Divemedic

A word on comments

I grow so weary of going to websites where the host allows comments to degenerate into name calling and team politics. I also hate when people post spam to the comments, talking about how they make $5,000 a minute from home. I do my best to moderate that, but understand that I can’t let this blog become too much of a time waster for me, because I have a life and it is a busy one. Even writing posts takes anywhere from one to three hours a day, counting research, writing, and editing. This blog gets between 2,000 and 10,000 hits a day. It gets between 20 and 100 comments a day. So keep that in mind when you see how I moderate the comments:

I don’t mind disagreement. I encourage it. It is through disagreement and debate that we grow and modify our stand on controversial subjects. With that being said, there are a few basic things that keep this place running smoothly:

I don’t allow personal attacks. I do this because I want comments to stay on topic and not degenerate into the name calling mess that the comment sections of so many other websites. I will let some minor transgressions slide, but I do my best to keep things from becoming too heated. Attack ideas all you want, but don’t let it get personal.

I don’t allow comments that are advertisements. Note that I don’t advertise products or services here at all. Not even my own. When I do articles about products, I don’t do them because I stand to make money. I am even careful to include disclaimers. At my discretion, I will edit your comment to remove advertisements or simply not allow the comment. How that goes depends on a few things: Are you a long time commenter? If your first comment is an advertisement, it likely goes in the trash heap. In the nearly 16 years of this blog, I have made only three exceptions to this rule that I can remember. In each of them, the post and/or comment was because of injuries or danger to a child, and were directing people to a donation site so people could donate to help the child’s family. In each of those cases, I was contacted by email and asked to post the information.

The only other ask is those few occasions that I ask for donations to cover the costs of running the site.

I close posts for comments after 21 days. No use beating a dead horse.

One other rule- at the end of the day, this is my blog. I pay for everything here from the server space to the software that runs it. Since it’s my property, I can modify the rules here anytime that I want to. There have been commenters who have come here and demanded that I allow them to say what they want under the guise of “free speech.” I’m not preventing you from starting your own blog at your own expense, but people comment here on my dime, and that means I get to set the rules.

Violate the rules, and I may give you a warning, I may edit out offensive words, advertising links, or I may just toss your comment in the trash. I won’t ever change your comment to make it something that you didn’t say. ( I did it once to a supposed self described “hacker” who was trying to be very personal and publish threats against me. I changed his comment to make it seem like he wanted to perform a certain homosexual act on me. Childish, but funny. I deleted it once he saw it.)

If the violations are bad enough, I will ban you, or your entire IP address. I moderate all comments, thanks to the aforementioned hacker who wouldn’t take “go away” for an answer. That particular person was making death threats as well as posting my address.

Anyhow, comments have been relatively calm for several months, except for a few spammers. I just wanted to remind everyone of the rules.

By Divemedic, ago

Canada

Now that guns are illegal in Canada, there goes free speech. It is about to be a crime to say anything that offends a member of the alphabet brigade:

It has been said that the 2A protects the other rights. If we allow RKBA to be taken from us, the rest of our rights will follow.

By Divemedic, ago

Profiteering

This guy complains that Florida’s constitutional carry is dangerous because there is no training requirement for people to carry a weapon. While I agree that people need training, this guy is being a disingenuous prick. Let me tell you why.

This is how he fulfills the “instructor must observe the student firing a weapon” requirement that is under Florida’s current CCW training requirement. Does that look like a class being taught by an instructor that cares about firearms training? Does that look like a high quality class? He gives a 2 hour class, where there is a 20 question quiz at the end that he gives the students the answers to, then makes them fire a single round into a bullet trap.

His class is nothing more than a scam to meet the bare requirements of the law, extract $49 from students, and try to sucker them into taking other courses that aren’t required by the law. Reading that article, I would steer clear of Brandon Gun School. There are other schools out there that deliver a much better class than that, and aren’t of the “I’m a gunowner, but” brand of instructor who is willing to sell out gun owners for a quick buck…

By Divemedic, ago

Actions have consequences

People didn’t get their way under the rules of the legislative body, so they joined protestors on the floor of the chambers and began shouting with bullhorns. This prevented the legislature from being able to carry out its job. We were told that this was an insurrection, and was thus treason. It is a threat to Democracy, they claim.

Only this wasn’t DC, it was Tennessee. The perpetrators were Democrats. The Republicans have grown a spine and are voting to remove the offenders from the Tennessee legislature. Now the Democrats are angry that they are being held to their own standards.

By Divemedic, ago

There’s More to the Story

JKb over at Gunfreezone gets angry at the cops because they went to a girl’s home to retrieve a goat. I would have commented over there, but I just don’t want to pay to make comments, seeing as how I already pay for this website, so here is my answer. He says:

I read shit like this and I wonder how anyone can “back the Blue” anymore.

How about the entire story without all of the tear jerking spin?

Mom bought daughter a goat last April. They named it, fed it, and raised it. Then mom sold the goat at a livestock auction. The auction sold the goat at auction June 25 for $902, of which $63.14 was supposed to go to the state fair and $838.86 to the mother and daughter.

It was at this point that the daughter found out that the goat was to be slaughtered and eaten, a fact which mom was well aware. Daughter promptly threw a fit and demanded that mom rescue the goat. It’s proper to point out that the rules of the state fair say that all sales are final, and that’s that. So when the fair wouldn’t undo the sale, mom stole the goat right out of the auction’s barn. Mom then hid the goat on someone else’s property (an animal rescue organization) so that the fair and the police could not recover the stolen property. The stolen goat was eventually recovered, slaughtered, and barbecued.

Now mom is suing, and JKb has his panties in a bunch because he thinks that police should ignore grand theft, conspiracy to commit theft, and fraud because someone’s snowflake child is upset.

So I guess he is now OK with California decriminalizing theft if someone is really upset? Or are the cops wrong for enforcing the law? Just what should the cops do when someone buys something, the seller then steals the item back, and then hides the stolen property in order to prevent its discovery?

The response should be that the cops arrest mom for grand theft, the animal rescue for conspiracy to traffic in stolen goods, and conspiracy to commit grand theft.

By Divemedic, ago

Changes to Florida Law

Let me start by saying that I am not a lawyer, and you therefore shouldn’t rely upon my advice. With that being said, here is my reading on the new “constitutional carry” law that was signed by the governor today. (pdf alert, but not stored here at SectorOcho)

It removes the legal requirement to have a concealed weapons permit for anyone who can legally receive a concealed weapons permit in the state of Florida. If also removes the restriction against having a firearm in a pharmacy that was previously in effect for anyone not a LEO or a CWP holder.

Places that are off limits to carry remain otherwise unchanged. If you are legally permitted to carry a concealed weapon, carrying a weapon at a school is a misdemeanor. I still advise maintaining a permit because permit holders do not have to go through a waiting period for purchases.

Here is the big change, as far as I am concerned:

790.251 Protection of the right to keep and bear arms in motor vehicles for self-defense and other lawful purposes; prohibited acts; duty of public and private employers; immunity from liability; enforcement.—
(2) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section, the term:
(c) “Employee” means any person who is authorized to carry a concealed weapon or concealed firearm under s. 790.01(1) possesses a valid license issued pursuant to s. 790.06 and:
1. Works for salary, wages, or other remuneration;
2. Is an independent contractor; or
3. Is a volunteer, intern, or other similar individual for an employer.

As used in this section, the term “firearm” includes ammunition and accoutrements attendant to the lawful possession and use of a firearm.

No public or private employer may violate the constitutional rights of any customer, employee, or invitee as provided in paragraphs (a)-(e):
(c) No public or private employer shall condition employment upon either:
1. The fact that an employee or prospective employee is authorized to carry a concealed weapon or concealed firearm under s. 790.01(1) holds or does not hold a license issued pursuant to s. 790.06; or
2. Any agreement by an employee or a prospective employee that prohibits an employee from keeping a legal firearm locked inside or locked to a private motor vehicle in a parking lot when such firearm is kept for lawful purposes.
This subsection applies to all public sector employers, including those already prohibited from regulating firearms under the provisions of s. 790.33.

If you recall, the previous law was a bit of a gray area when it came to guns in parking lots. Take that, Disney.

A bunch of other stuff was added that governs schools and school boards. I haven’t read that yet.

So there you have it, some big changes coming to the state on July 1 when the law takes effect. I will be waiting to see some lawyer’s interpretations of the new law.

By Divemedic, ago

Two Legal Systems

Two people posted memes to different target audiences during the 2016 campaign. The memes were nearly identical in every way: they encouraged people to vote by sending a text message containing their candidate’s name. This way, the meme alleged, you could avoid waiting in long election day lines. The only difference between the two was the voting block that they were targeting. One targeted Trump voters, the other targeted HRC voters.

Guess which one was arrested in 2021, has been convicted, and is now facing 10 years in Federal prison?

The Democrat tweet is still live on Twitter.

We have two different legal systems. One jails people indefinitely for trespassing, the other gives people a pass for blinding people with lasers while they burn down Federal courthouses. One jails people of one political faction for doing the exact same thing that they ignore from the other political faction.

The entire Federal legal system has been weaponized. The FBI is investigating people who oppose the Democrats, the IRS is auditing reporters who write damaging articles, social media has been completely subverted, and we are on the verge of being a police state.

As bad as that is, things are going to get worse. Much worse. Just wait until the disappearances begin.

By Divemedic, ago

Party of Science, My Left Foot

An anthropology professor claims that you cannot tell whether or not a skeleton belongs to a male or a female. Of course, that is demonstrably false. The pelvis of a skeleton alone tells you whether or not the skeleton belongs to a male or a female.

There is an oval shaped hole in the pelvis called the pelvic inlet. In females, the pelvic inlet has a larger diameter in the left/right axis than it does front to back. In males, it is larger in the front/back axis than it is in the left/right.

At the base of the pelvis, there is a structure called the public arch. In females, the angle of the pubic arch is greater than or equal to 90 degrees, and in males it is less than 90 degrees.

Both of these facts are due to the fact that the female pelvis needs to accommodate the head of a fetus during childbirth. This isn’t open for debate, it’s merely scientific fact. There are those who would claim that those born with a trisomy at the 23rd chromosome means that we can’t use DNA to define a man or a woman. I say that’s bullshit. There are many birth defects that involve trisomies, but those are genetic defects, abnormalities that occur less than 5 times in every 1,000 births. It certainly doesn’t mean that the person with this abnormality gets to pick whether or not they are a man or woman on any given day of the week.

That doesn’t stop major universities and healthcare facilities from playing this stupid, woke game. The University of Florida runs its own healthcare system, called UFHealth. That system runs a total of 11 hospitals in the north central Florida region. That University also has declared an official transgender policy(pdf warning):

Referring to people by the pronouns they determine for themselves is basic to human dignity. Being referred to by the wrong pronouns particularly affects transgender and gender nonconforming people. Repeated use of incorrect pronouns can be offensive, harassing, and hostile! Research has demonstrated that respecting someone’s pronouns creates a safe, welcoming space and can have positive health outcomes

They are permitting patients to register as either male or female, whatever they choose. Why not let people register as being a whale, or a unicorn? If I can pick my gender, facts be damned, then why not let me pick my own species? Can I identify as someone who gets free healthcare?

If you come in to the emergency room and tell me that you are having problems urinating, you are going to get a totally different set of lab tests if you are a man than if you are a woman.

The left is not the party of science, and as long as they continue to ignore objective reality, they can’t realistically claim to be.

By Divemedic, ago