Well, that stinks

A university police chief leaves his issued sidearm on the pooper for his students to find, photograph, and report to the local media.  Good times!

ETA:  Here's the article.

Myth busted

I've often heard that big ol' honkin sedans from the 50s through the 70s are far safer than the plastic fantastic cars of today because the oldies have so much metal in them and will withstand a collision much better.  My gut feeling from seeing piles of multi-car accidents in this day and age where everybody comes out unscathed tends to disagree with that statement, and without even looking I find some evidence to support my gut: lots of slow motion footage of a 59 Bel Air hitting a 09 Malibu head on.

One of those crash test dummies took a direct hit to the dome-piece by the steering column which would surely have been fatal to a flesh-and-blood driver, and the other dummy looks like he would have made it out okay had he been real.  I'll stick with modern safety standards, thank you very much!

Tactical litter receptacles

LINTHICUM, Md. — A BWI airport official say a canister of pepper spray left in a trash can near a checkpoint was to blame for the evacuation of two concourses.

Incidences like these don't surprise me at all.  I've had to ditch all kinds of tactical doodads in airports over the years just because I forgot I had them on me, only noticing while standing in line at security.  I don't recall tossing any pepper spray, which isn't to say that I haven't, but I've ditched lots of pocket knives and several pistol mags in the past; a SOG Trident in one unnamed country and about five Beretta M9 mags in another immediately comes to mind.  If one were to rifle through those trash cans without drawing suspicion they would find some cool tactical gear, no doubt.  Think of all the Service men and women who realized that they still had their Gerber multi-tool on their belt and threw them away at the last minute.

It's really shameful if you think about it.  That's why I don't travel anymore.

Mission impossible

I love these. I used to be the dick that sent the FNGs out to various places to pick up grid squares, six gallons of rotor wash, the keys to the drop zone, squeegee sharpeners, cordless extension cords. . . .you name it. You know who you're clicked with too when the FNG's mission is perpetuated by your buddies who quickly send them over to the S-4 for a bottle of K-9P lubricant, which as we all know you have to fill out a ID-10T form to get.

US Army uniform insanity

The Army is again looking at changing the camouflage pattern and uniform for combat. There are some really crappy patterns in there that they're looking at, which means that that's what the Army is likely to chose if the past tells us anything.

The Marine Corps did it right with the Woodland and Desert digital camo, as they realized early on that one pattern does not work in every environment. With that, the uniform is designed well, is rugged, and feels like pajamas compared to the starched Woodland BDU. If you've never had the pleasure of wearing the Army ACU, it's a shitty piece of shit; quite literally the opposite of the Marine Corps uniform. Going to the Multicam pattern was a smart move overall, I think, but now the Army is poised to piss away more funds on camouflage pattern trials.

That's not the half of it

I'm amazed that there's such a response to the Fed Ex guy throwing a computer box over a fence. If that bothers anybody, their minds would be blown if they ever witnessed what goes on in the distribution centers.

Many moons ago I worked in a UPS distro center as a box kicker, and man, did I see some shit. The process of unpacking and packing boxes into trucks is nowhere near gentle, even if you are careful. You're talking thousands of packages an hour have to be shoved violently out of a truck onto rollers and conveyors, and then shoved violently back into another truck. This is done as fast as the human body will allow, and UPS doesn't issue you kid-gloves, nor do they issue common sense. I've seen heavy steel farm equipment loaded right on top of stacks of Gateway computers, boxes marked 'fragile' on every corner get stuck at the junction between conveyors and sheared clean in half, and boxes fall off conveyors into the dark abyss below, never to be seen again. It happens.

Now, some of the stuff that people see fit to send through the mail is nothing short of unbelievable. I never had live bees come through my center, like the USPS, but I do recall a live goldfish sent in a clear glass tank with plastic wrap rubber-banded around the top and a shipping sticker stuck to the side. That had to be some sort of sick test to see if it would get broke. We had a giant box of pink rubber dildos break open on a conveyor one morning; there had to have been 500 or more of them tumbling and fumbling all over the place, getting hung up on the belts, and nobody had any interest in grabbing ahold of them to put them back in, if you know what I mean. You never can tell what's in the faceless brown boxes until they bust open, spilling a thousand New Kids on the Block CDs or leopard print negligees all over the place. The worst was lip balm; break open a box of that and you would have a huge mess. By far the most destroyed item was Sylvania fluorescent light bulb tubes; those you could identify by their box, and, no lie, they were on every single truck. I would just shake my head at the stupidity of sending those through the mail - eight out of every ten boxes would be completely crushed, with white powdered glass leaking from the corners. I didn't know where the origin of the stupidity was -- from somebody who thought it was safe to mail them, or UPS continuing to accept them knowing they would have to compensate whomever for all the destroyed boxes.

If you think your mailman is rough with your stuff, you can't imagine what goes on where you can't see. Fed Ex box-kickers probably put luggage handlers to shame when it comes to putting their hands on your property, so I wouldn't get all worked up over the delivery guy. Believe me, you don't really want to know what Brown does for you.

With bated breath

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) is turning up the heat on Eric Holder, demanding the attorney general “come forward and at least admit” he knew about Operation Fast and Furious long before he told Congress he learned about the gun program.

The truth is coming. . . .aaaaaaaaany day now.

Coming or going?

MCALLEN, Texas (Reuters) - U.S. Border Patrol agents found a rocket launcher, assault rifles and explosives near the Rio Grande river in Texas, the agency said on Wednesday, a discovery that suggests a link to Mexico's drug wars.

[snip]

Officials theorized that the guns were waiting to be smuggled across the border into Mexico, but said that was just speculation.

It's good to put blind speculation in a news article and present it to the world as fact. No big deal.

So a cache of weapons including grenade launchers, rocket launchers, and C-4 explosives were "intended to go South" based on aforementioned speculation and past cases? Whatever. No doubt these items were bought at the local gunshow for next to nothing with no background check.

If these weapons weren't being transported North by cartel members who got them from the Mexican government, then they had to have been provided by a US government entity that has the ability to acquire them. Wonder who that could be.

Consumer backlash

This one has nothing to do with the normal host of things posted here, but hit close to home since I've been screwed over by car salesman more times than I can count:

PORTSMOUTH — Unhappy that a Lafayette Road car dealer wouldn't take back the van he bought on Monday, David Cross drove "the lemon" back after the dealer closed on Tuesday and crashed it into six cars parked on the lot for sale.

"I hit the first $25,000 car I could see," Cross told the Herald. "I didn't hit a car under $20,000. Then I moved a van that they wouldn't come down on the price for. I moved it with the lemon they sold me. I just held it to the floor until I couldn't move it anymore. I took out seven vehicles, including my own."

I'm not condoning behaviour like that, as the only thing it solves is the need for short term gratification of one person, but I can feel the guy's pain; car salesman have the potential to be genuine scumbags, and have left people completely hosed over an expensive item.

I've never lost it like that and destroyed property, but one time many years ago my brother and I were bored and broke, and he was wondering out loud about how to finance a car. I had been there and done that before with the scars to prove it, so we swung into a local car dealership and I went through the entire process -- test drive, bartering; right up until the yellow sales sheet was cut. We had been there for about four hours before we walked out. It wasn't the righteous thing to do, but it sure did feel good, and years later my wife and I were screwed over pretty good by the same dealership. . . .twice, so I guess I had it coming.

Very recently my lady and I bought a mini van to better shuttle our growing tribe, and the salesman that we dealt with was brand new on the job, was a Vietnam veteran, and was as honest as the day was long. I told him as much, and that I was thankful to deal with someone who had not acquired the sleazy aura that car salesman often do. Being real has a value all on its own.

Terrifying testimony

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Rising from his seat at the witness stand in a New Orleans courtroom, Michael Hunter lifted a model AK-47 assault rifle to demonstrate on Wednesday how a fellow police officer blasted five civilians during the chaotic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Hunter, in the most detailed account to date of the shooting on the Danziger Bridge, said the officer stood above three men and two women and sprayed them with bullets at close range as they lay terrified on a sidewalk on September 4, 2005.

There are multiple things to be outraged about in this accounting of how New Orleans police shot and killed unarmed people on the bridge; and even if you don't believe everything that was testified in court, any one allegation is damning on its face; you can't dismiss everything. It's accounts like this one or the one posted yesterday that are the reason for the current rift between Americans and law enforcement.

Fortunately, in Virginia, we don't get the crushing effects of mother nature like in other parts of the country, so the scenario of an apocalyptic SHTF situation in the wake of a storm or earthquake is highly unlikely, but that doesn't mean that "high risk" situations are not created out of whole cloth.

I have some friends in my local Sheriff's Departments, and with the exception of them specifically, I fear the rest of them. That doesn't mean that I don't appreciate what they do or the dangers that they face, but while they have nothing to fear from me - any interaction that they have with me will be peaceful on my part - I don't trust them to not completely trample on my rights and/or escalate things when they interact with me. It's a shame that that's how my feelings are, but I know that I'm not alone.

TSA Grope-Warrior caught distributing kiddie porn

Federal agents also allege that Transportation Safety Administration Officer Thomas Gordon Jr. of Philadelphia, who routinely searched airline passengers, uploaded explicit pictures of young girls to an Internet site on which he also posted a photograph of himself in his TSA uniform.

I don't know about you, but I'm not at all surprised. People who routinely touch people inappropriately against their will are generally considered to be scumbags, and there is a special place that society has reserved for such folks. Here we have a bona fide gate-rapist who likes younger entertainment, and it makes you wonder how many of these sick fucks there are screening Americans at airports.

Again, I avoid flying as best as I can these days, but sometimes it's unavoidable unless I fancy losing my job. With the exception of a body cavity search, I've received all the sick shit that TSA can muster at airports all over the country. I have no sympathy for this guy, and I hope his message gets spread far and wide.

Metal folding chairs and spandex underwear

That's all that separates the federal government from another exciting form of entertainment: professional wrestling.

Both industries use sensationalism and theatrics to make for an exciting spectacle; both have clearly divided casts of characters that can go from antagonist to good guy in a moment; both have orchestrated maneuvers for the safety of all parties; and most importantly, both have predetermined outcomes. It's all fake but interesting entertainment carefully crafted to keep you dramatically chained to the edge of your seat.

The news this morning is awash with the story of how President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner were in heated "negotiations" this weekend over issues with buzzwords like "debt ceiling," "spending cuts," "deficit cutting," "divided government," "Ministry of Darkness." Well, maybe not that last one. I'll leave it up to y'all to determine which politicritter played Rick Flair and which one played Ricky Steamboat.

Thinking about it, is there really a deficit? Does it exist? Does any of this really matter? If Americans were not struggling against perpetual debt, trying to pay off a federal deficit, they would be in a perpetual struggle to pay off something else. We have become too comfortable running like hamsters in a wheel to achieve something we believe we have to achieve.

While the fruits of the federal government's labor (funny, right?) does affect millions of people, I consider it totally fake and will continue to love my family and serve my fellow man with complete indifference. Water off a ducks' back. If anyone needs me, I will be in my bunk dreaming of one day being able to shoot F-Class, and fish for Marlin on my own boat.

Clever wording

The press is famous for it, and no doubt this article about the US ambessador to Mexico resigning does not disclose all of the facts.

This gave me a snort this morning:

Calderon's office on Saturday said U.S.-Mexico relations remained solid despite Pascual's resignation and the two nations would continue working together to deepen their relationship "as neighbors and friends."

But the alliance has recently been soured by the public dispute between Calderon and Pascual and Washington's failure to stop weapons smuggling into Mexico.

"Clever girl" - Muldoon, Jurassic Park

So now we have the ATF Project Gunrunner scandal -- in which federal agents were ordered to basically facilitate the smuggling of weapons into Mexico -- being sold as "Washington's failure to stop weapons smuggling." B.E.A.U.Tiful wordsmithing! I would have never thought to put it like that.

Why lie when you can simply not tell the truth?

Whoodunnitt?

In the murders of four, maybe five innocent people, who do you think did the disgusting deed?

Was it Miss Scarlett with a candlestick? Colonel Mustard with the lead pipe? Was it Jason Thomas Scott, with an almost two decades long record of violence and mayhem? I dunno, I dunno. . . .that's a tough one.

Meethinks it was Scott; that's just my simple minded opinion though, based on what limited deductive reasoning my simple little mind is capable of.

ABC News weighs in with The Stupid:

If he is a serial killer, the new question facing investigators is whether they caught him at the start of his reign of terror or whether there many more victims to be found.

Uuuummm, it seems to me that he had been caught and released many times "at the start of his reign of terror", as he has an extensive criminal history starting at age TEN! TEN! HE WAS TEN!! Didn't some law enforcement creature at some moment in time actually take his oath into consideration and say out loud "Lookey here! Puff the magic laptop says that this fruitbat has a proclivity for hurting people that don't deserve hurting. Perhaps we should do society a favor and lock this piece of shit up for the rest of his life so we don't see his face on the news or his name on a docket for gunning down families in their homes." It would seem though that there are too many absent minded officials these days who can't combine simple fucking logic with their oath and their blue pen.

So the real question is what dumb ass signed off on his release the last like six times? Who actually looked at all his violent criminal accomplishments in his record jacket, and then said "hell, he deserves a ninth chance," and then put blue pen to paper and loosed him back into the free world so he could murder these wonderful people? Why isn't their face on the news next to this scumbag? Why isn't their name on the indictment next to Scott's? I want to see it! Do they not deserve to be there? Are they not just as guilty? How many of these sworn public officials were instrumental in this guys last release?

Jointly and severally, they are all responsible.

I just can't understand what in the hell is going on. We give lawmakers an office with a mahogany desk and a computer so that they can conjure up the largest scumbag-charging statutory web that humankind has ever allowed; we buy cops body armor, assault thingies, and police cruisers so that they can catch the scumbags or at least gun them down where they stand; we give prosecutors and judges public immunity so that they can boldly cast as many statutory stones at the scumbags as they can; we pay the finest engineers to build massive disciplinary structures to safely warehouse the scumbags out of range of society's eye, and we staff them with badged folks who are empowered to control every aspect of the scumbags life when they get there. So tell me, why is it that hyper violent scumbags are not hung the fuck up in an eternal mess that we've built just for this purpose? Is there some sort of problem that we're not aware of?

Keep. The. Scumbags. Locked. Up. It's that easy. Just stop letting them out.

Wouldn't that be an "unsecured" facility?

While the juvenile was being held in a secured intake room in the facility the juvenile gained access to his personal duffel bag that contained a handgun hidden in his clothing. The juvenile removed the handgun from the bag and fired several shots within the intake holding room.

You can't say it's secured when a scumbag teenager is able to get ahold of his roscoe and go Capone on the place. I think that security in this country is mostly for show, or at least it seems that way.

You would think that it would be pretty easy to completely disarm a teen and keep him locked away safely, but apparently it's harder than that.

This is not how to honor heros

The Missouri senator whose subcommittee is investigating potential contracting fraud at Arlington National Cemetery said the number of mislabeled graves there could be in the thousands.

It looks as if a family hero of mine - my grandfather, who's smiling in a picture to my right, and his wife, my grandmother - are among those missing at Arlington. You wouldn't think it would impact the family too much considering that they're dead and all, so it's not like they're inconvenienced in any way; but we promised to take care of them after they passed, and so did the US government. Ultimately we both failed, as their whereabouts, and their very existence, cannot be verified at this time.

On the other hand, I find it deplorable that the two men responsible for making this mess will get to retire in peace with honor.

The Prison Guard Loophole

Mexican prosecutors say guards at a prison let inmates out and lent them guns to massacre 17 people at a party, then allowed them to return to their cells.

I'm betting that the guns the guards lent to the killers were of US origin, so count this as 17 more senseless deaths from US gun show assault thingies.

Here we go

"ARMS DEALER BUSTED IN ARIZONA!!"

Weeeeeeeeell, maybe not so much. I may eat crow over this one, but I doubt that it will come to that.

First and foremost, if this guy was such a dangerous human being, than why was he only briefly detained? What is he charged with? So far I only see him "accused" of a "federal firearms violation.

Second, where are all the "assault thingies" that he was allegedly selling? All I see are walnut stocked pump action Winchesters and pearl handled 1911s. Whoopidy doo.

Next, ATF agent Tom Mangan is running this piece, so that should tell ya that this might not be on the up-and-up.

Lastly, if the guy used to be a licensed firearms dealer, than it makes sense that he would have "over a thousand" firearms at home, and that he would be a collector. So he still buys guns, which would be "replenishing" his stock in ATF speak.

As for him not conducting background checks, is there a mechanism in place for private Citizens to conduct them? If not, and I don't believe there is, than that accusation should be retracted. You can't accuse someone of not doing something that they have no way of doing in the first place.

Seems to me that there is the typical lack of substance here, and that maybe the ATF needed a scalp to nail to their wall. It was this guys ticket they punched. Too bad.

In through the out door

Yeah, it's the title to a Zeppelin song, but it's also the title to a post about the shitty court system in Central Virginia.

Burton Leon Brown III, 28, was charged with discharging a firearm from a vehicle, using a firearm in the commission of a felony and reckless discharge of a firearm. Brown was placed in the Rappahannock Regional Jail under no bond.

So what does this happen to do with Zeppelin again? Nothing, but it has everything to do with several municipalities and counties in Virginia previously letting a violent and dangerous guy out of prison over and over again so that he can joyride at 2 a.m. while firing his gat out the window of a car within a mile of my house.

I don't what the hell is going on in my AO, but y'all need to get your shit together and start holding on to these guys. I'm tired of hearing about some vicious yahoo getting the kid glove treatment his whole life from my county court, and then doing something really stupid that gets people hurt.

Back to this particular yahoo, a quick search of his name in the Virginia court database reveals that this scumbag has such accolades as obstructing justice and assault and battery of a police officer, making him already a felon who cannot legally own a firearm. There's lots of other piddly stuff in there too, but the fact remains that this guy has a history, and now he needs to be history.

Just so we're clear here, if I rack up charge after charge in a particular locale, and then sometime later punch a cop, I can go about my business after paying $900 and change and giving up my drivers license for a month and a half. Good to know. I wonder how much I would have to pay out for shooting a handgun up in the air while driving?

An Arsenal of One

During the night, someone broke into the vehicle and made off with a Colt M-4 rifle, two loaded M-4 magazines and two loaded .40 caliber Glock magazines. The thief also took two sets of handcuffs, two Montgomery County Police badges and a baton.

One rifle = arsenal. This is, of course, NBC News we're talking about; sensationalism runs rampant in this organization. They are but one half step above grocery store tabloids that run stories about bat-boys and B1 bombers on the moon.

Interesting that a Maryland cop gets issued an automatic weapon, and then leaves it in the car overnight to get stolen by a scumbag. Can Maryland Citizens own full auto weapons legally? I bet if they do, they don't leave them in their car.

No word on why the thief bothered to risk life and limb to steal such a weapon from a cop when he could have just been issued one at a Virginia gun show for a few dollars.