The news isn't fun to read anymore

It's too depressing. This morning I open Yahoo! News to find that Andy Whitfield has died. I enjoyed Spartacus: Blood and Sand, and somehow hoped that Whitfield would return to the part because he played the character so well. His character was re-cast, and the new season starts early next year.

The first news article that caught my eye this morning though was the headline/quote from president Obama stating that "America does not give in to fear," which made me snort just a little bit. The news has been awash with stories fear for eleven days, pondering the next terrorist strike that is bound to happen at any moment. Any minute now. . . .

We have uniformed government workers sexually assaulting random Americans at airports and bus stops, F16 fighters escorting air planes to the ground, bomb scares in Boston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, and D.C. ; and in New York:

New York police amassed a display of force on Friday including checkpoints that snarled traffic in response to intelligence about a car or truck bomb plot linked to the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

Officers armed with automatic weapons were stationed at city landmarks including Wall Street, Times Square and the September 11 memorial site where the Twin Towers once stood.

[snip]

New Yorkers who have grown accustomed to bag searches at subway stations and random displays of police presence encountered increased vigilance after the threat, which prompted President Barack Obama to order a redoubling of U.S. counterterrorism efforts.

Yeah, we sure don't give in to fear not one little bit. Nothing tells me that the republic is at ease like amassed police with automatic weapons in major cities. My favorite, sweet little truffle from yesterday morning's news:

Mejia now is close to marking her fourth year as a TSA security officer. She has worked every September 11, she said. "It's somewhat an honor to be here today, to watch, to say that people are not afraid to fly, and we are here to help," Mejia said.

This is from an article titled "Travelers feel fear, resolve about flying on September 11." Someone should probably tell her that thousands, if not millions of Americans fear flying the other 364 days out of the year because of the fear of having their intimate body parts rigorously fondled by blue-glove wearing tyrants who work for the TSA.

"Nearing the end of this violation, I sobbed even louder as the woman, FOUR
TIMES, stuck the side of her gloved hand INTO my vagina, through my pants. Between my labia. She really got up there. Four times. Back right and left, and
front right and left. In my vagina. Between my labia. I was shocked -- utterly
unprepared for how she got the side of her hand up there. It was government-sanctioned sexual assault."

I know I always feel safer about travel knowing that when I get to the airport, there is a high likelyhood that some disgusting stranger in a dirty blue shirt will painfully grab ahold of my satchel; but it's awesome though and totally worth it because some spineless wimp of a man behind me will feel like these good hearted goverment agents are dilligently keeping everyone safe. Even though they're not.

Fear not, muslim friends, we're here to find terrorists. I'm clearing your minds of all anxiety." - Sarah; Team America: World Police

Have a safe day!!

Ebony and Ivory

Raise your hand if this sounds familiar:

The tangled intersection of international laws is enforced through a thicket of paperwork. Recent revisions to 1900's Lacey Act require that anyone crossing the U.S. border declare every bit of flora or fauna being brought into the country. One is under "strict liability" to fill out the paperwork—and without any mistakes.

Where do ya think you're goin with that thar woodwind, boy!?! You got any papers with that?

This article is very telling. On one hand, you have over zealous government officials conducting raids in the name of draconian environmental regulations, and on the other hand you have musicians - who do more than there share of concocting said draconian regulations - whining and reviling over the injustice of the same regulations. Hmmm.

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.

What could possibly go wrong?

On Tuesday, the United Nations again made itself an international laughing stock – except perhaps to the American taxpayers who continue to foot 22 percent of the bill – by appointing North Korea chair of the U.N. Conference on Disarmament.

Well, it is for only four weeks, and it's not like they were the first pick; it works via alphabetical order, and Madagascar or some other country already got their shot (My pun, can you feel it?). It still makes me wonder why the rest of the U.N. conference can't just skip over North Korea like short people get skipped to play basketball and maybe pick a country that is not so insane, like Nigeria.

In other news, Mayors Against Guns has picked Lee Boyd Malvo to be the next spokesman against gun violence.

Interesting revelations in Project Gunwalker

There is more and more evidence coming out that the ATF was using Project Fast and Furious as a means for fluffing up the numbers of weapons going to Mexico in order to give US lawmakers a chance to push more gun control. If you notice, there's a name of an ATF Special Agent that keeps popping up - Agent Bill Newell, whom I've mentioned a few times before as one who is on the front lines to convince the US public that we're the cause of the cartels having weapons.

Reportercreature: "It doesn't seem like it's that difficult for them to get these guns."

ATF Special Agent Bill Newell Mangan: "It's uh, it's as easy as crossing the border."

With the help of our government, apparently.

This is going to be a major scandal, with or without the help of our shit media organizations. Good on the ATF agents and other ABC agents who have come out against Project Fast and Furious, and shame on agents like Newell who carry the water for gun controllers through lies and deceit.

**Update: A letter from Senator Grassley to ATF Director Kenneth Melson. All I can say about that is OUCH!! If you read nothing else on this page or from the links I have provided, check out Senator Grassley's questions at the bottom of his letter. They are covered from point to hilt in barbs.

***Update: The video I posted above was not Special Agent Newell. You can see him here in the video on this page talking about straw buyers, concealing the fact that he had a large hand in allowing those very guns be sold to criminals.

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.

I didn't know that

WASHINGTON – The Senate's sergeant-at-arms says he's against members of Congress arming themselves to increase their safety in the wake of the shooting rampage in Arizona.

Of course he is; if his peeps whom he's charged with protecting under arms also have guns, then he wouldn't be so very special, now would he? And how am I just finding out that the Senate has a Sergeant-at-Arms?

I don't see how he thinks protecting oneself would be unhelpful; he can't be there with his duty piece to thwart hooligans for every Senator and Congresscritter. Perhaps he should just keep up the good work polishing the Senate's gavel and minding the door and stuff and let the adults take care of themselves for awhile.

Do you feel that freedom?

Caaaahrrreeeeeepy! It's like the freakin Eye of Sauron!

The persecution has begun!

"Early on Thursday morning, wildlife biologists and technicians descended on the park and netted the birds. The biologists, who work with the wildlife services division of the United States Department of Agriculture, then packed the geese two or three to a crate and took them to a facility where they were gassed with lethal doses of carbon dioxide, said Carol A. Bannerman, a spokeswoman for the wildlife services division."

Holy smokes! Thousands of geese across America are being rounded up and exterminated.

Too bad they didn't pull up with a box truck full of Winchester shotgun shells and let the locals make a day of it. Think about if they charged ten dollars admission per goose - that's a profit that could go towards fixing the roads or installing gunshot detectors or something. And don't tell me it's inhumane; it's much more ethical than netting and gassing.

So what about the carcasses?

The bodies are frozen, chopped up and fed to captive raptors and bears.

Coooooooooooool. Now, I'd pay to see them fed to raptors and bears! I'd pay triple to see them fed to raptors and bears while still alive!! I wouldn't pay to watch homeless people eat them though. But it is a good cause!

The lesson that we can all take away from here though is to not poop in the park, or you may be the one netted, gassed, and fed to a homeless guy. Nom nom nom nom!!

A utopia free from fear

Isn't that why DC gunlaws are so restrictive? To make sure that Citizens feeeeeeeel safe? To make them free from fear?

Well now, that ship has sailed. DC folk are no longer feeling safe these days, and who can blame them?

As the rest of the wholesale community got back to work Thursday, vendors worried that the escalating crime in the area will soon put them out of business.

“Yesterday, about 10 or 15 customers told us that they’re afraid, even during the day time to walk around this area,” said Shaikh.

“I’m still scared. I couldn’t sleep all night,” said Suleman Hussain, who owns a nearby business. “We’ve been here for only a year and a half, and I don’t know, I don’t want to be here anymore. It’s too scary.”

But but but, there's cops and stuff; many of them with super high tech equipment that will warn them at the precise moment a scumbag ends your life. Look, there's even a big brawny cop standing next to some crime tape, diligently writing important stuff in a little notebook. All is well in hand.

And a harsh notice to all you vile crooks out there that feed on the soft underbelly of society: crime will not be permitted! It simply won't be allowed! "We can't have people out preying on the community like this."

See how easy that was? Chief Lanier is now going to commence "getting them." She's now going to round up the murdering hooligans, or have a stern face-to-face talk with them to find out what reason and cause they have to rob and kill.

Please Citizens, there's no reason to arm yourself for your own safety! The cops will be by with their notebook shortly. Peace be still!

You know, these incompetent goons insist on disarming everyone because nobody but the po-po can be trusted to provide for their own safety, as they may all go berserk and shoot up presidential motorcades with their sub compact Glocks, so I'm thinking that the community may have a claim against the DC police here for failure to make them feel safe.

Noting the delay

We see this most readily on Metro. After an incident somewhere in the world, our Metro stations suddenly have bomb-sniffing dogs and fierce-looking officers carrying automatic rifles.

Indeed. Also, noticeably lacking on the Metro and NYC subway are regular everyday folk who are armed for their own protection. Though after an attack somewhere in the world, there are plenty of these guys with rifles.

That sort of governmental distrust - explicitly shown via infringing gun laws - makes my blood boil, but I still have to see that many of the people from these cities asked for it, and thus have nobody to blame but themselves.

I'm pleasantly surprised to read an article about this from a news site; normally I browse the pages looking for something to mock. Good on NBC News for posting something that actually questions the typical response to events that scare the sheep. I do wish that someone in the organization would question the lack of armed Americans from time to time.

Please, Please, Ple-e-e-e-e-ease save me from myself

Here is a stark example of the kind of person that would gladly throw away their rights in return for someone else protecting them from their stupidity. This person suggests throwing away what little rights everyone else has in the process, just to keep you safe too. "There aughta be a law!!"

They are breeding among us. Keep that in mind.

The DC mentality

Here's a video from NBC News in Washigton, DC about the upcoming security crackdown for the nuclear summit. The po-po and G-men are going to have the place locked down around the convention center, even going as far as to stop and ID people who are shopping nearby, and possibly not allowing them to enter parts of the city.

What interests me though is not the blatant violation of everyone's rights during this time - DC residents happily gave away their rights wholesale in return for some benefits, so they can only blame themselves - what I thought was striking was the guy at the end of the video clip that actually enjoys living in a place that restricts your freedom to move about.

The security crackdown is in the news because it's going to piss people off; naturally, there will always be freedom loving people in any city that are offended that their actions would be halted because of some pompous foreign elites that they don't know are coming to town. What's sad is that there is a majority of folk there who have no reservations about giving away their rights and the rights of others over some security.

Brandishing or self defense?

There's not enough information to tell from the story alone, but look at that police response over the "display" of a knife!

That's DC for ya. Luckily he didn't dare display a can of mace!

HOA coming to you!

Make no mistake, this garbage is the camel's nose in the tent. Home Owners Associations are well known for being little tin pot dictatorships, and now the Virginia Senate is saying what the hell, might as well make it state wide.

Some problems here.

First is that, as pointed out in comments at the bottom of the article, in the case of letting the grass get tall enough to be an eyesore, the state is one of the worst offenders. Add to that all the foreclosures on houses, and it will add up to be a great big mess.

I have apologized more than once to my neighbor about my grass being too tall, as I used to travel so much that I wasn't around to cut it. Also, it rained so much last year that the grass not only grew super fast, but it made cutting it impossible. Such is life.

This stupid law, if passed, will be perfectly legal. I can hear the screams now about how "yada yada yada, I own my house and the county can't tell me to cut my grass!" Actually, you probably don't own your house, and the county can absolutely tell you that you have to cut your grass. Because the county holds the title to your house, they can collect taxes from you on it, and they can make up all kinds of arbitrary things to tell you to do. Because the county holds the title to your house, they are on the hook to protect it with the fire department, police, EMT, etc. That is their duty. You agreed to it when you bought your house. With that said, the county also holds the title to foreclosed homes, so they are on the hook to cut that grass. I don't know about the empty houses that have been foreclosed on in your neighborhood, but in mine the grass is so tall that you could hide a mechanized infantry battalion on a tenth of an acre. The grass is like four feet tall all summer long.

I see this as a death by a thousand cuts. If the county is struggling with their budget right now to the point where they're laying off Sheriff's deputies and fire fighters, there's no way they're going to pay someone to cut the grass. If I get a civil penalty for not cutting my grass, I'll happily pay it, and then take a leisurely drive around my neighborhood and find all the foreclosed houses that have tall grass, and I'll have a field day with the county taking them to task for it.

This stuff works both ways.

Have no fear citizen! Crime camera is here!

DC officials are going to stop crime in Adams Morgan by. . . . .putting up a "crime camera."

I thought those didn't stop crime?

This piece of breathtaking ingenuity comes after council member Jim Graham proposed banning late night pizza joints in the area because of "Behaving the way they do in terms of music, in terms of letting people hang out and also in terms of tolerating a certain level of violence."

See?

If you're a business owner, tourist, or otherwise good person enjoying the night life in DC, then you're enabling scumbags to cause crime. Maybe someone should propose a curfew, since the only reason to be out at night, besides going to a club or a pizza joint, is to rob said people and shoot one another. It's for your own good folks.

I can't get over the fact that those elected to office in DC insist that you should leave your safety to the police, but then turn around and blame business owners for putting up with violence; like they should do something about it. You can bet that when the first citizen walks outside his or her store and tells the thugs to stop fighting, and they pull guns and shoot them dead, that Graham, Fenty, and Lanier will come out and say that they shouldn't have gotten involved.

Maybe it's time for another "All Hands on Deck," because DC is kinda hard up for money these days, and you know that ticketing drivers and barricading neighborhoods is great for the vibe.

Sheesh. DC residents: you voted these morons in office, so you get all the government you deserve. Enjoy it.

Don't leave your bike in DC

Officers placed two unlocked bikes on the 600 block of H Street NE last week.

In less than an hour the bikes were stolen five times.

I think the moral compass of DC police is a little skewed. How about catching the folks who are stealing a citizens bike instead of setting people up for an immediate felony. I understand that they are nabbing scumbags, but this is still somehow wrong. On the other hand, why would anyone leave their bike unattended in the city? You might as well just hand it off to somebody.

McCain speaks at the NRA convention

Reading from over at The High Road. I still don't like him. He lost me on the gun vote when he said:

Over the years, I haven't agreed with the NRA on every issue. I have supported efforts to have NICS background checks apply to gun sales at gun shows. I recognize that gun shows are enjoyed by millions of law-abiding Americans. I do not support efforts by those who seek to regulate them out of existence. But I believe an accurate, fair and instant background check at guns shows is a reasonable requirement.

Well I don't. John McCain is a scumbag; an honorable scumbag, but a scumbag none the less. Not that I would have voted for him anyways; he is not the 2nd Amendment friend that people think he is, and neither is President Bush.

I commented over at The War on Guns that I thought that the NRA should have passed on letting McCain speak at the convention because of the requirement to disarm just to see him. Then the NRA would have received my attention, and perhaps a check in the near future. Some may scoff at me for that remark, but I stand by it. I don't care what level of celebrity status he holds, if he doesn't trust his constituents when he is among them then I will not cast a vote in his favor. I don't disarm to see my own mother, so why should I disarm to see John McCain confirm that he vagely supports a right that I hold so dear.

Some say the the world has changed, that things are more dangerous now, but the reallity is that life is not any more dangerous now than it was 143 years ago. Theodore Roosevelt didn't feel the need to disarm his constituents even after one of them shot him in the chest, and he didn't even run away. He finished his speech.

I am sitting this election out. Some cry "compromise," but I call B.S. Compromise would be chosing between two candidates who you have some degree of interest in, and determining which one harbors values that are close to yours. I can say with certainty that John McCain, and definitely not those two marxist democrats, does not harbor anything remotely close to my values, so I will be here on election day.

Larry Correia said it best:

In national news, looks like Obama’s got the donkey party nomination all sewed up. So now our choice comes down to a conservative democrat versus a communist. Yay.

That about sums it up.

The Wild West

Which, by god, is the District of Columbia.

It's a good thing you had all of those hands on all of those...d ....oh never mind. The overwhelming police presence in the city failed to make any meaningful change. DC citizens still can't defend themselves, so they're killed in droves, and all the while thousands of cops are roaming around outside to make people feel safe, but not actually safe.

Next, Chiefy will have platoons of heavily armored cops with shiny new AR-15's patroling the streets "for the children," and then DC "leaders" will have the "power trip" that they so desperately want. Seriously, what's next?

Chiefy has already run the gauntlet of stupid ideas, including the coveted "reason with them" nonsense that is ripped right out of the irrational liberal ideas for dummies handbook.

I thought you were going to "get them" Chief?

This futile clown show can only get worse because the population of DC is controled by armed gangs, and the mayor, with his armada of police cruisers, couldn't stop crime if he doubled the number of uniformed officers. Not without finishing off the Constitution anyways; we can already see that that is a possibility.

DC Metro Police get Uber Death Machines

DC Metro Police will get "assault rifles" for patrol. Most of us who have at least a fundamental grasp of firearms know that the term "assault rifle" is a farce, just like the term "assault weapon" is too.

It is commonly accepted that the term "assault rifle" describes a select fire rifle that is capable of firing both one round per trigger pull, or multiple rounds per trigger pull. I refuse to use such a stupid term in anything more than outright mockery, regardless of the logic. Automatic weapons are so misunderstood that it does no good to try to sort it out right now, so I won't even try.

The point that I want to make is that many, if not all, gun control groups like to spew this nonsense about militant looking weapons being used for the sole purpose of killing massive amounts of people. If that is the case, then why give them to police? Do we want cops killing mass numbers of civilians?

No, that's absurd. It is equally absurd to think that civilians would do the same with ownership of these weapons.

And if they are so damn dangerous, then why is everyone cool with cops getting them? Are Metro police officers that much more altruistic then us mere civilians? No, they're not. Cops are people just like anyone else. As far as receiving training to handle one of these bucking bronco "mayhem" rifles; there are so many US military veterans trained to use rifles like the M16 or Bushmaster that it cannot be counted. It doesn't take a state governments blessing to safely use them, so why the hysterics?

Simple misunderstanding, ignorance, and worst of all: hype.

Let's take a look at what the Violence Policy Center thinks of these weapons, and I'll comment on some of the hype:

Assault Weapons: "Mass Produced Mayhem"
The guns covered by the Assault Weapons Act were semiautomatic versions of fully automatic guns designed for military use. Whereas an automatic weapon (machine gun) will continue to fire as long as the trigger is depressed (or until the ammunition magazine is emptied), a semiautomatic weapon will fire one round and instantly load the next round with each pull of the trigger.

So semi-autos' don't fire as fast, right? That's what I'm hearing, until this..

Semiautomatic assault weapons fire with extraordinary speed.

"Extrordinary speed?" How ridiculous!

When San Jose, California, police test-fired an UZI, a 30-round magazine was emptied in slightly less than two seconds on full automatic, while the same magazine was emptied in just five seconds on semiautomatic.

So much for extrordinary speed if it takes two and a half times as long to empty a magazine.

The military features of semiautomatic assault weapons are designed to enhance their capacity to shoot multiple targets rapidly.

This is absolutely not true. The features that they are talking about have many uses, none of which increase lethality. If you need help grasping this, click here.

For example, assault weapons are equipped with large-capacity ammunition magazines that allow the shooter to fire 20, 50, or even 100 rounds or more without having to reload.

As often, and that doesn't mean a whole lot. Click here to see Jerry Miculek reload a six shot revolver faster than most shooters can draw from a holster.

Pistol grips on assault rifles and shotguns help stabilize the weapon during rapid fire and allow the shooter to spray-fire from the hip position.

This statement is pure fantasy. Do you think DC metro cops are going to use them to "hip-fire?" Didn't think so. The only "hip-firing" that is seen nowadays is from some starving, illiterate terrorist in third world country who is only seconds away from a righteous lesson in shoulder fired marksmanship.

Barrel shrouds on assault pistols protect the shooter’s hands from the heat generated by firing many rounds in rapid succession.

Yeah, it's a SAFETY DEVICE! Let's just take those plastic handguards off of those police officers weapons, you know, so they don't "fire off too many rounds in rapid succession." Wouldn't want things to get outta hand.

Far from being simply “cosmetic,” these features all contribute to the unique function of any assault weapon to deliver extraordinary firepower. They are uniquely military features, with no sporting purpose.

Actually they are mostly cosmetic, but there are a few items that are practical, like a collapsing stock. Here's just a taste of the "sporting purpose."

As ATF has explained:Assault weapons were designed for rapid fire, close quarter shooting at human beings. That is why they were put together the way they were. You will not find these guns in a duck blind or at the Olympics. They are mass produced mayhem.

You mean this ATF? They are as incompetent as it gets, so I won't bore you with the details. You can google them all night if you would like. As for "massed produced mayhem," how truly silly can you be?

These weapons “are not generally recognized as particularly suitable for or readily adaptable to sporting purposes” and instead “are attractive to certain criminals.”

And, like, millions of Americans. I never did read anything from our founding fathers on "sporting purpose," but I did read plenty on using firearms to overthrow a government that is too big for its britches.

The firepower of assault weapons makes them especially desired by violent criminals and especially lethal in their hands.

"Especially lethal?" Does their holding it make the bullets go faster?

Prior to the Act, although assault weapons constituted less than 1% of the guns in circulation, they were a far higher percentage of the guns used in crime. ATF’s analysis of guns traced to crime showed that assault weapons “are preferred by criminals over law abiding citizens eight to one....Access to them shifts the balance of power to the lawless.”

This is the biggest lie that I have heard in awhile. The AR-15 type rifles have become one of, if not the most, popular semi-automatic rifle in American history, thanks in part by Hillary Clinton's anemic "assault weapon ban." Google AR-15 and take a looksee at what you find.

I'm not against cops having a semi-auto rifle while on patrol; I am actually an advocate, but I'm also firmly for the same rifles in the hands of civilians. I was using this post to point out the double standard that is so often applied by gun grabbers. You can't have it both ways by saying that they are designed for mass killing, and then say it's OK to give them to police.

Update: Armed Canadian addresses an article in the Washington Post about the DC police and their acquisition of deadly assault thingies, because apparently, DC's illustrious gun laws have not prevented criminals from bringing guns into the district, specifically "high powered" weapons.

The bullshit flag has been raised, and rightfully so, because there is no evidence of any criminals in DC carrying "more powerful weapons." The media and DC officials do not have the slightest clue about what constitutes "high powered" in terms of firearms, and if they think they're on to something, then they must have bumped their head.

Update: I found this thread at The High Road which links to a Washington Times post about these weapons. The article has some interesting quotes, but this one stands out:

D.C. Council member Jim Graham said he would "be inclined to support" the use of assault rifles because he sees no alternative in the war on guns.

Emphasis mine. At least their coming out and saying it.