrel of the stuff.

Last from the Wife some politics:

This time eight years ago, when she first ran for president, Hillary Clinton was already officially a candidate.

“I’m in it to win it,” she said in a YouTube video posted on January 21, 2007.

But even though a second Hillary Clinton for president campaign is all but certain, she and those close to her are debating when she should jump in the race, potentially delaying her entry by months.

There is no waiting for Republicans, who are engaged in a furious behind-the-scenes scramble for advisers and donors. Mitt Romney, Republicans’ nominee in 2012, announced Friday he would bow out after just three weeks on the presidential speculation treadmill. Three Republican senators, two current governors and one former governor have all made active moves toward campaigns.

There could be ten or more Republican candidates by this summer. That might be when Hillary Clinton gets around to officially moving toward a campaign, if she heeds some confidantes, who are privately arguing for an announcement in July to coincide with the start of the third fundraising quarter. Delaying until the summer is an idea that is said to be gaining momentum against those who want to stick to the plan for an April start date.

The possibility of the delay is very real but still unsettled.

I’ll say right now, I don’t think it’s going to happen, or it’s going to be a “Stunt Run” like Newt Gingrich (despite his lack of interest he did fairly well because of the poor GOP showing) or Donald Trump. Hillary has been told by advisers that she won’t win. Her book tour was a DISASTER, and her poll numbers went from AMAZING, to horrible, the more she made public appearances. I think she’s making all these noises so fellow Democrats will continue to respect her name recognition, and have them vie her to stump for them.

OK there’s the news!

Posted in Blogging, Food, Politics, Random | 1 Comment

“Gun Death” Rapper

Not a “Gun Death”:

Former rap music mogul Marion “Suge” Knight has been charged with murder and attempted murder after a fatal hit-and-run that followed an argument in Compton last week, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney.

He could face life in state prison if convicted.

Life in prison? Why? It’s not like he SHOT anybody! Don’t only “Gun Deaths” count?

Posted in Cars, Gun Death? | Leave a comment