Do You Want The Boogaloo? Because This is How You Get The Boogaloo (Updated)

(Links added to comments.)

First: If  you don't understand what is meant by The Boogaloo, well... I guess you can look it up on The Urban Dictionary.

Having said that...

In View From The Porch: People are getting edgy... Tamara excerpted a key 'graph from the rather lengthy post The COVID-19 Boogaloo Opus - Handwaving Freakoutery at Medium.

So then I see the following Tweet:

"The drones, donated by DJI, a Chinese company, have gone to 43 agencies in 22 states, all to help enforce social distancing rules."

US using Chinese drones to spy on and lecture Americans about a virus caused by communist China

Oh, and DJI "may be sending data to China" pic.twitter.com/LqH6VzonzH

— Elizabeth Harrington (@LizRNC) April 17, 2020

 Which of course, prompted a revival of the age-old questions

• Drone: Rifle or Shotgun?

and

• What Caliber for Drone?  

As infuriating as the implementation of technology in service of Big Government nannyism is,
Law enforcement is using drones to shout at people for violating social distancing.
the really bizarre thing about this story, as @LizRNC points out in her tweet above, is that these are DJI drones, a product of Communist China.

And an Internet search for the keywords "chinese drones law enforcement" will return dozens ( a conservative estimate) of articles referring to the US Government banning the use of drones from Communist China because of the predilection of the commies to have their tech phone home to the mother ship with details we'd rather the commies not have.

Seriously, what kind of an idiot elected official can be so tone-deaf in the face of Communist China's obvious responsibility for the current global pandemic and think "Hey, I know! We'll use ChiCom spy technology to nag people!" is a good idea.

Allegedly, these drones do not have the ability to transmit or record video.

Sure.

Winnie The Flu says so.

EDIT to add: And then there's this crap:

How do you report places that aren’t enforcing social distancing? It’s simple: just snap a photo and text it to 311-692. #AskMyMayor pic.twitter.com/WQdCcVf1Rl

— Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) April 18, 2020

Note: See comments for some links to news reporting on the subject. Also, statements re: No Video are probably meant to be "no recording of video or taking of photos."

Huh

I have no idea why only the previous post is showing up on the home page.

At least on my computer, with any browser I've tried, I have to click "older posts" to see any older post, but those posts are displayed 10 to a screen, per the Blog's settings.

UPDATE: This post and the previous post from today both display on the home page, no older ones.

In case you're interested in older blatherings of mine, click "Older Posts" below.

Out and About

Not sure which surprised me more today:

• Safeway sells "Frozen, Pre-cooked Chitlins."* 
• Safeway sells caviar. 
• Trader Joe's was playing Toby Keith and Alan Jackson as muzak. 

Also, this happened semi-locally: Mango Used As Weapon In Bellevue Assault | Bellevue, WA Patch.  (H/t SayUncle.

Mrs. Drang is still disgusted with me because my first reaction was "Come at me with this banana!"



*Yeah, it's probably "supposed" to be spelled "chitterlings." Guess what? Spell check agrees that "chitlins" is also acceptable.

You can't make this s*** up

Developer Shuts Down Fake Cryptocurrency PonziCoin after Things Go "Crazy Out of Hand"

"Down mit Kapitalism!"

Ooh, great selfie, bro...

Self-absorbed fascists in Hamburg

And here we thought the Occupy Wall Street cry bullies were pathetic...

What Is This I Don't Even...

2nd Amendment Dust Cover So You Can Openly Conceal Carry

It's a sock with a gun printed on it, that you put on your OC pistol so it's concealed...

That is just so... so... derptastic it's derpalicious. 

(h/t The Gun Feed

I must be slowing down

Today an employee -- not one of mine, but a Salt Mines employee -- told me his hours in military time.

He then apologized for using military time.

And explained what military time is.

And translated "1300 hours" for me.

I managed not to reach through the phone and choke him.

Or direct him to address me as "First Sergeant."

Or tell him I was using military time when his father was trying to figure out what number Mickey's Big Hand was pointing at.

Told one of my colleagues about this and she said "It's like I don't even know you anymore."

I suppose I can cite this the next time someone tells me I need to ease up on the staff...

Logic and logistics (not!)

So, locally Amazon started shipping a lot of stuff using their own service.

This was fine until we discovered that stuff would be taken to the Big Brown Store where we have a box, and then taken away and then taken back...

I would get a notice from Amazon saying "No one at desk to sign for package", which is stupid, unless they show up in the middle of the night...

...and then the folks at the Big Brown store told us that sometimes they found packages left at the front door when they open in the morning Or sumdood would wander in, no identifying clothing or announcement, call my name, and then leave. Or drop a bunch f packages without bothering to get a signature.

Well, there's that big block of bright yellow lockers over by the Safeway...

Turns out that the Amazon Lockers work OK.

But still...

So, without using the "R" word, one of the things we are doing this January is joining the local community center to take advantage of the exercise facilities. So I needed new gym shorts. and there were some gym shorts on a Lightning Deal. So I ordered two pair...

...which arrived as two separate packages. Because it's too hard for Amazon to recognize "He ordered two of the same thing."

Worse:

One pair of shorts filled the envelope. Two would have left a little space in the box, not sure why they shipped one in a box and one in an envelope.

Mr. Bad Example

So, what spare time I've had the last week or two had mostly been spent transcribing my notes from MAG40. I think I'll pass on posting a day-by-day AAR and just post the outstanding things from it.

When I'm ready.

In the meantime... I often pass on posting about things in the news, because others post about them so much better. But sometimes...

As seen on View From The Porch: See this? Don't do this?

Man, 20, killed by shotgun blast outside northeast Raleigh home | News & Observer

This. This right here is why we can't have nice things.

(And actually ties in with some of the things covered in MAG40.)

Acknowledging that the press almost always leaves important details out, and that events as described by friends and family of the deceased are biased and not to be trusted...

A bunch of young males in their late teens and early twenties at, or leaving, a party two doors down does not sound like "hoodlums and vandals."

The part that really caused me to face palm so hard I almost gave myself a concussion was this:

I fired my warning shot like I’m supposed to by law.

Not only is there no legal requirement to fire a warning shot, but police are generally prohibited from firing warning shots. 

And, sweet Jesus, if you HAVE to fire a warning shot, shoot into the ground!

The 911 calls include this:

12:50 a.m. “We’ve got a bunch of hoodlums out here. I’m locked and loaded, and I’m going outside to secure my neighborhood. You need to send PD as quickly as possible.”

and

“You need to send PD as quickly as possible, I’m on neighborhood watch. I’m gonna have the neighbors with me. There’s hoodlums out here racing up and down the street. It’s 1 o’clock in the morning, um, there’s some vandalism.”

and

12:57 a.m. “We have a lot of people outside our house, yelling and shouting profanities. I yelled at them, ‘Please leave the premises.’ They were showing a firearm, so I fired a warning shot and, uh, we got somebody that got hit.”

at which the dispatcher asked (reasonably enough)

“Someone was shot?” the operator asked.
“Well, I don’t know if they were shot or not, ma’am,” he told her. “I fired my warning shot like I’m supposed to by law. They do have firearms, and I’m trying to protect myself and my family.”
The operator asked who had come to his house.
“Ma’am, I don’t know who they are,” the man said. “There’s frigging black males outside my frigging house with firearms. Please send PD.”

Okay, so...

• Neighborhood Watch is no more a license to kill than a concealed carry permit. 
• The evidence as presented in this article makes it sound like no one got further than a few feet onto the idiot's property. 
• At this point, we only have the idiot's word that anyone had anything resembling a firearm besides him.
• And since the evidence makes it sound like he fired from inside the garage, through a window, it hard to see what made him feel he or his family were in such danger that discharging a shotgun was necessary.

The bad part, aside from all the people who have been writing and training about these things for years having apparently done so in a giant exercise in futility, is that there are people out there who will read this little screed of mine, and similar ones by others who are more experienced, have taken more training, and have more exposure, and excoriate us for "abandoning" this guy. (Not to mention NRA, SAF, etc.)

Make no mistake: There may be evidence to come that will change this to another "Good Guy With A Gun" story, but at this point this moron is a moron who deserves to be locked up, and only trotted out when a Bad Example is needed.

Looks like we got us a movement here...

Man with AR-15 stands guard at Va. military recruiting offices - DC News FOX 5 DC WTTG

The local recruiting offices are right across the street from the Friendly Local Gun  Store and Indoor Range, so...

h//t Insty

Good! And also... Ridiculous!

Hiram residents hold watch at recruitment center - Atlanta News, Weather, Traffic, and Sports | FOX 5


To paraphrase a comment seen on Pistol Forum, a neighborhood watch of volunteer security guards are guarding offices that recruit Embassy Guards.

And Paratroopers.

And Military Police, for that matter.

Et cetera.

Did I Really Hear That?

Yes.

Yes, I did.

There really is an Official Shampoo of the Major League Baseball All-Star Game.

A sign of the End Times?

It's a trifecta of advertising horrible!

The new faux-Colonel Sanders!

Hannah and her Horse!

And that creepy King of Hamburgers, back from exile!

It's enough to make me go Elvis on the boob tube.

Well, that was interesting...

Just had a Blackhawk and two Apaches fly over the house.

Mrs. Drang says there was a lot of fast mover activity this morning, too.

Better check the news.

And maybe the tinfoil.

Assorted Firearms WTF at the NRA AM

Taurus Curve because chcks dig Hot Pink guns!

New version of the Taurus Model 85, with a removable hammer spur...

New version of the Taurus Model 85, with a removable hammer spur...
Not sure why that's a needed thing...

And, to cap off Taurus' new selections, who hasn't thought that the grip on their snubby wasn't just too darned big?

Leopard Deagle, Zebra Deagle... No gold-plated Deagle, that I saw...

'Cuz pink camo makes the Hi Point better!

Wait! What?

Washington State violates the Letter of Initiative 594

EDITED TO ADD:  It would probably have been more accurate to title this post "Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife Announces Intent to Violate Letter of Law, Support of One Percenters Endorsement of Selective Enforcement"  But that would have been absurd...

Apparently, the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife has sent out a letter to Hunters Safety Instructors regarding how Initiative 594 impacts them. Full text is here, Joe has an excerpt describing the way DFW says Hunters Safety classes will be conducted in order to avoid falling afoul of the law at at I-594 fears confirmed | The View From North Central Idaho.

Here's the rub: When I went to read the full text of the DFW's letter at the first link, I saw this:

•  I-594 exempts all law enforcement agencies from the background check/transfer requirement. WDFW, as a general authority Washington law enforcement agency pursuant to RCW 10.93.020(1), is therefore exempt from this requirement.  Any firearms purchase, sale or transfer to or from WDFW or WDFW employees when acting within the scope of their authority, is exempt from the background check/transfer requirement in I-594.
•   The Hunter Education Program is a WDFW program authorized by state law pursuant to RCW 77.32.155(1)(a).  Hunter Education Instructors, when in formal volunteer status for WDFW and acting within the scope of their authority for purposes of the Hunter Education Program, act on behalf of WDFW, and are therefore exempt from the background check/transfer requirements.  This exemption extends to Hunter Education Instructors whether or not they are actually in the classroom, provided that they are in formal volunteer status for WDFW and acting within the scope of their authority for purposes of the Hunter Education Program.

Emphasis added; essentially, DFW is claiming that any of their employees are Law Enforcement Officers under the definition of the law. Unfortunately for DFW, Initiative 594 defines Law Enforcement as follows:

Section 2(11) "Law enforcement officer" includes a general authority Washington peace officer as defined in RCW 10.93.020, or a specially commissioned Washington peace officer as defined in RCW 10.93.020. "Law enforcement officer" also includes a limited authority Washington peace officer as defined in RCW 10.93.020 if such officer is duly authorized by his or her employer to carry a concealed pistol.

Consulting Section 10.93.020 of the Revised Code of Washington, we learn the following:

 (3) "General authority Washington peace officer" means any full-time, fully compensated and elected, appointed, or employed officer of a general authority Washington law enforcement agency who is commissioned to enforce the criminal laws of the state of Washington generally.
(4) "Limited authority Washington peace officer" means any full-time, fully compensated officer of a limited authority Washington law enforcement agency empowered by that agency to detect or apprehend violators of the laws in some or all of the limited subject areas for which that agency is responsible. A limited authority Washington peace officer may be a specially commissioned Washington peace officer if otherwise qualified for such status under this chapter.
(5) "Specially commissioned Washington peace officer", for the purposes of this chapter, means any officer, whether part-time or full-time, compensated or not, commissioned by a general authority Washington law enforcement agency to enforce some or all of the criminal laws of the state of Washington, who does not qualify under this chapter as a general authority Washington peace officer for that commissioning agency, specifically including reserve peace officers.... A reserve peace officer is an individual who is an officer of a Washington law enforcement agency who does not serve such agency on a full-time basis but who, when called by the agency into active service, is fully commissioned on the same basis as full-time peace officers to enforce the criminal laws of the state.

Again, emphasis added; I don't believe that Hunters Safety Instructors are empowered to enforce any laws. Do they get handcuffs when they are certified? Badge and a gun?

Thing is, this whole POS of a law is full of land mines and traps for the well-meaning honest person, and every time we bring them up, we're told "Oh, don't worry, that's not the intent, no one will ever dream of enforcing that!"

Right.

Here's a fun fact: I-594 defines a "firearm" thus:

(9) "Firearm" means a weapon or device from which a projectile or projectiles may be fired by an explosive such as gunpowder.

Tomorrow being my day off, I am going to go to Lowe's and Home Depot and ask about the procedures they have in place to conduct a background check on persons wanting to purchase a powder-actuated  power tool.

Then I'll call some local contractors and ask if their employees provide their own tools, and, if not, what is the procedure they follow to ensure that anyone handling powder-actuated tools on their work sites are authorized to handle them. Any of your employees non-US citizens? Any felony convictions, for, say, drug use?  How about misdemeanor convictions for domestic violence?

Then I'll call a few boating supply stores and pursue the same line of questioning re: flare guns.

Commie, please

Because Black Friday isn't already stressful enough for anyone who can't just stay at home, the folks who gave us this:

From VFTP: The Protocols of the Elders of WTF?
That's right, I'm outside of Seattle embedding a photo about idiots here from a blogpost written in Indianapolis.

also brought us this:Police: Seattle protester had cache of weapons in car, in which it was revealed that one of the Social Justice Warriors had a Taurus and a cheap Chicom knife on him, and a shotgun and semi-automatic rifle in his car. (But no carry permit.) Also a barbecue lighter and "powerful fireworks."  And some granola bars.

I'm surprised they didn't say he had an arsenal cached in his car, but I digress.

Today, we got this: Ferguson demonstrators march in Seattle | Seattle Times, in which it is revealed that the local Social Justice Warriors honored the memory of a young, um, urban entrepreneur, by assaulting police officers at the lighting of the Christmas Tree at Westlake Center, an upscale mall  in downtown Seattle*. Which also houses the northernmost station of the Link Light Rail, so, not only did they screw up folks' Christmas Shopping, they made it so they couldn't get home, because the mall and rail station were closed early.

This just capped off the day, as it seems that the protesters were using pepper spray and throwing fireworks in response to the SPD's use of pepperballs and flash bangs.  (Not sure about the efficacy of flash-bangs as a crowd control tool in daylight, but what do I know?)  Also, one or more other SJWs were arrested for assaulting a police officer, and at one point they chained the doors to another downtown mall shut, which I am sure violates the fire code, at the least.

Bu then there's this: Black Friday gets a little less frenzied, which had the un-ironic subtitle "Black Friday seemed a little less crazy this year."

*And site of the Gordon Biersch brewpub, where I had lunch with Barron and Janelle Barnett and Boyd Kneeland and Phil Murray after the No on I594 rally, and which is totally cool with Open Carry but"You might want to cover up because Mall Security was talking about barring anyone who was armed."

They hear me trollin', they applaudin'... -- Guns & Gun Shops

So, this post and this one, and this gun:

Photo from Gun Nuts Media, which you should totally go visit, or I wouldn't have linked the article already. Don't read the comments.

I visited two local gun shops today, one to sign up for an upcoming class and the other to buy some ammo for said class.

At both shops I asked if they had the Taurus Curve in yet.  They could probably tell from the way I said it and the expression on my face that I was needling them, but they didn't know why...

...until they looked it up, and saw the splendiferous derpitude for themselves.

Hooray, me!

***

Speaking of signing up for a class, they had this flyer up in the range area:

In case you or someone you care about is from around here and wants/needs some training. Highly recommended.

***

From the "Seriously?" department:
I ordered some spare mags for Mrs. Drang's Elsie Pee early in September.  They just arrived. Annoyed...

How dost thou annoy me? Let me count the ways:

• The people refuse to get enough training to understand that dropping the mag does NOT mean the gun is unloaded.
• That the herp-a-derps who need the reminder will try and load the mag with the sticker attached.
• That the Herp-a-derps who do that will ask for my gun advice and ignore it.

Mind you, I really believe that, before the end of 2015, Ruger will bring out their own version of the Curve, and it will almost certainly be a decent option for self-defense. 

***

At work the other night one minion overheard a conversation about guns, about the Taurus Curve, in fact. "I need to get a gun."

Asked what she was getting, she said "I really want a snubnose. So-and-so says I should get a .357..."  So-and-so being other minion. She also said she plans on practicing weekly.

The fact that Minion So-and-so is mostly a rifle and shotgun shooter, that he was giving her "Gun Culture Gen 1" advice, and that she normally responds to any advice or feedback at work by saying "I know this job as well as any man!" caused me to react, well, not very respectfully.  (Mostly to her citing a non-pistol guy with whom she does not get along very well¹, but that was obvious to no one.)

Guys.  Really, Stop that.

No, really. STOP THAT!!!!

A double action revolver has simple, easy-to-master controls for the non-enthusiast, and a full sized (4+") barrel six+-shooter can make an excellent general purpose sidearm, but a snubnose revolver is a specialists tool; as a concealed carry gun for the neophyte it sucks out loud.

• The sights are as vestigial as those the Army had John Moses Browning (pbuh) put on the 1911. 
• Or worse.
• In those rare cases where the sights are OK, the sight radius is so short as to be laughable.
• With that short a barrel, you need to select ammo carefully.
• And the recoil is going to be a beast.  NOT good for newby non-enthusiasts.
• That's in .38 Special; a snubnosed .357 magnum has reduced grown men to tears. 

A hammerless model can be useful as a pocket gun; as Tamara has related that she sometimes carries one in an outer pocket of her winter coat in addition to her regular defensive piece, as she can get to it faster when dressed for Fimbulwinter. (Fortunately, it rarely gets as cold in Western Washington as it does in Indiana²...)

***

1. Yes, I wonder if he was trolling her.
2. Because if it did, Mrs. Drang would make me relocate to Arizona or someplace.

Typical classy gun banner does the Blood Dance

Too Soon? Nick Hanauer Posts Sarcastically, ‘We Need More School Shootings!!!’ | KUOW News and Information
This is the tweet in question:

Seen at KUOW News and Information

Nick Hanauer, of course, is one of the billionaires who is backing Washington State Ballot Initiative 594, which would mandate a background check for nearly every firearms transfer in the state, even if all you are doing is swapping guns with your buddy on the range.

Seen at KUOW, the NPR station of U of W. Not too crazy about their headline, either, frankly. According to the article, several backers of I594 have asked him to take the tweet down, but it was still up late this afternoon.

Liberals.  Can't live with 'em, can't string 'em up from the nearest lamppost, no matter how big a douche bag they are.