Whisper

It's entertaining to see the scorn that is being heaped on Baldwin about this. I had some sympathy for the guy earlier -- it's awful for anyone to bear the moral weight of having accidentally killed an innocent person -- but he's such a lying weasel that now I'm simply disgusted. That said, there are others on the set that day who also need to face charges.

Nice buck. Also, is that a manifold for a John Deere three-cylinder I see in the bed of that old Chevy? How many shots did it take to bag that? Cheers, Whisper

Zero Hedge is a Bulgarian conspiracy site with a low reliability rating. Check them out before you place much faith in anything they post. Cheers, Whisper

I haven't paid any attention to the Clubs feature of TGO until now. Now my wife and I are preparing to move from Nashville to Chattanooga (we bought a house there and are closing in December). Neither one of us knows a single person in Chattanooga; we chose it purely on the basis of the proximity of the river and mountains and because the city had a nice feel whenever we've visited. So, anyone want to give me the lowdown there? What are the best gun stores? Places to shoot? Any good gun shows in the area? I've met some fine TGO folks in the Nashville area over the years and hope to make some connections with good people in our new hometown. Cheers, Whisper

Indeed. There are many unexpected blessings to growing older. With all of my kids now grown and out of the house, I am secure in the knowledge I will never again have to visit a theme park, and will never have to watch another Disney animated movie. Cheers, Whisper

I've just finished reading all the online articles I can find on this. Looks like so far police haven't filed charges against the shooter. So they're apparently moving cautiously.

Yep, it's a Ruger PCC. They aren't very loud. Also -- when someone confronts you holding a rifle, shouting "Use it, mother####er" is probably not the most effective de-escalation technique.

In the now-closed thread on the Rittenhouse verdict, which chucktshoes wisely closed because of excessive thread drift, bobsguns posted this: -- Sure, we're ready for something better. But who? How? One has to be insane to get involved in politics these days, IMO. It's an excellent question, and one that I write about occasionally in other venues. Some short thoughts -- There are different levels of getting involved in politics. At the level of actually running for office, most people aren't going to find the idea attractive, useful, or even tolerable, and for a variety of reasons. But there are other types of involvement, some requiring minimal effort but offering potential rewards. 1. Contact your elected officials and let them know your thoughts. If they're doing the right thing, thank them. But even if you know the official holds a view diametrically opposed to yours, let him/her know you disagree and are watching. Politicians spend a lot of time in an echo chamber hearing from their sycophants how wise and great they are. Reminding them there are other views -- and reminding them in an intelligent and reasoned way -- may not change their minds about anything...but if they start hearing the same "other view" more and more, they might start reconsidering. 2. Choose your information sources wisely. News media today are starkly polarized along political lines but they range across a wide spectrum of polarization, and there are some in or near the middle that have less bias. Seek them out. Also, consume information from both the right and left (maybe not much at the extreme limits) because there are good points to be made on both sides. You might learn something that could influence your own thinking, or you might gain some insights that will help you refute claims from the other side. I know there's a certain crude appeal to dismissing all news and information media by saying "They're all liars and you can't trust any of them," but that's simply not true for intelligent people willing to do little work and exercise their critical thinking skills. 3. Work toward making things better. An excellent way to do this is for looking for areas where there's an opportunity to make a difference. For example, there are people on both sides of the aisle who favor better voter identification laws. The left wants them to prevent voter discrimination, and the right wants them to prevent voter fraud, but the operative point here is that there are people on both sides who agree on this issue. To a small extent, we've seen the same thing in some of the discussion of the infrastructure bill -- both the right and left recognize that we need better roads and bridges and a more robust transportation system. And there's a growing chorus of voices from Dems and the GOP for instituting term limits for elected officials. What if politicians and voters on both the right and the left cooperated on those issues where there's agreement instead of demonizing each other because of issues where they disagree? No, we wouldn't have heaven on earth, but we'd have progress. 4. Finally, and perhaps most important: When you see politicians or news organizations on the left or the right that promote general hatred and contempt toward the other side just because they're on the other side, recognize that you are being played. Whether it's Tucker Carlson or Rachel Maddow, Anastasio Ocasio-Cortez or Marjorie Taylor Greene, Breitbart or Democratic Underground, understand that they're promoting anger and divisiveness because they profit from doing so. They want more money, more votes, more campaign donations, larger audiences, additional sponsors. People working together to solve problems simply doesn't pay as well for politicians or the news media. I've written enough for now. There are plenty of smart people with good intentions and creative ideas here on this forum. I'd be interested in your thoughts. (Those of you who are morons, please hold your comments. ) Cheers, Whisper

Yep, and those on the left have a similarly long list of Republican politicians that they believe prove conservatives are stupid, incompetent, and immoral. Extremists on both the left and the right cry loudly that their side is good and the other evil...while those who make money off that kind of divisiveness cheer it all on. Aren't we ready for something better than that?

If you go and chase someone down, it's hard to claim self defense.

It matters to people who watch interview shows to help form their opinions. No one watches Tucker Carlson or Rachel Maddow to find out what happened; they watch to confirm their biases and to validate their views that people on the other side of the political spectrum are stupid, incompetent, and/or immoral. Carlson and Maddow are both happy to deliver that kind of bigotry. An interview by a respected news outlet would garner more viewership from people whose minds weren't already made up and wanted to hear Rittenhouse interviewed by a journalist and not an advocate. Does appearing first on Carlson's show harm Rittenhouse much in the long run? Probably not. But it was a missed opportunity by Rittenhouse to make a positive impression on members of the public who were still undecided.

This is related to the way murder charges are handled under Georgia law and the fact that although there was only one murder, there were multiple defendants and multiple crimes (assault, false imprisonment) that led to the murder. Do a search for Georgia homicide laws and you'll find much to read there. EDITED: Garufa explained it in better detail while I was posting this.

Unfortunately, I fear his poor decision to appear first on Tucker Carlson's show will work against his effort to get people to view his actions and his trial in a more objective light. Carlson is unhinged from reality and taints everyone he contacts. He's a commentator, not a journalist. There are genuine journalists that this kid could have selected to do his first post-trial interview and treat him fairly. I wish he'd done that.

I agree with Fujimo; more posts in this thread are unlikely to contribute to the TGO community.

*Anyone* can be charged with a federal offense if enough money and pressure are brought to bear. But I doubt that much money and pressure can be brought to bear in this case. The prosecution's case tanked too spectacularly and exposed major weaknesses that would be hard to overcome in any double-jeopardy proceeding that might get cooked up.

Actually the trailer does look pretty good -- they seem to be incorporating Don and Cheech's advanced ages as a plot point. Wise choice. Interesting also that Don seems to be sporting a red dot sight on his heater. I guess he's kept up with firearms technology in his retirement...as we all should. Wonder if a Miami Vice reprise is next. Cheers, Whisper

Well, actually -- Both Don and Cheech are in their 70s now....

The majority of the news media are certainly on the side of the political left, but it's a misunderstanding to believe they all are. News media on the side of the right do exist, they're just outnumbered: Newspapers -- there's the Washington Times and the New York Post; television -- there's Fox News and OAN. When you get to online sites it's more balanced -- there's a ton of right-leaning online media sites, and they range from thoughtful and well-reasoned to screaming hysterical tin-foil-hat conspiracists. As with all information provided by the news media, the consumer's best approach is to sample widely with extreme skepticism, use your critical thinking skills, and make your own decisions. Cheers, Whisper

You already cited the example of William Randolph Hearst, who specialized in telling outright lies about people and policies and bears much personal responsibility for the Spanish-American War, so it's clear that there is nothing new about lying national news media. The scope of the lying is larger because the scope of news media is larger, but claiming that the lying itself is new or unique is simply incorrect.

Unfortunately, this is not a new phenomenon, and it's certainly not confined to the left. You can find plenty of historical examples of news media frenzy about black people charged with crimes against whites. (In fact, this was one of the early tools used to promote gun control laws in the US.) Right here in Tennessee we have the example of Edward Carmack, the editor of the Nashville Tennessean in the early 1900s, who spoke and wrote approvingly of lynching blacks. Think the Tennessean would publish anything like that today? Of course not. Some in the news media have always tried to influence the outcome of trials and public reaction to verdicts. Don't be fooled into believing that we're seeing something unusual.

Some folks are going to be selling off their 9mm, .40, and .45 ACP M&Ps. Come to think of it, I have a couple I may need to put in the classifieds to raise money for a 10.... Cheers, Whisper

Even back when Armslist was useful, I found the classifieds here to be better. Members here are more responsive to posts and messages, and you can select deals that are within driving distance. Armslist used to be full of ads from sellers who'd respond in a week or so and say "Sorry, I forgot this ad was on here" or "I sold this last week and forgot to take down the ad." Traffic to TGO is more consistent and, well, there just tends to be a higher class of people here. Plus the moderators here will thump the occasional moron who shows up. Cheers, Whisper

My magazines arrived today. Both the packaging and the mags themselves say "Made in Italy." Now I need to find one of the guns. But until then, I guess these mags will work fine in my FEG....

Bill Ruger's been dead for almost 20 years, so his political views aren't really a serious concern. Though, like many dead people, he's probably a Biden voter.

This thing about the mags being made in Croatia is interesting. On the SA website, where I ordered my mags (need those 15 rounds, right?) the magazine pictured has "Made in Italy" stamped on the magazine body. So I figured Mec-Gar, especially since they already offer 15-rounders for the Hi-Power. Cheers, Whisper