Will Of The People

So Oregon’s prospective gun owners are going to get it in the shorts:

Gun sales more than doubled in Oregon with Ballot Measure 114 (BM 114) pending, and Oregon State Police are struggling to keep up with the demand for background checks.

KDRV reports that BM 114 passed by a margin of 50.9 percent to 49.1 percent, and will take effect December 8, 2022.  The measure requires a permit, which costs $65, to purchase a gun. It also bans “high capacity” magazines and requires law enforcement to maintain a database of gun permit applicants, among other things.  The process for getting a gun permit under BM 114 includes submitting fingerprints and passing a gun safety course.

And for all those Oregon gun owners who couldn’t be bothered to go out and vote on Nov 8:  you have only yourselves to blame.

Ahhh that democracy thing… although I bet that if this “initiative” ever makes it to the Supreme Court, it will get revoked.  Keyword:  “if”.

Do Your Duty

…and now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to the voting booth.  I’ve been looking forward to this day for TWO YEARS.


And from Reader Termite, a timely reminder:


…just to be on the safe side, of course.

Tendencies

Here’s a fun little intellectual exercise:

Letting meat eaters drown is ethical because of the suffering they cause to animals, an Oxford University academic has controversially argued.

There’s nothing “controversial” about it.  His only supporters are going to be rabid vegans, and other so-called intellectuals, whereas the rest of us would drive him from the village, pelting him with stones and rotten fruit on his way out.  Apart from the chilling indifference, the application of such a judgmental credo in a life-or-death situation is not only awful but contrary to human nature.  (One can only imagine the “HHHAAATTTERRRR!” abuse that would come my way if I were to suggest that letting vegans drown under similar situations would at least lower the shrillness of society’s ambient background noise…)

That said, if I came upon said asshole burning to death in the street, I might actually pause for a moment before pissing on him to extinguish the flames, so maybe I’m not much better than he is.

By the way, here’s another little intellectual exercise for you.  Ignoring his nationality for a moment, do you think this bastard’s philosophy would be found more often in Democrat, or Republican voters?

Food for thought.

“Walking Back”

If Biden’s puppeteers have to do any more “walking back” after the senile old Commie blurts out yet another piece of sublime idiocy, they’ll end up back in the 1800s.

Here’s the background:

“I was in Massachusetts about a month ago on the site of the largest old coal plant in America. Guess what? It cost them too much money,” Biden said at an event in Carlsbad, California. “No one is building new coal plants because they can’t rely on it, even if they have all the coal guaranteed for the rest of the existence of the plant. So it’s going to become a wind generation.”

“And all they’re doing is, it’s going to save them a hell of a lot of money and using the same transmission line that they transmitted the coal-fired electric on, we’re going to be shutting these plants down all across America and having wind and solar power.”

Of course, this pissed off West Virginia’s Mr. Coal, Sen. Joe Manchin:

“Comments like these are the reason the American people are losing trust in President Biden and instead believes he does not understand the need to have an all in energy policy that would keep our nation totally energy independent and secure,” Manchin said. “Let me be clear, this is something the President has never said to me.”

…and here’s the latest “sorry, but he didn’t know what he was talking about (again)” statement from his Chief Back-Walker, the execrable Karine Jean-Pierre:

President Biden knows that the men and women of coal country built this nation: they powered its steel mills and factories, kept its homes and schools and offices warm. They made this the most productive and powerful nation on Earth. He came to the White House to end years of big words but little action to help the coal-producing parts of our country. Working closely with Senator Manchin, a tireless advocate for his state and the hard-working men and women who live there, President Biden has helped get this part of the country back to work… [and then a whole string of similar lies that I won’t bother you with].

The schematic seems to be:  Biden says something idiotic, then the back-walkers say something that precisely contradicts what he just said, with a hefty seasoning of lies, bullshit and mumbles to drown out our roars of laughter.

This is no way to run a country.  It’s no way to run anything.

First tomorrow, then November 2024.

Crap Statistics

Via Reader Mike L. comes this nanny article telling us how youngins are drinking themselves to death:

An estimated 1 in 5 deaths of people ages 20 to 49 were attributable to excessive alcohol use in the United States, according to the study published Tuesday in JAMA Network Open. For people ages 20 to 64, drinking-related deaths accounted for 1 in 8, the study said. The percentage of deaths attributed to alcohol use varied state by state, but nationally it’s a leading cause of preventable death, said lead study author Dr. Marissa Esser, lwho leads the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s alcohol program.

Researchers took national and state mortality data from 2015 to 2019 and looked at deaths either fully or partially attributable to excessive drinking. Those causes of death included vehicle accidents, alcohol poisoning and other health impacts, such as liver disease, Esser said.  The data showed that the deaths fully attributable to alcohol have risen in the past decade, Esser added.

Umm yeah.  Notice how when you add the 50-64 age group’s numbers, the incidence drops from 1 on 5 to 1 in 8 — which should your clue right there that the BULLSHIT STATISTICS bell is clanging loudly.

Ever wondered why beer company commercials tend to show young people drinking at picnics, beach parties, watching the game on TV and so on, and not old farts like me huddling over a pint in a dark pub?

 

It’s because the 20-49 age group accounts for most booze sales (from memory, it’s about 70% although that’s an old number).  Also, youngins (especially young men) are most likely to do stupid stuff, especially when drunk (“Hold my beer!”) and so it’s small wonder that the death rate is high.  Remembering my own misspent youth and narrow escapes, I’m amazed it isn’t higher.

Also from the article is another little snippet which makes me reach for the gin bottle:

“I’m not surprised at the numbers,” said David Jernigan, a professor of health law, policy and management at Boston University. “This is a conservative estimate.”

Health law and -policy?  Allow me to bring in a guest speaker for comment:

It’s all neo-prohibitionism, masquerading (as always) under the mantle of caring.

Fuck off, the lot of you.