Around The Blogs 2014-07-27

Let's start tonight's roundup with two powerful images inspired by or related to the court declaration that Washington D.C.'s absolute ban on carrying firearms outside the home is unconstitutional.

CenTexTim applauds the decision, and offers this informative graphic:

Blue has his own take on the liberal logic behind D.C.'s gun ban:

Quite so . . . I don't think!

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I hadn't previously heard of the Community Link Integrated Transit of Tucson in Arizona.  Apparently it's a new streetcar service.  The Lonely Libertarian points out that someone clearly forgot to imagine how that name would appear as an abbreviation . . .  Unfortunately it turns out to be a hoax story:  but full marks to the man who thought of it!

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Michael Stephen Fuchs writes an open letter to Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com concerning that company's policies towards independent authors, and thanks him for all he's done for us.  I concur, and gladly associate myself with his letter.  (The link he provides to an article in the Guardian is incorrect - here's the correct link.)

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Francis Porretto has two interesting articles this week.  In the first he considers the concept of freedom, and notes:

"It often seems as if the original American conception of freedom -- the absence of coercion or constraint from all matters that don't involve aggression or fraud -- has given way to a welfarist conception, in which what the individual is supposed to prize most highly is "freedom from want:" i.e., the absence of significant unsatisfied desires for material things ... the original conception of freedom has been displaced by the Marxist conception of freedom as 'an absence of tension or conflict'."

In the second article he offers some thoughts on the place occupied by sex in the life of a properly bonded couple.  I'm not sure I entirely agree with all his perspectives on the matter, but he certainly makes one think.  Both articles are recommended reading.

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Mr. B. has some serious concerns about President Obama's current actions.

"At first I thought it was incompetence or naivete that led to the terrible things he did/has done to our country. No more. I am coming to believe that his actions and the actions of his supporters are a series of actions which indicate that there is a plan to harm both the country as a whole and the citizens upon which its strength resides. Now, I wonder if he was, in fact, placed where he is by our adversaries to facilitate damaging our country and economy."

I'm wondering much the same thing right now . . . and it has nothing to do with the President's party affiliations.  George W. Bush severely damaged this country with his post-9/11 security legislation, interminable wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and overall neglect of the fundamentals of good government.  Instead of resolving those issues, the Obama administration has made them exponentially worse.  We're going to have our work cut out for us to repair the damage that's been done to this country in the opening years of the new millennium . . .

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Daddybear links to a news report about a Florida auto dealership that appears to regard its customers with contempt, even when they obtain a DMV injunction against it.  Based on that report, I can only suggest that my Florida readers take their auto business elsewhere, and advise their friends and relatives to do the same.

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The Bearded Backyarder points out that the so-called 'children' flooding across our southern border aren't always what the mainstream media portray them to be.

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Have you ever heard of "Amish pornography"?  I hadn't either, until MSgt. B. decided to introduce us to the concept.

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Charles Hugh Smith has four articles in a series on the US economy and the failure of our politicians to do their job in managing it.  All four are highly recommended reading.  In sequence, they are:

The Rot Within, Part I:

Our Ponzi Economy

The Rot Within, Part II:
Inflation Is Not "Growth"

The Rot Within, Part III:
Our Political Order Is Defined by Favoritism and Extortion

Are We Addicted to Failure?

Corroborating his pessimism, Monty Pelerin points out that economic laws are not optional, and that our government has been ignoring them at its - and our - peril.  He concludes:

The smoke and mirrors obfuscating true economic conditions for five years has been deliberate. The economy has not recovered. It has been made more distorted and imbalanced by the futile attempts to pretend that all is well. Government has more smoke and mirrors left. Yet, even the political class now seem to sense that they are playing out the clock without altering the ultimate conclusion. When your time frame is limited to the next election, longer-term consequences of current policies are ignored.

The economic piper will be paid. All that has been accomplished by these actions is a deferral of the correction and the creation of a bigger debt upon which the piper will collect.

. . .

A collapse is coming. It is unavoidable and will be worse than it should have been as a result of political duplicity.

Regretfully, I'm forced to agree with him.  It's not going to be pretty.

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Old blogbuddy AEPilotJim has a new moral patch.  If you can't translate it, invert it . . .

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Karl Denninger has three excellent articles dealing with internet security (or the lack thereof) and why we should be very, very worried about the news this past week.  In the first, he points out that the so-called 'Internet of things' is dangerous, and concludes:  "... given the lack of care (and outright insertion of code that has no reasonable proper purpose, such as the recent IOS disclosures) you'd have to be nuts to allow devices like that in your home and office."

In the second article, and in the second half of the third article, he goes into detail about revelations that Apple has deliberately built 'backdoors' into its signature operating systems, and points out that they pose a completely unacceptable risk of penetration of any level of computer security.  I couldn't agree more - in fact, if I were a corporation dependent on Internet and communications security, I'd be suing Apple right now for flagrant and deliberate violations of my security systems.

Anyone with any security-consciousness concerning their Internet activities and computer privacy needs to read these articles carefully, taking notes as they do so.  It's that serious.

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Contributor ASM286 over at Borepatch's place reminds us of a treasure-trove of back issues of Guns magazine, now available online.  As Old NFO pointed out in a comment, it's a real time-sink.  Since they span the year in which I was born, I guess that makes me a back issue too . . .

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Dan Gordon, an officer in the Israeli Defense Forces, reminds his readers 'Why We Fight'.  It's a powerful and emotional piece.  Recommended reading.

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Last but not least, Wirecutter warns us about something we should never say to a pregnant woman.

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That's all for this week.  More soon!

Peter