The "Assault Weapons" Ban is Back

Over the next few days, maybe weeks, many of us will be hearing over and over that guns are now the number one killer of kids. 

First of all is that true? 

Secondly people kill people with guns. Guns don't typically kill people.

Yes, it's true guns are the number one killer of kids if you expand the definition of kids to include 18, 19 and 20 year olds and toss is suicide with a handgun. I honestly believe there is a special place in hell for people who manipulate data to push a narrative. No end justifies the manipulation of data and thus the American people.

It turns out that young black men are killing each other and young white women are killing themselves at all time highs. So sad in all cases but long guns are NOT the problem and they have never been. Regardless of the narrative rifles including "assault weapons" are only involved in 3% of murders and very few suicides. If the stated goal is saving lives why is the President and the Democratic party yet again pushing the "Assault Weapons" ban?

If our leaders cared about "KIDS" using guns to kill each other and themselves why not try laws that impact the weapons used 97% of the time... handguns? 

I believe most Americans would support requiring a concealed weapons permit to buy or possess a handgun based on the obvious concept that handguns are so easy to conceal. This would likely significantly reducing gun deaths. 

I think most Americans would support raising the age to own or possess a handgun to 21 and make possession of a hand gun under the age of 21 a felony while committing a crime an automatic felony. Establish a federal law that make the possession of a hand gun by someone under 21 illegal. No exceptions and if found guilty the federal sentencing mandatory guidelines require six months in jail.

Caught with a handgun under 21 and your going to spend 6 months in jail. Just like the "Assault Weapons" ban Congress could build in a sunset provision. If a universal handgun concealed weapons permit requirement and increasing the age to 22 didn't reduce gun deaths it would sunset. Just like the "Assault Weapons" ban did back in September 13, 2004.

PS I would seriously consider raising the age of handgun possession to 25. This has already faced pushback from the courts and not trying to be funny, I'm told raising the age of handgun ownership is racist?

206 House Democrats Vote Against Free Speech?

Just hours ago the Republican controlled House passed H.R. 140, THE PROTECTING SPEECH FROM GOVERNMENT INTERFERENCE ACT. 

I have to admit that I'm as happy as an alligator chomping on a wayward child at Disney World. Why? Because this bill is just eight pages long and will at least expose the Democrats war on free speech and the American people. 

If a government employee colludes with anyone or any entity private or public to suppress free speech they maybe debarred from federal employment for a period not to exceed 5 years and pay a $1,000 or 10,000 civil penalty depending on if the person is a senior government official. 

Kentucky GOP Rep. James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Accountability Committee, sponsored the Protecting Speech from Government Interference Act, which sets a standard that "employees acting in their official capacity should neither take action within their authority or influence to promote the censorship of any lawful speech, nor advocate that a third party, including a private entity, censor such speech."

What's almost impossible to believe is that 206 Democrats voted against this bill. The Dems yet again show their stripes. 

PS Do you think the Main Stream Media will cover this? There is little doubt this Bill will die in the Senate without even being discussed. Thank you Chuck Schumer & John Fetterman... NOT!

Kentucky Rep. James Comer - Hero of the Day!

Angus King You Just Don't Get It

Senator King, you say a video of you comparing January 6th to 9/11 was edited in such a way to make you look like a Democrat. Instead of fighting back you reach out to various social media companies and ask them to review aka takedown the video.

Clearly you and your staff (mostly lawyers) didn't see a problem with this.

Once the video was taken down you state the social media company(s) asked if you had any other issues and only then you supplied your "enemies" list... an Excel spreadsheet sheet of 500 plus "suspicious" accounts.

Again, didn't you see any problem with this?

Saying you are fighting "lies" this way because "... a lie can make its way around the world before the truth can get is boots on. In the Internet age, that’s accelerated greatly and all of us are still trying to navigate this new reality." is Orwellian.

Sir, one man's lie (Covid came from a lab) is another man's truth. The only tool in a free society to combat "lies" is more speech not less. You don't abuse your position as a sitting Senator by asking social media to do ANYTHING for you. Matter of fact this likely meets the classification of an in-kind campaign contribution. 

I call on you to review this situation, come clean (it's all going to all come out eventually), apologize and make it clear that you will not engage in activities like this egregious infringement on free speech ever again.

Update - You should absolutely support H.R. 140 the "Protecting Speech from Government Interference Act."

Democracy is fragile and we are only a generation away from loosing ours.

Angus King's Response Letter...

Senator Angus King Shame On You!

Angus King, what in the hell were you thinking when you compiled an enemies list and shared it with various social media companies? 

Update 3/12/2023 - The Bangor Daily News story is now 100% behind a paywall. I have never seen a paper put the title of a story behind a paywall. Here are another links to this story: 

The Maine Wire

Maine Public

Portland Press Herald

Washington Examiner 

I've heard that candidates loose 5 points of IQ every week during an election. Sir, you blew that out of the water and set the standard for stupid. Thank God you're not a Mainer. Born and raised in Alexandria Virginia, or as some would say where the swamp goes to sleep, you certainly showed your true colors with your Constitution crushing campaign efforts to suppress free speech.

You and your staff requested Facebook and Twitter (Google, Snapchat, etc...?) review hundreds of your fellow citizens social media accounts that you deemed suspicious. Suspicious for what? Retweeting your despicable 9/11 comments? Retweeting your opponent's tweets? Retweeting Herman Cain's tweets?

Is winning an election worth taking a big steaming dump on the Constitution?

Shame on you Senator King. Not only did you squelch the free speech of the citizens you swore an oath to protect you robbed me of hearing what those people had to say. How anyone could put a list like this together and submit it to the overloads at Twitter and Facebook is beyond me. That a sitting Senator I once admired would undergo such a despicable endeavor is frankly maddening.

Just a tiny example... Brakey was King's opponent

Update: Got a response from Senator King. According to the Senator there was an edited video that misrepresented his comparison of January 6th to 9/11. His campaign staff reached out to various social media companies and ask that this video be reviewed aka removed.

The social media companies did as suggested and then asked his campaign if they had any other accounts with issues. This was the opening that resulted in the Senator providing a freaking spread sheet of 500 accounts to be "reviewed" aka banned, suspended, throttled or shadow banned.

Of course it was just the suspicious accounts mind you... nothing to see here move along!

U.S. Constitution

 The Constitution of the United States

Article 1 - Establishes Congress

Article 2 - Establishes Executive

Article 3 - Establishes Judicial

Article 4 - Establishes relationship with States

Article 5 - Establishes how to amend

Article 6 - Establishes that previous debts, laws, agreements, treaties, etc... continue.

Article 7 - Establishes ratification process

Bill of Rights

1st Amendment - Freedom of religion, speech, press, assemble and petition the government

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances

2nd Amendment - Right to Bear Arms

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

3rd Amendment - Quartering of Troops

No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

4th Amendment - Unreasonable Searches and Seizures

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.5th - Due Process

5th Amendment - You don't have to testify against yourself

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

6th Amendment - Speedy Trial, Charges, Confront Witnesses, Compulsory process for obtaining witnesses and to be represented by council

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense.

7th Amendment - You have a right to a trial by jury to settle disputes between your fellow man

In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

8th Amendment - Cruel and unusual punishment

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

9th Amendment - James Madison wanted it to be clear the Constitution does NOT take away those rights given to us by our creator

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

10th Amendment - If it's not in the Constitution then the States have it for action

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

-------------------

Other Amendments everyone talks about and you should know:

18th Illegal to drink beer

21st legal to drink beer

16th Legalize the income tax

17th Direct election of Senators (Used to be up to the Governor or State Legislative body)

15th Everyone votes... Except women

19th Women get the vote (August 18th, 1920)

25th Presidential succession

26th Voting age 18 (July 1st, 1971)

27th Prohibits Congress from giving themselves a raise: "No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened."

It's a little known fact that the original Bill of Rights had 12 Amendments. The 27th Amendment was the original 2nd Amendment proposed in 1789 but it didn't make the Bill of Rights initial cut and was just left hanging in limbo. Finally on May 7, 1992 the State of Michigan ratified the Amendment giving it the needed 3/4ths of the States to become part of the Constitution. Instead of being the 2nd it became the 27th.

Ensign David Beemer's 1st collateral duty was supporting the Commission on the Bicentennial of the United States Constitution - USS Robert E. Peary, FF-1073. Basically I got a few boxes of pocket Constitutions and made sure every member of the command got one. Looking back that was a missed opportunity to help my shipmates understand what each of us swore to:

I _____________do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.

My pocket Constitution circa 1988

Social Security is Bankrupt

The facts are brutal...

Starting in 2010 Social Security started using the accumulated "Interest" of the trust fund to pay benefits.

Starting in 2021 Social Security started using the "Principle" of the trust fund to pay benefits.

In 2035 the Social Security trust fund will be depleted. Without action social security benefits will be reduced by roughly 20% and decrease every year thereafter.

These are the basic facts that for some reason the left refuses to acknowledge. The Social Security Administration has been extremely clear on what's happened, happening and going to happen for decades and yet Congress refuses to act and for some unexplainable reason many in the media refuse to acknowledge basic math.

I'm not sure why nearly everyone in the mainstream media continue to tell their decreasing audience with such absolute confidence that Social Security it's NOT going bankrupt when their own print media is saying just the opposite?

PS It's interesting to note that the original law implicitly stated that social security numbers would not be used for identification. Reminds me of 15 days to flatten the curve. Are we still really that stupid?

Where is the Picture of President Biden's Classified Documents?

Happy rainy winter and welcome back from the holidays and your winter vacations. For me Iceland in the winter and Northern Ireland not being an armed camp was pretty awesome. There is so much news going on and with the Twitter files being exposed the woke class seems to finally be getting some much needed corrective feedback. Yet it's obvious they are hopelessly looking for yet another story to bash Trump.

If you still have any lingering doubts the FBI is beyond corrupt the photo of classified documents laid out on the floor of Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence is proof positive the very core of the FBI is rotten. In what scenario is the FBI leaking the photo of "evidence" not criminal? Then the stories that the documents contained nuclear secrets is laughable but yet lapped up by the Trump deranged media and Biden supporters.

Roger Stone's early morning SWAT team takedown with CNN cameras rolling is yet another obvious example of a corrupt FBI yet ignored. You might as well tag on the FBI giving Trump Advisor, George Papadopoulos  $10,000 in Israel only to unsuccessfully shake Papadopoulos down for said $10,000 at the Dulles airport. Where did that money come from? Why hasn't this been exposed? Lastly, don't forget Trump's economic advisor, Peter Navarro's arrest at Reagan National airport that ended up with him being removed from his flight in leg irons?

The FBI's abuse of power and intimidation is decades old, well documented and continues unabated. Even as the FBI pays millions for false prosecutions and misconduct they continue the exact behavior that has cost them the trust of the American people. Trump followed all the proper protocols to declassify "Crossfire Hurricane" so the public could see just how corrupt the FBI's "Russian Collusion" investigation actually was and yet those documents have yet to be released.

To add insult to injury the last 1.7 trillion dollar omnibus spending bill rewarded the FBI with billions to build a new FBI headquarters. 

So the takeaway is if you hunt down and prosecute hundreds of January 6th protesters for trespassing and parading on federal property without any Congressional pushback you get rewarded with a new FBI building. My question... Why would the FBI stop?

PS Yesterday I renewed my Maine Notary appointment and once again took the oath "To support and defend the Constitution of the United States... So Help Me God." This is what prompted me to overcome my fear of writing anything negative about the FBI. That of itself speaks volumes about the present state of our deep state/permanent bureaucracy.

Ballots not Votes Stupid

The 60 million new voters added to the voting rolls in 2020 is the biggest Trump story that no one has talked about. The lack of journalism surrounding this unbelievable increase in voters is a story unto itself.

The 74.08% voter turnout is also unbelievable and also seemingly not worthy of discussion... Nothing to see here move on...

The 60 million increase in voters during a pandemic and the 74% turnout is frankly impossible without massive government intervention funded by massive amounts of private money.

Government registration efforts

Government ballot mailing

Government follow-up of outstanding ballots

Government curing of defective ballots

Government taking an active roll in "helping" voters vote

Hundreds of voter registrars switched from maintaining the voter rolls and conducting fair and efficient elections to being advocates of democracy in high density areas of battle ground states. This was the direct result of Mark Zuckerberg injecting $419 million into the 2020 election. 

Even when those grant dollars dried up or laws were passed prohibiting "grants" being given to government agencies to conduct elections the Zuckerberg effect lingered. Hundreds of voter registrars have effectively gone from maintaining voter rolls and conducting fair elections to being advocates of Democracy even if that advocacy results in poorly maintained voter rolls and poorly run elections. 

Republicans as usual are playing checkers while the Democrats play chess. The model of campaigning to explain why the other guy's ideas are bad and yours are good is as dead as Blockbuster. 

Finding out who is going to vote for you, making sure they are registered, getting a ballot in their hand, getting that ballot back, curing that ballot and banking those ballets as early as possible is the new model.

Historically this was done on various levels by the two big parties. On the macro level the Trumpers likely registered 15 million new voters in 2020 and gained 11 million more votes than 2016 which was an all-time record. This was crushed by the Democrats registering 45 million new voters and gaining exactly 15,429,987 votes which was also a new record.

Mathematically the election was over before election day. The secret sauce was the funding and mobilization of government agencies to do the work of the Democrat party. Like a war crime, it wasn't illegal the first time but now in many areas of the country it's illegal to give "grants" to voter registrars and other government agencies to impact elections.

The proof in this story is how the red wave failed to materialize in areas of the country where laws were not passed to stop government agencies from being de facto agents of the Democrat party. 

In Pennsylvania the efforts to bank votes were so massive the election was over hours after the polls closed. In contrast Florida voter harvesting was crushed so effectively that Governor DeSantis won by almost 20% which hasn't happened since statehood in 1845.

The idea that you can put forth a quality candidate with the right message, reach the people and get them to vote for you in greater numbers than the other candidate is history. The future is here and the future is big tech, data mining, counting and banking ballots.

###

PS If you want to understand how FL went from historically blue to deep red (Governor DeSantis' margin of victory almost doubled that of any Republican in Florida's history) over the last few years here is one of the reasons:

On May 6, 2021, Governor Ron DeSantis (R) signed SB90 into law, establishing that "any person who distributes, orders, requests, collects, delivers, or otherwise physically possesses more than two vote-by-mail ballots per election in addition to his or her own ballot or a ballot belonging to an immediate family member (except as provided in ss. 101.6105-101.69 including supervised voting at assisted living facilities and nursing home facilities as authorized under s. 101.655) has committed a misdemeanor of the first degree."

RV-14A Update #4

Horizontal Stabilizer Completed

Wrapped up the horizontal stabilizer right before our last EAA-87 meeting and it's hanging over the man cave shop now. Lots of lessons learned and both Leo and Nick inspected my work and have advised me to keep building.

Had one issue of inadvertently using a #40 die set in my pneumatic rivet squeezer when I should have used a #30. This involved 28 rivets of which 12 got drilled. Some where not perfectly centered and needed replacement. Others were just easy to replace being near an edge. I emailed Van's and they gave me the "shouldn't be a problem" response. Add that to "build on" from my three tech counselors and I'm not at all worried.

However, as a triple check I very carefully drilled out two rivets and inspected how they actually looked. The Mothership's advice appears spot on as the rivets looked perfectly formed with the exception of the halo.

Mrs. Keith's suggestion that Russ start answering the phone "Van's Tech Support" was pretty funny but sadly true. It's hard to explain how much fun a 58 year old man is having turning a box of parts, some of which you have to partially manufacturer into something that's going to be able to pull +6 -3 g's, fly 1,200 miles at 200 MPH up to 18,000 feet.

Build On!

Dave Beemer, EAA-87 VP, Single Engine Land, Instrument Rated, 800 hours, 13 aircraft & Experimental Test Pilot.

Secretary-General Guterres How Hot is a Burning Planet?

Over and over politicians keep saying our planet is on fire, burning up or will end in so many years, etc...

The last over the top exaggeration was from Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres on September 20th, 2022.

"A cost-of-living crisis is raging. Trust is crumbling. Inequalities are exploding. Our planet is burning..." 

What is wrong with these people?

So I was talking to a guy named DS. We have known each other for a few years and he's worked for the government for the last 30+ years. Let's put it this way he will fly to Australia, give a brief and fly back due to security concerns. He told me that upon President Biden taking office everyone in his building was required to sign a document saying they would not publicly disparage the President or the executive branch in any way. Crazy how the Left says the Right is totalitarian when in fact the Left is doing what the Left has done for centuries.  

I digress... DS and I both agree the climate is changing and the Earth is warming. We both agree that ocean levels are rising but he thinks that's a good thing while I'm in the camp it's rising so slowly as to be a non-issue and warmer in man's history has always been better.

Years ago I gave up trying to determine the Earth's temperature. The problem is fraught with scientific manipulation and is more an art form than science. I wrote a blog that showed eight of the most prestigious scientific organizations all coming up with different global temperatures.

It's hard to believe but none of them were the same. The range of global temps differed by up to .55 degrees Fahrenheit. FYI that's a lot! That's right I couldn't find a consensus of the current global temperature let alone a future global temperature and yet the science is settled.

If the scientific community can't agree what the temperature is now why would anyone think they can agree what the temp will be in 30, 60, 90 years? Thus I went looking for something else to help me determine if the climate was changing because of man.

I concluded the data we currently collect was inconclusive at best and too easily manipulated or as NOAA would say normalized. So how do you measure the worlds temperature and man's input in a way that is definitive and not subject to manipulation? 

Above all I'm looking for a measurement that can't be "normalized" and finally I settled on Sea level rise.

Why?

Because try as "they" might scientists can't normalize or fudge historical written tidal records that go back thousands of years all over the world let alone records that can be reconstructed to the last ice age maximum over 20,000 years ago. Bottom line, tidal gauges don't lie. More heat less land ice and more water in the oceans thus the oceans rise. Even more responsive is warmer oceans equal higher ocean levels because water expands as it warms.

Result of my study.

The world has recorded directly or indirectly ocean levels for the last 20,000 years. More than 600 years of station data are confirmed to still exist in paper form from the America's and Pacific nations alone. For the last 450 years sea level rise has been consistent and doesn't show signs of "ramping up" which indicate man's contribution to the world's CO2 levels has yet to increase the temperature of the planet in a "bad" way.

If you engage a climatologists and ask them to point out the "signal" of man's contribution to climate change it invariably becomes an interesting conversation. Not the knee jerk reaction that the world is burning but a more nuanced discussion of the greening of the planet, feedback loops, solar radiation cycles, Earth's orbital changes, water vapor, clouds, cosmic rays, deep ocean cycles, etc...

So is the world warming? Absolutely, technically we are still in the Palestine ice age and have very recently (geological time) seen the melting of the massive continental glaciers. My study indicates that for the last 450 years sea levels have been rising more or less consistently at 8 inches per 100 years. 

More importantly since 1950 the slope of this rise has not shown ANY increase. As of yet the slope does not show an upturn or better yet a non-liner swing up showing that man hasn't yet made a measurable impact upon the planet. Furthermore, like my friend DS I will be happy to see an uptick because a warmer planet has historically been a more productive planet and maybe my home in Maine will eventually have food wagon's and ice cream vendors year around.

In summery, ocean level rise is well documented for thousands of years has been steady for the last 450 indicating, Antonio Guterres notwithstanding the world is NOT burning up.