Category: Unintended Consequences

Modern high technology strikes again

This Hacked Coffee Maker Demands Ransom and Demonstrates a Terrifying Implication About the IoT (Internet of Things)

It’s no secret that the Internet of Things is full of insecure gadgets. All you need is one high profile incident to be flooded with terrifying headlines about how everything from robotic vacuum cleaners to smart sex toys can be hacked to spy on you. However, apparently some devices like Smarter’s IoT coffee machine can also be reprogrammed to go haywire and demand ransom from unsuspecting users.

This week, Martin Hron, a researcher with the security firm Avast, reverse engineered a $250 Smarter coffee maker as part of a thought experiment to potentially uncover an important flaw in the infrastructure of smart devices.

“I was asked to prove a myth, call it a suspicion, that the threat to IoT devices is not just to access them via a weak router or exposure to the internet, but that an IoT device itself is vulnerable and can be easily owned without owning the network or the router,” he wrote in a blog post detailing his methods.

His experiment was a success: After a week of tinkering, he effectively turned the coffee maker into a ransomware machine. When the user tries to connect it to their home network, it triggers the machine to turn on the burner, spew hot water, endlessly spin the bean grinder, and display a pre-programmed ransom message while beeping incessantly……..

Yes. That’s black residents telling BLM to take a hike.

Chicago Neighborhood Ejects BLM Protesters At Police Station

Englewood may set the tone for dealing with rioters for the rest of the summer. After the organized pillaging this weekend on the Magnificent Mile, the city of Chicago toughened up their security stance. Black Lives Matter protesters and others set their sights on the Englewood neighborhood’s police precinct, but residents there pushed them out — literally.

“Those people were opportunist[s],” one leader of the neighborhood pushback told reporters:

Continue reading “”

Trump is using the Rules for Radicals that Saul Alinsky wrote to help leftists.
1,  Rule 4 – Make the enemy live up to its own set of rules
2, Rule 5 – Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon
3, Rule 6 -A good tactic is one your people enjoy

It is enjoyable to see their own tactics used against them.

Trump defends gathering at Bedminster golf club as ‘peaceful protest.’

President Trump defended a gathering of members of his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club as a “peaceful protest” against the media.

“To me they pretty much look like they all have, pretty much all have masks on,” Trump said, who said the Friday gathering was not in violation of Garden State social distancing regulations.

“You know you have an exclusion in the law. It says peaceful protest or political activity, right?” he added.

“I call it peaceful protest because they heard you were coming up and they know the news is fake, they know it better than anybody,” Trump continued.

For privacy-minded people who are skeptical of public health arguments in favor of face masks, the pandemic may prove to be less of a reason to wear face coverings than an excuse to do just that. And we may as well throw in sunglasses and a hat, just to be sure………

Face Masks Confuse Facial Recognition Technology

Americans can’t agree on whether face masks are a good way to reduce the threat of transmitting COVID-19. We’ve even turned mask-donning into a symbol of partisan affiliation; those who would make them compulsory everywhere face off against those who refuse them under all circumstances. But we should at least be able to agree that face coverings are a great way to defeat the surveillance state—especially now that the U.S. government has conceded that masks confuse the hell out of facial recognition technology.

“Using unmasked images, the most accurate algorithms fail to authenticate a person about 0.3% of the time,” the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a federal agency, reported last week. “Masked images raised even these top algorithms’ failure rate to about 5%, while many otherwise competent algorithms failed between 20% to 50% of the time.”

Notably, the NIST test focused on one-to-one matching of a face against a single photo, as you might do to unlock a cellphone or at a passport checkpoint. One-to-one systems are carried out under conditions of near-ideal lighting and camera placement, and so are more reliable than one-to-many matches of faces against databases that are conducted during surveillance of public places. Masks should be expected to be even more effective at increasing failure rates of one-to-many facial recognition systems.

“The more of the nose a mask covers, the lower the algorithm’s accuracy,” the NIST report adds of the digitally simulated coverings used in the study. “The study explored three levels of nose coverage—low, medium and high—finding that accuracy degrades with greater nose coverage.” Continue reading “”

Data isn’t just being collected from your phone. It’s being used to score you.

Operating in the shadows of the online marketplace, specialized tech companies you’ve likely never heard of are tapping vast troves of our personal data to generate secret “surveillance scores” – digital mug shots of millions of Americans – that supposedly predict our future behavior. The firms sell their scoring services to major businesses across the U.S. economy.

People with low scores can suffer harsh consequences.

CoreLogic and TransUnion say that scores they peddle to landlords can predict whether a potential tenant will pay the rent on time, be able to “absorb rent increases,” or break a lease. Large employers use HireVue, a firm that generates an “employability” score about candidates by analyzing “tens of thousands of factors,” including a person’s facial expressions and voice intonations. Other employers use Cornerstone’s score, which considers where a job prospect lives and which web browser they use to judge how successful they will be at a job.

Brand-name retailers purchase “risk scores” from Retail Equation to help make judgments about whether consumers commit fraud when they return goods for refunds. Players in the gig economy use outside firms such as Sift to score consumers’ “overall trustworthiness.” Wireless customers predicted to be less profitable are sometimes forced to endure longer customer service hold times. Continue reading “”

Today is the 12th World Chocolate Day

Invented by the Aztecs, they believed Quetzacoatal gave them the cacao plant they made Xocolātl from. The Spanish conquistadors took the seeds back with them and cooks came up with a confection they called Chocolate.

More businesses in Seattle’s “CHAZ” fearing property damage hire private security guards in wake of protests.

Private security contractor Denise Bamba remembers the point last week when she couldn’t get off the telephone.

It was the Monday after weekend protests occurred in downtown Seattle over the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd. Fortress Security Services, co-owned by Bamba and her husband, Deschamps, was besieged by local businesses seeking armed guards to protect their property.

“My phone shows I logged more than 200 calls that day,’’ said Denise Bamba, adding the couple turned down numerous requests because the company didn’t have enough guards.

Other security companies also reported an uptick in protection requests from businesses of all sizes and residential complexes downtown, in Capitol Hill, Pioneer Square and even Redmond, West Seattle and Tukwila. Fueling the surge, they say, are fears police consumed with controlling protests won’t prioritize property protection.

The push toward private security began during the coronavirus pandemic closures, with businesses fearing break-ins on abandoned streets. It continued even as businesses reopened, with staff sometimes encountering unusually hostile customers seemingly stressed out by the pandemic. Then, things really took off once the protests began.

Deschamps Bamba said commercial construction sites are the company’s fastest-growing clients as vandals and thieves “take advantage of the current climate.” Higher-end residential clients have also sought beefed-up security, including two apartment complexes near the Capitol Hill protests………..

Well, the idjit is not called ‘Mad Maxine’ for nothing. And ‘insurrection’ is specifically mentioned in the Constitution as a event the federal government has been given the power to deal with. So Maxie may just have shot herself in the foot.

Nutcase Maxine Waters Argues That the Term ‘Rioting’ Is Racist

In the wake of inner city looting and rioting across America, including destruction of people’s businesses and property, as well as violence against police and everyday Americans, Democratic rep. Maxine Waters has decreed that the use of the term ‘rioting’ is racist.

In an interview with The Cut, Waters seriously contended that the term “rioting” constitutes “negative language used far too often in a description of black people by folks who fundamentally don’t see black people the same way they see whites and others.”

“A lot of negative language gets used against black people, describing what whites often believe is true about us: that language includes ‘lazy,’ ‘criminal,’ and ‘rioting,’” Waters added.

Waters explained that she prefers to label the rioting as “insurrection”.

“I said ‘insurrection’. People acting out of frustration and hopelessness and understanding that they don’t have an establishment — political or otherwise — that really cared about their ability to work or have good health care. Yes, I choose to call it an insurrection.” Waters declares.

All 57 Members of Buffalo Police Department’s Emergency Response Team Resign

Every member of the Buffalo Police Departments Emergency Response Team, tasked with responding to riots and other peace keeping situations, resigned Friday. Ever.single.member.

According to The Buffalo News, the law enforcement officers have not resigned from the police force, only the special tactical unit responsible for crowd control.

The mass resignation comes after two officers were suspended without pay after video captured a 75-year-old man being pushed to the crowd after he confronted officers attempting to clear an area. The man approached officers and appeared to swat at one, who then pushed him out of the way. After the two officers were suspended, the union notified “rank and file members Friday that the union would no longer pay for legal fees to defend police officers related to the protests which began Saturday in downtown Buffalo and have continued on and off, according to one source.”

The notification upset the union, ultimately promptly the mass resignation.

More from The Buffalo News:

The union representing Buffalo police officers told its rank and file members Friday that the union would no longer pay for legal fees to defend police officers related to the protests which began Saturday in downtown Buffalo and have continued on and off, according to one source. The union is upset with the treatment of the two officers who were suspended Thursday.

“Our position is these officers were simply following orders from Deputy Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia to clear the square,” said Buffalo Police Benevolent Association President John Evans. “It doesn’t specify clear the square of men, 50 and under or 15 to 40. They were simply doing their job. I don’t know how much contact was made. He did slip in my estimation. He fell backwards.”

A video posted by WBFO late Thursday night showed the officers pushing the man before he fell backward and hit his head on the sidewalk. He was taken to Erie County Medical Center, where he was in stable but serious condition early Friday morning.

It was not clear how the Buffalo Police Department will deal with the manpower issue. State police, Erie County Sheriff’s Office, as well as other local law enforcement agencies have been helping with the response to protests and unrest.

“I don’t know what the city is going to do,” Evans said. “They have not called me.”

Mayor Byron Brown said in a statement: “The City of Buffalo is aware of developments related to the work assignments of certain members of the Buffalo police force.  At this time, we can confirm that contingency plans are in place to maintain police services and ensure public safety within our community. The Buffalo police continue  to actively work with the New York State Police and other cooperating agencies.”

Evans said: “We stand behind those officers 100%.”

The PBA will pay for any defense costs for the two officers, Evans said, but not for any members of the Emergency Response Team or SWAT in regards to the protesting.

Evans said the two officers, whose names have circulated widely social media, have been harassed.

The actions of the officers drew swift condemnation from people across the nation, including Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.

“It’s just fundamentally offensive and frightening,” Cuomo said Friday morning.

Watch the video here. WARNING: Graphic content.

Covid-19 Early Released Utah Parolee Breaks Into Home Ties Up Woman

It shouldn’t have been hard to see this one coming. A Utah man was re-incarcerated after a parole violation. He was released in early March to a halfway house, but soon after that, he was released due to Covid-19 concerns.

Two days after his release, he breaks into a woman’s home and tries to sneak up a flight of stairs into her room, but she is awakened by the sound of creaking stairs to see this man holding a large knife over her. She screams, he threatens to kill her then ties her up with shoelaces.

“THE VICTIM BEGAN SCREAMING AND YELLING, AT WHICH POINT THE MALE TOLD HER TO BE QUIET OR HE WAS GOING TO CUT HER HEAD OFF,” THE AFFIDAVIT STATES VIA KSL

He then demands her car, cash, bank cards, and PIN numbers. Her son, smart enough to remain hidden, calls 911. When the police arrive, he gets into the bed with her and tries to force her to pretend that they are lovers, but she sees a chance to escape and flees the room. Police quickly take him at gunpoint. Also, no surprise, this guy has drugs on him and has been convicted of at least four other drug-related crimes.

This one could have gone very, very bad. If her son hadn’t been able to call for help, who knows what this animal might have done to her.

This crime highlights a few things that we all should take into account. We must do whatever we can to ensure that someone cannot easily enter our homes. This woman had only a few seconds of warning before she sees a man in her room with a raised knife. He could have easily killed her, but he wanted money and a car, at least at first.

Even if she had had a gun staged near her bed, retrieving it from even a quick-access safe could have been problematic. She simply didn’t have any time, which is why hardening our homes is so important to gain precious seconds to be able to access our chosen self-defense tool.

What’s amazing is that apparently, no one realizes that if you release a criminal back into the public like this, they likely have no way to support themselves. So it should be no surprise that they resort to this kind of crime to get whatever they want – and presumably to support their habit.

Can you say unintended consequences? Ok, but aren’t drug offenses non-violent crimes? Try to tell that to this woman. And some of our nation’s leaders can’t figure out why people are buying guns in droves!

Chinese Consulate Asks Wisconsin State Senator For Praise In Resolution. He Gives Them A Resolution They Won’t Forget.

After receiving emails from the Chinese consulate asking him to pass a resolution praising China for its fight against the coronavirus, which originated in China, Wisconsin Senate President Roger Roth (R-Appleton) wrote a resolution slamming China for lying about the coronavirus.

“When [Roth] received the first one dated Feb. 26, he saw it was from a hotmail account and disregarded it as a prank,” the Wisconsin Examiner reported. “Then on March 10, 2020, he received a follow up, and Roth says he had his staff start digging, reaching out through government channels. They were able to confirm that the email requests were legitimate — and they were told Chinese diplomats routinely use private email accounts because they are faster.”

The Chinese sent Roth a draft of the resolution that they wanted him to use which was full of communist propaganda and said, “there is no need to overreact.”

The main section of the communist propaganda resolution stated:

Whereas China’s action has been critical to the global fight against the epidemic, and China has adopted unprecedented and rigorous measures for disease control and prevention, including locking down Wuhan, a metropolis of 11 million people, house-to-house temperature checks, postponing the return to work after the Lunar New Year break of hundreds of millions of travelers, construction of hospitals of more than two thousand beds on green fields within days, bringing in medical teams from across the country to Hubei Province. These measures have been effective in curbing the virus from spreading to other parts of China and the world. As a result, the daily number of newly confirmed cases in China has dropped sharply to double digits, over 60,000 (to be updated) people have been cured and discharged from hospital, and the case fatality rate has remained lower than SARS, EBOLA and MERS; and

Whereas China has been transparent and quick in sharing key information of the virus with the WHO and the international community, thus creating a window of opportunity for other countries to make timely response

“Then I got mad, because that’s when [COVID-19] cases started cropping up here and you saw the problem exacerbated as we started to learn the truth,” Roth told the Wisconsin Examiner. “I just sent them back a one-word response. I said ‘nuts.’”

“Then a couple of days later I said that we are going to introduce a resolution, it’s just not the one that the Chinese government wants,” Roth continued. “We’re going to introduce one that speaks the truth to the lies that I believe are being told around the world, so that’s how we ended up with the resolution as it was introduced.”

Roth put together the following resolution, in response to the request from the Chinese consulate, condemning China for its actions during the pandemic and for other acts of tyranny [emphasis original]:

Relating to: acknowledging that the Communist Party of China deliberately and
intentionally misled the world on the Wuhan Coronavirus and standing in
solidarity with the Chinese people to condemn the actions of the Communist
Party of China.

Whereas, the State of Wisconsin is currently in a state of emergency due to the
rising spread of the Coronavirus that originated in the Wuhan Province of China, as
the number of infected individuals in Wisconsin rose to over 700 and also consisted
of 8 deaths as of March 26, 2020; and

Whereas, the Chinese people are a great people, and heirs to one of the greatest
civilizations in human history, held hostage by a brutal and oppressive regime these
past 70 years; and

Whereas, the Communist Party of China has engaged in a continued pattern
of human and natural rights abuses perpetrated by the country’s communist
administration, including the Communist Party’s treatment of Tibet, the internment
and “reeducation” of 1.5 million Muslim Uyghurs in concentration camps, the
enactment of a one-child policy responsible for aborting hundreds of millions of
children, the majority of them female, a record of organ harvesting and forced
sterilization, crackdown on the Tiananmen protests, and restrictions on individual
expression and religious practice; and

Whereas, the Communist Party of China has repeatedly demonstrated a lack
of interest in respecting international norms, including a history of currency
manipulation, intellectual property theft, and restricting Chinese market access,
while receiving the condemnation of numerous American Presidents and Legislators
from both political parties for these practices; and

Whereas, the Communist Party of China, led by President Xi Jinping, has
moved to consolidate power, scrapping term limits to create a de facto life term for
the President of China and continually squashing democratic-based initiatives in
and outside of mainland China; and

Whereas, the Chinese government is currently engaging in a barrage of
misinformation throughout all corners of the globe, attempting to pass off the
responsibility of their negligent and reckless response to the virus; and

Whereas, the Chinese government has imprisoned their own citizens who
dared disseminate accurate information on the Coronavirus, destroyed early
samples of the virus, refused to release timely and accurate information on the virus,
and continued to allow infected individuals to leave the Wuhan Province after
reasonable evidence of person-to-person contamination was present; and

Whereas, reports have indicated that had the Chinese Government acted in a
more efficient, transparent, and responsible way, cases worldwide of the virus may
have been limited by 95 percent; and

Whereas, on February 5, 2020, the first confirmed case of Coronavirus was
identified in Wisconsin; and

Whereas, on February 26, 2020, and again on March 10, 2020, the Chinese
Consulate reached out to the Wisconsin Senate President requesting that the Senate
pass a resolution — written by the Chinese Consulate — including propaganda
and falsehoods such as:

“China has been transparent and quick in sharing key information of the virus with the WHO and the international community, thus creating a window of opportunity for other countries to make timely response”

Whereas, the Wisconsin State Senate deems it necessary and prudent to
combat the spread of misinformation propagated by the Communist Party of China
and the need to push back on the claims that the virus originated anywhere but
China; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the senate, That the Wisconsin Senate acknowledges that the
Communist Party of China has deliberately and intentionally misled the world,
suppressed vital information on the statistics and spread of the Wuhan Coronavirus
both domestically and abroad, allowed millions of individuals to travel outside of the
province and country despite clear warnings that the virus could be transmitted
person-to-person, and engaged in active suppression and persecution of individuals
looking to truthfully discuss information related to the Coronavirus, which has led
to a global pandemic the likes of which has not been seen for generations; and, be it
further

Resolved, That the Wisconsin Senate hereby stands in solidarity with the
Chinese people, condemning the actions of the Communist Party of China in the
strongest possible terms, and acknowledges that millions, both in China and around
the world, are at risk of illness and death due to the negligence and hostile actions
of the Chinese Communist Party.

Not all that long ago these types were having conniptions about people who were using the wrong ‘gender pronoun’.
A real crisis apparently brings things into a clearer perspective, and from the überproggie New Yorker magazine, no less.

Choose Your Weapon

As shoppers stock up for a potential Armageddon, an Oregon gun store has sold out of ARs and .308 rifles, many of which went to first-time liberal buyers.

There was no complimentary hand sanitizer for the concerned customers of Gorge Guns, in Hood River, Oregon, on a recent Friday. Erika Bales, the shop’s twenty-nine-year-old owner, wasn’t worried about the virus. “I figure, just let nature take its course,” she said. Her customers were less nonchalant. Bales, who had a neat manicure and a number of tattoos, said that, days earlier, people had begun realizing that “everyone’s buying things and everything’s gonna be gone.” The resulting rush was, for her, unprecedented. She was out of ARs and .308 rifles. A few shotguns remained, and she told shoppers that they could saw them off, to a legal length. “Obama didn’t even bring in these numbers,” Bales said.

At noon, a woman in her sixties came in. She wore plastic gloves and had a scarf wrapped around her face, and she traced a wide arc around the only other non-employee in the store. “I’ve been doing this since the beginning of March,” she said, referring to her protective gear. “I don’t feel sick at all. I’m self-quarantining.” She left her house only for essential activities. This was one. “I’m buying a gun,” she said. “I can’t believe it.”

She went on, “My son was a little upset about it.” (He preferred his bow and arrow.) “I’m old and I live alone, and we don’t know if there’s going to be civil unrest. The world is not the same.” She added, “It didn’t have to be this way.” Unlike many of the shop’s regulars, she was no fan of Trump: “He’s a divider all the way. First he said, ‘Five people have died, big deal.’ Now he’s saying, ‘I always knew it’d be dangerous.’ ” Talk turned to Portland. “It’s a ghost town,” a young woman said. Her name was Rosemary, and she was helping Bales out, since the restaurant where she waited tables had closed.

“I don’t like to go in cities anymore, anyway,” the customer said.

“But these rumors about them putting this country in full lockdown are inaccurate,” Rosemary said. “It’s a scare tactic. It’s not like all of a sudden we’re gonna wake up one day and everyone is sick and the whole world is ending.”

“I don’t know,” the customer said. “The exponential growth is happening.”

“If anything, we’re definitely repopulating, if nobody is at work,” Rosemary said cheerily. “We won’t have a shortage of humans, that’s for sure.”

Bales helped her customer choose a weapon. (“Pick three,” the customer told her.) As Bales rummaged around, the customer said, “I’m going to have a soldier train me. A friend of my son’s.” Bales returned with the first option. “A .22 Mag,” she said. “Holds thirty rounds.”

The customer peered at the gun.

“It’s a Kel-Tec PMR-30,” Bales said.

“I like the color of it,” the customer said. “It’s not black.” She picked it up. “It feels good. And it’s got a safety. I’m going to take this one. You’ve got ammo for it, right?” Bales nodded and noted a few of the gun’s features. “As long as you’re accurate, it’ll do damage,” she said.

“This is just going to be for close range,” the customer said. “In my house. If it happens.” (Asked what “it” was, she said, “In two months, if the cities are starving, they’re gonna come out. And I understand that.”) Bales piled boxes of ammunition on the counter. “I’ll take them all,” the customer said. She ducked outside to get her wallet from the car.

“I think she’s a liberal,” Bales said, once the door closed. “There’s so many coming in. First-time-gun-owner liberals. I’ve probably seen ten this week. It’s so funny, because I hope it just turns them on to liking the Second Amendment. I mean, the Constitution was created for a reason. To protect us.”

The customer returned. The bill was nearly seven hundred dollars, including electronic ear protection and sixteen boxes of bullets. She could come back and pick up the gun once her digital background check cleared. The customer asked, “If I don’t get approved, what happens?”

“You already got approved,” Bales said, glancing at a computer, with some surprise.

“O.K.! Can I take it?”

“Yeah. Some people go through fast.”

The new gun owner asked if there was a shooting range nearby. She asked if she needed a concealed-carry permit. She asked how to carry the gun out. “I can’t believe this!” she said, stepping into the world with her brand-new gun.

Econuts get the cluebat upside the head….again.

Plastic Bag Bans Are the Latest Regulations to Get Tossed During Coronavirus Pandemic

As states rush to lift, waive, or delay regulations that might impede their ability to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, plastic bag bans are being tossed aside.

On Tuesday, Maine’s legislature voted to put off enforcement of their state’s plastic bag prohibition—which was set to go into effect April 22—until next year. The day before, New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation agreed to delay any enforcement of that state’s bag ban until May 15.

The New York ban was supposed to go into effect on March 1. But because a lawsuit challenging the bag ban has been delayed over coronavirus, the state was forced to pull back until that case can resume.

The reusable bags these bans are supposed to encourage—and which were considered an unmitigated social good just a few weeks ago—have come under fresh scrutiny from a newly germophobic nation that fears they might aid the spread of COVID-19.

Businesses have been leading the way on this front. Starbucks suspended its policy of filling up customers’ reusable mugs in early March, and Dunkin Donuts and Tim Hortons (a Canadian coffee chain) have done the same.

“Until this pandemic passes, state and local officials should discourage shoppers from bringing their potentially virus-laden reusable bags out in public. Restore single-use bags, including the plastic kind,” wrote the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board on Monday.

The mayor of a town in Maine has actually called for a ban on reusable bags.

How likely is it that reusable bags will give you Covid-19? That’s still something of an open question. John Tierney, writing in City Journal, notes that numerous studies have shown reusable bags’ potential to transmit bacteria and viruses. And recent research has shown that the virus can live on plastic surfaces for up to three days. So single-use bags might be better for avoiding the spread of the disease, as they will be tossed immediately and not left lying around the house where multiple people migh come into repeat contact with it.

That said, the Centers for Disease Control downplay the risk of surface transmission on their website, saying that while it is possible to catch COVID-19 from touching objects and then touching your face, “this is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads.”

Two epidemiologists interviewed by Slate about grocery store best practices also said reusable bags did not pose much of added risk. “I doubt it’s going to be a problem,” said Stephen Morse, a professor of epidemiology at the Columbia University Medical Center. “If you’re really worried, you can always wipe down the bag with mild detergent or a disinfecting wipe, but that shouldn’t be necessary unless the bag gets some unexpected exposure to contaminated material.”

VA started pushing crazy gun laws, so residents just bought 74,000 more firearms – in one month.

RICHMOND, VA- It’s not surprising to see that the residents within Virginia purchased nearly 74,000 firearms in December of 2019.

Gun control bills and measures have been a hot topic in the state of Virginia, and with good reason.

Democrats within Richmond have been adamant in bringing forth legislation that can be contorted to strip citizens of their second amendment rights. As a result, citizens of the state thought it a good idea to purchase their weapons while they still could.

According to the Associated Press, December of 2019 saw an increase of 47% over the number of firearm sales when compared to December of 2018.

The tallied number of guns sold totaled out to 73,849. The outlet reported that the increase in sales was likely “due to growing fears of increased firearms restrictions backed by Democrats who control the state government.”

In the past 30 years, there was only one month that toppled the sales from this past December, and that would be December of 2012. That holiday season saw an estimated 75,120 firearm sales, which might have had something to do with then-Governor McDonnell removing the restriction of only being allowed to buy one gun a month.

Several gun store owners made mention of the notable increases in both foot traffic and purchases within their shops. Some customers mentioned that they were first-time buyers, while others were looking to acquire firearm accessories they thought might be subject to banning later on.

One of the first-time gun purchasers was a 66-year-old grandmother of eight. Ida Wright expressed concerns that the impending legislation championed by Democrats within Virginia geared her toward purchasing a weapon:

“I didn’t think I would ever be buying a gun, but things are changing so drastically. If we don’t protect ourselves, who else is going to protect us?”

One of the managers from Bob Moates Sports Shop, Richard Hill, noted the increase in customers filing into the store in December:

“On the basis of what we would have been doing a year ago at this time, you’re looking at a 500 to 1000% increase depending on the day.”

Hill mentioned that with all the bills being pushed forward that aim to restrict lawful gun owner’s rights, it’s creating an increased demand overall. He was also critical of the fact that political pundits in Richmond haven’t addressed the fact that there are criminals already in violation of existing gun laws:

“I have yet to see a single law that addresses what we are going to do with the criminals we’ve already got that are violating untold numbers of laws.”

Gerald Stauffer Jr., who is the manager of Southern Gun World in Chesterfield County, also stated that in the wake of everything going in the state Senate and House, business is booming.

He pointed out that while the rally was going on in Capitol Square, there was a remarkable number of sales from attendees:

“About noon we saw a very steady amount of people coming in with their stickers on, most of them buying a new firearm. They were motivated.”

This outcome is hardly surprising, as there’s been previous studies that show when lawful gun owners think their rights are going to be infringed upon, gun sales experience an uptick.

Maurizio Porfiri, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the Tandon School at New York University, found that whenever the media or legislators attack gun rights then there’s a near immediate bump in sales.

The study, which gathered data between January 1999 and December 2017, cross examined whether gun purchases increased following mass shootings or when media attacks and reporting of oncoming gun reform happened.

The study proved there to be zero fundamental link between an actual mass shooting and gun purchases – just gun sales increasing when people try to relieve lawful gun owners of their weapons. A testament that the “fear of loss” inevitably creates demand.

Virginia passes ‘red flag’ laws. Cops: Good luck finding someone to enforce them.

Even though 22,000 people gathered to protest unconstitutional gun laws, lawmakers went ahead and passed the bills anyway.

While Virginia was forced to strike down the extremely controversial SB 16, which was the assault weapons ban, that didn’t stop them from moving forward with the “red flag” law getting passed over to the House to consider.

Police across the Commonwealth have already begun raising their voices in opposition, essentially telling lawmakers “Good luck” in finding authorities who would enforce such unconstitutional measures.

The Virginia Senate approved legislation this past Wednesday that gives law enforcement the authority to confiscate guns and ammunition, devoid of any real due process. This unconstitutional legislation is rife with exploitable areas that can be used by vindictive people and entities and deprive law abiding citizens of their God-given rights.

The stance was made clear on Wednesday, showing how divided the Republicans and Democrats are on the issue of “red flag” laws. SB 240 only passed on a party line vote of 21 Democrats in favor with 19 Republicans opposing the measure.

Despite the fierce opposition posed by both Republicans and thousands of citizens who demonstrated at a rally contesting the unconstitutional law, the Democratic-led Senate used their clout to push the law through over to the House.

GOP Senator Amanda Chase described supporters of SB 240 as “traitors”, and that the law would only enable criminals and pose harm to law-abiding citizens.

Senator Chase’s stance was at odds with Democrats in the Senate, who claimed that a “red flag” law would inevitably deter mass shootings. Citations were made on how well these laws were performing in 17 other states, but there’s hardly any quantifiable data that proves these laws have ever stopped a mass shooting.

In fact, in one of the most cited pieces of “proof” that claims these laws save lives, even the authors of the study claim it can’t be proven.

“It is impossible to know whether violence would have occurred had [extreme risk protection orders] not been issued,” they claim.

At this point, the bill is making its way over to the House, which it’s likely that it will pass under the Democratic majority at the General Assembly. Democrats in Richmond have made it clear that they couldn’t care less about the 22,000 people that protested the “red flag” law.

In previous years, there were attempts to pass these kinds of laws, but the Republican-controlled committees struck down the bills before they could make any significant progress. Clearly, Democrats are showing that they intend to push everything on their agenda, without paying any mind to methods of bipartisan compromise…………

Virginia gun control fight sparks rush to join 2nd Amendment sanctuaries movement

Virginia gun control fight sparks rush to join 2nd Amendment sanctuaries movement

A contentious fight over gun control measures in Virginia is prompting hundreds of counties and localities around the country to declare themselves “Second Amendment sanctuaries.”

The national movement is growing momentum as the newly-elected Democratic legislature in Virginia plans stricter actions against guns, including universal background checks and “red flag” laws that would allow officials to seize guns from people considered to pose a threat.

The push has sparked a strong reaction by those who support gun rights. Tens of thousands gathered in Richmond last week to protest against the planned action, while at least 91 out of 95 counties in Virginia have declared themselves “sanctuaries” against gun control laws passed by the state.

A contentious fight over gun control measures in Virginia is prompting hundreds of counties and localities around the country to declare themselves “Second Amendment sanctuaries.”

The national movement is growing momentum as the newly-elected Democratic legislature in Virginia plans stricter actions against guns, including universal background checks and “red flag” laws that would allow officials to seize guns from people considered to pose a threat.

The push has sparked a strong reaction by those who support gun rights. Tens of thousands gathered in Richmond last week to protest against the planned action, while at least 91 out of 95 counties in Virginia have declared themselves “sanctuaries” against gun control laws passed by the state.

Other localities around the country are now joining Virginia, even in states such as Mississippi that are not contemplating gun control measures. At least 83 counties nationwide have declared themselves as Second Amendment sanctuaries this month, following at least 131 last month, according to a count of local media reports conducted by The Hill.

They join hundreds of other localities that have already made the declaration, growing a movement that takes its name from cities that have declared themselves as “sanctuaries” for undocumented immigrants, providing protection against the stricter immigration laws enforced by the Trump administration.

“When a state starts denying the constitutionally protected rights of its citizens, then it is completely legitimate for officials at lower levels to step in and protect citizens,” said Erich Pratt, the senior vice president of Guns Owners of America.

Gun Owners has served as a leading national organization of the movement, helping localities draft legislation as well as organizing citizen petitions.

Localities declaring themselves as sanctuaries hail from a broad range of states, from those seen as having stronger protections for gun owners such as Kentucky and Texas to those seen as having stricter gun control laws such as Illinois, New Jersey and Oregon.

Just this week, DeSoto County became the first county in Mississippi to pass a resolution protecting itself against gun control laws, declaring itself a Second Amendment “safe haven” to avoid the connotation of the word sanctuary with the immigration movement.

State Rep. Dana Criswell (R) provided the petition to the DeSoto County government, saying he did so after multiple constituents asked for it.

“It is 100 percent driven by the events that are happening in Virginia,” Criswell said. “That has really scared people that events like that – they see gun owners there under a very direct attack.”…………

Could Scientists ‘Hack’ the Zika Virus to Kill Brain Cancer?

I seem to remember a disaster movie starring Will Smith……….
and a re-engineered virus that cured cancer……..

The mosquito-spread Zika virus known for its links to brain damage in babies born to infected mothers has the potential to target and destroy brain cancer, scientists have found.

New research has revealed that the Zika virus breaks into brain cells by using a special molecular key, and scientists think the virus could be tweaked so that it infects only brain cancer cells, leaving  healthy cells unharmed.

The aggressive brain cancer glioblastoma often defies standard cancer treatment because the disease transforms normal brain cells into stem cells. While typical neurons stop dividing after so many replications, stem cells can reproduce indefinitely and grow a whole new tumor from just a handful of cells. Patients typically survive less than 20 months after being diagnosed with glioblastoma; even if the cancer can be forced into remission, the tumors typically regrow and take the life of the patient within 12 months.

But where standard treatments fail, the Zika virus may offer a new strategy to wipe out the deadly disease, according to a pair of studies published Jan. 16 in the journals Cell Reports and Cell Stem Cell.

“While we would likely need to modify the normal Zika virus to make it safer to treat brain tumors, we may also be able to take advantage of the mechanisms the virus uses to destroy cells to improve the way we treat glioblastoma,” senior author Dr. Jeremy Rich, director of neuro-oncology and of the Brain Tumor Institute at UC San Diego Health, said in a statement. (Rich and his colleagues authored the Cell Stem Cell paper.)

One hundred years ago today, Prohibition began.

And thus began “The Roaring Twenties” where organized crime literally made millions while becoming entrenched in America and we’re still dealing with the consequences of the ‘good intentions’ of the prohibitionists.

Exactly a century ago today, Americans ushered in Prohibition.

A hundred years ago on Thursday, many Americans toasted their last legal toast at their favorite tavern, stocked up on their favorite brands, or, in the case of Charlotte Hennessey Smith, silent film actress and mother to famed actress Mary Pickford, bought out an entire liquor store.

Prohibition was ushered in on midnight Jan. 17, 1920. And as most people know, it wasn’t exactly followed so strictly.