Category: Unintended Consequences

Modern high technology strikes again; with a swift kick to the seat of the pants.

Amazon’s outage just locked people out of their homes, scrambled their refrigerators, and shut off their Christmas lights.

Does aaaaaaanyone else find this to be, I don’t know, the least little teensy weensy bit concerning?

How Amazon Outage Left Smart Homes Not So Smart After All

The outage at Amazon.com Inc.’s cloud-computing arm left thousands of people in the U.S. without working fridges, roombas and doorbells, highlighting just how reliant people have become on the company as the Internet of Things proliferates across homes.

The disruption, which began at about 10 a.m. Eastern time Tuesday, upended package deliveries, took down major streaming services, and prevented people from getting into Walt Disney Co.’s parks.

Affected Amazon services included the voice assistant Alexa and Ring smart-doorbell unit. Irate device users tweeted their frustrations to Ring’s official account, with many complaining that they spent time rebooting or reinstalling their apps and devices before finding out on Twitter that there was a general Amazon Web Services outage. Multiple Ring users even said they weren’t able to get into their homes without access to the phone app, which was down.

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Lefties Freak out on Conservatives for Doing Exactly What They Told Them to Do

and someone asked for an example of the leftist echo chamber?

Using their own rule book against them.
Rule #5 “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. There is no defense. It is almost impossible to counterattack ridicule. Also it infuriates the opposition, who then react to your advantage.”

Biden tormented by Republican guerrilla campaign and ‘I did it’ stickers

If you see Joe Biden’s picture on a gas pump these days, it’s not a tribute to his amazingly successful energy policy.

The stickers — with Biden pointing to the $3.50 a gallon gas price and saying “I did that!” — are part of a Republican guerrilla campaign to undermine the Democratic administration. They’ve gone viral online.
And it’s cheap and easy. A 100-pack of the stickers is going for just six bucks on Amazon. You might see the derisive stickers up in New Hampshire, the swing state Biden is set to visit on Tuesday to promote his $1.2 trillion infrastructure package that just passed Congress.

The Democratic president may not get the overwhelmingly positive reception he was hoping for, though.

New Hampshire is a blue state that’s in danger of going red in the 2022 mid-term election and, like the colorful leaves that fall before winter, it’s often a harbinger of chilly political winds to come. Biden’s approval rating in the Granite State is the same as it is nationally — abysmal. And the passage of the infrastructure bill won’t change that, no matter how much the Democrats and CNN celebrate it.

The gas pump stickers are similar tactics to what Democrats did to Republican presidents like Trump. Remember those “Not my President” bumper stickers? So in a way Republicans now are just returning the favor.
Biden opponents have also adopted the “Let’s Go Brandon” chant to taunt the president. It’s a PG way of saying something much more crude that has the same number of syllables, but it’s a clever tactic and it drives Democrats crazy.

This is what passes for grass roots political strategy these days. The “Let’s Go Brandon” chant and “I Did it” stickers went viral on social media platforms like TikTok.

New Hampshire is a hotbed of politics, because of the first in the nation primary. Voters have become accustomed to getting up close to presidents and candidates and aren’t afraid to confront them in person.

That’s why Biden’s visit contains some risk, although he’ll be protected in his trip to Woodstock, far out of major cities like Nashua and Manchester.
Biden is also planning to spend some quality time in the little middle class enclave of Nantucket over the Thanksgiving holiday. Nothing like going to an ultra exclusive vacation island to showcase how the infrastructure bill will help the little people in the middle of an economic crisis.

Air Force One is expected to fly right into Nantucket’s tiny airport, and Secret Service will be crawling all over the island, which I’m sure the locals will appreciate.

‘Pretextual stops’ were deemed constitutional by the Supreme Court. Almost anywhere else, the stops are usually used as a pretext to search for drugs since the gun laws in most states are nowhere as strict as in NY City.

Up in smoke: New weed law leads to drop in gun busts, NYPD sources say

New York’s recent decision to legalize weed has led to an alarming drop in gun arrests — at the same time shootings are surging across the Big Apple, The Post has learned.

Under NYPD enforcement guidelines outlined in a March 31 memo that cited the new pot law ban, cops are banned from searching a vehicle’s trunk just because they smell pot during a traffic stop.

The “sweeping changes” — which took effect immediately — also prohibit cops from searching anyone just for toking up “almost anywhere that cigarette smoking is allowed.”

But large numbers of gun busts have typically been made by cops who smell fresh or burnt marijuana after pulling over a car, according to NYPD sources.

Last year, 33 percent of all gun-possession arrests resulted from vehicle stops, with a majority of those also involving weed, a source familiar with the matter said.

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So, either they were working on a big firecracker for the 4th, or, they were working on an IED. Just to point out that more than a few people doing one or the other have occasionally missed a step and detonated the thing a leeeetle too early.

3 Dead After Black Powder Device Explodes Near Illinois Park

The three died from injuries they received in the explosion, LaSalle County Coroner Rich Ploch said. Autopsies were planned.

Three people have died after a black powder device exploded along a bank of the Illinois River in the northern part of the state, authorities said.

First responders were called to an area west of the Starved Rock State Park boat ramp where they they discovered three dead males around 7:20 p.m. Thursday, authorities said.

“With assistance from the (Illinois) State Police, the Kane County Bomb Squad Unit & the FBI, it was determined that the individuals appeared to have ignited a type of black powder substance along an area near the river bank,” LaSalle County Coroner Rich Ploch said…

With all the past history of the same thing happening every time a demoncrap does crap-for-brains idiocy like this, I’m starting to wonder if ‘unintended consequences’ really fits anymore.

Thousands attend gun show in Jacksonville after Biden orders gun control actions

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Thousands of people attended the North Florida Gun and Knife Show over the weekend at the Duval County Fairgrounds.

The two-day event was held after President Joe Biden announced a half-dozen executive actions to combat gun violence. The president also called on Congress to pass legislation to reduce gun violence after recent mass shootings in Atlanta, Colorado and South Carolina.

“Anytime something comes out of Washington and they say the word ‘gun,’ everything goes up,” said Victor Bean, the owner of Southern Classic Gun and Knife Shows.

This weekend’s event attracted firstcomers and gun enthusiasts.

“Just a good selection of firearms, and today is my birthday, so maybe I will get myself a good birthday present,” Chris Carroll, who lives in Clay County, told News4Jax on Sunday.

Mike Chance, a Jacksonville resident, said he was looking forward to looking at ammunition.

“Well, it’s millions and millions of dollars’ worth of guns and ammo,” Bean said.

More than 283 vendors and 386 displays were at the show in Jacksonville, according to Bean.

“Everybody wants the self-defense right now, and the high-capacity mags, of course, they are talking about legislation right now,” Bean said.

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Gun Control Laws Result In Police Selling Guns To Public

California Provides Multiple Examples
In Mexico, one of the most common sources of firearms, both for criminals and for people who simply want to protect themselves, are police officers.  Obtaining firearms legally is nearly impossible, creating a money making opportunity for cops, who can easily buy firearms and resell them.

Ironically, the same thing is happening in the state of California.  For decades, California has required an increasing list of features of handguns placed on the “approved list” of handguns that may be sold in the state.  Originally, this was done to drive to cost of handguns up, so that poor minorities could not afford them – and yes, the Democratic authors and supporters of the bill actually said this.  More recently, the state has required “micro-stamping” of fired cases – something that no gun maker has been able to accomplish.  This has resulted in an ever shrinking list of guns legally available for retail sale in the state.

There are, however, two legal sources of pistols not on the approved list.  The first is private purchase from an average resident who either bought the gun before the law took effect, or before the handgun was dropped from the list, or before moving into the state.  The second is police officers – who can but any handgun they wish. Private citizens can sell their guns privately to anyone able to pass a background check.  Police used to be able to do so in the same way, although this has changed in recent years.  The idea was that if a cop bought a gun and did not like it, they could sell it privately, buy something else and not be in violation of state laws.

However, more than a few cops have seen a money making opportunity.  They bought guns using their police exemption and then sold them privately.  They were typically careful to conduct the sale through a dealer with a background check as required by state law.  However, in many cases, the state found out – and although they may have been in the clear as far as state laws were concerned, they still were in violation of federal law.  Since they were buying guns with the intent of reselling them, they were “in the business of selling firearms” without the required federal firearms license (FFL).  The state simply contacted the feds and they brought charges.

I would point out that if these cops had not been concerned about following state laws, and had simply sold the guns without a background check, it would have been much, much harder to catch them.  This is exactly what happens every day in Mexico.  It is also what likely is happening right now in California, to at least some degree.

As a pastor, I worked with many people in recovery from drug addiction.  I never once had an addict tell me, “I wanted to get high, I had money to buy drugs, but could not find anyone to sell them to me.”  Not one.  I don’t like drugs – I don’t even touch alcohol – but I have to conclude that drug laws do not keep people from getting drugs.  Instead, they corrupt our police and turn otherwise law abiding people into criminals.  Why should we think that gun bans will be any different?

Gun bans around the world have exactly the same effect – and we are beginning to see it happen right here in America.  Passing more gun bans will only make it much worse.   Supply will rise to meet demand.  Guns will be smuggled in from other countries, diverted from the military, made in underground factories and yes, diverted and sold by police.

Rev. R. Vincent Warde

News From the Soft Secession

WOW: North Dakota House Passes Bill Making Mask Mandates ILLEGAL, Bill Sponsor Calls Mandates ‘Diabolical Silliness’

The North Dakota House of Representatives has passed a bill that will make any future mask mandates illegal in the state.

Monday’s vote passed 50-44 and is now heading to the state senate.

“Our state is not a prison camp,” the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Jeff Hoverson, said.

The state’s Republican Gov. Doug Burgum had put a mask mandate in place three months ago, but had previously expressed doubt about if mandates were really the way to go.

They aren’t.

Sheriffs Given Powers to Arrest Feds Who Violate Citizens’ Gun Rights in Missouri | Neon Nettle

The Newton County Commission in Missouri passed an ordinance that criminalizes the enforcement of any federal law that infringes upon the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.

To further justify the legislation, the “Second Amendment Preservation Act of Newton County Missouri” cites the state’s own constitution:

“All federal acts, laws, orders, rules, and regulations passed by the federal government and specifically any Presidential Administration whether past, present, or future, which infringe on the people’s right to keep and bear arms as guaranteed by the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution and Article I, Section 23 of the Missouri Constitution shall be invalid in the county,” the act reads.

The Newton County Second Amendment Preservation Act will nullify any unlawful federal restrictions on firearms that may be passed under Joe Biden’s administration.

The legislation also stipulates that “any and all federal agents trying to enforce the regulations listed in Section (1) shall be subject to arrest by the Newton County Missouri Sheriff’s Department,” and “the Newton County Missouri Sheriff’s Department shall be given the full authority to make the arrest of any and all federal agents that violate state laws and enforce the regulations listed in Section (1).”

I’ve mentioned these actions before, but I’m doing so again because they are important.  We will have to remove as much of America as we can from the federal power, which has become a tyranny operated by oligarchs and communists.  And we have to start doing so from the very lowest levels.

Push your local representatives to represent your wishes.  If those wishes contravene the federal tyranny, all the better.  Secede from their laws.  Nullify them.  Let your battle cry be, “I will not.  And you can go fuck yourself.”

Indiana, which already has a reasonably liberal concealed carry law, is now pushing toward statewide constitutional carry.  I’ve contacted my state senator and representative already, and I am going to try to organize some sort of get together locally where my friends and neighbors can also express their wishes on the matter.

Do this everywhere you can, or at least support those who are trying to do this.

UPDATE:  When I say “nullify them,” I also mean using jury nullification as it was constitutionally intended:  As a bulwark against tyranny and tyrannical laws.  If you are seated on a jury to try some patriot for resisting a tyrannical law, never vote to convict.  Try to achieve an acquittal, but at least get a hung jury.  Don’t tell anybody what you are doing or why you are doing it, just do it.  Don’t attempt to avoid jury service.  It is one of our most basic protective rights.  Use it.

Lets do some arithmeticking, shall we?
There were a total of just 74,222,958 votes cast in the last election for Trump.

Lets round down to 74,000,000 to keep things conservative.
My calculator (check yours out to see if you get the same result) shows 45% of that to be 33,300,000, Thirty Three Million Three Hundred Thousand.

Think on that. Somewhere about 20 % of the voting population is just fine and dandy with letting Congress & the rest of TPTB in D.C. be told exactly where to go and how to get there.

Lets go with the old “3%”  Revolutionary War conjecture of Mike Vanderboegh and that gets you just under One Million (999,000) who might be of the age, physical condition and with the intent and resolve to actually be on the pointy end of the stick with millions more in support positions.

With yesterday’s kinetics, the new administration tries much of anything and there’s a high probability that events can spin off everywhichway imaginable.

We do live in interesting times.

45 Percent of Republican Voters Support Storming of Capitol Building: Poll

Almost half of Republicans support the pro-Trump protesters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, putting them at odds with Democrats who largely oppose the actions of the demonstrators, a poll has found.

The survey released by YouGov on Thursday morning found that 45 percent of Republican voters backed the attack on the Capitol building, while 43 percent said they “strongly or somewhat” opposed the protesters’ behavior.

Six percent of Republicans were unsure while a further 6 percent said they were unaware of the events.

Enough with the outrage.

Like pretty much all conservatives, I have consistently criticized riots and other forms of political violence for many years. That includes yesterday’s Washington, D.C. riot. You can’t say the same about liberals, however. Until yesterday, one might have thought that liberals consider rioting and other forms of political violence to be as American as apple pie.

You could write a book in support of that proposition, but for now let’s cite just a few examples. Do you remember when President Trump was inaugurated on January 20, 2017? Leftist Democrats rioted in Washington that day. That riot was arguably worse, more violent and more destructive, than what happened in D.C. yesterday. The liberal rioters destroyed stores, set vehicles on fire and battled with the police. Six police officers were wounded.

I don’t recall a single Democratic office-holder denouncing the Democrats’ Inauguration Day riot, and the Associated Press came perilously close to praising the rioters.

Over the ensuing four years, Antifa and Black Lives Matter rioted countless times, bringing devastation to cities like Portland, Seattle, Kenosha and Minneapolis. Did any Democrats denounce these riots? Not that I remember. Many Democrats endorsed them, or seemed to do so. Kamala Harris, for example, said about the riots in June:

They’re not going to stop. They’re not going to stop. This is a movement, I’m telling you. They’re not gonna stop. And everyone beware because they’re not gonna stop. They’re not gonna stop before Election Day and they’re not going to stop after Election Day. And everyone should take note of that. They’re not gonna let up and they should not.

This was after 12 people had been killed in Democrat-sanctioned rioting, and billions of dollars in destruction committed. Have any Democrats denounced Black Lives Matter for its role in the riots? Not one. Has any Democrat denounced Antifa? Not that I know of, and some, like Keith Ellison, have specifically endorsed Antifa’s political violence.

Democratic Party journalists have joined the party’s politicians in excusing riots. The New York Times, for example, published an admiring profile of Antifa. The Washington Post, likewise, has carried water for Antifa.

The litany could go on for a long time. Yesterday’s assault on the Capitol was outrageous, but let’s not forget that last time out-of-control demonstrators interrupted business at the Capitol, shouted down senators and pounded on the doors of the Supreme Court, it was Democrats objecting to the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.

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Seen online:

Two groups of people (call them A and B) both see themselves as victims and have grievances they feel aren’t being heard.

Both resort to violence.

Dem reactions to group A:
“People will do what they do”
“Tell me where it says protests have to be peaceful”
“Don’t judge a whole group by the actions of a few”
“America is racist”

Dem reactions to group B:
“They are traitors”
“Violence is never acceptable”
“Arrest any people who agree with them in Congress”

This doesn’t go unnoticed.

Woman Shot Climbing Through Doorway inside Capitol Dies From Gunshot Wound

A young woman was shot while climbing through a doorway window in Washington DC today. It appears from the video, a woman attempted to climb through a side-door window; she was shot from inside the hallway and fell back into a small group behind her.

In the image below she is wearing a red and white backpack, climbing through a broken window next to a doorway when a shot is heard. She falls directly backward as people, including two uniformed police officers, attempt to render aid.

There were two uniformed police officers directly behind her who seemed surprised at the gunfire. [Twitter Video Here] Reports are now surfacing that the young lady died in the hospital following a single gunshot to the neck.

It’s the Word on Everyone’s Lips Today
Secession.

I agree with Ace – WE didn’t start saying it, THEY did.

We liked our country, just fine, the way it was. We really weren’t all that anxious to leave when Obama was around. We just started ordering guns, to have them available, just in case he wasn’t a-funning with that ‘gun grab’ thing.

But, now?

It’s not JUST the election theft, although that is a part. It’s happened before, but never like this – incredibly obvious, and completely denied. That it came after we agreed to a re-do for the NC seat, after shenanigans surfaced with the vote, is just more proof that we play by the rules – even when it hurts us.

But, they don’t. Didn’t. And never will.

So, yeah, I think It’s ON. Or, very close to that point. Continue reading “”

I don’t think the city council understands that if there is no Police ‘interaction’ , the citizenry will handle whatever problems arise, and it won’t be pretty. Then again, maybe they do……………

NYC Seeks To Bar Police From Any Interaction With Homeless.

Having already slashed the budget for the NYPD, the City Council in the Big Apple is looking to enact even more restrictions on the actions of the police department. Multiple members of the Council have drafted a bill that would bar the police from any interaction with homeless individuals on the streets. That would include both responding to complaints about possible criminal behavior and outreach efforts where officers attempt to get the homeless into shelters. To say this is going too far is an understatement. Even the notoriously liberal Mayor is opposed to the measure. (NY Post)

The NYPD would be prohibited from conducting any outreach to New York’s homeless under a new bill before the City Council, handcuffing cops from protecting municipal workers on the frontlines of the crisis — a move opposed by police unions and Mayor Bill de Blasio.

“Experiencing homelessness on the street or on the subway is not a crime,” insisted Councilman Stephen Levin (D-Brooklyn) during a Monday hearing of the council’s general welfare committee. “I hope that this bill will ensure that there is less harm done by limiting the involvement of police in these interactions.”

Levin, who reps areas including Downtown Brooklyn and Williamsburg, is co-sponsoring the bill along with Councilwoman Helen Rosenthal, a Democrat representing Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

The insinuation in this bill is obvious. The liberals on the Council who have been pushing to defund, if not entirely abolish the police are suggesting that the cops can’t be trusted to deal with the homeless or are somehow looking to abuse them. This flies in the face of the reality on the streets, where the city’s Department of Homeless Services has routinely partnered with the NYPD and relied on them to provide officers to accompany workers when engaging the homeless. This is done not only to ensure that help is provided to the homeless but to protect the workers in case any of the people they are trying to help become violent, as often happens when they are engaging with people having mental health issues.
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I think you’ll find many ‘intellectuals’ have crap-for-brains when it comes to real thinking.

Melinda Gates Admits “We Hadn’t Really Thought Through the Economic Impacts”

In a wide-ranging interview in the New York Times, Melinda Gates made the following remarkable statement:

“What did surprise us is we hadn’t really thought through the economic impacts.”

A cynic might observe that one is disinclined to think much about matters than do not affect one personally.

It’s a maddening statement, to be sure, as if “economics” is somehow a peripheral concern to the rest of human life and public health. The larger context of the interview reveals the statement to be even more confused. She is somehow under the impression that it is the pandemic and not the lockdowns that are the cause of the economic devastation that includes perhaps 30% of restaurants going under, among many other terrible effects. Continue reading “”