To all the people who are staring down no SNAP check tomorrow...
My VA disability check got deposited.
I am fascinated that the VA is funded until end of Fiscal 2026 but not welfare.
Almost as if someone WANTED to use the disruption in benefits to children and single moms a wedge issue; but knew that veterans would just stoically endure any shut-down while also burning congressional careers to the ground.
SNAP beneficiaries have no political power because they are pawns to the system.
Seeing this coming, we donated a couple flats of chicken-noodle soup to the local food bank.
It's not much, but more than a lot of people give.
I'm not uncharitable, I just object to how the government runs charity.
If I had my way WIC and SNAP would only buy ingredients.
Do not fucking try and tell me that these people don't have time to turn ingredients into food.
I strongly object to potato chips and soda being allowed for purchase.
I really fly into a rage when I see some of these people smoking. I know what cigarettes cost, and if they can afford Marlboro Lights, they can afford a lot of food. If you're choosing to spend that money on cigarettes, you're not that hungry, are you?
In too many cases our generous, government funded, charity is simply being used to allow people to indulge in their vices because their necessities are being covered by the rest of us.
Churches would impose rules on who can receive benefits that the government cannot.
The article cites cost, exchange rates (which is also cost) and generally feeling unwelcome.
That last one I can address.
Snowbirds are generally unwelcome. While they leave money in our economy, they are disruptive of traffic and we're definitely sick of hearing about how much better things are back home.
If it's so much better why are you here?
For Canadians, if you didn't insist on leaving seven car lengths in front of you, no matter how slow you have to go to get that seperation; or just stayed off the roads during rush hour, we'd prolly not even notice you.
But when we finally fight our way out of the rolling roadblock and see Ontario or Quebec plates...
I was watching a video and they put up Chuck Schumer shrilly demanding that President Trump, "obey the law," and resume sending SNAP benefits.
Charles, after seeing your utter, and repeated, failure to understand the 2nd Amendment, I am not surprised you don't understand the rest of the Constitution either.
The president cannot spend a dime of government funds until Congress authorizes it.
The authorization for SNAP benefits expires on November 1st, 2025.
If he continues funding it after that date he will be breaking the law, not obeying it.
FFS, Chuck, you're making Cracker Jack look like a more reputable law school than Harvard.
There's a person who has figured out how to enable the tap-up, tap-down shifting in a 11-17 Caprice PPV.
And, by saying "figured out" I'm saying they looked at the wiring diagram in the service manual for either the Pontiac G8 or the PPV 9C3 shifter.
It's a little cryptic because the BCM is looking for a resistance value on a signal wire to send commands to the transmission.
But it's not rocket science.
It just takes some electrical knowledge (that I don't have) to figure the voltages the PCM needs to see for a given shifter input.
Or you need a shifter out of a G8 or 9C3 and a multi-meter to measure what the voltage is on the wires in question.
Make a box with a switch and a resistor that tells the PCM you're in manual shift mode and then momentary switches and different resistors to signal the shifts.
Then you connect it to an existing line on the PCM, add a line to the PCM and give it a ground.
Viola!
They'd posted a secret squirrel link to a web page with the instructions.
People found it and were sharing it.
Now he's pissed that people are sharing proprietary information.
First, reverse engineered information is not protected information.
Second, proprietary, but not patented, information is a trade secret and that is dead meat once someone shares it. It's set up this way to encourage inventors to patent their ideas to preserve them.
His entire business model is based on reverse engineering what GM did and hoping nobody else is smart enough to figure out the circuit.
Oh and printing an enclosure for the switches and assembling a board with the resistors.
In the end he's selling $30 worth of parts for near $150.
But the secret is out.
PS: I'd have bought one of his boxes already if I could figure out where I want to put it. the traditional location is next to the existing shifter and I'm using that big flat spot to hold things.
Ever buy an album because you like a song and then forget to listen to the rest of the album?
Me too.
Reading about some bigot anti-Semites reminded me that I have a whole pile of Disturbed albums that I need to listen to on the off chance that enjoying them would cause the bigots physical pain.
Probably won't, but why risk it?
PS: Signing your name on a 155mm shell might make you cunt, but it doesn't automatically make you wrong.
PPS: Cunt doesn't mean the same thing in the UK as the US, so the accusation might not land most places.
I huge drawback for me and gaming is I've learned too much about stuff in general to retain that innocent naivety which allowed so much better willing suspension of disbelief.
The magic died as knowledge took hold.
(Sad Face)
I'd love to have that magic back, but...
Now I know what I didn't know and am acutely aware of things that I know that I don't know.
Twilight: 2000 is a lot more grim now than cinematic when I reread the old modules.
If we're aiming at grim, gritty, realism; I'm all set.
But players don't like that because their characters die.
And because I insist on GURPS, replacing those characters is tedious.
I've lost the "Devil may care" attitude that let the players rip across Poland in their LAV-25 and lose it by trying to drive through a house and having it fall into the basement.
I kinda think that I should make the party has a LAV-25 a campaign assumption just because there's so much fun associated with the players having mobility, a little bit of firepower and a little bit of protection.
Plus I can tie them to a location while they brew fuel in the still!
I am still thinking of combining GURPS: Technomancer and T2K. Literally putting magic into the setting!
There's a charity that gives away old classic cars in raffles.
I buy tickets and get some entertainment dreaming.
One of the raffles is a 1970 AAR 'Cuda (one of 1,664) and a 1969-1/2 Road Runner A12 (one of 422).
Both are full restorations.
All I can think is, "sell the 'Cuda."
Then take the money and buy a giant aluminum BeCool radiator with electric fans. Toss the A833 4-speed and drop in a 6-speed so I can keep the 4.10 rear gears and cruise comfortably (drop the rpm at 70 mph from 3,600 to 2,300!). Add a Vintage Air AC system; this is Florida after all! Yank the carbs and convert to EFI. Prolly have to do something about the 15x6 rims and 215-70R15 tires too!
In other words, utterly destroy the restoration.
But it'd be a hot rod now.
The changes would also be fairly easy to reverse too.
Of course, there'd be a fight to convince Harvey to sell the 'Cuda because it's got an automatic and she could drive that one.
How many prosecutions for illegal machine gun possession are there?
Nothing I found on Google really says it distinctly and clearly.
This pdf from 1995 says 262,300 arrests for firearm offenses in 1993... Real up to date information.
Google's AI answer is:
There is no single,
regularly updated number for machine gun prosecutions, as this data is
not tracked separately from other firearm charges.However,
the increasing number of recovered illegal machine gun conversion
devices (such as "Glock switches") suggests a rise in related cases.For
example, the number of these devices recovered by the ATF at crime
scenes jumped 570% from 2012-2016 to 2017-2021, increasing from 814 to
5,454.
2017–2021:5,454 machine gun conversion devices recovered seized, a 570% increase
2019:658 machine gun conversion devices traced
2023:4,530 machine gun conversion devices recovered seized and traced by the ATF
Related prosecution and sentencing statistics
While specific machine gun prosecution numbers are not available, overall federal weapons prosecutions have been rising.
The
number of federal felony convictions reached an all-time high of 9,559
in fiscal year 2022, continuing a trend of increases under the current
administration.
In 2023, the U.S. Attorney's office saw an increase in the number of felony arrests that resulted in prosecution.
Notice they don't stick to apples or oranges in that answer?
It also doesn't mention a thing about arrests or prosecutions.
But... the five years of 2017 to 2021 gives 1,090.8 MG conversion devices traced a year.
If California is 28.3% of the gun owners in the US and the percentage of seizures* is even across the nation (yeah right!) then just 308.7 of those devices are from California.
Definitely need to harass the millions of legal gun owners there for that!
Even if ALL of the 1,090.8 devices were from California it's still bullshit to punish the innocent for the activities of criminals. There's probably more than a million Glocks in private hands in California and that's only 1/10% of them. Statistical noise even at the max annual rate. Just half a percent if ALL of the 2017 to 2021 seizures were in Cali. Even less for 2023...
Divide these numbers by 13 or so for the national estimate of 13 million Glocks in the USA. 0.03% of Glocks are seized with a switch if ALL MG conversion devices seized are Glock switchs!
But Glock's design needs to change.
But I'm willing to bet there's a substantial overlap in the Venn diagram between "gang member," "felon," "frequent offender," and "possession of illegal MG conversion device."
*I say seized and not recovered because recovered implies that the devices belonged to the government, who somehow lost them and is now retrieving them from the criminals.
The Army loses an M240 and finds it later = recovered.
MC Thug is arrested with a Glock switch from Temu = seized.
Because I am old enough to remember engines that couldn't make it to 100k miles because carburetors washed down the cylinders and killed them.
It wasn't all that long ago that the center of every road was pitch black from all the dripping oil from EVERY car.
Even guns from back when were no panacea.
I like how it's not even noteworthy for a gun to go thousands of rounds without cleaning effortlessly and drop-in parts. Higher capacity magazines are also a plus.
Electronics are far better.
My cell phone is the hand computer I was promised when reading science fiction that used Von Braun's spaceship designs in the illustrations. Only it fits in my pocket and not my rucksack.
Fuck be upon tape media for music! Even CD's are better and digital means I can keep my entire library on my handcomp!
The past wasn't always better. It just didn't have the new problems we have today and we've forgotten the problems which vexed us then which no longer exist.
California is banning Glocks because they're too easy to convert to full-auto.
California is blaming Glock for this.
This has me thinking.
Is there another product where the end-user modifies it and the manufacturer is responsible for the, illegal, modification?
I don't recall Ford, Chevy, GMC or Ram being implicated in the diesel tuner stuff. Just the tuners, the companies who made the tuning software and, in some cases, the owners of the trucks.
I've seen people get in trouble for removing the catalytic converters, but never seen the automakers get busted.
I've seen people get in trouble for aftermarket lighting and never seen the automaker get even chided.
Have Apple or Microsoft been subpoenaed because their operating systems do nothing to stop child pornography?
In general, I don't particularly care for Mr. Kasarda. I was once a patron of InRange WAAAAAAY back and they did a series of videos with another creator and I had the temerity to express that if they were going to keep doing that I didn't wanna spend my money on it.
Karl told me where the door was and I exited.
I'd always found it ironic that he extols the support of viewers but shrugs when a viewer gives feedback and ends their support.
This video is about someone who appears to be a racist and a homophobe doing their damnedest to get to a controlling position at a gun club so they can expel the undesirables from the place.
I agree, that's bullshit.
I'm pro-LGBT. I deplore racists.
However, this little spat with the Pima Pistol Club has a different angle from other sources.
The bigot mentioned at length in the video might have gotten their foot in the door because of the Antifa angle that seems to have attached itself to Mr Kasarda.
"Thou shall not freak the mundanes!" is an old adage. It's essentially the same thing as, "don't scare the White people."
Antifa freaks the mundanes.
If they turn a 2-gun match into a pride parade or political rally, the normies get upset.
What if they just wanted to shoot the match without the political content provided, not by the match director or range, but by fellow participants who'd been encouraged to come by the match director or their associates?
Karl sounds like the people who were trying to apologize for Black Star back then to me.
I didn't take a position on race, sexuality or gender when I asked about the beer. But I would have had to listen to a lecture about racism, sexism and homophobia to get a beer there.
What if I just wanted a beer?
What if I just wanted to go shooting?
Both the principles in this fight seem unaware of how the normies see them.
The bigot will get farther before getting replaced because bigots tend to be good at hiding what they are in the spaces that matter to them retaining power. I've forgotten how many times I've seen that meme play out.
I'm willing to bet, though, that someone in a MAGA hat would be barred from a 2g-ACM match that Mr Kasarda or his associates were running. I'm betting that way because I've heard tell of exactly that happening there.
Someone was definitely told to go away when they tried LARPing a Rhodesian soldier and compete with an FAL. Something about not allowing racist symbols... From a guy who LARPed as an SS soldier how many times?
He's talked about safe spaces and ignores that groups like Antifa and John Brown Gun Club people actively try to make normies feel unsafe. Antifa is probably doing it from the other side of the "we committed terrorism!" legal line too.
Cliff's Notes version of the M1903 stock. Detailed explanations here and here.
The OG stock with its straight wrist is the "Type S."
In the mid-1920's it was decided that a pistol grip would be a good idea and the "Type C" was created and was included with the M1903A1.
There was no marking change made to the rifles, so the stock and a change in parkerization serve to ID A1's.
Refinish and repairs with "Type C" stocks make it impossible to ID a real M1903A1 from an M1903 with a "Type C" stock without the serial number and a list of production dates from Springfield National Armory.
Now the fun part!
While the M1903 was officially replaced by the M1903A1 vast quantities of finished "Type S" stocks existed, so the M1903A3 was predominantly made with those.
A beefier "Type C" stock was introduced during WW2 and is most often seen on the M1903A4. This is also the most common version of the "Type C" found.
The "scant" stock comes from using one of the vast quantities of Type S stock blanks to create as close to a "Type C" as you can get.
Both the "Type C" and "Scant" stocks were primarily used as repair parts rather than new-issue.
Also! An OG M1903 "Type S" stock will not fit on an M1903A3, but a "Type S" for an M1903A3 will fit on an earlier gun because it's inletted for both.
The slim "Type C" stock is not inletted for the A3.
The chonky "Type C" and "Scant" stocks are inletted for both.
Something that I've noticed that nobody else mentions about the impending Glock V.
First examples will ship in November.
Glock is a big company and big companies don't make big changes swiftly.
A complete change to the fire control to be compliant with the impending California legislation had to have started design before their bill got traction.
If we had God's video tape, I'd bet we'd see that Glock was deeply embarrassed and troubled by the "Glock Switch" and had come to the realization that a complete redesign was needed.
Changes of this magnitude take years. Especially since many of the better ways to not-Glock a striker system are still under patent. Those patent holders surely remember litigation from Glock, so licensing those designs is probably out of the question.
I think that the roll-out was hurried by California's legislation, though, otherwise we'd have seen the new Glocks in the hands of gunwriters by now. Or someone would have leaked ahead of the press embargo on reviews... Or something.
Glock clearly got their elbow jostled.
Update:
Looks like they actually announced the discontinuations back in April.
The National Guard troops that President Trump is sending out to enforce the law happen to be enforcing a law we (including me) agree with.
I'm not reading stories about the troops refusing to deploy because it's an unlawful order.
Be cautious about celebrating the precedent established here.
It will be used against us.
And the troops will deploy.
History tells us, they always do.
This is not to say that, sometimes, the use of troops is not the right answer.
Where they're going are places that, in an earlier age, would be considered to be in rebellion with their refusal to allow the enforcement of Federal laws and giving aid and succor to Federal criminals.
The terms sedition and treason come to mind.
I just don't trust the liberals to use any kind of judicious restraint once they come to power again.
The House Un-American Activities Committee begins its investigation into Communist infiltration of Hollywood, resulting in a blacklist that prevents some from working in the industry for years.
Something that takes a little digging to find is that Hollywood really WAS infiltrated with Communists by 1947!
The current liberal condemnation isn't that they were being unjustly accused; it was that they were being accused and exposed at all!
Remember. If you're paying Hollywood; you're paying for Hollywood.
You don't need them. You will not starve without them, like you would if there were no farmer. You will not freeze in the dark, like you would without linemen or electricians. You will not drown in your own waste, like you would without plumbers and sewer technicians.
What happens if the TV remains blank?
The worst that can happen is an awkward silence. But conversation might happen.
But what happens to the dancing monkeys if we stop paying them to dance?
While I doubt that many would starve, they would not be living lavish lifestyles any longer. Their political clout would be reduced to that of normal citizens, which they are.
Boycotting dancing monkeys leads to nothing bad. Encourage it!
Harvey gave a full report on the No Kings protestors lining the roadway near here.
They'd taken over all four corners of a major intersection that happened to be where she and The Boy were meeting his girlfriend and her mom for lunch.
The first thing that she noticed is when she tried to explain what protesters were to The Boy they saw her pointing and focused their rage on them.
The Boy might have waded in with both feet, but Harvey explained that you don't need to give idiots the satisfaction.
While they were eating, she noticed the stream of tow-trucks into the parking lot.
It would seem that the businesses had partnered up with the local sheriff and were basically checking to see if someone was in the store and ticket and towing a LOT of cars. If you're not a patron of the business, you're technically trespassing and the businesses were definitely noticing that people were avoiding going near the potential riot.
Dunno how they sorted out who was whom, but she saw a steady stream of tow-trucks hauling cars away. Perhaps camera footage?
Also nearby was the SWAT team.
As far as I know, no arrests were made, but I giggle at them being inconvenienced by needing to find their cars.
He says that rural voters support Trump because the media they view isn't telling them the truth?
Does he think that Flyover gets different news sources than Eastasia?
The local affiliates regurgitate the same stuff as the national channels.
The local paper isn't and non local stories are from places like Associated Press.
It's the same news in Iowa as it is in New York, you ignorant dancing monkey.
Maybe back when I was a kid the local news wasn't just repeating what the coastal outlets were putting out, but that day is long gone now that ownership has consolidated into a very small group of people.
After this post, I've found a couple more bloggers mentioning the incident and it's the comments...
I have to ask, "If you weren't a racist, how would you say it?" or "Say the same thing as if you weren't a racist."
It's actually quite simple to phrase it without being racist about it.
It's good that it's simple, because it's not racist to notice it and say something; despite what the media and left would have you believe.
Just as turning up the stereo doesn't fix rod knock, not reporting on black-on-black violence will not make it go away.
But, again, it's not a racial thing even though it's a race doing it.
That's a strange turn of phrase.
It's a cultural thing and the decision to allow a race a subculture that's in conflict with the main culture.
The reasons for allowing it are completely racist. The soft bigotry of low expectations has created people who are central casting examples of Klan propaganda.
Slow clap for the slow walk through the institutions.
Most, if not all, of the people in question would be normal American citizens if raised as one. But they aren't because they weren't.
And correcting it now would be much harder than never letting it start, but the racists got their way and we never held our minorities to the same standard as ourselves.
We stopped treating them as equals, so they stopped acting like it.
There's a ton of well meaning but destructive bullshit that needs discarded to fix it.
The teachers in my county are discovering how the rest of us live.
Their new health plan will result in them paying up to $36 a month to pay for their health insurance!
AND They will have co-pays for emergency room visits.
AND They will have more limited choices about whom they go to see and under what circumstances.
Oh? You mean just like the rest of us since Obamacare?
Harvey plunks down nearly $500 a month for healthcare, has co-pays and gets to pick from a short list of places she can see.
So, sorry, Teach, if I don't have a lot of sympathy for your plight.
We've been trying to explain to the teachers we know that benefits are part of "pay" and they make a lot more than they think they do. I won't even begin to talk about their no-contribution-instantly-vested-retirement-plan's value.
Their real problem (for them) is Florida made it possible, simple and not very difficult to get our kids out of public schools and into smaller education venues that actually teach the Three-R's. Public schools lose the money when a parent does that.
So lots of school districts are seeing a funding problem and rather than reduce admin overhead, they're hitting the teachers up for healthcare.
Of course, they're not blaming their unions for going along with it or the administrators for sucking up 3/4 of the funding... Nope! It's us cheapskate taxpayers and the Rethuglicans in Tallahassee!
Well, a lot of us watched how you behaved during COVID and we remember. You didn't deserve what you were getting then and you haven't done anything to redeem yourselves.
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