NYC Residents Start to Realize that Police Won't Be There to Protect Them

That they are late coming to that realization is amazing to me, but better late than never. From the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF - the trade association for the firearms industry) we get a story from New York City. New York Understandably Seeing Surge in Second Amendment Interest, Gun Purchases

Gun store retailers are working overtime to quell anxious and worried residents of the nation’s largest city, even as those customers are shocked to realize they aren’t able to walk in, purchase a firearm, and leave with their new gun that same day – or week, or even month.

The Left goes on at length about how easy it is to purchase a firearm. Sadly, in places like New York City, that is just not the case.

The red tape in New York amounts to barricades against the exercise of a Constitutional Right, put in place by politicians who hate freedom, and self-reliance.

There are several reasons for the increase in permit applications. Riots during the Lockdown. Decreases in punishment thanks to "prosecutors" like Alvin Bragg. Police have been retiring at increasing rates, and the recent election of Zorhan Mamdani has created a new surge in police retirements. (Cops can't answer your 911 call, if they are not working for the city.)

Click thru for much more in the way of detail.

Hat tip to Bearing Arms: It's Not Surprising That Residents in Big Apple Are Turning to Gun Ownership

Mamdani is going to be the best gun salesman New York City has ever seen. He doesn't believe in prisons, policing, or literally anything other than letting criminals run rampant across the city. That may be fine for a nepo baby who will have taxpayer-funded security while he's in office--generally staffed by the same cops he's spent years demonizing, ironically enough--but the rest of us can't outsource our protection to other entities.

And this first came to my attention from Jews Can Shoot.

Democrats Hypocrisy on Guns and Cops

After decades of fighting against the Second Amendment, and years of clamoring for "Defund the Police," Democrats now want to be surrounded by guns and cops. Democrats push armed security for lawmakers

As members of Congress grapple with growing personal threats, top Democrats in the US House are lobbying Republicans to let each lawmaker’s office employ an armed staff member to accompany them in their districts, as well as a law enforcement coordinator.

Of course it is all Trump's fault. Democrats have had no part in the elimination of civility in public discourse. It is all Trump. Or something.

So go ahead and click thru for the insane details. (Hat tip to William Teach at Pirate's Cove. Surprise: House Democrats Want Taxpayer Funded Armed Security)

Asbestos Found in Chinese Wind Turbines

Are we shocked? Nationwide alert issued after asbestos is detected in Chinese-made wind turbines across the country

An urgent safety alert has been issued at wind farms across Australia after asbestos was discovered in Chinese-made wind turbines.

The deadly material was first found in brake pads used in wind turbine tower lifts at the Goldwind Cattle Hill wind farm in central Tasmania.

The asbestos is in brake pads used in wind turbine tower elevators. The supplier in question has provided these brake pads to wind farms all over the country of Australia, so people think the problem is not limited to one state.

This is the MGUY Australia video Health SHOCK: ASBESTOS found in Chinese wind turbines

Well, this is unfortunately what happens when governments drunk on net zero Kool-Aid rush headlong into a disastrous energy transition, not knowing the first thing about energy. Idiots like Chris Bowen have no scientific understanding and have spent their entire careers as Labor Party staffers and couldn't run a sweet shop in the real world. But suddenly, they're in charge of billions of dollars of government money pumped at the supposed climate crisis.

The video is about 5 minutes long.

One interesting thing is that Australia only outlawed asbestos in 2003, where the US did it something in the late 1970s

Wednesday Link Roundup - 3 December

William Teach at Pirate's Cove starts us off with Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup

bluebird of bitterness has your funnies.
Bunkerville has judge Sparkle.(Bunk OK?)

EBL - Josephine Baker

Zou Zou
30 November 2021: Josephine Baker honored at Paris' Panthéon

Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 12.01.25 (Weekend Substack Sensation)

Postcards From Barsoom: The Simp-Rapist Complex
Stoic Observations: Spontaneous Thanks, also, Idempotent Kafka & Prompt Mania

Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 1 December 2025: Leptospirosis Party Edition

Google Antigravity just wiped my D drive. (Reddit)
Not my D drive. It's AI shit and I don't give AI shit access to anything I don't want destroyed.

Bacon Time!!!! - Sunday Linkange

The Midwest Chick - Saturday Meme Drop………….
Pirates Cove - Oh Noes: Surprise: Socialism In Bolivia Causes Bread Shortage

A View from the Beach - Flotsam and Jetsam - The Venezuelan Double Tap

At Am Con, The Dangerous, Unhinged Reaction to Trump’s Ukraine Peace Plan, "Russia hawks could spoil diplomacy and doom Ukrainians." From RCW, Off Target: Ukraine’s Fighter Jet Pivot a Betrayal to U.S. Taxpayers.

Again from Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 12.02.25 (Morning Edition)

Dana Loesch: Tim Walz Accused Of Fraud
Don Surber: Make Money Not War

Gates of Vienna - News Feed 11/29/2025

FBI Director Kash Patel says the contents of the burn bags containing Trump-Russia documents discovered at the FBI building will be made public one way or another.

Small Dead Animals - Sunday On Turtle Island

The Democratic Party’s America: Women’s brains are smaller than men’s brains. Americans reject college. Ken Burns burns America. Retarded outrage.
Carnival Carney’s Canada: Alberta’s Castle Law. The Islam problem. A legal battle.

Vlad Tepes - Canada’s MAiD as a Maoist means to get rid of the 5 “olds”, US and Canadian military spy-ops, Berenson shows a fraction of child deaths from the mRNA and more: Links 1 for Nov. 29, 2025

1. Druthers, a paper news periodical which is counter narrative, did this article on Canada’s attempt to offer MAiD to retired RCMP officers. One can only wonder if it is because older RCMP officers actually upheld the law, as opposed to state narratives

The Glibertarians - Sunday Morning Slow Recovery Links

Torpedoes might be a big ask, but does Australia not have flare guns?
The cure was worse than the disease?

Political Hat - News of the Week (November 30th, 2025)

Slovenian Voters Refuse to Legalize Assisted Suicide
The Slovenian National Assembly tried to legalize assisted suicide. But the country’s voters had a different idea.

Wombat-socho again - In The Mailbox: 12.02.25 (Evening Edition)

Chicago Boyz: Nice Song for Early December, Minnesota Nice, and A Murderous Parallel?
Dana Loesch: Portland Lights The “Woke Tree”

Don Surber - HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK

ITEM 8: The Conservative Brief reported, “The Democratic National Committee has secured a substantial loan in preparation for next year’s midterm elections, as the party struggles with leadership and has little to demonstrate for its government shutdown efforts.

Gates of Vienna - News Feed 12/1/2025

Harvard Hires Teacher Even After He Assaulted Student
Harvard University has hired a graduate teaching fellow after he completed a court-ordered diversion class for assaulting an Israeli classmate during a 2023 “die-in” protest.

Maggie's Farm - Saturday morning links

How Desperate Are the Dems?
Chicago mayor says imprisoning violent criminals is racist and immoral

JJ Sefton at Ace of Spades HQ - The Morning Report — 12/1/25

No attempt by propagandist media to explain why.
Hey, Why Was the DC National Guard Shooter Naked Except for a Pair of Socks?

Doug Ross - Larwyn’s Linx: Sen. Mark Kelly Continues “Seditious Six” Operation to Advance U.S. Color Revolution

• Anti-ICE protesters storm lower Manhattan, block garage, 18 arrests made - Nicholas Ballasy
• Fracas in Caracas and Six for Sedition - Clarice Feldman

Cafe Hayek - Some Links

Shawn Regan rightly applauds a Trump-administration proposal to clip the overgrown wings of the Endangered Species Act.

Anonymous Conservative - News Briefs – 12/02/2025

A NGO headquartered in Minnesota is getting paid $2,375 for every Somalia immigrant they bring into the United States. That will be a CIA front.

I leave you with Sunday Funnies For 11-30-25 from Stately McDaniel Manor, Sunday Funnies from Flopping Aces, Sunday Meme Drop from Midwest Chick's Place, Monday Memes from Granite Grok, and Fucking Mondays..... gifdump from Wirecutter.

Prosecutors HATE Self-Defense

Kansas City and its local NPR station also have their knickers in a twist. Missouri prosecutors fear ruling means deadly force can be self-defense against simple assault | KCUR - Kansas City news and NPR

Missouri prosecutors are concerned that a recent decision by the state Court of Appeals could open self-defense laws so broadly that the slightest threat of a minor attack could justify a person responding with deadly violence.

The prosecutors want to be able to Monday-morning quarterback you on the "was it really a reasonable fear" of death?

A judge prevented an argument of "self-defense" in which a defendant drew a knife. The appeals court said, that it should be up to the jury, not the judge to decide if force was reasonable.

Here is the point of law, that the Appeals Court relied on.

The Missouri Legislature changed the law on deadly force in 2007, the appeals court ruling said, allowing the use of deadly force when a person reasonably believes it is necessary to protect himself or herself or a third person “against death, serious physical injury, or any forcible felony,” which was defined as “included but not limited to murder, robbery, burglary, arson, kidnapping, assault, and any forcible sexual offense.”

And now the prosecutors are beside themselves. They actually mention that it would require them to prove "beyond a reasonable doubt" that it was self-defense. Isn't that what they are supposed to be proving?

Hat tip to Gun News Daily, and Keep and Bear Arms.

It Is Long Past Time For Europe to Handle Its Own Defense

They should think of it as growing up. From 1819 News - 'Bass Pro Shops has more guns': U.S. Senate candidate Morgan Murphy bashes military capabilities of NATO allies

In the late 1940s and even into the 1950s and '60s, it made sense for the US to provide all or most of the security for Western Europe. You can argue about when it stopped making sense, but certainly after the fall of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact, Europe should have been able to handle its own defense. There are more Western Europeans than Americans, after all.

"It's unbelievable that our European partners aren't stepping up to take care of this war that is in their own backyard," Murphy told the host. "This is a European war, and frankly, we've got 20 European nations out there that have a smaller army than the average number of guns at a Bass Pro Shop. Literally, I'd rather go to war [on the side of] Bass Pro Shops than 20 of our 31 NATO partners. They're more better armed."

It's a classic rant. Click thru. (Hat tip to Keep and Bear Arms.)

This is not a new gripe of mine. I have been mad at the fact that the US has been funding Europe's security since before the Berlin Wall came down in 1989. Here are just a couple of posts from March of this year, mostly on Germany, the largest economy in Europe. (Or it was before they decided to sacrifice their industrial base on the alter of Net Zero.)

• The State of German Military Readiness
• Germany Gets a Wack to the Side of the Head
• Europe Finally Increases Defense Spending

There are more, but that is enough to be going on with.

Casino Royale

Do people even know that there was 1967 spoof of James Bond, staring Peter Sellers, with David Niven, Ursula Andress, and with Woody Allen playing a "Bond Villain?" It isn't very good, though I did like it as a kid. Some of the music was good.

The recent song by Herb Alpert sent me looking for some of his older work.

This is the Theme to the 1967 movie Casino Royale. It was written by Burt Bacharach and performed by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass.

Tuesday Links - 2 December

MaddMedic at Freedom Is Just Another Word… is first with Uniparty Responsible for MN Tax Dollars Funneled to Muslim Terrorist Al-Shabaab Group …

To make matters worse, the reporting says that Minnesota taxpayers are the LARGEST FUNDERS of Al-Shabaab in the world!”

Wombat-socho - FMJRA 2.0: Finally, A Winning Week

After weeks of getting beaten like the family mule, the Senators struck back with a sweep of the A’s plus two wins against the Twins.

Theo Spark - RUE BRITTANIA ..............from Rico

Wrong think and wrong speech are streng verboten in the home of the Magna Carta today, but Hell's Bells...now wrong music is too?

AmmoLand - ‘Permit-to-Purchase’ Requirements Turn Right into Privilege; They Cannot Stand

Yet anti-gun-rights Democrats in the four states mentioned above have all decided the right protected from government infringement by the Second Amendment is a second-class right, subject to government approval.

News2A - Understanding the Story Told in New Jersey’s Permit to Carry Dashboard Data

After Bruen, New Jersey, along with all the other may-issue jurisdictions, became a “shall-issue” state and was forced to begin issuing permits en masse to law-abiding residents because they could no longer use justifiable need to deny applicants.

Paul Vallas at Chicago Contrarian - Chicago’s Billion-Dollar “Reform” Industry

Windy City's lawsuit lottery: How suing Chicago Police has become a billion-dollar racket enriching criminals and trial lawyers alike — and the reforms we desperately need

Catherine Salgado at PJ Media - Injured National Guardsman Slowly on the Mend

Andrew Wolfe, the young National Guardsman who was injured in last Wednesday’s attack by an Afghan migrant that killed Sarah Beckstrom, is slowly but surely healing.

Wombat-socho again - Rule 5 Sunday: Snow. Ugh.

It’s getting to be that time of year when the water freezes and falls out of the sky.

Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 0 December 2025: Page Petronius Edition

Year of Linux on the Desktop? Part One: Does Linux actually account for 11% of desktops even in the US - and a higher number globally? (ZD Net)

Probably, yes. You get that number by adding together desktop Linux, ChromeOS (which is Linux) and "Unknown" numbers.

Globally Linux numbers are about 50% higher, and looking at US government website stats, 25% of requests come from some flavour of Linux (including Android).

The Daily Skrape - Walz Joins Democrats’ New Crisis Unit ‘Operation It’s Trump’s Fault Somehow’ After DHS Says He’s ‘100 Percent Responsible

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz reportedly went white as a vegan dairy substitute after DHS workers declared he was “100 percent responsible” for the massive fraud scandal, sources have confirmed.

Brazil Takes Baby Step Toward Self-Defense

Rio De Janeiro allows women to carry pepper spray. Sort of. With pepper spray authorized for women's self-defense, Rio de Janeiro becomes the first state to authorize civilian use with controlled sales, a monthly limit, and free access for women with a protective order in effect

With pepper spray released Officially for women's self-defense, Governor Cláudio Castro signed a law that makes Rio de Janeiro the first Brazilian state to regulate the civilian use of the product. The measure creates specific rules for sales, maximum quantities, and free distribution in cases of violence, directly targeting the protection of women in vulnerable situations.

In practice, the text defines where the spray can be sold, to whom, in what quantity, and with what concentration limit. The proposal combines pepper spray released for civilian use with a package of strict controls., trying to balance the right to defense of women and the concern about the misuse of the product on the streets of the state.

The limits are about 2.5 fluid ounces of spray (depending on exactly how they are measuring), which is about 5 of containers I usually purchase. Purchasing 2 per month... I usually throw them away when they expire, rather than because they are empty.

Brazilians can't purchase the large "home defense" cans (not quite as large as a can of spray paint) because those are more than the 70 gram limit.

Also men can't purchase or own pepper spray, which some people are bent out of shape over.

This isn't all of Brazil, just the state or Rio De Janeiro, but you have to start somewhere.

I suppose this is a recognition of the reality that Brazil is not a safe place. (Hat tip to Keep and Bear Arms.)

A Shooting in the Gun-Controlled UK

How can this be? There is so much gun control in the UK, and yet it isn't safe. Attempted murder arrest after teenage boy shot

The 16-year-old was found injured on London Road, Sheffield, at about 17:15 GMT on Monday and was taken to hospital.

South Yorkshire Police said a 26-year-old man had been arrested by Police Scotland in Aberdeen on Saturday night, along with a 23-year-old woman, who was being held on suspicion of assisting an offender.

Other people, juveniles, mostly, have been arrested; click thru for the details.

"This incident understandably caused a lot of concern and heartache in the local communities and our thoughts remain with the child's family," [Detective Chief Inspector Emma Knight, from South Yorkshire Police] said.

Sheffield, UK is about a 60 kilomter drive east of Manchester, or about a 260 kilometer drive north of London. South Yorkshire is one of 48 counties in the England.

So all the gun control, knife control, and soon to be blunt-object control, has not made the United Kingdom crime free. I'm shocked. Or maybe not. And while crime like this is going on the police are busy arresting people for songs, posts on social media, and other thought crimes. More like Airstrip One every day.

More 3D Printed Submachine Guns

Impro Guns has another story out of Brazil. More 3D Printed SMGs (Brazil)

Quite a number of these are being seized across multiple states.

Click thru for some photos of the FGC-9s being seized, along with some accessories.

Governments can't accept the fact that they are losing control - what little they ever had - of firearms.

Jet City Woman

Social Media isn't bad if you can avoid the insanity. It is harder to do all the time, but this song came to me via X.

I have to say that I really like Geoff Tate's singing.

While I don't think you will have trouble understanding the lyrics, here is a link.

This is "Jet City Woman" by Queensrÿche from their 1990 album Empire, though this is the remastered version from 2003. (It was released as a single in 1991.)

There is an "official music video." You can find it if you're interested. I don't care for music videos, in general. A few are good, but I usually find them distracting.

On the subject of Tidal links to songs. While it was a bit rough for a while, I believe Tidal has worked out their issues with web links. (They were timing out looking for cookies for a while, but that seems to have been sorted.) I like the Tidal links, because they give you a choice of streaming service or YT. Let me know if you are having any issues with them. Their support is not the best, but it is not the worst either.

Celebrating Thanksgiving in Chicago

From HeyJackass! we get the weekend totals. Turkey Shoot Weekend

While the extended Thanksgiving weekend has been known to put up summer-like numbers in the past, this year, officers Cold, Blustery and Stormy will be cracking down on the non-demonizable silly decisions.

And they did experience "the snowiest day in Chicago in November." They set a record, at least as recorded at O'Hare airport.

Final Turkey Tally: 5 killed, 13 wounded
2024 Thanksgiving: 6 killed, 19 wounded
2023 Thanksgiving: 3 killed, 29 wounded

And while that does look like a vast improvement over 2 years ago, that includes the fact that there were no shootings recorded between roughly 3 AM on Saturday, and 5 PM on Sunday. I'm sure mayor Brandon will declare that crime is down.

If you want to help HeyJackss! out you can get some of their merch in time for Christmas. These are the only crime stats to trust when it comes to Chicago, for a couple of reasons.

Now is the best time to disappoint your loved ones this upcoming holiday season with something sarcastic from ShopJackass!.

DOJ Takes on Los Angeles Sheriff Over Concealed Carry Permits

From the Los Angeles Daily News we get the following. Getting a gun permit in LA County shouldn’t be rarer than a Nolan Ryan no-hitter

As a lawsuit by the federal government details, just one in 2,000 concealed-carry permit applicants wins the legally required seal of approval from the LA County Sheriff’s Department. From the start of 2024 to March 2025, nearly 4,000 people sought permits. The Department deigned to grant just two of them their constitutional rights – “a mere 0.05% approval rate.”

That’s not how the system is supposed to work. It’s been three years since the U.S. Supreme Court held that “ordinary, law-abiding citizens have a…right to carry handguns publicly for their self-defense.” Apparently, the Sheriff’s Department has not gotten the message.

Or maybe it has, but it just doesn’t care.

It is a bit amazing to see the Dept. of Justice take on this case, since other parts of the DOJ appear to be fighting against the 2nd Amendment.

Appalled by the LA sheriff’s disregard for the Constitution, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has brought a civil rights lawsuit alleging that the county has a “pattern or practice” of violating the Second Amendment. Pattern-or-practice suits to protect civil rights, first authorized by Congress in the wake of the beating of Rodney King by LA law enforcement, are often a big sign that something’s gone very wrong.

My guess is that the Left will have a fit about this, if they aren't already.

I'll have to make some popcorn. Click thru for the details.

Australians Keep Making Firearms

And the Australian government won't have it! From Impro Guns: ‘Not-A-Glock’ pistols seized in Tasmania

3D printed .22lr ‘Not-A-Glock’ pistols seized during several police operations in recent weeks. Only basic easily obtainable hardware store parts including a small length of steel tubing (visible in the second photo) are required for assembly meaning these pistols can be pumped out in bedrooms anywhere around the world.

Click thru for the photos. The 3D printed guns are getting much better, at least judging by the photos. These include some suppressors.

I Miss Living in a Civilized Society

What were you doing at the age of 12? I'm guessing murder wasn't on the agenda. WTC worker who 'escaped' 9/11 beaten to death by three teens: cops | New York Post

A former World Trade Center worker who “narrowly escaped” the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks has been beaten to death by three teens — one of whom was just 12 at the time of the attack, according to officials.

He was fired from his consulting job at the World Trade Center in July of 2001. I'm sure he thought that was a horrible fate. I've been laid off, and it feels bad in the moment. I'm sure he reevaluated that on September 12th.

Long Island native Roger Borkum, 64, was found “severely beaten” just before midnight on Oct. 19 in Downtown Jacksonville, FL., after three teens were seen “kicking and stomping” him, according to an arrest report from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.

You can click thru for the details. They are gruesome.

So how did things fall so far, so fast?