One of the Ring of Fire pocket pistol manufacturers I was referencing the other day is named in a lawsuit for illegal arms trafficking.

Jimenez Arms

Remember: the Zinc Frame and Ball-Point Pen Firing Spring Spell Quality!

The lady throws punches like a dude. Does Canada have the concept of aggravated assault?

https://twitter.com/TheRealKeean/status/1216885630182907904

Iowahawk, a national treasure.

https://twitter.com/iowahawkblog/status/1217433754072952832

Maybe they should cancel travelling to Davos, and do their thing on-line? right, indulgences.

https://climatechangedispatch.com/greta-lecture-fossil-fuels-davos/

This taught me a few things I didn't know:

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2020/01/13/the-abdication-stiff-upper-lips/EgkmnNxUzZVa2e23npwoZP/story.html

By Kevin Cullen.

"Before weighing in on the British royal family, a stipulation:

"The idea that someone is entitled to anything, much less unimaginable riches and endless attention, because of their bloodline is utterly preposterous.

"But as an open admirer of Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, for his efforts to help veterans and her outreach to the marginalized, and having read some of the vile racist abuse she has been subjected to, a few thoughts.

"Whatever you think of the royal family — and, given my tribe's history, it isn't much — it's hard not to cheer for Harry and his brother...

"...But Harry and William seem different. Perhaps because they lost their mother when they were so young, Harry and William, in partnership with their wives, have been determined to do what Diana did, something which had previously escaped so many of the royals, and that's damn the protocol and be empathetic.

"Unless you are of a certain age, you can't imagine how much of a cultural shift Diana helped produce, worldwide, when she touched someone with AIDS.

"In 1997, I arrived in London just as most Britons woke up to the news that Diana was dead. For the next week, I experienced firsthand a giant pushback by British people, angered at the way Queen Elizabeth and the royal family had treated Diana, in life, and in death.

"Most British people made it clear they favored Diana's brand of heartfelt empathy over the time-honored tradition of stiff upper lips and stiff little fingers. It took the queen, detached and aloof, a week to acknowledge popular sentiment.

"That tone deafness was not isolated. In his exquisitely written and acted series, 'The Crown,' Peter Morgan explored Queen Elizabeth's biggest blunder in a reign that next month will mark 67 years. In 1966, an avalanche of coal waste ran down a mountain in Wales, smothering the town of Aberfan, killing 116 children and 28 adults.

"The queen didn't visit Aberfan for eight days. She has suggested it was her concern that a royal visit would detract from rescue efforts. Whatever the reason, it betrayed a stunning lack of insight...

"...The queen channeled her former daughter-in-law's compassion. In a statement, the queen made it clear that she didn't like Harry and Meghan's decision, but that she was supporting their 'desire to create a new life as a young family.'

"Years ago, plagued by immaturity, I was more inclined to embrace the vulgar sentiments about the queen that republicans painted on the gabled walls of West Belfast. Then, in 2011, I was in Dublin as she became the first British monarch to visit the Republic of Ireland. She spoke with great dignity, humility, and, yes, empathy. She purged a lot of ghosts and demons then.

"On Monday, she did right by her family. And her nation.

"The queen is 93 now, and, like very few of us, getting better with age."
_____________________________________

Note: If there's anyone here who would defend the Queen's not showing up for eight days in 1966, keep in mind that any victim who's trapped for THREE days without water will likely be dead by the time the rescuers unearth that victim. So I can't imagine what she was thinking.

Note: If there's anyone here who would defend the Queen's not showing up for eight days in 1966, keep in mind that any victim who's trapped for THREE days without water will likely be dead by the time the rescuers unearth that victim. So I can't imagine what she was thinking.

lenona at January 15, 2020 8:10 AM

Clearly she should have been out there on the front lines with a shovel. (Sarc)

Megan is a woke scold, and Harry is a pussy whipped dingbat.
Megan wants to monetize her title. If she can’t, she won’t hang around very long. This public servant gig is boring.

When you've lost Piers Morgan...

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7881661/PIERS-MORGAN-playing-despicable-race-card-Meghan-Harry-libeled-Britain.html

Clearly she should have been out there on the front lines with a shovel. (Sarc)

Much like the abuse aimed at the AUssie prime minister (? or was it the head of the state of NSW?) about being absent during the current wild fire problem. What, specifically, would you like him to do that he can not do with a phone call?

I'm pretty sure he's not a trained wild fire fighter, and putting him in the line would not only be a unneeded danger to himself, but also to the crew he'd be with. Not to mention them tripping over the damn camera crews.

So I can't imagine what she was thinking. ~ lenona at January 15, 2020 8:10 AM

Perhaps her experience in World War II helped her understand that a royal visit to an area where people are trying to recover the dead bodies of their loved ones would be inappropriate and use up resources better left to the body search.

Reuters has a short blurb stating that the person in Tehran who shot the video of the Iranian missiles hitting the Ukrainian airliner has been arrested by the Revolutionary Guard. (Didn't bother to link, because that's all it says.)

The Blogfather is always willing to help out.

https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/354765/

The worst place to be when you just had a perm done:

https://mobile.twitter.com/Rolecasters/status/1217492439608569856

> So I can't imagine what
> she was thinking.

Maybe: That she was a middle-aged woman whose war experience had taught her that the deployment of men & matériel in times of bloody crisis is best not interrupted by public relations ponies whom, no matter how sincere and proficient their (recent) performance in military garages, have nothing to contribute to the effort at hand?

This is exactly why royalty needs to end. It's pathetic that such an enormously sophisticated nation would require, AND PAY TAXES FOR, a family of unremarkable twits to show up on teevee in bogus, pantomimed fictions of emotional connectedness.

Liz gets it, at least to some degree. She may not feel shame, but she knows better than to mug for the camera.

Markle gets it too, but is similarly hoping to cut off a flat slice before the culture wises up and snatches their own pie back.

Fat slice. Or a flat one. Whatever, it's pathetic.

Crisis! If only emergency response teams had been on hand to take command of this sitch....

Dammit, I go back an Conan has already written my comment.

Sheesh.

That would be the Obama era porkulus spending program.

With the hindsight of a decade is it possible to say what good the stimulus did?

https://amgreatness.com/2020/01/14/rip-offs-%D1%8F-us/

Horse whipping would be too good for this Secret Service agent.

In answer to a request from The Daily News to clarify the characterization of “unleashed” since The News has a photo of the dog’s body at the scene with her leash still attached, a spokesman for the Secret Service said it “will not have further comment.”

https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/ny-secret-service-agent-shoots-dog-brooklyn-20200114-aomg6kgzdze2fbqvl6dawqb4nm-story.html

So.. Yashar Ali gets a pass because he posts cute videos of baby elephants?

https://mobile.twitter.com/jackmurphylive/status/1217478802344939520

@IRA,

Has any LEO ever been punished for shooting a dog? I've seen news all these years of them shooting dogs and no followup whatsoever or it's always a The officer acted according to protocol weasel excuse.

I saw Slack Meat Sack open for Uncanny Valley in '87.

Secret truth, available to all but weirdly, never spoken: Ivanka has never been much fun to look at. None of them ever were.

(Maybe Marla for twenty minutes after a couple of Coors in one (1) Aspen sunset.)

I thought I made it clear she could have showed up three or four days afterward, not eight days - and she wouldn't have had to get in any rescuer's way, either. She could have worked with the consolation crew, or whatever they're called.

I doubt Cullen is the only one who felt her timing "betrayed a stunning lack of insight." As a journalist, he could easily find records of those who felt the same way, back then.

I thought I made it clear she could have showed up three or four days afterward, not eight days - and she wouldn't have had to get in any rescuer's way, either. She could have worked with the consolation crew, or whatever they're called.

I doubt Cullen is the only one who felt her timing "betrayed a stunning lack of insight." As a journalist, he could easily find records of those who felt the same way, back then.

lenona at January 15, 2020 4:53 PM

I’m wondering what kind of emotional attachment you have to second guessing everything the monarchy has ever done.

What was your point exactly?

Maybe if you stopped digesting TV specials like “The Crown” as actual recorded history you would gain a bit more perspective.

We don’t know why she didn’t go for eight days. Perhaps she was ill. Prince Phillip went earlier.

You can’t comfort someone experiencing uncontrollable grief or anger. It takes serval days for them to actually benefit from your moral support.

A scrum of marmots

He seems nice. #Expose2020

> I’m wondering what kind of
> emotional attachment you have
> to second guessing everything
> the monarchy has ever done.

Lenona is a distinctly sensible person in these matters, and even if this is her typical response to royal dramas, she's nowhere near the worst we'll ever see in this regard.

I mean, the problem is that taxpayers (or oughta-be-taxpayers) enjoy having such show-up-for-disaster people on the payroll anyway, whether to be critiqued or admired.

I mean, *I'll* second-guess everything, and I mean everything, any monarchy has done since the first day, including existing.

I mean, when she shows up for disasters is irrelevant.

A favorite pair of words from Cosh: Numquam regnabit.

I mean, when she shows up for disasters is irrelevant.

A favorite pair of words from Cosh: Numquam regnabit.

Crid at January 15, 2020 8:49 PM

Absolutely true. I too have no respect for the Monarchy in general, I am not a UK citizen, and have no interest in their expectations for the Monarchy. I certainly am not entitled to those expectations on my own behalf. That includes carping and whining about when the queen shows up where.

I find Harry and Megan mildly interesting. Mostly because my predictions of a disaster in the making seems to be coming up roses.

> Mostly because my predictions
> of a disaster in the making
> seems to be coming up roses.

Indeed, while myself to be a principled observer, this becomes a fun car crash to watch: Those people shouldn't have been drinking and driving anyway.

But one's distaste can have the character of the Parisians who didn't like the newfangled Eiffel:

Guy de Maupassant supposedly ate lunch in the tower's restaurant every day because it was the one place in Paris where the tower was not visible.

What was your point exactly?
________________________________________

That when most(?) Brits REALLY want something from the royal family, during a crisis, they usually deserve it, given how much they pay for the family's upkeep. Also, that timing is everything when you're a public figure.
___________________________________________

Maybe if you stopped digesting TV specials like “The Crown” as actual recorded history you would gain a bit more perspective.
________________________________________

Who said I've ever seen it? I haven't. Cullen was the one who mentioned it - and since he's a journalist, I doubt HE thinks that way either. He was likely trying to give his readers an extra reason to look up the facts - that Aberfan and the Queen's reaction to it were important enough to get mentioned on the show.

For the record, I do not pay for anything connected to royal families of any nationality, aside from an occasional movie ticket. Once every ten years, maybe. (Helen Mirren is a great actress anyway, so why not go see her?)