They were firing into a target of water barrels, but they missed. And it flew into a neighborhood at 1000 feet per second.

No one was hurt, but suburban Dublin, CA, was surprised to find an iron ball smashing into a minivan and crashing into a house.

They were actually examining the myth that you can fire other materials out of a cannon and do some damage (that's a myth? is there anyone doubting that?), and I guess this was an earlier test-firing to show the power of an actual cannon round.

more...

Posted by: Ace at 02:17 PM | Comments (110)
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Other pictures from the attack here.

Audio: Broadcasts from the day of the attack, on the left of the page, here.

Posted by: Ace at 01:26 PM | Comments (128)
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For those looking for an argument casting Obama as an illegitimate president, there's something cooking in South Bend.

The prospect that theirs are two of an estimated 150 signatures that may have been forged on the petitions has raised the question of whether President Obama actually reached the legitimate number of signatures needed to be placed on the ballot in Indiana. Under state law, presidential candidates need to file 500 signatures from each of the state's nine congressional districts.

Indiana election officials say that in St. Joseph County, the Obama campaign qualified with 534 signatures; Clinton's camp had 704. The certified signatures were never challenged.

"I had always thought that, now-President Obama, had earned his victory in Indiana," said the state's Republican chairman, Eric Holcomb. "But then I quickly learned that he had cheated his way on to the ballot in the primary."

The allegations that election fraud touched a race for the highest office in the land are at the center of an investigation by St. Joseph County Attorney Michael Dvorak. He would not comment, but sources say the probe is gaining steam as prosecutors delve into the petitions that sailed through the St. Joseph County Voter Registration Board, located in South Bend. There have been reports that as many as seven people may have been involved in an alleged conspiracy to fake the petitions.

...

[St. Joseph County Democratic Chair] Broden recently replaced long-serving Democratic Chairman Butch Morgan, who resigned suddenly in October under party pressure because of the scandal.

Thanks to JohnE.

Posted by: Ace at 11:54 AM | Comments (301)
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It was found in Frankfurt, Germany, addressed to the CEO of DeutscheBank.

The NYPD is tightening security, on the possibility this is an Al Qaeda thing, or that the same actor might try to hit DeutscheBank's NYC offices.

Of course, this could just be some kind of a lone wolf. There are plenty of cases of angry ex-employees seeking a little payback.

Posted by: Ace at 11:40 AM | Comments (65)
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"Smoking guns?"

ATF officials didn't intend to publicly disclose their own role in letting Mexican cartels obtain the weapons, but emails show they discussed using the sales, including sales encouraged by ATF, to justify a new gun regulation called "Demand Letter 3". That would require some U.S. gun shops to report the sale of multiple rifles or "long guns." Demand Letter 3 was so named because it would be the third ATF program demanding gun dealers report tracing information.

On July 14, 2010 after ATF headquarters in Washington D.C. received an update on Fast and Furious, ATF Field Ops Assistant Director Mark Chait emailed Bill Newell, ATF's Phoenix Special Agent in Charge of Fast and Furious:

"Bill - can you see if these guns were all purchased from the same (licensed gun dealer) and at one time. We are looking at anecdotal cases to support a demand letter on long gun multiple sales. Thanks."

On Jan. 4, 2011, as ATF prepared a press conference to announce arrests in Fast and Furious, Newell saw it as "(A)nother time to address Multiple Sale on Long Guns issue." And a day after the press conference, Chait emailed Newell: "Bill--well done yesterday... (I)n light of our request for Demand letter 3, this case could be a strong supporting factor if we can determine how many multiple sales of long guns occurred during the course of this case."

This revelation angers gun rights advocates. Larry Keane, a spokesman for National Shooting Sports Foundation, a gun industry trade group, calls the discussion of Fast and Furious to argue for Demand Letter 3 "disappointing and ironic." Keane says it's "deeply troubling" if sales made by gun dealers "voluntarily cooperating with ATF's flawed 'Operation Fast & Furious' were going to be used by some individuals within ATF to justify imposing a multiple sales reporting requirement for rifles."

Still looking for anyone in the media to vigorously question an official on the goal of this operation.

We armed up Mexican Drug Barons, who used the guns to kill 300 people, making this a very murderous foreign covert operation, and no one in the media really seems curious as to the actual goal sought.

Old Quote: Headline:

Obama: I'm Working On Gun Control Under the Radar

But the subhed reads:

Plans include enacting restrictions via executive order, bypassing Congress

As I've made clear, I'm not a believer. I could be, I guess, but I'm not. I think I've just heard too many of these Grand Conspiracies, Ruby Ridge and especially Waco.

Thanks to JohnE.

Posted by: Ace at 10:42 AM | Comments (315)
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His Twitter account is now deactivated.

American Airlines would not typically trash-talk a passenger, especially a celebrity, but since Alec Baldwin started trashing them, they have now issued a statement on their FaceBook page.

Since an extremely vocal customer has publicly identified himself as being removed from an American Airlines flight on Tuesday, Dec. 6, we have elected to provide the actual facts of the matter as well as the FAA regulations which American, and all airlines, must enforce. Cell phones and electronic devices are allowed to be used while the aircraft is at the gate and the door is open for boarding. When the door is closed for departure and the seat belt light is turned on, all cell phones and electronic devices must be turned off for taxi-out and take-off. This passenger declined to turn off his cell phone when asked to do so at the appropriate time. The passenger ultimately stood up (with the seat belt light still on for departure) and took his phone into the planeÂ’s lavatory. He slammed the lavatory door so hard, the cockpit crew heard it and became alarmed, even with the cockpit door closed and locked. They immediately contacted the cabin crew to check on the situation. The passenger was extremely rude to the crew, calling them inappropriate names and using offensive language. Given the facts above, the passenger was removed from the flight and denied boarding.

Alec Baldwin claims he was playing a Scrabble-type game with friends. For one thing, so what? Turn it off, dummy.

For another thing, no one goes on a rampage over a delayed Scrabble game. I don't know who he was texting or, um, sexting, but I just can't believe this dummy was super-duper incensed that American Airlines wouldn't let him lay down his 1 point word -- adding an "S" to "cat" to make it, wow!, "cats."

Maybe the stewardress just reminded him of his 11 (or 12, who's counting) year old daughter.

Baldwin Has A Problem With Gay Men Giving Him Sass: Via Hot Air, this NY Post account.

It wasnÂ’t the first time Baldwin lost his cool with working stiffs who donÂ’t treat him like royalty.

In September, Baldwin tweeted nasty things about an employee at an Upper West Side Starbucks.

He wrote that an “uptight Queen barrista named JAY has an attitude problem.”

Uptight queen barrista? Okay, now bear in mind, of course, a lot of the male flight attendants seem to be... uh, not in the business to hit on the female flight attendants.

So what is Baldwin trying to say about the female flight attendant he go into some business with?

He then took a verbal swipe at the woman, tweeting: “Last flight w American. Where retired Catholic school gym teachers from the 1950’s find jobs as flight attendants.”

Maybe I'm overreading this, but it sounds to me like he's trying to call the woman a lesbian, and not of the lipstick variety.

And that presupposes the Post got this right about the gender of the target of his wrath. If he's actually referring to a guy -- which I suspect later reporting will clarify -- I think it's pretty clear he's calling another guy in the service industry a dirty queer.

But he gets a total pass, of course, because he's a Liberal In Good Standing.

Posted by: Ace at 10:08 AM | Comments (157)
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He claims he's "unbelievably sorry."

And repentance is a valuable fu**in' thing.

Blagojevich will have to surrender Feb. 15. Under federal sentencing rules, Blagojevich will have to serve 85 percent of his sentence, or just under 12 years in prison, at a minimum. The ex-governor turns 55 on Saturday.

The pronouncement of the sentence followed an emotional appeal from Blagojevich for leniency.

“I never set out to break the law,” said Blagojevich, who came to court Wednesday wearing a black suit with a silver tie. “The jury decided I was guilty, I am accepting of it, I acknowledge it.

“I have nobody to blame but myself for my stupidity and actions and the things I did and I thought I could do. I’m not blaming anybody.”

Cobloggers are saying this is the last time we'll see the Blago-Skull.

I say he's got more show in him.

I Missed This: Blago admitted he did the actions he's accused of, but did not know it was illegal to demand money for a Senate appointment.

While he apologized in the 19-minute speech that he delivered without paper in front of him, Blagojevich still said he did not know he was breaking the law. He told Zagel that he thought what he was doing was “permissible,” but that he was mistaken, and he “never set out to break the law.”

Posted by: Ace at 09:41 AM | Comments (152)
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This is what they do. Eager little termites infest every single institution and weaken it and chew it to dust.

Or, rather, its original mission is so reduced to dust. Cultural Marxism insists that every institution be turned to the mission of promoting warfare within the state, sex against sex, race against race.

President Obama's Department of Homeland Security (DHS) outlined an "environmental justice strategy" that would review how a variety of DHS activities, from interaction with local governments to granting regulatory permits, affect poor and minority populations.

DHS defines environmental justice as "the commitment of the Federal Government . . . to avoid placing disproportionately high and adverse effects on the human health and environment of minority populations and low-income populations."

It's important to always remember Gramsci's Long March Through The Institutions.

The Long March Through The Institutions

Gramsci saw an important role in the transformation of society for those he called "organic" intellectuals (as opposed to "traditional" intellectuals). "Organic" intellectuals were to be intellectuals belonging to the repressed groups and making an effort to undermine the "hegemony" with the assistance of any "traditional" intellectuals they could persuade to defect from the dominant point of view. They will flourish as the roots of counter-hegemony grow. In other words, Gramsci was recommending recruiting radicalized women, members of minority groups, and others into the fold – affirmative action before that term was coined. Changing the minds of "traditional" intellectuals was particularly valuable, as they were already well positioned within the dominant educational institutions. The "long march through the institutions" – a phrase we also owe to Gramsci – began.

Culture War

Gramsci counseled his side to begin a “long march through the institutions,” by which he meant the capture of the cinema, theater, schools, universities, seminaries, newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and courts. It is past time to begin a long march in a new and better direction.

Seeing that the West was too prosperous for standard Marxist theory's prescription of class agitation to work, Western Marxists turned instead to cultural Marxism, pitting women against men and race against race.

Thanks to JohnE.

Posted by: Ace at 09:28 AM | Comments (83)
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Drew wondered why Jen Rubin wasn't gleeping over the Trump debate.

He reasoned she was taking a pass on the subject because Mitt Romney had not yet declined, and that the moment he did, she would then start talkiing about how awful it was, and how everyone involved was a clown.

See, she wanted to say that. But as she's Romney Super Fan #1, she couldn't say that. Not until Mitt actually opted out of the debate.

At any rate, Drew predicted that perfectly, as well as her eventual use of the word "clown" to disparage the event.

That's Slublog's excellent photoshop.

Odd Divergence In Blogger and Blog-Reader Preference: If Rick Perry only had to get bloggers' support, he'd be doing okay (and Romney would be in bad shape).

I wonder why that is. We tend to read the same things.

Posted by: Ace at 08:29 AM | Comments (236)
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Michael Selleneit has told police he was acting in self-defense when he shot Pierce. He claimed his neighbor had "telepathically" threatened him and his wife, and had "telepathically raped" his wife many times.

The little lady. Yeah, I wouldn't use my hands either.

Thanks to our Utah stringer, Skinbad.

Posted by: LauraW at 07:06 AM | Comments (372)
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