I found this story this morning about a feisty woman who tracked down and caught one of the men who had just robbed her house, and then her friends held him down in the woods while the woman issued a nasty beating.
Now, I could care less about the man's boo boos on his face, or the fact that he got a severe ass kicking from a woman, but I like to point out that this is actual vigilantism and not self defense. The woman and her friends got in a car and intercepted the man, who was no longer a threat, on the other side of the woods from her house and kicked his ass.
Since this coverage is local news, I won't judge them as it's a good story, but CNN found it newsworthy enough to post the entire five minute interview with the woman, so I have no problem hammering them. Had this been a story about a citizen gunning down an armed robber in the local Kroegers in obvious self defense, he or she would have been labeled as a 'vigilante' who 'took the law into his own hands.' This woman really did take the law into her own hands by searching for and catching this man who was not a threat and beating his face in, and she gets labeled as something of a hero. Watch the video. She catches a home intruder and assaults him, and she gets five minutes of airtime on CNN for it.
That is a blatant double standard, not to mention inaccurate.
I wonder if she would have received the same treatment if she had shot him to death in her house. Would she still be looked at as the smiling young hero who "h[eld] man for police," and would the deceased scumbag be branded as someone who "may have picked the wrong. . home to break into?"
Probably not.
With that said, good for her.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Movie Guns XXXV
This has been a long time in the making, but it's here at last.
I picked this movie because it's the currently the only DVD that I had on hand with decent picture quality, and because it's a badass movie. I actually have the director's cut, so the ending is different but still cool.
The film is Payback starring Mel Gibson as Porter: a rundown thief who is trying to get back the money that he stole. Somehow Porter is the 'good guy' of the movie despite him actually being kind of a scumbag.
Originally I thought this would be a short post, but was pleasantly surprised when going through the film that there were more guns than I had planned. The whole thing has a downtrodden and dreary theme to it, like the script came out of some cops-and-robbers comic book (makes sense considering it's a remake of the film Point Blank); I really can't explain it. There is little in the way of high-tech weaponry, as most of the guns are revolvers. Even the cops carry revolvers, which is odd considering that the time period is in the present.
So let's get started.
I'm going to cover a flashback part in the film first since technically it's the first thing that happened. Porter and his partner Val (Greg Henry) steal $140k from some Triads, and after they count the money Porter is betrayed by his wife and Val, and she shoots him in the back with this Colt Python:
Porter survives his wounds, and once he's back on his feet he goes and buys a Smith & Wesson Model 27 from a pawnshop with money he stole from someone's wallet. The pawnbroker hands Porter the gun with the hammer back and his finger in the trigger guard:
That would have instantly ended the sale if it were me interested in that gun.
Porter goes to his wife's apartment, and when he comes smashing into the room he does a Hollywood type room clearance:
Wandering around with your finger inside the triggerguard of a cocked handgun while it's next to your face is about the most dangerous thing you can do with it outside of just putting it to your head and pulling the trigger.
The next morning a lowlife drug dealer comes by the apartment to sell Porter's wife some heroine. Porter beats the guy down and takes his S&W Model 6906 from him:
The drug dealer gives Porter the source of the heroine, and when Porter goes there to check it out he comes across two dirty police detectives; one of which has this unknown revolver in a crossdraw holster:
Moving on, Porter finally catches up to Val at his apartment where he is enjoying a sadist moment with a hooker. A most interesting scene that defies explaination. Here Porter is threatening Val with the S&W 27 and telling him to get the money:
Val used the money he stole from Porter to buy his way into an organized crime syndicate called the Outfit. He goes to see his boss to let him know about his problem with Porter, but before he goes into the office he gets searched for weapons which turns up a Beretta 92, a Walther PPK, and a S&W Model 49 Bodyguard that he had in an ankle holster, respectively:
Porter found the location of Val through a call girl, Rosie (Maria Bello), that he used to protect, and Val figures this out and goes to pay her a visit. When she answers the door, Val is holding his Beretta 92 in the absurd gangster grip that gun guys love to mock:
When she leads Val into the bedroom, her big ass dog (named Porter) does what it's supposed to do and protect his master. He jumps on Val and bites at his neck. . . .
Which buys Rosie enough time to get to her weapon:
After a quick chat, Porter uses a pillow to silence the execution shot on Val:
I'll leave the details out of the rest of that altercation in the name of not spoiling the entire movie, but Porter goes back outside and gets his gun back from the two cops. The cop that has the gun opens the cylinder and dumps out all of the rounds before he hands it back, and Porter grabs it with an open newspaper that not only conceals it, but keeps his fingerprints off of it. He goes back to Rosie's apartment and drops the gun, which now has the cops fingerprints on it, next to Val's body, and then places the stolen badge from earlier in Val's hand:
Getting near the end now, Porter catches a cab, but instead of it being a real cabbie it ends up being the low level drug dealer and his bodyguard. He wants to take Porter to the Outfit for a reward, so he holds him at gunpoint with another S&W Model 27 which is promptly taken away:
The bodyguard stops the cab and pulls a sawed off Remington 870 which is unloaded considering he has to rack a shell into the chamber to emphasize the danger:
Porter uses the drug dealer as a human shield and manages to escape out the other end of the cab. He kills a couple of the Triads from the back of their SUV, and then when the driver backs over him he starts to shoot through the bottom of the truck. I lost count of the number of shots fired from the Model 27, but he is also firing a Beretta 92.
The Hooker from earlier (Lucy Liu) is firing down through the floor at Porter with a pearl gripped Walther PPK:
The driver steps out with a Sig P228 but gets blasted for his troubles:
The hooker and Porter, as the only survivers, have another standoff which sees both of them as having empty weapons.
This is where the director's cut differs from the original movie. Porter has the Outfit deliver his money in a book bag at the train station. The place is crawling with Outfit henchmen, and Porter finds them one-by-one and takes them out. Two of them in the restroom are carrying GLOCK 17s, and Porter is seen here dumping them in the trash after killing their owners:
Another henchman had a supressed Ruger Mk II hidden in his lunchbox:
There is a brief shootout at the end, but I couldn't get any good shots, so I'll leave it for your viewing enjoyment.
This is a strange movie in that it has you rooting for the bad guy who is working against other bad guys. Even the good guys are bad. It definitely fits its title, and I love the tough use of revolvers throughout. The gun handling could have been better, but the overall use of them was entertaining.
I've had some requests for Movie Guns lately, but have yet to find any of the requested movies in stores. Just know that I am looking, and will get to them sooner or later.
P.S. I've noticed that since I started paying for a Photobucket account the frames in my Movie Guns posts don't have the caption and aren't clickable. If anyone has any idea of how to fix that please let me know.
I picked this movie because it's the currently the only DVD that I had on hand with decent picture quality, and because it's a badass movie. I actually have the director's cut, so the ending is different but still cool.
The film is Payback starring Mel Gibson as Porter: a rundown thief who is trying to get back the money that he stole. Somehow Porter is the 'good guy' of the movie despite him actually being kind of a scumbag.
Originally I thought this would be a short post, but was pleasantly surprised when going through the film that there were more guns than I had planned. The whole thing has a downtrodden and dreary theme to it, like the script came out of some cops-and-robbers comic book (makes sense considering it's a remake of the film Point Blank); I really can't explain it. There is little in the way of high-tech weaponry, as most of the guns are revolvers. Even the cops carry revolvers, which is odd considering that the time period is in the present.
So let's get started.
I'm going to cover a flashback part in the film first since technically it's the first thing that happened. Porter and his partner Val (Greg Henry) steal $140k from some Triads, and after they count the money Porter is betrayed by his wife and Val, and she shoots him in the back with this Colt Python:
Porter survives his wounds, and once he's back on his feet he goes and buys a Smith & Wesson Model 27 from a pawnshop with money he stole from someone's wallet. The pawnbroker hands Porter the gun with the hammer back and his finger in the trigger guard:
That would have instantly ended the sale if it were me interested in that gun.
Porter goes to his wife's apartment, and when he comes smashing into the room he does a Hollywood type room clearance:
Wandering around with your finger inside the triggerguard of a cocked handgun while it's next to your face is about the most dangerous thing you can do with it outside of just putting it to your head and pulling the trigger.
The next morning a lowlife drug dealer comes by the apartment to sell Porter's wife some heroine. Porter beats the guy down and takes his S&W Model 6906 from him:
The drug dealer gives Porter the source of the heroine, and when Porter goes there to check it out he comes across two dirty police detectives; one of which has this unknown revolver in a crossdraw holster:
Moving on, Porter finally catches up to Val at his apartment where he is enjoying a sadist moment with a hooker. A most interesting scene that defies explaination. Here Porter is threatening Val with the S&W 27 and telling him to get the money:
Val used the money he stole from Porter to buy his way into an organized crime syndicate called the Outfit. He goes to see his boss to let him know about his problem with Porter, but before he goes into the office he gets searched for weapons which turns up a Beretta 92, a Walther PPK, and a S&W Model 49 Bodyguard that he had in an ankle holster, respectively:
Val decides to handle the situation on his own, so he tells the Triads that is was Porter who stole their money (leaving out the part about his own involvement), and the Triads catch Porter in an alleyway. While they hold Porter down on the hood of a car, one of them pulls a balisong and flips it open:
I don't know who makes it, but the guy looks like he knows how to handle judging by his flipping skills.
The two dirty cops from earlier are looking to take Porter's money once he gets it back, and they show up just in time to stop him from getting castrated with the balisong, but then they beat on him to make their point about who the money is going to. Little do they know that Porter swipes one of their badges during the beating, which comes in handy a little later:
The two dirty cops from earlier are looking to take Porter's money once he gets it back, and they show up just in time to stop him from getting castrated with the balisong, but then they beat on him to make their point about who the money is going to. Little do they know that Porter swipes one of their badges during the beating, which comes in handy a little later:
Porter found the location of Val through a call girl, Rosie (Maria Bello), that he used to protect, and Val figures this out and goes to pay her a visit. When she answers the door, Val is holding his Beretta 92 in the absurd gangster grip that gun guys love to mock:
When she leads Val into the bedroom, her big ass dog (named Porter) does what it's supposed to do and protect his master. He jumps on Val and bites at his neck. . . .
Which buys Rosie enough time to get to her weapon:
A baseball bat?!?! I guess whores aren't permitted to own effective personal protection in this movie.
Val shoots the dog and takes the bat away from Rosie, but the human Porter walks in and shoots him with his Model 27 before he can do Rosie further harm:
Val shoots the dog and takes the bat away from Rosie, but the human Porter walks in and shoots him with his Model 27 before he can do Rosie further harm:
After a quick chat, Porter uses a pillow to silence the execution shot on Val:
I don't know how effective that would be in real life, especially considering it totally muffles the shot from that .357 magnum. No mention of what happens to the round when it passes through the floor into the apartment below!
Now Porter goes to see Val's boss to get his money. The dirty cops are waiting for him before he goes into the building, and Porter hands them his Model 27 to hold because he knows that he will be searched. Inside the Outfit bosses office, he uses a roll of pennies to knock out the two guards, and he takes their weapons; one of which is a H&K P7M8:
Now Porter goes to see Val's boss to get his money. The dirty cops are waiting for him before he goes into the building, and Porter hands them his Model 27 to hold because he knows that he will be searched. Inside the Outfit bosses office, he uses a roll of pennies to knock out the two guards, and he takes their weapons; one of which is a H&K P7M8:
I'll leave the details out of the rest of that altercation in the name of not spoiling the entire movie, but Porter goes back outside and gets his gun back from the two cops. The cop that has the gun opens the cylinder and dumps out all of the rounds before he hands it back, and Porter grabs it with an open newspaper that not only conceals it, but keeps his fingerprints off of it. He goes back to Rosie's apartment and drops the gun, which now has the cops fingerprints on it, next to Val's body, and then places the stolen badge from earlier in Val's hand:
That's a pretty slick way of getting two dirty cops off your back!
Porter goes to the residence of another Outfit boss and shows that he is not immune to the gangster grip:
Porter goes to the residence of another Outfit boss and shows that he is not immune to the gangster grip:
Getting near the end now, Porter catches a cab, but instead of it being a real cabbie it ends up being the low level drug dealer and his bodyguard. He wants to take Porter to the Outfit for a reward, so he holds him at gunpoint with another S&W Model 27 which is promptly taken away:
The bodyguard stops the cab and pulls a sawed off Remington 870 which is unloaded considering he has to rack a shell into the chamber to emphasize the danger:
That someone has to rack the slide on film to show that the damn gun is loaded is so stupid. Almost all gun owning Americans either own a pump shotgun or are intimately familiar with them, so you would think that the movie industry would go for realism sometime instead of going for the cliche' "you must pump the gun to show the audience that it's loaded" move. The next movie that I see that does this will immediately get turned off. Not to be nitpicky, but learn how the thing works! That goes for 1911s too! You listening Hollywood?
Now, back to the movie.
While Porter and the two idiots are having a Mexican standoff in the cab (no offense to Mexicans), the Triads pull up next to them and hang out the windows with, from left to right: a Walther P5, a M3 Greasegun, a GLOCK 17, and another M3 Greasegun:
Now, back to the movie.
While Porter and the two idiots are having a Mexican standoff in the cab (no offense to Mexicans), the Triads pull up next to them and hang out the windows with, from left to right: a Walther P5, a M3 Greasegun, a GLOCK 17, and another M3 Greasegun:
Porter uses the drug dealer as a human shield and manages to escape out the other end of the cab. He kills a couple of the Triads from the back of their SUV, and then when the driver backs over him he starts to shoot through the bottom of the truck. I lost count of the number of shots fired from the Model 27, but he is also firing a Beretta 92.
The Hooker from earlier (Lucy Liu) is firing down through the floor at Porter with a pearl gripped Walther PPK:
The driver steps out with a Sig P228 but gets blasted for his troubles:
The hooker and Porter, as the only survivers, have another standoff which sees both of them as having empty weapons.
This is where the director's cut differs from the original movie. Porter has the Outfit deliver his money in a book bag at the train station. The place is crawling with Outfit henchmen, and Porter finds them one-by-one and takes them out. Two of them in the restroom are carrying GLOCK 17s, and Porter is seen here dumping them in the trash after killing their owners:
Another henchman had a supressed Ruger Mk II hidden in his lunchbox:
There is a brief shootout at the end, but I couldn't get any good shots, so I'll leave it for your viewing enjoyment.
This is a strange movie in that it has you rooting for the bad guy who is working against other bad guys. Even the good guys are bad. It definitely fits its title, and I love the tough use of revolvers throughout. The gun handling could have been better, but the overall use of them was entertaining.
I've had some requests for Movie Guns lately, but have yet to find any of the requested movies in stores. Just know that I am looking, and will get to them sooner or later.
P.S. I've noticed that since I started paying for a Photobucket account the frames in my Movie Guns posts don't have the caption and aren't clickable. If anyone has any idea of how to fix that please let me know.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
A Royal ass chewing
I would love for Mr. Hannan to come here and roll some heads. I have yet to hear any politician say something like this to Obama, but it needs to be said.
Like fresh air!
(H/T Patrick)
Like fresh air!
(H/T Patrick)
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Our government the snakepit
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tells Mexico that the US shares the blame for the mess South of our border. It's all our fault, see.
So let me get this straight. We train the Mexican military and police here at US bases with US Soldiers, give them US equipment like night vision goggles, encrypted radios, helicopters, C-26 planes, automatic weapons, destructive devices, and millions of dollars so they can fight the bad people, and then we have Hillary and McCaffrey telling the world that the drug cartels are buying this shit from US gunshows and it's all our fucking fault?!?! Letting the Mexican government blame us for their incompetence?!?!
How bout' telling those dipshits to look at the plank in their own eye before pointing the finger at the only people who have been helping them thus far!
This is the excuse our corrupt and incompetent government is giving the world right before they make a move to take our rights. Awesome.
It's all one big gigantic lie, and our government is expecting us to pick up the tab. Typical.
Update: I'm finding more and more blasphemy from our Secretary of State, such as this:
Now, I agree that we need to stop the flow of thousands of gaudy handguns and some semi-automatic rifles to Mexico; they're hard enough for US citizens to find at gunshows as it is, but let's put ourselves in the shoes of a Mexican drug kingpin in charge of a multi-billion dollar narcotics industry.
Your sitting there on your genuine ivory throne with a gold plated Magnum Research Desert Eagle wondering how to outfit your army of twenty thousand narco-killers with military hardware. You could pay a few thousand of your guys a nice salary to sneak across the border and convince Sally soccer moms to buy a dozen semi-auto AK-47 clones for $700 apiece and then have them smuggle them back into Mexico where you will have to pay $200 apiece to have the rifles modified for full auto fire (spanish). Not very economical, but it could work in the short term. You could call one of your several high ranking henchmen who are down in Guatemala brokering a deal on a shipping container of fragmentation grenades and see if he can get a sweet deal on a shipment of a couple of thousand select fire AK-47s while he's there, considering they don't need modification and the going rate on the world market is $100. Now, if only you could get M2 Browning Machine Guns, anti-tank rockets, mortars, night vision, body armor, encrypted radios, helicopters, and some Special Forces training. What to do what to do. I KNOW!! You can pay thousands of Mexican Special Forces soldiers who were trained in the US at top-of-the-line facilities and were issued all of this gear that you want to desert their job that pays them beans to be fodder in front of your current narco-killers and have them come work for you! Brilliant!!
Far fetched? I think not. These cartels didn't get this powerful by being stupid, and riping off the same government that they're fighting by buying out their troops is the smart play, and you don't think those soldiers will turn in that night vision and their automatic weapons before going to work for a drug syndicate, do you?
Update: I told you so!
And look at this "arsenal of shotguns" that FOX News is reporting:
This is the "iron river" of arms flowing by the hundreds into Mexico that the Obama administration is destined to stop via "assault thingy" legislation.
Why does anybody neeeeed more than one barrel anyways?
Those fully automatic bolt action rifles and double barrel shotguns are capable of tremendous rapid fire. All the drug militias have to do is pour these assault style bullets down the barrel and launch a barrage of shrap-nel at the Mexican police! They don't stand a chance!
Mexican officials have in the past, particularly under the Bush administration, complained that Washington never acknowledged the extent that the U.S. demand for drugs and weapons smuggling played in fueling the violence.It's all our fault.
"These criminals are outgunning the law enforcement officials," she said, referring to guns and military-style equipment like night vision goggles and body armor that the cartels are smuggling into Mexico from the United States."Outgunned?" You know, I keep hearing that from the media, the Mexican government, the US government, but I just don't believe it. Something about the Mexican military and police being armed with H&K G3s, H&K MP5s, Barrett M82A1s, Galils, and WARSHIPS makes me have to call bullshit! The Mexican government has a fucking AIR FORCE!! And now we have our Secretary of State saying that it's the United States' fault that the cartels have night vision and body armor; the same stuff that we've been selling to the Mexican government for years?!?! Don't take my word for it, take former drug czar Gen. Barry McCaffrey's word for it:
"As a result, the U.S. government has stepped up military assistance to the Mexican military and police, mostly through transfers of free military equipment. Gen. Barry McCaffrey, the White House drug policy director, traveled to Mexico in March 1996 smoothing the way for an agreement between the two governments which has resulted in Mexican soldiers beginning to train at Ft. Bragg and other American bases, and in the gift of 73 "surplus" helicopters, four C-26 surveillance planes, night vision goggles, radios and other military equipment. In addition, the White House has requested $9 million in military aid for Mexico for fiscal year 1998 (up from $3 million in fiscal year 1996) for the purchase of new weapons from U.S. arms manufacturers.That was in 1996, but what does Gen. (Retired) McCaffrey have to say now:
The outgunned Mexican law enforcement authorities face armed criminal attacks from platoon-sized units employing night vision goggles, electronic intercept collection, encrypted communications, fairly sophisticated information operations, sea-going submersibles, helicopters and modern transport aviation, automatic weapons, RPG’s, Anti-Tank 66 mm rockets, mines and booby traps, heavy machine guns, 50 cal sniper rifles, massive use of military hand grenades, and the most modern models of 40mm grenade machine guns.Emphasis all mine.
So let me get this straight. We train the Mexican military and police here at US bases with US Soldiers, give them US equipment like night vision goggles, encrypted radios, helicopters, C-26 planes, automatic weapons, destructive devices, and millions of dollars so they can fight the bad people, and then we have Hillary and McCaffrey telling the world that the drug cartels are buying this shit from US gunshows and it's all our fucking fault?!?! Letting the Mexican government blame us for their incompetence?!?!
How bout' telling those dipshits to look at the plank in their own eye before pointing the finger at the only people who have been helping them thus far!
This is the excuse our corrupt and incompetent government is giving the world right before they make a move to take our rights. Awesome.
It's all one big gigantic lie, and our government is expecting us to pick up the tab. Typical.
Update: I'm finding more and more blasphemy from our Secretary of State, such as this:
The cartels have better night vision than the US supplied Mexican Army? Good to know that our gear sucks. I wonder if the F5 Tigers that the US provided to Mexico are inferior to the fighter jets that the cartels don't have? If the cartels steal one, will Hillary go back to Mexico and point the finger at US citizens for allowing the NRA to provide assault style aircraft to narco-terrorists?The United States needs to stop the flow of guns, body armor and night-vision goggles to the cartels, Clinton said.
"When you go into a gunfight or are trying to round up these bad guys and they have military-style equipment that is much better than yours, you start out at a disadvantage. Since we know the vast majority of that comes from our country, we are going to help stop it from getting there in the first place."
"I think that the fact that the Obama administration is seized with the importance of this issue is a clear indication that they understand that, to defang the drug syndicates in Mexico, we have to eliminate two of their most powerful sources -- bulk cash from the United States into Mexico and illicit weapons."So the US government is going to do that by giving the corrupt Mexican government more bulk cash and illicit weapons just like we've been doing for decades? What could possibly go wrong? And don't tell me that Obama is going to just send a hundred agents and $700 million dollars to the border and say that we're helping Mexico. The US government is going to shovel money and arms into that country like we've always done, and then bitch about the easy access to this stuff when the cartels wind up with the gear.
Now, I agree that we need to stop the flow of thousands of gaudy handguns and some semi-automatic rifles to Mexico; they're hard enough for US citizens to find at gunshows as it is, but let's put ourselves in the shoes of a Mexican drug kingpin in charge of a multi-billion dollar narcotics industry.
Your sitting there on your genuine ivory throne with a gold plated Magnum Research Desert Eagle wondering how to outfit your army of twenty thousand narco-killers with military hardware. You could pay a few thousand of your guys a nice salary to sneak across the border and convince Sally soccer moms to buy a dozen semi-auto AK-47 clones for $700 apiece and then have them smuggle them back into Mexico where you will have to pay $200 apiece to have the rifles modified for full auto fire (spanish). Not very economical, but it could work in the short term. You could call one of your several high ranking henchmen who are down in Guatemala brokering a deal on a shipping container of fragmentation grenades and see if he can get a sweet deal on a shipment of a couple of thousand select fire AK-47s while he's there, considering they don't need modification and the going rate on the world market is $100. Now, if only you could get M2 Browning Machine Guns, anti-tank rockets, mortars, night vision, body armor, encrypted radios, helicopters, and some Special Forces training. What to do what to do. I KNOW!! You can pay thousands of Mexican Special Forces soldiers who were trained in the US at top-of-the-line facilities and were issued all of this gear that you want to desert their job that pays them beans to be fodder in front of your current narco-killers and have them come work for you! Brilliant!!
Far fetched? I think not. These cartels didn't get this powerful by being stupid, and riping off the same government that they're fighting by buying out their troops is the smart play, and you don't think those soldiers will turn in that night vision and their automatic weapons before going to work for a drug syndicate, do you?
Update: I told you so!
Clinton also said Wednesday that the White House will seek an additional $80 million to help Mexico buy Blackhawk helicopters.Wanna bet that in ten years when the cartels have control of several of these Blackhawks that Mexico will blame it on lax US laws?
And look at this "arsenal of shotguns" that FOX News is reporting:
This is the "iron river" of arms flowing by the hundreds into Mexico that the Obama administration is destined to stop via "assault thingy" legislation.
Why does anybody neeeeed more than one barrel anyways?
Those fully automatic bolt action rifles and double barrel shotguns are capable of tremendous rapid fire. All the drug militias have to do is pour these assault style bullets down the barrel and launch a barrage of shrap-nel at the Mexican police! They don't stand a chance!
Economic hater
This is one of the best rants I've heard so far this year. A taste:
(H/T to Tam)
"Now you want to call me greedy? Are you fucking kidding me? After you fucked this place up? You want to tell me that capitalism failed? What capitalism? You've socialized/centralized almost half of the GDP. Now, you want to use me and the paycheck I've earned year after year to deflect attention from the basic fact that you have been shoving debt on people who couldn't hope to find within themselves the character to take responsibility for repaying it? They get a pass and I get... what... a sharp stick in the eye?" - AustrianOouch!
(H/T to Tam)
More 'prominent' news on the Mexican drug fiasco
Top-shelf reporting courtesy of CNN's hard working journalists, which struggle night and day to bring you unbiased facts on the the drug war in Mexico. Let me sum this up for you:
Relax, I took that out of context. That's what they should be saying, or at least doing cursory research into where machine guns, mortars, M72 LAWs, or hand grenades are coming from, but that's not going to happen.
The same big box news agencies that give excellent coverage of Iraq, celebrity sex scandals, and the day to day occurrences of our awesome government that is in no way corrupt will also continue to bring you the exact same information on illegal arms smuggling into Mexico as they did last year, all from the comfort of Washington. I mean, there's absolutely nothing that could be gained by sending investigative journalists to Mexico to find out where the cartels are getting the explosives to make IEDs or .50 caliber Browning Heavy Machine Guns. Why do that when they can count on the expert advise from such prominent places such as the Brady Campaign, which has a crack team of, like, a dozen people that have knowledge of such things because the person the group was named after was shot with a .22.
Those who have not been shot have no authority on this subject, so CNN does not need to consult with anyone else.
President Obama on Tuesday vowed to invest the resources. . .blah blah blah. . ."We are going to continue to monitor the situation". . .blah blah. . .praised the efforts of Mexican President Felipe Calderon to counter drug cartels. . .blah blah, blah blah blah, blah blah. . . illegal guns and cash do not flow from north of the Rio Grande to the cartels in Mexico.Wait, WHAT!!!
Relax, I took that out of context. That's what they should be saying, or at least doing cursory research into where machine guns, mortars, M72 LAWs, or hand grenades are coming from, but that's not going to happen.
The same big box news agencies that give excellent coverage of Iraq, celebrity sex scandals, and the day to day occurrences of our awesome government that is in no way corrupt will also continue to bring you the exact same information on illegal arms smuggling into Mexico as they did last year, all from the comfort of Washington. I mean, there's absolutely nothing that could be gained by sending investigative journalists to Mexico to find out where the cartels are getting the explosives to make IEDs or .50 caliber Browning Heavy Machine Guns. Why do that when they can count on the expert advise from such prominent places such as the Brady Campaign, which has a crack team of, like, a dozen people that have knowledge of such things because the person the group was named after was shot with a .22.
Those who have not been shot have no authority on this subject, so CNN does not need to consult with anyone else.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
The one sided fight
Hello?!?!? Is there one single solitary journalist who gives one teeny tiny little shit about doing a balanced gun related post?
Associated Press Writer SUZANNE GAMBOA sure doesn't bother. She decides to drum up the tired "US gun shows are supplying guns to Mexico" canard, all the while skewing the facts and overall just writing on one side of the argument.
The caption on the page shows six hand grenades, six rockets, a M72 LAW, and at least one Short Barreled Rifle; none of these are purchased at gunshows without six months of paperwork, and that lying punk Tom Diaz sure as hell can't register any of those in DC. These are real military weapons that so far the media could care less about finding the source of. That would require not only work, but possibly an unbiased opinion; and let's face it, journalists don't really want to risk life and limb discovering that machine guns and RPGs are actually coming from the corrupt Mexican government when it's way easier to just blame it on US firearm laws. Click on the caption to see 40mm grenades, silencers and other such things that are difficult or impossible to get here.
That should be all it takes to discredit this piece, but I will go further because the sixty freaking seconds that it takes to show that Tom Diaz is a liar is just too much for "authorized journalists."
Tom Diaz states that he bought a .50 caliber rifle and had it registered in DC:
There was no mention whatsoever of the discussion on military weapons that went down last week during the Senate Judiciary Committee "Law Enforcement Responses to Mexican Drug Cartels." That's because it refutes a lot of the garbage that we have been hearing about the cartels and their sources for weapon acquisition.
I could go further than that but to tell you the truth I don't care. This is the bullshit that passes as journalism these days. It's a good thing we have "pushy" bloggers to point out all of these biased lies so they don't go unanswered.
Associated Press Writer SUZANNE GAMBOA sure doesn't bother. She decides to drum up the tired "US gun shows are supplying guns to Mexico" canard, all the while skewing the facts and overall just writing on one side of the argument.
The caption on the page shows six hand grenades, six rockets, a M72 LAW, and at least one Short Barreled Rifle; none of these are purchased at gunshows without six months of paperwork, and that lying punk Tom Diaz sure as hell can't register any of those in DC. These are real military weapons that so far the media could care less about finding the source of. That would require not only work, but possibly an unbiased opinion; and let's face it, journalists don't really want to risk life and limb discovering that machine guns and RPGs are actually coming from the corrupt Mexican government when it's way easier to just blame it on US firearm laws. Click on the caption to see 40mm grenades, silencers and other such things that are difficult or impossible to get here.
That should be all it takes to discredit this piece, but I will go further because the sixty freaking seconds that it takes to show that Tom Diaz is a liar is just too much for "authorized journalists."
Tom Diaz states that he bought a .50 caliber rifle and had it registered in DC:
You can see a picture of it here (picture 38). There's one problem with that: .50 BMG rifles are not authorized for registration, and thus ownership, in DC. I mean, Armalite is not even on the list. So Tom Diaz is a bald faced liar.Tom Diaz, an analyst at the Violence Policy Center, a gun control group, said cartels use military-style weapons such as the Armalite AR-50, a .50-caliber sniper rifle.
He brought one to a recent congressional hearing — with the help of two police officers — and said he found the weapon on the Internet, bought it for $3,200 from a Maryland "kitchen table" dealer and had it registered in the District of Columbia, all in about six hours.
There was no mention whatsoever of the discussion on military weapons that went down last week during the Senate Judiciary Committee "Law Enforcement Responses to Mexican Drug Cartels." That's because it refutes a lot of the garbage that we have been hearing about the cartels and their sources for weapon acquisition.
I could go further than that but to tell you the truth I don't care. This is the bullshit that passes as journalism these days. It's a good thing we have "pushy" bloggers to point out all of these biased lies so they don't go unanswered.
Monday, March 23, 2009
No sir, no bias here
The "Tea Party" protests have been a huge success, but you wouldn't know it from watching the news.
Tea Party in DC? Not the first bit of coverage by NBC4 Washington. Anti-war protest in DC? Don't worry, they're all over it.
This is why bloggers are so damn pushy these days.
Tea Party in DC? Not the first bit of coverage by NBC4 Washington. Anti-war protest in DC? Don't worry, they're all over it.
This is why bloggers are so damn pushy these days.
Pushy?
That's what Christopher Elliot, author of this CNN article, calls consumers who blog about their shopping experiences.
So what the hell is the difference between a consumer remarking about a shopping experience online or to their friends and family? I suppose that would make me "pushy" for blogging about the Bass Pro Shops deboggle here in Virginia.
It's plain to see that mainstream news doesn't care for bloggers anyways, but that's because us pushy bastards are doing all the heavy lifting these days.
So what the hell is the difference between a consumer remarking about a shopping experience online or to their friends and family? I suppose that would make me "pushy" for blogging about the Bass Pro Shops deboggle here in Virginia.
It's plain to see that mainstream news doesn't care for bloggers anyways, but that's because us pushy bastards are doing all the heavy lifting these days.
Movie Guns status
I've been trying to get one out for a couple of weeks now, but my home PC has been all jacked up. When I would try to crop or paste an image I would get an error message and the whole thing would crash. Now the problem seems to have corrected itself, so I worked on a new post this weekend. I should have all the images captured this evening, and I will try to get it out this week.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Pro gun angst
DC Mayor Adrian Fenty and windbag Eleanor Holmes Norton bicker over losing their unconstitutional hold on gun rights in order to get an unconstitutional House seat for DC.
Best line:
These idiots can not pick and chose which rights they think should be subject to meddling and which rights are steadfast and un-changeable.
Best line:
Norton said in a statement. "Perhaps the Mayor has not had time to read the bill, but I have repeatedly emphasized orally and in my written statements that the bill usurps entirely all D.C. mayoral and council jurisdiction over D.C. gun legislation in the future and gives the District’s jurisdiction over guns exclusively to the Congress of the United States, where the NRA has had no trouble maintaining a majority."Compare and contrast to my spin:
Norton said in a statement. "Perhaps the Mayor has not had time to read the bill, but I have repeatedly emphasized orally and in my written statements that the bill usurps entirely all D.C. mayoral and council jurisdiction over D.C. abortion legislation in the future and gives the District’s jurisdiction over abortion exclusively to the Congress of the United States, where the NARAL has had no trouble maintaining a majority."One right is specifically enumerated in the founding document of US law, reaffirmed by the Supreme Court, but subject to the interpretations of politicians; the other right is manufactured of whole cloth by the Supreme Court but is unconditionally protected by the same politicians because it is US law.
These idiots can not pick and chose which rights they think should be subject to meddling and which rights are steadfast and un-changeable.
Bow negligence
A New York man fires his bow at a fence, but the arrow didn't stop in the wood. Instead it kept traveling into a neighbors yard and stopped in a woman's abdomen.
Yeah, ouch.
There are several glaring issues in this article, the first of which is that the man is charged with criminal possession of a weapon.
Is bow ownership frowned upon in New York too? Do you have to have a bow license or something? It wouldn't surprise me in the least considering the lunacy of the politicians that run that state.
Second, does an arrow become deadly when it reaches thirty inches in length? It's like Associated Press Writer COLLEEN LONG is trying to overstate the deadliness of the arrow. I mean, it's common sense that people shouldn't have access to arrows of that size. Why does anyone need a full thirty inches? How about twelve?
Third, the offending arrow is made of carbon and aluminum, which should definitely be illegal, except to say that his were only capable of going 300 yards. I heard somewhere that carbon arrows were only designed to kill, and that they may be capable of piercing a 'bulletproof' vest. Aluminum arrows can easily penetrate a car door, so it would have no problem penetrating an engine block. With this breakthrough technology combining the two materials, that arrow should easily be able to punch through light armor, so let's give it a proper label, something along the lines of "anti-armor" or "anti-material" (It must be able to puncture fabric).
Such devices are uncivilized.
Yeah, ouch.
There are several glaring issues in this article, the first of which is that the man is charged with criminal possession of a weapon.
Is bow ownership frowned upon in New York too? Do you have to have a bow license or something? It wouldn't surprise me in the least considering the lunacy of the politicians that run that state.
Second, does an arrow become deadly when it reaches thirty inches in length? It's like Associated Press Writer COLLEEN LONG is trying to overstate the deadliness of the arrow. I mean, it's common sense that people shouldn't have access to arrows of that size. Why does anyone need a full thirty inches? How about twelve?
Third, the offending arrow is made of carbon and aluminum, which should definitely be illegal, except to say that his were only capable of going 300 yards. I heard somewhere that carbon arrows were only designed to kill, and that they may be capable of piercing a 'bulletproof' vest. Aluminum arrows can easily penetrate a car door, so it would have no problem penetrating an engine block. With this breakthrough technology combining the two materials, that arrow should easily be able to punch through light armor, so let's give it a proper label, something along the lines of "anti-armor" or "anti-material" (It must be able to puncture fabric).
Such devices are uncivilized.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Can I see your "special privates?"
More brilliance from DC Mayor Adrian Fenty - during President Obama's inauguration, the DC mayor granted Police Chief Cathy Lanier the powers to appoint "special privates" that shall "possess all the powers and privileges and perform all the duties of the privates of the standing police force of the District."
Don't worry your pretty little heads over this; it doesn't mean that mere citizens can finally protect themselves and their communities, it was only meant to allow cops that were not from DC to provide security for the inauguration.
Don't worry your pretty little heads over this; it doesn't mean that mere citizens can finally protect themselves and their communities, it was only meant to allow cops that were not from DC to provide security for the inauguration.
Brilliant crime fighting anti-gang initiative in DC!
DC Mayor Adrian Fenty and DC Police Chief Cathy Lanier have come up with an awesome way to fight gangs on the streets: ban them!
How smart is that!! This whole time the solution to gang violence has been right under their noses. Fortunately, this will have no impact whatsoever on freedom of assembly, and citizens can rest assured that DC Police will not use this new law to harass people for "certain behaviors in certain areas" because DC courts will still continue with the revolving door type justice! Even if you lose, you win!
What could go wrong?
How smart is that!! This whole time the solution to gang violence has been right under their noses. Fortunately, this will have no impact whatsoever on freedom of assembly, and citizens can rest assured that DC Police will not use this new law to harass people for "certain behaviors in certain areas" because DC courts will still continue with the revolving door type justice! Even if you lose, you win!
What could go wrong?
The UK saving itself one advertisement ban at a time
And it's a good thing too! The sight of Angelina Jolie firing a pistol is just too much for teenage boys to handle. I know that I want to go out and purchase a new firearm after seeing them in movies.
And then we have this:
I do note that the UK has always had a lower homicide rate than the US, but Associated Press Writer RAPHAEL G. SATTER would have you believe that the lower rate is because of silly shit like the banning of a movie ad. Funny he didn't mention the fact that homicides committed with firearms in the UK doubled after they took everyone's guns away.
Weird.
And then we have this:
I guess censorship does work!The ruling underlined Britain's sensitivity to gun crime.
There were 59 firearm-related homicides in England and Wales in 2006-2007, compared to the more than 10,000 gun-related killings reported by the FBI in the United States in 2007.
I do note that the UK has always had a lower homicide rate than the US, but Associated Press Writer RAPHAEL G. SATTER would have you believe that the lower rate is because of silly shit like the banning of a movie ad. Funny he didn't mention the fact that homicides committed with firearms in the UK doubled after they took everyone's guns away.
Weird.
Some in Congress are listening
Sixty five House Democrats publicly oppose a new "assault thingy" ban by letting the AG know in a letter. I suspect that there would be more if push came to shove.
Good.
This opposition is after Montana's Democratic Senators Max Baucus and Jon Tester wrote in opposition to a new ban and persuaded DoD to reverse it's policy change on scrapping military brass.
Good.
This opposition is after Montana's Democratic Senators Max Baucus and Jon Tester wrote in opposition to a new ban and persuaded DoD to reverse it's policy change on scrapping military brass.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
In more ways than one
Joshua Rhett Miller says to "Get ready for a gunfight" in his FOX News article today regarding US Attorney General Eric Holder's recent comments on the reinstatement of the "assault weapons ban", but I don't think he realizes that he may be closer to the mark than he thinks.
The article itself isn't half bad, but I can't shake the notion that his "gunfight" statement was either an attempt at causing fear, a failed attempt at humor, or just downright ignorance as to the folks who are just bristling with militancy toward such a ban.
The article itself isn't half bad, but I can't shake the notion that his "gunfight" statement was either an attempt at causing fear, a failed attempt at humor, or just downright ignorance as to the folks who are just bristling with militancy toward such a ban.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
A great way to cut military recruitment in half
By making it impossible for them to receive health insurance when they leave active service.
Why is it that the majority of Democrats can't stand the military?
Update: Here's more on this issue. It seems that the Obama administration could care less about the US government's stated obligation to take care of Veterans who have service related injuries or illnesses. The US government's responsibility to providing medical care for service is a vital part of an enlistment contract, and this will surely cause hangups in recruiting despite the increase in VA funding.
On the other hand, the problems within the deplorable medical insurance for those on active service - known as Tricare - isn't very well known. You would think that those who enlist would ask about that, but they never seem to.
Why is it that the majority of Democrats can't stand the military?
Update: Here's more on this issue. It seems that the Obama administration could care less about the US government's stated obligation to take care of Veterans who have service related injuries or illnesses. The US government's responsibility to providing medical care for service is a vital part of an enlistment contract, and this will surely cause hangups in recruiting despite the increase in VA funding.
On the other hand, the problems within the deplorable medical insurance for those on active service - known as Tricare - isn't very well known. You would think that those who enlist would ask about that, but they never seem to.
911 doesn't always give you the response you want
. . .like when a lunatic holds everyone hostage for a half an hour while police wait outside.
And I'm not holding my breath on the make and model of "assault-style weapon" thingy that he allegedly used; no doubt when it turns out to be a High Point carbine or an SKS we will hear about how they became legal to own when the "assault weapon ban" was allowed to expire by none other than George Bush.
On the other hand, at least the hostages survived. Things didn't turn out quite so well for these hostages, and that's after 911 was summoned.
And I'm not holding my breath on the make and model of "assault-style weapon" thingy that he allegedly used; no doubt when it turns out to be a High Point carbine or an SKS we will hear about how they became legal to own when the "assault weapon ban" was allowed to expire by none other than George Bush.
On the other hand, at least the hostages survived. Things didn't turn out quite so well for these hostages, and that's after 911 was summoned.
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