How Helene Affected The People Of Appalachia

Herschel Smith · 30 Sep 2024 · 11 Comments

To begin with, this is your president. This ought to be one of the most shameful things ever said by a sitting president. "Do you have any words to the victims of the hurricane?" BIDEN: "We've given everything that we have." "Are there any more resources the federal government could be giving them?" BIDEN: "No." pic.twitter.com/jDMNGhpjOz — RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 30, 2024 We must have spent too much money on Ukraine to help Americans in distress. I don't…… [read more]

TSA Airport Frivolities Over Firearms

BY Herschel Smith
6 months, 1 week ago

Reddit/Firearms.

I took 2 trips where I traveled with a firearm. 1 from Philadelphia to Wisconsin. The other from Philadelphia to Arizona. My trip to Wisconsin was smooth no issues. On the way back from Arizona. They ripped my bag apart, because they “didn’t” have a X-ray scanner. Then as I arrive in Philadelphia. I go to the area where they’re supposed to bring me my bag. My friend looks over at the baggage claim where the bags fall for.people to grab their luggage. There’s my bag clearly labeled that there’s a firearm in it just spinning around freely. The airport got mad at me because I was trying to report the incident and refused to talk to me on the premise. They even went as far as having me escorted out by the police when I wasn’t even raising my voice or causing a scene.

Reddit/Firearms.

I just flew with my concealed carry (packed correctly, ammo in a box, blablabla) in it’s own hard case and checked under my boarding pass. It should be noted that my wife and I shared a large check luggage for our clothes, checked in under HER boarding pass. That bag is what got searched, I know this because they placed a placard inside our bag saying they opened and searched it, this happened twice, flying to destination as well as flying home. If it only happened once I wouldn’t be nearly as creeped out, possibly just a random search, but both flights?? Feels more like I’ve just volunteered my name onto a special list for being treated like a problem. Even though my ccw means I am “background checked” literally everyday, I should be the least profiled type of person ever. Anyone share my experience? This was the first time flying with my firearm, so I’m wondering if this is the perverbial “new normal” I’ve heard so much about.

I don’t know anything about a “new normal.” But the old normal is bad enough, and I’ve experienced the stupidity for years now.

There are those who say to avoid flying by air. It’s true enough that this is good advice, but it cannot always be followed. Some of us still have to travel by air for business purposes.

I have flown out of Charlotte many times before, and almost always have a good experience there. They seem knowledgeable and quite accustomed to dealing with firearms.

The same can’t be said at many other places. Denver is a bad place. They take luggage to a separate room and x-ray the entire piece of luggage, as if that’s going to prove anything.

Phoenix is even worse. A woman once took my luggage to a room, with me watching, and unpacked the entire contents of the luggage, clothes and all, looking for God only knows what, completely ignoring the firearm while showing no interest in whether it was truly unloaded (as if that makes thing safer anyway), then threw everything back into the luggage unfolded, gave it back to me, and walked away.

It’s the zaniest thing I’ve ever witnessed. It varies by airport, and while the TSA may tell you that the rules are understood and followed everywhere, they are lying to you. They are not, and they are not.

None of this adds to anyone’s safety. It’s all Kabuki security theater for the purpose of providing a jobs program to people too stupid or lazy to find good work doing anything else.

The only real advice I can give is to ensure that your firearm is inside a locked container where someone’s hands or a tool could be used to pry it open. Also, I like the boxes that have a cable that will attach to a structural member of the luggage. If you ever drop it off where it may be located outside (Denver is like that), watch it until it goes behind the wall.

Beyond that, it’s a crapshoot.

Quite obviously, the real reason for all of this is to prevent theft by airport employees and contractors, some of whom are being paid by your tax dollars.

Supreme Court Ignores AWBs

BY Herschel Smith
6 months, 1 week ago

Most of the reasons he gives in this video amount to one thing: the justices have either sided with the controllers or aren’t happy with the nature of the ruling that would come down if the SCOTUS took the issues up.

Thus, they will allow the lower courts to beat them up over this issue and tell them they are wrong. Quite literally, the lower courts have bullied the supreme court into ignoring a major infringement of constitutionally guaranteed rights. It’s the most shameful thing I have ever witnessed as an American citizen in my entire life.

Steve Dettelbach on the Purpose of the Second Amendment and Begging the Question

BY Herschel Smith
6 months, 2 weeks ago

Source.

Rep. McClintock directly asked ATF Director Steven Dettelbach, “What do you think is the purpose of the Second Amendment?” Dettelbach responded, emphasizing that the Second Amendment, like all amendments, is meant to protect fundamental rights of Americans, including the right to bear arms.

Perhaps it’s my aging years, perhaps it’s just being crotchety.  After all, Statler and Waldorf are my role models. I don’t know. But I hate it when people use the phrase “begging the question” as a replacement for “Well, that leads me to ask another question,” or “The next sensible question is [so-and-so].”

No. Don’t do that.

Begging the question is a formal logical fallacy of assuming the consequent. In other words, all immediate inferences or syllogisms have presuppositions (or axiomatic irreducibles), and another proposition that follows (or perhaps multiple other propositions that follow). If you can prove (or think you can prove) your presupposition, it isn’t a presupposition. It isn’t your starting point in your system of philosophy and logic. Presuppositions are not amenable to proof.

Begging the question has to do with reasoning in a circle and saying nothing. It isn’t quite what philosophers call self referential incoherence, which is a proposition that refutes itself, but in saying nothing, Dettelbach is very close.

You see, when asked about the raison d’etre for the second amendment, which pertains to the right to keep and bear arms (RKBA), he responded that it exists to protect the RKBA.

He knows the real reason, i.e., the second amendment exists as a bulwark against tyranny. But given his task master(s), he can’t say that. Dettelbach does appear to me to be a particularly ignorant man, but he knows enough to know that he said nothing to the congressman.

And the congressman apparently let him get away with it.

Dean Weingarten on the Use of 9mm for Bear Defense

BY Herschel Smith
6 months, 2 weeks ago

At Ammoland.

Ignore all other “authorities” on handguns and bear defense (at least regarding statistics and history). Dean rules.

With that said, I think I’d rather have a larger bore handgun for bear defense. If 9mm works, I presume it’s because of shot placement or number of rounds.

Sturgeon, Missouri Cop Kills Small Blind and Deaf Dog

BY Herschel Smith
6 months, 2 weeks ago

The Civil Rights Lawyer is covering this. It’s on Twitter (X) too (h/t Wisco). Here is the full video below.

Who called the police?

Who … called … the … police?

After holding the cop accountable for animal cruelty, the person who called the police should be run out of town.

When will Americans return to the notion of self-policing again?  You know, family, church, community. When you turn to the state for policing, the state knows nothing except the use of force. That’s the only tool in its tool belt.

On top of that, most police are less than average intelligence, less than average motivation, and are not usually regarded as thinking men.

In this case, the cop was lazy, having run out of patience for catching the dog. I didn’t get to see a side profile of the cop, but my guess is that he’s overweight and got tired of walking around. Someone prove me wrong.

Additionally, he lied both to his superiors and to the man who questioned him. The dog wasn’t a threat at all. It was a 10-pound lap dog who was deaf and blind. That was my immediate reaction when I saw the video and would have guessed that without having been told. Because I am a thinking man. Either that, or the dog was elderly and suffering from age-related issues. Either way, that doesn’t warrant a death sentence.

So the cop was [probably] fat, very lazy, had no emotional sympathy for the owner of the dog (and so he is likely a sociopath), is a liar, and is below average intelligence and motivation.

I would have walked over and picked the dog up. Because I am a thinking man and know that the dog wasn’t suffering from rabies. If the dog had been injured, the cop wasn’t in a legal position to know or do anything about it. Only a veterinarian is legally allowed to put dogs down.

Folks, this describes most cops in America today. America didn’t see it before the age of body-cams, but people see it today. God bless body-cams. The camera doesn’t lie.

Do not ever involve the police. You and your beasts are never in more danger than when the police are around. There is no situation so bad that it cannot be made worse by the presence of the police.

Stay away from the police. Do not get near them. Your life is in danger if you do. They are usually trigger-happy fools. Get away from them as quickly as you can.

Do not involve the police in your life. Ever.

Magnetic Red Dot Mount from High End Defense

BY Herschel Smith
6 months, 2 weeks ago

Alloutdoor.com.

High End Defense has brought out an interesting new pistol optics mounting system at the 2024 NRA Annual Meeting. This new magnetic red dot mount allows users to add on a pistol dot onto a non-optic ready pistol easily utilizing the rear sight and magnets. So you no longer need to have any milling on the slide done, and no mounting plates or tools are needed for a pistol red dot. Instead, it locks into place using two components. The High End Defense rear sight first needs to be installed into place in the rear sight dovetail. Then the magnetic mount keys into place on the slide and the rear sight to lock into place.

Images at the link.

I wondered how long it would be before someone broke into this market. It made sense to me years ago. Slide a mount into the dove tail and you’re off to the races.

Apparently, the magnet doesn’t lose zero. It seems to me the only thing you lose without milling a slide is height over bore (if what you want is a sleek profile and low height).

They intend to do 1911s.

Computational fluid dynamics simulation of shooting a bullet from a rifle barrel

BY Herschel Smith
6 months, 2 weeks ago

Cool CFD video. Based on the time of travel down the barrel (0.0006 s), I compute the lifetime of a barrel at 2000 shots to be 1.2 seconds.

h/t Wisco.

B.C. Black Bear Hunter Hospitalized After Killing a Grizzly in Self Defense

BY Herschel Smith
6 months, 3 weeks ago

Source.

In a press release, the RCMP explained that the father and son “had been tracking a bear with dogs” when the adult grizzly suddenly attacked the son. The two men were hunting on a steep mountainside south of Elkford, which lies in the Canadian Rockies just west of the Alberta border. Both men were locals, according to the RCMP, and the son lives in nearby Sparwood. “The man suffered serious injuries,” the RCMP said, “including broken bones and lacerations to his body during the attack.”

At some point during the attack, the son was able to shoot the bear with the firearm he was carrying. Neither the RCMP nor the BCCOS have shared any details about the firearm used, but it was likely the same rifle or shotgun he would have been using to hunt black bears; Canada has strict laws prohibiting hunters from carrying handguns unless they have a special license or explicit permission from the government.

Presumably he used a long gun to dispatch the bear. I would rather have a long gun than a handgun, but the advantage of the handgun is rapid deploy-ability.

Assuming you have the long gun in low ready, I would have to surmise that this is just a failure to respond to get off a shot before his father was wounded by the bear.

It would be interesting to know the style and make of the long gun.

Ban all the Things

BY Herschel Smith
6 months, 3 weeks ago

Supreme Court Refuses to Consider Maryland Assault Weapon Ban

BY Herschel Smith
6 months, 3 weeks ago

Source.

And here is Mark Smith to explain. But you know, it seems that the conservatives on the court are the only ones that have manners and refuse to consider cases that haven’t been fully decided in the lower courts.

As if that’s a requirement or something. Sotomayor apparently has no problem bossing the lower courts around on her own.

I still think it all comes down to rank cowardice.


26th MEU (10)
Abu Muqawama (12)
ACOG (2)
ACOGs (1)
Afghan National Army (36)
Afghan National Police (17)
Afghanistan (704)
Afghanistan SOFA (4)
Agriculture in COIN (3)
AGW (1)
Air Force (40)
Air Power (10)
al Qaeda (83)
Ali al-Sistani (1)
America (22)
Ammunition (285)
Animals (297)
Ansar al Sunna (15)
Anthropology (3)
Antonin Scalia (1)
AR-15s (379)
Arghandab River Valley (1)
Arlington Cemetery (2)
Army (87)
Assassinations (2)
Assault Weapon Ban (29)
Australian Army (7)
Azerbaijan (4)
Backpacking (3)
Badr Organization (8)
Baitullah Mehsud (21)
Basra (17)
BATFE (229)
Battle of Bari Alai (2)
Battle of Wanat (18)
Battle Space Weight (3)
Bin Laden (7)
Blogroll (3)
Blogs (24)
Body Armor (23)
Books (3)
Border War (18)
Brady Campaign (1)
Britain (38)
British Army (35)
Camping (5)
Canada (17)
Castle Doctrine (1)
Caucasus (6)
CENTCOM (7)
Center For a New American Security (8)
Charity (3)
China (16)
Christmas (16)
CIA (30)
Civilian National Security Force (3)
Col. Gian Gentile (9)
Combat Outposts (3)
Combat Video (2)
Concerned Citizens (6)
Constabulary Actions (3)
Coolness Factor (3)
COP Keating (4)
Corruption in COIN (4)
Council on Foreign Relations (1)
Counterinsurgency (218)
DADT (2)
David Rohde (1)
Defense Contractors (2)
Department of Defense (210)
Department of Homeland Security (26)
Disaster Preparedness (5)
Distributed Operations (5)
Dogs (15)
Donald Trump (27)
Drone Campaign (4)
EFV (3)
Egypt (12)
El Salvador (1)
Embassy Security (1)
Enemy Spotters (1)
Expeditionary Warfare (17)
F-22 (2)
F-35 (1)
Fallujah (17)
Far East (3)
Fathers and Sons (2)
Favorite (1)
Fazlullah (3)
FBI (39)
Featured (190)
Federal Firearms Laws (18)
Financing the Taliban (2)
Firearms (1,801)
Football (1)
Force Projection (35)
Force Protection (4)
Force Transformation (1)
Foreign Policy (27)
Fukushima Reactor Accident (6)
Ganjgal (1)
Garmsir (1)
general (15)
General Amos (1)
General James Mattis (1)
General McChrystal (44)
General McKiernan (6)
General Rodriguez (3)
General Suleimani (9)
Georgia (19)
GITMO (2)
Google (1)
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar (1)
Gun Control (1,674)
Guns (2,341)
Guns In National Parks (3)
Haditha Roundup (10)
Haiti (2)
HAMAS (7)
Haqqani Network (9)
Hate Mail (8)
Hekmatyar (1)
Heroism (5)
Hezbollah (12)
High Capacity Magazines (16)
High Value Targets (9)
Homecoming (1)
Homeland Security (3)
Horses (2)
Humor (72)
Hunting (41)
ICOS (1)
IEDs (7)
Immigration (114)
India (10)
Infantry (4)
Information Warfare (4)
Infrastructure (4)
Intelligence (23)
Intelligence Bulletin (6)
Iran (171)
Iraq (379)
Iraq SOFA (23)
Islamic Facism (64)
Islamists (98)
Israel (19)
Jaish al Mahdi (21)
Jalalabad (1)
Japan (3)
Jihadists (81)
John Nagl (5)
Joint Intelligence Centers (1)
JRTN (1)
Kabul (1)
Kajaki Dam (1)
Kamdesh (9)
Kandahar (12)
Karachi (7)
Kashmir (2)
Khost Province (1)
Khyber (11)
Knife Blogging (7)
Korea (4)
Korengal Valley (3)
Kunar Province (20)
Kurdistan (3)
Language in COIN (5)
Language in Statecraft (1)
Language Interpreters (2)
Lashkar-e-Taiba (2)
Law Enforcement (6)
Lawfare (14)
Leadership (6)
Lebanon (6)
Leon Panetta (2)
Let Them Fight (2)
Libya (14)
Lines of Effort (3)
Littoral Combat (8)
Logistics (50)
Long Guns (1)
Lt. Col. Allen West (2)
Marine Corps (280)
Marines in Bakwa (1)
Marines in Helmand (67)
Marjah (4)
MEDEVAC (2)
Media (68)
Medical (146)
Memorial Day (6)
Mexican Cartels (42)
Mexico (62)
Michael Yon (6)
Micromanaging the Military (7)
Middle East (1)
Military Blogging (26)
Military Contractors (5)
Military Equipment (25)
Militia (9)
Mitt Romney (3)
Monetary Policy (1)
Moqtada al Sadr (2)
Mosul (4)
Mountains (25)
MRAPs (1)
Mullah Baradar (1)
Mullah Fazlullah (1)
Mullah Omar (3)
Musa Qala (4)
Music (25)
Muslim Brotherhood (6)
Nation Building (2)
National Internet IDs (1)
National Rifle Association (97)
NATO (15)
Navy (30)
Navy Corpsman (1)
NCOs (3)
News (1)
NGOs (3)
Nicholas Schmidle (2)
Now Zad (19)
NSA (3)
NSA James L. Jones (6)
Nuclear (63)
Nuristan (8)
Obama Administration (221)
Offshore Balancing (1)
Operation Alljah (7)
Operation Khanjar (14)
Ossetia (7)
Pakistan (165)
Paktya Province (1)
Palestine (5)
Patriotism (7)
Patrolling (1)
Pech River Valley (11)
Personal (73)
Petraeus (14)
Pictures (1)
Piracy (13)
Pistol (4)
Pizzagate (21)
Police (659)
Police in COIN (3)
Policy (15)
Politics (985)
Poppy (2)
PPEs (1)
Prisons in Counterinsurgency (12)
Project Gunrunner (20)
PRTs (1)
Qatar (1)
Quadrennial Defense Review (2)
Quds Force (13)
Quetta Shura (1)
RAND (3)
Recommended Reading (14)
Refueling Tanker (1)
Religion (495)
Religion and Insurgency (19)
Reuters (1)
Rick Perry (4)
Rifles (1)
Roads (4)
Rolling Stone (1)
Ron Paul (1)
ROTC (1)
Rules of Engagement (75)
Rumsfeld (1)
Russia (37)
Sabbatical (1)
Sangin (1)
Saqlawiyah (1)
Satellite Patrols (2)
Saudi Arabia (4)
Scenes from Iraq (1)
Second Amendment (687)
Second Amendment Quick Hits (2)
Secretary Gates (9)
Sharia Law (3)
Shura Ittehad-ul-Mujahiden (1)
SIIC (2)
Sirajuddin Haqqani (1)
Small Wars (72)
Snipers (9)
Sniveling Lackeys (2)
Soft Power (4)
Somalia (8)
Sons of Afghanistan (1)
Sons of Iraq (2)
Special Forces (28)
Squad Rushes (1)
State Department (23)
Statistics (1)
Sunni Insurgency (10)
Support to Infantry Ratio (1)
Supreme Court (62)
Survival (203)
SWAT Raids (57)
Syria (38)
Tactical Drills (38)
Tactical Gear (15)
Taliban (168)
Taliban Massing of Forces (4)
Tarmiyah (1)
TBI (1)
Technology (21)
Tehrik-i-Taliban (78)
Terrain in Combat (1)
Terrorism (96)
Thanksgiving (13)
The Anbar Narrative (23)
The Art of War (5)
The Fallen (1)
The Long War (20)
The Surge (3)
The Wounded (13)
Thomas Barnett (1)
Transnational Insurgencies (5)
Tribes (5)
TSA (25)
TSA Ineptitude (14)
TTPs (4)
U.S. Border Patrol (6)
U.S. Border Security (19)
U.S. Sovereignty (24)
UAVs (2)
UBL (4)
Ukraine (10)
Uncategorized (99)
Universal Background Check (3)
Unrestricted Warfare (4)
USS Iwo Jima (2)
USS San Antonio (1)
Uzbekistan (1)
V-22 Osprey (4)
Veterans (3)
Vietnam (1)
War & Warfare (419)
War & Warfare (41)
War Movies (4)
War Reporting (21)
Wardak Province (1)
Warriors (6)
Waziristan (1)
Weapons and Tactics (79)
West Point (1)
Winter Operations (1)
Women in Combat (21)
WTF? (1)
Yemen (1)

December 2024
November 2024
October 2024
September 2024
August 2024
July 2024
June 2024
May 2024
April 2024
March 2024
February 2024
January 2024
December 2023
November 2023
October 2023
September 2023
August 2023
July 2023
June 2023
May 2023
April 2023
March 2023
February 2023
January 2023
December 2022
November 2022
October 2022
September 2022
August 2022
July 2022
June 2022
May 2022
April 2022
March 2022
February 2022
January 2022
December 2021
November 2021
October 2021
September 2021
August 2021
July 2021
June 2021
May 2021
April 2021
March 2021
February 2021
January 2021
December 2020
November 2020
October 2020
September 2020
August 2020
July 2020
June 2020
May 2020
April 2020
March 2020
February 2020
January 2020
December 2019
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
June 2019
May 2019
April 2019
March 2019
February 2019
January 2019
December 2018
November 2018
October 2018
September 2018
August 2018
July 2018
June 2018
May 2018
April 2018
March 2018
February 2018
January 2018
December 2017
November 2017
October 2017
September 2017
August 2017
July 2017
June 2017
May 2017
April 2017
March 2017
February 2017
January 2017
December 2016
November 2016
October 2016
September 2016
August 2016
July 2016
June 2016
May 2016
April 2016
March 2016
February 2016
January 2016
December 2015
November 2015
October 2015
September 2015
August 2015
July 2015
June 2015
May 2015
April 2015
March 2015
February 2015
January 2015
December 2014
November 2014
October 2014
September 2014
August 2014
July 2014
June 2014
May 2014
April 2014
March 2014
February 2014
January 2014
December 2013
November 2013
October 2013
September 2013
August 2013
July 2013
June 2013
May 2013
April 2013
March 2013
February 2013
January 2013
December 2012
November 2012
October 2012
September 2012
August 2012
July 2012
June 2012
May 2012
April 2012
March 2012
February 2012
January 2012
December 2011
November 2011
October 2011
September 2011
August 2011
July 2011
June 2011
May 2011
April 2011
March 2011
February 2011
January 2011
December 2010
November 2010
October 2010
September 2010
August 2010
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
April 2010
March 2010
February 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006

about · archives · contact · register

Copyright © 2006-2024 Captain's Journal. All rights reserved.