OPEN THREAD: Do it.
Archive for 2023
December 29, 2023
THE NEW SPACE RACE: First satellite for Chinese G60 megaconstellation rolls off assembly line.
NOW THIS IS THE 21ST CENTURY I WAS HOPING FOR: Scientists Have Discovered a Way to Actually Make Coffee Taste Better.
THERE MUST HAVE BEEN SOME MAGIC IN THAT OLD MAGMA CAP THEY FOUND: Ice and Fire: The Tale of Frosty, Alaska’s Dormant Stratovolcano.
You might think from the name that the volcano has something to do with the stratosphere, but actually it’s a volcano made up of alternating strata of lava and ash.
GET IN SHAPE: Yes4All High-Frequency Elastic Fitness Bar for Toning Muscles. #CommissionEarned
COPYRIGHT SHOULD BE FOR 28 YEARS, RENEWABLE ONCE. Legal battles loom as first Mickey Mouse copyright ends.
In the past, Disney always managed an extension, but for a variety of reasons, mostly self-inflicted, it lacks the clout today.
NEWS YOU CAN USE: Blending In While Carrying Concealed.
SOME PARTS OF AMERICA STILL WORK: SpaceX successfully launches two rockets hours apart.
COLOR ME UNSURPRISED: Benzodiazepine use during pregnancy may raise risk of miscarriage.
BUMMER, THEY’RE FUN: Walmart vendor recalls high-powered magnetic balls due to ingestion hazard.
WESTERN FEMINISTS STRANGELY SILENT: ‘Screams Without Words’: How Hamas Weaponized Sexual Violence on Oct. 7: A Times investigation uncovered new details showing a pattern of rape, mutilation and extreme brutality against women in the attacks on Israel.
A bunch of frat guys holding up numbered cards to rate passing coeds would probably generate more outrage than Hamas has.
MARK RIPPETOE: The Logical Analysis for Starting Strength.
I DON’T THINK AGREEING WITH NHJ HELPS NIKKI HALEY WITH REPUBLICANS: New York Times’ Nikole Hannah-Jones tweets the North didn’t fight to end slavery in Civil War. “Nikole Hannah-Jones frequently posts controversial and inaccurate thoughts on Twitter.”
REGULATORY JIGGERY-POKERY: Gun sales have been blocked for much of December in Hawaii’s largest city.
That’s what the Hawaii Firearms Coalition, a local gun-rights group, claimed in a statement on Wednesday. It said the Honolulu Police Department (HPD) has advised gun purchase or carry permit applicants they won’t process them without a currently-unattainable training certification. And it’s unclear when those permits might become available again.
“It has been brought to our attention from multiple sources that the Honolulu Police Department, under the guidance of Police Chief Logan, is no longer processing ANY firearms permit applications or concealed carry applications until after the new year, and he has the ability to verify or certify instructors,” the group posted on social media. “The department requires all applications submitted after December 18th to provide proof of instruction by a certified/verified instructor before processing their application.
“The problem?????? He hasn’t certified or verified any instructors.”
The Honolulu Police Department did not return multiple calls seeking comment on the situation.
The move comes as Hawaii grapples with the fallout of the Supreme Court’s 2022 New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen decision, which effectively struck down the state’s old gun-carry law and cast doubt on its other gun restrictions. The shutdown of gun license processing is the result of the state’s Bruen-response law. That legislation imposed a slew of new “gun-free zones” and tightened the application requirements for gun licenses.
Alan Beck, a gun-rights lawyer who practices in Hawaii, said the training certification issue is affecting Honolulu as well as other cities and counties throughout the state.
The regulatory scheme should be overturned, and Honolulu should have to pay damages to the people whose constitutional rights were denied.
INTRODUCING GLASSER’S SYLLOGISM:
- All people who say that violent acts are only committed by conservatives are idiots.
- All people who say that violent acts are only committed by progressives are idiots.
- All people who use the words “all” or “only” are idiots.
This was inspired by dinner with some deep blue Democrats (the People’s Republic of Montclair) in which it was a “given” that conservatives are prone to violence. Rather than get into it and bring up “mostly peaceful” arson, I noticed this article from Just The News the next day.
“Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., said that on Thursday both of her daughters’ houses were “swatted,” or targeted by fake emergency calls.”
Swatting is not a joke or prank. It is designed to send an amped-up police force expecting gunfire into an unsuspecting person’s home, hoping some policeman shoots someone.
FIRE’S FREE SPEECH ARMY WANTS YOU!
In my latest for Fox Digital, I make the case for readers to join FIRE’s free speech movement. Our goal as of June 2022 was to recruit 1 million free speech defenders within three years. We have 900,000+ after just a year and a half, so maybe we should be going for 2 million! Lord knows it’s a big fight and we need all the help we can get!
PROGRESSIVISM ALWAYS LEADS TO THE SAME THING: Death by Doctor May Soon Be Available for the Mentally Ill in Canada.
HOMELESSNESS IS MOSTLY A CALIFORNIA PROBLEM: Raw data: Homelessness is down everywhere except California. “I didn’t realize this until I saw it this morning, but if you exclude California homelessness has been steadily declining in the US since 2007. It’s down by a quarter over the past 15 years.”
Related:
The record level of US Homelessness is really a record California (and NY) level alone. If you remove just CA the national change is 37,000 fewer unhoused people since 2007.
Of the top 10 areas that saw the highest increase in homelessness, California areas take 7 of them. pic.twitter.com/LdxtdLcXNE— Darrell Owens (@IDoTheThinking) December 19, 2023
Hey, if Gavin Newsom manages to become president, it will be an everywhere problem.
STILL GRIFTING AFTER ALL THESE YEARS: “The Southern Poverty Law Center’s New Enemy: Americans Who Accept Biology.“