Vulcan’s Worthy Descendant

Among the small (and it should be said, wealthy) group of gun aficionados, the name Duane Wiebe is well known, and justifiably so.  Here’s a brief auto-bio of the man — but it must be said, his real bio is in the long guns he has crafted over the past three decades or so.  Here are a couple-three, at Steve Barnett’s place (right-click to embiggen):

Argentine Mauser in .375 H&H Magnum

And to the question, “Can an old Mauser handle the .375 H&H?” the answer is a smack upside the head and an “Of course it can, you silly person!”

Here’s another DW special:

Mauser G33/40 in 6.5x55mm Swede

…and if that doesn’t get your drool flowing and trigger-finger itching, then we can’t be friends.

Okay, for those who want something more American and in a more modern chambering [sigh] :

Winchester pre-war Model 70 in .300 Win Mag:

…with Winchester’s typical swept-back Mod 70 bolt.

Okay, none of the above are inexpensive (see the links), because they are each one of a kind, crafted by an expert who not only knows guns, but loves them.

With a decent lottery win, I could find at least two more (along with all three of the above) Wiebe rifles I’d want to buy, and that’s only at Barnett’s.

I don’t just appreciate craftsmen, I venerate them.  And Duane Wiebe is all that, and more.

No Overreaction This Time?

Here’s one that just makes me shake my head.

In the latest of a series of high-profile swatting incidents, far-left billionaire George Soros became the victim of a prank 911 call at his estate in Southampton, New York.

Southampton Village Police responded to the call reportedly made just before 9 p.m. last Saturday.

The unidentified caller claimed to have shot his wife and was threatening to commit suicide at the Soros mansion on Old Town Road.

Police response teams, including detectives and officers, were dispatched to the scene only to determine that the call was indeed a hoax after securing the premises.

Did the cops kick down the door and throw flashbangs?  No.

Was the homeowner beaten up and handcuffed?  No.

Was anyone at all shot or brutalized?  No.

In other words, this went down not at all like yer typical SWAT response.

They didn’t even shoot his damn dog.

Yeah, Nazzo Fast, Guido

Stephen Green takes a long-overdue look at the inevitability of electric cars and such, and comes up with this priceless observation:

We need to talk about the word “inevitability” because when it comes to electric vehicles, I do not think it means what supporters think it means.

And then the killer:

Inevitability, you see, is when government spends money we don’t have and passes laws that won’t work to bribe or force people into buying cars they don’t want.

Like Karl Marx’s sense of inevitability — the inevitable fall of capitalism and the inevitable advent of its replacement — such things which go against human nature always need assistance from the firm foot of government to be applied with a heavy hand.

If the above is slightly incomprehensible to you, you need to read Stephen’s whole piece.

Current Wallpaper

It’s another of the Lingmoor Fell series, and I find it extremely restful — on those rare occasions when all the laptop’s windows are closed and I can actually see it.  One day I’m going to go there…

Right-click to embiggen etc.

Outright Theft

Here’s a little snippet that caught my eye briefly, then buzzed around in my subconscious until it turned into a raging tornado.

Inheritance tax receipts increased to £5.2billion in the eight months from April to November, data from HM Revenue & Customs reveals.

This marks a £400million increase from the same period a year ago, and continues the upward trend over the last decade.

Last month, the Chancellor shied away from slashing inheritance tax in the Autumn Statement, as it emerged the levy is on track to raise nearly £10billion a year by the end of the decade.

The body text concerns me hardly at all because it’s Britishland, and for centuries their governments have always stolen from the country’s wealthier citizens.

It was really just the first two words which snagged me like an errant fish hook.

Here’s how it’s defined by our own beloved IRS:

The Estate Tax is a tax on your right to transfer property at your death. It consists of an accounting of everything you own or have certain interests in at the date of death. The fair market value of these items is used, not necessarily what you paid for them or what their values were when you acquired them.

There are a whole bunch more words which on the surface are supposed to clarify the matter, but which in true IRS form serve only to create more questions, to be clarified by tax accountants and lawyers, and which can be re-interpreted (in the State’s interests, natch) by IRS agents in any way they choose.

Yeah, you have a right to transfer property — your own private property, how nice that they call it a “right” — but that right can be taxed (is it then still a right?) because reasons.

Basically, the State is saying that your private property isn’t really yours, it belongs to the State and therefore they are entitled to a piece of it.

Yeah, I know, it really only applies to “the rich” and we little peasants shouldn’t worry our silly little heads about it.  (The ceiling for application of the death tax is currently set at an estate value greater than $13.6 million.)

Even among people not affected by the estate tax, it is one of the most hated taxes in the nation.  Worse still, it used to cost the State more in the collection thereof than the income it generated — in fact, it only recently “broke even”, and now the revenue : cost relationship stands at something like 1.24 ($1.24 dollars is collected for every dollar it costs to collect it).

If ever there’s a piece of governmental thievery which needs to be taken outside and shot in the back of the neck, this one is it.  (Don’t even ask me about the politicians who support it and the government agents who collect it, because my response would put me on the Naughty List.)


Yes I know, there is a difference between “inheritance” taxes and “estate” taxes.  Regardless of how the godless IRS defines it or how/when it gets collected, however, the principle is the same for both.