Blog
Health
"Cat Scratch"
I knew that there had to be a reason why I've always considered cats to be creepy critters. Turns out that 40% of them can blind you.
“I woke up one day and I couldn't see out of my left eye,” Janese Walters told WTOL. “I looked in the mirror and I thought I had pink eye or something.”
Without any warning signs, the vision in Walters' left eye went dark.
For more than a month, doctors were puzzled, until Janese told them about her pet.
"They discovered I had something called cat scratch," she said.
As the name suggests, doctors say cat scratch disease is caused by a bacteria passed along by cats and kittens, through their saliva or even fur.
"Anything that is exposed to the cat's mouth, including if you have a little scratch that the cat licks – that's how you can get it," said Dr. Kris Brickman.
I guess it's just a matter of time until a cat lover, in retaliation to this disclosure, comes up with some mysterious disease that dogs carry...
/fl
Talladega Marksmanship Park
Area Visitors Fall In Love With CMP’s Talladega Marksmanship Park
TALLADEGA, AL – We’re getting close to the day that will change the world of competitive shooting for CMP competitors forever – the Inaugural D-Day John C. Garand Commemorative Match at the new CMP Talladega Marksmanship Park. In less than two weeks – on June 6 – novice and experienced marksmen alike will finally be given the chance to experience first-hand one of the most advanced facilities ever created...
The 500-acre park has been open to the public for a few weeks, and, so far, exceeds the expectations of everyone who steps foot onto its crimson soil. With rumors of its state-of-the-art technology and a country-club-like quality, many have already made the journey to the serene Talladega countryside to fire a few rounds downrange.
Many wags of the tail to CMP!
/fl
Law & Order
An all too familiar cry
"Outlaw the outlaws!"
Here is yet another example of how bureaucratic incompetence results in the hypocritical cry for more gun control:
As pointed out in the video, Baltimore, and the State of Maryland, already have strict laws concerning guns; laws that are not being enforced due to a bureaucratic throttling of the police.
Will more gun laws help their problem?
/fl
Weather: 2015 Hurricane Season
Active Atlantic Hurricane Period That Began in 1995 May be Over: NOAA
It should be another quiet Atlantic hurricane season in 2015, and the active hurricane pattern that began in 1995 may now be over, said NOAA in their May 27 seasonal hurricane forecast. They give a 70% chance of a below-normal season, a 20% chance of a near-normal season, and only a 10% chance of an above-normal season. They predict a 70% chance that there will be 6 - 11 named storms, 3 - 6 hurricanes, and 0 - 2 major hurricanes, with an Accumulated Cyclone Energy (ACE) 40% - 85% of the median. If we take the midpoint of these numbers, NOAA is calling for 8.5 named storms, 4.5 hurricanes, 1 major hurricane, and an ACE index 62.5% of normal. This is well below the 1981 - 2010 average of 12 named storms, 6 hurricanes, and 3 major hurricanes. Hurricane seasons during the active hurricane period 1995 - 2014 averaged 14.7 named storms, 7.6 hurricanes, and 3.5 major hurricanes, with an ACE index 142% of the median.
NOAA 2015 Atlantic Hurricane Season Outlook
Sounds comforting, but experience has shown that, when it comes to weather, it pays to not get too comfortable.
/fl
Florida Law
Evacuees no longer statutory outlaws
On Thursday, May 21, 2015, Governor Rick Scott signed SB 290 into law.
This bill, sponsored by Sen. Brandes in the Senate and Rep. Fitzenhagen in the House and supported by hard work from Florida Carry and the National Rifle Association, is important to gun owners statewide for two critical reasons:
1) The new law provides an exception for those in the process of fleeing a designated mandatory evacuation area. The exception is for a maximum 48 hours, which may be extended by the Governor, and provides that those affected may lawfully carry a concealed weapon or firearm on or about their person. The exception applies only to "the immediate and urgent movement of a person away from the evacuation zone within 48 hours after a mandatory evacuation is ordered". This will allow lawful gun owners to bring their guns with them during an emergency rather than being forced to leave them behind to fall in to the hands of looters or be destroyed in a disaster.
2) The legislation also corrected the structure of Florida Statute 790.01, the law that prohibits concealed carry.
In 2013 the Florida Supreme Court ruled that carrying a firearm or weapon, even with a license, is a crime to which the licensed person only has an "affirmative defense". This was because lack of licensure was not an element of the crime, merely an exception.
[F]lorida's legislative scheme causes us to hold that (concealed carry) licensure is an affirmative defense to a charged crime of carrying a concealed weapon, as codified at section 790.01, Florida Statutes (2013), and the lack of a license is not an element of the crime. This conclusion is based upon a clear reading of section 790.01 and consideration of its structure, the chapter of the Florida Statutes that governs firearms and other weapons, and the legal precedent on this issue.
Mackey v. State, 124 So. 3d 176, 181 (Fla. 2013)
The result was that Florida's law abiding concealed carry licensees could be treated like criminals, and even be arrested, for exercising their right to bear arms.
The new law also corrects this problem by now clearly stating that it only prohibits people who are not licensed from carrying concealed weapons or firearms.
790.01 Unlicensed carrying of concealed weapons or concealed firearms.-
(1) Except as provided in subsection (3), a person who is not licensed under s. 790.06 and who carries a concealed weapon or electric weapon or device on or about his or her person commits a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.
(2) Except as provided in subsection (3), a person who is not licensed under s. 790.06 and who carries a concealed firearm on or about his or her person commits a felony of the third degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084.
We offered this simple change to the law because it will help to ensure that people who hold Concealed Carry Licenses are not treated like common criminals.
/Florida Carry
Real Homeland Security
A few Recent Things that You Have Probably Not Seen in The National Media
★Concealed Carry Permit Holder Rescues Woman who was being Carjacked
★Two concealed handgun permit holders, both volunteer firemen, stop mass public shooting
★Concealed handgun permit holder saves police officer who was being savagely beaten by burglar
/fl
Self Defense: Tactics
The Tueller Radius
In 1983, an article written by a Salt Lake City police officer named Dennis Tueller was published in a law enforcement journal. The article was titled “How Close is too Close?” and it dealt with the premise of a man armed with a holstered handgun defending against a man armed with a striking or stabbing instrument. Through experimentation, Tueller concluded if a bad guy armed with a knife or a club was within 21 feet of you, the reasonable conclusion would be you were within his danger zone. In other words, the bad guy could cover 21 feet in about 1.5 seconds—before you could draw your handgun and neutralize the threat.
And, what we have seen is an ongoing 32-year debate about how fast a human being can move...
Tueller's point, and the point of this article by Richard Mann, is awareness.
/fl
The Bill of Rights
The American Way
The recent shootout in Garland, Texas reveals a subtle truth.
There is a reason why terms such as "homegrown terrorist" are used as code for the word 'Muslim.' The reason is that the 'prohibition clause' of our First Amendment creates a dilemma that makes us vulnerable to a religion carrying the baggage of politics — such as binary Islam. Islam pushes a domineering political system from behind the veil of religion. Euphemistic folly is a derivative of trying to separate religious violence from religion, while staying within the guidelines of the First Amendment.
In the case of a tyrannical religion rearing its ugly head, the Second Amendment contains the resolution for some ambiguity found in the First.
Those guys, back in 1791, knew exactly what they were doing.
/fl
Home Invasion
Another Failure of The Victim Selection Process
PLEASANT GROVE, Utah – A homeowner in Pleasant Grove shot and killed a man who allegedly tried to force his way into a residence early Sunday morning...
Police stated in the release their investigation so far has determined that 24-year-old Christian Chichia allegedly began pounding on the door of the residence, which awakened and alarmed the homeowners. Lt. Britt Smith, Pleasant Grove Police Department, said the husband armed himself with a handgun and went downstairs to the door to see what was happening...
Chichia has an adult criminal history.
Like the Strawberry Plains case, we see that sometimes it takes more than a fire extinguisher to protect our home.
/fl
Artificial Reef Program
Latest Addition to Pensacola's Artificial Reef Collection
Ocean Wind was built in 1952 and served as a ship docking assist tug, most recently in Pensacola, until it was retired in September 2013. It is 87 feet long by 25 feet wide with a draft of 10 feet. The height from the keel to the top of the mast is 37 feet.
The boat will be flooded and sunk in 90 to 95 feet of water in the Escambia Southeast Artificial Reef Site, roughly west of the San Pablo that is sometimes called the Russian Freighter.
Ocean Wind will be just the latest in a long list [see links below] of artificial reefs in the Gulf off Pensacola. Already, the county has a list 198 entries long
Civil Rights
Hoplophobia: Isolating the Strain
Here is a question for any person who believes the serial gun-grabers' universal proclamation, when they say "all I want to do is get guns out of the hands of violent criminals:"
How many violent criminal's do you think will turn in their gun in order to get an income tax credit?
As the old saying goes, you can't make this stuff up!
/fl
Law & Order
Are You Prepared For Violence?
If you have been following the news, it is obvious that violence is being fomented in some areas of the country. So far, a common descriptor that can be applied to these areas would be "gun free zones." Unlike free America, these venues are usually urban areas where draconian rules have been substituted for rule of law — places where unscrupulous politicians, making absurd promises, cultivate and harvest votes like crops. This fraudulent form of democracy, a system within a system, cannot afford to allow an armed citizenry within its enclave.
Will the fomentation be confined to these gun-free zones? The enclave's status-quo would like to see the violence contained within their bogus mantra of "hope and change." This is why we are witnessing incredible statements like those made by Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby. "Justice", to some, has become nothing more than "crowd-control."
There are people in this world who would like to see the violence boil over.
If or when it does boil over, it will get ugly for those who live in free America. The police and the military are preparing for that potential. Are you?
HINT: There are not enough police and military to protect individual law-abiding citizen's from violence during normal times, let alone during a riot.
/fl
Home Invasion
Another Failure of The Selection Process
Thieves like easy targets. James Vinson probably thought that he had selected an easy one... His selection would be the final entry on his Rap Sheet.
WATE reports:
STRAWBERRY PLAINS (WATE) – A homeowner shot and killed an intruder who broke into their East Knox County residence on Wednesday morning.
According to the Knox County Sheriff’s Office, the homeowner living at 1001 Randles Road woke up to the sound of broken glass from the front window.
Deputies say the he fired one round from a gun, from the bedroom to the living room.
James Melvin Vinson, 40, was struck and fell backward onto the porch, according to preliminary reports from deputies. Vinson died as a result of his injuries.
Deputies say Vinson had an extensive criminal history with the Knox County Sheriff’s Office and Knoxville Police Department and had two outstanding warrants in Knox County, related to a theft charge and a violation of probation. His criminal history includes theft and drug charges.
One shot! Bad for James Vinson, but this case is an example of substantive due process that is a vital part of our system of justice.
/fl