Have another Pat Condell rant, this one on why Europe needs a revolution against the anti-democratic EU:
Pat Condell on the European Union
August 15th, 2014Texas Election News Update for August 14, 2014
August 14th, 2014With all Obama’s manifest incompetence at the national and international level, it’s easy to neglect Texas election news, so here’s a small update to tide you over.
Why Would You Even Loot a Shoe Carnival or Radio Shack?
August 13th, 2014Another shooting of a black man by police leads to a night of looting by members of the local black community.
Specifically they looted a Shoe Carnival and a Radio Shack.
You have to wonder what sort of cost-benefit analysis goes through the mind of a looter. “I’m so mad I’m going to commit a felony! Who should I target? I know! My rage can only be assuaged by stealing plastic shoes and obsolete, off-brand consumer electronics!”
With Radio Shack in bankruptcy, they might earn more from the insurance than they could from selling clock radios and old diodes…
Pictures from the Bovington Tank Museum: German Tanks
August 12th, 2014I hope you like tanks.
Here’s the first batch of pictures taken at the Bovington Tank Museum in Dorset, which I visited on Saturday as a gift to my inner 12-year old. (There are few prospects more pleasing to the preadolescent male mind than being encased in a 30 ton metal killing machine.) The first batch is all German tanks and tank destroyers from World War II. Let’s face it, the Germans had far and away the best tanks, and shortly after the allies managed to catch up, Germany would be about ready to introduce something better. Germany’s problem (as compared to America or the Soviet Union) was an inability to manufacture enough of them. (Good thing for us.) They had an enormous array of German tanks, and probably the best collection outside Germany’s own tank museum in Munster.
The first picture of the first of two King Tigers (AKA Tiger II, AKA Königstiger, Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf. B) they had on display. The mosty powerful tank Germany produced during the war, its 88mm main gun could destroy any tank on the battlefield. It didn’t get on the battlefield until 1944, and Germany produced less than 500 of them.
The other Tiger II they had there.
Here you can see the Zimmerite anti-magnetic mine coating the Germans used.
Selfie, with tank.
The first of several tank destroyers.
![](https://scontent-a-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xaf1/v/t1.0-9/q85/s720x720/10565260_10202661383075873_4578005483423743023_n.jpg?oh=73e44c9d01b5a077ae8157cda7687085&oe=5470F705")
This is a German tank destroyer that ended up in Finland. Stalin thought he could walk all over Finand, but the Finns tore the Soviets nine different new assholes in the Winter War, though this tank destroyer obviously post-dates 1940.
Alternate barrel used for the Sturmtiger close assault variant.
Here’s an early Panzer Mark I command tank. It’s amazing to realize that the initial German blitzkrieg was carried out with relatively slow, under-armed, and underpowered Mark I and Mark IIs, that, with Heinz Guderian’s new tactics of mechanized warfare, were simply Good Enough.
A Mark II.
I think this is the Mark III, would would be the mainstay of the Wehrmacht armored divisions through the end of the war.
A muzzle-eye view.
Armoured car.
An 88mm field canon.
TABC Rule Change Could Torpedo Some NRA Events
August 11th, 2014NRA-ILA just sent out an alert stating that a proposed TABC rule change, ostensibly to liberalize rules regarding the presence of lawful firearms in venues that sell alcohol, could ironically have the opposite effect:
Under the proposed changes in regulations, FONRA dinners and similar events with firearms displayed for auction or raffle could no longer be held in private venues such as hotel ballrooms if the property owner has been issued a TABC license – even if the events were dry! And if event organizers wanted to sell or serve alcohol and display firearms as prizes, they would be limited to locations “owned or leased by a governmental entity or non-profit civic, religious, charitable, fraternal, or veterans’ organization.” Governmental entities such as Travis County have recently considered banning gun shows from public facilities entirely. It’s not hard to imagine local officials using their authority or terms of contracts to limit the ability of pro-Second Amendment or pro-sportsmen’s organizations to hold fundraising events where alcohol and firearms are present – even if the event organizers signed written agreements to adhere to the new conditions and limitations being proposed by TABC.
NRA_ILA further notes:
even though, as mentioned earlier, these new regulations were ostensibly drafted to allow alcohol sales at gun shows, they could actually end these events as we know them – even if the promoter had NO plans to sell alcohol on-premises. In the proposed rule language, the mere fact that the event is taking place at TABC-licensed premises triggers the new restrictions, NOT whether alcohol would be sold and served during the show. Gun shows could no longer be held in a private venue that has a TABC license, period.
Insert the usual I Am Not A Lawyer disclaimer here, but the NRA can certainly afford some of the best lawyers focused exclusively on gun rights issues, so I would take their warnings seriously. It’s probably a good time to contact your state representatives to make them aware of the issue…
Is Obama Administration Arming the Kurds Directly?
August 11th, 2014So say the news reports, citing “Senior US officials.” Keep in mind, much the same trial balloon went up that Obama was arming the Syrian rebels, and that proved to be false. But if true, this is the first good foreign policy decision the Obama Administration ha made since…wait a minute…let me think…I’m sure it will come to me…killing Bin Laden, maybe. (Sure, you and I think killing Bin Laden was a no-brainer, but look how much and how badly the Obama foreign policy team has screwed up simpler calls…)
Jerry Miculek Hits a Target At 1,000 Yards With a Smith & Wesson Revolver
August 10th, 2014I’m surprised Dwight hasn’t put this one up yet, since he’s the Smith & Wesson nut.
Jerry Miculek is a legend in the shooting community. Here he hits a balloon with a 9mm Smith & Wesson revolver at the insane distance of 1,000 yards:
(Hat tip: Adam Baldwin (Firefly‘s Jayne)’s Twitter feed.)
LinkSwarm for August 8, 2014
August 8th, 2014Another roundup of news, a disproportionate amount from the Middle East, disproportionately bad.
Inside Hamas’ Tunnels
August 7th, 2014A few notes on those Hamas tunnels, the destruction of which drove the latter half of Operation Protective Edge
Israeli military, intelligence, and political officials have known for years that Hamas fighters were burrowing into their country from Gaza through underground tunnels. An Israeli army spokesman said this month that the military had discovered four tunnels just in the past 18 months, well before Israel’s current ground offensive began. But in interviews, current and former Israeli officials said the military and intelligence services didn’t realize the extent of Hamas’s subterranean operations, nor did political leaders act to counter a threat that has become the central focus of Israel’s Gaza campaign and stands as potentially the biggest Israeli intelligence failure in years.
A senior Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the military has so far discovered far more tunnels — 40 and counting — than Israel had previously thought existed. The number came as a surprise, as did the sophistication of the tunnel network. Current and former officials said that Israeli intelligence and political leaders knew that the tunnels were fortified with concrete and had space to store weapons and food. But Israeli intelligence analysts and political leaders didn’t comprehend that the tunnels were wide enough to move several Hamas fighters into the country at a time, and they didn’t realize how many of the tunnels ended up in Israel, particularly near civilians. (A Hamas video that shows fighters emerging from a tunnel and attacking an Israeli military installation provides a vivid example of why Israelis have so come to fear the clandestine attacks.)
How big are these tunnels?
Israel understood that tunnels from Gaza posed a “huge risk” as early as October 2013, when the IDF discovered a long tunnel underneath the kibbutz Ein Hashlosha, just east of the border with Gaza, Col. Grisha Yakubovich, the head of the civil department in the IDF’s Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories, said in an interview.
The tunnel was enormous: It ran 1.5 miles, 66 feet below the ground. Authorities estimated that some 350 tons of concrete were used to build it, enough to build a small hospital three floors high, Yakubovich said. “We were amazed by the size of it.”
Which points out a tough dilemma for Hamas: Building hospitals to hide the rockets you attack Israel with, or build tunnels to conduct kidnapping of Israelis? Decisions, decisions…
Here’s Wolf Blitzer touring one of the tunnels:
Here’s Hamas’ own propaganda video on their tunnels:
And what were they planning to use them for?
“Hamas is said to have planned a huge terrorist attack that would taken place on September 24, 2014, which is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.”
Ridiculous Bureaucratic Compensation in the UK
August 6th, 2014It’s not just California. The bureaucratic apparatus has a way of feathering its own nests across the globe.
Take the “town hall tycoons” in the UK, for example:
There were at least 2,181 council employees who received total remuneration in excess of £100,000 in 2012-13, a fall of 5 per cent on the previous year’s 2,295. Despite this, 93 councils increased the number of staff who received remuneration in excess of £100,000 in 2012-13.
Keep in mind that at current exchange rates, £100,000 is somewhere north of $180,000.