Random Shots for Thursday, 16 May 2019

Today in history

COMMENTS I’VE POSTED

1. Posted to Facebook —

   U.S. v. Miller said that the NFA was “Constitutional” because a sawed-off shotgun wasn’t a “militia weapon” because it didn’t have “military utility.”

   That was a lie, as some short-barrel shotguns had been used in the trenches of the Western Front during World War I. Obviously, it has “military utility” if *military personnel* are using it in combat.

   Fast-forward to the 1980s up to today — the firearms that are supposed to be protected by the Second Amendment per U.S. v. Miller (see above) — the M-16, M-4, AK-47, FN FAL, G3, HK33, MP-5, MP-7, Uzi, RPG, M134 SMAW, M203 — are heavily regulated by the Feds, and de facto outlawed for civilian possession by anyone except for rich people.

   Meanwhile, the victim disarmers and hoplophobes keep screaming about “weapons of war” being “on the streets” (how many guns are actually “on the streets” ?), as part of their screeching about the “necessity” of outlawing the semi-automatic lookalikes of the M-16, M-4, AK-47, FN FAL, G3, HK33, etc.

2. Posted to Facebook —

   One thing that’s pissing me off about the Star Trek franchise is that the franchise runners seem to be quietly trying to erase the first six movies (The Motion Picture, The Wrath of Khan, The Search for Spock, The Final Frontier, and The Undiscovered Country) from living memory.

   Am I wrong to think this?

3. Posted to Facebook —

   I can remember reading that Roddenberry said only the TV shows and movies were canon, leaving the novels, comics and FASA stuff out in the cold.

   Kurtzman and his crew of nitwits don’t seem to want to change that, but their “multiverse” idea as described by Midnight’s Edge could be said to make all of the licensed stuff canon of a sort.

   I still have the Who’s Who in Star Trek books from DC Comics, where they had listed at least one of the FASA ships.

   And there was a three-part story arc where the Excelsior under Kirk’s command faced up against four Romulan Z-1 Nova-class ships.

4. Posted to Facebook —

   Please share your thoughts about the Second Amendment.

5. Posted to Facebook —

   Sounds good to me.

6. Posted to Facebook —

   Weren’t the Romulan warbirds called D’deridex class in one of the TNG episodes? I seem to remember that name came from FASA’s TNG Officers Manual.

7. Posted to Facebook —

   I thought I changed it back, but will look into it.

8. Posted to Facebook —

   Apparently, a group’s name can only be changed once every 28 days —

   “You already changed the group’s name on May 16, 2019. You can only do this once every 28 days.”

9. Posted to Facebook —

   Yep. Remember today for future reference.

LISTENING / READING / WATCHING

1. KRQE News — Latest News: Colorado governor’s office speaks out after migrants bused from New Mexico
2. Ballistic — WATCH: Halle Berry Trains for ‘John Wick 3’ and She’s One Hell of a Shot
3. Ars Technica — CBS shows the first new image of Patrick Stewart as Picard in 17 years by Samuel Axon
4. Bearing Arms — Former SCOTUS Justice Still Bitter About Heller Decision by Tom Knighton
5. Overkill — White Devil Armory
6. Conservative Review [CR] — Romney casts lone GOP vote against Trump judicial pick because of a ‘disparaging’ comment about Obama by Nate Madden