Movie: "Stalingrad"

Back from “Stalingrad”. I definitely don’t want anyone making one called “Milwaukee”.

Good movie, I thought the 3D didn’t add much except $4 to the ticket price, but good. Very much like “Enemy At The Gate” right down to the Krauts machine gunning the boats crossing the Volga, and the same fountain, but very interesting to see the current Russian take on the siege. After all, while we lost around 400,000 troops in the war, they lost around 25,000,000.

The opening was a little confusing as it opens up with a current earthquake (Are we in the right theater, Honey?), but then it got into the WWII story and was good, right down to a Wild West pistol shoot out on Main Street and a great bank shot off the turret of a wrecked tank. Horrific fire scene when the fuel storage tanks blow. Rotten Nazis, Heroic Proletarian Russkies, all the good schmaltzie stuff. Probably won't be out long: subtitles as it is in Russkie and Krautish.

Train Station Knife Attack Kills 27, Injures 109 In China

I don't suppose that China allows just anyone to carry a pistol for self-protection:

BEIJING — China’s official Xinhua News Agency says at least 27 people are dead and 109 injured after a group of knife-wielding men attacked a train station in southwestern China...

...The motive behind the attack was not immediately clear, but China has seen a number of mass stabbings and other attacks carried out by people bearing grudges against society.

It isn't in southwestern China at all: Kunming, Yunnan, is solidly south central China, just north of Laos. So maybe it wasn't members of the Religion of Peace Or I'll Kill You. There are such currently rather the worse for wear in Burma, which isn't all that far away though, so who knows? This might have been the collectively oriented engaging in ethno-religious retaliation against innocent people. Or not.

Q: When is China going to crack down on unlicensed knife dealers?

A little more here.

UPDATE: It does seem to have been members of the Religion of Peace:

The Chinese authorities have blamed the attack on militants from the remote far western region of Xinjiang, which is home to tensions between the government and Muslim separatists.

The state news agency Xinhua, quoting local government sources, said: 'Evidence at the crime scene showed that the Kunming Railway Station terrorist attack was carried out by Xinjiang separatist forces.'

The Xinjiang region borders Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan and the Chinese government has blamed several attacks on militants there.

The region is home to a large Muslim Uighur minority who are angry at the treatment of their beliefs by the authorities.

More here.It's one thing for people with legitimate complaints against the state to attack the state, another to randomly slaughter people who cannot affect state behavior. More of the collectivist mentality at work.

Innocent Iranian Grad Student...

...burns himself making Molotov Cocktails in Georgia.

Media pretty much ignores. At least compared to a Tea Party supporter doing the same.

I have little idea how old this guy is, but most of us got past recreational Molotov Cocktails by the time we hit 8th grade.

He's a grad student, tho, so maybe he's socially stunted.

The Latest InterNet Conspiracy Theory

President Obama is secretly a member of the NRA who introduced gun control to stimulate gun sales and NRA membership applications

At least this one has a certain logic to it. An NRA mole. Actually, he would more likely be a mole for the manufacturers and dealers.

Although in this case I am reasonably sure the writer was speaking tongue in cheek.

Deep and Dusty With The Pleiades

It's another Cool Space Pic of the Day. Here.

Just Another Ho-Hum Day Overthrowing Caesar.

Not your stereotypical priest pic.

Booze and the Founders

Stanton Peele in Reason Magazine:

It is impossible for Americans to accept the extent to which the Colonial period—including our most sacred political events—was suffused with alcohol...

Indeed, we still have available the bar tab from a 1787 farewell party in Philadelphia for George Washington just days before the framers signed off on the Constitution. According to the bill preserved from the evening, the 55 attendees drank 54 bottles of Madeira, 60 bottles of claret, eight of whiskey, 22 of porter, eight of hard cider, 12 of beer, and seven bowls of alcoholic punch.

Most folks today would indeed Founder if they drank that much.

But then, maybe our problems in Washington stem from the Puritanical Politicians drinking way too little...

That Nice Mr. Roosevelt

Yet more evidence that Franklin Delano Roosevelt held the US Constitution in utter contempt:

Klass fondly recalls the day she saw Franklin Roosevelt speak from a train platform in Cedar Rapids. “I still remember the scene, the railroad car. It must’ve been an autumn afternoon, because I remember the sunlight coming through the leaves of the trees. I think I was on my father’s shoulder or standing next to him, and my dad was saying, ‘Now you can always say you have seen the President of the United States.’ Roosevelt had crutches, and he was dragging his legs to get to the edge of the platform. The Secret Service men were going through the crowd. They would take each camera, open it up, expose the film, and politely hand it back. Roosevelt didn’t want pictures of him dragging his legs.”

It's great that the treasonous son of a bitch got us through the Second World War, but that doesn't change the fact that he should have gotten a fair trial for treason, followed by a swift and public hanging. The man despised the Constitution because it didn't give him the powers he needed to control us to his satisfaction. Unwilling or unable to amend it to his likes, he packed the Supreme Court with those who would simply declare the Constitution says that which it does not. That's subversion, and subversion is treason.

The Only NYC Gun Range...

...does not sound very friendly toward the US Constitution. Maybe the owner, Darren Leung, is just being circumspect, but then again, I have heard similar comments from gun shop employees in Hawaii.

The range, which opened in 1964, is necessary, said Leung, because licensed gun owners need a convenient place to shoot in the city. But still, the police run the show, and can take back anyone's firearm for any reason.

How very respectful of the US Constitution can one get? Our servants can seize our constitutionally protected property any time our servants please. Is this really what America is supposed to be about? Does "shall not be infringed" really mean "of course we can make it a felony"? Apparently the Good Americans of NYC believe so.

"Your right can never be taken away from you," continued Leung, "but your privilege can be revoked at any given time. The NYPD is the licensing entity. They can add any kinds of stipulations they want. And they don't have to explain why."

If this really is Leung's position, he sounds like a Good New Yorker. So much for the Constitution's Bill of Privileges.

It makes sense to keep guns on a short leash, Leung acknowledges....He also said he doesn't have much problem with the six- to eight-month waiting period for a gun permit, though the $340 fee for a three-year license is quite steep compared to other places. Without such a permit, issued by the NYPD, which declined to say how many New Yorkers have gun permits despite repeated attempts, it's illegal to even touch a handgun. And those who get a license are required to purchase a firearm as well, so it's not possible to simply have a license to shoot pistols without having your own.

Keep repeating: "shall not be infringed" means "of course we can make it a felony". Any subtle and well-informed thinker knows that.

After the wait, and shelling out upwards of $1,500 for fingerprints, licensing, membership at a club, a firearm and ammunition, target shooting isn't a cheap hobby. Some prospective buyers are put off by all the red tape, which is surely in place to discourage all but the most highly motivated....

Yes, that will keep guns on a short leash. Guns in the hands of the law-abiding that is. There is no evidence that such laws make it more difficult for criminals in New York City to get and carry guns. But then it is the law-abiding whom we must worry about, right? It's OK if criminals have guns, so long as our servants disarm the potential victims.

For practical purposes, that puts violent criminals squarely on the same team as our servants: Our servants make sure we are unable to protect ourselves, and the criminals then do what armed criminals do to disarmed victims.

It's the so-called Liberal Way.

Read more of Daniel Krieger's story here.