Divemedic

NIMBY

As is typical of the left, we see an article where a prominent, rich leftist who demands more housing be built for the poor then having a meltdown when that housing is proposed for their neighborhood. That was perfectly illustrated when DeSantis shipped illegals to Martha’s Vineyard. So now it’s an Obama supporting sportsball athlete who demands more housing be built for the poor at public expense, but doesn’t want poor people living near his home.

It’s the lefty who demands that he be allowed to feed homeless bums in the park, but who shies away from allowing a homeless person to stay in his own home, or doesn’t want to set up his soup kitchen in his own gated community.

It’s seen when the left demands that landlords be forced to accept section 8 vouchers, or advocates prohibiting foreclosures, or rent control, or any one of another things that are paid for by someone else.

The government who robs Peter to pay Paul can always count on the enthusiastic support of Paul.

By Divemedic, ago

Blood in the Streets

My news aggregator turned up this little gem: A convicted felon flouted gun laws and was arrested at gunpoint. When he was arrested, he had three different handguns, as well as a supply of drugs, on his person.

What really struck me about this, is that this story came to me while the liberals of Florida are in the midst of a meltdown over Republicans (and especially Ron DeSantis) pushing Constitutional Carry in this state. The biggest arguments that I see are:

  • that, without a law making permits necessary for legal concealed carry, criminals will carry guns
  • Police can’t tell the difference without permits telling them who the good guys are

What is so disingenuous about this, is that it wasn’t that long ago that they were saying that people with concealed weapons permits are nothing more than criminals who haven’t been caught yet, who will snap at the slightest provocation and turn every contested parking space into a full scale firefight.

As I said in response to the above linked article: There are already 25 states that have passed Constitutional Carry. Crime and shootings in those states haven’t gone up any more than anywhere else. Every time a gun rights bill comes up, the anti gun people drag out the same old, tired arguments about how every car accident will result in a gun battle and it never happens. They did made that argument in 1989 when Florida passed concealed carry. None of it happened then, and none of it will happen now.

What we know for sure is that criminals are called criminals because they don’t obey the law. This is evidenced by the number of convicted criminals who are caught not only possessing weapons, but doing so without a permit. Therefore, we must assume that this law only works to prevent people who AREN’T criminals from carrying weapons. Who would be opposed to a person who isn’t committing crimes carrying a weapon? The answer is obviously one of the following:

  • people who are planning to commit a violent act against that armed person
  • people with so little self control that they themselves know that they cannot be trusted to carry a firearm, and are projecting that lack of violent impulse control upon others

So my question to those people who are opposed to law abiding citizens carrying weapons is: Which of those are you?

By Divemedic, ago

Free Welfare House

Substitute teachers in Highland county make $119 a day. It’s a part time job, where they only work when there is a classroom needing a teacher for the day. They are only needed on days that there are students in the school in need of supervision, so at most they can work 180 days per year. That maxes out their earning potential at less than $25,000 a year.

One of those substitutes, Lashawn Kinsey, bought a house in Highlands County, Florida on January 13, 2021. She did it by getting a mortgage for $127,645, meaning that she made a down payment of $2,355. At the time of the mortgage, she had three kids, which placed her below the Federal poverty level of $26,500 for a family of four. I can’t confirm this, but she is almost certainly on public assistance. On top of that, she is a college student, meaning that we are likely paying for her education with Pell grants, because she is a black single mother.

It’s no surprise then that she was soon unable to make the payments, and had to seek assistance from the Florida homeowner assistance fund to avoid foreclosure. The state has been picking up the tab for her mortgage and utility payments, or at least they were until an administrative screw up caused payments to stop back in October.

I don’t feel sorry for anyone in this story, except the US taxpayer. As all of you know, I am shopping for a new home. In order to do so, I had to allow the bank to do a net worth audit, income verification, and credit check. How could a bank loan money to someone with a part time job and no assets? This sounds like the stuff that was going on in the early part of the 2000s that caused the mortgage collapse.

The fact that I had to work a full time and a part time job while going to school, so I could afford to pay tuition, then had to save money and build credit in order to be able to buy a house, while some black woman gets a free one at taxpayer expense must be all of that white privilege I keep hearing about.

By Divemedic, ago

Defamation

Being tough on crime is one thing, but grandstanding for votes is entirely another. It began with Arpaio’s tough on prisoner approach of making prisoners live in tents and eat baloney sandwiches. Then it morphed into Grady and his political grandstanding. Now it’s gotten to where Sheriffs are posting people’s names and pictures on television to tell the world that those people are criminals, even when they aren’t.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not against being tough on crime, but there is a process for that. We don’t allow police in this country to punish lawbreakers. There is a process for that, and it doesn’t include destroying people’s lives because you are trying to garner a few votes. In this case, they were putting people’s pictures on television with the accusation that they are criminals without actually making sure that those people were actually accused of having committed a crime.

Keep in mind that Florida Sheriffs went to the state legislature and lobbied against carry laws. They went to the state legislature and lobbied against SB 234, which would have allowed those people in Florida who have a concealed weapons permit to carry a weapon openly. This proposed law wouldn’t have changed who may carry a weapon, only how they carry it.

The rule is innocent until proven guilty. Things like this show, red flag laws, and ex parte court hearings are destroying that principle. Everyone is entitled to their day in court, and I don’t mean the court of public opinion. I hope the guy wins.

By Divemedic, ago

Until Proven Guilty

One of the basic tenets of this nation is that you are innocent until and unless you are proven guilty as confirmed by a jury of your peers.

Yet another is that you can’t be forced to testify, if that testimony can be used to prove your guilt, and the fact that you refused can’t be used against you.

That’s why this hit piece, insinuating that President Trump’s refusal to testify is in any way a reflection on his guilt or innocence.

By Divemedic, ago

Useless Men

I read this over at Gunfreezone, and I am reminded of some things that happened around my own house.

A few years ago, when my wife still had a Nissan Altima, I was out on the driveway replacing its sway bar, which had snapped while she was driving it. The neighbor lady was at the end of the driveway while out walking the dog and said, “I always see you out here, fixing one thing or another. I wish my husband was handy. He doesn’t know how to fix anything.”

The husband of my tenants can’t fix a thing. He calls me over to do everything, even stuff that isn’t part of my responsibilities as landlord. He called me once because the sink in the kids’ bathroom wasn’t working. It turns out that one of the kids had turned off the water at the valve below the sink.

My electric recliner quit working when one of my grandkids was sitting in it. Investigation found that one of the wires had been cut in half by the mechanical workings of the chair. I soldered it back together and sealed it with electrical shrink wrap, good as new. One of my grandkids, who I let help me by holding the flashlight and handing me the tools, said: “That was cool. My dad doesn’t know how to fix stuff like that.”

It’s important to teach kids, especially young men, how to fix things. Don’t raise useless, soy sipping, video game obsessed, beta males. Don’t raise girls who are dependent on men for everything. The simple act of handing you tools and holding the flashlight when they are young teaches them a lot.

Raising children is more than just sitting them in front of a video screen. Be a parent, a dad, a mom. Actually PARENT your children.

By Divemedic, ago

Thousands of Rounds?

ATF should be called Agents That Fib. They are on the record as claiming someone with a Glock switch is capable of firing ‘thousands of rounds per minute’ from a Glock handgun. Anyone with gun knowledge knows that they are talking about cyclic rate when they say that a gun is firing 1,200 rounds per minute. That would require a weapon to have an unlimited supply of ammunition. It’s an attempt at dishonest manipulation of soccer moms.

“It turns a semi-automatic firearm into, essentially, a machine gun,” explained [ATF Agent] Estevan. “So, instead of one round being discharged from a firearm with the single pull of the trigger, when the switch is installed onto a firearm, you’re looking at 1,200 rounds with the single pull of the trigger within a minute.”

If you have to lie in order to make your point, perhaps your point isn’t worth making.

By Divemedic, ago