$29,608...

Warning:

(image courtesy of Robb Allen)

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Ross sends in this eye-opening video: The title refers to one trailer home with 4 different families claiming to live there, and the total of their tax refunds. The total of this tax loophole is north of $4 billion, with the IRS showing no interest in going after abuses of the system being perpetrated by illegal aliens and others. While the Occutards protest about the eeevil corporations and their tax "loopholes", no one seems to mind that billions of dollars are being wasted on outright tax fraud. These folks are claiming dependents outside of the country, for starters; whistleblowers have alerted the authorities to rampant abuse with no apparent effect; no one seems to care that billions of taxpayer dollars are flowing to folks that have no claim to them.

But hey, as long as those illegals vote the right way we'll keep turning our heads, right?

That is all.

Hang Up And... Walk?

There's a new species of critter out there. Perhaps you've run into a member of the species? They power walk everywhere with this strange beeping device glued to their ear, oblivious to the world around them. This device apparently renders them blind, deaf, and mute, as they are incapable of seeing anything else around them, hearing the protestations of those that they push out of their way, or apologizing for behavior that would make Attila the Hun blush.

Look, I get it. You're so ruttin' important that the office can't survive your absence even for your family vacation to DisneyWorld. Without you, the entire company is brought to its knees, a pathetic shell of its former, vibrant, dynamic self just languishing for your return. If you don't keep in constant contact with the mouthbreathers you left behind, the entire company will go bankrupt and fold, the critical items you make for the world will go unmade, and little Jimmy will die because he didn't get that crucial medical widget in time.

However, you brush my son out of the way again, and you'll have all the time in the world to direct operations via phone from your hospital bed as they work to rebuild your spinal cord.

That is all.

(There is simply no truth to the matter than the VIP in question was told, at a volume that would drown out jetliners, that he'd better hang up his effing phone before it got shoved so far up his @$$ his belly button would ring. Actually, it would vibrate...)

Gunnie Stuff I Don't Get...

I'll start off with a disclaimer: "Because it's cool", "Because I don't have one", "Because it scares the crap out of Sarah Brady/Chuck Schumer/Diane Feinstein/etc.", "For the hell of it", "Because I can", or "why the hell not" are perfectly valid reasons for getting an accessory/modifying a firearm/buying an obscure caliber.

I have nothing against the following items; I just don't understand them.

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• Pistol caliber carbines with short barrels. Okay, why? Why on earth would you take a perfectly valid PCC and then pay extra money in the form of the ATF stamp to SBR it when you could, oh, buy the freakin' pistol?


• Folding stock kits for SKSs. SRSLY. Get an AK. Even now they're back under $500; you're gonna drop $300 for the SKS and $150 for the stock, so for $50 savings you miss out on the detachable mag?


• Assault rifle pistols. I'm sorry, this has GOT to be the dumbest thing on the market. The AR-15 is a little more understandable, although I've got to wonder what kind of accuracy loss is endured from a 9" barrel. The AK-47 pistols make ZERO sense IMHO.


• Obscure pistol calibers. I mean, really... .45 GAP? .32 Guardian? Even .357 Sig - slightly more powerful than .40 S&W, three times as hard to find and twice the price. The whole idea of having a handgun is that you have something portable you can carry with you for protection - when the ammo for a range session costs nearly as much as another pistol, how often are you going to practice with it? And when you can't find .45 ACP on the shelves, what's the likelihood of finding .50 Heffalump or .45 SOMPC*


• Belt-fed semi-automatic rifles. Yeah, I know, in 99% of the cases it's someone who'd really like to have the full auto version but can't afford the ten$ of thou$and$ they cost. I'm sympathetic in this regard. Kinda like the folks that buy the semi-auto Mac-10s. $300 it's a fun plinker. $3K for the fun switch and it's just too damned expensive. You've got to admit, though, a belt-fed rifle with a semi-auto receiver is a lot like a Ferarri with a three speed automatic transmission...


• Rifle caliber handguns. I'm the guy that has the Snubbie from Hell™, and even I can't see the appeal in a .308 Winchester handgun. What's the point? Unless you're training for an Iron Man competition, I fail to see why someone would volunteer for premature carpal tunnel syndrome...


• Accessory rails on pistols. Really. Look, I can grok the whole "having a light on your home defense gun". Sure, there are applications where having a hand free(r) is a good thing. But that's the thing - if you've got a pistol, you've already got a hand free. That hand can operate a separate flashlight at a tiny fraction of the cost of a rail-mounted unit. As far as mounting a laser, please - you're going to drop that kind of cake on a gun with a rail and then skimp on the aiming system? Mall ninja, please.


• Drum magazines on semi-automatic rifles. This one perplexes me to no end. If you don't have the fun switch, why on G-d's Green Earth would you drop $100 and up for a 75 round drum when you can spend $30 for three 30 round magazines? It makes no financial sense whatsoever. Heck, even in FA mode, you put 75 - 100 rounds through an AK and the handguard's gonna burst into flames...


• Fake suppressors. I really don't understand the point of a fake can. "Look at me! I'm too cheap for the real thing!" I mean, you're not fooling anyone, especially when you pull the bang switch and are rewarded with a full volume report. Spend the $200. Get the stamp. Get the real thing. Save your hearing.


• $100+ flashlights as part of daily gear. My $10 warehouse special is only half as bright, sure, but if it falls out of my pocket when I reach for change for the vending machine I'm not going to miss it. I just don't get spending that kind of money on what is, for all intents and purposes, a disposable item. Pocketknives too - I tend to lose a pocketknife about once a year or two - I can't see spending more than $30-$40 on a decent EDC knife, yet there are folks out there dropping $200+...

*Some Other Manufacturer's Proprietary Cartridge.

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Once again, to reiterate: I don't want any of these items banned. I don't think they shouldn't exist, or be permitted, or require any special permits/licenses/taxes/etc. They're just not my particular cup 'o' tea as a general rule, and what floats my boat might just make others scratch their heads in amazement as well. These are the things that I just don't get, whether because I'm not HSLD enough or because I live behind the Red Curtain in the Volksrepublik...

What gunnie things don't you get?

That is all.

YHGTBSM, Part 376

Neighbors aim to silence Old Ironsides’ cannons

Old Ironsides’ upscale Charlestown neighbors are trying to pull off what British, French and Barbary pirate guns failed to accomplish in more than two centuries - silencing the cannons of the nation’s oldest commissioned naval vessel.

Miffed residents of a posh condo complex have invited the commanding officer of the USS Constitution over for a glass of wine so he can hear for himself that the frigate’s twice-daily cannon blasts - a tradition dating to 1798 - are “more disruptive to the neighborhood than you might have imagined.”

Um, two words: FUCK and YOU. Die in a fire, yuppie scum. The cannons have resumed being fired since 1975, beeyotches. DYFH - Do Your Fucking Homework. Unless you can prove that you bought your condo BEFORE they resumed the firing of the cannons, shut your damn quiche hole.

Here's what's so objectionable:

The daily gun salute - halted in the early 1900s and revived in 1975 - requires naval officers to fire from one of the working guns every day at 8 a.m. and again at sunset.

Got that? 8 AM and sunset. Not like they're firing off a shot at 5AM and midnight here. Excuse me if I can't work up a pantload of sympathy for these poor, put-upon yuppies who chose to live near Old Ironsides and didn't investigate what that entailed. Caveat emptor, indeed...

These types of people piss me right the hell off. They come into a neighborhood completely ignorant of the surroundings - or they arrogantly figure that things will change to suit them. Something tells me this complaint isn't going to get very far - even in über-liberal MA, it's not very likely that snottie yuppies in Charlestown are going to silence a working piece of American history.

At least we can hope, right?

That is all.

Link to story sent to me by, well, just about everyone. Thanks!

Even More Gunnie Pet Peeves...

Caleb points out a rather unsafe firearms exhibit from Russia, and doesn't like it. I started to comment with some of the online stuff I've seen that makes me cringe, and it turned into enough for a whole 'nother "Gunnie Pet Peeve" post. Here's a bunch of things that, when I see online, I just shake my head and hope no one from VPC finds...

• The "point the loaded gun at the camera" shots.
• The "show the pretty girl with her finger on the trigger" shots.
• Videos of yahoos playing tricks on their friends either with guns or using guns as props (the firecrackers-while-the-wife-holds-the-1911 video springs to mind here).
• Videos where small women are handed ginormous handguns or shotguns and mocked when they get hit by recoil.
• Pretty much any video that shows someone hit by a ricochet (having been hit myself I'm a little leery anyways).
• Videos of questionable targets - propane tanks, improperly prepared cars, images of ex-wives...
• Any pic or video that shows a shooter without proper eye- and/or hearing protection.
• Any pic or video that substitutes a barely-clothed, silicone-enhanced model for a competent shooter.

That about covers it for now. What else pisses you off?

That is all.