In two weeks, nearly 22,000 Illinois residents have applied online for a permit to carry a gun, according to the State Police.
About 61,000 have selected an insurance plan through the state’s Obamacare website, according to numbers from the state.
In three months.
Read the whole thing HERE.
If that doesn’t tell ya something, I don’t know what does…
h/t Les
I guess the press are SLOW readers, they just got around to the parts in Robert Gates book were Gates hammers the congresscritters…
And it’s WELL deserved…
In particular Harry (spit) Reid…
“With all the major issues we had to deal with, my personal contacts with Senate Majority Leader Reid were often in response to his calls about Air Force objections to construction of a windmill farm in Nevada because of the impact on their radars,” Gates wrote. “He also once contacted me to urge that Defense invest in research on irritable bowel syndrome. With two ongoing wars and all our budget and other issues, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.”
Read the whole article HERE on Foxnews.com
Personally, I think calling the congress incompetent is sugar coating it a bit, but that’s just me…
And in other news, this is a ‘goody’…
The first baby born in Nogales in the New Year was Demian Gallegos Rebiel, whose parents travelled all the way from Queretaro, Mexico.
Demian was born in Carondelet Holy Cross Hospital to Maritza Rebiel Barragan and Jesus Alberto Gallegos Canchola at 8:18 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 2. He weighed 7 pounds, 11 ounces and measured 19.5 inches.
Seems legit right? But the ‘rest of the story’ is that Queretaro, Mexico is 1000 miles from the border!!! They now have their anchor baby! Which means three more on the welfare roles in Nogales, AZ and two illegals that get to stay (the parents)…
From somebody who knows the drill-
That is so wrong, yet has been going on for years: They hire a cruz rojo ambulance to drive up to the inspection lanes at the Nogales (named after Dennis DeConcini) Port of Entry; apply for emergency admission to the USA, claiming exigent circumstances; the POE inspectors (CBP OFO) then admit them, as a “health & welfare” emergency, allowing them to travel to the local hospital (so much for nationalized medicine in Mexico — they have to drive right past Mexican medical facilities to get to the port of entry).
The ambulance drives up, and literally drops them off at the emergency room front doors of the Nogales Carondolet Holy Cross Hospital, whereupon they give birth to their new U.S. Citizen baby! What a country!
In Mexico, they [the hospital] would hold your baby ransom –literally– until you paid for medical expenses, even though Mexico has boasted a nationalized medical program for several decades. If you happen to be on vacation in Mexico and have to go to the hospital (or have a baby), then you are not released until you pay. They will happily provide a cruz rojo ambulance to take you to the bank to have the money wired from your U.S. bank; no kidding.
Such reciprocity! Besides, who really wants to be a Mexican citizen?
And one more, I’m at least ENDING on a positive…
The shooting happened just before 9 p.m. Saturday, when the gunman walked into the Mystic Gentleman’s Club at Southeast Stark Street and Southeast 99th Avenue and opened fire, said Sgt. Pete Simpson with Portland police.
The shooter hit three people, prompting a person in the bar to return fire, hitting and critically injuring the suspect.
/snip
The person who returned fire and hit the suspect was not arrested and was cooperating with police.
“Portland is a safe city; however, gun violence is pervasive. As we’ve seen elsewhere, it’s really easy for someone with a gun to hurt a lot of people,” said Sgt. Greg Stewart with the Portland Police Bureau.
Read the article HERE.
Sooo… Where’s the national coverage on this in the MSM???
/Crickets/
h/t to Les and JP
Got this one from PP, and it’s worth passing along…
Years ago I got in the habit of getting paper cups from the front desk, because they are usually sealed in plastic, so less chance of their being ‘pre-used’…
Also I never make coffee in the room, because I know that flight attendants have been known to ‘rinse’ their G-strings in the coffee pot…
Honestly I’m surprised this has come around again, there was a big hooraw over this probably 15 years ago.
Another option is to carry your OWN water bottle and use it exclusively…
Just sayin…
h/t PP
We had a reasonably good day, 50ish temps, so off to the range we went!
My buddy wanted to sight in rifles, so I took an EBR just for the helluvit…
HBAR one each…
We were working 100 yards and 200 yards…
Not ‘too’ bad at 100 yards…
But 200 yards SUCKED… No more coffee ahead of shooting if I’m trying to shoot those damn little 6″ shoot ‘n sees… Especially offhand (damn little targets)
Guess I won’t be challenging at Camp Perry with this lousy shooting… sigh…
BUT, on to bigger and better things!!!
First range outing with the Franken.22!
Joe done good with this one! The windage was a bit off, but I got it walked in okay. 30 rounds at 10 yards… One round outside the black on a six inch target and that one was a called flyer…
And the ‘new’ 1947 Colt Officer’s Target HB. 
Six rounds 1 1/2 inch at 10 yards with 158gr wadcutters… Woo Hoo! That sucker SHOOTS!!!
Oh yeah, we got all three of his sighted in, and as we were packing up, a guy shows up with an Olympic Anshutz 1913 and all the associated gear, he’d just gotten the rifle back from Anshutz and was having to go through all the resighting procedures… He’s a 3 position competitor and working toward the 2016 Olympics. And based on his FIRST target, we packed up… LOL
An older gent showed up at the same time, with an original 1903 MK-1 with the Peterson cut, and now in an original stock. It had a 1927 barrel, and looked damn good! We didn’t stick around to see him shoot it, but I’m sure it shot as well as it looked!
And no, I didn’t ask him the serial number range, nor talk to him about the heat treatment issues… I figured he knew what he had…
Been at the range today, now cleaning guns…
Sorry for the lack of commenting today. Range report tomorrow…
As soon as I thaw out!
WSF had a post up HERE about guns in vehicles that tripped the old hind brain…
So I borrowed the picture…
Back in the mid-60’s when I was in high school, this was the NORM in the ARKLATEX area… Usually the gun(s) in the rack reflected the hunting season…
And we drove those same vehicles to school, parked in the school parking lot, and most of the folks didn’t even bother locking their trucks! Folks with cars normally had the appropriate gun in the trunk…
And damn near everybody I knew had a pistol under the seat or in the glove box! And all of the boys and most of the girls had a knife in their pocket…
Most of us carried a variation of the old Sowbelly knife…
I also remember being pulled out of school, along with two friends, on the second day of hunting season in either 68 or 69 after the assistant principal found out we’d gotten deer. We took him to where we’d gotten a deer, since ‘he’ hadn’t gotten one yet (and we got the day off)!
Sadly, today we’d be arrested…
Well, the Senate bent us over, and we’re not even getting kissed…
Senate Democrats on Thursday blocked a Republican attempt to restore military pensions cut in last month’s budget deal, denying a vote that would save up to $20 billion by closing a loophole that allows tax refunds to go to illegal aliens.
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D., Calif.) called an effort by Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R., N.H.) to repeal the military retiree cuts “fiddling while Rome burns.”
Full article HERE from the Free Beacon…
h/t JP
1. There are two sides to every divorce: Yours and asshole’s.
2. The closest I ever got to a 4.0 in college was my blood alcohol content.
3. I live in my own little world but it’s OK, everyone knows me here.
4. I saw a rather large woman wearing a sweatshirt with ‘Guess’ on it. I said, “Thyroid problem?”
5. I don’t do drugs ’cause I find I get the same effect just by standing up really fast.
6. A sign In a Chinese Pet Store: “Buy one dog, get one flea.”
7. Money can’t buy happiness but it sure makes misery easier to live with.
8. I got a sweater for Christmas. I really wanted a screamer or a moaner.
9. If flying is so safe, why do they call the airport the “terminal”?
10. I don’t approve of political jokes. I’ve seen too many of them get elected.
11. The most precious thing we have is life, yet it has absolutely no trade-in value.
12. If life deals you lemons, make lemonade. If life deals you tomatoes, make Bloody Mary’s.
13. I love being married. It’s so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life.
14. Shopping tip: You can get shoes for a buck at bowling alleys.
15. I am a nobody; nobody is perfect, and therefore I am perfect.
16. Every day I beat my own previous record for number of consecutive days I’ve stayed alive.
17. That Claudia Schiffer must be a genius because I told a friend my plan to attain world peace, and he told me I have “Schiffer Brains.”
18. No one ever says, “It’s only a game!” when their team is winning.
19. Ever notice that people who spend money on beer, cigarettes and lottery tickets are always complaining about being broke and not feeling well?
20. How long a minute is depends on what side of the bathroom door you’re on.
21. Isn’t having a smoking section in a restaurant like having a peeing section in a swimming pool?
22. Marriage changes passion… suddenly you’re in bed with a relative.
23. Why is it that most nudists are people you don’t want to see naked?
24. Snowmen fall from Heaven un-assembled.
25. Every time I walk into a singles bar I can hear Mom ‘s wise words:
“Don’t pick that up, you don’t know where it’s been.”
h/t Gerry (in other words, DON’T blame me, I just pass em along on recycled electrons…)
Yeah, the congresscritters said they’d get right on that…
Sure, sure…
It’s another one that has ‘dropped off the radar’…
The only thing I’ve seen since the 27th is THIS drivel from NRO…
And the true fact is military personnel costs are STILL less than what they were in 1990 (25% in 2013 according to MOAA).
This letter is circulating on the mil-email net, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this comes to pass. It does pretty much say what most of us feel the critters DO think about us…
Dear Service Member,
Your voice doesn’t matter to me. Your service doesn’t matter to me. The promise made with your oath doesn’t matter to me. You don’t matter.
You are expendable.
Your physical and mental wounds of war do not matter. Your marriages lost, do not matter. Your childhoods missed, do not matter.
You cannot organize and protest so your voices will remain small. You cannot lobby and pull favors so there is nothing you can give to make me see your way.
This nation is tired of you. Tired of the decade of war that they don’t understand and that we decided for you.
You are subpar. You are below. You are the easiest cut.
To take away twenty percent of a retirement that you have worked and bled for and entered into your service (and retired from) being promised, is easier than giving up my own full pension that I receive after serving just a day in my seat. My work matters more than yours. It is my job to demand where you go, when you leave, if your life will be put on the line each day. That is such difficult work. To decide to send fathers and sons, mothers and daughters to a war zone is far more trying than to actually live through war.
To have to decide to reduce the Cost-of-Living-Allowance of a Soldier who has lost his limbs because I am too scared and too selfish to rethink the corruption and abuse existing in every single entitlement program in this nation, well … surely that must be as difficult as having a propelled grenade blow off my lower extremities, if not more. I’ve earned my full pension. I’ve earned my full pension by deciding what we take from you. I’ve earned my full pension by sending you into two wars, by sending you on that mission, by putting you in the place of that explosion. Voting for that was worthy of my benefits, following that order was not worthy of yours.
I’ve earned my money.
It’s hard work. Hard choices. I’ve earned my four-week paid vacation while you prepare for your fourth twelve-month tour. Legislating is tiring work.
Your one percent vote won’t pull me from this seat. Your one percent vote won’t change my mind. Because you are expendable and the easiest section to take from. It’s simple politics.
You have chosen to take an oath and to follow a code that restricts you from speaking against me. Even with that, you are the quality of people that it is easy to take advantage of. You give beyond self. You serve in a way that most people cannot fathom. It’s easiest to take from that selflessness. Your voice does not matter. The promise I made to you – any promise I make to you – is nothing more than words that sound good, that will rally anyone belonging to the ninety-nine percent that does matter. My promises hold as much value as I hold for you.
None.
You cannot refuse to show up for work tomorrow while you picket outside the building, the FOB, the secret location in the mountains of Afghanistan. You cannot negotiate and demand and hold up this nation’s current war while we try to see eye to eye.
You don’t matter. We don’t care. “Embrace the suck” and get back to work.
Sincerely,
The United States Congress
h/t JP, Frito, Snake and others…
Edit- Email from Flake-
Congress is debating a 3 month unemployment extension for $6 billion. Isn’t that the same cost as the “savings” over 10 years for the military retiree COLA reductions. What a shame that we are looking to move 10 years worth of earned benefits, from people who have sacrificed, who we had a commitment to and dump that same amount on people who are not working? WTF???
Interesting little piece of info…
It’s enough to make one wonder…
The FBI’s creeping advance into the world of counterterrorism is nothing new. But quietly and without notice, the agency has finally decided to make it official in one of its organizational fact sheets. Instead of declaring “law enforcement” as its “primary function,” as it has for years, the FBI fact sheet now lists “national security” as its chief mission.
Full article HERE at Foreign Policy. com…
So if the FBI is getting out of the law enforcement business, who’s going to step in??? Brownshirts???