The July 2018 report.

If my calculations are right and the same trend continues, we are not going to reach the 2 million licenses this year but we are going to be mighty close: about 10,000 short. That means that probably (barring EMP attack) come the end of January 2019, we will be the first state of the union with 2 million licenses to carry concealed.

Welcome to the Gunshine State.

PS: I forgot, sorry! Florida ladies with a CWP went up to 509,014. C’mon ladies, those a rookie numbers!

The two Americans killed in an ISIS-claimed attack in Tajikistan over the weekend were a couple from Washington D.C. who left their lives in the nation’s capital to see the world together by bicycle. According to Lauren Geoghegan’s parents, the year-long cycle adventure was typical of their daughter’s “openness to new people and places, and her quest for a better understanding of the world.”

D.C. couple killed in ISIS-claimed attack were cycling around world

Although fastly approaching the “Get Off My Lawn” age bracket and raised within the boundaries of “The glass is half full/empty/poisoned” school of life, I have no problem with people with lofty goals and idealism. But no matter what crusade you want to attempt, never forget that there are immutable hardcore limits in this world and in many cases, deadly.  You cannot jump off a cliff, wave your arms and expect a soft landing or swim among sharks forever and expect not getting a dental tattoo from them.

Evil exists. Evil people exist. They have existed since Sapiens decided to go upright and probably will exist all the way to the extinction of our line. Going out in the world with the idea that Evil is some sort of social construct is a dangerous thing to do. This is a quote from their blog simplycycling.org:

I don’t buy it. Evil is a make-believe concept we’ve invented to deal with the complexities of fellow humans holding values and beliefs and perspectives different than our own—it’s easier to dismiss an opinion as abhorrent than strive to understand it. Badness exists, sure, but even that’s quite rare. By and large, humans are kind. Self-interested sometimes, myopic sometimes, but kind. Generous and wonderful and kind. No greater revelation has come from our journey than this.

I could make long snarky remarks, but truthfully they would not contribute a thing compared with the harsh truth that this your idealistic couple ignored basic facts of life and paid the ultimate price.

Hat Tip Joshua

Sobering and solemn.

Hat Tip JD Kinman

A bit more on Frank Guttenberg:

Fred Guttenberg and Manuel and Patricia Oliver — the parents of two students who died at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School — broke that mold Tuesday as they appeared in TV ads for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Philip Levine, the first ads in the race to feature Parkland parents.

Parents of school shooting victims hope endorsement will swing governor’s race

Seriously, what the hell were you expecting? You voted for the Gun Control laws and millions of dollars in aid that will go to the pockets of selected friends and somehow you thought they were going to pay you back with their endorsements and votes in November?

And you lost untold number of votes by alienating us.

I shall now cuss via a meme that expresses my sentiments.

Hat Tip Tom W.

Almost 30 years ago, there was a social dislocation in Venezuela called El Caracazo. It was about a week of riots, looting and murder during the Presidency of Carlos Andres Perez and it was all about rising the price of the heavily subsidized liter of gasoline all of 25 cents or the equivalent of a tad more than  a quarter of an US penny. That led to the eventual impeachment of Perez and the rise of Hugo Chavez.

The riots were not a popular uprising as the Narrative have pushed, but very well crafted events by the Left. I learned many important lessons I have shares through the years here in this blog, but the most important thing about El Caracazo is that it was step one into what eventually led to what we are seeing happen in Venezuela today. Yes, the assholes are that patient, but then again most of those behind the first move are forgotten, in jail, left the country or died.

This is the price of liter of gasoline in  Venezuela:

That would be $0.04 per gallon of very heavily subsidized gasoline in Venezuela. Back in the late 70s and early 80s, the warning was given that the prices were not even covering production prices and that it was draining resources unnecessarily. I remember somebody making the calculation that the country was losing $3 a minute because of the subsidies.

Now, I bring all this because an announcement the Maduro Regime made recently:

Venezuela petrol prices need to rise to global levels to prevent fuel smuggling, says Nicolás Maduro.

The excuse among many is that smuggling gas is big issue and unless you have the Party ID, you will be paying the “international price”:  $1.15 per liter or $4.35 the gallon. Of course the truth might be that since Venezuela’s refineries are in such disrepair, the government had to resort to import gasoline, Venezuela’s oil income is in the gutter, Maduro cannot longer afford to keep the bullshit up and reality has to come crashing down on almost everybody but a select few Party Members.

Venezuela is Paying the Piper a grossly overdue bill with interest and penalties.

Enjoy.

And today we stroll ourselves over the dictionary and get the definition of “profiteer.”

Why the Word-Of-The-Day class? Because accordingly to one “Assachusetts” mayor, if you partook in the benefits of the Trump’s tax cuts (A.K.A. getting more of your money paid in taxes back) you are some sort of criminal.

Let’s go over that again: You work or invest all year and the Federal government takes a chunk out of the income you make for your labor and taxes are the tool to do so.

Tax Cuts are enacted and you get to keep more of the money you generated. Again, you did the work, toiled, spent time busting your butt to get that money in a legal way so you can enjoy the benefits of your labor. But according to the Mayor of the City of Sommerville (Democrat and member of Mayors Against Illegal Guns), you are a despicable criminal.

Let’s summarize: If you are willing to defend yourself and dare to keep more of the money you make, you are a criminal. Scum of the Earth.

Whomever said that the Democratic Party is shifting towards Socialism is wrong. The shift is over, they are Socialists.