This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Author: Hondo

  • Firearms Sales to State and Local Governments – an Update

    Regular readers of TAH likely have heard that a number of firearms firms have stopped sales to state and local governments that restrict the 2nd Amendment.  Enough firms have declared their intent to do so that the practice has been dubbed the “Firearms Equality Movement”.

    Wilson Combat, a maker of custom pistols, did that on February 28, 2013.  Their statement announcing this policy read, in part:

    “Wilson Combat will no longer provide any products or services to any State Government imposing legislation that infringes on the second amendment rights of its law abiding citizens. This includes any Law Enforcement Department, Law Enforcement Officers, or any State Government Entity or Employee of such an entity. This also applies to any local municipality imposing such infringements.

    . . .

    Wilson Combat will in NO way support the government of these states or their anti-gun agenda that only limits the rights of law-abiding citizens. Wilson Combat will continue to supply any product and/or service they can legally sell in these states to all non-government affiliated citizens.”

    Wilson Combat went on specifically to identify several major jurisdictions with which they will no longer do business:  California, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Washington D.C. and The City of Chicago, Illinois.

    Wilson Combat doing this is relatively minor.  However, the fact that the number of firearms firms making similar declarations  reportedly more than tripled in the period between 22 Feb and 9 March – from 34 to 118 – may well be significant.  Today, the number is 120.

    The full list of companies refusing to do business with some/all government entities in the US that restrict 2nd Amendment rights may be found here (the site requires scripts to be enabled).

    No, the “biggies” aren’t on the list yet.  But if they start losing enough business to the smaller guys . . . .

  • Another “Sterling” Example of “Unbiased Reporting”

    Bloomberg.com reports that the number of Federal employees delinquent on their taxes has “gone up 11.5%”.  Gee, that means Federal employees are nothing but lazy drones and sacks of excrement taking unfair advantage, right?

    Well, not exactly.  It’s true that more Federal employees were delinquent on their Federal taxes at the end of fiscal 2011 than at the end of the previous fiscal year.  At the end of fiscal 2010, 2.9% of Federal employees – less than 1 in 35 – were delinquent.  At the end of fiscal 2011, the rate had risen to 3.2% – less than 1 in 31.

    While that fact seems bad, it’s actually essentially meaningless until you know how it compares with the rest of the US taxpayers.  And it turns out that when you do that comparison, you get a very different story from that implied by the headline.

    At the end of fiscal 2010, 7.8% of US taxpayers were delinquent on their Federal taxes – just less than  1 in 13.  By the end of fiscal 2011, that percentage had risen to 8.2% – just less than 1 out of 12.

    In other words, Federal employees are less than 40% as likely to be delinquent on their taxes as other US taxpayers, and have been for years.  But unless you read the article in detail and did the math yourself, you’d never know that.  The story implies the opposite with its sensational headline, and doesn’t bother to make the relevant comparison for the reader.

    Shame on you, Bloomberg.com.  You’re usually a damn good source of financial info, and are generally fair.  But you blew this one bigtime.

  • USAF RPA Strike Statistics Vanish

    Until recently, the USAF provided RPA airstrike statistics (also sometimes called UAVs or “drones”) on its public websites.  But for some reason, as of a couple of weeks ago those figures seem to have been quietly scrubbed from existing  public reports on AFCENT websites.

    Archived web pages published as recently as 16 Feb 2013 contained the data.  However, reports published on 7 Mar 2013 giving data for February omitted the data.  Further, past reports seem to have been “scrubbed” on or about 22 February.

    A DoD spokesman indicated DoD was “not involved in the decision” to remove the data.  No word yet from AFCENT on whether or not they were responsible.

    Gee – you don’t think it could have anything to do with the recent increase in publicity regarding RPA use, do you?

  • This Week’s Friday Funny

    Thought this one apropos for this week’s Friday funny.  Enjoy.

    . . .

    French Military History in a Nutshell

    Gallic Wars: Lost. In a war whose ending foreshadows the next 2000 years of French history, France is conquered by – of all things – an Italian.

    Hundred Years War: Mostly lost, saved at last by a female schizophrenic who inadvertently creates The First Rule of French Warfare:  “France’s armies are victorious only when not led by a Frenchman.”

    Italian Wars: Lost. France becomes the first and only country ever to lose two wars when fighting Italians.

    Wars of Religion: France goes 0-5-4 against the Huguenots.

    Thirty Years’ War: France is technically not a participant, but manages to get invaded anyway. Claims a tie on the basis that eventually the other participants started ignoring her.

    War of Devolution: Tied; Frenchmen take to wearing red flowerpots as chapeaux.

    (more…)

  • Sequestration News

    Let’s take a brief look at how sequestration is being implemented:

    • Sequestration cuts to Executive Office of the President Budget:  $24,000,000 ($24 million)
    • Number of civilian employees:  approx 2,000
    • Average cut per employee:  $12,000
    • Announced impact so far:  cancellation of White House tours (will save approx $2,000,000 in overtime)

    According to this article, the estimated travel cost for the recent POTUS trip to play golf with Tiger Woods would have covered the costs of White House tours for the rest of the year.   But that’s OK – playing golf with a famous celebrity like Woods is obviously more important than letting the public see the taxpayer-owned White House where the POTUS lives rent-free.

    In contrast:

    • Sequestration cuts to Department of Defense Budget:  $46,000,000,000 ($46 billion)
    • Number of civilian employees:  approx 800,000
    • Average cut per employee:  $57,500  (Military personnel were exempted from sequestration pay cuts by the POTUS.)
    • Announced impact:  up to 22 unpaid workdays off between now and 30 Sep for most DoD civilian employees

    Yeah, that seems fair.   It certainly looks like everyone’s doing their part, doesn’t it?

  • Friday Morning Feelgood

    Many complain about  big companies being cold, impersonal, inflexible, and more concerned about the “bottom line” than people.  And in many cases such criticisms are absolutely true.

    Then occasionally you read something like this.

    Kudos, United – for having some employees with common sense, and for empowering them to use it.

  • Four More Come Home

    DPMO has announced the identification of for more US MIAs – two from Korea, and two from Southeast Asia.

    SGT Ervin A. Fricke, formerly of Oakville, WA, was assigned to the 9th Infantry Regiment, US Army.  He was lost in action near the Ch’ongch’on River in the vicinity of the town of Kujang, North Korea, on 25 November 1950.

    In 1999, a joint US-North Korean team recovered human remains at a site on the north bank of the Ch’ongch’on River.  Later forensic tests, including mtDNA matching, positively identified the remains as being SGT Fricke’s.

    SGT Fricke was buried in Portland, OR, on 26 February 2013.

    SGT Raymond T. Wellbrock, formerly of Cincinnati, OH, was assigned to the 31st Regimental Combat Team (RCT), US Army.  He was lost in action on 12 December 1950 during the fighting withdrawal of remnants of the 31st RCT from the Chosin Reservoir as part of Task Force Faith.

    In 1953, SGT Wellbrock was reported by a repatriated US POW to have been wounded and captured alive.  Unfortunately, SGT Wellbrock died shortly after capture due to the combination of his wounds and lack of medical treatment

    SGT Wellbrock’s remains were among those in 208 boxes of remains (believed to belong to between 200 and 400 individuals) repatriated by North Korea between 1991 and 1994.  Current forensic technology allowed the positive identification of those remains belonging to SGT Wellbrock.  He will be buried on 9 March 2013 in Cincinnati.

    Additionally, two US MIAs from SEA have also been recently identified – though full details are not presently available.

    LCpl Merlin R. Allen, Company A, 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, USMC, was lost on June 30, 1967, in Thua Thien-Hue Province, Vietnam. He was accounted for on Feb. 16, 2013. He will be buried with full military honors on June 30, 2013 in Wisconsin.

    PFC Daniel A. Benedett, USMC, was lost on May 15, 1975, near Koh Tang Island, Cambodia, during a rescue mission. He was accounted for on Jan. 30, 2013.  Pfc.  Benedett was lost during the Mayaguez Incident when the helicopter transporting him to the assault on Koh Tang Island was disabled by enemy fire and crashed at sea.

    Rest now in peace, my elder brothers-in-arms.  You’re finally home.

    – – –

    Over 7,900 US personnel remain unaccounted for from the Korean War, and over 1,650 remain unaccounted for in Southeast Asia.  If you are relative of one of the individuals listed here (Korea) or listed here (Southeast Asia), please consider reading this link to see if you qualify to submit a mtDNA sample – and if you do qualify, please do so.  By doing so, you may be able to help identify US remains that have been repatriated but not yet positively identified.

    Everybody deserves a proper burial.  That’s especially true for those who gave their all in the service of this nation.

  • Michael Duye Campbell Pleads

    You all probably remember Jonn’s article about this tool from a couple of weeks ago.  Like “Punk” Lewis, Campbell’s an ex-military golfer who appears to have a problem telling the truth about his military service.

    Campbell is a phoney who used his former military status – plus a few lies – to con people into feeling sorry for him.  Some even spent mucho dinero to help him out.

    But unlike “Punk”, Campbell ran afoul of some folks who didn’t like his lies.  They particularly didn’t like the fact that he was using those lies to obtain things of value under false pretenses.  And they really didn’t like the fact that he was using the US Mail to further his schemes.

    Unfortunately for Campbell, the folks who didn’t like what he was doing were called “Federal prosecutors”.

    Michael Duye Campbell pleaded guilty to mail fraud in Federal court in Dallas, TX, on Wednesday, 6 March 2013.  He’s facing a maximum sentence of up to 20 years.

    Somehow I don’t think Campbell will be working much on his golf game for a while.