• What he said.
• Vexarr gets the slow clap of the day.  It’s always within your power to make things better; you just have to be willing to do the hard work and take the risks.
• Borepatch has started an excellent series on how to lock down your on-line life a tad.  He and I need to sit down with OldNFO and Drang and drink a few beers.
• I want this gentleman to teach our military leaders how to deal with those who won’t act right.
• Couldn’t have said this better myself.  Want a good job?  Get a good, real education, learn to do something that other people will pay you to do, and work your butt off.
• Spook86 has some good thoughts about the NSA domestic intelligence scandal.  He’s another one that goes on the “Bar in a SCIF” list.
• Kathy Jackson makes a good point.  Maybe you don’t need the full “rappel down the side of the building, blow out a window, swing in, and clear the room before whipping your helmet off to flip your auburn tresses” training regimen, but there’s nothing at all wrong with getting trained in common shooting scenarios that ordinary people run into.

• Peter is almost done with his second book!
• Peter also gives us another perspective on all of the government over-reach scandals.  I’m beginning to believe the theory of “death by a thousand cuts”.  And I think I’m going to rephrase Marx to say “To each according to his ability, from each according to his desire”, but then again I can’t be the first to think of that.
• The Firearms Blog talks about lightweight AR-15 lowers.  It might be just me, but I’ve never considered the AR-15 a heavy gun to carry or shoot.  Carry around an M-1 Garand or a 91/30  for a couple of days, and that AR almost floats.
• OldNFO does a good job laying out the pattern of misconduct.  Not going to say that other presidents wouldn’t have the same sort of laundry list, though.
• I’m starting to sound like a broken record here, but Dan Carlin has an interesting spin on how long things have been getting bad.  I especially like how he connects bad actors today with bad actors of yesteryear.  Sometimes they’re one and the same.
• Nancy R. has been busy.  I can never let Irish Woman read her blog, because she doesn’t need ideas for new projects.
• Auntie J is having one of those days.  I suggest an early bedtime and some bourbon.

Officer Smith talks about the phrase that pays when talking to the police.  Seriously, who thinks that impotently threatening a police officer’s job is going to get you anywhere?  If you’ve got a legitimate beef, that’s what lawyers are for.  Otherwise, keep your trap shut.

I may be using the new term that Christina’s daughter has introduced.  It just…. fits.

Weer’d discusses the next probable step in the demonization and dehumanization of gunowners.

Keads points us to a raffle to raise fund for the family of a Kentucky lawman who was ambushed and killed recently.  I’m in.  You know what to do.

I’m a miserly kind of guy.  Why didn’t I think of this?

The Big Guy gives me something new to put on my resume “Volunteer Remedial Driving Instructor”

Sean discusses how not to teach gun safety and usage, and how hard it can sometimes be to look at a bad situation and absent yourself from it.  I hope he and his brother went somewhere and did some safe shooting after that.

• Miguel hits one out of the park.
• Jennifer makes me nod.  I haven’t been dating anyone but Irish Woman for over a decade, but it was true then:  Treat me like a gentleman and I’ll feel better treating you like a lady.
• Dan Carlin makes more sense every time I listen to him.
• Zercool and his lovely wife are pulling up stakes and moving out of occupied territory.  Let’s wish them luck.
• Sean asks a good question, and I’m afraid that he’s right in his answer.
• I wish I’d written this.
• Homegrown Evolution points me to something I’ve been meaning to make for years.

• Kathy articulates wonderfully why we should allow children, both boys and girls, to play at being a warrior and protector.  That’s why Boo has light sabers and battle axes and even, shockingly, toy guns.  Kids who are allowed to develop a sense of right and wrong and learn when it is correct to apply violence and when it is not correct will not allow themselves to be abused nor will they let someone else be abused, and I believe they are less likely to be the abuser.
• Nod
• Mike W. has joined the People’s Commissariat of the Inexpensively Armed and Recoil Addicted.
• We are all shocked by the destruction from tornadoes in Oklahoma.  If you have it to give, please do.
  • This Ain’t Hell reports that the American Legion is providing aid for impacted veterans.
  • BlackFive points us to a fundraiser at Team Rubicon for the work they are already doing in the disaster zone.
  • The Wall Street Journal reports on other ways you can help.
• Flopping Aces and B have excellent thoughts on the current kerfluffle in Washington.

• Blackfive points out that while position doesn’t always equal class, in some circumstances, it does.
• BRM has released his first novel.  Go. Buy. Read.  There will be a review here once I’m done with the reviews I’ve already got in the works and I read it myself.
• Auntie J demonstrates that, no matter what, the kids know who their mom and dad are.
• Brigid had me at “tragic potato gun accident”.

• Borepatch does an excellent job in explaining that no matter how often or hard they try, the government just can’t keep freely available information from being free to propagate itself to the far corners of the world once it’s let loose.
• Couldn’t have said it better myself, Crush.
• Stephen is one heck of a good man.
• I wish I’d written this.
• Holly Chism has a new book out, “The Last Pendragon“.  It’s a real page turner, and I pretty much read it in one sitting.  She has a couple of sample chapters up, but the whole book is definitely worth the price of admission. I’m working a real review, but in the mean time, go on over and have a look.
• Carteach reminds me that I need to get Girlie Bear and me into an Appleseed clinic.
• NancyR is holding an event to get young shooters and their families into shooting.  It’s an excellent idea.  I’ll have to see what I can do to steal the idea from her.

Me no brain today, all stuffed with cotton.  Go read good writers!

• Jay and Matt are absolutely correct – If we segment ourselves and only look out for our own personal interests, then we are simply asking that someone come along and take us down one notch at a time.  We have to hang together, for we will surely hang separately.
• Michael Z. Williamson expands on something I quoted a while back.  Those who demand that we stand up for their rights, and to whom we’ve given support, should be shoulder to shoulder with us now that our rights are being threatened.  If they don’t respect our rights, even if they disagree with how we exercise them, why should we make the effort to defend theirs?
• Sean is making a list of gun companies that are refusing to do business with states that suppress gun rights.  York Arms just crossed that line, and I hope they are far from the last. 
• CJ gives us some information on PTSD from someone who is dealing with it.  Ladies and gentlemen, if you need help, get help.  We need all the good people we can get, and letting yourself be destroyed by this or even worse, hurting yourself or someone else, will take you away from your family, friends, and the rest of our tribe. 
• B sends us to The Polemocist, who does an excellent job reasoning out why gun rights should not be a liberal or conservative issue, because we all depend on all of our rights.
• John Lilyea reminds me why I’m glad that the units I train with at Fort Knox use weapons that have been modified to make it impossible to fire real ammunition.  Even the best checking will eventually miss something.
• Danger Room kicks over my giggle box not once, but twice!

• Officer “Smith” gives a good run-down of the mass-killings that have happened in the United States in the past few decades, and how little those evil black rifles have contributed.
• OldNFO has found a White House petition I can put my support behind.
• Brigid lists out some amusing answers to the “Why do you need?” questions, although I’d have to see the sports bra she mentions in use before I’d pass judgement on it.
• Peter has some excellent advice for those who want to make their already uber-cool lever guns better.
• 58 Scout brings up some good points.  Going back to “Yes, sir! Yes, sir! Two bags full!” is meaningless if the actual combat skills aren’t kept and honed.

• Tam lists out some of her pet peeves.  I have some of my own.  People, for instance, get on my nerves.
• Reason lists out four states that they expect will reform their marijuana laws.  I see marijuana as the other 10th Amendment fight that’s brewing.  With the repeal of Prohibition in the 1930’s, does the Constitution grant the federal government the power to tell states what they can and can’t make illegal in their border when it comes to intoxicants?
• LawDog hits another one out of the park.  If you’re not 100% safe in a building crawling with armed law enforcement, how safe are you when they’re making best safe speed down dark streets after you take the time to call 911?
• Borepatch is a freaking genius.  I must try this!
• Wirecutter demonstrates something I’ve always believed – Naturalized citizens seem, as a group, to be more knowledgeable about our country and our Constitution than a lot of natural borns, and the most patriotic Americans I’ve ever known were citizens by choice, not by chance.
• Wing demonstrates that ‘clean’ does not exactly mean ‘devoid of life other than human’.  I wonder how that young lady will handle a dorm bathroom when she goes to college.
• The Big Guy is my new hero.