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About Damn Time

Corporate Fuckery, The Gun Thing

I see that CitiBank may have seen the light:

We will update our employee Code of Conduct and our customer-facing Global Financial Access Policy to clearly state that we do not discriminate on the basis of political affiliation in the same way we are clear that we do not discriminate on the basis of other traits such as race and religion. This will codify what we’ve long practiced, and we will continue to conduct trainings to ensure compliance.

We also will no longer have a specific policy as it relates to firearms. Our U.S. Commercial Firearms Policy was implemented in 2018 and pertained to sale of firearms by our retail clients and partners. The policy was intended to promote the adoption of best sales practices as prudent risk management and didn’t address the manufacturing of firearms. Many retailers have been following these best practices, and we hope communities and lawmakers will continue to seek out ways to prevent the tragic consequences of gun violence.

Yeah, whatever.  Just to make myself clear:

I have absolutely no problem with “gun violence”, provided it’s of the kind where potential victims ventilate the goblins who are trying to harm them and/or take away their possessions violently and unlawfully.

And it was people like me who by extension would have run afoul of Citi’s so-called “Commercial Firearms Policy”.

So I’m glad they’ve had a change of heart — no doubt brought on by the Trump Administration’s overt hostility towards corporate fuckery of this nature — but even so, fuck ’em, the chiseling Shylocks.

I finally managed to pay off my credit card balance from Bank of America — the first and most public of the anti-gun banks — and closed the account.  My CitiAA card is next on the chopping list. It may take some time because the balance is still quite high — air tickets for New Wife’s various family visits to Australia and Seffrica, hello — but pay it down I will, make no mistake.  and then it’s bye bye, too.

Boondoggle Over

Business, Gummint, Subsidies

I see it suggested that Elon Musk’s apparent disapproval of Trump’s budget (the Big Beautiful Bill — ugh, FFS) may stem from the fact that included in the suggested budget cuts are federal subsidies for EV purchases.

If this is the case, then Musk’s ire may be understandable… but not excusable.

Sorry, dude:  the whole climate-change-is-gonna-kill-us-therefore-we-must-all-buy-EVs bullshit is one of the more egregious examples of governmental waste and budgetary irresponsibility.  You’ve ridden the gravy train because if Gummint is going to throw money your way then why not take it — say your shareholders — but that time is over, so suck it up and spend more time on other pursuits, those which don’t rely on government subsidies to survive or turn a profit.

Like I said, I don’t know if this is the reason for Elon’s peevishness, but if it is, then it’s just silly.  The gravy train was bound to end sooner or later, and from a taxpayer’s perspective, sooner is better, although said taxpayers who were going to buy a Tesla may not see it the same way, of course.

Too bad.

Social Cancer

Immigration, Muzzies

What happens when you encourage unbridled immigration:

The truth is France is a two-tier country. There is the charming, civilised nation that has been my home for more than 25 years, a land of magnificent countryside and chilled rosé. But another France has festered inside it and now threatens to consume it – a dystopia of grim tower blocks, from which unemployed, nihilistic youths emerge to loot and terrorise at any excuse.

The headlines are relentless: gang warfare in Marseilles, synagogues and holocaust memorials attacked in Paris, two prison officers murdered in an ambush at a motorway pay station.

A sinister development that makes this worse is the proselytising of the Muslim Brotherhood, which seeks to undermine the French Republic and impose sharia law. 

According to a classified report from the Ministry Of The Interior, leaked to Le Figaro, the Brotherhood has built an extensive ideological infrastructure in France through schools, charities and mosques – infiltrating civil society under the guise of religious and educational activities.

It is not new arrivals who burn the cars and stoke the riots.

That is done by the second and third generation immigrants, the ones whose parents arrived to work but failed to integrate. A couple of decades later, their children are completely disaffected and disconnected from education.

We are experiencing a new kind of hybrid chaos, in which the state loses control of portions of the ‘indivisible France’, a term enshrined in the constitution of the Fifth Republic.

In this new world, hordes of youths descend on the cities in eruptions of arson and looting. Meanwhile, thousands of migrants arrive from southern Europe and nobody even knows how many there are in France or who and where they are.

Someone explain to me why the U.S. would be immune from this.

Pistol-Caliber Carbines

Gratuitous Gun Pics, The Gun Thing

My first exposure to the above type of gun was the Marlin Camp 45, a teeny, lightweight little thing that was so handy and easy to shoot — and it used 1911 .45 ACP mags withal — that I couldn’t understand why they weren’t as popular as .22 rifles.

Well, after the third breakage — I mean, parts that actually shattered upon extended use — showed me why the Camp 45s weren’t as popular as .22 rifles.  Nice concept:  total dud in execution.

There were others that came along — the Beretta CX-4 carbines were nice, and being Beretta were a lot better than the Camp 45 when it came to reliability.  Also kinda cool-looking.

I had one for a while, but traded it for something else at the range — as I recall, a Ruger Redhawk in .357 Mag — and to be honest, I didn’t miss the CX-4 that much.

However, this little thing from Ruger, the LC Carbine, has caught my eye recently, and I must confess to feeling a teeny lil’ tug at the old wallet.

Now the guys at TTAG seem to like it quite a bit, calling it a “real thumper”, and that appellation will always get my attention.  It has several features that do ditto:  it uses Glock double-stack mags (which are cheap and ubiquitous);  it looks easy to mount a decent tac-scope like an Aimpoint on the thing (and I happen to have a spare one or two in Ye Olde Gunne Sayfe);  and it has a threaded barrel for an eeeeevil silencer / suppressor / moderator (pick your preferred nomenclature).

We won’t discuss the ammo issue, of course.

And speaking of which, all the range tests I’ve seen for the LC have shown that it handles pretty much any kind (FMJ or HP), bullet-weight (185gr to 230gr) or strength (+P) with equal ease, and with excellent accuracy, as it should, with a barrel longer than a 1911’s.

I see that Bud’s is selling them for under $800, which is always a good indicator of “street price” vs. MSRP (over $1,000).

I might just sell one of my other guns for one of these.  Even though I’ll need to buy some Glock mags — yeah, guess why — and I’m debating whether to let the feds crawl up my ass just to “allow” me to get a frigging suppressor (don’t get me started), I might very well end up with one of these Rugers, under the “home defense / under-the-bed” rationale, so to speak.

Also, if anyone has any first-hand experience with the LC, please let me know.