Amtrak to Recognize the Second Amendment

The Left and the Unions, but I repeat myself, are most distraught. Amtrak to allow guns on trains. Workers union calls policy 'lunacy'

Unions are acting like this open carry. It is not.

Amtrak plans to expand its firearms transportation policy in January 2027, allowing passengers to bring unloaded guns aboard more trains in locked cases, a move that has drawn sharp criticism from a union representing the railroad's workers.

This seem to be related to President Trump's review of policies that infringe on the 2nd Amendment.

All of these restrictions are relatively new. Guns were on all kinds of trains, including public transit, in the 1950s.

This is Liberty Doll's video Amtrak Changes Gun Transportation — Union Calls It “LUNACY"

My Technical Infrasturcture Is Mostly/Almost Back to Normal

I have never had an SSD get corrupted and dump the operating system, and more than the operating system. But that is what I've been fighting against.

Also, pro-tip: Keep a bootable USB drive on hand, where it is easy to find. It took me most of an afternoon to find mine. (You need a running PC to build a bootable drive from an ISO.)

Having a decent backup is a good thing... I have several. Though I will be backing up much more frequently going forward.

If you left a comment, it should be published now. Sorry it took so long, but I spent a lot of time screaming at the sky.

I leave you with "Alkohol" by Eisbrecher from their album Sünde from 2008.

AT&T Begins Shutdown of Copper Landlines

It is a dead technology, but still. AT&T landline shutdown begins in Middle Tennessee

Starting this Sunday, AT&T will begin shutting down landline services across several Middle Tennessee communities after receiving permission from the Federal Communications Commission.

Hat tip to Miguel Gonzalez and End of an Era... what unintended consequences will we have?

Copper was the standard for SHTF situations and now that will be a thing of the past.

I have to think about this going forward. When I first moved to the edge of nowhere, my choices for internet were extremely limited. I even had extremely slow, phone company service for a while. I now have cable internet. Fiber recently became available, but the cable is competitive on price, and it is more than I need right now.

That is because I am slowly being surrounded by somewhere. Maybe I should have moved to the middle of nowhere.

Landlines were never the panacea that Miguel sees them as. They were centrally controlled, at least as much as cellphones. Radio has always been the best backbone for an after-the-end-of-the-world communications plan.

Still, I expect there will be fallout.

People You Know Can Pose a Threat

The Left loves to go on at length about how if you own a gun you're more likely to shoot someone you know than a complete stranger. There is a reason for that. Domestic disturbance ends with fatal shooting

In this case, it was a son, attacking his own father.

The incident is believed to be one of self-defense and the father, who is in his 70s, was not arrested at the scene, following law enforcement interviews and evidence gathering at the scene, Nye County Sheriff Joe McGill told the Pahrump Valley yesterday morning.

Parhump, Nevada, ismiles west of Las Vegas, on th California state line.

This is certainly a tragedy for the family. It may be a case of crazy people are dangerous. There is some indication of that in the article linked above, but it is not explicitly stated.

Self-defense is a human right.

Microsoft Faces Friday The 13th Outage

File this under "Misery Loves Company." Microsoft’s global outage may be worse than Amazon’s or CrowdStrike’s, expert says

A global outage taking down a wide range of Microsoft 365 services remains ongoing Friday morning.

The outage started midday Thursday, impacting users of Microsoft email, cloud, and AI services. Microsoft has documented the full list of services impacted by the error, while moving early Friday morning to protect customers around the world from losing emails during the extended disruptions.

OK, so it isn't exactly a Friday the 13th issue, but I'm sure Triskaidekaphobia was a topic of discussion at Microsoft on Friday.

So how happy are we that a few big companies have vacuumed up most of the internet.

Similar to recent world-shaking outages of widely used tech like Amazon Web Services and CrowdStrike, the Microsoft disruption looks like “one of the biggest outages of all time,” Ciaran Martin, the former head of the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre, told NBC News. Possibly even “worse,” he suggested.

Technology is wonderful when it works.

Like a Stone

In late October, WXRT's Saturday Morning Flashback was revisiting 2002. It was 24 years ago, after all. When I looked, I was surprised that I hadn't featured this song in a musical interlude before.

I was disappointed in in the music from 2002 overall. There were some wonderful songs, but they were stuck in the middle of a bunch of songs that sounded like copies of each other. I have maintained for a few decades at this point that the suits running the American (and some of the British) music industry have tiny minds that can only copy what they heard 10 minutes ago.

Here is a link to the lyrics.

This song is "Like a Stone" by Audioslave from their 2002 debut album Audioslave.

I'm not sure why I like this song. I do listen to a lot of music that deals with death and dying... Maybe this is just part of that.

No Links Post Today

In honor of Friday the Thirteenth, my technical problems continue. Things should be back to what passes for normal in a day or two.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

School Shootings Where Law Enforcement Was on Site

The Left hates having armed security at schools. But they save lives. List of K-12 School Shootings where an Armed School Resource Officer or Other Types of Law Enforcement Officers were Assigned to Guard the School Since 2000 - Crime Prevention Research Center

There were 45 shooting attacks at K-12 schools where there were school resource officers or other types of law enforcement officers. Thirty-nine of the cases involve casualties other than the attacker. In those 39 cases, there was on average 1.3 murders and 2.9 injuries.

44.8% of US schools have armed law enforcement officers on site.

This seems like half of the statistics that I want. I will be on the lookout for the other half of the statistics.

British Cops Can't Be Bothered to Investigate Crime

The are probably too busy arresting people over memes.  'Police did not investigate bullet hitting my home'

A homeowner has accused the police of failing to investigate after his house was struck by a rifle bullet.

Adam McGill said a live rifle round was fired at his home in Bidford-on-Avon, South Warwickshire, in August 2025, shattering a pane of glass in a rear window.

But they have all the gun control.

Is anyone shocked about the police?

The police in South Warwickshire, have admitted that they screwed up, but I don't think it will amount to much in the long term.

No Respect for Life

If this is how he treated his grandmother, what would he do to strangers? Police, reports: Westland grandmother shot and killed by grandson

Westland police are investigating the murder of an elderly woman who was found shot dead in a house in the city's historic Norwayne District, where they believe someone shot her first, and then set the house on fire.

As of late Nov. 11, police had a suspect in custody, but would not release his name.

The woman was 79 years old, so her grandson is probably older than 18, which leaves me baffled about why they have not released his name. Could just be slow paperwork for getting charges filled.

A gun may not have saved this woman; there are no guarantees in this life. It is the only thing that would have saved her. I suppose the gun-hating part of the Left thinks that the world would be worse if she was alive and her grandson was dead.

Westland, Michigan, is about 18 miles west of downtown Detroit.

I miss civilization.

Charged for Defending Himself

Self-defense is not a legal right in France. 67-Year-Old Hunter Fires at Three Hooded Men Damaging His Home at Night and Ends Up Facing Courts

The use of a hunting firearm to defend a home has led to a 67-year-old French hunter having to answer before the courts. Éric Liberge, a resident of Saint-Georges-du-Rosay, in the Sarthe department, woke in the early hours of 30 August 2026 after hearing noises outside his home. There he discovered three hooded men causing damage to his property.

Cops in Oklahoma would buy this guy a beer, but France is too "civilized" to let you defend yourself. Read the whole thing.

What Happens When the Police Only Have Electric Vehicles?

This is a story that I missed (I think YouTube is messing with my subscriptions again.) It is from a month back or so, but still worth looking at.

Your first vocabulary word for the day, is "garda." It is Irish for police officer. Garda forced to thumb a lift to emergency as electric patrol car can't be charged at his station

Police are forced to hitchhike to a crime scene. This is unbelievable. Hey, it isn't like police are ever trying to get the scene of an emergency.

The TD [member of parliament] explained it is a regular occurrence that there is little left in the battery for day-to-day policing. Daly said the garda was called to a serious incident in Clonbern when he had 22% charge left in the car. “At 11% depletion of that charge, he decided to pull over because he would be stranded if he went on further. He hitched the last three miles to Clonbern to attend that scene.

This kind of gives new meaning to the statement, "When seconds count, police are only minutes away."

The statements by the politician are typical. "I agree with the stated goals, even though they are putting people in danger."

One size does not fit all. Politicians are neither engineers, nor experts in infrastructure. What makes sense in you comfortable, suburban, gated community doesn't make sense everywhere. Stop trying to make your will cover the entire world.

This is the MGUY Australia video ⚡️Out of charge! Police forced to HITCHHIKE to crime scene

And what we see here is exactly what happens when you try and force electric vehicles on a country, and a landscape, and a geography that is completely unsuitable for it.

The video is about 9 minutes.

Ames, Iowa versus Legal Concealed Carry

From Bearing Arms: Iowa City Changes Policy After Lawsuit Threat Over Carry Ban

The Iowa Firearms Coalition and Second Amendment advocate Natalie Gibson have convinced the city of Ames, Iowa to scrap its policy banning lawful concealed carry on public transit, delivering a big win for gun owners looking to get rid of as many "gun-free zones" as possible.

Gibson, who's a student at Iowa State University, sued the city a couple of weeks ago over its carry ban on the CyRide bus system. As the Iowa Capital Dispatch reports, the Ames Transit Board unanimously approved a motion to replace the ban with language warning riders that carrying a firearm on the Iowa State University campus "could be" a violation of university policy and state law.

Read the whole thing.

Technical Difficulties

 PC problems. I will be offline for a day or two 

Wednesday Link Roundup - Veterans Day Edition

William Teach at Pirate's Cove is up first with Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup

bluebird of bitterness has your funnies.
Bookworm Room has the Bookworm Beat

Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 11.09.26

Don Surber: Miller time
Elizabeth Nickson: Risk On – The Empire Strikes Back

Political Hat - News of the Week (November 8th, 2026)

The DEI Mandates That Won’t Go Away
The American Bar Association has repealed its diversity standard. Other professional accreditors are still wrestling with where competence ends and ideology begins.

Don Surber - HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK

ITEM 12: After the election, JD Vance turned into Mike Pence so fast that he may as well announce for president in 2028 now.
As a Democrat.

Gates of Vienna - News Feed 11/7/2026

Senator Raphael Warnock has told Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that he should resign now or spend the next two years “in front of Congressional committees” in a probe.

The Glibertarians - Sunday Morning Post-Party Links

“…and give it to them good and hard.”
Was Jamaal Bowman around?
Once they had an empire.

Small Dead Aminals - Saturday On Turtle Island

Islamic Socialist America: The coming persecution. Late night propaganda. Democrat hypocrisy.
Brookfield Carney’s Canada: Muslim values? Menstrual Equity Fund.

Maggie's Farm - Saturday morning links

So Americans Hate Data Centers. What Now?
“Fire Him Today” – Hakeem Jeffries, Chuck Schumer, and Other Democrats Lose it Over Stephen Miller Becoming Chief of Staff, Vow to “Fight Him Every Step of the Way”

Doug Ross - Larwyn’s Linx: Susan Kokinda Notes Democrat Plan to Tear Down What Trump Builds

Could Nvidia’s Spy Scandal Force Jensen Huang To Resign? - Quoth the Raven
The Justice Department Moves Forward with Grand Jury Investigation into Dobbs Leak - Turley

I leave you with Pass the Memes and Buy More Ammo from According To Hoyt, Sunday Funnies For 11-08-26 from Stately McDaniel Manor, The Week in Pictures: Electoral Degringolade Edition from Power Line, and Sunday Funnies from Flopping Aces.

He Brought a Knife to a Gunfight

It didn't end well for him. Deputies Fatally Shoot Florida Man Holding Woman Hostage At Knifepoint In Citrus County

Stories involving Florida Man rarely end well.

The got into an argument at a gas station. It progressed to him forcing her down the road with a knife.

Several bystanders stepped forward to intervene, pleading with Schwartz to stop. One armed citizen drew a legally concealed handgun, attempting to hold Schwartz at bay until law enforcement arrived.

 Instead of backing down, Schwartz forced the woman onto the pavement and pinned her down, brandishing the knife just inches from her head.

Concealed carry is not a magic wand to solve all problems, but at least people didn't ignore the situation.

Citrus County sheriff’s deputies arrived moments later to a volatile standoff. Standing over the woman, Schwartz refused multiple, shouted orders to drop the blade and let her go. Concluding the woman’s life was in immediate danger, four deputies opened fire, striking Schwartz multiple times.

what did he think would happen?

EV Depreciation

This is the MGUY Australia video The losses are STAGGERING

I guess you could argue that regular cars rely on a chemical reaction as well, but it is fairly simple. The burning of fuel.

In contrast, the battery pack of an EV consists of hundreds, potentially thousands of individual lithium-ion cells, all connected together to provide enough energy quickly enough to power the electric traction motors. And as with any lithium ion battery, like the one in your phone or laptop, for example, there is a natural degradation which occurs during normal use.

The video is 11 minutes long.

The articles referenced in the video are:

• The 10 fastest-depreciating cars 2026
• The 10 slowest-depreciating cars in 2026

The articles are from The United Kingdom, so a couple of the brands are not familiar to American drives. DS Automobiles is a brand that is all about electric cars, and Vauxhall, which I have heard of but know nothing about. Some well known brands are included, as a Mercedes EV is on that list.

The slowest-depreciating cars are mostly sports cars, with the Mercedes G-Class, Mercedes V-Class, and the Rolls-Royce Cullinan thrown in for balance.

I Am a Poor Wayfaring Stranger

A musical interlude for Veterans Day is actually a tough selection. I have used everything along the lines of "The Star-Spangled Banner" for the Fourth of July, Memorial Day, et al over the years. But I found something new. Well, newer.

This song is a "I Am a Poor Wayfaring Stranger" from the soundtrack to the film 1917, which came out in 2019. It is sung by Jos Slovick.

Several people have recommended 1917, and looking up what year it came out, I noticed that it had very favorable reviews. I may have to see about finding a copy. (My local library is good for that.)

Tuesday Links - 10 November

Townhall starts things rolling with Boulder Residents Have Been Paying Taxes for a Nonexistent Train

All told, they've paid a lot for the train and they're told it'll be completed in 2040. Maybe. According to the Colorado Sun, the Regional Transportation District has collected $4 billion in taxpayer money over the last 21 years. The agency cites "ballooning costs" for the delay in construction.

Roberta X - Interesting Times

Meanwhile, the Dems are in the position of a car-chasing dog that has unexpectedly caught several. Theirs is the more fractious party, and the details-and-consensus job is even more important.

Science Alert - Encryption That Protects Your Bank Account Could Fall to a Quantum Computer in 3 Days, Study Suggests

Matt Margolis at PJ Media - Why Democrats Are Crashing Out Over Stephen Miller

When President Donald Trump promoted Stephen Miller to White House chief of staff, Democrats started fuming almost instantly. That reaction alone tells you it was a good move.

Wombat-socho - FMJRA 2.0: A Break In The Misery

Well, after weeks and weeks of getting beaten like the family mule, the Senators managed to win two out of three against the Expos.

MaddMedic - Was Good..

To get away and spend time with my youngest son hunting.
And to harvest a deer makes it even better!

The Freedom Corner with PeterSweden - SURPRISE: Plastic straws BETTER for environment than paper straws

And now it turns out that the propaganda about paper straws being better for the environment was completely FALSE.