Category: Business
Misfire
If ever there was a corporate decision that made no sense, it was FN Herstal/Browning’s to discontinue the manufacture of the much-loved Browning P-35 High Power.
Need less to say, that “gap” in the market was quickly filled by Springfield, with its SA-35:
…and more recently, from EAA/Girsan (Turkey), with its MC P35:
Okay, both clones are apparently made to FN specs, but both SA and EAA claim to have “cleaned up” the design, using modern tooling, steel and manufacturing methods. We’ll see over the next few years if this is in fact true.
Here are the principle differences between the two. The SA-35 is more faithful to the original P35’s appearance, but does not come with the annoying magazine disconnect safety (which prevents the pistol from firing unless a magazine is inserted). The MC P35 has a ambidextrous safety (which will endear it to left-hand shooters) but does feature said annoying magazine disconnect safety. The SA-35 has a white dot front sight, while the MC P35 has the traditional HP’s white line front sight.
The SA-35 runs about $650 street, and the MC P35 about $525 street.
Now for the fun part. When FN saw the response from gun owners to the new suppliers’ models, they said “Oops” (or however they say it in Belgianese) and re-released the P35, albeit uglier and at the typical FN/Browning premium price ($700 over the Springfield):
Me, IF I were in the market for a new High Power to replace the one I lost in that terrible canoeing accident on the Brazos, I’d get the Springfield SA-35 in a heartbeat. Hell, I might get one anyway, just for spite.
Staying Away
I don’t often visit Target stores because they so seldom have anything I want, and if they do, it’s at a premium price. Guess I won’t be going there anytime soon anyway, what with this bullshit going on:
Target will be selling breast binders and packing underwear as part of its latest clothing collection just ahead of “Pride month” in June.
The retailer is known for celebrating June in a splashy, rainbow-colored way. It has been criticized for offering a pride collection for kids, specifically babies, for years. Now the company is catering to the trans community by promoting specialty garments specifically made for them.
According to Bustle, Target partnered with TomboyX and Humankind for the collection, which are both “queer owned, female-founded brands.” Merchandise will include the expected rainbow-colored messaging that’s become commonplace for these collections. It will also have some new items that a mainstream retailer like Target hasn’t sold before.
…
In the adult collection, a poem that includes the line, “For the queer lovers and everyone in between, for the rebels that fight to forever be seen,” is featured on tote bags, shirts, and beach towels.
There are also pride flag cat toys, including a giraffe designed in lesbian flag colors and stuffed teacup with rainbow tea, and three tea bags with the lesbian, transgender, and bisexual pride flags.
Call me whatever-phobic, but I just can’t see that any of that merchandise will be suited to me.
Idiots, or evil? I report, you decide.
“Private” Property?
The concept of private property has always been a contentious one. It shouldn’t have been, as one of the few actual duties of any government is to protect private property — but ask any landlord in, oh, California how difficult it can be to evict tenants who haven’t paid the rent.
It’s even worse in Scotland — surprise, surprise — where temporary tenant-relief laws passed during the Covidiocy are now set to become permanent:
Previously, once a landlord could prove three consecutive months of rental arrears or more, eviction would have been guaranteed.
Under these latest plans, no eviction will be guaranteed, regardless of circumstance or grounds. It will be all discretionary.
The Bill proposes that a tribunal will still be able to grant an eviction if it considers it reasonable, including where late or no-payment of rent is the reason why the landlord is seeking an eviction. But campaigners have questioned what is deemed reasonable.
Instead of making it an ironclad guarantee — if tenants haven’t paid rent for X period, you may evict them — there’s now good chance that a court may say that such eviction may be “unreasonable”, by some standard undefined. Of course, that’s an egregious injustice which runs contrary to the concept of private property, and the landloards know it:
‘Generally, a landlord will have a reason to recover their property and once they’ve evidenced their grounds, they should be entitled to recover it.
‘It is unclear what – if any – evidence the Scottish Government are analysing to consider the removal of mandatory grounds for possession.
‘Abusing temporary provisions to satisfy a long-term policy objective appears to be an underhand tactic and the intention to permanently make all grounds for possession discretionary simply highlights the Scottish Government’s wilful and continued disregard of the value of the private rented sector.’
And here’s the weaselly response from the ScotGov:
‘It simply means a Tribunal can take into account all of the circumstances of both landlords and tenants relating to a case before making a decision. Good landlords recognise the case for keeping tenants in their homes where possible, so adding a final check from the tribunal will support responsible management, recognise financial and other pressures that tenants can face and help prevent homelessness.’
What utter, Class A, Deluxe bullshit.
Working Off Debt
Here’s an interesting little morality tale.
My wife slept with our mechanic to settle a £500 bill we couldn’t afford to pay
We’ve been struggling to make ends meet ever since my wife lost her job last year. My salary won’t stretch to cover our food, rent and energy bills. That’s why we’re £2,000 in debt on our credit cards.
So it was the cherry on the cake when we were told our car failed its MOT last week. The mechanic told us his repairs would cost us nearly £500. To add insult to injury it was obvious he fancied my wife.
Panicking, I asked if we could pay in instalments. While looking my wife up and down he cheekily suggested if we didn’t have the money he could think of another way we could pay. He said we could think about it overnight. Walking away, I asked her what she thought.
Her answer shocked me: “You know I’d do anything for us, babe.”
So the next day my wife went to his house while I waited in the car outside — it was the longest 30 minutes of my life. I consoled myself with the idea that she’d be hating this as much as me, but when she finally emerged she seemed defiant and said: “Now I know I’m contributing just as much as you.”
It broke my heart and I’ve only got myself to blame. Now she thinks it’s the answer to all our financial problems. She even suggested I could manage her diary of clients. I’m worried she even enjoyed having sex with this mechanic.
Well, that’s one way of “taking one for the team”, innit?
I actually feel sorry for the guy, because it seems to me he’s uncaged a tiger — and it’s small wonder, when all the Brit newspapers are full of tarts making X thousand a month for showing off their bodies and doing the dirty on prostitution sites like OnlyFans; and in truth doing nothing on SugarBabies different from Mrs. Debtfire above.
It’s always gone on, only now it’s out in public.
I just wonder how these people account for the revenue on their tax return… because if they don’t, it’s called “tax evasion”, and the collection agencies (I mean tax offices hem hem) of both the U.K. and the U.S. respectively take quite a dim view of it.
Let The Market Decide
We often hear that mantra from free-traders and staunch capitalists, but sometimes the situation isn’t that simple. Take this example in the exquisitely-beautiful town of St. Ives, in Cornwall, Britishland:
Landlords and businesses have been buying up properties in the area and converting them into summer homes, meaning there is nowhere left for locals to rent.
Jasmin cannot find a new place to rent and her tenancy is due to end on May 10. She has exhausted letting agents and spare room sites, and fears in three weeks she will be sleeping rough.
And from the local council:
“The boom in house prices and the demand for holiday accommodation is causing a significant reduction in the availability of homes to rent. It matched sudden escalation in rental costs.
“Private landlords have been moving away from long-term letting and instead moving towards the short-term holiday market.”
Read the whole thing.
I know that many towns in rural counties Over Here have had the same problems — transplanted Californians, ’nuff said — to where locals with jobs in those towns have to find a place to live in further-off towns, sometimes as much as an hour’s drive (or more) away.
Jackson Hole in Wyoming, when I first drove through there back in 1987, was a one-horse town that had nothing to recommend it other than proximity to Yellowstone and a couple of ski runs; now, it’s the place to find Hollywood types and other California scum in their vacation homes, with all the foul side-effects: expensive housing, expensive eateries, empty streets out of season, and so on.
I don’t have any solutions — at least, not free-market solutions — so maybe it’s up to the local governments to step in; although getting government involved usually if not always seems just to exacerbate the problem.
I welcome discussion on the topic, in Comments.