(h/t commentor Cathyx)
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Santa couldn’t miss this house! Too bad the Good Taste Fairy hadn’t borrowed his GPS…
Late Night Open Thread: O Holy Shi… LIGHTS!Post + Comments (36)
This post is in: Open Threads
(h/t commentor Cathyx)
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Santa couldn’t miss this house! Too bad the Good Taste Fairy hadn’t borrowed his GPS…
Late Night Open Thread: O Holy Shi… LIGHTS!Post + Comments (36)
This post is in: Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat, Readership Capture
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Merry Xmas to the Obots, and the dog-lovers too!
This post is in: Open Threads
Not much going on up here for the Holidays. My whole family is down in Isle of Palms, SC, and I stayed behind to take care of my animals, as well as Ellie and my brother’s two cats. Not to mention, two weeks in my beach house with 8 dogs (which is how many there would be there if I went with Lily, Rosie, and Seth had to take Ellie) and my family is my idea of hell. There is also the principle of the matter, which is for 20 years I had to travel home for XMAS, I move down he street, and they take the event to South Carolina. I can take a hint.
Went to Wheeling today to drop off a couple hundred diapers at my buddy’s house- he does an annual diaper fundraiser for low income families, and this year we have pulled together more than 6k diapers. I was going to head to the Hobbit afterwards, but my Mexican restaurant (where I planned to eat before the movie) was closed, so I just said to hell with it and came home.
Tomorrow, I plan to stay in boxers and a bathrobe all day, and I have a nice roast, some onions, potatoes, parsnips, and turnips that I intend to cook and eat, and then I think I am going to dive into season 1 of Trueblood, which I have never seen. I keep watching the first episode and not getting into it, but my goal tomorrow is to power through a couple episodes and see if I can get hooked.
You?
This post is in: Music, Open Threads
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By request. Merry Xmas to our readers on the other side of the International Date Line, particularly those below the equator who are bemused by all this chatter about ‘snow’ and ‘shortest days’.
And speaking of chatter, how many of y’all are ready to throttle one or more of your Loved Ones already?
This post is in: Schadenfreude
I find that in order to get maximum schadenfreude while reading this write-up of the NRO’s post-election Caribbean Cruise, it is best to punctuate every paragraph with a sad trombone sound effect. At one point I imagined Ralph Reed singing Simple Plan.
by DougJ| 24 Comments
This post is in: David Brooks Giving A Seminar At The Aspen Institute, Riveted By The Sociological Significance Of It All
I welcome the recent spate of “Dude, where’s my GOP?” pieces from conservatives. Contemporary American politics is dominated by the insanity of one of the two major parties, and establishment media generally ignores this reality, so good on some righties for not ignoring it. Mark McKinnon writes:
It’s a very odd situation when the losing party is the party refusing to negotiate. It may be how you disrupt, but it is not how you govern, or how you ever hope to regain a majority.
He then predictably goes on to talk about all the compromises Ronaldus Magnus made. His list is accurate, but sometimes I wonder…contemporary conservatism prides itself in “standing athwart history, yelling `stop'” (in William F. Buckley’s words), why is it surprising that conservatives would be happy to disrupt when they no longer have the votes to govern?
Standing athwart history, yelling WOLVERINESPost + Comments (24)
by Kay| 67 Comments
This post is in: Blatant Liars and the Lies They Tell
In describing the industry, NRA Vice President Wayne LaPierre said, “There exists in this country a callous, corrupt and corrupting shadow industry that sells, and sows, violence against its own people.”
Mr. LaPierre faulted the news media for failing to report on “vicious, violent video games” such as “Grand Theft Auto,” “Mortal Kombat,” and “Splatterhouse” as egregious examples. He also singled out “Kindergarten Killer,” a free, fairly obscure online game.
“How come my research department could find it and all of yours either couldn’t or didn’t want anyone to know you had found it?” he asked reporters.
More bullshit from the lie factory that is the NRA.
The gun industry lobbyist’s research department apparently didn’t turn up the violent games that gun enthusiasts’ play. Here’s a small sample:
Our Zombie targets are life-sized; three-dimensional tactical mannequins that “bleed” when you shoot them, using Zombie Industries’ Patent Pending proprietary technology.
One of the female “zombies” is named “The Ex”.
Shoot Extreme® shoot house ranges wrap heart-pounding shooting experiences and reality-based training into an adventure destination for the whole family. Our Zombie Hunts, and forthcoming other events like leagues and competitions build firearms competence in a safe, fun, and social setting. That makes us different from old-fashioned shooting ranges, where the only thing you’re allowed to do is stand still and punch holes in stationary paper targets under well-lit conditions. Frankly, that’s not realistic training for much of anything.
We provide the gear. You provide the attitude.™
Shoot Extreme provides the pistols, shotguns,and rifles you’ll shoot at our range. They’re real weapons converted to fire Simunition®, which is the non-lethal, ballistically realistic, training ammunition that the military and police use for their own realistic, close-quarters-battle (CQB) training. All you do is show up with your mad skills, your enthusiasm, and shoot.
Push yourself to your limits with Gun For Hire’s Simunition survival day. The Simunition survival day is 8 hours of non-stop force-on-force training using the Simunition FX marking cartridge. The students will be put into several scenarios that will push themselves to their limits. The scenarios will range from active shooter scenarios to street robberies to car jackings. As a bonus, each student can think of one real world scenario they would like to put themselves in and push themselves to the ultimate breaking point. This class is not for the novice or beginner. All students must be graduates of the Gun For Hire Level 1 Simunition course to attend this class. This class will be conducted at a 42,000 square foot heated office building making the scenario possibilities endless.
Combat Shooting Sports, a Florida gun range, has taken the concept of target practice to a whole new level. Customers can actually engage in simulated combat against other people, shooting real guns at each other.
However, as local affiliate WKMG explains, the customers aren’t using live ammunition. Owner Dave Kaplan gives visitors a choice: He can modify your own gun to fire Simunition rounds. Simunition rounds are filled with compounds similar to those found in paintball rounds. They’ve been used by military and law enforcement organizations in training exercises.
“General dynamics created Simunition decades ago for the military and later law enforcement,” Kaplan said in an email to Yahoo! News. “They recently created a civilian range program and we are probably the only facility doing person on person fighting. We are taking firearm training to a level previously held by professionals.”
“People are using real firearms modified to preclude the firing of a live/lethal round.”
A trip to Combat Shooting Sports costs about $150, which includes the cost of the gun modification.
After receiving their modified guns and donning protective gear, customers are broken up into teams and take part in various games ranging from capture the flag to hostage simulations.
All of the action takes place inside a former grocery store that has been modified into an indoor combat setting.
The Pink Mist Tech “Blood Pack” is a revolutionary new product that instantly turns ANY paper target into a reactive BLEEDING target. Easily identify a good hit with realistic splattering of blood. Perfect for Law Enforcement, Military, as well as enthusiasts who are partial to Zombie and Animal targets. Depending on shot placement, you will get 1 – 5 splattering shots per packet. Pink Mist packs are non-toxic, and clean up is a snap!
I’m not too worried about the fight between the gun industry and the video game industry. They’re both selling product, a lot of money is at stake, and I figure they’re evenly matched. What I do worry about is the fact that the gun industry hacks are now forcing their way into school issues and mental health policy.
The NRA has about as much business being involved in public school or public mental health issues as do the makers of Grand Theft Auto. The gun industry has absolutely no credibility lecturing anyone else on “violent games”. Take a stroll around the web and look at some of these gun enthusiast sites. Ask yourself if you want these folks driving a debate about the safety of 2nd graders or mental health treatment.