Pelham traffic stop yields weapons cache

Yeah, right…

Adding drama to their investigation of the suspicious vehicle at about 1:30 p.m. on Monday, Officers Thistle and Barbato, while questioning the three suspects, "observed in plain view several semi-automatic firearms/weapons" in the rear section of the Toyota van, McCarthy said.

The BB guns' resemblance to actual firearms was so significant that the officers at first believed the air rifles were the real thing, McCarthy said. – emphasis added

From the minimal description provided in the article I would speculate that the likely make and model was one of these:

Crossman M4-177 -- Image via the manufacturer’s websight.

I don’t happen to have one of those myself.  But they do look like a fun plinker.  Basically the one I handled at WalMart seemed to be a along the lines of a Pumpmaster 760 dressed up in an AR-15 costume.  If I was in my teens I’d probably be drooling all over the idea of getting one.  And the stock really is adjustable, just like its metal cousin.  Did I mention that these are almost completely made of plastic?  Metal is used where needed but the entire outer frame is injection molded probably polystyrene.

The newspaper reports that the van was stolen as were the airguns.  That got the driver arrested on felony charges for receiving stolen property.  His passengers were arrested for not being able to convince officer OMG they got gunses! that the baggies in their pockets contained oregano for their home ec class later that afternoon.


UPDATE:  It turns out that the "rifles" in question were not BB guns.  They are much more realistic airsoft guns.  I shouldn't expect the media to understand the difference, or even that there is a difference...

Lowell Sun photo

 UPDATE II:  I just thought I'd point out the nice job the local cat box liner did in cropping this photograph.  Trim a little off the stock and you don't really loose anything.  But if you trim an inch or so off the muzzle you can completely eliminate the ORANGE TIP that all airsoft toys are required by law to have.  Suddenly it looks like a real AR-15.  In terms of the oath administered to every witness in every court across this land that would be a failure to "tell the whole truth."

Mass Speaker of the House announces Gun Control Panel

There’s an article at lowellsun.com on the subject of a new panel tasked with ‘reviewing and proposing revisions to’ the gun laws here in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  A place I frequently refer to as Marxistchusetts for reasons that become painfully obvious to anyone who has the misfortune to live here. 

(Yes, I am planning to move.  I looked at a property in New Hampshire last night, as a matter of fact.) 

The article points out that “The task force does not include anyone from the gun lobby or the gun-manufacturing industry …”   After all, we wouldn’t want there to be anyone on the board who is actually an expert on the subject.  The second half of that sentence states one member is a "gun enthusiast and sportsman."  I don’t know any more about former Massachusetts and Louisiana Inspector General Robert Cerasoli than what’s in his bio on Wikipedia and there is no mention of his being a sportsman or what his position may be regarding the Second Amendment.  Still, one voice against seven where among the seven there is at least one noted anti-gun author.  In a court of law I would suspect them of stacking the jury.

Later in the article we find this nugget:

“Rep. David Linsky, D-Natick, has taken the lead on this issue in the House, filing a comprehensive bill to address gun violence that would require gun license applicants to disclose their mental health histories, prohibit assault weapons from being stored in homes, ban high-capacity ammunition magazines, and require gun owners to purchase liability insurance.”

Let’s rewrite this to be a bit more accurate:

Rep. David Linsky, D-Natick, has taken the lead on this issue in the House, filing a patently Unconstitutional bill to reduce private gun ownership that would require, among other things, the following:

• gun license applicants must disclose their mental health histories to their local Chief of Police who has already been given cart blanch to disallow any applicant regardless of how qualified even if he has no real reason for doing so (not that actual criminals would bother to apply for permits for their [usually stolen] guns...)
• prohibits modern sporting rifles from being stored in Citizens homes
• makes mere possession of a common stamped tin box with a spring in it a felony even if you don’t have a firearm to put it in or any ammunition to put in it
• and applies a burdensome Tax on Citizens who wish to exercise their Second Amendment Rights in the form of mandated purchase of onerously expensive insurance policies from private corporations

And that last bullet point is actually prohibited by RICO.  Think if it phrased thus: “Youz gonna do business with my associates in de insurance industry here or I’m gonna make bad things happen to you.”  Come to think of it, Obamacare violates RICO for the same reason!

Slow news day

What we have here is a failure to [change voice] Respect My Athoritah!

What's wrong with this picture?

You'd never know to look at the headline, but that headline actually takes you to three daisy-chained articles.  And they made the State of the Union second banana to a dog show!

Tee hee!

Reading between the lines

Maybe I’m seeing something that isn’t really there.  Then again, maybe I am…

In this AP story reprinted on the website of the local cat box liner we read about a newly announced merger and/or acquisition.  It seems that the exclusive manufacturer of the paper used by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to make US currency has agreed to purchase a Kennebunk Maine division of Hallmark that specializes in making stationary.  Crane & Co. CEO Stephen DeFalco is quoted as saying the acquisition of William Arthur gives his company “flexibility in the marketplace.”

Very interesting…

Do they foresee a time – possibly in the not too distant future – where the need for their primary product might go into decline?  I do.  Are they positioning themselves to be able to survive should that happen?  That would seem prudent.

And this passes for main-stream reporting?

 In a story updating a tragic accident we find this:

According to a release from the department, Gary A. Garafola, of 3 Ripple Road, was struck and killed while walking his dog just after 5 p.m.

Two “paragraphs” down (actually, after a run-on sentence pretending to be a paragraph) we find this:

Calls to a number listed for Garafola went unanswered Sunday afternoon.

NO SHIT!  He’s kind of busy being dead right at the moment!  You might want to try back after the resurrection.

I mean no disrespect to the deceased’s family and friends in their time of grief.  But I do find this reporter calling his house to be – I’m at a loss for words!  Feel free to insert your own adjective in the comments… <takes a deep breath> – to be beyond insensitive to the point of vulgarity.


EDIT: I have no idea where these empty videos are comming from.  They only seem to show up when I'm using Internet Exploder on other than my usual computer.

You can’t make this stuff up…

If you did, nobody would believe you!

A Vermont farmer, Roger Pion (yes, that is how it’s pronounced…), gave the Bigfoot treatment to fully half of the local sheriff’s department’s fleet of cruisers with his tractor.  It seems that he was upset about his recent arrest for, as the article puts it: resisting arrest and possession of marijuana.  I have no idea if he had a little for his own personal use or  if that was his primary crop.  One spectator, or rather, witness to the incident described the tractor as having tires at least fifteen feet high.

And a fun time was had by all…

No one was injured except for the taxpayers who will have to foot the bill for replacing the damaged cop cars.

UPDATE: I find it interesting that in the few minutes it took me to write my take on this story and post it and when I went back to read the original to Mum I find that the AP story at Yahoo News has been replaced with a completely rewritten story.  Some details have been added and others have been omitted.  It’s almost like looking something up in Wikipedia.  What you find depends on when you look and who wrote the most recent update.

The Standing Army Jefferson warned about:

Since I can't upload the screen capture from work we'll have to make do with a link:

Four people arrested in Back Central drug raid

I'll post that image this evening from home.

Here ya go:

Now this is funny!

The legacy media has noticed that America’smurder rates are going down.  We’ve been aware of that for some time now.  But it’s finally reached the point that even the high priesthood of the authorized purveyors of ‘official reporting’ can no longer ignore it.  So there’s an article on the subject by The Week’s Editorial Staff (linked at Yahoo News where I found it (not that they, in particular qualify as “high priesthood” exactly…)). 

Anywho…

In their editorial they offer three things they think might have something to do with this trend.  I’ll let you go see for yourself what they want to claim may be responsible.  Nope.  They don’t mention that.  They don’t even hint at it.  But there are (as if this writing) some 376 comments - many of which are pointing out the elephant in the room that the authorized media are so thoroughly ignoring.

As so many of the bolgers I read on a daily basis would say: We’re winning.

WTF, over...

Tyngsboro police: Suspect called 911 from cruiser

“Recipe”

It’s not just for the Baldwin Sisters anymore…            

Groton suspends suspected moonshiner

Teehee!

UPDATE: But wait!  There's more!

Stupid Criminal Tricks

In a caper that was thought out almost as well as the Underwear Gnomes, a Westford resident got himself a free trip down town in the back of a police car last night.  Reading the details I have to wonder if that wasn’t his plan all along…

A comment I posted at Yahoo! News:

Regarding this story The American 'allergy' to global warming: Why? I had this to say:

Why don't we buy it?  Well, there are glacial erratics all over my neighborhood.  Huge boulders that were deposited by the retreating glaciers at the end of the last ice age.  Frankly, I'd rather you DON'T roll back global warming to the point that my house is under 200 feet of ice.  Thank you very much.

Climate is not static.  It doesn't matter that it would be more convenient for some people (scientists in this case) if it were.  And while I am all for breathing clean air I am NOT for a return to some hippies utopian idea of stone(d) age bliss.

So far the vast majority of comments (well over four thousand when last I checked) were on the side of 'we don't buy it because it's junk science.' 

I suspect this is part of the reason the Legacy Media is so afraid of the free expression of ideas and instant world-wide reach of the internet.  It's really hard to control the dialogue when others who may disagree with you have an equal voice.

There’ll be blood in the streets!

So why is it that the Governor of New Hampshire and thirty of the states Chiefs of Police are siding with violent criminals over the right of the states far more numerous law abiding citizens to defend themselves?  Have these government officials, whose job it is to work for the benefit of the citizens, not heard all of the mounting evidence that the bad guys prefer not to attack hardened targets?  IE: people who are empowered to defend themselves up to and including the use of deadly force if the bad guy makes it necessary?  Or do they simply not care?

One of the chiefs quoted in this article in the local cat box liner asked (I’ll paraphrase) ‘how are the police supposed to know who’s the good guy and who’s the bad guy under this new law?’

I suppose it used to be easy for them.  The one on the ground bleeding or dead may be presumed to be the victim and the one whose bloody footprints they track down the sidewalk until they loose the trail may be presumed to be the bad guy.  They can probably handle that without too much difficulty. 

But when the good guy is holding the bad guy at gunpoint waiting for the police to arrive it may tax their little minds to realize that the guy who just holstered his weapon upon their arrival, put his hands on top of his head and said “Glad to see you, Officer!  Transferring custody of the suspect to you.” might actually be the good guy even though he just had a firearm in his hand.

They may actually have to think for themselves.

Now for the vast majority of Peace Officers in the field this shouldn’t be a problem.  But I suppose these Chiefs know their rank and file better than I ever will.  Hopefully they will institute appropriate new training for their officers to be equipped to handle these situations when they occur in the field.

It seems as if these Chiefs of Police have never heard the answer to the often asked question:  “Why carry a gun?”

“Because a whole COP is too damn heavy!”

Intelectual Property and Facebook

Barry mentions Facebook in his State of the Union Address and so does the Lowell Sun.

Lowell Sun:  "All of your pictures and private messages belong to Facebook."

Facebook Statement of Rights and Responsibilities:  "You own all of the content and information you post on Facebook, and you can control how it is shared through your privacy and application settings. In addition:

   1. For content that is covered by intellectual property rights, like photos and videos ("IP content"), you specifically give us the following permission, subject to your privacy and application settings: you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook ("IP License"). This IP License ends when you delete your IP content or your account unless your content has been shared with others, and they have not deleted it.
   2. When you delete IP content, it is deleted in a manner similar to emptying the recycle bin on a computer. However, you understand that removed content may persist in backup copies for a reasonable period of time (but will not be available to others)."

I see something of a disconnect here.  You might almost think the reporter didn't do his homework.  But that can't be!  He's from the high priesthood of the mainstream media!  He wouldn't perhaps be, um, fear mongering?  Naw!  That can't be!

Reasoned Discourse

The Lowell Sun has implemented “Reasoned Discourse” in their comments.  Apparently they don’t like it when readers point out errors in their reporting or, worse still, flaws in their narrative. 

In recent weeks, particularly since the Arizona shootings, the mainstream media including the Sun have fallen all over themselves trying it seems to out do each other in their calls for the infringement on our Second Amendment rights.  Even for its abolishment altogether.  The articles where they have allowed comments – far from all of their articles, I hasten to point out, have had a strong contingent of commenter’s who understand and honor the intent of the Framers of the Constitution.  Of course there are those who follow the reporter’s lead in spouting the Brady Campaign to prevent Gun Ownership’s taking points. 

While there have been abuses all along with people saying some truly nasty and inappropriate things, there has also always been the ability to flag posts for moderation and the powers that be have removed comments from the boards.

Apparently that wasn’t good enough.

In order to “insure civility in the conversation” the Sun has implemented a new comment policy.  Under the new policy you will have to log in and be known to the management of the newspaper to have your comments post immediately.  Anonymous posting will still be allowed, but it first has to go through moderation to make sure what you say is acceptable to the management of the paper.  Even for logged in commenter’s, if they say things the management doesn’t like they will have their posting privileges suspended.

It will be interesting to see how many pro-Second Amendment anonymous posts pass muster.

Over at the local CBL the conversation continues

I just realized that I fell down on the job by failing to provide a link to the story.  Here’s a link to the comments while we’re at it.  Feel free to pile on!

In the comments of the local CBL

Had this to say over at the Lowell Sun this afternoon when someone suggested a never ending "gun buy back" as a way to reduce the violence in the city:

River Raven, gun buy backs don't work.  (I won't even go into the logical disconnect of “buying back” something they didn't sell in the first place!)

The far more effective solution is to learn to defend yourself and that includes arming yourself. It is not the police's job to be your personal body guard! Their job is to investigate crimes after the fact. If enough of the good guys (that’s us, btw) can defend ourselves – with lethal force if necessary – then the bad guys will look for easier targets somewhere else. If, on the other hand, as here in Massachusetts, the bad guys know that the vast majority of their potential victims have been conveniently rendered defenseless for them by our own government, they will be emboldened to commit more numerous and ever more brutal crimes. Evidence of that simple fact can be found in the pages of this very newspaper every single day.

The only way we can stop the cycle of violence is by the good guys being able to meet violence with equal or greater violence against the violent criminals. If we choose to be passive and continue to be unable to defend ourselves those violent criminals will continue to victimize us. It is up to each and every one of us not to let them.

You know, it’s amazing how fast three or four gangbangers will turn tail and run when they find themselves staring down the barrel of a .38 snubby in the hands of someone they thought was a frail defenseless senior citizen!

CBL: Cat Box Liner.   What the publishers of same would like us to call a Newspaper.  I wish I could recall which of the numerous blogs I read on a fairly regular basis I absconded with that phrase from so I could give credit (blame?) where due.