All posts in category WTF?

A July 4 assault on liberty

This is still a developing story, and the veil of lawyer-advised silence is descending, but TJIC has again been targeted by the repressive government of Massachusetts and/or his local government. This time, they’ve dragged his fiance into it, confiscating her legally owned firearms after he applied for a new MA LTC. From Tam, who has been in direct communication with the TJIC household:

Well, TJIC got his Massachusetts FID* reissued, and has reapplied for an MA LTC**.

Now the local po-po*** is surrounding his crib, wanting to inspect the premises. Without a warrant. In the suburbs of Boston. On Independence Day.

More from Tam, in various comments to her original post:

Jenn was like “There’s a cop looking at me through the window with a flashlight and his hand on his holster!”

—

I’m on the phone with Jenn; she’s walking through the house with the officer. They’re seizing her guns as we speak.

—

They’re already in contact with counsel.

TJIC himself chipped in a little info:

I had an EXCELLENT gun lawyer on speed dial. It took half an hour to get a callback on a vacation day, but after that, he was with us every step of the way.

I repeatedly refused the cops’ requests for a voluntary walk-through of the house.

I repeatedly refused to answer any questions.

The cops repeatedly told me that if I had nothing to hide, I should just allow a walk-through, and if I was a good guy, I’d have a “conversation” with them.

In the end they illegally seized my FID (just plan CAN NOT do it, but they took it and wouldn’t give it back) and they illegally seized Jennifer’s firearms. My lawyer was appalled but not surprised.

Jennifer and I have been talking about moving out of MA in 3-6 years.

We are officially looking for real estate tomorrow; I will not spend one more day than is necessary in this totalitarian hell hole.

and

At the end, some of the cops who ransacked the house tried to shake hands with me. “No hard feelings”.

I refused and said “Gentlemen, please think about what you’re doing. On the fourth of july, the day we celebrate freedom, you stole legally owned firearms from a women who is engaged to a guy who made a joke you don’t like. You are not the good guys. You are ‘just doing your jobs’. Look in the mirror. You’re the bad guys.”

Response: “I’m sorry you feel that way. Have a good Fourth.”

My lawyer says that there’s a decent chance I may yet be arrested.

And with that, I should probably go radio silent for a while.

Words do not describe how wrong this is. Tam seems to have the direct scoop for now, keep your eyes open there for new information.

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by Jake on July 4, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in Civil Rights, Evil Bastards, Gun Rights, I am TJIC, Liberty, Police, The American Police State, The Bill of Rights, The Gun Blogger Community, WTF?

Posted by Jake on July 4, 2013

https://cursesfoiledagain2.wordpress.com/2013/07/04/a-july-4-assault-on-liberty/

Well, THIS is ripe for abuse.

Voting in New Jersey, that is.

New Jersey will allow residents displaced by Superstorm Sandy to vote by email or fax.

Officials announced Saturday that registered voters can vote electronically. A resident must submit a mail-in ballot application by fax or email to the local county clerk.

How the heck do they expect to be able to verify any of those votes?

I doubt Romney had a chance in NJ, anyway, but holy cow! There’s no way that’s going to be an honest vote.

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[Source: AP article on Yahoo! News, retrieved 2012-11-03]

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by Jake on November 3, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Politics, Stupidity, Ugh., WTF?

Posted by Jake on November 3, 2012

https://cursesfoiledagain2.wordpress.com/2012/11/03/well-this-is-ripe-for-abuse/

A hint for our chief executive

Warning shots – like those being fired by the security forces at our embassy in Yemen – only work if the people being warned believe that there’s a chance you’ll actually shoot them if they don’t stop. So far, we have not given them any reason to believe this.

These “protests” are invasions of sovereign American soil, and are acts of war. Treat them as such, and shoot the bastards.

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by Jake on September 13, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Cowards, Evil Bastards, International, Lethal Force, National Security, Pet Peeves, Politicians, Politics, Stupidity, Terrorism, Tragedy, WTF?

Posted by Jake on September 13, 2012

https://cursesfoiledagain2.wordpress.com/2012/09/13/a-hint-for-our-chief-executive/

Our global village idiot.

Whether he was right or wrong, this image sums up how utterly and mind-bogglingly stupid Obama’s comment was.

Seriously? You’re going to tell people whose votes you need that they didn’t actually do something they’re proud of? That all the work they put in to building their business was unnecessary and pointless?

Not that I would mind if he was just trying to throw the election, but WTF?

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[From didntbuildthat.com]

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by Jake on July 19, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Evil Bastards, It's the Economy Stupid!, Local to me, Philosophy, Politicians, Politics, Stupidity, WTF?

Posted by Jake on July 19, 2012

https://cursesfoiledagain2.wordpress.com/2012/07/19/our-global-village-idiot/

I assume he failed the course

Husband accidentally shoots self, wife at Bedford County gun safety course

A firearms safety course went awry in Bedford County on Saturday afternoon when a participant shot himself in the hand with a .45-caliber handgun and the bullet passed through his hand and struck his wife, seated next to him, in the leg.

Look, gun safety is not that hard. There are only four simple Rules:

The Gun is ALWAYS loaded.
Never point the gun at anything you do not want to destroy or kill.
Keep your finger away from the trigger until you are ready to fire.
Be sure of your target, what is near your target, and what is BEHIND your target.

Obey those Four Rules, and you will never shoot someone unintentionally.

There is also an oft stated Fifth Rule: “Never try to catch a dropped gun.” Most modern guns are drop safe, and there is a good chance you’ll accidentally pull the trigger trying to catch it. Letting it hit the ground may be bad for the finish, but it won’t get anyone shot.

Oh, by the way, this was done negligently, not “accidentally”. There is a pretty significant difference. Number one, he was fiddling with a gun unnecessarily. Number two, he probably assumed that it wasn’t loaded. Number three, he wasn’t watching where it was pointed. Number four, he pulled the trigger. Even if nothing else did it, that last point would make it negligence.

Stop giving the anti-Rights cultists more ammunition to use against us. It’s really simple – just follow The Four Rules.

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[Source: Roanoke Times article, retrieved 4/24/12]

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by Jake on April 24, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Gun Safety, Local to me, Stupidity, WTF?

Posted by Jake on April 24, 2012

https://cursesfoiledagain2.wordpress.com/2012/04/24/i-assume-he-failed-the-course/

Shopping update

Update on my previous shopping post. One 6′ HDMI cable, Wii component video cables, and Wii sensor bar have been ordered. The Wii parts should arrive this week, and the HDMI cable next week. Last night, I picked up a simple indoor TV antenna at Big Lots. Grand total? $15.77, and that includes VA sales tax on the antenna.

For comparison, in the local brick-and-mortar stores the lowest prices I could find were:

$12 for a 6ft HDMI cable (at Big Lots)
$18 for Wii component video cables (at a video game store, more on this in a minute)
$10 for a Wii sensor bar (wireless only, there were no wired ones to be found)

So, I could have gotten my system working yesterday, but it would have cost me nearly three times as much money. In addition, the sensor bar is not what I want – I have no plans on moving things around once it’s set up, so the only thing a wireless bar will do is make me have to spend money on batteries. Amazon has a wired one available, the local stores don’t, and I can get what I want for less than half the price ($4.30) from Amazon.

Now, back to those Wii component cables, and the video game store. I noticed something when I was looking there – they were charging $20 for used cables, and $18 for new ones. Yes, they were charging more for used cables in a zip lock bag than for new ones in an unopened package. WTF is up with that? I walked out of the store at that point.

Ironically, that was still the lowest brick-and-mortar price I found. Everywhere else wanted $25 – $35 for “premium” cables. Now, as I mentioned before, component video is analog, so cable quality can make a difference. But there is a threshold where the signal just doesn’t get any clearer, meaning that “good enough” for a clean signal is as good as you’re going to get. If the $5.33 cables are “good enough”, it’s not worth spending $20 – $30 more, because it won’t get any better.

So, despite my desire to support local businesses, Amazon is so much cheaper in this case that there was just no way to justify buying locally.

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by Jake on March 14, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Geek Stuff, What I'm doing, WTF?

Posted by Jake on March 14, 2012

https://cursesfoiledagain2.wordpress.com/2012/03/14/shopping-update/

Kalifornistan strikes again – Achievement unlocked: Science Fail

No, not some new anti-gun law this time. This time, they’ve passed a law that is forcing both Coke and Pepsi to change their recipes to avoid having to put a carcinogen warning label on the cans.

Coca Cola and Pepsi will make a manufacturing process modification for the soft drinks caramel colouring to avoid a California law that would have forced them to label the drinks carcinogenic.

Coke, for one, insists it is not “changing our recipe or formula in any way.”

“The Coca-Cola Company asked its caramel suppliers to make the necessary manufacturing process modification to meet the requirement of the State of California’s Prop 65,” company spokesman Ben Sheidler said in a release. “As a result, no warning is required.”

So, where did this come from?

An American watchdog group accuses the world’s two biggest beverage makers of using unsafe levels of a chemical called 4-MEI they say has been linked to cancer in animals. The Center for Science in the Public Interest has asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to ban the colouring agents that contain 4-MEI.

Well, if that’s the case, why hasn’t the FDA banned it? Carcinogens are bad, right?

“A consumer would have to consume well over a thousand cans of soda a day to reach the doses administered in the studies that have shown links to cancer in rodents,” FDA spokesman Doug Karas said in a statement.

Over 1,000 cans a day. If my math is right, that means you would have to drink one can every 86 seconds, for 24 hours straight, to reach the levels in the studies. Fail.

If your hypothesis can only be verified by using an unrealistic premise, then it is wrong. Yes, 4-MEI can in fact be linked to cancer. But the dosages where that link exists are only realistically achievable in either an industrial accident directly involving the undiluted chemical, or in a laboratory setting. The follow-up hypothesis, that since Coke and Pepsi contain 4-MEI they can cause cancer, can easily be falsified with basic math and critical thinking.

Heck, drinking that much that fast could conceivably kill you from hyperglycemia as you outrun your body’s ability to produce insulin and your cells’ ability to take up the sugar. Either way, you’d be dead from obesity induced diabetes long before you have to worry about cancer.

Government stupidity from the nanny state, in its finest form.

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[Source: Edmonton Sun article, retrieved 3/9/12]

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by Jake on March 9, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Evil Bastards, Food!, Pet Peeves, Stupidity, WTF?

Posted by Jake on March 9, 2012

https://cursesfoiledagain2.wordpress.com/2012/03/09/kalifornistan-strikes-again-achievement-unlocked-science-fail/

What are they thinking?

Blogger just keeps getting worse. I moved to WordPress because Blogger didn’t have a built-in mobile format, but lately every time they change something it makes me glad I switched when I did. Their new Captcha is absolutely horrible to the point of driving commenters away (one person noted that it took him six attempts to get it right). The new comment page format is hard to follow – the separation between comments is so minimal that comments by people without avatars blend together with other comments – and the far left alignment (instead of the previous centering) is irritating on widescreen monitors.

The latest change is the most irritating, though. It seems that they’ve taken away the option for people to follow comment threads by email, an option I use consistently to follow the discussion on posts I’ve commented on or am interested in.

It’s almost like they’re trying to drive people away. Get a clue, Blogger!

Update: I’m not the only one frustrated by these changes, it seems. Hopefully, they’ll listen to their users.

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