He's Dead And I'm OK With It

I've never hid that I detested them and I feel like I'd be a hypocrite if I expressed any remorse now they've died.

They wronged a friend and never said sorry.

They slighted me, and I walked away.

My anger with them kept me from maintaining a couple of friendships.

I know this is a bit inside baseball...

I guess I should explain.

Once upon a time there was a car club, The Gulf Coast SS Club.

The president of that club, effectively, declared himself President for Life and we disposed him.  It was over a matter of kicking two members out without even discussing it with us, the members.  It was HIS club, not our club.

The entire point of the revolution was to eschew the rules common with car clubs and just be "The Club Without Rules".

Two of our members were friends with the people who're a big, national, Impala SS and Caprice club.  INC, for Impalas-N-Caprices.  But they weren't big or national at the time.

So we became INC - FLA and everyone was all happy.  INC the big car club didn't care because we're all friends here.

But The Departed had other ideas.  He wanted the club to become an official affiliate of INC the big car club.

One day we were INC-TPA, there were bylaws and rules and he was President for Life.

I was meh until he harangued a longtime member who'd also had long running health problems and threatened to boot him from the club if he didn't attend the minimum number of meetings.  When I objected to this, I was also "put in my place".

So I quit.

Disappointingly, the club continued without me and didn't mind the President for Life situation and I became more disgusted that they accepted it.  They just accepted that he could tell someone they weren't a member anymore and didn't even fight him over it.

He never apologized to the longtime member.  Or his widow.

He never apologized to me.

Now he never will.

Call me old fashioned, but I feel that the first step in forgiveness is that apology.

I can forget it, I can ignore it, but I can't forgive it until remorse is expressed.

I was ignoring it.

Now he's dead and I don't mourn.

Probe Complete

For minimal losses, an unarmed party probed the defenses of The Capitol Building yesterday.

Do any of the idiots in Washington realize what that could mean to their safety?

The probe revealed procedures and response times.

If this was intel gathering, then the next probe will be armed and will take into account the escape routes revealed in the unarmed probing.

You fuckers have never dealt with real war, have you?

Hard lessons are likely coming.

This probe could be considered a warning, but you're too self centered to realize it and back off, aren't you?

I'm not going do endorse anything, or do much of anything to beyond pointing out you've shown tactical and strategic vulnerabilities and are acting like you've won not just a battle, but the entire war.

A pawn has been sacrificed to get the queen and you think you're controlling the board?

Slow clap to follow.

What's The Use

I just spent some time dotting the 'i's' and crossing the 't's' for a rant.

Got to the end and realized something; everyone who will understand what I had to say already does and everyone who won't understand never will.

Please note that I didn't use "can't understand"...

New Paradigm

I am rapidly discovering two things about everything I think is interesting or important.

The first is they are never interesting or important to anyone else.

The second is that I am completely wrong about whatever it is.

There's more to it than that, but those are the core things.

It's like I live in a delusional Dunning-Kruger state at all times.

To the point I am wondering what accidental happenstance has allowed me to keep breathing in the correct sequence all these years.

I do know one thing.  There's endless topics that I cannot understand because I am not a subject of that topic.

I cannot understand women's rights or feminism because I am not a woman.

I cannot understand what it's like to be a racial minority because I am not a racial minority.

I cannot understand anything about LGBT rights because I am not LGBT myself.

Anything I think I know about any of these topics is wrong, see Dunning-Kruger.

In short, I am discovering that I am an irredeemable bigot who hates everyone and everything not like myself who'd been thinking that I didn't hate anyone.

I am happy that I have been put in my place by my betters and I will endeavor to never leave it again.

Florida Is Strange

Florida is strange because so much of our population comes from someplace else.

Rare is the Floridian, seemingly, who was born within hour's drive of where they live now.

Before Florida became a destination state and God's Waiting Room it was already possessed of multiple personalities.

The Panhandle has often been referred as "South Georgia".

Tampa and Miami are distinct from The Panhandle and from each other.

The interior of the state has long been rural and agricultural, changing significantly only when some obscure guy you might have heard of started buying up land near Orlando.

As God's Waiting Room we get retirees from diverse places.  People who are living on a fixed pension from places that tax their pension checks and cost more to live in and have shitty weather.

We've gotten their kids who want to live closer to their elderly parents.

Tampa got a ton of Cubans, but a different kind of Cuban than Miami and because of different circumstances.

Many people move to Florida because it simply suited them better.  Lower taxes, lower costs of living, better weather (except for hurricanes and brutal humidity; but those aren't year-round problems).

We have the descendants of retired mafiosos.

We have old money and new.

We're diverse!

Things are strange here because of the mix and the fact that winter doesn't kill the crazies like it does up north.  We're a meme generating zone.

You've heard of Florida-Man, ever hear of Minnesota-Man?

Because of all this, our politics get downright strange and because of it things you'd think were as insane as the typical Florida-Man story are just the lay of the land.

To us it's normal.  To you it's insane.

Yet... for the most part... it's not really any worse than where you are.  It's just different.  Perhaps more open and in your face than what you're used to because we've got to hammer it out in more than one version of The American Culture to get the point across, and that means finding a common language to say it in.

A person who moved here from Detroit is not going to be reached by the same message as someone from New York.  But a politician has to say the same thing to both people the same way, or be accused of being two-faced.

Unlike many high-population states we are not dominated by a single city, though Miami and The Holy Mouse Orlando would like that to be otherwise.

What works, what doesn't and how to tell is difficult to explain to people who aren't living here.

That sounds wonderfully trite, but we don't get YOUR politics either.  Even if we started where you are.

Where else could you go from homosexuality be banned by law to a tiny, upstart pro-gun LGBT organization merging with the oldest pro-gun LGBT organization in a few years?

Where else could a Republican super-majority pass a massive anti-gun bill and then try to claim it was not.

Where else could a blogger note that the sky was not, in fact, falling because people open-carried AT the notoriously bad police of Miami-Dade be treated as if they had organized the whole thing solely to promote more gun control?

How Hard Is It To Say You're Sorry?

Two months on and not a peep.

It's how you treat the "lesser" people that shows your true character.

You fucked up, you were a bitch.

I'm not the only one who noticed and it's on YOU to say you're sorry.

Maybe if you had your comments on, you'd have not isolated yourself in the groupthink.

Alas.

How Can You Tell They're A Professional Writer

Because the "budget" build is more than most people's mortgage payment and everything is brand name.

Not just brand name, but paying advertiser's brand names.

Not just brand name advertisers, but brand new, in production items at full retail price.

It's tiresome and it's obvious to nearly all of the people who might read it.

So Old It's In Latin

Argumentum ad verecundiam

No Great Revelation

Oh the joys of Facebook.

A former friend has decided that since he doesn't have to worry about my delicate sensibilities he can now openly be a frothing liberal.

Good for him!  You shouldn't have to hide who you really are.

But to the frothy liberals...

Have you ever noticed how much your side lies to advance their agenda?

I did not get to keep my doctor.

Increased regulation of healthcare did not lead to better care and lower prices.

Conceal carry did not lead to blood in the streets.

Increased levels of gun ownership did not lead to increased levels of crime.

Exporting jobs and factories did not lead to increased prosperity for the middle class.

Increased spending on primary education did not lead to higher test scores.

Smaller classroom sizes did not lead to higher test scores.

Every single one of the above policies was provably incorrect at the time of passage and the advocates dismissed the possibility they were wrong airily and often with personal attacks on the people who were opposed to these "sensible" policies.

When you notice a pattern, you start to wonder if the people advocating along this pattern are stupid or lying.

You begin to look at anything they propose with a jaundiced eye.

You start sounding like a conspiracy nut because you start looking for ulterior motives.

You lose friends because you don't accept the mainstream media's unquestioning support of these same failed policies.

But I realized something today.

I am far happier living in the real world without their companionship than I was living in their world of falsehood and vain hopes.

What You Just Said Was Sexist

Another Dancing Monkey decides to become pundit.

***Warning: political opinions follow. Don't @ me, don't email me to argue or complain, I won't read it***
It's election day tomorrow in the USA and we have a choice between electing the first female president or a racist, sexist sociopath. We have a chance to show the world that we are better than our worst impulses by rejecting Donald Trump and everything he stands for. It is my hope that we can all come together and do the right thing.

- Jeph Jacques

Why, how open minded of you to not even read someone who dares disagree with your comic-artist ass.

If you're voting for Hillary because she's a woman, you've made a sexist decision.

I guess it's fair.  Hillary has been a woman her entire life where Donald only became a racist, sexist, sociopath once he'd gotten the Republican nomination.

Buh bye Questionable Content.  I don't enrich the people who hate me.  Since my click to your comic creates some sort of revenue I can't click there any more.  A pity too, since it's a very fun and interesting world you've created.

UPDATE:

The rat fuck doesn't even live in the US anymore.  He left for Canada more than a year ago.

I don't like Fred Reed telling me we're doing it wrong from Mexico either.

Cheering from the sidelines doesn't do for a full contact sport like politics!

Can't Kick Me Out

"If you cannot say what you mean; you cannot mean what you say."

"If the reader cannot understand what you've written, it's your writing that's to blame not their reading."

I am not a good writer, nor am I paid to write.  I would write here if I had zero readers (and I did too!).

I don't ask you to keep reading if you don't like what you're reading.

I occasionally worry about saying something that will make me unpopular with the cool kids.

Then I realize; I'm already unpopular with the cool kids.

I can't be kicked out of a club I was never allowed to join.

I don't go to the exclusive summer camps.

I am not deferred to because I can name drop the elbows I've rubbed.

I am not a member of the instructorate (instructorati?), the ring-knockers of gun owners.

What I do recognize is a dismissive tone backed by popularity and an accustomed expectation of deferment.

I also recognize my mistake in giving that deferment in the hopes of being liked.  That was stupid in high school and nothing has happened in the intervening time since that changed it.

So, oh noes!  The football team and the cheerleaders won't invite me to their parties!

It's not actually me that has the problem.

BASE Jumper Dies In Freak Accident

That's the headline.

To me the proper headline that would actually be news is "BASE Jumper survives unscathed after breaking no laws."

Because that's the occurrence that's rare.

These guys making meat-waffles is pretty routine.

Occasionally You're Not Being Paranoid

You think you know someone, then one day they forget that you can read what they've posted.

Then you learn what they really think about you.

Barely tolerated probably best describes how they felt about me based on how they were talking to their other friends about "people like him".

I'm not the "him" they're talking about, but the pure hate expressed for traits I share with this person is illustrative.  They hate people like him and me.

Well, don't trouble your pretty head over people like me, I'll just not bother staying in touch from now on.  To make it even simpler, we'll set the phone to dump your ass straight to voicemail and block Hangouts as well.

There.  Now you don't have to be troubled by this evil prick anymore.

Assuming you even notice that I've stopped talking to you.

Sinister Friendly

There seems to be a misunderstanding about what ambidextrous means with regards to firearms controls.

Mirrored controls where they're identical on both sides of the gun is the obviously ambi solution.

But what if I were to tell you that it's not always true that non-mirrored controls are purely dexterous leaving the poor sinisters out in the cold.

The AR is easily operated with your southpaw.  It's just not operated identically.

The selector is rotated with the base knuckle of the left index finger instead of the right thumb.

The bolt stop is operated by the left index finger instead of slapping it with your left palm.  You can also reach around the magazine well to hit it with your right hand too.

The magazine release is operated with the right thumb instead of the right index finger.

The charging handle is already ambidextrous if you use a two fingered claw-grip on it.

The charging handle is by far and beyond the most misunderstood part of this gun!  It really is just there to open up the action before you insert a magazine and load by releasing the bolt with the bolt-stop.

It's got an immediate action function too, but I've yet to see anyone take the concept of "gun not go bang", to the first step in trouble shooting being COVER rather than start tinkering while you stand there.  Why are you standing there in the open again?  I forgot.

Clearing malfunctions is important, but it won't do you a bit of good if you get perforated while you're fixing the problem.  Once you've got cover, you can take a bit more time on the problem and having a charging handle that's super fast to work one-handed left-handed while your right hand stays on the pistol grip with the rifle shouldered stops seeming so critical.  By the way, just blindly and reflexively racking the bolt makes one of the more common AR stoppages worse, not better.

SPORTS is not perfect, but the 'O' is important.

By the way, show of hands, how many times have you seen an AR malfunction where a normal charging handle wouldn't bring it back AND it could be fixed without completely taking it apart and/or replacing parts?  Those of you with your hands up, how many hundreds (if not thousands) of rounds got fired before you saw that?

It was a lot, wasn't it?

It's not broken, stop trying to fix it.

Obvious Really

There's jokes about giant belt-buckles and the south.

Just about everyone has noticed that smart phones are getting bigger and bigger.

Yesterday I saw someone wearing their giant smart phone on their belt center-front.

Like a giant belt-buckle.

I am not sure if I should weep incessantly or giggle uncontrollably.

Facebook Makes Me Stupid

So we'll nuke that shit.

Blogger probably makes me stupid too.

Update:

As a matter of fact, it even SAYS "Ignorant and Stupid" over there to the my right / your left!

I Should Apply

Cold Fury writes: "I’ve long seen government, federal especially, as a basic con game: a jobs-n-welfare program for people too stupid, lazy, or incompetent to hold real, productive jobs in any kind of free market economy."

I'm stupid, lazy, incompetent and have no productive job in the free market.

I just missed my calling it seems.

Dammit He's Dead

If he weren't dead I'd recommend Hiro Onoda to the position of Administrator of Drug Enforcement Agency.

Concession

If the pro-choice side concedes that abortions are repugnant.

Will the pro-life side concede that making them illegal will be as effective at ending them as the war on drugs has been at stopping the sale and distribution of marijuana?

And That Reminds Me

NFATCA's petition was primarily aimed at getting the CLEO signature removed from individual transfers.

The quote in the previous post reminds me.

I own my NFA items through a trust and I did not appreciate the implication that this was why a person would establish a trust in the first place.

The entire tone from NFATCA was that once the CLEO sign off was out of the way all good and honest people could now get individual transfers and only the sneaky, underhanded criminals would use trusts to own NFA items.

Should have kept your trap shut on Facebook and let this grudge simmer down, buddy.

Do you know why my NFA items are in a trust?  It's nothing nefarious.

The Boy can't inherit them.  He's mentally incompetent.  The trust is our means of making sure that he doesn't actually ever own the items he can't and to have them liquidated in a straight forward and legal manner to his benefit should something happen to me or The Lovely Harvey.

A side effect of trust ownership is that I don't have to have a special gun safe to lock my NFA items away from The Lovely Harvey because she's a trustee too.