Among the many misdeeds of British rule in India, history will look upon the Act depriving a whole nation of arms as the blackest. – Mohandas Gandhi
This was another fairly quiet week for links, as is typical around the holidays; I expect it will start to pick up again after today, though. The next link column will include an explanation of a few format changes I’m instituting for the new year; like many of my other changes, it is intended to decrease my workload and make the blog more useful for readers. Because the changes will affect the TW3 columns as well, I’m moving the next links column up to Friday so it will fall before the TW3 this week; that also conveniently opens up next Sunday, January 6th, for a King Day column. The top link contributor this week was Michael Whiteacre, who provided every link down to the first video (which was itself provided by my husband). The second video and the link directly below it were contributed by EconJeff, and the links between the two videos were supplied by Amy Alkon, Aspasia, Grace, Walter Olson, Radley Balko, Franklin Harris and Jesse Walker, in that order.
- CNN and LAPD try to start a gun scare over an empty 3-kg metal tube.
- Federal employee issued five-page formal reprimand for farting.
- I seem to remember this thing called Kohoutek…
- The whole six yards.
- “Human trafficking” is totally OK when a government is the “trafficker”.
- Facebook claims that my epigram violates its “community guidelines”.
- Here’s a spider that builds large spider decoys to confuse predators.
- Kansas wants to force a sperm donor to pay child support.
- High school student arrested for doodling.
- R.I.P. Jack Klugman and Gerry Anderson.
- Welcome to our world.
On the empty Rocket Launchers …
A similar incident happened to me and my shipmates on the first submarine I was on. We were loading weapons at the Naval Magazine at Lualualei on Oahu when we found a whole stockpile of expended ammunition the Marines had used for training. Among the “trophies” were a great many EXPENDED (i.e. “inert”) Laws Rocket Launchers. After seeing the XO of the boat grab a couple of them – the rest of us did too. However, that night – Sailors being Sailors and being DRUNK Sailors – a group of my mates (not me) decided to flash one at the Domino’s Pizza delivery girl who was walking up the hill to the barracks. They screamed … “Lay down on the ground! Take your clothes off!!” – just playing basically, they wouldn’t have harmed her in the slightest. She ran away screaming and the next thing ya know – Naval Criminal Investigative service is running through our rooms searching them and interrogating us. I managed to throw my rocket launcher into a dumpster before they hit my room. So when I got my first “Good Conduct Medal” – it was, indeed, awarded for four years of “undetected” crime!
By the way – I just re-posted your epigram to my own FaceBook page.
On “Welcome to Our World” …
Does anyone really believe that any of us who OWN guns will actually just “hand them in” once the government outlaws them? I mean – I have to look at the people who believe this as being naive. Sure – you may get everyone in New York City to pony up their guns but you will meet A LOT of resistance to that when you try to do it in a SOUTHERN state where … WE ALL HAVE THEM. I literally don’t know anyone who doesn’t own a firearm – at least a shotgun. And – though Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama may be willing to enforce gun confiscation – Bobby Jindal and none of the other Southern governors will (and throw in the Governor of Alaska on that too – since everyone in AK has a gun too). My local police aren’t going to enforce those kinds of laws – because they have to LIVE in this community with the rest of us.
I wish they WOULD pass a confiscatory gun law. It’s clear to me that the GOP is about to blow itself apart, leaving this nation under “one party rule”. Let them try their gun laws and see the rebellion they get from a lot of states. The Democrats seem to believe that he who owns Washington owns all. They are about to learn otherwise – change will come from OUTSIDE Washington – not within it.
Oh yeah – just found this too …
http://beforeitsnews.com/alternative/2012/12/media-quiet-about-san-antonio-theater-shooting-2524596.html
The bottom line – is that these whacks are going to get their guns one way or another. The only thing that stops them is a good guy (or in this case – a good woman) with a gun.
Like how Anders Breivik shot over one hundred people because they were unarmed; how easy it is to shoot at targets that don’t fire back. The victims waited for the police to arrive… hiding in toilets, playing dead… waiting until finally the police turned up one hour after the massacre began.
There was an armed sheriff’s deputy at Columbine High School. It didn’t help. The story from San Antonio is interesting, though I could have done without the media conspiracy stuff.
And Sandy Hook had a secured door. Except the deputy was sitting in his car out back, and never went in the building; and that locked door had some sort of large glass window next to it. Blame the guns, the parents, video games, “society”: cover up the negligence.
Are the schools in Canada or Switzerland (both countries with lots of guns) any more secure than the schools here? We’ve known how to build secure buildings since the first time somebody realized it’s harder to charge uphill than down.
So yeah, I’m going with society.
75 Apocalypses 🙁
Re: The Sith Who Stole Christmas
MUCH better than the infamous Star Wars Christmas Special.
Re: Survived apocalypses
59! According to this Wikipedia page, if we all make it through 2013 then we can add an additional Survived Apocalypse to our count. Hooray!
RE: Kansas wants to force a sperm donor to pay child support.
Everyone gets that this is bad for sperm donors, but the angle that a lot of people seem to be missing is that this is also bad for the recipients. If donors are under credible threat of owing hundreds of thousands of dollars to near-strangers every time they donate (or multiple times per donation!), the number of donations will drop to approximately zero. If you’re someone that might make use of donated sperm in the future, this kind of law/regulation spells the death-knell of your reproductive freedom in Kansas.
A bigger deal than it might otherwise seem, me thinks.
Facebook censorship aside, presenting that quote devoid of context is somewhat misleading. Gandhi did indeed write it, in a pamphlet suggesting that Indians urge Britain to create Indian army units to fight in World War I. He believed that the creation of such units would (1) show the British that the Indians could be trusted with weapons, (2) demonstrate that Indians were capable people, (3) illustrate the wrongness of the Arms Act, and (4) potentially create a national Indian institution that could be an example for other, future, semi-independent Indian institutions. At the time (1917-18), he may well have supported individuals with arms, though this isn’t 100% clear.
However, all of this was some time before he fully developed and elaborated his policy of nonviolent resistance, which seems rather incompatible with the ownership of arms by practically anyone. To present the quote without the context implies that Gandhi was a complete opponent of gun control, which isn’t the case.
That said, Facebook banning political advocacy, however poorly stated or misleading, is ridiculous.
Maggie, thank you for the wonderful columns and I am looking forward to reading more next year. Despite my Nats winning the NL East, I can’t quite say this was a wonderful year, but The Honest Courtesan has helped salvage it.
The apocalypse folks seem to think that I’m going to become immortal, if I have anything in 2129 or later to look forward to. For the record, that would make me one hundred sixty-three years old. Also, are these people thirteen years old? Nobody older than that is impressed by cussing every third third word, and that’s the fucking truth.
As if spiders weren’t creepy enough.
If I were forced to choose between the two of them, I’d take the seasick crocodile.
Adults who whine about “all my rights are being taken away” (I’m sure a guy my age has not one right fewer than his grandparents did at the same age, and if said grandparents happened to NOT be white and male [and Granny wasn’t male], oh my God) should take a look at the world teenagers live in. They don’t even get talk show hosts whining about what they have to put up with.
Adults who whine about “all my rights are being taken away”
Sorry, I left a bit of that sentence out. I’ve been more prone to that sort of thing lately. Maybe I’m getting old all at once?