You Can't Silence Us

Airstrikes

The left is losing their collective shit over Trump’s bombing of Iran. They are claiming that it’s unconstitutional. There are, as usual, Democrats claiming he should be impeached for it. DJT can’t take a dump without someone trying to impeach him for it. As far as it being unconstitutional, I would simply point out that every President since at least Eisenhower has taken military action without seeking the permission of Congress. The law simply says that he has to notify Congress within 48 hours. It doesn’t say HOW he has to notify them. I would send them a letter by certified mail. The courts have ruled that, when the law requires a notification be sent or given, that notification is complete upon mailing. Done. Keep the receipt.

There are also those on both sides who are making the claim that Iran is peaceful, not pursuing nukes, and the US shouldn’t be doing Israel’s bidding. Let’s talk about that. First, on Iran being peaceful. I was in the military for many of these incidents, and was actually there for some of them:

They are constantly holding the world hostage by capturing shipping as it passes through the Persian Gulf, mining the Persian Gulf, and supporting terrorism.

The claim that Iran isn’t pursuing nukes is simply wrong. They have enriched Uranium to more than 60%. There is no use for that level of enrichment, except for use as a weapon. Even the IAEA reports that Iran had 2700 centrifuges in place there, which was a violation of the Obama nuclear agreement. Sure, the Obama administration had the Iranians pinky swear that they wouldn’t make a nuclear bomb, and the Iranians would never lie, would they?

As you can see, Iran has been attacking US forces for more than 50 years. In this case, Israeli interests and US interests happen to be the same in this case, and I don’t have a problem with someone finally dealing with those assholes. Sure, we need to try for peace, but you can’t let other nations continually attack you and pretend that it isn’t happening.

Trump has used the US military exactly four times: Against Iran in 2025, Isis in 2025, ISIS in 2020, and LA in 2025. That’s far fewer than any of the last Presidents going all the way back to Herbert Hoover.

To those who would tell me that if I support this, I should go serve? I already did. I was in for six years, and did 2 combat tours. In the late 80s, I was in a bar less than an hour before it was bombed by terrorists. (I couldn’t find a link to the story.) I’ve been there. Look, most of the times that the US military has been used in the past 70 years, it was an unnecessary use of military force, and that includes the 1990 Gulf War. This case? I don’t have a problem with it. Iran needs to be brought to heel. Instead of taking half measures designed to “teach them a lesson” which they obviously aren’t learning, they need to have their war making factories destroyed.

People who have read this post: 153
By Divemedic, ago

Insurrection

The states of California and Oregon are in a state of insurrection. They are actively resisting the enforcement of Federal law in trying to keep their cheap labor.

CW2 has been coming for awhile now. We continue to inch closer. Like CW1, the Democrats will claim the war is about slave labor, but the real causes will be more nuanced and complicated than that.

Future historians might disagree, but I feel like the first shots were fired June 14, 2017.

People who have read this post: 407
By Divemedic, ago

Here They Go Again

Rioters in Oregon are again using fireworks and lasers to attack people. Lasers can cause permanent damage and blindness when aimed at the eyes. Sure, there are glasses for them, but at $325, they are pretty expensive. You know what else stops people from causing others permanent blindness by hitting them in the eye with a laser?

A person is justified in using or threatening to use deadly force if he or she reasonably believes that using or threatening to use such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the imminent commission of a forcible felony. 

Yep, you guessed it. If you see people in a riot, and those people are tossing explosives and aiming lasers at people’s eyes, shoot them in the face.

People who have read this post: 348
By Divemedic, ago

Juneteenth

Those of us who carry guns are often told that we don’t need guns to protect ourselves, we just need to remember that the robbers are just people trying to feed their families. If we just give them what they want, we will be fine. This assumes that robbery is merely a business transaction, and depends upon a criminal threatening violence being a moral and upstanding citizen.

What if he isn’t? What if that criminal is just someone who sees other people as mere objects who are simply standing in the way of their happiness and success? Killing you is no more problematic to such a person than stepping on a bug. That’s how things like this happen- a man in Miami is robbed, and hands over the goods. They kill him anyway.

The last two posts are why:

  • I carry a gun everywhere I go.
  • I don’t go to places where there are violence and crime.
  • I avoid crowds of feral negros.
  • I pay attention to my surroundings. More than once, we have left an event because I didn’t like the vibe.

Last night, we went shopping and then to a swanky restaurant in an artsy district of a nearby town. I had a filet, my wife had garlic mussels. I was dressed in khaki slacks and a loose fitting Guayabera shirt. It hid my 9mm Shield Plus with microdot sight and my can of pepper spray very well. That gives me a less lethal option for boorish behavior, and also gives me 14 rounds of “I am not going to die unless you come with me.”

I’m not willing to bet my life, or the life of my spouse, on a criminal’s sense of good will and conscience.

People who have read this post: 425
By Divemedic, ago

Defense Isn’t Magic

One opinion that I have had since I was in high school is this:

I don’t care what martial art you study, what color belt you have, or how skilled you are, physical defense has limits. A 6 year old with a black belt in karate can’t beat up a full grown adult. A 100 pound woman isn’t going to beat up a 250 pound man, unless that man is in poor physical condition.

That opinion wasn’t a popular one, but it’s true. Skill can only do so much, but at the end of the day, physical strength, stamina, and size are just as important. Let me show you:

That doesn’t mean that skill is to be ignored. It means that what skills you do have should be viewed through a realistic lens. A 100 pound woman still is far outclassed in strength. That 100 pound woman believing that taking some krav maga classes is going to enable her to take on and disarm a full sized man is going to give her the overconfidence to go places and get into situations that she is not equipped to handle.

She let her classes where she practices set moves against compliant adversaries give her the false confidence that she can take on grown men armed with weapons and prevail, when in reality, she can’t even take on a man when given a distinct advantage, and in this case, the man was holding back and trying not to hurt her.

The same is true of people who carry guns. Many people only carry in “bad neighborhoods” and allow that firearm to pull them into places where they wouldn’t go if they weren’t armed.

Have a realistic idea of what training and weapons do for you, what your capabilities are, and know how and where you should be. One thing that I have learned by taking BJJ is that I have flexibility as my advantage, but I don’t have the stamina and cardio of a 23 year old any longer. In many cases, a 22 year old will be stronger and will be in condition to outlast me in a protracted fight. In any hand to hand, I must endeavor to win the fight early, because I will lose a protracted battle.

Be realistic in your own assessment of your abilities.

People who have read this post: 313
By Divemedic, ago

There Goes the Jury Box

Florida passed a law making it illegal for illegal immigrants to enter the state. A Federal judge in Miami issued an order barring the state from enforcing the law, citing the supremacy clause, making the claim that only the Federal government can enforce immigration laws. When the Florida Attorney General told the court that law enforcement agencies weren’t subject to the order, the judge found him in contempt.

The courts are just as partisan and biased as the rest of the nation, and are becoming illegitimate as a result. The orders you get depend on the political stance of the judge in question, and not on the Constitution. I can prove it. Ask this same judge to put out an order telling the states that due to that same supremacy clause, no state can enforce any gun laws, because there are Federal gun laws. Likewise, drug laws, laws against murder, etc.

We all know what would happen.

People who have read this post: 580
By Divemedic, ago

“Teen”

Another “teen” has been caught with illegal weapons. The 17 year old pled guilty to possession of illegal firearms, including a machine gun. He was also placed in pre-trial diversion last year for aggravated assault with a firearm, after pointing a gun at someone ain St. Paul, MN. He served 180 days probation and community service.

I don’t think that teens who are obviously gang members should be granted pre-trial diversion for felonies involving firearms and aggravated assault. Pre-trial diversion is intended to teach kids who are accused of thinks like shoplifting and egging someone’s house that what they did was not acceptable. It isn’t, and never was, intended to allow gang bangers to get away with violent crime.

They don’t show a picture or mention a name, but I can certainly imagine what this “teen” looks like.

People who have read this post: 248
By Divemedic, ago

Dog

In an unusual turn, I recently had a patient that was the victim of a dog attack. The breed was, for a change, not a Pit Bull. The dog in question was actually a Cane Corso. It bit the victim’s face and hands pretty well, but the attack appears only to have been 4 or 5 bites. Still, the dog tore a piece out of the victim’s lip, and there were several puncture wounds to the face and hands. In all, it required 19 stitches to close all of the wounds.

People who have read this post: 539
By Divemedic, ago

Third Gen

My very first handgun was a Smith and Wesson Model 59, which I bought in 1987. A true classic, the Model 59 was the first double stack pistol manufactured in the United States. I loved that handgun, and I am sorry that I don’t own it any longer. It was lost to me during my 1997 divorce from my first wife.

When the 4506 came out, I bought one from a guy that was selling guns out of his house. That thing was a heavy brick. The issue that I had with the third generation Smiths was that sometimes you would pull the trigger and nothing would happen. The safety is off, there is a magazine in the well, but pulling the trigger doesn’t do anything- the hammer stayed back.

I never did figure out why it would occasionally do that. It was the reason why I changed my daily carry gun to the Sig Sauer 226 in 1990.

People who have read this post: 366
By Divemedic, ago