Snowflakes in Hell

I’m very angry about this.  The man’s suicide note apparently said he wanted to “go out in style.”  What kind of sick and depraved person thinks that killing 9, and probably more by the time this is all over, innocent people is going out “in style?”

Of course,  the media is giving him exactly what he wants.  He’s a celebrity now!  His name will be spoken far and wide for weeks.  If he was desiring notoriety, he’s got it now.

Keep your skills up folks, and pack this holiday shopping season.  There are bound to be copycats.  Make sure the next loser’s headline is “Mall shooter killed in a hail of gunfire after only getting off two shots.”   I’m sick of this crap.

… hit you in the ass on the way out.

Members of the state House’s Legislative Black Caucus walked off the House floor this afternoon demanding votes on stalled gun-control bills.

The protest threatened to bring business in the chamber to a standstill because the 25-member caucus is a significant voting block, and could stand in the way of reaching the 102 votes need to approve legislation. The House has 203 members.

“There’s no more blind loyalty to anyone,” said Rep. Thomas Blackwell, D-Philadelphia, in an interview. “You have to respect us.”

Respect is a two way street, Representative Blackwell.  We demand respect for the rights protected by the constitution of this country and this commonwealth.  This is not a Pennsylvania problem, this is a Philadelphia problem.   When you’re ready to face up to the problems in Philadelphia, and talk about serious solutions, like putting more police officers on the streets, and making sure cretins like this don’t see the light of day, I’m willing to lobby my representatives for fiscal and legislative help.  Continue to impose gun control on me, and you’re not respecting me, so why should I respect you?

This is good news.  I wonder if Tom Corbett will take a break from pandering to the anti-smoking busy bodies in order to pander to us for a bit.

Our attorney general is suing RJ Reynolds tobacco because he thinks they are pimping cigarettes to kids again. Corbett is filing suit because he believes it violates the shakedown racket settlement agreement the tobacco industry signed with the states to not use cartoons to market cigarettes.

I think anyone who looks at this ad, considers the magazine they were placed in, and concludes that clearly this ad was meant to appeal to children ought to stick their heads in their Cuisinart and hit “pulse”, because it seems pretty clear your brain are already pretty much puree.

To be sure, this is meant to target young adults. But last I checked, the legal age to buy cigarettes was eighteen, and I would imagine this ought to mean that it’s legal to market to this age group. It’s a damned shame that smoking is actually pretty bad for you, because I’d almost consider taking up the habit just because it upsets the right kind of people. We’re not supposed to smoke. Our betters have deemed it so.

UPDATE: Well, at least this year Rendell won’t get his smoking ban:

Raela Stabile works the day shift at Molly Brannigans in Harrisburg for one reason: she despises cigarette smoke.

“It’s not half as much smoke [as the night], so I can handle it,” the nonsmoker said in the pub’s smoking section. “I hate cigarette smoke.”

She looks forward to the day when a proposed indoor smoking ban becomes the law of the land, and hopes it will include bars and restaurants.

Hey Raela, no one is forcing you to work in a pub.  I don’t particularly like dealing with people, which is why a job in tech support isn’t something for me.  I choose my career according to my preferences, not try to get the state to pass a law saying everyone should be nice to tech support people.

Justin points out the absurdity of some Israeli environmental groups, who are calling on Jews to light one less candle this holiday season to save the planet.

So, to save the environment from 15,000 kg of CO₂ 1 million Jewish households would do just as much good by sleeping in for an extra 65 minutes over Hanukka. If you figure there are 4 people for every household that brings us to 16 minutes and 15 seconds of extra sleep per person.

So, sleep in a little bit this Hanukka season. It’s for the environment!

It’s not really about saving the planet.  It’s about feeling good about yourself because you think you are, and that’s all that matters.

One thing about my club that can sometimes drive me nuts is that we’re limited to no more than five rounds in a magazine.  I was wondering how common this kind of restriction is at clubs?  What’s the rule at your local club?

When this rule was explained, they claimed the reason for it was to prevent accidents if a gun failed and started firing uncontrollably.  In my experience, this doesn’t happen.  Plus, in my experience with machine pistols, if you shot 5 rounds off automatically and didn’t expect it, you’re putting three rounds in the ceiling.

I find the rule to be particularly annoying with revolvers, and now, I understand that the standard M1 Garand clip would leave me in violation of my club’s rule.   That’s not even mentioning how annoying I think it is to have to switch magazines if I’m trying to shoot a string of 10, or if I want to practice with the Glock on the indoor pistol range.

I think the real reason for the rule is to keep people out of the club who just want a place to come blast away, and aren’t serious shooters.   I can accept that there may be utility to weeding out people who just want to join so they can blast away at crap on the plinking range, but I think there are better ways to avoid that problem.

One disappointing thing about this club, is the leadership seems to want to bring everything down to the lowest common denominator, rather than weeding out the problem people, so the rest of the members can enjoy the facilities.  In our last club newsletter, they threatened to shut down the plinking range for range violations, without mentioning what people were doing that was a problem.  It seems to me the proper way to deal with this is to revoke memberships for violations, rather than mete out collective punishment.  I wonder if it’s the same attitude behind the round restrictions.

A seven year old girl takes six bullets in an effort to save her mother.  Based on the wounds, she’ll be disfigured for life:

 A 7-year-old-girl is being hailed as an “angel from heaven” and a hero for jumping in front of an enraged gunman, who pumped six bullets into the child as she used her body as a shield to save her mother’s life.

Alexis Goggins, a first-grader at Campbell Elementary School, is at Children’s Hospital in Detroit recovering from gunshot wounds to the eye, left temple, chin, cheek, chest and right arm.

She’s very lucky she survived.  You want to know what gets me angry about this story?

Police identified him as Calvin Tillie, 29, a four-time convicted felon who Parker had dated for six months before breaking off the relationship.

Emphasis mine.  Can someone explain to me what this cretin was doing out on the streets?   The criminal justice system has pretty obviously failed this little girl and her mother.

Philadelphia’s new police chief, who’s former career involved running the Washington Metro Police force, is at least aware of the blindingly obvious:

“Declaring a state of emergency is fine with me,” Ramsey, the former Washington police chief, said in an interview Friday. “Crime is at an unacceptable level. . . . It’s certainly something we have to get a handle on real quick.”

How Ramsey will carry out the emergency response is less certain. He spent much of last week getting his bearings in his new city - meeting with Johnson and the department’s command staff as well as attending several district roll calls to introduce himself to the rank and file.

So his first act will be to declare a crime emergency.  That’s leadership!  This already is looking like a farce to me.