From the tactical standpoint, her problem is that she was carrying the NotGlock, Israeli style: Without a round in the urethra.  And she failed to seek cover.

Hat Tip Eric L. H.

Personally, I don’t think we would have a dust-off with the Canadians. And it has nothing to do with the Canadians ability to do warfare (you’d be a fool to dismiss them) but… because they are Canadians! I mean, they are too nice, they would be apologizing before the first shot is taken and let’s face it: we can be pricks, but to Canadians? No way.

What I envision happening is the two armies meeting at the border and talks begin.  Somebody will come up with the idea of a week-long hockey tournament to at least have some sort of “battle” going and then figure out what to do. Soon after the tournament starts, capitalism takes over and between barrels of Jack Daniels, Sam Adams, Molson and Crown Royal, things go downhill.

A week later, Canadians and Americans warriors wake up with humongous headaches in a strange hotel in an even stranger city. Hookers everywhere, the rooms trashed, fires burning in the parking lot. A groggy Canadian Colonel sees that a Marine PFC, looking worse for wear and sipping a hot cup of MRE coffee is watching TV. Rubbing his eyes, the Colonel asks him what in the hellacious is going on. The PFC responds:

“I am not sure, Sir. I don’t remember much after the semifinals began. But according to the news here in that TV, it says that we invaded Mexico and Americans have a New territory called Nuevo Texas. Your guys have a new province called New Gretzky and that the natives in Acapulco are pissed off because the Québécois have taken over the town and refuse to speak anything but French.”

At least, that is the way I see it happening.

PS: if you like SciFi with heavy warfare, you should look up Michael Z. Williamson.  I am not a SciFi fan, but enjoy his Freehold series immensely.

The Tracers – An inside look at the Real-Life Database of America’s Firearms. from Steven Brahms on Vimeo.

Poor ATF cannot create a database of all firearms. Because, you see, if they have a good database, they could solve a crime within the hour just like happen on the TV shows, commercial breaks and all!

Of course, they have to find the weapon first. Notice they mention “when a gun is recovered at a crime scene” which in reality does not happen that often. They do not mention that their own statistics show that Time To Crime ( the period of time between original purchase of a firearm and the recovery of that firearm by law enforcement.) can vary from 11 to 14 years which may render the evidentiary value of the gun worthless (Chain of evidence, gun was sold, lost, etc.during that period ) and the few states where Gun Registration has been mandatory, the impact in crime solution has been close to useless.

Has there been cases where a gun has been traced in a timely manner and the culprits found? I am not gonna lie. Yes, there has been cases and one that comes to mind is Border Patrol Officer Brian Terry. Next is a couple of extracts from the DOJs  “A Review of ATF’s Operation Fast and Furious and Related Matters“

On the evening of December 14, 2010, CBP Agent Brian Terry was shot near Rio Rico, Arizona, while conducting border patrol operations. He was transported for emergency medical services but succumbed to his injuries. Our investigation determined that Burke received an e-mail from the Department of Homeland Security at approximately 3:30 a.m. on December 15, 2010, notifying him of an agent’s murder. The Attorney General and Acting Deputy Attorney General received notification of the murder at approximately 10:00 a.m. the same day from e-mails that DOJ staff forwarded to them from Burke.

Information soon became available that linked two weapons at the Terry murder scene to Operation Fast and Furious. We discuss the link between the weapons purchased by Jaime Avila and those found at the Terry murder scene and Operation Fast and Furious in greater detail in Chapter Four. Burke learned of this connection on the evening of December 15 and e-mailed Wilkinson, stating “[t]he guns found in the desert near the murder [sic] BP officer connect back to the investigation we were going to talk about – they were AK-47s purchased at a Phoenix gun store.” Wilkinson told us that he did not recall advising the Attorney General of this information, and we found no evidence that he did so. McMahon was notified by Newell of the connection on the night of December 15 by e-mail, which McMahon then forwarded to Chait. Hoover emailed Melson at approximately 4:00 a.m. on December 16 to advise Melson that Hoover had received a call from Chait the prior evening informing Hoover that two weapons found at the scene of the shooting were traced back to Operation Fast and Furious. Later on December 16, McMahon sent to Hoover and Chait two briefing papers that they had requested. The first was a December 3 briefing paper. The second was a supplemental briefing paper created on December 16 and that focused on Avila specifically…

…As we discuss in Chapter Five, we believe that the Department’s initial handling of the information it received in mid-December 2010 – that Agent Terry had been killed and that two weapons found at the murder scene traced back to an ATF firearms trafficking investigation – was inadequate. The Department did not make a serious effort until February 2011 to fully understand the circumstances that led to this link between the ATF investigation and the presence of weapons at the murder scene that had been bought by a suspect in the investigation.

So, within hours the ATF, DOJ and the rest of the agencies involved knew that firearms were traced to the Fast And Furious gun walking scheme. Yet, to date, not a single ATF or DOJ official responsible for coming up with this stupid operation has even been indicted, much less prosecuted.  But somehow we are asked…no, demanded to trust the ATF when they say they need to register all the guns and that it is only to punish the evil-doers and nothing else.

Fat Uffing Chance.

If I had my druthers, I’d force ATF to go back to filing 4473 forms in microfilm.

Hat Tip Robert E.

That isn’t the story the major news organizations need.  The story of honorable and compassionate people helping their fellow man won’t sell soap or socialism.. so it isn’t mainstream news.  That is important too.

Recognize the distorted image we’re sold by the media.  The flood and rescue is the real truth about us as a people.  You dried the rain of tears.  You dammed the flood of despair.  With 600 words, I can’t convince you of something you don’t already know, but the rescuers can remind us of something we might have forgotten.

You’re doing it right.  Bless you, and please carry on.

You Dried the Rain and Dammed the Flood – Slowfacts

No comments other than go read it.

Wait…. that does not fit The Narrative! I want a recount!

PS: The usual warning of “Don’t read Youtube comments” applies.

Hat Tip Wirecutter.

HOUSTON — Many LGBT students at the University of Houston say they feel like they can no longer express themselves safely now that a law allowing people to carry concealed weapons on campus is in effect and classes have begun.

“I feel like I can’t speak up for myself anymore,” Robyn Foley, 22, a transgender and intersex student who majors in anthropology, told BuzzFeed News. “I can’t correct someone on my pronouns” — Robyn’s pronoun is “they” — “I can’t stand up for my transgender friends, because if I do and someone gets pissed off all they have to do is pull out a gun.”

Texas LGBT Students Say They Don’t Feel Safe Now That People Can Carry Guns On Campus – Buzzfeed.

Allow me to fix the “Can no longer express themselves safely.” You actually mean “Can no longer impose restrictions on Speech on others according to a political view.”  And yes, you can still correct people about your pronoun, but a) You can do so without being an impolite little shit and b) Some people simply do not give a care about your feelings because they go to college to learn stuff, not be involved in the politics of stupid..

“School stresses us out enough without us having to worry about the people who already yell at us for being ‘sinners,’” added Michael Allen, 29, an arts major with green hair.

It is called Free Speech. Deal with it. Ignore the assholes, they have rights too even if it gives you a rash in your nether regions.

The building containing the LGBT center, as well as the veteran students’ center, is not an exclusion zone, which many of the students in the LGBT center didn’t realize until someone looked it up during a conversation with BuzzFeed News. The students sat in stunned silence for a moment before Foley said, “Wow, I just assumed it was, out of common sense.”

You keep saying common sense, I don’t think you know what that means.

Some students said that the fact that the guns can’t be seen makes it even more intimidating. “Anyone you get into a philosophical argument with in class might have his hand on his gun while you’re talking,” one student, who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation, told BuzzFeed News. “I already feel it affecting my education.”

No, self-imposed stupidity is affecting your education. Research Concealed Carriers before opening thy trap. You may find that they are probably more law-abiding that your own fluctuating gender group.

“The whole point of being at university is being able to speak your mind,” she said. “This dampens that because people never know what the person next to them might be thinking about what they are saying.”

Oh sure, we know universities are bastions of Free Speech, right? No single house of higher education would sabotage or impede speech because a small group of whiny little jackals got triggered, complained and assumed fetal position at the nearest Safe Space.

Many of the students said that despite not wanting the guns on campus, they were comfortable around guns, or even “loved” them.

“I grew up around guns,” Ethan said. “My parents had them for protection.” But having them in a college environment was just different, he said.

Foley said that they also grew up around guns, and that their boyfriend of nearly five years keeps a gun on their beside table every night. But this doesn’t stop Foley from fearing the actions of their peers.

And I guess the lessons did not take. LGQTB people cannot be freely bashed if the repercussions for those actions are deadly. But it is more fashionable to be a victim than to stand for yourself.

If instead of wasting time trying to come up with a gender definition that sound like a bad tongue twister,  the first thing you should do is being responsible for your own life and your own safety instead of depending on the kindness of strangers and the perceived “magic” of Gun Free Zone signs.