Monday, July 18, 2016

Obama: "It's easier to get a Glock than a book . . . ."

When addressing the assembled mourners in Dallas, Barry Obama said the following[1]:

It's easier for a teenager to get his hands on a Glock than a computer . . . or even a book.

First, there's these places called libraries that will let you read books without going through any paperwork at all. Quite a few of these . . . libraries . . . will let you check out books and — wait for it — take them home without so much as a simple background check.

Nor do the librarians make you fill out federally-mandated paperwork asking you if you're a convicted felon, fugitve from justice, illegal immigrant, been dishonorably discharged from the military, have been adjudicated as mentally unfit to read, have any domestic violence convictions, or if you've renounced your U.S. citizenship.

And if you want to keep the book, you don't go to a library, but to another place called a bookstore, where you can hand over some of your cash and take the book home with you. No background check, no waiting period, just pay for your book, take it and go. Nor do you have to be at least 21 years old to purchase small, easily-carried books.

Why, they even let you buy or borrow multiple books without additional paperwork. WOW!

Nor do the feds require bookstore owners to get a federal license to sell books across state lines.

Now, what about prices?

Let's see:

A mass-market paperback of the kind that I bought most of my books as ran at 2.50 (plus tax) back in the early 1980s. Now they're up to ∅7.99-8.99.

Trade paperbacks in the 6" x 9" format usually run ∅9.99-19.99, depending on how many pages, the publisher, etc.

Hardbacks are pricier — they're usually over ∅20, most likely in the ∅22-27 range (it does pay at times to check the remainder tables!).

How about computers, then?

You can get a used desktop (such as the one I'm typing this article on) for about ∅100-200 (I paid ∅90 to a place that was going out of business).

Used laptops are in the same price range.

And as with books, there's no need to fill out any federally-mandated paperwork, no waiting periods, no required background check, no age requirement. You can get a computer, even a brand-new one, even if you're a convicted felon, messed up between the ears, been dishonorably discharged, etc., etc.

As for the Glock, though, that's a bit different. Brand-new, a Glock will run you about ∅500. Used, they can go for more or less, depending on condition and after-market modifications. A factory-model Glock in decent condition will cost you about ∅300.

On top of that, if you're a convicted felon, don't get caught possessing that Glock by the cops — the feds love to throw people in prison for ten-year stretches for that.

That federally-mandated paperwork and background check I linked to above? That's the sort of thing you have to go through to purchase a firearm from a federally-licensed dealer. In order to sell firearms across state lines and on any sort of commercial basis, the feds require that the dealer get a Federal Firearms License [FFL].

So much for Obama's comment in Dallas.

Here's the really bad part about Obama's comment:

He's got advisors from the Cabinet secretaries and agency directors on down who could have offered up the correct information for his Dallas speech. It's already bad taste to use a memorial service to score political points. On top of that, he used nonsensical comments to score those points? Come one, now.


FOR FURTHER REFERENCE

  1. Ixquick search / DuckDuckGo search / Startpage search / Qwant search / Encrypted Google search

NOTES

  1. Approximate reading level – 9.2


Copyright © 2016 Libertarian Party of New Mexico, Libertarian Party of Bernalillo County, New Mexico and Mike Blessing. All rights reserved.
Produced by KCUF Media, a division of Extropy Enterprises.
This blog entry created with medit and Notepad++.

Monday, July 11, 2016

No TOR for the Masses?

Recently Techspot India reported that the NSA doesn't want us civilians using the TOR technology —

NSA classifies Linux Journal readers, Tor and Tails Linux users as "extremists"

Funny how TOR was originally developed by the Naval Research Laboratory and furthered by DARPA. Now that it's out of the bag, they want to put it back under their exclusive control. Sort of like the internet itself.

Of course, the govvies probably won't mind too much if political figures with ties to George Soros and the Saudi royal family use it. At least they didn't seem to mind when a certain former senator turned Secretary of State mishandled classified information on a private home-based server, so I'm guessing that they'll sign off on corrupt use of the TOR tech as well, just so long as it's the "right people" using it.

H/T Seth Anderson Bailey


FOR FURTHER REFERENCE

  1. Wikipedia page for Tor

  2. Wikipedia page for TAILS

  3. Wikipedia page for Dark web

NOTES

  1. Approximate reading level – 11.7


Copyright © 2016 Libertarian Party of New Mexico, Libertarian Party of Bernalillo County, New Mexico and Mike Blessing. All rights reserved.
Produced by KCUF Media, a division of Extropy Enterprises.
This blog entry created with medit and Notepad++.

Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Happy Independence Day -- From a 21st Century Tory

My inbox is always bursting with spam —

From: Michelle Lujan Grisham via bounce.bluestatedigital.com
To: Mike Blessing
Date: Mon, Jul 4, 2016 at 3:46 PM
Subject: Happy Independence Day!

What's amusing about this is that Michelle Lujan Grisham is the 21st century New Mexico equivalent of an 18th century British Tory.

A little histoy lesson here — the Tories were the British political party who were opposed to the American Revolution of 1776. They were whom the Declaration of Independence was a series of complaints against when it was signed at Independence Hall (then the Pennsylvania State House).

In short, they were the Big Government party of the United Kingdom of the 1760s and 1770s.

Doesn't the phrase "Big Government" neatly summarize the political career of Michelle Lujan Grisham? When has she EVER supported making government smaller, less intrusive, less expensive? Not much that we here in New Mexico have seen.

Grisham has little to no respect for the individual right to own and carry weapons, she's always in favor of expanding the welfare state, and she signs off on Democrat-sponsored corporate welfare while complaining about corporations being under-regulated. If you're a farmer or rancher, she doesn't seem to care if your land is seized out from under you by the BLM, Forest Service, Fish & Wildlife, EPA, or whoever else, just so long as it fits the current Democrat narrative.

What's also amusing is that today's British Tories (the Conservative Party, by their own name) are the "across-the-pond" equivalent of America's Republicans — they advertise themselves as moderate libertarians during the campaign season, then govern as moderate Democrats (Labour Party for the UK Conservatives).

If you want the real deal, then go with actual, brand-name Libertarians here in the States. For the UK, I would suggest either the Libertarian Party UK [LPUK] or UK Independence Party [UKIP]


Copyright © 2016 Libertarian Party of New Mexico, Libertarian Party of Bernalillo County, New Mexico and Mike Blessing. All rights reserved.
Produced by KCUF Media, a division of Extropy Enterprises.
This blog entry created with medit and Notepad++.