May 23, 2013
Posted by Sebastian in Current Events | 11 comments
From Richard Fernandez:
This incident illustrates, if nothing else, the endpoint of the social engineering of the West. It has been remarkably effective. From a certain point of view the British crowd behaved perfectly and this is the way “they” all want us to behave. The populace sheltered in place, didn’t do anything rash, talked to the perpetrators as people. They waited for the police to come and the hospital helicopter to take the corpse away. Some will doubtless get counseling to overcome their shattering experience.
The response? British soldiers should not wear uniforms. Keep Calm and Carry.
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May 19, 2013
Posted by Sebastian in Current Events | 10 comments
Off topic, but summer is coming, and try as I might, I couldn’t help but read a story Instapundit links to about how gross pool water can be, especially at publicly run pools. I used to spend a good deal of time at the swim club as a kid. It gave us something to do while my mother, who was a stay at home mom, gossiped with all the other stay at home moms. I’m glad to hear private swim clubs tested the best, at only 50% of pools being contaminated with fecal material. Maybe as a kid I got lucky. It’s one of those things you probably don’t want to know, but probably should. And if that’s not bad enough, there’s brain eating amoebas to worry about too.
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May 18, 2013
Posted by Sebastian in Current Events | 14 comments
Clearly we’re dealing with a bear who enjoys suburban living. I’m not going to be surprised if this bear swam across the Delaware from New Jersey and ended up downstream of where he put in. We’ll have to see if this bear exhibits the typical MO of Ursus americanus jerseyus and ends up mugging someone for a sandwich. These sightings are just about a mile from my house, by the way the crow flies, or perhaps the way the bear walks. He would seem to be living in the wooded parts along Neshaminy Creek. I’m thinking of doing some smoking this weekend, so I guess we’ll see whether Mr. Bear decides to come over for some ribs and beer later. I’m only half a mile up from the creek!
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May 12, 2013
Posted by Sebastian in Current Events | 40 comments
All it takes is one ill-considered moment to ruin everything. (See main online story here) The woman who is being shouted at we’re pretty sure is an activist we’ve seen before at the Doylestown counter-rally, who was moving among the pro-gun people attempting to antagonize them. One guy on the pro-gun side got tired enough by it to call the cops over, who promptly told the woman to chill, and please return to her side of the rally.
But here the bait was taken, and they got what they wanted. Objectively, it is an excellent photo. As soon as I saw it online late last night, I figured that was front page worthy, and would be there the next morning. Both the Courier Times and the Intelligencer did as predicted. Our side has to be supremely careful, especially in hostile media environments, which this area undeniably is.
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May 2, 2013
Posted by Sebastian in Current Events | 13 comments
So just my luck to fly into Intercontinental in Houston just as some jackass decided to involve everyone in is drama, and committed suicide-by-cop at the security checkpoint the next terminal over. From the sounds of it, our intrepid loser went into the terminal, pulled out an AR, fired off a few random shots, probably to ensure some return fire, then pulled out another gun and shot himself.
Folks, if you’re going to off yourself, and aren’t sure you have the guts, please consider getting some help before forcing some poor cop to do the job for you. Also, involving an entire airport of people in your problems is just rude, to say the least.
Given the fact that NRA is in town, I’m sure the media is going to be on the “Pin this on NRA” narrative like stink on shit.
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Apr 21, 2013
Posted by Bitter in Civil Liberties, Current Events, The Media | 13 comments
You’d think after so much public derision over their terrible job reporting on the Boston bombing situation, the media would think it wise to step back and consider how they report on breaking events and whether they are contributing to a sense of panic by printing and announcing every rumor they hear. I think it is safe to say that the Philly media definitely didn’t learn anything.
Here’s what I can tell you about a story that has apparently been unfolding since 9:00am today at the Independence Visitor Center in downtown Philly.
The local paper says that the Center was closed down because of a bomb threat in their headline. When you read the article, you find out that there was no actual threat just a perception that a guy who looked funny because he wore a camo coat on a cold day had some clothes and junk in his car may have possibly been a threat that involved a bomb.
A local tv station reports nothing about concerns about a bomb, but that SWAT teams were on the scene because the guy in the camo coat may have also had his face painted. There’s no mention of clothes or junk in his car, just that police shut down the main parking garage in the area in order to search every corner for anything suspicious before giving an all clear.
So the only clear facts that appear to be consistent are that a guy was wearing a coat on a cold day, the coat was apparently in a camouflage pattern, he had a car parked in a parking garage, and that the Philly police felt the best response was to shut down a major landmark and the parking garage because of this man wearing a coat on a cold day. Oh, and they also agree that he was hauled off in handcuffs, but officials are unwilling to say why he was detained.
At this point, even if there is a reasonable explanation for the police response, the reporting by at least one of these outlets–if not both–is irresponsible and clearly geared toward promoting fear in order to draw eyeballs. That’s why neither story is getting a link at the moment. Neither one deserves to be rewarded for reporting that appears to be, under the most generous descriptions, sloppy at best.
UPDATE: Another report actually relies on on-the-record statements from the police. Can you imagine the insanity behind such caution and restraint?
So far, the facts appear to be that a man was wearing camo (no mention of face paint) and that he had a car that was dirty. This alone was enough for police to determine that he should be taken into custody even though they admit that the K9 unit and bomb squad found absolutely nothing in his car but junk. Now this might be my crazy libertarian side coming out, but last time I checked, possession of shitty fashion sense and dirty cars isn’t actually a crime.
Is there no one else disturbed by the apparent extreme police state on display here? Are urban dwellers that content to give up their civil liberties?
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Apr 19, 2013
Posted by Sebastian in Current Events | 25 comments
Who would have thunk it? Stayed up last night until 3:30AM, enthralled by the running gun battle with police in Boston.
Well one good thing, I suppose, is that the left were desperate for the bombers to be extremist white guys, and the right were desperate for them to be Muslims. Everybody wins!
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Apr 16, 2013
Posted by Sebastian in Current Events | 17 comments
Joe takes a look at the explosion and concludes it may have been a deflagration rather than an explosion. He has more direct experience with this explosives than any other gun bloggers I know, so I’d trust his analysis. Reports coming out in the media about it being a gunpowder bomb fit with what Joe has said. I don’t want to even think about the new restrictions on civil liberties the powers that be will dream up in response to this one.
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Apr 15, 2013
Posted by Sebastian in Current Events | 32 comments
Looks like there were some explosions during the Boston Marathon. Terrorism?
UPDATE: Looking at some of the video out there, the explosion doesn’t look like it was that large. But who would target the Boston Marathon? And why?
UPDATE: Well, that didn’t take long. Worms.
UPDATE: Lots of speculation running rampant in the media and on Twitter. I don’t plan to do play-by-play with this nonsense. We’ll have the truth soon enough. We’ll return to regularly scheduling blogging shortly.
UPDATE: The President’s initial statement.
UPDATE: Don’t jump to conclusions.
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Feb 18, 2013
Posted by Bitter in Current Events | 20 comments
CBS is reporting that they have talked to law enforcement officials who say that they believe Adam Lanza was acting out a video game fantasy where he believed that each person he shot was simply adding up to a score in his sick mind. They also say that they have evidence that he became obsessed with another mass murderer, and that he may have been hoping to top that body count of 77.
In addition to living out a video game massacre scenario, they also say that Lanza picked the school as his target because he knew it would be an easy target to attack with large clusters of people. He did apparently fire a couple of rounds in the direction of the parking lot when police first showed up, but then quickly shot himself.
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