Blog
Firearms
But wait, there's more!
Well now, isn't this just dandy...
One of the guns used in the November 13, 2015 Paris terrorist attacks came from Phoenix, Arizona where the Obama administration allowed criminals to buy thousands of weapons illegally in a deadly and futile “gun-walking” operation known as “Fast and Furious.”
A Report of Investigation (ROI) filed by a case agent in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF) tracked the gun used in the Paris attacks to a Phoenix gun owner who sold it illegally, “off book,” Judicial Watch’s law enforcement sources confirm. Federal agents tracing the firearm also found the Phoenix gun owner to be in possession of an unregistered fully automatic weapon, according to law enforcement officials with firsthand knowledge of the investigation.
/fl
Firearms
Concealed Carry
Persons who are issued concealed carry licenses are far more law-abiding than the general population. One reason is obvious: permitees are a self-selected group of people who are scrupulous about legal compliance.
Persons who apply for a concealed carry permit have chosen to spend a substantial amount of money and time (for fees, training, application, fingerprinting) to get a card from the government; that card legally authorizes the person to do something (carry concealed) which the person could do anyway, with almost no chance of getting caught.
David Kopel at the Independence Institute recently published a 7-page paper titled Licensed Handgun Carry for Young Adults Serving in the Armed Forces that examines a proposal to allow young adults, aged 18-20, to apply for concealed handgun carry permits, if they currently or previously served in the United States Armed Forces. The paper is available in PDF at the above link.
/fl
Culture
"A vivid example of the moral inversion that grips America."
From PJ Media:
Years from now, it might be seen as the moment Chicago might have been saved but wasn’t. “They could have changed things,” people will say. “They could have stood up to the people bringing the city down.” But as it happened, there is little to do but wait to see how far into the deeper and darker abysses of Hell Chicago will descend.
The only thing more painful than the cycle is the ending!
/fl
Navigation Safety
EtOH and The Ultimate Shortcut

ORANGE BEACH, Ala. (WEAR) —
A vessel crash that happened Thursday night left four people injured.
The vessel, a 28-foot World Cat center console with six people on board, was traveling from the Gulf into Perdido Pass in Orange Beach, and crashed into a jetty...
Investigations show alcohol may have been a factor in the crash.
This is not the first time that an incident like this has happened at this location. Over the last twenty years or so, I've seen several other boats piled up in the same general location, for the same reason — short cutting the sea buoy. Perdido Pass is one of those places that can be nasty, even in the daylight and when the boat operator is sober.
Aside from the pharmacological effect of ethanol on nighttime boat operation, I'd like to comment on the reason why we call these channel entrance buoys "Safe Water Marks." They are distinctively marked for both daytime and nighttime use.

Painted with red and white vertical stripes, with a red spherical cap, for daytime, and white light flashing the distinctive morse code letter "a" for nighttime. They are also lettered for distinctive identification.
When returning from sea, the proper procedure is to approach the safe water mark first, and then pass it close aboard, while carefully lining up the channel markers. It should go without saying that at night, or in reduced visibility, it's wise to go slow...
The following excerpt from NOAA Chart 11382 shows the Perdido Pass safe water mark.

Once you have located the safe water mark, you can usually use your compass to find the next charted mark when visibility is restricted.
It's not safe, or wise, to shortcut a safe water mark!
/fl
Law and Order
Nowhere to Hide
It has become virtually impossible for an American citizen to escape what I call "blue state folly" by moving to another state. This administration has effectively 'locked down' our interstate borders, while leaving our national border wide open.
Back in 2008. we tried to warn everyone that the guy didn't have what it takes to do the job, and we were blown off, and labeled "racist" by the media. Then again in 2012, with plenty of evidence that we had been correct in 2008, we were again labeled "racist."
Now that the left wing has accumulated more than enough rope to hang themselves, they realize that they have also stepped onto the proverbial trap door.
One thing for sure, it has become plain for all to see that homeland security begins and ends 'in the home', and that the ultimate burden of 'national' security rests on the shoulders of the 'individual' citizen.
Thanks Sheriff for your service!
It's impossible for anyone to justify any phony "racist" claim when it comes to Sheriff David Clarke freely and openly re-stating the truth about this administration.
/fl
Politics
The Admin’s Refusal to Confront Radical Islamic Terrorism Has Made America Less Safe
Ted Cruz, on the floor of the United States Senate, lambasts political correctness and the incompetency of the current administration to deal with the Islamic threat.
Instead of attacking the enemy, we see rerun "sideshow" attacks on our Constitution, and on American institutions such as the National Rifle Association, being played out by political hacks.
"You don't stop terrorism by taking guns away from law-abiding citizens, you stop terrorism by using those guns."
Are you ready for the call to pick up the slack?
/fl
Civil Rights and "Gun Control"
Hillary Clinton refuses to say whether there is an Individual Right to Self Defense
Stephanopoulos: Let’s talk about the Second Amendment. As you know, Donald Trump has also been out on the stump, talking about the Second Amendment, saying you want to abolish the Second Amendment.
I know you reject that. But I — but I want to ask you a specific question.
Do you believe that an individual’s right to bear arms is a constitutional right, that it’s not linked to service in a militia?
Clinton: I think that for most of our history, there was a nuanced reading of the Second Amendment until the decision by the late Justice Scalia and there was no argument until then that localities and states and the federal government had a right, as we do with every amendment, to impose reasonable regulation.
[So, it's the government that has the rights, and not the citizen?]
So I believe we can have common sense gun safety measures consistent with the Second Amendment, and, in fact, what I have proposed is supported by 90 percent of the American people and more than 75 percent of responsible gun owners.
So that is exactly what I think is constitutionally permissible.
And once again, you have Donald Trump just making outright fabrications, accusing me of something that is absolutely untrue. But I’m going to continue to speak out for comprehensive background checks, closing the gun show loopholes, closing the online loophole, closing the so-called Charleston loophole, reversing the bill that Senator Sanders voted for and I voted against, giving immunity from liability to gun makers and sellers. I think all of that can and should be done and it is, in my view, consistent with the “Constitution.”
Stephanopoulos: And the “Heller” decision also does say there can be some restrictions.
But that’s not what I asked.
I said do you believe that their conclusion that an individual’s right to bear arms is a constitutional right?
Clinton: If it is a constitutional right, then it, like every other constitutional right, is subject to reasonable regulation. And what people have done with that decision is to take it as far as they possibly can and reject what has been our history from the very beginning of the republic, where some of the earliest laws that were passed were about firearms. . . .
There were many factual mistakes in Clinton’s discussion.
For a discussion of her claim that 90% support the gun laws she wants see here.
and
On Clintons frequently repeated false statistic that gun violence in America claims the lives of “33,000 people a year.” In 2014, there were 21,334 firearm suicides, 586 accidental gun deaths, and 8,214 gun murders. Clinton gets to the 33,000 number by adding in roughly 3,000 justifiable homicides by police and civilians.
Moreover, 71 percent of these 30,134 deaths are suicides. In light of Clinton’s support for legalizing assisted suicide, it is strange for her not to make a clear distinction between suicides and murders. Research continually shows that banning guns won’t prevent suicides — there are simply too many easy ways to kill oneself. In Japan, which has a suicide rate that is 54 percent higher than the U.S. rate, many people take their lives by stepping in front of trains.
Clinton, in a pattern that is all too familiar, obviously knew that a direct answer to Stephanopoulos' question would blow her (transparent) cover. So, here is her answer in typical fashion.
A Hillary Clinton appointee to the Democrat Platform Committee, Bonnie Schaefer, is the one who made the statement that “I really don’t personally think anyone should have a gun.”
Following the Orlando shooting, Clinton went on to indicate that anyone under investigation by the FBI should not be able to buy a gun.....:
“If the FBI is watching you for suspected terrorists links you shouldn’t be able to go buy a gun with no questions asked,” the former First Lady opined. Hang on. What if the FBI is watching you for suspected mishandling of classified documents? What Constitutional rights should such a person surrender at that point?
Clinton is obviously not familiar with a form 4473 either!
The way that I see it, a person can choose to be either the proverbial phrenologist in the delivery room, vibrating their way through life, munching on Cheetos and watching reruns of "Criminal Minds", or they can get a life and a gun, and prepare themselves for reality — ever following the old maxim to 'stay away from stupid places where stupid people are doing stupid things.' That maxim includes gun-free zones.
/fl
Law and Order
FBI Defends Agency's Earlier Handling of Orlando Shooter
FBI Director James Comey today defended his agency's earlier investigation of Omar Mateen, saying there's nothing agents "should have done differently" in their 2013 and '14 interviews with Mateen, who killed 49 people Sunday morning at a nightclub in Orlando, Florida.
Director Comey went on to say that isolating these outlaws is like "looking for a needle in a haystack — not knowing when a piece of hay will turn into a needle." Isn't that the main reason why individual citizens of this nation have the right to bear arms for self-defense? Nobody knows when we might be called upon to stop a threat.
And, if "home-grown threats" are a problem, why are we inviting the threats into our home?
/fl
Dogs
Tribute to Bretagne

Bretagne lived with her handler Denise Corliss, a volunteer Cy-Fair firefighter, all of her life.
Last summer, Bretagne celebrated her 16th Birthday with a return trip to New York City, where she had helped bring comfort and closure to many suffering humans.
Recently, she began experiencing kidney failure, an effect of her advanced age. Then, the inevitable...
CYPRESS, Texas — (Breitbart) The last known search and rescue dog who helped find victims of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks has died near Houston.
A sixteen-year-old Golden Retriever, Bretagne (pronounced Brittany) Corliss was greeted and saluted by approximately twenty-five firefighters when she arrived at a Cypress, Texas, veterinarian clinic, reported the Houston Chronicle.
About two-dozen firefighters and members of the search-and-rescue dog community lined the sidewalk to the veterinarian's office to honor and bid a tearful goodbye to the ailing dog as she walked by them for the last time. An American flag was draped over Bretagne's body as she was carried back out of the hospital.
She had lived with her handler, a Cy-Fair volunteer firefighter, for all of her 16 years. Bretagne was part of the Texas search-and-rescue contingent that descended on New York City after the 9/11 terrorist attacks to search for victims at Ground Zero. In all, around 300 dogs took part in the search efforts.
Amy Ramon, fire chief of the Cy-Fair Volunteer Fire Department, said Bretagne "touched every station" in the agency.
"She's a part of the Cy-Fair family," Ramon said.
The last photo:

Well done, old buddy!
/fl
Wind Energy
SeaTwirl
SeaTwirl has a simple robust design, few moving parts and can be placed at deeper waters with good wind conditions. SeaTwirl is built for the ocean.
SeaTwirl is a floating vertical axis wind turbine placed offshore. The vertical axis wind turbine is fixed on a underwater gravity-based structure that reaches deep down under the surface. The underwater structure contains a buoyancy part and in its lowest point weight part. This makes the structure stable. The full body from the wind turbine in the top to the lowest underwater weight part is rotating as one piece and all it´s weight is carried up by the water.
To translate the kinetic energy into electrical energy a generator is placed around the rotating tower. The generator is placed above the sea level and is held at place using anchoring to the bottom of the sea. Since Sea Twirl is using a anchoring method it may be placed on deep waters
It looks to me like this concept has plenty of room for improvement. I'm curious as to why these things are only shown operating in smooth water, and I'm anxious to see what kind of anti-fouling measures they use.
/fl
Law and Order
Society and the Theory of Evolution
The logical Darwinist doesn't believe in moral responsibility—but he sure hopes his neighbor does.
Secular humanists keep saying that they want to open up a "common sense" dialog regarding a variety of social problems such as their "gun problem." Well, here's a good opening to the conversation; tucked into todays Briefing is the solution to some major problems regarding the disorder in our society.
The fact is, what amounts to "common sense" to a secular liberal humanist will never "solve" anything.
/fl