I Grok This

If you don't recognize him, that's Sgt. Schlock from Howard Tayler's Schlock Mercenary. And if you don't recognize him, you should be ashamed of yourself!

What if They Held an Anti-Gun Rally...

...and nobody came?

That's unpossible!

UPDATE:  Answer - Why, you bus them there!

"The typhoon waves are starting to break over the bridge."

Interesting piece in The American Spectator, His Queeg Moment.  Excerpt:

In Herman Wouk’s classic World War II novel, The Caine Mutiny, there is a moment when a group of the ship’s officers are getting away from the increasingly eccentric Captain Queeg by relaxing ashore.

Suddenly the malcontent Lieutenant Keefer asks the others: “Does it occur to you that Captain Queeg may be insane?

In fact Queeg is not insane, at least not at that time. He is simply grappling, more and more disastrously, with a job too big for him. Come the crisis of a typhoon, he becomes paralyzed and nearly sinks the ship by failing to give the obvious orders. At the subsequent court-martial he appears quite normal until he breaks down under the pressure of cross-examination. Before this, the officers have searched the regulations for guidance, but the regulations refer only to a captain who is clearly and unmistakably insane, not one who is merely guilty of eccentricity and bad judgment. At a lower level of responsibility, Queeg might have performed adequately, but with Keefer’s question, the remaining respect for Queeg’s office has gone.

Obama’s second inauguration speech may be his Queeg moment — an undeniable demonstration that, in an emergency, he is incapable of grappling with reality.

RTWT.

Update on Those "No More Hesitation" Targets

Reader David Turner has sent me a follow-up on those targets.  It seems that the manufacturer has taken them off their website and apologized:

We apologize for the offensive nature of our "No More Hesitation" products. These products have been taken offline due to the opinions expressed by so many, including members of the law enforcement community.

This product line was originally requested and designed by the law enforcement community to train police officers for unusually complex situations where split-second decisions could lead to unnecessary loss of life.

Consistent with our company mission as a training supplier (not a training methods company), we will continue to seek input from law enforcement professionals to better serve their training objectives and qualification needs. We sincerely appreciate law enforcement professionals for the risks they take in providing safety and defending freedom.

As InfoWars explains, though:

The company's excuse that the targets were designed to help police prevent "unnecessary loss of life" is highly dubious given that the images were all of armed individuals termed "non-traditional threats," designed to ensure "no more hesitation" from police officers encountering them.

As one respondent to the company explained, "Look, each of the supposed "threats" appeared to be in their own home settings. They were also all holding a weapon… It is obvious these paper targets were never intended to be decoy (don't shoot targets). It is apparent this was designed to assist in desensitizing the trainee."

In addition, the company had previously struck a different tone when it told Reason's Mike Riggs that the targets were designed to combat, "hesitation on the part of cops when deadly force is required on subjects with atypical age, frailty or condition."

Although the targets have been taken off the company's website, it's unclear whether or not they have been removed from sale entirely.

That's a question I would like answered.

OK, WTF?

I occasionally take a break at the office and do a little web-surfing (yeah, shocker, no?).  I have both Firefox 19.0 and IE 10.0 installed.  Both load pages glacially slow.  I've determined it's because of Java scripts.  If I turn off Java, BOOM!  Pages load right now, but without much of the content.  For example, checking my personal email, I have to use gmail's standard HTML version of the page.  The more versatile one doesn't run w/o Java.

Anybody else have this experience?  I'm tired of waiting for pages to load, but I can't just turn Java off - too many pages are dependent on Java scripts.  Suggestions?

Quote of the Day - Culture War Edition

Publicola has written an excellent piece, Resolve, that I strongly recommend you read.  Today's QotD comes from it:

We have to be more determined than our enemies, but our focus does not have to be on them exclusively, or rather not on who we think our enemies are. Bluntly, our enemy isn't flesh and blood - that's just a manifestation. Our enemy is the idea that our culture is not worth saving. Our enemy is the notion that our culture can compromise on its values. Our enemy is the practice of appeasement.

Quote of the Day - Disappearing Generals Edition

From the Investor's Business Daily article, The disturbing pattern: Obama rids America's military of yet another top general:

Gen. Stanley McChrystal, a special ops veteran who was McKiernan's successor. He resigned when his staff was quoted making derogatory comments to an embedded journalist about the administration in general and VP Joe Biden in particular. If mocking Megamind Biden is worthy of resignation, then most of America needs to step down by lunch today.

It's a pretty serious piece, though, and I recommend you read the whole thing.

Bill Whittle's Virtual State-of-the-Union, Part I

Go, Bill!

SNOWPOCALYPSE!

Yeah, we had a little bit of winter here in the Old Pueblo yesterday.

And Now for Something Completely Different

No translation needed:

Joe Biden Should Listen to This Guy

Via LawDog:



And I doubt this man will use a double-barreled twelve-gauge.

I Have an Idea, Joe

Let's replace all of your security team's submachineguns and semi-automatic pistols with double-barreled 12 gauge shotguns.  They don't need thirty rounds (or eighteen) to protect you, right?

In fact, I think all Secret Service protective detail agents should be equipped with Ruger Red Label shotguns and two shells apiece!  If it's good enough for us, it ought to be good enough for our employees!

Oh, hell, let's let 'em have Stoeger Tactical Coach Guns so they can hang flashlights, lasers and optics off the rails.

Seriously?

"Designed to prepare officers for the worst possible situation."

Reader David Turner sent me a link to these Law Enforcement "No More Hesitation" training targets to ask me what I thought of them. Here are four of the seven:




The sales spiel goes:

No More Hesitation Targets were designed to give officers the experience of dealing with deadly force shooting scenarios with subjects that are not the norm during training.  No More Hesitation faded background enhances the isolation and is meant to help the transition for officers who are faced with these highly unusal targets for the first time.

I'm sure these targets are Bob Owens-approved. I wonder when they're going to start producing "No Hesitation" targets like this:


Oh, wait! No need!


EDITED TO ADD:

Sometimes hesitation is called for:


UPDATE II:

What, they don't carry a "Household Pets" target set?

UPDATE III:

No, this is not satire.  At least the targets themselves aren't.

Well Said!

Daniel Bongino

The Work of the Media is Never Done

Takes on a whole new interpretation, doesn't it?



Via Instapundit.

iSNIPER System?

If it works as advertised, pretty damned impressive.

California-Approved Handgun Safe

Pretty much.

In New Jersey there's a completely separate safe for the ammo that must be kept on the opposite side of the house.

Also from Firehand

I know Dorner's extra-crispy now, but this demotivator is PERFECT:

Quote of the Day - Mad Mike Edition

Via email from Firehand, Michael Z. Williamson has today's QotD:

First they came for the blacks, and I spoke up because it was wrong, even though I'm not black.

Then they came for the gays, and I spoke up, even though I'm not gay.

Then they came for the Muslims, and I spoke up, because it was wrong, even though I'm an atheist.

When they came for illegal aliens, I spoke up, even though I'm a legal immigrant.

Then they came for the pornographers, rebels and dissenters and their speech and flag burning, and I spoke up, because rights are not only for the establishment.

Then they came for the gun owners, and you liberal shitbags threw me under the bus, even though I'd done nothing wrong.  So when they come to put you on the train, you can fucking choke and die.

~~~

Or you can commit seppuku with a chainsaw.  I really don't care anymore.  This is the end of my support for any liberal cause, because liberals have become anything but.

Go, Mike!  (RTWT)

Quote of the Day - Arguing with Liberals Edition

From the first comment to this Newsbusters piece on Bill Maher:

Maher is a constant reminder that discussing anything with liberals is like playing chess with a pigeon........they just crap all over the board and then strut in it as if they won something. -- "chazzykc"