Why credit card companies are backing down with gun-specific merchant codes;
Germans demanding more gun control after a mass shooting, despite the gun control they already have not working.
Next, Weer'd sits down with Marty Hayes of the Armed Citizen Legal Defense Network to talk about "gun insurance" and what is and isn't legal when covering a client;
Oddball expands on Tiny's SWATing story from a technical standpoint;
and finally, Xander gives the finger to smart gun technology.
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Michael J. Knowles, speaking at CPAC 2023, stated that "Transgenderism must be eradicated." It's on the video embedded below, and that statement has been quoted by both conservative and liberal websites. Knowles later weasel-worded his statement by saying that he's not calling for genocide, because "genocide refers to genes."
If you know me, you know that I have strong feelings about this position. I'm going to leave the "Being transgender is not an ism" rant for another day so that I can concentrate on the larger picture here.
First, Knowles is calling for the eradication of everything that allows transgender people to become whole, which is a murder of soul if not of body. We will kindly be allowed to live... so long as we crawl back into the closet and stay there for his comfort, and to hell with what that does to the quality of our lives.
Second, what he's calling for can be rounded up to genocide -- or democide, if you're feeling pedantic -- because once being transgender is made illegal, the two choices a trans person has are:
Comply and only dress and present as the sex assigned on your birth certificate, which effectively eliminates all trans people from society, or
Refuse to comply and face potentially lethal response, because all laws are ultimately enforced at the barrel of a law enforcement officer's firearm.
Third, can you imagine the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth if a liberal pundit had declared that "conservatism must be eradicated"? The Republicans would condemn it as hate speech and an existential threat to them.
I never thought I would see the day when someone would call for an end to my way of life at a political convention, nor did I think they'd be cheered for it, yet here we are. This feels very much like a testing of the waters; by having a media pundit say it instead of a politician, CPAC could have disavowed Knowles' statements as "not representative of our positions" if the crowd reacted poorly. But the audience cheered and clapped, which many if not most conservatives will interpret as broad support for such actions.
By the way, just in case you think this might have been a one-off situation, here's Michael Knowles saying similar things.
"Be normal." How privileged can you get? And I hate how the term privilege has been distorted and over-used, so when I use it that's saying something.
It's simply shocking to me to see someone, but especially a media pundit, who is so expressly against the First Amendment that he wants to bring back laws forbidding self-expression that harms no one.
He's not even talking about transgender children; he's talking about forbidding adults of legal age from dressing and acting as they want. What happened to GOP being the party of the Constitution?
"We have a duty to express our sex in the correct way." This is not a political argument; this is a religious argument. Well, so much for separation of Church and State. And nothing bad has ever happened when the government legislates religious purity, has it?
Do you remember the origin of the pink triangle, Mr. Knowles? Because we do. And we won't ever let that happen again.
Armed transgender people don't get bashed, Mr. Knowles. We will NOT go back into the closet for your benefit, nor will we allow you to take away our liberties without a fight.
To anyone who plans to enforce this: stack up and send expendable goons, because they aren't coming back. Give me liberty, or I will give you death.
The first part of this episode was recorded on location in Uvalde, Texas where Erin and Weer'd recounted their travels and events of the Gundie Awards' range day at Drive Tanks.
In part 2, Weer'd and Erin are back at their respective homes and discuss the Gundies' Expo and Red Carpet/Awards Ceremony.
Much fun was had!
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Erin's regales us with her adventures in Utah for a documentary film!
Erin and Weer'd then discuss:
the Federal court challenge of the Illinois Assault Weapons Ban;
a temper tantrum by the Louisville, KY Mayor about auctioning off confiscated guns;
the legal issues of the Michigan State University shooter.
Next, Liberty from Geeks, Gadgets and Guns recounts her experience with giving testimony before the Nebraska legislature about their Red Flag Laws;
and finally, Weer'd interviews Marty Hayes of the Armed Citizen's Legal Defense Network to find out what ACLDN is and where it came from.
Did you know that we have a Patreon? Join now for the low, low cost of $4/month (that’s $1/podcast) and you’ll get to listen to our podcast on Friday instead of Mondays, as well as patron-only content like mag dump episodes and our hilarious blooper reels and film tracks.
Erin and Weer’d first discuss their plans to attend the Gundie Awards in Texas, and then YouTube's harassment of content creators with gun-related channels;
Weer'd again fisks the Brady Campaign Podcast, this time on the subject of community-based violence prevention;
David had a chance to examine an S&W M&P 5.7 and gives us his thoughts on it;
and finally, Tiny tells us the story of the time he was swatted... twice!
Did you know that we have a Patreon? Join now for the low, low cost of $4/month (that’s $1/podcast) and you’ll get to listen to our podcast on Friday instead of Mondays, as well as patron-only content like mag dump episodes and our hilarious blooper reels and film tracks.
the SHORT Act and a Federal Concealed Carry Reciprocity bill;
how Florida might be the 26th permitless carry state;
the courts continue to prevent the Illinois' Assault Weapon and Magazine Ban;
and Erin has a surprise announcement regarding Antonyuk v. Nigrelli!
Next, Tiny returns with a story of a friend who was injured in a hunting accident... and how insurance made it worse;
and finally, Logan Metesh of High Caliber History returns to talk with Weer'd about how museums preserve firearm for long-term display, and how private collectors can keep their collection pristine.
Did you know that we have a Patreon? Join now for the low, low cost of $4/month (that’s $1/podcast) and you’ll get to listen to our podcast on Friday instead of Mondays, as well as patron-only content like mag dump episodes and our hilarious blooper reels and film tracks.
In geometry, the neusis (νεῦσις; from Ancient Greek νεύειν (neuein) 'incline towards'; plural: νεύσεις, neuseis) is a geometric construction method that was used in antiquity by Greek mathematicians.
Doubling the cube, also known as the Delian problem, is an ancient geometric problem. Given the edge of a cube, the problem requires the construction of the edge of a second cube whose volume is double that of the first. As with the related problems of squaring the circle and trisecting the angle, doubling the cube is now known to be impossible to construct by using only a compass and straightedge, but even in ancient times solutions were known that employed other tools.
The problem owes its name to a story concerning the citizens of Delos, who consulted the oracle at Delphi in order to learn how to defeat a plague sent by Apollo. According to Plutarch, however, the citizens of Delos consulted the oracle at Delphi to find a solution for their internal political problems at the time, which had intensified relationships among the citizens. The oracle responded that they must double the size of the altar to Apollo, which was a regular cube.
The answer seemed strange to the Delians, and they consulted Plato, who was able to interpret the oracle as the mathematical problem of doubling the volume of a given cube, thus explaining the oracle as the advice of Apollo for the citizens of Delos to occupy themselves with the study of geometry and mathematics in order to calm down their passions.
According to Plutarch, Plato gave the problem to Eudoxus and Archytas and Menaechmus, who solved the problem using mechanical means, earning a rebuke from Plato for not solving the problem using pure geometry.
As for the "why"... I dunno, it seemed like a good idea. I even have a half-baked idea for how it fits into the SCSU (Sacred Cow Shipyards Universe):
The Dockmaster has never specified, but I always assumed that the shipyard has some manner of AI drones to do the work. At some point the Dockmaster thought it might be useful to expose the drones to things like sea shanties on the assumption that it might make them work harder. At the very least, it would be funny to have them all singing "The Wellerman."
One of the drones apparently fancies itself a bit of an artist, dove down the rabbit hole of music to discover filks and fan songs, and ended up with singing The Delian Song.
The Dockmaster isn't sure how he feels about this, especially with that reference to Barney.
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