Divemedic

Not Your Money

When you sell real estate at a profit, you have to pay capital gains taxes on the profit. There is an exception to that in the tax code, called chapter 1031. If the proceeds from the sale of the property are held in a third party escrow account and not accessible to the parties involved, and the funds are used to purchase another investment property, the taxes are deferred.

Biden says that this amounts to an interest free loan from the government to the investor. It’s as if he thinks that this money belongs to the government and the only way you keep some of it is because you are somehow using a loophole, even though it is actually part of the tax code. Unless he gets is way, of course.

What Biden wants to do is eliminate that chapter of the tax code, thus forcing the seller to pay the capital gains taxes upon sale without the deferral that has been available for a century.

By Divemedic, ago

Where Did He Get It?

President Biden announced a $250 million donation to the World Bank, and another $375 million to Ukraine. I know that all spending must originate with the House of Representatives, and I also know that we are supposed to be at our debt limit within the next few days. So this begs the question: Where is Biden getting the money and the authority for all of these giveaways?

On a related note, the United States has given $37 billion in aid to Ukraine in the last 18 months. In that same time, all other US aid to all other countries totals $38 billion. Let that sink in.

By Divemedic, ago

12 years old?

The family of a 12-year-old auto theft suspect who was shot and killed by the vehicle owner say the man should face criminal charges.

The first line of the original article says: “A 12-year-old car theft suspect died of a gunshot wound after being confronted by the vehicle’s owner, according to the Denver Police Department.” It would be more accurate to say “12 year old shot and killed while attempting to murder the owner of the vehicle whose car he was stealing.”

The vehicle owner tracked the vehicle using an app. When he approached the vehicle, the occupants began shooting at him. The owner of the vehicle returned fire. The vehicle drove away and wrecked a short distance away. The police found the wrecked vehicle with a driver inside who was suffering from a gunshot wound. The other occupants of the vehicle ran off from before officers arrived. The wounded driver died at the hospital and was identified as 12 year old Elias Armstrong.

How did I know?

The Denver District Attorney’s Office decided to not file charges against the vehicle owner.

The family acknowledges Elias was caught up with the wrong crowd that day, but does not believe he should have been killed. “Even though they were joy riding, it was never that serious for somebody to have to lose their life or for [the car owner] to track down the car the way he did,” said Alicia Henderson, Elias’ sister.

He committed an armed burglary, illegally carrying a concealed weapon, attempted murder, armed robbery, grand theft auto, carjacking, and multiple other violent felonies. To minimize these crimes as harmless and call them “joyriding” is bullshit. The same kid has been in the Denver news more than once.

Said Henderson: “I’ll never get over this, I’ll never stop fighting for it until something is done about it. That doesn’t necessarily have to be a murder charge. However, manslaughter still comes into play because [Elias] was a child. The use of unnecessary force was present at the time and it wasn’t right.”

Unnecessary force? This little felon had a gun and shot at the legitimate owner of the vehicle. Just what level of force was necessary? Look at the little hoodlum’s picture that the family has put on a Tshirt.

Many of the articles say he was “involved in an exchange of gunfire” which is a rather odd way to phrase “he was trying to kill the law abiding, legitimate owner of the vehicle when the citizen did society a favor by removing his criminal, thieving black ass from the gene pool.”

The family has, of course, set up a change.org petition. The opening paragraph is grounds for a lawsuit for defamation, in my opinion.

On February 5th 2023, 12 year old Elias Armstrong was inside a stolen vehicle when the owner tracked the vehicle down using an App. The vigilante then took it upon himself to run toward the vehicle and shoot inside 15 times, ambushing the 3 occupants. Elias drove a few blocks away before he succumbs to multiple bullet wounds.

Hey, if Trump can lose millions for defamation for saying “I didn’t rape that woman, I don’t even know who she is,” then this certainly is a winner. The last paragraph is right out of the Trayvon playbook:

Denver Police told the Elias’ family that the shooter was on the phone with them for 20 minutes prior, and he was told NOT to pursue the stolen vehicle. The angry man decided to take justice in his own hands. We need him to be held accountable for HIS actions, and District Attorney Beth McCann needs to charge him for this crime that HE committed.

People are sick of the criminals, and they are sick of the fact that the cops aren’t doing shit. However, the shooting wasn’t vigilante justice. That little armed piece of shit tried to kill a man, and he came in second in a gunfight. I hope that little asshole burns in hell.

By Divemedic, ago

Blog Rules

You will notice that I have added a link to a new page at the top of the page. This is a permanent link to the rules of commenting here at the blog. They are there permanently for your reference. They are simple and easy to follow. I like the way that Miguel over at gunfreezone put it: don’t be a dick. If you want to know what it means to be a dick, read on.

The overriding concept here is that I am paying for this server, the software that runs it, and providing the content. Since I am the one paying for it, that makes it mine. Some people have a problem with this and begin shouting about free speech. Free speech doesn’t apply here on my property. Want free speech? Pay for your own blog. I will even rent you some server space. You can say whatever you want on there, including calling me names. Your space, your rules.

I allow comments here because I enjoy the back and forth of a good debate. However, commenting here is the virtual equivalent of talking to me while sitting in my living room. Debate is a good thing. A well reasoned debate changes minds and can influence the opinions of others. If you make a good case for your opinion, you can win over the opinions of others by presenting them with a perspective or situation that may not have occurred to them. Name calling and shouting at people does not change the opinions of others, generates hard feelings, and is nothing more than chimps shouting at each other inside of the monkey house.

If you and some of my acquaintances are sitting with me in my living room having a conversation, there are things that you wouldn’t say without expecting either a punch in the mouth or being asked to leave and never return. Try to think of comments here as a face to face conversation, and don’t type a comment here that you would not say to someone’s face while sitting in their own home.

So with that out of the way, here are the rules for commenting on this blog:

  1. The owner of this blog (me) has the final say on what you can and cannot post. It’s my house, I make the rules. Content here is moderated, and I will not be approving any comments that I find, in my sole judgement, to be unworthy. If you make a comment here and it doesn’t appear within a few hours, it likely wasn’t approved for some reason. Or it wound up in the SPAM filter for some reason. You can always drop me an email and ask.
  2. Deliberately posting statements that are aimed at insulting the blog owner (me) will get your comment tossed in the trash. Feel free to disagree with me, just don’t call names or impugn my character. If I wanted someone to purposely insult me, I don’t need to pay for a blog server, I can just go to my ex-wife’s house for free.
  3. Don’t deliberately insult others. No personal attacks. Feel free to attack ideas. Heap scorn on silly or illogical opinions, just don’t make it personal.
  4. If you are making a comment about one of my posts, it should be made on the post that you are commenting on, not on another, unrelated post. Offending posts may be deleted or disallowed, purely at my discretion. This is an attempt to both maintain readability and to reduce trolls.
  5. No spam. If you come on here to sell your product or website, that isn’t going to be allowed. This is an ad free site, because I hate all of the ads on the Internet. I don’t make money on this Blog, and no one else does, either. Including you.
  6. Usually, I just don’t approve comments that are out of bounds. If you are close to the line, I may approve it, with a warning. If repeated out of bounds comments become tiresome, I will warn you.
  7. If warnings don’t work and you keep at it, I will ban you from ever posting on this site again. I know that you can pull tricks like IP spoofing, changing your name, etc. So don’t think doing that is going to earn you “I’m so clever” points. It doesn’t make you clever, it makes you an ass.
  8. Too many people using those tricks to circumvent the rules is what got us full time moderation, which is a major pain in my ass, and a major time waster for me.
  9. When in doubt, please refer to rule #1. These rules can change with no notice, and rules may or may not apply retroactively. That’s up to me. See rule #1.

Those are the rules. They seem rather easy to follow. I am resisting the use of registered accounts for the reason that I don’t like registering anything. However, if too many people violate these rules, I will be forced to have accounts. Please don’t force me to do that.

I have only banned a handful of people (less than 5) in the sixteen years of this blog. I think that makes me pretty tolerant.

Of course, you can always ask me any questions by email: Divemedic@areaocho.com

By Divemedic, ago

How Much Ammo?

Once you pick your flavor of ammo as we did earlier this week, how much of it should we have on hand? Some people say that the most handgun ammunition that you need on hand is 250 or 500 rounds. That’s ridiculous. I have more than that in any given caliber.

For starters, there are two types of ammo: range ammo and war shots. PewPew Tactical recommends 500 rounds as a starting point, with 150 of those rounds being war shots. I still think that’s low. So what do I consider to be a good amount of ammo?

For range ammo, I buy in bulk because it’s cheaper, meaning in 1,000 round cases. If I find a good deal, I snap it up. That’s how I scored 9mm FMJ for 15 cents a round back in January of 2020, when I got 2,000 rounds for $300. Of course, that was pre-COVID. Good luck getting 9mm at that price now.

For starters, .22lr comes in bricks of 500 rounds. I own a few .22 firearms, both pistols and rifles. You will seldom see me with less than a couple of thousand rounds of .22 lying about. Of course, there is really no such thing as a “war shot” with .22lr. A brick of .22 will cost you about $30 at today’s prices, making it the cheapest way to shoot. It’s also great for squirrels and rats. That’s why I keep a bunch on hand.

When it comes to range ammo, I try to stock a minimum of 500 rounds per caliber. For the high use calibers of 9mm and .45, I find that 1,000 rounds on hand is a minimum.

For defensive handguns, we need to consider war shots. For semi-autos, I try to keep a minimum of 500 war shots per handgun. For revolvers, 150 war shots per handgun. So if I have a pair of 9mm handguns, that’s 1,000 rounds.

When we get into 5.56mm and 7.62x51mm, we get into a whole different ballgame. For the AR, all I stock in 5.56mm is Green Tips. I don’t do different war shots and range ammo, because I want my war shots to perform identically to my range ammo. For that reason, I try to keep a minimum of 5,000 rounds on hand of 5.56mm.

Likewise for the 7.62x51mm, but my round count there is lower simply because it is more expensive and takes up more room. So I want my minimum there to be no less than 2,500 rounds. With the 7.62, I look for nothing but the 147 grain. That way, every round is similar in performance to every other round.

For shotguns, all I have are 12 gauges. I stock 250 defense rounds in buckshot and slug, and 250 rounds of #7 shot (for hunting).

Toss in a few smoke grenades and a couple of pepper grenades, and the fire marshal’s office will shit themselves if they ever find out about that stash.

So as you can see, that means a lot of ammo on hand. We are talking about more than 20,000 rounds of ammo. I didn’t get there by buying it all at once. I just buy ammo on a regular schedule, buy a case at a time when I do buy, and try to get more than I shoot. Eventually, you get a decent stockpile.

By Divemedic, ago

Amazing

I am still on the text messaging group that my (now former) job uses to communicate with employees. I just got a text message that all employees need to attend a mandatory training session on Tuesday the 23rd so they can be trained on the new Philips cardiac monitoring system that is being installed on Wednesday the 23rd. It seems that they just spent a quarter of a million to replace 3 year old monitoring system with a new monitoring system. Now I know why they can’t afford to pay anyone.

By Divemedic, ago