Gun Free Zone

In what sounds like it could be an April Fools joke, a Venezuelan Navy offshore patrol vessel recently sank after ramming a cruise liner in the Caribbean Sea. The cruise ship, which had no passengers on board at the time and has a reinforced hull to sail through ice-filled waters, suffered only minimal damage in what the operating company, Columbia Cruise Services, has called an “act of aggression … in international waters.”

This Venezuelan Patrol Ship Sunk Itself After Ramming A Cruise Liner With A Reinforced Hull

Go to the link and enjoy the rest of the story and the photos.

The actions of the Venezuelan ship are not unusual and they go back decades. What is unusual is that they picked a big ship and a reinforced sucker to boot. Why do I say that their version of piracy is not unusual? Because the government  vessels have always practiced harassment at sea just like their counterparts at land: Pull you over, come up with some bullshit law that you are breaking and then exact the appropriate amount of money from you to “fix this problem” and  let you go.

Now usually they reserve this for pleasure boats with Venezuelan flags or the fishing boats they suspect may be selling the catch to factory ships cruising the Caribbean and who pay in cash with hard currency (US$ or Euros). It is also rumored that those boats that do not come up with the appropriate amount of cash to satisfy the government ship, suddenly springs a deadly leak.

So, I kinda enjoy the fact that a cruise ship sunk a Venezuelan warship which probably was in need of a major overhaul for lack of maintenance. I am trying to remember, but I don’t think Venezuela has had a Navy ship sunk “in action” since 1821 during the war of Independence.

3,740,668 to be precise.

You may see a circle around the numbers of August 2009 and there is a reason for that. Starting on that date, we have not had a month under 7 figures since. That is 129 straight months. Ten years and nine months. Short of a Government shutdown, we are but three months away from 11 straight years of over 7 figures.

If that does not say that Gun Control is all but a pipe dream, I do not know what else could it be.

Finally found the offending tweet:

Apparently Alyssa Milano in Twitter called on Bernie Sanders to drop off, and that his Bernie Bros are toxic (I can’t find the original tweet)  She is being bombarded by them with all kinds of comments, not all very high brow and some rather …toxic?

From ARLnow:

Police: Store Employee Charged After Shooting Would-Be Thief

An employee of a local shop is facing charges after police say he shot someone breaking into the store.

The incident happened Sunday morning in the Green Valley neighborhood, shortly before 5 a.m.

Nothing good happens after midnight.

Police say a group of three suspects broke into a store on the 2400 block of Shirlington Road and began stealing cash and merchandise. The employee, who was in a backroom at the time, picked up a gun, opened a door into the store, and shot one of the suspects, according to an Arlington County Police press release.

One of the suspects, a boy under 18 years of age, was struck and suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

To Zuber’s surprise, police and the Commonwealth’s Attorney decided to level felony charges against Abushariah that could land him in prison for upwards of two decades, if convicted. Abushariah was denied bond, Zuber said, leading to concerns for his health while confined during the coronavirus epidemic.

“Following consultation with the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office, the employee, Hamzeh Abushariah, 33, of Washington D.C. was charged with Malicious Wounding, Reckless Handling of a Firearm and Violation of a Protective Order,” police said. “Additional charges related to the breaking and entering are anticipated at a later date.”

Three guys loot a store and they don’t get arrested and held without bond.  The employee who shot at them in self-defense gets held without bond.

Here is the detail that I think the prosecutor is hanging his hat on:

The employee then retreated, before going back into the store and firing another shot, police said.

This seems flimsy to me, especially given this next part.

Zuber claimed that police asked Abushariah, “why didn’t you run out the back door?”

The prosecutor is stating that there are additional details that justify this prosecution.

“There’s evidence we are not at liberty to share that support the charges, the decision was not made lightly,” the office said on Twitter.

Additional news reports give this information.

Aqrawi says he bought two firearms a few weeks ago because he was concerned someone would try to steal from his store during the coronavirus pandemic.

“We bought protection for the store just in case, because on Facebook you see a lot of robberies, a lot of things going on,” Aqrawi said.

Aqrawi says Abushariah is a father of two children (who were not at the store at the time). He says Abushariah was staying at the store both to save money and to avoid the coronavirus, which had affected the complex Abushariah lived in in DC.

This leads me to two competing thoughts.

One the one hand, there might be additional details that really do make Abushariah guilty of these crimes.

On the other hand, it might be that the very Leftist prosecutor is trying to make an example out of this clerk and business owner.  That in Blue Virginia, if you panic buy a gun to protect yourself during a crisis from some punks who want to loot your shop, you shouldn’t be able to defend yourself from criminals.

I won’t pass judgment just yet, but this is definitely one to watch.

From Bloomberg News:

China Concealed Extent of Virus Outbreak, U.S. Intelligence Says

For the Boomers:

For the Millenials:

China has concealed the extent of the coronavirus outbreak in its country, under-reporting both total cases and deaths it’s suffered from the disease, the U.S. intelligence community concluded in a classified report to the White House, according to three U.S. officials.

The officials asked not to be identified because the report is secret, and they declined to detail its contents. But the thrust, they said, is that China’s public reporting on cases and deaths is intentionally incomplete. Two of the officials said the report concludes that China’s numbers are fake.

You mean after the anti-Trump media said that the response of the US was the worst in the world and China had this under control, we find out that’s not true?

“The reality is that we could have been better off if China had been more forthcoming,” Vice President Mike Pence said Wednesday on CNN. “What appears evident now is that long before the world learned in December that China was dealing with this, and maybe as much as a month earlier than that, that the outbreak was real in China.

I bet Italy and Spain would say exactly the same thing.

Stacks of thousands of urns outside funeral homes in Hubei province have driven public doubt in Beijing’s reporting.

Here is a video from French 24 news that covered this quite well:

Back to Bloomberg:

China isn’t the only country with suspect public reporting. Western officials have pointed to Iran, Russia, Indonesia and especially North Korea, which has not reported a single case of the disease, as probable under-counts. Others including Saudi Arabia and Egypt may also be playing down their numbers.

You mean totalitarian nations lie to make themselves look better?  Say it ain’t so.  And CNN reports this bullshit as fact?  Say it ain’t so.

Bloomberg News is acknowledging what we already know to be true.

This outbreak really was the fault of the Chinese Government and their coverup, which made the world not respond adequately earlier.

The fact is, I expect CNN and MSNBC to ignore this because it makes China look bad and doesn’t harm Trump.

From The Hill:

New York City has released 900 inmates in response to coronavirus pandemic

New York City has released 900 inmates to avoid the risk of coronavirus spreading in the city’s jails, Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) said Tuesday.

De Blasio made the announcement at a press briefing while reporting that a second member of New York City’s corrections department had died from the disease.

So ten Jews get together and de Blasio will shut down the Synagogue permanently, but loot a CVS and you are entitled to a get out of jail free pass.

No wonder people are trying to escape that concrete shithole.

Update:

As goes New York, goes California.

California to release 3,500 inmates early as coronavirus spreads inside prisons

California is granting early release to 3,500 inmates in an effort to reduce crowding as coronavirus infections begin spreading through the state prison system.

Lawyers for Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday told a panel of federal judges the state is taking “extraordinary and unprecedented protective measures” to slow the spread of the virus and protect those who live and work within California’s 35 prisons. The accelerated prison discharges — affecting inmates due to be released over the next 60 days — come in the face of pressure to do much more.

Hooray, infected criminals are being let loose onto the streets of LA.

I can just feel the health and safety of uninfected law-abiding citizens being prioritized.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a statewide stay-at-home order Wednesday as federal and local pressure mounted for him to abandon the county-by-county approach he had implemented.

DeSantis told reporters that he is issuing the order after consulting with President Donald Trump and White House advisers, who have said that Americans need to stay home throughout April.

DeSantis’ move came hours after the U.S. surgeon general, Dr. Jerome Adams, said on NBC’s “Today” show that he would tell DeSantis that the federal guidelines for social distancing should be viewed as “a national stay-at-home order.”

Florida Gov. DeSantis issues statewide stay-at-home order

It was coming. I only have one item left in the list to get: Gasoline for the generator.

“Gasoline, Miguel? Why?”

Because in 60 days we begin Hurricane season and I have no idea what will happen between today and November (end of the season.) So, I better hit while I am ahead.

See you guys in a bit