The Continuum of human politics inside Bracken's Cube

Via WRSA

 

 Taking a step back from fiction for a bit, as I was trying to make a point about Bracken's Cube that I don't think I made explicit enough.  The cube is a way to generalize a population, and like all generalities it cannot portray the entire truth.  The cube seeks to explain a political ideology based on racial, geographic, and economic indicators.  This is fine, and using it as a predictive tool is completely legit, but we must really look at what the tool is, and isn't.

The cube isn't about sides, the cube is about volume.  If you put every individual inside the "cube" where they fell on the three axis you would not end up with a perfect cube.   It would look kinda like a lopsided pyramid or tear drop shape, with a large "poor floor" and small wealthy top skewed towards whites (we don't have an even distribution of races in any country).  No one perfectly exists at the sides or corners of the cube, each axis is a continuum.  There will always be someone more successful, or poorer, or even whiter or blacker.

So my point is that the cube is best understood as only a starting point, not an infallible crystal ball.  If an area is poor, rural, and white, what does that say about their politics?  Nothing really, in fact someone even wrote a book titled, "What's the matter with Kansas?" trying to figure out how in the world poor, rural, white people can embrace conservative values.

In thinking about using Bracken's Cube as a decision on where to live, and whom to ally yourself with, we need to not think about economic status so much as values.  I have much less in common with wealthy Democrats than I do with very poor Republicans despite my economic status as a relatively successful government employee.

More @ American Mercenary

1.6 Billion Rounds

Via WRSA

Many seem to be demanding that DHS answer this question:

Why did you buy 1.6B rounds of ammunition?! 

I think I blogged this once. 

In summary, the mom and pop stores get run out of the market.  The only suppliers left are the Big Box stores (The Dicks) who sell only the guns, ammo, and parts that the government approves of (Changing the culture around guns so as to gain control of that culture and thereby impose their wishes.  Kind of like they did with higher education.)  Price skyrockets as availability plummets.  And if badness kicks off, Leviathan already has enough for 20 years while you just spent your last few bucks on $1/round Wolf 5.56. 

The why should be obvious.  Let's get to the more immediate question. 

Where is it? 

My guess is that the ammo has not been stored in an even distribution geographically or by population.  Sure, Leviathan might reinforce strongholds.  But they don't need to prepare for an invasion of an area they've have already conquered.  Why not instead stage the supplies near where they expect to need them? 

More @ The Cliffs Of Insanity

Bumps In The Road

Via NC Renegade

Her Final Taxi Ride

Via  Ninety Miles From Liberty 

I drove a taxi for many years and my favorite riders were elderly ladies.

 

Liberty Lost

Via Ninety Miles From Liberty 

This will open your eyes

Via The Feral Irishman

LANGUAGE AND VIOLENCE

 

Cold Dead Hands (Music Video)

I wouldn't break into her house.

Simple man, simple ways, blue collar, American made
Fear the Lord and love my family
You better not tread on me cause in the name of Liberty
You know I’m gonna fight til the bitter end

Like a mighty oak I’m gonna stand my ground
You can bet your butt I’ll never lay these pistols down

Cause this fight ain’t just about freedom, it goes a lot deeper than that
It’s about the blood our brothers shed so you can have a place to hang your hat
And if you try and take em you’ll cross that line I’ve drawn in the sand
You can have my guns when you pry em from my cold dead hands.

Just a worn out Sweet 16, it’s loaded up with memories
One of these days I’m gonna pass it on
Handed down with pride you see it’s my granddaddy’s legacy
Ain’t a man alive gonna take it away

If he were here today let me tell you son
He’d walk through hell before you ever took his guns
CHORUS

Now I lay me down to sleep, 12 gauge by the door I keep
It’s there to protect my family
Just remember it’s our right to keep and bear so we can fight
Against the thugs and government tyranny

And as long as Uncle Sam stands his ground,
You can bet your butt we’ll never lay these pistols down

Restaurant carry is down but not out ...

The North Carolina House Judiciary A Subcommittee today stripped restaurant carry out of House Bill 17, leaving only the language which would remove concealed handgun and handgun purchase permits from public record, before passing the bill out of committee. What remains now moves to the floor.

Both bill sponsor Representative Justin Burr (R-Montgomery, Stanly, GRNC ****) and Judiciary subcommittee chair Rep. John Blust (R-Guilford, ****) made it clear that the Proposed Committee Substitute used for the deed was not of their making, but rather from "higher up" -- the "higher up" in question being Speaker Thom Tillis (R-Mecklenburg, ****) himself. Said Tillis by email: "We have delivered legislation to the Senate [in the last session] and we look forward to the Senate responding in kind this session."

While Tillis is correct in noting that during the 2011-2012 session, the House under his leadership passed HB 111 for restaurant carry, only to have it stalled by Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger (R-Guilford, Rockingham, ****), numerous House members have complained about the lack of movement in potentially contentious legislation, further speculating it may be related to Tillis' aspirations to the U.S. Senate.

Representatives from Tillis' office deny this, of course, noting they have already moved contentious legislation and allowing that they might move restaurant carry if either the Senate says they too will act on the bill, or if it is received from the Senate. Below you will see our recommendation that you contact both your House representative and Speaker Tillis to tell them to move restaurant carry, but please understand the Speaker has not dismissed the idea, so do not treat him as an opponent (yet).

SB 342: "Amend Gun Laws"

Meanwhile, restaurant carry lives in the Senate. Introduced by Judiciary Co-Chair Senator Buck Newton (R-, Johnston, Nash, Wilson, ****) and sponsored Dan Soucek; and Jeff Tarte; (primary) and Tom Apodaca; Andrew C. Brock; Warren Daniel; Ronald J. Rabin; and Shirley B. Randleman (cosponsors), the bill encompasses not only the restaurant carry language drafted by GRNC and Rep. Mark Hilton in the last session, but also a "cleanup" of the parks carry language currently being tortured by municipalities to ban guns in whole parks. Given that the Senate stalled restaurant carry in HB 111 last year, the fact that Judiciary Co-Chair Newton and Rules Chair Tom Apodaca have signed on as sponsors bodes well for the bill. See below for recommendations on action.

                                                         IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED

NC House Judiciary Subcommittee A Hearing on HB 17 – Say Goodbye to Restaurant Carry

Some things never change; such as the proceedings in House Judiciary Subcommittee A. The portion of HB 17 concerning the possession of a concealed handgun in a restaurant or eating establishment has become the victim of politics. It appears that the endless power struggles will never change in North Carolina: even with the same political party .

Here is the section that was removed:

More @ NC Renegade

Black Teenagers Set White Student Returning from School on Fire

The boy’s mother Melissa Coon said his attackers told him ‘you deserve it.’

 

A 13-year-old boy who police say was doused with gasoline and lit on fire last week while walking home from school is recovering from first-degree burns to his face and head.

The boy was just two blocks from his home in Kansas City Tuesday when two teenagers began to follow him and then attacked him, his mother, Melissa Coon, said.

Police have described the suspects as black 16-year-olds, while the victim is white.

"We were told it's a hate crime," Coon told KTLA.

 More @ NY Daily News

Where is Rear Adm. Chuck Gaouette?

Via Cordite in the Morning 

 

Admiral Gaouette was abruptly removed from command of the John C. Stennis carrier group and "reassigned" right in the middle of the attack on the embassy at Benghazi.  The Navy says for  “inappropriate leadership and judgment.”

Almost simultaneously General Carter Ham, former head of U.S. Africa command, according to official reports suddenly decided to "retire", while on duty and in command, on-site in Africa.
Since then there has been speculative rumors of everything from the two of them were actively in a coup plot to depose Obama to they both refused to stand down their intent to send immediate help to the beleaguered Americans fighting the raghead attackers in Benghazi.

I don't believe the two events occurring just as the attack was taking place are coincidental and I don't believe the official accounts.   I believe these two men are true leaders and warriors and would not accept the abandonment of the Americans in Libya, by a craven Commander-In-Chief.
General Ham seems to be accounted for, but no one knows the whereabouts, status, or health of Admiral Gaouette.

More @ Plan of the Day

One of the weirder incidents of World War II

Via Cordite In The Morning

I'm doing research for a forthcoming series of Weekend Wings articles on strategic bombing.  In the process, I've been reading a lot of books that are long out of print, neglected by many modern scholars, but containing much valuable material.  One of them is 'Flying Fortress' by Edward Jablonski, published in 1965.  In its pages, I found this story, that I thought might interest my readers as well.  I've included links to the unusual place names and other subjects.

On November 23, 1944, spotters of a British antiaircraft unit near Cortonburg, Belgium, were astonished to see a B-17, its landing gear down, approaching their gun positions.  As the gunners put in a call to their Operations Room at nearby Erps-Querps, the Fortress came in fast for a rather rough landing on a plowed field near the gun position.
 

It bounced to within thirty yards of the gun crew and came to a sudden stop when one wingtip dipped and dug into the ground.  The propeller buckled and the engine stopped but the other three remained in operation.

John V. Crisp arrived upon the scene about twenty minutes after he had been notified of the plane's approach.  The three propellers continued revolving, but no one had emerged from the B-17.

Crisp finally discovered the front entrance underneath the fuselage and was able to get inside the plane.  He found no one aboard, "although evidence of fairly recent occupation was everywhere".

He managed also after some experimentation to turn off the four engines and then proceed to inspect what came to be called "The Phantom Fortress".

"I next looked at the navigator's table," Crisp has written.  "The aircraft log was open and the last words, written some time before, were 'Bad flak'.

"We now made a thorough search and our most remarkable find in the fuselage was about a dozen parachutes neatly wrapped and ready for clipping on.  This made the whereabouts of the crew even more mysterious.  The Sperry bomb-sight remained in the Perspex nose, quite undamaged, with its cover neatly folded beside it.  Back on the navigator's desk was the code book giving the colours and letters of the day for identification purposes.  Various fur-lined flying jackets lay in the fuselage together with a few bars of chocolate, partly consumed in some cases."

More @ Bayou Renaissance Man

Obama’s 9 Point Rules for “Nonviolently” Stopping Rape and Murder

Journalist Alert: Beware the Politicized "Hate Group" Designations by the $outhern Poverty Law Center ($PLC)

Via  avordvet

The Despicable $outhern Poverty Law Center

 

The latest "hate group" report issued by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) demonstrates once again that the SPLC is neither a reliable source of information nor an "objective observer" in the immigration policy debate. The latest report issued by the SLPC is long on rhetoric and allegations and short of facts. Responsible journalists will not accept these SPLC allegations at face value; they will independently investigate any and all claims made by the SPLC.
 
Grasping for attention, and no doubt to expand its donor base, the SPLC's recent report claims that the number of so-called "hate groups" has risen 4 percent since 2008 and over 50 percent since 2000. With great fanfare, they warn their own members and uncritical journalists of a "firestorm" of hate engulfing the land. Yet, the Southern Poverty Law Center offers no concrete information about these so-called "hate groups." For example, the Southern Poverty Law Center never identifies exactly where they are; or even who are they, what they believe, or how they act. How many members do they have, if any? Do they have money? How can you contact them? Do they really even exist as an operational group?

Occasionally, unsuspecting journalists swallow the bait hook, line and sinker, conferring on the Southern Poverty Law Center or SPLC some claim to quasi-official status, and that the SPLC designation is entitled to some official respect or recognition. Of course nothing could be further from the truth. The Southern Poverty Law Center made up the term, and has shown time and again that its use of the term "hate group" is merely a strategy to try to discourage and suppress political speech in this country.

More @ FAIR

10 things I learned at FEMA camp

US army document FM 3-39.40 is the handbook for running the notorious FEMA camps. You can download it here. The document is also for internment camps overseas, but it applies at home as is stated after section 2-34.

• Note. Resettlement conducted as a part of civil support operations will always be conducted in support of another lead agency (Federal Emergency Management Agency, Department of Homeland Security). 

 Skeptics will be skeptical, as is their nature, but keep in mind it was only 70 years ago that all the Japanese-Americans were marched off to camp by Executive Order 9066. Here's what we can expect.

1. Horses
Diagram J2, on page 261 shows 2 person mounted patrols. It would certainly be picturesque to have our guards on horseback.

2. Dogs

More @ Shades of Thomas Payne

15 Ridiculous Ways to get on the FBI Terrorist Watchlist

Roundabout via safetalker


In hopes of catching more terrorists, the FBI released twenty five instructional pamphlets intended for everyone from hobby store owners to karate instructors. The idea being that these businesses will turn in their customers to the FBI as suspected terrorists. Every single one of these examples were taken directly from FBI lists distributed to places of business in how they can help fight the war on terror.

1. Beauty shops have been instructed to look out for people getting picked up outside, rather than driving themselves. Sorry Grandma.

I certainly hope she drove herself.

More @ Shades of Thomas Payne

Batch 19

Enlarged

Batch 19

@ Harrika's this Friday.

New York State Sets Up Gun Snitch Line With $500 Award

Via avordvet

 New York State is now offering $500 to people who snitch on gun owners.

Menrec has the story.

And, The Troy Record also has news on the tip line on their Facebook page – It is real. There is actually someone there to take your tips… So that state officials can come take your guns.

More @ Gateway Pundit

Pictures of the Crimea

 

More @ govorilkin

A Message to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney From a Dying Veteran

Via Horace



I write this letter on the 10th anniversary of the Iraq War on behalf of my fellow Iraq War veterans. I write this letter on behalf of the 4,488 soldiers and Marines who died in Iraq. 

I write this letter on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of veterans who have been wounded and on behalf of those whose wounds, physical and psychological, have destroyed their lives. 

I am one of those gravely wounded. I was paralyzed in an insurgent ambush in 2004 in Sadr City. My life is coming to an end. I am living under hospice care.

I write this letter on behalf of husbands and wives who have lost spouses, on behalf of children who have lost a parent, on behalf of the fathers and mothers who have lost sons and daughters and on behalf of those who care for the many thousands of my fellow veterans who have brain injuries.

I write this letter on behalf of those veterans whose trauma and self-revulsion for what they have witnessed, endured and done in Iraq have led to suicide and on behalf of the active-duty soldiers and Marines who commit, on average, a suicide a day.

More @ Veterans Today

YWC Activist Profile -- Morgan Brooke Hancock

Via Ryan

 

It was the spring of 2006, and I was surfing the Net at the University of Louisville's library when I first sighted the online advertisement: "Now accepting applications for fall 2006 College Republican National Committee (CRNC) Field Representatives. Click here for more information." Without delay, I clicked the ad.

At that time, I was a self-proclaimed, dyed-in-the-wool Republican – a bona fide gun-toting, flag-waving, God-fearing Conservative who wanted nothing more than for the government to stay out of my business and my pocketbook. I still am all of these things –well, except for the fervent Republican part. I truly believed this Field Representative position would be the perfect opportunity for me to, as the CRNC slogan urges, "make a difference".

It was only a matter of days after submitting my application that I was contacted by Lindy Dinkladge, the CRNC National Field Director at the time. She asked me a couple generic questions, such as, "How do you feel about taxes?" and "What do you think about Saddam Hussein?" I assured her that I wasn't fond of either and, without further ado, I was hired.

That August, I boarded a plane to Washington, DC to embark on my training as a CRNC Field Representative. I spent the weeks learning how to create, as Chairman Paul Gourley described it, a "mass base youth effort." By the end of training, I was pumped up and raring to go. In my native Kentucky accent, I let everyone know that, "I'ma gonna recruit me some College Republicans, y'all!"

I was deployed to the state of Michigan to spend the fall semester attempting to win the hearts and minds of Michigan 20-somethings over to the Republican cause. In the year of 2006, Michigan was particularly politically vivacious. In addition to the federal elections occurring across the nation, Michigan had a highly contested gubernatorial race taking place as well.

I wasted no time hitting the grind. Within weeks, I had hauled my twenty-dollar Wal-Mart special fold-up recruitment table and College Republican sign-up sheet to over twelve Michigan campuses and had already recruited hundreds of new students. I was "rockin' and rollin'".

My relationship with the GOP couldn't possibly have been better. I was still young – and still very much in love. Little did I know that my puppy love, along with my naivete, would soon be eradicated.

More @ Youth For Western Civilization

Congressman: TSA Humiliates Injured Marine

 

An active-duty Marine who lost both his legs to an Improvised Explosive Device was humiliated by TSA agents after he was forced to remove his prosthetic legs and was then ordered to stand so agents could inspect his wheelchair for explosives.

The incident prompted Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) to fire off a letter to John Pistole, the administrator of the Transportation Security Administration.

“The Marine, whose prosthetics were exposed, was humiliated,” Duncan wrote. “While I recognize the necessity to appropriately screen passengers, I am concerned by the apparent lack of situational awareness and respect among TSA officers – specifically when it comes to the treatment of war wounded.”

More @ Fox

Mark Levin Slams Reid Over Marines Insult: 'Lowest of the Low-Lives'

 

Conservative radio host Mark Levin has slammed Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) for implying on Tuesday that the deaths of seven U.S. Marines in a training accident in Nevada was the result of budget cuts in the sequester that began on March 1. 

"Harry Reid, you’re the lowest of the low-lives, you know that? You really are at the bottom of the sewer, all the time on every issue....We deserve better than this man. He is a vicious stupid man," Levin said on Tuesday.

In a statement on the Senate floor on Tuesday, Reid had implied that the sequester was to blame for the deaths, which were caused by a mortar explosion: "These men and women, our Marines were training there in Hawthorne. And with this sequester, it's going to cut back this stuff. I just hope everyone understands the sacrifices made by our military."

The Marine Corps attacked Reid's remark, saying that the Majority Leader was guilty of "political posturing on the backs of those dead Marines."

As Breitbart News' Ben Shapiro pointed out:

More @ Breitbart

Nullification and Interposition

 

Describing the Diagram

In this diagram, nullification is a subset of interposition.  That is, “nullification” is “interposition”, but “interposition” is not necessarily “nullification”.  “Nullification” and “interposition” themselves are not seen as specific actions, but rather as categories into which actions fit.  The various ovals in the diagram are color-coded to represent the “strength” of the measure and positioned within the lines to reflect the branch of state government which can execute them.  

The royal blue ovals represent forms of interposition which are not nullification.  The turquoise ovals are passive forms of nullification where the state declares a federal action invalid, but doesn’t actively resist federal efforts at enforcement or implementation.  The red ovals are the confrontational forms of nullification where the state says that a federal action is invalid and the state will prevent the federal government from enforcing or implementing its program.

More @ Tenth Amendment Center

========================================

 Via Charlie

 Q&A on Nullification and Interposition

Q. What can I read that can give me a serious overview of the true impact of the tariffs of 1828 and 1832 on South Carolina

A: I think the question of the impact of the protective tariff on South Carolina is the wrong question to ask. It is something of a diversionary tactic, for reasons I will try to explain below.

The questions to ask about that period of American history are 1) was the protective tariff just?; 2) was it good policy?; 3) was it constitutional?. A believer in free markets and constitutionally limited government can only give a resounding NO to all these questions.

It was not just South Carolina that objected to the tariff. From the earliest national period John Taylor's writings and John Randolph's speeches, along with many other Southern spokesman, were eloquent and firm on the unjustness of the "protective" tariff. From 1824 on, every Southern legislature strongly condemned the tariff. The only difference was that only South Carolina was willing to go to the extent of actual nullification. 

This was not because South Carolina had suffered any more than others, but because South Carolina was the only State in which decisions could be made without the input of national party leaders who wanted to avoid hard issues.

From 1824 on it was apparent that the manufacturers intended a high and permanent system of tariffs, which had not been obvious before, when tariffs had been thought of as revenue measures with perhaps "incidental" protection. The term "lobbyists" was first used in America in the 1820s for the agents of the New England/Pennsylvania manufacturers who began to haunt the legislative halls and hold out inducements to congressmen. The acts of 1828 and 1832 were blatant examples of log-rolling rather than policy decisions. The latter was also deceptively presented by the Jackson/Van Buren forces as a remedy to tariff opponents. 

It was not only the South that vigorously opposed the tariffs of 1828 and 1832. 

More @ LRC

2nd South Carolina String Band at Cedar Creek Re-Enactment: Dixie

Obama's Limo Filled With Diesel By Mistake

 

The blind leading the blind.

One of the limousines in Barack Obama's fleet has broken after reports that it was mistakenly filled with the wrong fuel at the start of the US president's visit to Israel.

Another limo is on its way from Jordan, according to Ma'an News agency, citing Israel's Channel 10, to replace one that was filled with diesel instead of gasolene.

Ma'an reports:

More @ The Guardian

Dow Lucky 13

Via Cousin Colby