The Paradox and Absurdities of Carbon-Fretting and Rewilding

Herschel Smith · 28 Jan 2024 · 4 Comments

The Bureau of Land Management is planning a truly boneheaded move, angering some conservationists over the affects to herd populations and migration routes.  From Field & Stream. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) recently released a draft plan outlining potential solar energy development in the West. The proposal is an update of the BLM’s 2012 Western Solar Plan. It adds five new states—Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming—to a list of 11 western states already earmarked…… [read more]

Springfield Armory: Going For The Cop Market

BY Herschel Smith
4 years, 3 months ago

This video, around the 43 second mark.

Shooting windows out of cars.  Grand theft auto and cop-games.  It looks like they’re the same thing, and Springfield Armory is going for that market.  Why you would want to do something like this anywhere except downtown Fallujah in 2004-2007 is anyone’s guess.

Henry X Models

BY Herschel Smith
4 years, 3 months ago

After discussing the wisdom and utility of having a lever action carbine and a revolver in the same caliber, I wrote a note to Mr. Anthony Imperato of Henry Repeating Arms.  He wrote back a nice note and explained that they had new models coming but didn’t like announcing until they had the models ready to ship.  Then he sent me some swag.

Today I exchanged another note with him and congratulated Henry’s engineers on a really nice release.  The Henry X Model.

The specifications can he found here (focusing on the one that interests me, the .357 Magnum).

17.4″ barrel, scope-mountable, fiber optic sights, 7-rounds, side gate loading (which was the feature I was waiting for), synthetic stock, and rail at the front (would be useful for hog hunting).  MSRP = $970.

I really want to get one and perform a review, but this one will have to go into the queue.  Wife would not approve at the moment, and neither would the bank account.

New Hampshire Man Chokes Coyote To Death After It Attacked His Toddler

BY Herschel Smith
4 years, 3 months ago

News from New Hampshire.

A New Hampshire man fought and killed a coyote on Monday, police said, bringing a spate of attacks to an end.

Ian O’Reilly, from Kensington, choked the coyote to death after it attacked his two-year-old child. The same coyote is believed to have bitten a woman in the buttocks earlier in the day, and attacked a car.

The coyote targeted O’Reilly’s family while they were walking on a trail near Kensington. It bit one of O’Reilly’s three children, prompting the father to kick it. O’Reilly then throttled the animal.

“There was no interest in it going away,” O’Reilly told Boston 25 News. “[I] ultimately had to make the decision to become the aggressor and jumped on it, attacked it and [got] it to the ground.

“When I was able to get on top of it, I put my hand on its snout so it wasn’t able to attack me. There was quite a bit of snow on the ground, so I shoved the face into the snow and then eventually was able [to] put my hand on its snout and expire it through suffocation.

“Ultimately one hand on its windpipe and one hand on its snout did the trick.”

O’Reilly was reportedly bitten in the arm and chest. His child was wearing a bulky snowsuit and was unharmed.

“The coyote attacked a young child, and the child’s dad went into protection mode and suffocated the coyote until it succumbed,” police said.

New Hampshire’s fish and game department was testing the coyote for rabies, according to 25 News. O’Reilly received shots for the virus.

This may be a similar case to the recent event with the California mountain lion.  Shooting at the cat would have been danger close and a mistake of centimeters means life and death for his little boy.

The only other option would have been to jump him and shoot the Coyote point blank range.  I’d probably have tried that, but it’s difficult to say unless I was in that circumstance.

California Mountain Lion Attacks Boy, 3; Dad Fights Back By Hurling Backpack

BY Herschel Smith
4 years, 3 months ago

Via reader Richard, news from California.

Emergency crews responded to Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park in Lake Forest, California, Monday afternoon for a reported mountain lion attack on a 3-year-old child.

The child suffered injuries to the neck as a result of the attack, according to the Orange County Fire Authority who said the family of six was walking in the park with the 3-year-old in front of his father when the feline came out of nowhere and grabbed the child by the neck.

The father threw a backpack at the mountain lion, at which point the animal dropped the child in lieu of the backpack and jumped up a tree, the Orange County Fire Authority said.

While it’s tempting to say that I’d like to hurl a .45 ACP 230 grain fat boy at the cat, this instance is one where you’ve got to do something different.

Shooting at the cat that has your son in its clutches isn’t so smart.  If he’d had a gun he could have jumped the cat and shot it point blank, but you’ve got to have a lot of confidence in your shooting ability to hit a moving target and not shoot your own child.  A mistake of centimeters means life or death for your son.

Kudos to the father.

The NRA Wants To Compromise In Virginia

BY Herschel Smith
4 years, 3 months ago

News from Virginia.

Richmond, VA–You’re going to be angry when you hear the crap that’s coming out of the NRA today.

In an article posted just today by Reuters, a spokesperson for the National Rifle Association in Virginia stabbed gun owners in the back.

While 30,0000 or more gun owners are traveling and gathering at Virginia’s Capital at great expense–and no small risk to their safety–the NRA is offering to compromise.

NRA official Daniel J. Spiker made the repulsive comments in an article posted earlier today:

“Anti-gun billionaires who invested millions in the 2019 Virginia elections expect a return on that investment,” said NRA official D. J. Spiker.  “The NRA is fully prepared to work to defeat Governor Northam’s gun grab – but also work to find compromise.”

It’s an all too familiar compromise.  Who really expected the NRA to fight on the side of liberty and God-given rights?  Really.  Answer that question.  Who among us?

But be aware, Ralph “Kill the babies and give me all your guns” Northam.  If you swagger around telling everyone that you and the NRA compromised to achieve “gun safety laws,” to most of us that merely means that communists cooperated with betrayers.  In fact, any bill supported by the NRA will likely be opposed by the rest of us merely because it was supported by the NRA, if not for other reasons.

Trash Pick After The Richmond Rally

BY Herschel Smith
4 years, 3 months ago

News from Virginia.

Thousands flooded the surrounding streets of the Capitol Monday for a gun-rights rally, however, some locals in the area say the roads are the cleanest they’ve seen in quite some time.

There’s a reason for that, says Matthew Keisling, a protester who made sure that once he shared his message, he went above and beyond to protect it.

“I’ve been in the area when there have been other protests and demonstrations and people leave a lot of trash behind and it waters down the message,” Keisling said.

Good.  It’s the right and decent thing to do.  If you pack it in, pack it out, and make sure to pack anything else you see out.

This leaves a good impression on impressionable people, regardless of what it does or doesn’t do for the communists.

‘Prohibited Person’ Eminem’s Hypocritical Gun Stance as Vapid as His ‘Music’

BY Herschel Smith
4 years, 3 months ago

David Codrea.

Speaking of which, if he really wants the state to go big on “gun control,” how about we start with him? If he is prohibited from even touching a gun, I’d be curious to see if the one he’s holding on that album cover is a real one or a prop. As such things are thoroughly accounted for by corporate records in order to comply with IRS filing requirements, there’s no doubt an “accounts payable” invoice from an armorer that could tell us if 18 U.S. Code § 922 requirements for “receiving a firearm in interstate or foreign commerce” have been observed.

It seems to be all the rage, from idiot rappers to NASCAR and Walmart and Publix.  Everybody thinks taking this stance is going to win them favors.

Everyone I know rolls their eyes and looks for somewhere else to shop or some other product to buy.  Then again, I don’t know anyone who listens to rap “music.”

Deplatformed: How Big Tech Companies & Corporate America Subvert the Second Amendment

BY Herschel Smith
4 years, 3 months ago

Ammo.com.

The question after reading this becomes: What should be done, if anything?

It’s difficult to imagine a situation where government interference in Big Tech is going to have the desired outcome. The result might be more and greater censorship than existed before. However, it is worth noting that Sen. Ted Cruz, not exactly known as a proponent of Big Government, has been at the forefront of attempts to hold Big Tech accountable for its censorship of conservative voices on the Internet.

But it’s quite possible that new laws and regulations are not required. What is instead required is a more rigorous enforcement of the laws and regulations that are already on the books. To wit: Are Facebook, Twitter and YouTube content-neutral platforms or are they editorial platforms? If the former, then it would seem that their case for being able to censor legal speech on their platforms is legally flimsy. If the latter, then they are responsible for everything posted on their platforms by every user. Similarly, if Google is intentionally manipulating its results to yield a politicized result, that is likely in violation of existing telecommunications statutes.

The American shift from capitalism to corporatism has had dire unintended consequences: Power has coalesced in both Washington, D.C. and many tech and media companies, such that the latter can undermine American rights and manipulate American political opinion with impunity, while the former abdicates its oath to defend the U.S. Constitution against all enemies, both foreign and domestic.

I do have one quibble.  I don’t think corporatism + government creating power coalescence in the viper pit known as D.C. is unintended.  I think it’s all quite intentional.

Speeches At Richmond Rally

BY Herschel Smith
4 years, 3 months ago

This Facebook link is a video of the speeches at the Richmond rally.  The speeches begin at about 2:09 (that’s two hours and nine minutes into the video).  Before that it shows helicopter video surveying the scene, along with rooftop snipers.

Rooftop snipers.  How ridiculous.

Sheriff Sheriff Scott Jenkins of Culpepper County speaks.  To him, it appears that his promise to deputize thousands means they get to keep their firearms because they are now LEOs, not because he might need them to keep agents of the state from infringing on the rights of citizens in his county.

I suggest that someone in Culpepper County take him out for coffee and have a long conversation with him.

Democrats Say Rally Won’t Impact Their Plans For Gun Control Legislation

BY Herschel Smith
4 years, 3 months ago

It’s nice to see that rally day in Richmond went off without a hitch.  No infiltrators, at least, none who could really do any damage.  The best part of all of this was the lack of false flags.

Rex Tibor said in one video that this was happening, and it’s time to act.  I disagreed then and I do now.  Don’t get me wrong.  I sincerely appreciate the folks who could make it today.  I had initially intended to go despite my belief that it was a perfect opportunity for a false flag event.  I changed my mind when I found out about the cages.  I reconsidered when I saw that the rally was big enough to accommodate armed folks outside the cages, but I had to work today.  I think it would have been nice to be there with like minded folks.

But this isn’t the end.  It’s only the beginning.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Tens of thousands of gun-rights activists from around the country rallied peacefully at the Virginia Capitol on Monday to protest plans by the state’s Democratic leadership to pass gun-control legislation — a move that has become a key flash point in the national debate over gun violence

The size of the crowd and the expected participation of white supremacists and fringe militia groups raised fears that the state could see a repeat of the violence that exploded in 2017 in Charlottesville. But the rally concluded uneventfully around noon, and the mood was largely festive, with rally-goers chanting “USA!” and waving signs denouncing Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam.

An estimated 22,000 people attended, according to authorities, who said one woman was arrested on felony charge of wearing a mask in public.

But Democratic lawmakers — including House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn and Senate Majority Leader Dick Saslaw — told AP the rally wouldn’t impact their plans to pass gun-control measures, including universal background checks and a one-handgun-purchase-a-month limit. Democrats say tightening Virginia’s gun laws will make communities safer and help prevent mass shootings like the one last year in Virginia Beach, where a dozen people were killed in a municipal building.

Ignore the lie for a moment – it’s irrelevant.  The point is that the communists are unpersuaded.  The safest prediction, since the democrats own the House Senate and gubernatorial mansion, is that gun control passes, including a ban on MSRs and magazine capacity limits.

Now the real battle begins.  It’s going to be vitally important in the very near future for Virginians to know where their county Sheriff stands, or where there city police stands, and to know where their neighbors stand.  The real work will be taking local county commissioners and Sheriffs out for coffee, fisking their true intentions, personal training, organizing a militia, and making sure that communities stand together when the time comes to defy the laws.

Defiance of the laws means no state agent arrests citizens for ownership of MSRs or standard capacity magazines.  It means counties are sincere, clear-headed and intentional in their opposition to unconstitutional laws, and it means that they know the cost and are willing to bear it.

This will have to be done by Virginians, while everyone else tends to life back in their own communities and presses forward with the same sorts of plans.  It was always going to be this way.  A rally was never going to stop the controllers.

But what it does do is prepare the ground.  When the state is surprised that there is armed opposition to enforcement of the gun laws, your community can honestly say, “We warned you and you didn’t listen.  The warnings are finished, and froggy time has begun.  Lie in the bed you made.”


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