You Can't Silence Us

NY and GOA: A Larger Issue?

There is a case in NY that is important, where the U.S. Northern District Court ruled in Higbie v. James that New York’s concealed carry laws are violating the Second Amendment rights of nonresidents by making it nearly impossible for nonresidents to obtain a concealed carry license. It was sponsored by Gun Owners of America.

The plaintiffs in this case argued that they each have firearms licenses which permit them to bear arms in public in their respective states “and across most of the country.” They also claimed that New York does not permit them to carry their firearms while they are in New York solely because they are not residents or employees of the State. They argued that New York’s licensing scheme is an extreme outlier among the states because at least 27 states do not even require a permit to carry a concealed firearm in public, while the vast majority that do require permits will issue permits to out-of-state residents. The US District Court agreed, and struck down NY’s complicated and overly onerous regulations as being unconstitutionally designed to deny nonresidents their constitutional rights under the Second Amendment. The court ruled that state lawmakers can not restrict concealed carry licenses to maintaining residency, property ownership, or business interests in the state.

The tyrants of NY government attempted to make the argument that their licensing measures were not entirely prohibitive for non-residential applicants, saying certain guidelines allowed for those who owned habitable property or a business stake in the state to apply for such a license. In essence, they claimed that, because they allowed one nonresident to have a permit, this excused violating the rights of the rest of them. In essence, they are relying on the “token negro” defense. The court rightly called them out on this. 

Look, this case will have no direct impact upon the reality of CCW for nonresidents in New York. We all know that, because those ass clowns will simply find another way to violate the rights of US citizens while bleating loudly about the rights of illegal immigrants to take a dump on New York city streets. Even those residents who have permits nominally have to have criminal background checks, a mental health professional sign off on the permit, and multiple references.

The reality is that New York’s scheme is all about who you know and political payoffs when deciding who gets a permit. I know someone who has a New York carry permit. He also has a state police license plate, which starts with 1SP. He began telling me that the state police union had a series of special plates made, and they are only available through Hamilton county in New York. He claimed that this plate was given to “friends” of the police union, and the lower the number was that followed the 1SP, the more important you were to the cops. He said that this plate routinely gets him out of traffic and parking tickets. Not because he paid for it, nor did he jump through hoops. It’s because he knows someone, or as he puts it, “I’ve got a guy.”

This sounded like a lload of BS to me, so I activated my Google skills. What I found was that handing out special plate numbers is a common practice in New York. and I quote:

To some recipients, special license plates issued by the Saratoga County clerk are a symbol of county pride. For others, they are an inherited treasure passed on by a family member or loved one.
For many who have them — a list that ranges from county workers to state Supreme Court judges — an unwritten rule is that a lower number may indicate a special driver.
Indeed, an examination of the recipients of the special plates, which carry an “SP” prefix, shows they are coveted by a select group of government employees and elected officials, including judges, prosecutors, town supervisors, attorneys and political party leaders. The spouses and children of those people are also among those, estimated to be in the hundreds, who have the plates.

Now the SP prefix goes to Saratoga County. The 1SP prefix, which I can find little about, belongs to the State Police. This is how things are done there, from Concealed Weapons Permits to License plates, corruption and special favors rule the day.

They claim it is for “county pride” but I am sure there are not that many people who believe that. This is a way of announcing to the police that you are politically well connected and should receive special treatment.

The real impact of the Higbie case is that the noose is closing. The era of violating people’s rights to bear arms is closing through the courts. That doesn’t mean the fight os over. Evil, corruption, and man’s quest for power to rule others never ceases. That’s why the fight can’t either.

Donate to the GOA or the FPC. They are doing the work of patriots.

People who have read this post: 222
By Divemedic, ago

Making It

My post from the other day surprisingly hit a nerve with some people. Even among the readers of this blog, there appear to be many people who are their own worst financial enemy. They still would rather believe that the deck is stacked against them and scapegoat someone else for their own lack of making it.

The gist of all of this is some sort of excuse about how it is someone else’s fault that they aren’t successful. That person could be faceless judges, the rich who have pulled up the ladder behind them, boomers, your ex-wife, whoever.

It’s all bullshit. There is no evidence that it’s any harder now than it was 50 years ago. For starters, home ownership isn’t as difficult as it seems. In the US, less that half of all US citizens owned their own homes before WW2. After that war, there was a homebuilding boom that saw homeownership rates increase to 55% in 1950, 62% in 1960, then 63% in 1970, when Baby Boomers began buying homes. The 80’s and 90’s had homeownership rates around 64%, and increasing to 66% by the turn of the millennium.

Homeownership rates peaked in 2004 with a 69% rate. It fell with the collapse of the mortgage lenders, bottoming out at 63% in 2016. Even now, homeownership rates are hovering around 65%, which is still higher than it was through most US history.

The only person holding you back is- you. Well, you and the choices that you make. Yes, I am telling you that if I made it, you can, too. Remember that I was bankrupt in 2009. When I left that bankruptcy, I had less than $3,000 in assets, and that included a car I was still making payments on. I lost my house in that bankruptcy and had to move back into an apartment. That was when I took a very real look at what I was doing. I made changes.

I am telling you to take a real look at where your money is going. Don’t buy useless shit. Buy and payoff a house. Save, invest. Get your spouse on board with your effort- it won’t work unless you are both doing it together. You won’t be able to make it if one of you is saving while the other is spending.

This is intended to be motivational. You can do this, but it won’t be easy. It will take spending discipline. It will take some effort. Not everyone is going to be wealthy- but anyone CAN be wealthy.

You can do it. Or you can keep blaming a scapegoat for the fact that you aren’t.

People who have read this post: 435
By Divemedic, ago

Monkey

A man enters a bar carrying a monkey. The monkey begins running around the bar, making a general and complete nuisance of itself. Finally, the monkey jumps up on the billiard table, picks up the cue ball, and swallows it whole. The bartender, having had enough, throws the man and his monkey out of the bar.

Several weeks pass, and the man returns with his monkey. He explains to the bartender that the monkey has learned his lesson and asks if they can return. The bartender, being in a generous mood, relents.

After an hour or so, the bartender notes that the monkey has indeed been well behaved and treats him to one of the cherries from the bar. The monkey takes the treat, sticks it up his butt, pulls it out, then eats it.

The bartender, disgusted, looks at the monkey’s owner and asks him, “Why does he do that?”

The monkey’s owner replies: “Ever since the cue ball incident, he won’t eat anything without first checking to make sure it fits.”

People who have read this post: 368
By Divemedic, ago

Alimony

A housewife didn’t work for the 15 years she was married. Instead, she supported her husband in his career, following him across the country as his job took him from one city to another. He divorced her and was ordered to pay alimony. Five months later, she won the lottery. Now her husband thinks that he should no longer pay alimony. Men are calling her a deadbeat because she sponged off of him for nearly 20 years.

What would women say about that?

What if the genders were reversed? What if it was the man who was dumped and then won the lottery? Would women still defend the stay at home spouse, or would they call him a sponging free loader?

It turns out that those women are mercenary harpies, because that is exactly what has happened.

People who have read this post: 522
By Divemedic, ago

Class Warfare= Envy

There has been a plethora of stories talking about the privilege possessed by the upper middle class as of late. This article is typical of what the left is trying to do– they are saying that young people no longer have a chance at the American dream because they are being kept down by [insert here: “Boomers,” the upper middle class, banks, landlords, Donald Trump] because of privilege.

The things that supposedly prove that you are blind to your privilege are:

  1. Why don’t you move to a less expensive area, or one where jobs are more plentiful?
  2. I worked hard to make it, you can too.
  3. Money isn’t everything.
  4. We all have the same opportunities to succeed.
  5. I don’t worry about money.
  6. Why don’t they save more?
  7. Everyone should travel.

Numbers 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6 are all linked in my mind. It isn’t just about hard work, it’s about choices. The choices that we make directly affect the outcomes that we experience. If you pick a troublesome albatross for a mate, you decide to smoke week all day instead of hustling to improve, or you waste all of your money on OnlyFans, Starbucks, and Door Dash, you are not making good choices. Your outcome will reflect that.

That isn’t to slam having some vices- I like to gamble, and ordering Door Dash when I am at work instead of clocking out for an hour to go eat is actually more cost effective. The think is, you can’t be doing those things when you are poor. The importance of understanding when you can give up wants in order to afford your needs is something that many young people struggle with. Everyone, when they first move out of their parents’ house, is used to living a better lifestyle than they themselves can afford. My mother used to call it a “caviar and Champaign taste on a beer and bread budget.” Live within your means, save as much as you can, and then you will later enjoy a better life. Learn that sacrifices when you are young will pay off when you are older.

Once you realize that, you won’t have to worry about money and you will be able to travel. There is no secret to making it- so many people think that there is some magic or secret society to becoming wealthy, but it isn’t a secret and it isn’t magic.

The way to wealth is this:

Own your house. Renting just means that you are paying someone else’s mortgage.

Buy a house, preferably with a 15 year mortgage. Pay it off as quickly as you can- don’t just make the minimum payments. Look at four different choices (using West Orlando prices):

  • Rent a nice 2 bedroom apartment. Ten years ago, it was $1200 per month. Same apartments today are $2300 per month. If you did that for 15 or 30 years, it would cost you $324,000 or $648,000 and you own nothing.
  • Buy a house with the roughly same square footage in the same area for $140,000 in 2002. A 5% down mortgage would mean a $7,000 down payment and monthly payments of $937 for 30 years. Total cost for 30 years: $344,320. A lot, but you also now own a house that is now worth $425,000. Not bad. You are now $733,000 more wealthy than if you had rented.
  • Or buy the same house with a 15 year mortgage. Now the payments are $1281 per month, but you pay it off in half the time. Now the total cost is: $237,580. After 15 years, no payment at all. You are now $835,000 more wealthy than if you had rented.
  • Same 15 year mortgage, but make an extra $200 per month payment against your principal: you pay the house off 3.5 years early, and this saves you another $12,000 in interest payments. You are damned near to being a million bucks ahead of renting.

Don’t pick a spouse/significant other that spends you into the poorhouse.

I know that she (he) is fun- after all, spending money is fun and gives you instant gratification, but at the expense of your future well-being.

Know the difference between wants and needs.

Door Dash, Starbucks, and eating out are great, but you don’t NEED to do that, especially when you are poor. Wait until you can afford it before you waste money on these things. If you don’t own a house, are making extra payments on it, and can’t afford to pay all of your bills plus put at least 10% of your income aside as savings, then you can’t afford to any of those “Wants.” Learn to wait until you can.

Education is the key to financial well being.

That doesn’t necessarily mean college. The lack of a college degree doesn’t mean that you won’t get a good job. There are plenty of trades out there that make good money- welders, for example. I was a fire medic and making a pretty good living.

Having a college degree doesn’t guarantee you a good job. Taking out $200,000 in student loans for a degree in 14th Century French poetry is a bad idea.

The trick is to learn a valuable skill, then be good at it. Work hard, make wise choices. Save. Don’t waste money on stupid bullshit. Then be patient. It will take a while. It took me about 12 years to go from bankrupt to a million in net worth.

That’s my advice. I have learned all of these things the hard way. It wasn’t privilege that got me to be successful- remember, I have been poor and even homeless. It was the school of hard knocks. Doing the things I recommend here is hard. It takes discipline and sacrifice.

Or you can just stay poor and blame your landlord or Donald Trump for it.

People who have read this post: 501
By Divemedic, ago

Guns and Weed: The 11th CCA Weighs In

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals weighed in on guns and weed when they ruled that the Federal ban on gun ownership fails the Bruen test when barring people with medical marijuana cards from owning firearms.

The federal government “failed to meet its burden … to establish that disarming medical marijuana users is consistent with this nation’s history and tradition of firearm regulation,” the decision by a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ panel said.

One case at a time, gun laws are being chipped away.

The lawsuit said the federal prohibitions “forbid Floridians from possessing or purchasing a firearm on the sole basis that they are state-law-abiding medical marijuana patients.”

The government argued that “since the founding, our nation’s firearm laws have included provisions preventing individuals who threaten physical harm to others from misusing firearms,’” a Justice Department brief said. “The limited restriction at issue here, which applies only to individuals engaged in the regular and ongoing use of illegal drugs, ‘fits comfortably’ within that tradition and the principles underpinning it.”

The District court initially agreed and tossed out the case, but the Appeals court thought differently.

The Appeals court’s opinion said in response that the government’s arguments “do not lead to an inference that … state law abiding medical marijuana users can fairly be labeled as dangerous” and thus are “disarmed wrongly.”

One more gun law gone.

People who have read this post: 316
By Divemedic, ago

We Wuz Kangs

Kaura Taylor, woman from the US has moved to the woods outside of Edinburgh, Scotland and is now living with a Ghanan man whose real name is Kofi Offeh but goes by the name of King Atehehe. He claims to be the king of a lost African tribe that he alleges was illegally ousted from Scotland in 1590. The entire tribe consists of the “king,” his wife the “queen,” and Kaura, who claims to be the queen’s handmaiden.

Offeh is a 36-year-old former opera singer from Ghana, but claims he is the messiah and a descendant of the biblical King David, with he and his wife referring to each other as King Atehehe and Queen Nandi. They claimed to be living in a mystical kingdom called Kubala, but the reality is that it was a muddy patch of land on the outskirts of Jedburgh, where the “tribe” was living in what is essentially a homeless camp in tents and folding chairs.

They have since been evicted. Social services have since removed Kaura’s (who now goes by the name of Asnat) child from her. What ever happened to the old Scottish and British custom of running Moors through with a sword?

People who have read this post: 341
By Divemedic, ago

Hurricane Wind Protection

This is the redneck engineering that went into the window covers from earlier in the week. This will help my Gulf Coast readers. I try to improve hurricane preps every August as I get ready for the start of the season peak.

When the National Weather Service sets the classification of a Hurricane, they always list the maximum wind speed. The thing about that is the maximum winds are only found within a very small area- about 10 miles from the center or so. I did a pretty comprehensive post on the NHC and hurricanes, you can read it here. Since I rode out Milton just last year, let’s go over some facts:

Milton made landfall near Siesta Key, which is 20 miles south of the entrance to Tampa Bay, as a category 3 storm with 120 mile per hour winds.

Here are the top wind reports from each county around the area:

  • Manatee County: Peak wind gusts 80 to 100 mph,
  • Pinellas County: Peak wind gusts 80 to 100 mph,
  • Hillsborough County: Peak wind gusts 80 to 100 mph,
  • Polk County: Peak wind gusts 80 to 90 mph,
  • Pasco County: Peak wind gusts 65 to 75 mph,
  • Hernando County: Peak wind gusts 60 to 70 mph,
  • Citrus County: Peak wind gusts 50 to 60 mph.,

Note that wind speeds drop off dramatically once you begin moving away from the area of the coast where landfall occurs. A CAT 3 storm produces CAT 2 winds once you are 20 miles or so from the landfall, 40 miles from landfall gets you CAT 1 winds, and by the time you are 60 miles out, you are likely to only see Tropical storm force winds.

If you measure Florida’s peninsula, it’s between about 120 to 150 miles across for most of its length. If you live in the center, you are already about 65 miles from the coast. Meaning that, unless the core of the storm hits the coast closest to your house and makes a beeline to pass directly overhead within 6 to 8 hours of the Hurricane making landfall, you are unlikely to see winds that are any higher than 75 miles per hour with a CAT 3 storm, or about 100 miles per hour with a CAT 5. All houses built in Florida since 1998, when the state’s uniform Hurricane building code was adopted, have to withstand winds of up to 115 mph. The building codes have done a good job. Here are the average claims for Hurricane Ian, broken down by the decade each house was built:

With these newer building codes, the most significant weaknesses of homes are 1: flooding from wind driven water (called storm surge); and 2: missiles and flying debris being tossed by the wind breaking a window.

Storm surge isn’t an issue unless you live within a mile or two of a large body of water, so it’s wind driven debris breaking a window that is the primary concern. So we need to defend our homes from wind driven debris, and from the wind pressure itself.

Why is that important?

A wind speed of 120 miles per hour exerts a force of about 37 pounds per square foot, that drops to 26 pounds at 100 miles per hour, 16 pounds at 80 miles per hour, and only 9 pounds at 60 miles per hour. It’s a square function.

My windows are 3 feet by 5 feet, making them 15 square feet. At 120 mph, there is over 550 pounds of force acting on that window, if the wind is hitting it straight on!

The fasteners I am using are 3M Dual Lock 250/250 tape that is 0.5″ x 2.0″, resulting in 1 square inch in area. It takes 2.2 pounds per square inch to separate, and I am placing 20 of these strips around the outside of the panel to hold it to the window frame. It will take 44 pounds of force to remove the panel from the frame. This is equivalent to a 40 mile per hour wind directly pushing the panel away from the window.

I know what you are thinking at this point- how in the world are we going to use a Velcro like product to secure a panel to a window against 500 pounds of wind force, when the product only requires 44 pounds of force to remove? If the panel can be removed by a person, surely it can be removed by wind of this strength? To answer this, look at the directions involved. The wind would be pushing the panel IN to the window, while the fasteners are acting to keep it from falling out.

Is my engineering as good as a professional structural engineer backed by wind tunnel testing? No, I am sure that it isn’t. But my engineering is less than half of the cost, and sometimes good enough is good enough.

My real challenge here is how I am going to attach these panels to the upstairs windows. They are more than 15 feet from ground level, and I can’t reach the top of the frame from inside of the second floor.

As a test, I bought 4 panels and some supplies to attach them. Let’s see how they do.

I measured and cut the first panel, primed the surfaces of the panel and the window frame, then put the tape on the frame. Then I simply pressed the panel into the place where I wanted it. It is firmly in place, but at the same time, you can get a finger between the panel and window frame and remove it with a firm tug. Total time for this first panel was about an hour, but the others should be faster.

Of course, the only real test is another Hurricane, and I am not going to wish for one of those.

These panels aren’t bulletproof. They aren’t going to stop an intruder, nor are they meant to. Prepping is about being ready for the most likely events to happen. In the past 10 years:

  • In our old house, we had two different burglaries in the summer: one in 2017, and the second in 2018. Turns out it was the same guy both times. The judge approved a plea deal where he got probation and his record was expunged. For armed burglary, but that’s another rant for another day.
  • In 2016, a man who identified himself as a “Navy Special Warfare Police Officer” tried to “arrest” me. When I asked to see his badge and ID, he refused. I drew a gun on his stupid ass and he fled. He came within 4 pounds of being a cautionary tale in a CCW class.
  • We have experienced 5 Hurricanes: Irma 2017, Michael 2018, Ian 2022, Helene 2024, and Milton and Debby hitting us in 2024. We had power failures lasting several days for two of those storms: Milton and Irma.
  • Our old house was struck by lightning no less than 5 times.

So our preps are centered around the most likely of events:

  • We are putting away money to guard against illness and job loss.
  • The new house has lightning protection built in.
  • We are now in a more rural area, so crime is mitigated somewhat.
  • Hurricane Preparedness

To see more on preps I recommend, please read this topic here. Also refer to the Preparedness pyramid.

People who have read this post: 188
By Divemedic, ago