Nicole W. was the first of several readers to send this piece: US farmers fear the return of the Dust Bowl: For years the Ogallala Aquifer, the world’s largest underground body of fresh water, has irrigated thousands of square miles of American farmland. Now it is running dry
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Chad S. sent this piece datelined Worchester, Massachusetts: 2,000 rounds of ammo found during traffic stop. Oh, my goodness! They nailed this bad man with “…four counts of possession of a large capacity feeding device, and possession of ammunition without a Firearm Identification Card.” Cue the wailing, teeth-gnashing, and hand-wringing. I wish that hoplophobes would get real about guns and ammunition. They are obviously from an alternate universe. (The one where Earth’s axis is located at a university campus in Stevens Point, Wisconsin.) I’ve determined that it is not just the ownership of guns by their neighbors that bothers gun haters–it is the numbers. The last time I checked, it was impossible for an individual to shoot more than two guns at a time. (Inaccurately, at that, without lots of practice.) So what difference does it make if someone owns two guns, or two hundred? Does owning a dozen boom sticks somehow make someone evil? (More evil? “Eviler?”) And since when did a small gun collection become an “arms cache”, and a moderate-size gun collection–or anything more than an armload of ammunition–become an “arsenal”? If you include all of the .22 rimfire my kids go through, 2,000 rounds of ammo represents just a two or three week supply for my family or perhaps enough for a three-day weekend. And I’ve been known to buy twice that much ammo in just one gun show trip. Its a good thing that the Taxachussetts officials don’t have any jurisdiction here in The Un-Named Western State (TUWS). If they pulled me over they might suffer a fit of apoplexy and brand me as a one-man crime wave.
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Meanwhile, ‘Ol Remus spotted this news headline of abject horror from Across The Pond: .22 bullet found in Fossgate, York. (Here in TUWS, nobody would blink any eye unless the ammo was .50 BMG, or larger. And even then, after picking it up, the first question asked would be: “Now where am I going to find a gun to shoot this?”)
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Reader N.R.V. sent a link to an alarming video about the Islamazation of France, produced in 2010.
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Millions Without Food, Water, Power After Quake Ravages Japan. (Thanks to M.E.W. for the link.)