Happy New Year! The Biden Administration is made of lies (which you already knew), a few links about guns, mysterious deaths in Tarrant County jails, Russian finds new, embarrassing ways to lose equipment, Hasbro destroys D&D’s legacy, and a look at biblical werewolves. It’s the Friday LinkSwarm!
One of Biden’s main legacies: Corrupting official government economic statistics:
Another 653,000 fake jobs revised away by govt statisticians. They were faking the data during 2023 and 2024 to try to boost Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
In the revisions, they have also admitted to 818,000 fake jobs being removed from the 2023 data.
A brand new investigation from the Wall Street Journal has revealed that scientists knew early on that the COVID-19 virus was an engineered virus that escaped a lab, but the information was suppressed by intelligence agencies and removed from all presidential briefings on the matter.
Three scientists from the National Center for Medical Intelligence, John Hardham, Robert Cutlip and Jean-Paul Chretien, had reported their findings that the virus was manipulated in a lab. They shared their findings with the FBI, but were soon told to stop.
In August of 2021, Biden was briefed on the origins of COVID-19 after a 90-day investigation from intelligence agencies. National Intelligence Director Avril Haines briefed the President and left out all research pointing to a lab leak from her briefing.
Sarah Hoyt has a pretty good plan moving forward: We win, they lose.
It’s going to take a long time for us to stop flinching and deciding we’re going to be betrayed. 2020 left scars in the collective psyche, and scars take a long time to fade if they ever do.
The last four years we were hunching our shoulders and just enduring the blows, and that will take a long long time to fade.
And sure, there are things that won’t go our way. But you shouldn’t worry too much about that.
Look, the edifice that supports the boot on our necks is not only rickety. It always was rickety.
Keeping the big lie of the all powerful centralized government in place was a full scale production, and it required a fully coordinated media, fully coordinated panels of “experts”, and a trusting public that believed all of it. Or at least a majority of the public that believed all of it.
It has been eroding for a while, since social media and blogs got really big in the wake of 9/11. Despite their best efforts at censorship, a massed multitude of — what did they call us? — hobbits is harder to control than a few journalists who want to be invited to the right parties.
Trump’s election in 2016 was the first time the media lost to the hobbits. Really lost, publicly. They didn’t like it. The hell the establishment has put us through since is their payback.
It came with unexpected consequences though. The main ones being: their masks were yanked off; and we don’t believe them anymore.
This is the sort of thing that not all the king’s horses and not all the king’s men can put together ever again.
Sure, we’ll “lose” some. Sure, they’re making cunning plans to thwart the will of the people.
But be not afraid. If we win even a few places, it’s enough for the whole edifice of oppression and lies to come tumbling down.
It has been tumbling down, already, even while they were nominally in power, which is why we won 2024.
Be not afraid. This is very important. The rest will fall into place, provided you keep your heads and remember you’re Americans.
Until a few years ago I was working as a mid-career research scientist, no I won’t tell you what field. Within my collaboration I was known for being extremely productive. I’ve seen jaws drop when I show colleagues my publication list.
Then it came time to start applying for junior professor positions.
Got a few interviews, but doors kept getting slammed in my face. It’s a very opaque process ofc, they never tell you why. In one case however I had the dean – a portly Hispanic woman – tell me two minutes into the interview that “women in STEM are very important to me”, and ultimately heard informally from one of the profs at that dept that I hadn’t been hired because of interference from the dean, despite all of the profs on the committee wanting me, and that instead they’d hired … no one.
One of the many controversial chunks of the short-term spending bill that sparked debate recently included funding for the State Department’s Global Engagement Center.
But what’s the problem? After all, who doesn’t like “Global Engagement”?!
Well, this agency — formed by Barack Obama — has been moonlighting as a censorship czar, handing out taxpayer dollars like candy to groups that spend their time suppressing conservative voices online.
(In other words, your average Obama administration government office.)
But after widespread backlash, the new version has no room for the Global Engagement Center.
Snip.
Reports from the Washington Examiner indicated that the GEC bankrolled groups like the Global Disinformation Index and NewsGuard, organizations that basically police speech with the finesse of a drunk mall cop. The Federalist and the Daily Wire even sued the GEC over its role in suppressing right-leaning voices.
Thanks to the new continuing resolution, the GEC finally met its own doom, with yet another scrap of Barack Obama’s legacy shuffling off into the sunset like Joe Biden’s last remaining marble.
Sounds like some companies are asking for a lawsuit:
Just got a dm from someone who works in recruiting at one of big tech companies. He said it's internal policy within the team he works for to reserve roles for what they call “outside talent”.
They are not allowed to recruit Americans for these roles but must go through the…
Suspicious. “North Texas Activist Is Latest to Die in Tarrant County Jail. Mason Yancy was the ninth person to die in Tarrant County Jail custody this year….Yancy was well known to grassroots activists in North Texas and across the state as an advocate for limited government and First and Second Amendment rights. He co-founded Open Carry Texas with activist-turned-attorney CJ Grisham.”
Anti-Chinese riots in Africa, following a disputed election in which Daniel Chapo of the ruling FRELIMO (socialist, formerly communist) party was declared the winner. Seems like the citizens of Mozambique aren’t big fans of Belt and Road…
Waterloo records in Austin is relocating under new ownership. “Caren Kelleher, founder and president of Gold Rush Vinyl, confirmed Thursday she and business partner Trey Watson (CEO of Armadillo Records) will be taking over Waterloo Records. The vinyl shop has operated in Austin for more than 40 years, including 35 years at its current location along West Sixth Street and North Lamar Boulevard.” I used to spend a fair amount of time searching their used CD bins, but I all but stopped going downtown during the “homeless camping” fiasco. (Hat tip: .)
Been a while since we did some gun geeking, so here’s Ian McCollum doing a Forgotten Weapons video on all the ways you can screw up while trying to make a new pistol.
“If you design an answer to a question that nobody is asking, well, not a lot of people are going to pay you for it.” His first example: The Zip 22. “It’s a piece of junk.”
Another way to screw up: Have a good design, but manufacture it poorly. “An excellent example would be the South African Mamba.” Designed by competitive shooters, they had problems with the heat treating. “Even if people like the concept, the gun has to work effectively.”
Or you can have a good design with quality control issues. “The Caracal C slides had a tendency to break in the middle and launch back at their shooters faces.”
Or you can produce a really good pistol, and then announce that you’ve got a better version coming out soon. “Hudson H9, another darling of Shot Show, highly anticipated. [It’s] a really nice pistol, it did everything it was supposed to, [but] was a little more expensive than a lot of people would have liked when it came out.” Then they announced they were just about ready to come out with a lighter aluminum-framed model. “And all of a sudden everybody who had been considering spending $1,200 on a Hudson H9 decided “‘Ah, I’m just going to wait for the aluminum framed version.’ Their cash flow dried up and the company went bankrupt.”
If you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time, then you’ve probably run across the occasional Mark Felton video, most likely in a LinkSwarm. He usually covers interesting historical military tidbits, but here he veers into contemporary American territory to ask: What sort of gun does Donald Trump carry?
“Donald Trump was issued with one of the rarest gun licenses available in the United States: An unrestricted concealed carry handgun permit in New York City, well known for its very restrictive gun laws in comparison with many other parts of the US.”
“Trump was issued this very rare permit by the New York City Police Department, and it is usually only granted in New York City to retired police or federal law enforcement, or to a person whose need for such a permit is clearly demonstrated.”
“Very often these licenses also go to very wealthy and politically connected New Yorkers, and Trump has certainly been one of those for a very long time.”
“Did Trump prior to becoming president for the first time in 2016 actually conceal carry in the Big Apple?”
Trump: “The way I view it, if nobody has guns, then only the bad guys have them, and they aren’t giving up their guns.”
“He told an interviewer that he owns two handguns, one a .45 caliber Heckler and Koch semi-automatic, supposedly a USP, a German military service pistol made for the Bundeswehr and very popular worldwide.”
The USP carries 12 rounds and weighs “26.4 oz without the magazine.”
Felton suggests “the weapon is not easily concealed, however, and commentators have suggested that Trump’s USP is a nightstand gun.” Maybe, but if Trump purchased the gun in the 1990s, standard 1911s were considered an acceptable carry choice at the time because carry and ultracarry choices weren’t nearly as widely available as they are today.
“Trump, however, does own a weapon deliberately designed as a conceal carry piece: a Smith & Wesson 642 hammerless Airweight .38 Special, a five round revolver. It has a cylinder, and Trump uses .38 Special +P ammunition.”
“Due to having a fully enclosed hammer to prevent snagging on clothing, the 642 is double action only, with a fairly long trigger pull. It is a snubnose barrel, and can fit a variety of grips. Many off-duty NYPD officers carry the 640 or 642 as a conceal carry weapon, or as a backup gun, and it weighs around 22 1/2 oz, with the alloy version even lighter at just 15.8 oz.”
Felton’s search for evidence Trump actually carried the gun is inconclusive.
On Tuesday, August 1, Texas’ campus carry law goes into effect for community colleges around the state. As previously reported, Senate Bill 11 – legislation prioritized by Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick during the 2015 legislative session and signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott – took effect for four-year public colleges and universities one year ago. The law set the implementation date for public junior colleges as August 1, 2017.
As expected, adult faculty, staff and student License to Carry holders have behaved in the same law-abiding, responsible manner on public college and university campuses as they have everywhere else in the State of Texas for the more than twenty years the carry law has been in effect. Naysayers’ predictions of increased crimes involving firearms at these institutions have, unsurprisingly, not come to pass. In a recent article in the Austin American Statesman (“Campus Carry: No problems so far at UT-Austin”), SB 11 author Sen. Brian Birdwell stated: “After decades of resounding success with the concealed handgun license program in Texas, I’m not the least bit surprised to see the campus carry law being implemented successfully and without incident. It’s a testament both to the irrationality of the original prohibition and the law-abiding nature of handgun license holders.”
Happy New Year! Today the open carry law went into effect, meaning that if you have a Concealed Handgun License, you may now openly carry a handgun in most (but not all) locations where it was legal to conceal carry before. (It was already legal to openly carry rifles and shotguns without a CHL, and the open carry law didn’t change that.)
The Houston Chronicle has some pointers on open carry, though annoyingly, they are in slideshow form. Some highlights:
Open carry of handguns is only allowed for those who already hold a valid CHL.
You need a belt or shoulder holster to open carry, even in your car. Your gun must be holstered while driving or otherwise hidden.
Primary and secondary schools, hospitals, sporting events, and nursing homes are still “gun-free zones.”
Handguns cannot be taken into amusement parks, churches, hospitals and bars and public meetings if they post notice it’s a gun-free zone.
CHL holders can open carry unless it’s been prohibited by the private property owner. (I am given to understand that HEB is allowing concealed carry, but not open carry.)
“If you do not leave you could be charged with criminal trespass and/or unlawful carry. You will also most likely lose your rights to carry a handgun too.”
A 30.06 sign means no concealed carry on premises but open carry is allowed.
A 30.07 sign ONLY means no open carry on premises but conceal carry is allowed.
And you still can’t carry (open or concealed) in an establishment that derrives 51% or more of its income from the sale of alcohol:
You can’t open or conceal carry beyond the security checkpoint in an airport (duh).
Reciprocity still applies, so if you’re licensed to conceal carry by another state, you’re licensed to open carry in Texas.
The separate campus carry law which allows CHL holders to conceal carry in most buildings at most public universities does not go into effect January 1, but rather August 1, but you still won’t be able to open carry on campus then. Private colleges and universities may opt out, and junior colleges do not need to comply until August 2017.
I think the touches all the highlights. If you think I missed something important, let me know in the comments.
Open Carry has passed both the House and Senate. It’s now headed to the desk of Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who has said he’ll sign it.
“House Bill 910 [warning: 46 page PDF] from state Rep. Larry Phillips, R-Sherman, would allow license-holders to carry handguns openly in a hip or shoulder holster, changing current law requiring that such weapons be concealed.” The “cop stop” amendment has evidently been stripped from the final bill.
The Court concludes that Defendants [Holder at. al.] have not shown that the federal interstate handgun transfer ban is narrowly tailored to be the least restrictive means of achieving the Government’s goals under current law. The federal interstate handgun transfer ban is therefore unconstitutional on its face.
Possibly more later, when I’ve had time to digest the full ruling and its implications. It’s a virtual certainty that the Obama Administration will appeal.
Dwight was kind enough to provide a quick rundown on a few pro-Second Amendment bills making their way through the Texas legislature. He also linked to the TSRAPAC site, which includes even more bill information. (I’ve also found Texas Firearms Freedom useful, and it includes a few more bills.) Since I’ve been meaning to do a rundown on these, and since I run a full-service blog, here’s an even more brief, high level summary of the state of various bills, with links to the text of the bills themselves:
CHL BAC (HB 153): Would set allowable blood alcohol content for a CHL holder carrying at .08 (same as for DWI), up from the current “0.0”: Passed House, appears to be dead in the Senate.
“Come and Take It” (HB 928): Preempts the federal government from using state officials in Texas to enforce unconstitutional firearms restrictions. Passed House, Democrats in Senate threatening to filibuster.
Campus Concealed Carry (HB 972): Passed House, passed out of Senate committee (SB 182), needs 21 votes to get Senate floor vote.
Ease in CHL fingerprinting requirements (HB 698): Let’s those living more than 25 miles away from a digital fingerprinting shop self-submit fingerprints. Passed House, on the Senate calendar for May 20. (According to TPPF‘s David Guenthner on Twitter, this has passed the Senate, so it’s awaiting Governor Perry’s signature as well.)
Combine revolver/automatic CHLs (HB 3142): Currently, if you pass the CHL practical test with an automatic, you could carry either an automatic or a revolver, but if you passed with a revolver, you could only carry a revolver. This bill eliminates that distinction. Passed House, scheduled for May 20.
Lots of news in the world of guns and the Second Amendment today, so here’s a quick lunchtime roundup:
So Obama has issued his executive orders on guns. The good news is that the Executive Orders themselves are not nearly as bad as many feared, at least on the surface. But remember that if you give Obama a constitutional inch, he’ll take an unconstitutional mile. His requested legislation, with restoration of the cosmetic Clinton-era “assault weapons” ban and other such mischief, are a different kettle of fish, but I’m cautiously optimistic that none of them will pass muster in the Republican House.
Cracked, of all places, offers up a dose of perspective. “Gun violence has, generally speaking, been working out pretty spiffy for us.” The writer’s suggestions are as useless as the “Assault Weapon” ban, but are at least less harmful.
An average of 22 children a year are killed on school buses or in bus loading zones. Where’s the outcry for bus safety?
