Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Ghengis Jon]

I don't know about the latter Jeff. I think law enforcement, in general, has more than enough authority. The bigger question is when to release the hounds. The fact that 9 out of 10 persons on the terror list were able to purchase a firearm is very telling. The background checks are obviously insufficient. They check for mental incarceration, felony conviction, and record of domestic abuse. That list obviously needs to be expanded. But how far? Part of the problem is how all parties involved are oh-so-worried about liability and legal technicalities. The net cast is awfully wide. You can't use the terror watchlist as a threshhold for not buying weapons. Did you know there are 1.5 million Americans on the terror watchlist? You really think there 1.5M potential terrorists in this country? One out for every 200 people is potentially willing to strap a bomb on their person and find a shopping center?

Part of the problem is the gov't obsession with secrecy. "Oh we can't tell you what will get you on the watch list/no fly list/whatever else list because then you'll know how to avoid it." Bullshit. Thats Stalin's attitude of better to execute 10 innocent people than let one guilty person escape. We need civilian oversight committee of gov't terror agencies. The voting booth simply installs gov't idiots, it doesn't oversee them. The Department of Homeland Stupidity is a prime example of how ineffectively our gov't struggles with security. But to Bush's credit, when the economy needed a boost, it was the largest make-work employment program since the New Deal.

[Rocky Bleier]

.223 Remington, .308, .338 Lapua.

[Da Geezer]

I received this from a retired Bureau friend:

Department of Justice: "See something, say something."

Citizen: " I see something. . . ."

Department of Justice: " You're a bigot"

[Da Geezer]

by the way, that is an outstanding photo Rocky, and the one of the bullets is not bad either.

[Da Geezer]

Did anyone watch CNN's Fareed Zakaria last night hosting the show "Why they hate us"? Traces the how, when and why's of Islamic radicalism. Very well done considering it was only an hour.

I just set my DVR for a Zakaria at 1:00. Hope it's the one about Islamic radicalism.

Thanks, Jon.

[Da Geezer]

Of course, I agree with Rocky about an armed populace. IF the aim of gun-control proponents is actually to limit incidents of mass slayings, then limit "gun free zones" to those places through which you pass a security perimeter including a metal detector. That would have stopped a lot of mass shootings, including Orlando, Newtown, and Aurora.

The anti-gun folks call for examples of an armed citizen stopping a madman. That is very hard to answer because shooters, quite sensibly, choose places where guns are not allowed. What is true is that the destruction inflicted is directly proportional to the time from the start of an incident to when a "second gun" arrives.

[Ghengis Jon]

...I pretty much disagree with Greenwald...

So do I. But he also clearly states that "Although he boasted to office colleagues about ties to al Qaeda and Hezbollah, [FBI] agents found those claims dubious." Thats not a hint he's becoming/already is self-radicalized?!? Someone who has a violent past from childhood and starts bragging about such ties, going so far as to say the Fort Hood shootings were justified, should not have had his case closed. That boggles the mind. Sounds like a superficial investigation.

Perhaps we should start exiling people from this country for such proclamations intending to scare others. He's screaming fire in a crowded theatre. And when that didn't work, he lit the building on fire. Syria would be a good place, let him fend for himself. Maybe tattoo "Renounced Moslem, current Jewish-American Spy" in Arabic on his forehead for good measure.

[Ghengis Jon]

Law enforcement to release redacted transcripts of the Orlando shooter's 9-1-1 calls. ""The reason why we're going to limit these transcripts is to avoid re-victimizing those people that went through this horror. But it will contain the substance of his conversations," she said." Bullshit. Absolute bullshit. It's a transcript, not playing the actual calls. We might not even see transcription, just summaries.

This sort of crap is why so many people do not trust law enforcement or the gov't. Myself included. I want all the information so I can make an informed decision concerning future safety or even just an opinion. I don't need clowns telling me they know best, just trust them.

[Ghengis Jon]

A hacker who goes by the name WauchulaGhost has hacked over 250 Twitter accounts associated with ISIS members and replaced the content with pornography and gay pride messages. What's our gov't doing about social media? Just monitoring?

[UMStan White]

"What is true is that the destruction inflicted is directly proportional to the time from the start of an incident to when a "second gun" arrives."

Why do some people continue to rewrite events in a sad attempt to justify an unjustifiable position. For at least the third time do you revisionists understand that the Orlando shooter was engaged with police fire BEFORE HE ENTERED THE NIGHTCLUB? So much for if all people are armed some sad sack with a firearm in a panic situation is all that is needed to keep us safe!

[hack]

The vigilante defender thing strikes me as an overgrown GI Joe fantasy. Entirely in the realm of possibility at this point. Of course with shootings so frequent you, you'd think just by law of averages it would happen.

[Jeff Buchanan]

I don't share the jaundiced view of others here about government. After all, I "served at the pleasure of the President" for 20 years so, perhaps I'm biased.

I look at it this way. It is a necessary institution if you want to have, oh, electricity, water, roads, yes, even laws that tend to organize society. So, my view is that we should advocate for ways to make it more effective in it's responsibility to serve the people.

Personally, I don't find standing at a distance and scoffing in distaste about it particularly useful unless you prefer the alternative of chaos. That kind of thing is always appealing it seems after you've stood in line for 2 hours to clear customs or to board airplanes after passing through the gates manned by the TSA. So, I get it. I just don't think its useful.

[hack]

I very much appreciate that point of view. There are plenty of very good people in government. But I think government has a track record, especially when it comes to government contracting. There's so little competition in that field and such a cozy relationship that it's really private-sector in name and profit-retention only. Any benefits of being in the private sector aren't there. Ask Elon Musk, who thinks he can do better but can't get in on it. If you're going to be that cozy with your contractors, you can't expect a high standard for the output. Might as well pay out the shareholders, make them government companies, and retain the earnings within the state in the future. That'd be a step toward a balanced budget.

[entropy]

switching to a lighter topic.. it's been 12 yrs since I've been to this location. I've always felt western Michigan is one of the more underrated areas of the US.

[Wild Hoss]

Any gators there?