Sublime, Meet Ridiculous

Readers may remember this little bit of news from last week:

A driver who was trapped behind the wheel of an out-of-control Jaguar I-Pace has revealed to MailOnline how he almost cheated death as his car accelerated up to 100mph on the busy M62 motorway without brakes.

Nathan Owen, 31, was on his way back from his first day at a new job when his 2019 electric car started malfunctioning, sparking a huge police operation to bring his car to a stop after 35 minutes of hell.

But in a shock revelation, Mr Owen told how his car had also gone rogue on the motorway in December, this time reaching up to 120mph.

Well, if you thought that was the end of the story, you forgot that this happened in Britishland, so of course there’s a sequel:

Police have arrested a Jaguar I-Pace driver on suspicion of dangerous driving after his ‘out-of-control’ car had to be rammed off the road by officers when it ‘went rogue’ at speeds of up to 100mph.

Nathan Owen, 31, was arrested by Merseyside Police in relation to the incident on the M62 on Wednesday, March 6.

He was arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving and causing a public nuisance and taken into police custody to be questioned.

Mr Owen claimed his £80,000 electric car went gone rogue on the motorway that day, sparking a huge police operation to bring his car to a stop after 35 minutes of hell.

His arrest comes after a detailed investigation was carried out by police and Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) – who said it ‘seeks to investigate all reports of issues relating to product safety’.

Yeah, surrounded by umpteen police cars, he just carried on speeding — of course it’s his fault, even though ’twas Owen himself who called the rozzers for help.

Once again, I’m reminded of the incident in Joseph Heller’s Catch-22, when MPs burst into a hotel room where Aarfy has just thrown a whore out of a window to her death — and arrest Yossarian for being AWOL.

Fucking hell.

Not Red, Not Even Herrings

You need to read the report about the “pipe bombs” that were discovered outside both the DNC and RNC heaquarters buildings in Washington D.C. on Jan 6 2020.  The report exposes either incomparable incompetence by the FBI, or else a degree of indifference about the supposed bombs and their implications, which leads me to suggest the executive summary of the whole business.

There were no bombs, and the FBI knew they weren’t bombs.  The bomb-like devices were a plant to increase the supposed imminence of civil unrest and insurrection and feelings of paranoia and fear among members of Congress and the public on Jan 6.  And the FBI were absolutely complicit in, if not the actual creators of this entire charade.

Now you can read the article, and see if the above summary is refuted by anything therein.

Going Medieval

Britishland:

Brits:  “If guns are banned, can we use swords?”
Britcops:  “No.”
Brits:  “How about crossbows, then?”
Britcops:  “We’ll get back to you on that*.”

*The Home Office has launched an eight-week consultation to see if there should be a licensing system to control the use, ownership and supply of crossbows.

Frogland:

The Principality of Monaco plans to follow in the footsteps of its surrounding French neighbours by organising a national day dedicated to the collection of weapons and ammunition that have been found or inherited by individuals.

At the end of 2022, France managed to collect more than 150,000 weapons without inflicting legal or administrative proceedings on the weapons’ former owners.

The head of the Administrative Police Division, Rémy Le Juste, addressed the topic at the Monaco Police’s well wishes for the New Year, saying “this is a major subject which deserves everyone’s attention, given the somewhat troubled international context that we are going through.”

Le Juste admitted that “It still happens that our services intervene with individuals who find themselves owners through inheritance of undeclared weapons dating from the Second World War,” and added: “We encourage, from now on, all people who find themselves, despite themselves, possessing weapons to call on our services: either to have them destroyed or to make them unfit for their use, and this, without these people being subject to criminal charges, subject of course to the agreement of the judicial authorities.”

Only knights, the King’s men and the king’s favorites may own weapons of war.  Peasants:  non.

U.S.:

“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

More Bastardy From California

I thought this nonsense had been declared illegal:

Several major credit card companies have decided to move forward with a plan to track purchases made at gun retailers in California, CBS News reported Monday.

American Express, Visa, and Mastercard will implement a new merchant code for firearm and ammunition retailers, allowing banks to track “suspicious” purchases to comply with a new California law.

As I’ve said before, whenever government needs a BJ, corporations have absolutely no problem falling to their knees.

Fuckers.

Cash.  Gun shows/estate sales.  Individual purchases.  (I don’t know how any of this would help CA residents, as they appear to be doomed, gun-wise.)


Update:  Seems like Idaho has the right idea, though.

And So Say All Of Us

Here’s an interesting take:

The most important and consequential trend of the twenty-first century has been the rapid expansion of centralized power and the resulting collapse of government competence. We are experiencing widespread and accelerating [federal] government failure.

Ironically, a collapse of the U.S. government would produce many great benefits, given its present size, cost, intrusiveness, and ineptitude. Of course, the social dysfunction caused by disruption of Social Security and other entitlements would be massive; shortages of food and other essentials would be devastating; the temptation for other nations to attack us in a variety of ways would be irresistible; and other dire problems would arise.

The states, however, especially the red ones, would surely step in to restore order and cooperate with one another to support interstate commerce, protect the nation’s borders, and take care of the less fortunate in more sensible and affordable ways. As the Texas border protection effort indicates, many states are eager to do just that.

Though it would involve an agonizing period of adjustment, a devolution of power from the federal government to the states and localities would be a boon, well worth the temporary suffering. Until governments stop promising the moon, conditions here in the real world will continue to deteriorate.

I wonder just what all the ramifications of this could be.  Read the whole article for details.