Roundup
Once again, it’s roundup time.
(1) It’s sounds like a great career move for this U. of Pennsylvania swimmer:
A senior at the University of Pennsylvania who competed as a male swimmer for the last three years has now transitioned to female and is breaking records as a woman swimmer.
The situation has caused an uproar as people claim that this person now has an unfair advantage.
The leftist argument is that once the person is taking female hormones the advantage goes away. That’s obviously absurd, as this person’s athletic trajectory – and that of so many others – amply demonstrates. The musculature changes somewhat, but the added strength of a male past puberty doesn’t just disappear. I wrote about the issue before, in this post. Denying that fact hurts female athletes who’ve worked most of their lives to get where they are in women’s competitions.
(2) Jobs didn’t grow as much as expected for November – “unexpectedly.” Well, it makes it easy for the MSM to cover the news. They can just recycle their old reports.
(3) Alec Baldwin claims he didn’t pull the trigger. Is that possible? Did it happen?:
At first glance, this sounds far-fetched. It is exceedingly rare for a gun to fire without the trigger being depressed. Modern firearms, even replicas of antique guns, have safeties specifically designed to prevent them from firing without the trigger being pulled. It only really happens when the gun’s firing mechanism is damaged, or there is a significant design flaw.
That’s why most gun owners and firearms safety trainers are highly skeptical of any claim a gun just “went off” absent user error.
In Baldwin’s case, though, the claim is at least somewhat more believable. That’s because the gun involved is more prone to firing without the trigger being pulled. And, even though it’s a modern replica of an antique design, it’s possible it did not include modern safety devices.
Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza identified the gun used in the shooting as a modern Pietta replica of a single-action army revolver.
…[A] single-action revolver with the old-style firing mechanism can fire without either the hammer being cocked or the trigger being pulled. When the hammer is down on that kind of revolver, the firing pin protrudes and, if a live round is loaded in the chamber underneath, a sharp enough jolt can cause the pin to strike the round’s primer with enough force to set it off.
None of that means Baldwin’s story is entirely accurate. It’s not clear if drawing a gun from a holster in this state would be enough to set it off. It still seems more plausible Baldwin pulled the trigger. But, the gun firing without the trigger being pulled is not as far-fetched as it sounds at first.
Police should be able to determine what kind of firing mechanism the gun in question has and whether it could have fired in the way Baldwin described. However, even if the gun did go off without the trigger being pulled, it doesn’t negate the other negligence that contributed to the deadly shooting.
Interesting.
(4) Capitalists sell the rope with which BLM Marxists would like to hang them. [Lenin reference.]
(5) Perhaps this is true. Who can tell?:
Mossad recruited a team of Iranian nuclear scientists to carry out a covert operation which blew up one of the regime’s most secure nuclear facilities earlier this year, the JC can reveal.
Up to 10 scientists were approached by Israeli agents and agreed to destroy the underground A1000 centrifuge hall at Natanz in April, though they believed that they were working for international dissident groups.
Please read the whole thing.
The thing about the ‘unexpectedly’ bad jobs report is the Labor dept has been having a very difficult time getting accurate numbers all year. They have made big upward revisions for the August and September reports which were also ‘unexpectedly’ bad at first and there is some reason to believe that will happen with this one also.
The upward revisions have amounted to almost a million jobs in the first ten months of 2021 which is really weird.
I hope it is okay to add this to the Roundup thread: John Tierney has posted a review of Scott Atlas’ new book, A Plague Upon Our House: My Fight at the Trump White House to Stop COVID from Destroying America, at City Journal: https://www.city-journal.org/review-of-a-plague-upon-our-house-by-scott-atlas
Tierney writes, “How could public officials vowing to ‘follow the science’ on Covid-19 persist in promoting ineffective strategies with terrible consequences? In a memoir of his time on the White House Coronavirus Task Force, Scott W. Atlas provides an answer: because the nation’s governance was hijacked by three bureaucrats with scant interest in scientific research or debate—and no concern for the calamitous effects of their edicts. . . . Atlas says that Pence and the other members were regularly cowed into submission by three doctors who dominated from the start: Deborah Birx, the Task Force’s coordinator, along with Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control. Atlas calls them ‘the troika’ because of their strategy for presenting a united front, never disagreeing with one another during the meetings in the White House Situation Room. (Reporting later revealed that they had made a pact to resign in unison if any of them was fired.) . . . . It may seem incredible that the troika would violate a fundamental principle of public health by ignoring the devastating collateral damage of their policies, yet they never even pretended to conduct a cost-benefit analysis. . . . The politician who comes off best is Florida governor Ron DeSantis, who had, Atlas observes, ‘a far more detailed understanding of the pandemic than anyone I had encountered in the Task Force.'”
The entire book review is well worth reading; physicsguy, our resident expert on COVID statistics, is doubtless glad he recently moved to Florida.
I just read the entire “The Reload” article.
My two cents, offered with what is for me, unusual tentativeness.
But frankly, the new information which Baldwin proffers as exculpatory, is more damning than not.
First if all, it puts to rest the notion that the firearm might have gone off somehow with the hammer attached firing pin being accidentally jolted forwrd against a cartridge primer.
He instead admits he drew the hammer back to cock the gun for effect at the direction and in the direction of the cinematographer.
So the hammer was moved from its resting place at the completion of the draw. Which is why it was not just as likely that he might have shot himself in the abdomen or anywhere else during a 180° sweep of the muzzle.
As this was then, according to previous reports, part of a cross body draw from a belt or holster, his forefinger had to go somewhere when the pistol was unsheathed: around the grip behind the trigger guard, alongside the trigger guard, or through the trigger guard loop.
As he was performing an exercise test for filming, he probably grasped the weapon just as you would when intending to shoot.
Now, I do not have an 1873 Colt Single Action Army, but if the grip is like the 1851 black powder models, the grip is hardly lengthy enough to get three fingers vertically stacked, much less the index finger too. And when cocking the hammer on a leveled pistol, it is extremely awkward unless you have the index finger through the loop. And even though one is supposed to squeeze the trigger using the pad of the forefinger, you, or I at least, use the middle joint of the right forefinger through the trigger loop, to exert outward counter pressure, to keep the muzzle from tilting too far upward as your thumb pulls back on the hammer. You don’t want the pistol rotating in your hand up toward the sky. The alternative start point is that goofy looking move you see them make in cheap old cowboy movies when they are blasting away at each other from behind waist high boulders. It’s where they start with the barrel pointing at the sky and then it looks like they are throwing a bullet forward out of the barrel of the gun.
What is being mimicked, whether the actors know it or not, is a rotation of the gun forward while the thumb holds the hammer back as the rest of the pistol rotates forward. Thus cocking it.
These are just general observations, and the exact model of reproduction Baldwin was handling will determine the actual possibilities.
My guess is he had his finger in the trigger loop if he was cocking the hammer of a leveled revolver. And if his fingers are the size of a normal modern man’s, he may have inadvertently performed a one shot ” fan” of the gun; having unwittingly pre-pulled or pressured the trigger so that mechanisn would discharge on release of the hammer.
But this is just admittedly speculation on my part.
PA+Cat- I’m reading Scott Atlas’ book right now. It’s depressing, but a must read for anyone who wants to understand how the government’s response to COVID could have gone (and continues to go) so disastrously wrong.
There is an underlying truth to the Baldwin killing that will not go away: All firearms training reinforces responsibility ahead of outcome: The individual is responsible for the consequences of the gun filling his hand. Baldwin failed to check the loads and failed to behave safely while a gun was in his hand. The consequences are the tragic death and wounding of other people. Now Baldwin says he didn’t do it, and feels no guilt.
The latter comment is jarring. Even in a complete accident, the person that enables it, even if in complete unintentional ignorance, always feels guilt and remorse, empathy for the victims – unless they’re psychopathic. Baldwin’s calculated answers during this interview speak volumes, even more-so because he clearly doesn’t comprehend why they would offend normal people. And this is no doubt after intensive coaching from his legal / incident publicity team.
As for the evidence, the story is desperately in need of investigative clarification. The revolver is an Italian reproduction of a Frontier Colt. They can manufacture them historically accurate, or they can be made with modern safety features like the transfer bar. A historically-accurate model would have all of the same features as the original one, meaning the gun could accidentally fire, if dropped, if a live load was in the indexed chamber. This is the reason for the ‘cowboy load’, which leaves the chamber under the hammer empty. A modernized version would have a transfer bar, which renders the revolver unable to fire unless & only if it is first fully cocked. Which model was the subject revolver? Is it in proper working order or damaged, worn? These answers are needed before being able to fully evaluate Baldwin’s account.
A “bump” or a “jolt” of the gun will not set off even an original-style single action revolver. A blow to the back of the gun’s hammer will do it, if there is a live cartridge in the top chamber. If you hold the gun in one hand and whack the back of the hammer with a hatchet handle, that should do it. “Drawing a gun from the holster in this state” is not enough without adding some Rube Goldberg complications.
You forgot one story…SAVOR the DELICIOUS IRONY
Search for “vagina monologues canceled” in DuckDuckGo.
What goes around, comes around. Feminists started the crazy and now the crocodile has turned and is eating them.
Mount Holyoke, Eastern Michigan University, Temple University have ALL canceled the performance because it is “non-inclusive” and “does not empower minorities” ?
This will spread to all the lefty run education mills. Now we see the feminists being eaten by the transsexuals, because Monologues intimates that only females have vaginas.
(1) How can any of these men believe that they earned their awards fairly? Obviously, it isn’t keeping them up at night harrowed by guilt, but — I can’t even.
(2) The spin for the jobs report, similarly to the “decrease in gas prices by 2 cents” (that’s $0.02), will unleash a hurricane of mocking memes (“unexpectedly” of course).
Looking forward to Powerline’s The Week In Pictures tomorrow.
https://notthebee.com/article/lol-the-democrats-just-tweeted-out-this-graphic-and-thanking-sleepy-joe-for-the-two-cent-drop-in-gas-prices
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2021/12/how-stupid-do-they-think-we-are.php
(3) No comment on the mechanics, but – yeah.
Aggie:
If he’s not a psychopath, his lawyers are paid to act as if THEY are. However, the failure to comprehend the thoughts of normal people seems to be a characteristic of a lot of celebrities, whether in Hollywood or DC.
(4) I think the Red State author, Jeff Charles, got his arguments turned around. The BLM tweet was “Capitalism doesn’t love Black people.”
“Capitalism,” of course, can’t hate or love anyone or anything; only “people who practice capitalism” can do that.
He made a good argument showing that a lot of allegedly capitalist corporations and philanthropic foundations (aka money launderers for Democrats) showered the movement with billions of pledged dollars (and some actual ones). Then he says:
Which is true, of course; they don’t hate capitalism at all, they are just parroting Marxist rhetoric because it fools the rubes.
However, if capitalists really didn’t love black people, they wouldn’t have given them a red cent (heh); and those that had allowed themselves to be blackmailed / intimidated into contributing (as opposed to the true believers in the foundations) would be clawing it all back because of being dissed like that.
They won’t – until the non-marxists get at active and threatening as the BLM grifters, and that will not happen any time soon.
(5) The Mossad story made a great read, especially since we know about other ops they pulled off in Iran (stealing a warehouse full of incriminating nuke records; executing bosses in broad daylight; Stuxnet). Plus that head-fake about the Hamas tunnels that gave them the chance to destroy the “metro” AND its riders in one go.
Even if it isn’t true (legitimate leak? planted fiction?), the mullahs have no choice but to act as if it is, and will start massive traitor-hunts among the remaining nuclearati.
Which may be the Israeli plan.
Also: any anti-Jewish regime that bought building materials or contracted construction from an Israeli company has got to be wondering if they are sitting on a time-bomb.
Although I suspect that Mossad worked through cut-outs so that the Jewish connection was not known.
As still looking into getting a reproduction cap and ball pistol I have watched a lot of YouTube videos on them. Did see one showing why if carrying you should never have a round I line with the hammer. The video showed without trigger pulled and hammer down smacking the hammer with a stick can fire it.
But doubt very seriously that happened on Alec. Been several write up it was a deliberate act of pointing and pulling the hammer back and trigger. Suspect his story is growing to fit a plausible narrative.
Re: Baldwin and his claim: It is possible when thumb cocking the hammer of a single action Colt style revolver to get only partial engagement with the sear if the hammer is not drawn back forcefully enough. Partial sear engagement will create a hair trigger situation where the slightest touch on the trigger can fire the gun.
Not saying that’s what happened but it is possible with that style pistol.
The gun that killed Kate Steinle was mislaid by a federal dim bulb, passed from hand to hand, ended up under a bench in a park and only “just went off” when it was pointed at Steinle. Worked for the perp.
The Mossad op involved a heck of a lot of Iranians. Either the Mossad had their—noses—in the visegrip in a number of ways, or a lot of Iranian scientists and techs have a problem with the mullahs.
In either case, it requires a lot of homework. And the opec was impressive.
You’d like to think it was a matter of the Iranians being on the side of right and justice.
It’s even better for the Israelis if the story is not completely true at the level of penetrating the Iranian nuclear scientist community itself. It intensifies suspicion from top Iranian leadership and spreads not a little dysentery in the ranks.* Gets in their OODA loop.
* classical reference
Skip,
Colt ball and cap revolvers have a safety stud in between each cap. The hammer should sit on one of these until full cock. Half cock doesn’t revolve the cylinder to align the cap with the hammer. Full cock does. If you lower the hammer on full cock you must manually rotate the cylinder to a safe spot.
DNW, LoFan, Aggie, Skip and Bucky have done a thorough analysis of Baldwin’s latest story and its manifest weakness. I would particularly emphasize that the first argument — that a single action pistol can be fired by a jolt to the spur of the trigger — is true if there is no transfer bar, but does not work in this situation. It takes a very sharp jolt, like hitting the hammer with something very smartly, or (more commonly) like dropping the pistol on the ground and having it hit on the hammer, to fire a cartridge this way.
I won’t belabor the debunking of the other claim — that Baldwin claimed he never pulled the trigger. Just not credible.
The story of Mossad sabotaging Iranian centrifuges is very, very interesting. The thing I did not see in the published report — something that is not knowable at this point in time — is what this says about the motivations and mindset of the Iranian collaborators. If I were part of the ruling clique in Iran, I would worry very much if a number of my countrymen could be turned by Mossad and participate in damaging the nuclear program.
Of course we all understand that humans are amenable to persuasion and can be
“turned.” But this is not a simple or quick operation. It implies that Mossad has been working on recruiting Iranian nuclear workers for a long time — as in before Obama and Kerry celebrated their “agreement” with Iran. Which implies that Israel did not trust the JPCOA from the outset. Not that I blame them — I did not either and Israel was never a party to it.
Once again, I tip my hat to Mossad. They pull off some amazing operations. Stuff that makes James Bond look like an amateur.
WRT Baldwin: It’s his fault . But if he were not such a jerk, and if gun guys were not so interested in the mechanism(s), somebody might ask the question of who, and why, and when, somebody put a cartridge designed to kill people in a gun to be used on a movie set.
Suppose Baldwin had done what he should have done and found a live round in the thing. Then what?
If a real female (i.e., has ovaries, can give birth, etc. ) swimmer is given male testosterone such that their level of testosterone AND estrogen is equal to that of a real male (i.e.., with male parts at birth) given estrogen, would the female swimmer be DQ’d for doping??
Frankly, the ONLY way this garbage of males pretending to be female (so they can engage in female sports events) can be ended is if ALL female athletes at the college, high school, and Olympic level refuse to engage in any varsity athletics.
Of course, this is a very drastic approach, but I can’t see what else will work.
Of course, the preeminent women’s “rights” organization, NOW, is totally silent on this issue. They are nowhere to be found.
Then again, NOW is really the female equivalent of ANTIFA, BLM or the CPUSA – without the rioting and violence (so far) – so expecting them to defend legit women athletes is really a stretch.
Baldwin’s revolver is Pietta replica of an 1873 Colt Army, .45 long colt cartridge, single-action army revolver which has a hammer firing pin which can go off if the gun is dropped on the hammer. The gun has to have the hammer manually pulled back past half cock to full cock, actually a series of four clicks as the hammer comes back to full cock which then requires the trigger to be pulled to release the hammer. If the hammer is released before half cock it is doubtful it would have enough pressure to cause ignition in the cartridge and after half cock the hammer will fall down to half cock and stop if released before full cock which again require the trigger to be pulled.
This particular revolver has been in the possession of law officers since the incident and I am sure it has been checked over and over by gunsmiths to determine if there was any physical defect which could have caused a discharge without the trigger being pulled by Baldwin. I detect a bunch of smoke and mirrors going on here and perhaps some behind the curtain politics and pressure because movie making in New Mexico is big business in one of the poorest states in the nation.
Alec Baldwin; the typical liberal progressive; blaming everything and anything on extraneous events over which he has no control.
Jeez, that gun just appeared out of nowhere and landed in my hand and fired; I have no idea how that happened.
Just like the violent BLM or ANTIFA folks; they blame every problem they have – real or imagined – on extraneous factors and take zero responsibility for anything. This mindset makes them – and all progressives – particularly dangerous because they will ALWAYS find a personal problem of theirs to blame on others; it will never end and neither will their agitation / violence.
They will never believe that they are being treated fairly and they will ramp up their violence until is knows no bounds.
I am somewhat surprised that no NCAA womens coach has recruited a crew of “self-identifying female” basketball players, and put the UConn thing to rest for good.
What self/respecting woke institution of higher learning could possibly object?
That is actually a pretty good point. In fact, I aborted a second comment in which I was rambling on about sear mechanisms and notches.
I realized that anyone seriously interested can just look up the 3 notch sear mechanism of an 1873 Colt “Model P” for themselves; and that there is no certainty that the Pietta replica which Old Texan mentions is an exact duplicate internally anyway. Well, not certain here and yet, anyway.
For what it is worth, and it is not much in the way of direct relevance, my 1851 Colt cap and ball replica has two different half cock safe positions. The “load” half cock which allows the cylinder to be rotated, and a second cylinder lockup half cock which is a bit trickier to set; as you have to pull the hammer back toward full cock, note the second click, and then ease it forward again.
It is a “three click” mechanism. One at load/half cock, and then two more close to full cock. Catching the second click just shy of full cock and then easing the hammer forward, requires paying some attention, though with familiarity it becomes an obvious process.
This particular black powder revolver is an earlish version Italian knock-off – the kind we bought as kids – and I have no way of comparing it to an original Colt Navy except in the abstract.
It certainly lacks the refinement of looks of the popular post 1980’s and newer models: None of those mentioned tween chamber hammer rest notches or pips on this cylinder, and a round barrel that is record grooved like a wartime production Mauser K98. LOL.
Not being an ardent handgun guy, that is all I have to offer on this topic And, frankly, it is more than I really should have.
DNW,
Your experience made me wonder if I knew what I was talking about. Turns out sort of. I examined a Pietta replica 1851 Navy Colt and a Pietta replica 1860 Army Colt. The Navy Colt has half cocked and full cock only. On half cock, the trigger is set and if the cylinder is in a firing position, cocking rotates the cylinder to a safe position and the cylinder can be rotated by hand but only from safe to safe. You can cap each chamber with minimal risk of accidental firing. If it is already in a safe position, it just unlocks the cylinder and sets the trigger. Full cock rotates to a firing position and locks the cylinder.
The 1860 Army Colt has 3 positions like you described. Half cock works like the Navy colt. The “second” half cock rotates the cylinder into a firing position and locks it and the hammer returns to the half cock position. Full cock just sets the hammer in the full cock position.
@ Chases Eagles.
Didn’t intend to launch into a show and tell as I have already said too much. But, can’t resist.
The black powder pistol I am referring to, might very well have some version of an 1860 Colt Army action. But, in outward form it conforms to a 1851 “navy” look; and possibly, given the brass frame, is supposed to represent a Confederate imitation … or not. Who knows at this point? I don’t. And I would not have noticed back when.
It has no written manufacturer name, and certainly no scroll engraving on the cylinder. In fact it has no model or maker stamped on it. Just “made in Italy” right there in the open on the barrel. It was probably some house brand offering. Can’t remember where I got it. Probably some decades ago defunct sporting goods outlet or a place like “K-Mart” sporting goods.
I referred to it as a “Navy” because it is stamped .38 caliber. Should be .36, I know.
Other than the cheap lathe turned round barrel, my high school era Italian cap and ball revolver, looks just like this
https://static1.lot-art.com/public/upl/9/Vintage-Italian-Replica-Colt-Navy-Revolver_1567222558_7920.jpg
We [friends and I ] were just interested in using them for blasting away at log piles in the north woods. After fanning it a few times at bottles as they did on TV, and wasting a can or two of powder, I think that my buddy and I each put our “replica” (pretty sloppy ones) revolvers away to be forgotten, and in the next couple years stuck to more mature exercises in muzzle loading season deer hunting.
For that more noble activity, we had higher quality replicas. I bought a really accurate and expensive .50 cal Thompson Center Hawken style rifle that could split a soda can dead center at 80 yards. But, you know what a pain they are to load. I eventually resorted to slightly sizing the ringed slugs (a big no-no supposedly) by rolling them between two 2″x4″s so as to make follow-up shots with a slightly fouled barrel quicker. That lessened the very cylindrical diameter by a few thou./.001ths inch without removing any material. No need for the mallet. Trick was to get the slug just the right size: still tight but not so tight you could not seat it flush in the muzzle with the heel of your gloved fist.
https://dygtyjqp7pi0m.cloudfront.net/i/41524/35999277_1.jpg?v=8D7C84A49E08300
My pal scored with a Parker Hale reproduction of the 1861 Musketoon. An outstanding quality rifled musket with great accuracy when shooting Minnie balls. I think the initial purchase was a fluke. Some shop owner convinced him to take what he had in stock instead of a Kentucky rifle, and after he used it once, he would never part with it.
Image of the type https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/98/Pattern_1861_Enfield_Musketoon_Reproduction.JPG/450px-Pattern_1861_Enfield_Musketoon_Reproduction.JPG
@ JohnTyler > “Of course, this is a very drastic approach, but I can’t see what else will work.”
@ boatbuilder > “I am somewhat surprised that no NCAA womens coach has recruited a crew of “self-identifying female” basketball players”
One suggestion I have seen, which at the moment I agree with, is that any transwoman (aka biological male at birth) athlete has to compete in a league composed solely of other such persons.
In other words, there would be men’s teams, women’s teams, and trans teams for each sport where sex / testosterone / muscular build makes a difference. The only exceptions I could think of (an maybe there are some things I’m not aware of) would be shooting, and possibly equestrian dressage.
AFAIK, very few if any transmen (aka biological female at birth) are trying to compete in men’s sports leagues. They could presumably have their own fourth set of leagues.
For boatbuilder: any team with even just one trans person has to compete in the appropriate trans league, regardless of the professed sex / gender of the rest of the team.
Ditto this by Squints:
“It’s even better for the Israelis if the story is not completely true at the level of penetrating the Iranian nuclear scientist community itself. It intensifies suspicion from top Iranian leadership and spreads not a little dysentery in the ranks.* Gets in their OODA loop.”
Mossad is supposed to be the best at what they do. Given the precarious existence of Israel from the beginning, I would expect they probably are. They can’t afford to take the risk of keeping idiots, incompetents and corrupt asses like a Comey, Mueller, Sztrok, Baker, McCabe or their equally worthless counterparts in CIA and NSA.
Mossad appears to play multi-dimensional chess. The US can’t play tic tac toe. As the Taliban has shown, nothing pays off nearly as well as having the USA as an enemy.
I have far more confidence in the integrity and competence of Mossad than any institution in America.