Let me start by saying that I have fired thousands of rounds at a shooting range. Granted, it was all handgun caliber from .22 to .45 (but mostly 9mm and 10mm). I’ve never fired a rifle, shotgun or (sub)machine gun. I actually think more people should have training in the safe handling of firearms. Which includes actually firing a gun under controlled conditions. I do not advocate owning a gun (I’ve never owned a gun).

This article illustrates why I despise the Democratic leadership. They’re too stupid and spineless to deserve support. In the case of Ms. Debbie Wasserman Schultz it’s the former. She apparently doesn’t recognize that the vast majority of Democratic voters (not to mention the rest of our nation) believe marijuana should be legal. She is opposing a Florida ballot initiative to make marijuana accessible to sick people who might benefit from it.

Convicted felon and adulterer Dinesh D’Souza says something stupid. Yeah, I know, that’s akin to declaring dog bites man. And don’t bother telling me I “poisoned the well” by labeling him a convicted felon and adulterer. I agree that neither of those attributes has any bearing on how we should view his statements regarding the situation in Ferguson, MO. Yet it is important to remind everyone that this sanctimonious, christian conservative, asshole has no business opining on anything involving morals or ethics.

Another day, another email from the Family Research Council urging me to send them money. This missive was a little different in that it was more specific than most of the email they send. The money is going to help them Protect the rights of parents to educate their children. I wasn’t aware parents had lost or are about to lose the right to educate their children. For that matter religious parents are still free to indoctrinate their children.

To set the mood watch this short South Park clip video. Now go read this article in the Washington Post. The money quote from that article: Working the street, I can’t even count how many times I withstood curses, screaming tantrums, aggressive and menacing encroachments on my safety zone, and outright challenges to my authority. The bit about “aggressive and menacing encroachments on my safety zone” I’m sympathetic to.

A few days ago I received the following piece of mail: As you can see it is deceptively formatted in an intentional effort to confuse the recipient. Obviously the company is hoping a small percentage of recipients will believe they committed to receiving the magazine and are obligated to send the solicited amount. This isn’t something new. I’ve gotten a handful of these types of letters every year for longer than I can remember.

Guess what: “Psychoanalyst: Williams Masked Demons“. At least according to the headline of an email alert I received from Newsmax.com. A few weeks ago I clicked through on an ad to participate in an online survey sponsored by Newsmax.com. Being bottom feeders desperate for subscriptions they force you to enter an email address. This is purportedly to validate you are a human participating in their poll. Even though I unselected the option to subscribe to their email alerts, you guessed it, I’ve been getting two or three a day ever since.

Charles P. Pierce nails it again: What the president announced last night, and what the president did today, strikes me as being beyond reproach. ISIS is a legitimately scarifying group, death-maddened fanatics with a taste for religious insanity and public executions. There is little doubt that they would make bloody shrapnel out of every man, woman, and child on that mountain. Every other alleged power in the region — including al Qaeda — are scared witless of these people and of what they are seeking to create.

Update 2015-02-07: The OS X Yosemite 10.10.2 update broke the F710 USB receiver. See my latest post. Update 2014-08-15: It turns out that the Xbox360Controller driver isn’t necessary. XCOM, and probably all Steam games, recognize controllers using the DirectInput API and work just fine with the Logitech when it’s mode switch is in the “D” position. Also, even after I hacked the source for the aforementioned driver to recognize the USB vendor and product IDs of the F710 it didn’t recognize it.

We have yet another incident where an innocent person is killed by a purportedly “responsible” gun owner. This time it’s a pregnant woman whose five month old fetus also died. Here are important words from someone else about this incident: Responsible means that whatever happens with your gun is your fault. Period. You accidentally discharge it and no-one gets hurt? How’s this: big fine, confiscate the weapon involved, lose the right to bear arms for a year for the first incident, forever if you repeat.