“We’re in the Waffle House on Reilly Road, and there’s a guy who’s trying to rob here, and he has a really big gun,” the woman told the 911 dispatcher.Brooks said, however, that he immediately realized the AK-47 the would-be robber was brandishing wasn’t real.
“This thing was wood almost all the way up to the end of the barrel. No trigger guard, no trigger,” he said. “All the working parts were missing, so I just told the girls, ‘Don’t give him anything. That’s a fake gun.'”
“Well, I’m for real,” the robber said as he swung around and pointed the weapon at Brooks.”
I showed him how real I was,” Brooks said Friday with a chuckle. “I hit him in the nose with my cane.
“The two then engaged in a bizarre duel, using a cane and a phony firearm.

Source: Vietnam vet foils Waffle House robbery with cane :: WRAL.com

You just don’t mess with old people, they lack patience and kill you quick.

Here is to you Mr. Brooks:

Hat Tip Alex D.

So I’m doing research for a longer post when I came across a couple of articles in Vox about just how great Sweden, Denmark, and the Scandinavian countries are compared to the USA, and why the USA sucks so much.

I’m an American living in Sweden. Here’s why I came to embrace the higher taxes.

I live in Denmark. Bernie Sanders’s Nordic dream is worth fighting for, even if he loses.

Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture.

The gist of these articles is “I love these countries because gimme, gimme, gimme…”  The authors praise free college, free healthcare, heavily subsidies (often free) public transportation, months of paid vacation and maternity leave.

Here’s an excerpt:

“High taxes give me more choices and freedoms… Guys like Brooks seem to be proud that tax revenues in the US are only 26 percent of GDPwhile in Sweden they are 43 percent.  But tax dollars are not burned — they are used to provide collective goods that are beyond the reach of any individual and that benefit everyone. These collective goods give the middle class more choices, not fewer… Our public transportation system. Betty and I used to live the village of Lodi, about 25 miles from Madison. This being America, I was free to travel to Madison however and whenever I wanted, as long as it was by private automobile. There was (and is) no bus service to Madison. Even though railroad tracks run right through the village, there is no commuter rail service either. If this were a suburb of Stockholm or any other European city of 250,000, there would be train service and bus service several times an hour. These are the choices Europeans have that we don’t, because they devote more of their income to collective goods. If we value freedom, those of us who drive cars should pay higher gas taxes so that those who are old, infirm, too poor to have a car, or want to reduce their environmental impact can have fast and efficient bus and train service.”

According to Vox, War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength.  Owning is car is wrong an a unnecessary amount of personal freedom, and you should pay more so that everybody can take a turn riding in a bus on a time table set by the government.

But let’s pretend for a moment that everything these  people say is correct.  Democratic socialism is wonderful.  Sweden is a paradise.  Europe is better.

Lets crunch some numbers.  Sweden has a population of 9.8 million and a GDP of about $470 billion (US).  To put that in perspective, the population of the Chicago metropolitan statistical area (Chicagoland) is 9.5 million with a GDP of $560 billion.  Chicagoland is the 3rd largest MSA in the US.  Sweden has an economy about the size of the Dallas MSA at $460 billion, produced by a population of only 7.1 million people, and is the 4th largest MSA in the US.

Denmark has a population of 5.7 million and a GDP of $260 billion (US).  This puts it about halfway between Atlanta (9th) and Boston (10th) in terms of size with an economy in between Miami (12th) and Detroit (13th).

Switzerland has a population of 8.2 million and a GDP of $480 billion.  This gives it a population of about 1 million more people than Dallas (4th) with an economy the size of the Washington DC MSA (6th).

All of Scandinavia combined has an economy of $1.3 Trillion (US) and a population of 25 million people.  The largest MSA in the US is the NYC MSA with a population of 20 million people and an economy of $1.5 Trillion.

What does all of this mean?

Well… those beloved countries are just big American cities.  And if you go to one (I used to live in Chicagoland), they have much of the same public transportation access and other perks of these countries.  Where don’t you find these benefits?  Rural Wisconsin.

Therein lies the rub of transporting Scandinavian socialism to the US.  The people of NYC, LA, Boston, Chicago, and others will be paying for buses that won’t be used in Iowa and Nebraska.  We’re just too big and too spread out.  What works in a densely populated are won’t work in farm country.

The math just doesn’t work out.

Also note, that in every example I showed above, every American city had a larger GDP than the European country of the same size.  Every. Time.

Why do these European countries enjoy such wonders?  Because we Americans work for it.  NATO.  The Marshall Plan.  Europeans can take 6 weeks of vacation a year ONLY because Americans take 6  days of Vacation per year.

But none of this reality matters to these people.  The gimme is strong in them.  An understanding of economics, not so much.

Athena Adkins, a volunteer with Moms Demand Action – MN, shares office space with the law firm where the man worked.

“My friend and colleague was murdered yesterday in my office. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and his co-workers,” said Adkins.

“We never think it will be our community, our workplace, the people we know – and then suddenly it is. I am in shock from what happened and I am angry.”

According to the news item, the shooting occurred at North Star Criminal Defense which is at 370 Selby Ave #207, St Paul, MN 55102.  According to her Linkedin profile, Athena Adkins is the president of Adkins Consulting Group, LLC and even though the website does not have an address, one record was found indicating they are at 1718 Lincoln Ave, St Paul, Minnesota, 55105.  So the addresses are different from the get-go, but maybe the building has two entrances facing different streets, who knows, right? So I consulted Google Maps:

I am guessing the new definition of office space comprises the full metro area of a city for the Goal-Post-Changers at Everytown/Moms Demand. But since they have been already stretching other definitions like Mass Murders and School Shootings to include just about anything they want it to be, the new office space concept is not something to be surprised they are trying to pull.

At least they do it with flair.

Tallahassee, Fla. (April 11, 2016) – Each year the Florida Sheriffs Association (FSA) recognizes several exemplary state legislators for their significant contributions to and support of good public safety policies during legislative session.  These legislators have demonstrated a commitment to protecting the best interests of Florida citizens through their diligent legislative efforts and support of FSA initiatives. This year, the Florida Sheriffs Association names Senator Miguel Diaz de la Portilla as the 2016 Legislator of the Year for his commitment to the safety of our citizens. His role in ensuring a common sense approach to conceal carry legislation exemplified what we expect of our elected officials and his unwavering support for reasonable solutions proposed by Florida’s sheriffs demonstrated his commitment to Florida’s citizens and visitors.

Source: FL Sheriff’s Assoc. names Senator who killed open carry, campus carry as 2016 legislator of the year – The Gun Writer

Apparently all those assurances that they were on the side of the Second Amendment and the Constitution were all bullshit.

And unless individual Sheriffs come out strongly and on the record denouncing this bonehead move by the association, we will consider that all Sheriffs from all counties approve by this.

How many punches equal deadly force, before the blows justify a response with deadly force, in this case a knife?

How many punches did Kayla Baxter, an 18-year old Daytona Beach woman weighing 115 pounds, have to take from Keith Lovett, a 37-year-old convicted felon weighing 165 pounds, before she stabbed him in the face?

Source: Deadly force claim denied for woman who stabbed man in attack | News-JournalOnline.com

The usual warnings apply. We do not have all the facts and evidence and we are going only with was written in the article and we will assume that the author is quoting the players verbatim.

So the response from the Prosecutor is as follows:

Assistant State Attorney Megan Upchurch said she did not have a clear answer, but Baxter did not have the right to stab Lovett.

“Even being punched five times before does not justify the use of deadly force,” Upchurch said. “He did not have a weapon.”

Apparently, the concept of disparity of force is unknown in Volusia County. I can only assume that Ms. Upchurch has been raised in a universe were punches have padded gloves that self adjust to the person they hit so no damage is done…or that she has watched way too much TV. Unarmed does not mean incapable of deadly force as we have seen before and with deadly results. 

And Circuit Judge Terence Perkins agreed.

…he did not believe that Baxter had the right to use deadly force and denied Lambert’s motion to dismiss the aggravated battery with a deadly weapon charge.

And the sad part is that even the Defense lawyer is unaware of the danger when it comes to “being unarmed.” The judge asked him and he responded:

“Mr. Lambert, when does a punch become deadly force,” Perkins asked.

“When it doesn’t stop,” Lambert replied. “I think if you hit somebody once and you walk away that’s not deadly force, but he persisted. He wasn’t going to let her alone. She said he hit her five times.”

“I think if you hit somebody once and you walk away that’s not deadly force.”  Except that not only it could be deadly force, it has happened before and the one-punch-and-leave guy is waiting to be tried for Second Degree Murder.

This should give everybody some pause: We have a judge, a prosecutor and a defense attorney that are unaware about the concept of disparity of force and that a single solitary punch can be deadly force. This is why it is important for you to be informed about Self-Defense cases in all its flavors including Stand Your ground and other variations. You need to make sure your lawyer has all the arguments he will need to prove you were in the side of the angels and that includes you having previous knowledge of incidents were the “unarmed attacker” with one punch caused death or grave bodily harm.

I shall be keeping an eye on this case.

This is a United States Senator for the State of Connecticut. And yes, he sports the “D” after the title. Just a wee bit of fisking on this article.

Murphy said he was shocked when Congress failed to pass moderate gun control legislation after the 2012 school shooting at Sandy Hook elementary school in his state, even though polls show that “80% to 90% of Americans will tell you they wanted expanded background checks for people trying to buy guns”.

“Democracy is not supposed to allow for that to happen,” he said.

Source: Senator: gun control discussions won’t change ‘neo-anarchist’ Republican party | US news | The Guardian

Well, that tight there is one of your problems, Senator. We are not in a democracy but a Constitutional Republic. We do not bow to the dictatorship of 50+1% that can strip our Rights.

Republicans, he said, use their support of gun rights as a cornerstone in their strategy to win elections by launching “an all-out, no-holds-barred assault on government”.

You must be talking about other Republicans because the pussies we have in congress look more like Democrats cloaked under a cape with GOP embroidered in it.

“The second amendment has become sacred because it’s the best way for them to express how furious they are at government. They are willing to defend the right of individuals to take up arms against it. There’s no way to get farther right on anti-government rhetoric than that.”

Has become? It always has been sacred. And actually there is a way to get farther on the “anti-government rhetoric.” Do pray we never have to travel that road.

“The Republicans in some way, shape or form have become a neo-anarchist party, in that they don’t accept that there is much legitimacy at all to the existence of public functions,” he said.

Can somebody tell me if CT legalized the use of pot? Because this guy had to be high as a kite when he said that.

As American household firearm ownership shrinks, he said, the gun industry also relies on anti-government rhetoric about “black helicopters” to sell more firearms to a smaller number of people.

Black Helicopters? That is so Clinton Administration! Get on with the times! Chem Trails is the new Black Helicopter!

“By sitting down and negotiating with the government about stricter gun laws, it runs counter to that narrative about the government coming to get you that prompts increasing gun sales,” he said.

More like it runs counter with that pesky document called Constitution.

“We are down in the weeds,” he said.

OK, he is smoking pot. Explains a lot.

The long game for advocates of gun violence prevention, Murphy said, was to make state laws across the country reflect state laws in Connecticut, including universal background checks and a ban on assault weapons.

We know that. And you ain’t getting it.