I received a text from a relative the other night… this is what it said:So, I’m busy at the time at a business open house and on my way home I give the relative a call.

Background:

TMM For Scale…

Before I get into the details of the story, let me relate the following. This relative is 74 years old, under 5 foot, and has silver-gray hair and is a breast cancer survivor. From now on we will just refer to her as: “Short Lady with the Gray Hair” or SLwtGH for short.  She drives a retired police car we picked up used for a decent price after her previous car finally began to die after 23 years of use.

Story:

I call the SLwtGH and she informs me of the events from her day.  For whatever reason that morning she decided that she needed to carry Tweety, her revolver with her.  She headed into Tacoma to play bridge with some friends.  For those who aren’t familiar with the People’s Republic of Puget Sound, Tacoma isn’t exactly the friendliest depending on where you are, but this was going to be mid day and she would be traveling home by 1500 so it’s not like the animals would be prowling right?

She leaves her friend’s house and at about 1440 she turns left off of E 38th street and heads North on East Portland Ave.

The full frame of the incident. The distance from E38th to Fairbanks is .4 miles.

At the time she turned left she checked her rear view mirror and saw no one behind her, blind spot clear she moved from the left lane to the right lane.

At East Fairbanks she noticed two dark color vehicles approaching from the rear. She maintained speed at 40 thinking  this is nothing significant, other than traffic.

One vehicle rapidly speeds past, immediately pulls in front, rapidly stops forcing the SLwtGH to slam on her brakes. The second car blocks the drivers side preventing immediate egress from the area. The only exit is backwards or through the vehicles.

Three men get out of the vehicles. Two out of the vehicle directly in front. The third got out of the vehicle blocking the driver side. One has a revolver at his side, another has a knife, the third has a semi-automatic pistol. At this point the SLwtGH is dialing 911 and drawing her firearm. She places it in a retention position on her chest.  About midway through their approach of the vehicle the men stop their approach. They begin conversing, the words said are unknown.  At this same time the SLwtGH is relaying her location to dispatch.

Suddenly there is a siren and lights approaching from the east. The officers pull in front of the two black cars blocking any attempted egress and the officers exit the vehicle weapons drawn.  The officer and his partner in the first car immediately took control of the situation and put the individuals in custody. Two other cars arrived shortly after.

After the officers had placed the individuals in custody they approached the SLwtGH , asked to see her weapon and carry permit.  She was then informed they were well acquainted with subjects, she was absolutely justified and had nothing to worry about. They would be going away for an extended period on multiple warrants. She was thanked for maintaining poise and thoughtfulness.

She let the officers clear the scene and then she did so.

Major notes, the criminals were traveling in packs, attempted to attack what they thought they was a soft target. This event happened in broad daylight on a thoroughfare.

AAR and my takes:

Most likely this was an attempted car jacking. As the SLwtGH was driving a retired police car it is both hardened, as well as useful if you want to imitate being an officer to rob people.  Overall the event happened quickly, it was lucky there were officers in the immediate vicinity. The SLwtGH kept her cool and remained calm event though she was under stress.

In this incident all three elements for deadly force existed:

1. Ability: They were armed and there was no question about them being so.
2. Opportunity: Two of the individuals were armed with ranged weapons capable of piercing the windshield.
3. Jeopardy: The men out numbered an elderly, short, woman, blocked her vehicle, were approaching it armed, with no legal reason to be doing so.

Alternative Weapons:

While giving a debrief she noted that even if she attempted to back up, she would have still had difficulty fleeing because of the distance required to get around them. I reminded her of two things.

1. She was in a hardened vehicle that gives her an advantage others don’t have. She could have backed up enough to wedge through the two vehicles.
2. Her vehicle has enough power and is reinforced on the front that she could have pushed that front car out-of-the-way.

Remember your vehicle is a weapon, don’t be afraid to use it as such.

It happens fast, remain calm:

This kicked off fairly fast, I’m impressed SLwtGH was able to get 911 on the horn and have her firearm ready to rock.

This was most likely because she did not sit in denial of the events happening in front of her. Many people when confronted will deny what’s going on, trying to rationalize that this isn’t really happening or that they’re being hyper critical and the danger they’re seeing isn’t really there.  Process your input and act on it, don’t deny what you’re seeing, don’t down play it. Let the data and events speak for itself. If new data says it’s not as dangerous, great, but don’t trying and play the hypotheticals as it is happening.

Her firearm made the difference.

The presence of her firearm interrupted their game plan. This was a defensive gun use, however statistically this wouldn’t be counted.  As a side note this makes for 5 defensive gun uses in my family, in all 5 instances there wasn’t a shot fired. They had their own preconceived notion of how this was going to go down. They figured it was a soft target and would need little effort other than intimidation. When they approached the vehicle, the firearm caused them to suddenly need to start working on a new game plan. I’ve seen this happen personally in another incident where the individual was armed.

If you find yourself in a similar situation that is the moment you need to capitalize on. What has happened is the initiative has flipped, they no longer have the edge of their plan. This is when you can either talk the person down, I did in one case, wait and see if they’re going to decide discretion is the better part of valor, as the SLwtGH did here.

Additional side note, if they are already committed to performing an act of violence in their plan such as shooting you, they will likely not freeze or stop. I suspect this is because mentally that haven’t counted on the escalation path and the probability of them not surviving the encounter. Someone already committed to the violent act will most likely not waver.

Final thoughts:

Sean’s notes on this are spot on. We’ve got yet another crap gun control initiative in this state being funded by Bloomberg and company. In two weeks time there were two defensive gun uses within my family.

The issue isn’t with firearms, it isn’t with law-abiding gun owners, it’s with the tolerant behavior surrounding violent crime. We’re restricting the rights of the innocent under the guise of stopping criminals, and then acting surprised criminals are becoming bolder, because they don’t care. In the end, criminals prey on the weak. Why are we wanting the people who’ve contributed to society and continue to do so turned into prey?

Final though, don’t tell me you want to ban firearms or otherwise disarm innocent people, I am sick of playing that game. The only way the SLGH had any chance there was a firearm. Even if they had just had clubs, she’s old, small, and out numbered. You’re a sick horrible person and honestly, the body count of innocent people being dead isn’t on us. We carry every day to protect ourselves and those we love. Just look at the pastor who stopped a car jacker when he was taking his 6th car after previously shooting numerous people.

So don’t you dare tell me blood is on our hands for supporting gun owners and law-abiding citizens. 5 defensive gun uses, not a single shot fired in any of them, and in the last one:

The Short Lady with the Grey Hair stared down a bunch of armed thugs to the point where they’re now sitting in jail.

How ready are you for when violence shows up unexpectedly? Remember it doesn’t call ahead, you’re not really going to get a warning until it happens. Are you ready to be like the Short Lady with the Gray Hair?

For those who don’t know I’m a host, who’s having random sabbaticals, over at The Gunblog Variety Cast.  And well if you know me or have been lucky enough to friend me on Facebook, sorry I don’t just accept anyone, overall I have a solid bead on the tech security space.

The Problem

So incase you’ve been under a rock there have been some major events recently about computer security. First up was “WannaCry“.

WannaCry propagates using EternalBlue, an exploit of Windows’ Server Message Block (SMB) protocol. Much of the attention and comment around the event was occasioned by the fact that the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) had discovered the vulnerability in the past, but used it to create an exploit for its own offensive work, rather than report it to Microsoft.^[22][23] It was only when the existence of this vulnerability was revealed by The Shadow Brokers that Microsoft became aware of the issue,^[24] and issued a “critical” security patch on 14 March 2017 to remove the underlying vulnerability on supported versions of Windows, though many organizations had not yet applied it.^[25]

The thing is, there’s way more that was in the Shadow Brokers dump and the hits keep coming. CVE-2017-7494 came out May 30th, 2017. This affects “SAMBA”, which is the implementation of the Windows Server Message Block protocol for Linux. I expect a decent chunk of my readership, at least of what’s left since I haven’t written in a year, just went “What!?” It’s at this point I’m going to try to break it down Barney style, ask questions in the comments.

The Windows SMB protocol is how Windows does file sharing.  So when you type something like \mymachinename\ and you see a list of folders available, it’s making use of that protocol. This protocol is also  implemented for Linux that allows you to have a Linux server serving files for Windows machines.

So before I get too much further lets talk about these exploits.  Including a very recent CVE-2017-8543 that was patched Tuesday June 13th. All of them through various methods allowed for whats called “Unauthenticated Remote Code Execution.” The scary thing about 8543 is that it is a zero day, which means that it was found being actively exploited in the wild before the release of the patch.

Logo via Softpedia.

What does that mean, someone, anyone, could cause the end point service to execute arbitrary code sent to it. This wasn’t intentional, that is what makes this an exploit. Someone found a bug that causes the service to behave in this way.  What does that really mean though? It means anyone can send a carefully crafted message to your computer that will make it does whatever they want, including encrypting your data to deny you access.

What does this mean?

So, I hear many of you saying, “Well I have Windows not Linux so I’m good just applying the Microsoft patches right?” This is where I scare the crap out of everyone.

Embedded Linux is used almost everywhere, from cell phones, to ATMs, Network Attached Storage, to the common home wireless router. The good news is really old routers didn’t really offer this as a feature, the bad news is starting around 2013 routers started shipping with USB and eSATA ports so one could connect an external hard drive and share it across the network. It basically was a feature that allowed people to quickly deploy a NAS.

Image via Bob McKay

These embedded devices are all using the SAMBA service as they’re running embedded Linux. It’s worth noting the vulnerability exists going all the way back to March 1st of 2010. So basically any and every router with these features is affected. Going a step further every NAS (Network Attached Storage) device on the market is likewise affected.

So the devices have a software bug, which allows arbitrary code execution which can result in the following:

• Denial of access to data. It’s encrypted and only decrypted, if they feel like it, after you pay them a ransom.
  • Do NOT pay the ransom. There is no escrow and thus no guarantee you will actually recover your data.
• Exfiltration of data. Someone searches through your data, saves what they can make money from. Could be IP theft or blackmail.

But it’s a software bug, we just need to get the patch from the manufacturer and life is going to be good right?

The Rub

Image from PCWorld.com

Most of these devices aren’t being updated anymore. That is to say, manufacturers will most likely not be releasing an update to patch this issue if the device is more than a year old.

I’ve got a very nice WRT-1900AC.  The last firmware update was in the middle of 2015. It has features that fall under this and tools show it is vulnerable to the exploit. Let me put this another way. My 300 dollar router, yes that’s what it cost when I bought it, got updates for a year and was then out of service and now critical bugs are being found and left unfixed by the vendor.

Unlike Windows and WannaCry, manufacturers of these devices will leave users vulnerable. Worse, removing them from the network will remove one of the more beneficial features, Network Attached Storage. In the case of routers, these devices are often placed on the border between a users private network and the internet so they are exposed to malicious traffic.

Ideally the router does not present the SMB interface to the internet, however this isn’t to say malicious packets will not find their way into the interior network from the internet if other issues are found with the router. At which point the router will fall victim.

It gets worse…

While working on this post an article came out over at SearchSecurity, discussing CherryBlossom. This was a project by the CIA to attack router security issues including a lack of firmware validation.

“On the enterprise side, the big router manufacturers have offered validation of signed firmware for quite some time. The problem is that it’s not enabled by default for the most part, and it requires that a network admin actually go and do something,” Kuzma told SearchSecurity. “Both the Cisco and Juniper tools rely on MD5 hashes. MD5 is broken as a hashing algorithm, with several known and feasible techniques for generating identical hashes from wildly different binary content.”

Image from Fossbytes.

So this isn’t event just a commercial issue but even an enterprise level issue. Firmware can be updated remotely, over wireless in many cases and has no validation of the code being installed as being from the vendor. Additionally the router provides a fantastic vantage point for an attacker. He can sit in the middle and analyze all your traffic undetected.

It’s like climbing to the top of a peak overlooking a valley. You can see everything from the vantage point.  Not only see in this case, because the router can redirect and alter your traffic to do even more.

So What Do We Do?

First, maintain an offline backup of all your data. Grab a hard drive, copy your important files on to it, and update it periodically.  Do NOT leave it connected to your computer or network. Doing so will leave you vulnerable if something does get in. Plan on when, not if, someone gets in and locks up your data.

Part of this also stems from a “Jack of All Trades” view of equipment in the consumer space and improper defaults in the enterprise space. Really, who wants to buy multiple pieces of equipment and who wants to take the extra steps in configuration?

The problem is in the consumer space ongoing maintenance and support of products is nonexistent.  In the enterprise IT space there are products that are undergoing long-term use and support. Hardware that is often used is basically a mini computer and the router software and firewall is like installing an operating system.

This is where I say something I hate. Because honestly I prefer the easy route for anyone and everyone. It needs to be trivial for a user to do. The problem is this route is leading us down a horrible path because manufacturers are not maintaining their equipment for that path to work.

What’s that mean? You need to actually build a proper firewall appliance and use if for your network. I’m going to write-up a multi part series how-to with instructions. There are a bunch of hardware options, which in itself can lead to the paralysis of analysis. My goal through this is to give a guide of hardware and software to put you in a position you can easily succeed.

The thing is, that’s just bare hardware. It’s dumb, doesn’t do anything, and still needs software and a configuration to run.  So what should you use to protect your network.  Currently the desired guard dog is pFsense.  This takes some work to set up and configure, but in the end will last longer, will be better maintained, and protect your data more reliably.

Over the next couple weeks I will be writing up a how-to on deployment and  looking at creating a default deployment image for that hardware if possible. My hardware choice is slightly different, not because that hardware isn’t good, it’s because I’m doing some advanced deployment for my network.

OpenWRT/DD-WRT are both options as well but there’s a few issues. One they don’t solve the secure update problem seen in Cheery Blossom.  You will still need to disable and remove the mass storage features of the router. While one could look at this you’re also going to no longer use the router as a router but merely an access point.

Depending however on the capabilities of the router, you can do advanced things within your network which still will leverage those capabilities. Ideally though you would still update your router software to OpenWRT/DD-WRT to deal with the exploit, but there can still be a lag or lack of support for your router by either of these solutions. Not to mention the process can be unforgiving and leave you with a brick.

Conclusion:

If you know a friend who’s into IT and computers, now is a good time to buy a case of beer and invite him over to see if he can help. These issues are only going to get worse, especially since the Shadow Brokers are now charging for exploit dumps. Meaning Blackhat hackers will be buying the exploits and unless some whitehats also buy them, which is funding criminal enterprise, we will not know what exploits are in the wild until the malware hits.

Putting multiple eggs into the same basket is becoming more and more risky and we need to start diversifying and looking at using the best tools to protect critical assets. The last thing we want to do is combine the defensive position with the material we’re trying to defend.

This is going to get worse, defense is going to get harder, and the time to start building your earthworks and redoubts is now.

The series trophy would be Charlton Heston holding an AR-15 and would be called the Dead Hands Cup.  Imagine the screaming of the opposition as every where they looked were images and advertising from the NRA on national TV.  The cries as the series winner stood up with a trophy with an AR-15 on top at the end.

Now as much fun as that would all be, I would rather send funds to the front line for the fight, but the fallout from the other side would be down right hilarious.

*Found in the drafts folder and I’m wondering why I never hit publish…

The good news was, Ray being Ray made the service a fun ride, having planned much of it in advance himself. Including 37 minutes of prelude music (iTunes link).

Ray’s Playlist

Even to the point of writing his own naming in the service:

Raymond was by his own admission over-serious and more sensitive than was really in his own best interests. He was a recovering alcoholic, sober since 1996 with all the benefits and flaws that implies. He sought to be a good son, to accept his brother for who he was, and to be a good uncle and friend.

Ray was driven to activism by many things. His sense of obligation to those who went before, his fundamental opposition to injustice, his patriotism, his love for his fellow man and his belief that often the kindest and most moral thing a government can do is to leave individuals to work out their own destiny.

Ray considered his nieces a special blessing, and loved them every day of their lives. His favorite holiday was Christmas and he went over the top each year that he could, going wild with decorating and striving to uphold the family traditions. He enjoyed cooking, reading and bull sessions with friends.

His time with the Freedom Day Committee, culminating in co-chairing a Pride Parade was a proud memory that he always enjoyed sharing. He took even greater joy in his time working with the Second Amendment Foundation and for firearms rights, which he saw as just another side of the same issue – civil rights – with debatably saner players. Or at least differently nuts.

Ray came to Masonry later in life, following his father and grandfather into lodge membership. He found this an opportunity for service and as an immense comfort during the last years of his life. He requests that in lieu of flowers or other donations that word be made to the Masonic Scholarship Fund of Alki Lodge #152.The growth of the lodge and facilitating educational opportunities for today’s youth was critically important to him.

The support of the Second Amendment Foundation, his friends and colleagues there, and particularly the support and tolerance of Alan and Julie Gottlieb made possible a dignified and graceful passage and rose well above any reasonable expectation of an employer; they are to be commended for their efforts and Ray hopes they accept his deepest gratitude.

Ray asked that I make clear that this service celebrating his life celebrate ALL of his life – not just one part or another. He chose music, verses and asked for themes that reflected who he was – a decidedly out gay man, a pro-gun activist, a patriot, a “small l” libertarian, a supporter of LGBT rights, and all the other roles in his life. He admitted he cheated and threw in one or two songs that he loved just for the beauty of the songs and asked that all of us here forgive him his final whimsy.

I realize now after the service there was a LARGE number of people who for various reasons weren’t able to make it but wanted to be there. I hope this glimpse into the service will suffice and put a smile on your face like Ray would have wanted.

There was limited commentary while sitting in the church regarding stories about Ray. Well anyone that knows Ray knows exactly why that is, I can’t think of any stories that are “Sanctuary Appropriate”. I made sure the story of Ray and Linoge was given to everyone in the room.

The wife made Ray’s Rice Crispy treats:

Rice Krispy treats

Ray Carter

For a 9×13 pan

Ingredients

1 cup each sugar, peanut butter, and light corn syrup

1 16oz bag each chocolate chips and butterscotch chips

6 cups rice krispies (or cereal to be disposed of)

Directions

In double boiler, melt together until smooth, corn syrup and sugar.

Let come to bare boil, back off. Remove from heat.

Stir in peanut butter, blending thoroughly.

Pour blended mixture over bowl of 6c of rice krispies – mixing thoroughly.

Press into buttered 9×13 pan. Use care and/or a spoon.

Set aside.

Clean or retrieve 2^nd double boiler.

Melt together butterscotch chips and chocolate chips, stirring until indistinguishably blended.

Pour over rice krispy mix as frosting, until covered from edge to edge.

Either let set, or to accelerate setting, place in fridge or (if in great hurry) freezer.

Using sturdy knife, cut in 1×1 squares (2×2 seem far more common though).

Consume and giggle.

She even made a sign for the closing quote:

Ray says, Consume and Giggle.

At the end, Phil, Drang, Bradley, Link, Ry, Kyle, Dustin, my Mom, TMW, Harry, and I all headed down for BBQ and spent another couple hours chatting and telling stories.

A bunch of us chatting after everything was over.

It was a sad day but we all made the most of it. We’ll miss you Ray and so long my brother.

It appears SimpliSafe’s systems send messages unencrypted in the clear over the air. That means it’s trivial to send spoofed sensor readings – such as back-door closed – to fool alarm control boxes into thinking no break-in is happening, and replay PIN codes from keypads to activate or deactivate security systems.

blink This shit’s a joke right? An honest to god joke. This is so blatantly bad it is obvious someone made a proof of concept and then shipped it as a product.

The only thing that is worse is their canned response to the problem:

Thanks for writing in.
Please read this information below there hasn’t been any cases or situations.

As our systems use wireless technology, there is an understandable concern over the potential to hack or jam our signal. Much of it comes from a certain video online that fails to depict the equipment used or the number of attempts made to compromise that signal. While any wireless system is susceptible to this type of attack from a sufficiently savvy and motivated intruder, our systems can be backed up with with a land line or an internet connection for no additional cost. Also, this type of attack represents such a small percentage of total break-ins that the FBI does not even keep a count. This is because the majority of break-ins are a quick forced entry and not the sophisticated type of attack that requires diligent planning as well as highly illegal and cost-prohibitive equipment. Assuming an intruder has the requisite technology, he would need to know the frequency ranges he needs to jam, and also know the layout of your home beforehand, as he would have to avoid motion detectors even in the unlikely event that he bypassed a door sensor. Furthermore, our systems use a proprietary algorithm that helps the system distinguish between everyday interference from nearby household electronics, and unusual, possibly targeted interference.

Best,
Mikaela
——————-
SimpliSafe, Inc.
customer-support@simplisafe.com
1-888-95-SIMPLI (1-888-957-4675)

While we believe the FBI’s intentions are good, it would be wrong for the government to force us to build a backdoor into our products. And ultimately, we fear that this demand would undermine the very freedoms and liberty our government is meant to protect.

Tim Cook – A Message to Our Customers

February 16, 2016

[First, go read the whole thing; all of it. There are different things that can be used for quotes, but that final line says it all.

If you’re having trouble understanding why they wouldn’t help the government there’s a couple different things going on here. If you read their security document for iOS there is little that can actually be done. While no one on this side of the fence is supporting the actions of those asshats that shot up a Christmas party the most common argument I’ve seen has been appeal to emotion to catch those that supported them.

Yes, I want to catch them. Then break into their phone!!! Apple is aiding and abetting by not helping. No they’re not because there’s a lot more at stake than just one phone despite the claims by the government. Anything they build can be used against any other iPhone. Not only that, if it falls into the wrong hands it can be used for criminal enterprise.

Tim used the following line as well:

Criminals and bad actors will still encrypt, using tools that are readily available to them.

This is most definitely true. As pointed out to me by Ashley, if you replace the words and shift the subject this reads like letter from the President of the NRA.

I came to the following realization which cements just how important and how right this stance is. What the FBI wants fails the Jews in the Attic test. To think that this will only be used in this one case is naïve and without forethought.  There is no way you will keep a genie like this in the bottle. At some point it’s going to get out and it’s not going be pretty.

Say what you will about Apple, but at least they have the balls to stand up and not just play dead due to an “Appeal to Emotion.” -B ]

Moeller would bar the manufacture, possess, purchase, sale or transfer of any pistol or rifle with ability to hold more than 10 rounds, shotguns with revolving cylinders and make possession of such or a long list of accessories a felony punishable by up to 5 years in prison.

As Speaker Pro Tempore for the Washington House of Representatives and one of the leading Democrats running for the office of Lieutenant Governor is clearly a leader of and major force in the Washington Democratic Party. As such, voters must assume that this action reveals the true intentions of his party – imposing gun bans, seizures and entrapment upon law-abiding Washington gun owners.

If you’re from the 49th Legislative District, there is a rally that was already planned for this Friday. I suggest you arrive and pay your representative a visit. I also suggest strongly you start working on finding a replacement.

Obama has some real balls to speak of the better man Zaevion Dobson to a room of people who have had children die due to gun violence.

He just asked these people to see that our heroes die to protect their feelings. If my child is in high school and needs to confront someone when “gunmen start firing”, endangering people in the street, she will not need to serve as a human shield, but will be able to do so from a covered position with an AR-15 firmly seated in her shoulder by returning well disciplined rifle fire.

The Learned Sergeant – Facebook Post
1/5/2016

[I have nothing else to add. -B]

Disturbed – Immortalized

“Simply stated, ‘gun control’ could not exist without an accompanying sea of disinformation.”

Anonymous

[I have nothing else to add. -B]

]]> https://www.the-minuteman.org/2015/12/31/forest-river-forums-and-overly-sensitive-moderators/ https://www.the-minuteman.org/2015/12/31/forest-river-forums-and-overly-sensitive-moderators/#comments Thu, 31 Dec 2015 20:00:01 +0000 http://www.the-minuteman.org/?p=7100 Continue reading → ]]> So I joined Forest River Forums recently after I bought a fifth wheel with the kiddo in mind and Boomershoot. You can encounter all 4 seasons in the weekend and many times 3 of them in one day with a rapid swing. It’s often cold and windy and well a 7 month old kid in that environment isn’t going to be fun.

TMW and Minnie Me with the new Fifth Wheel

So thought, get a bug out vehicle that we can use elsewhere. Well I’m new to the RV thing so I begin doing what I do and started sucking up every last piece of information on the topic and finding locations that would be helpful for future reference.

I joined Forest River Forums for the following reasons:

1. Own a Forest River product.
2. Forest River product engineers do surf that forum and offer help.

That seems like a great way to narrow down noise when dealing with a problem or issue. So I do the one thing I never do and join a forum. Yeah we will see why I hate forums here shortly. I joined shortly after pulling the trigger October 4th.

The clue Forest River Forums doesn’t want me:

Come November 10th, I was given this garbage in my inbox.

PM I got from a busy body.

So I don’t remember what I had in my signature. Most likely it was either this quote from Franklin:

Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.

Or this one from Captain America:

Doesn’t matter what the press says. Doesn’t matter what the politicians or the mobs say. Doesn’t matter if the whole country decides that something wrong is something right.

When the ob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of Truth and tell the whole world, you move.

Don’t remember, I was off Forest River Forums for a while and didn’t notice that PM until December 22nd. Well after seeing the message and then noticing my sig is different, I was less than pleased. Petty tyrants gotta tyrant. This is their forum and they can do whatever they want.

This is my blog and well they decided to be so fucking petty I have no need to hide any of this anymore instead feel it better to lay out the facts of exactly what transpired.  I fired off a curt reply.

So I just noticed this PM tonight. Since you seem to be this type of individual, here’s your trigger warning.

First, let me say this is your site and you’re free to do whatever the hell you want. I find it interesting though that I must censor the link to my blog though in the about me page. I can understand limiting commentary in sig lines, but if someone looks me up so what? They’re free to leave my website, just as I’m free to skip over threads I don’t care about.

If they want to get their panties in a ruffle well I’m not going to be the one to do it in a public forum. However while I understand your concern about someone not expressing such restraint you feel it necessary to restrain me. Petty tyrants gotta tyrant.

But here’s one for you. You want to be a resource for RVer’s and traveling with firearms can be a long legal nightmare. But we can’t have people asking questions about how to do that now can we? Because CONTROVERSY! We can’t have someone discover from looking in someone’s profile that they might be able to answer the question outside of the forum whereby the forum escapes their inclusion in a dreaded “controversial” subject.

We’re talking about the link to my blog as provided in my profile on the about me page. We can’t have someone discover from looking in someone’s profile that they might be able to answer the question outside of the forum whereby the forum escapes their inclusion in a dreaded “controversial” subject. You have quite literally said now I’m not welcome because “I am controversial” merely by my presence and who I am outside of this forum. Because that is my personal website. If you don’t like the fact that someone might have something controversial in their about me profiles, delete the url for everyone. Make it your safe space.

I’d like to point out there wasn’t a lick of controversy or issue until you created one. So with that, so long. I’d rather be some place where I feel welcome and not have to suppress my profile about who I am.

Additionally, I find it ironic that you bitch about my blog when I’ve had a couple people contact me after surfing through the forums. They contacted me to ask me RVing questions and didn’t want to join the forum, largely because of limited scope and it was regarding my specific rig and configuration, coupled with the fact they dislike forums. We’ll we see why, not to mention for a supposed resource to help people you seem more than happy to kill off some of the ways it helps.

I thought long and hard before joining this forum because honestly, I find most forums an absolute waste because petty shit drives out people who would be good contributors. I can see now that deep down this place is no exception.

TL;DR: Go fuck yourself you petty, hypocritical, tyrants. I’m out, I don’t need you or your generation of drama because of a fucking link to my blog contained within my profile. You either welcome me or you don’t. If someone else wants to get pissy because of who I am outside of this site, that’s their fucking problem; NOT MINE.

In hindsight I noticed a copy paste reorder issue but it still works. After that I didn’t goto Forest River Forums.

Forest River Forums cements the attitude.

Yesterday I searched for something and without looking clicked the link and this greeted me.

And I’ve been banned.

How’s that for awesome right? Petty tyrant shows himself as a petty tyrant wielding the only hammer he’s got. But wait, it gets better. After seeing I am now banned, indefinitely, I decided to check my profile info. Lets look at my contact page.

Look, my URL is still there…

So lets ignore the signature thing, because honestly while it’s annoying it’s not the serious transgression here. The transgression here is that the contact info for me regarding my homepage was an “issue”. Most entertainingly you then see this below:

Only the hobbies you approve of.

So it appears that my polite behavior within the forum not to mention my intelligence regarding some of the subjects didn’t matter because my hobbies and interests didn’t align with their world view.

I know for a fact at most two moderators were involved with my ban, you can see only two reviewed my profile, and most likely it was this single moderator who had his panties in a bunch because how dare you have a hobby I disagree with.

Want the icing on the cake though? I have had people contact me through my profile page looking for answers to questions. They were looking at getting a similar trailer and didn’t want to join Forest River Forums. Smart decision that, petty tyrant has to tyrant and it’s best just to avoid their drama.

What’s entertaining is they trotted all this out and for what? A link to my personal blog about what I do outside of my RV and outside Forest River Forums. They cannot actually damage me or even really prevent me from reading the forum. It’s easy to delete cookies, change IP addresses, and any host of other things. Hell, I could create another profile right now and be back on and they wouldn’t know who it is. In other words, you can’t actually stop me, all you can be is a nuisance. It’s merely my ethical and moral stance that keeps me from burning your house down with the lemon.

Anyone involved in this shit show is free to contact me through the contact page or to leave a comment while comments are open. Note unlike a petty tyrant, it takes a lot for me to swing the ban hammer, even in a public space, and I’ll be leaving what you write for the world to see.

This post could be alternatively titled, why Forest River Forums sucks and you shouldn’t waste your time.

Specifically, UK ministers want to make it a criminal offence for tech firms to warn users of requests for access to their communication data made by security organizations such as MI5, MI6 and GCHQ (the Government Communications Headquarters).

Rob Thubron – Tech companies face criminal charges if they notify users of UK government spying

December 30th, 2015

[Coming soon to a country near you…

This right here is a classic case of “it’s fine when we do it and illegal when anyone else does it.” Seriously, you’re required to notify users of a breach of security regarding their accounts, not to mention it’s the morally correct thing to do. Yet somehow all those rules go right out the window merely because it’s a government agency who’s getting into the account.

You want indemnity to prevent disclosure. Simple, get a real honest to god warrant, not to mention the death to the secret courts. Nothing aids abuse better than these types of shenanigans. -B]

To regulate assault weapons, to ensure that the right to keep and bear arms is not unlimited, and for other purposes.

Mr. Cicilline (for himself, Ms. Adams, Mr. Aguilar, Ms. Bass, Mr. Becerra, Mr. Beyer, Mr. Blumenauer, Ms. Bonamici, Mr. Brendan F. Boyle of Pennsylvania, Mr. Brady of Pennsylvania, Ms. Brown of Florida, Ms. Brownley of California, Mrs. Capps, Mr. Capuano, Mr. Cárdenas, Mr. Carney, Mr. Carson of Indiana, Mr. Cartwright, Ms. Judy Chu of California, Ms. Clark of Massachusetts, Ms. Clarke of New York, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Connolly, Mr. Conyers, Mr. Courtney, Mr. Crowley, Mr. Cummings, Mr. Danny K. Davis of Illinois, Mrs. Davis of California, Ms. DeGette, Mr. Delaney, Ms. DeLauro, Mr. DeSaulnier, Mr. Deutch, Mr. Doggett, Mr. Michael F. Doyle of Pennsylvania, Ms. Duckworth, Ms. Edwards, Mr. Ellison, Mr. Engel, Ms. Eshoo, Ms. Esty, Mr. Farr, Mr. Foster, Ms. Frankel of Florida, Ms. Fudge, Mr. Gallego, Mr. Grayson, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Gutiérrez, Ms. Hahn, Mr. Hastings, Mr. Higgins, Mr. Himes, Mr. Honda, Mr. Hoyer, Mr. Huffman, Mr. Israel, Ms. Jackson Lee, Mr. Jeffries, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Mr. Keating, Ms. Kelly of Illinois, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Langevin, Mr. Larson of Connecticut, Mrs. Lawrence, Ms. Lee, Mr. Levin, Mr. Ted Lieu of California, Ms. Lofgren, Mr. Lowenthal, Mrs. Lowey, Ms. Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico, Mr. Lynch, Mr. McDermott, Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney of New York, Ms. Matsui, Ms. McCollum, Mr. McGovern, Mr. Meeks, Ms. Meng, Ms. Moore, Mr. Moulton, Mr. Nadler, Mrs. Napolitano, Mr. Neal, Mr. Norcross, Ms. Norton, Mr. Pallone, Mr. Pascrell, Ms. Pingree, Ms. Plaskett, Mr. Pocan, Mr. Price of North Carolina, Mr. Quigley, Mr. Rangel, Miss Rice of New York, Mr. Richmond, Ms. Roybal-Allard, Mr. Ruppersberger, Mr. Rush, Mr. Sarbanes, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. Schiff, Mr. Scott of Virginia, Mr. Serrano, Mr. Sherman, Mr. Sires, Ms. Slaughter, Ms. Speier, Mr. Swalwell of California, Mr. Takano, Mr. Tonko, Mrs. Torres, Ms. Tsongas, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Veasey, Ms. Velázquez, Mr. Vargas, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Mrs. Watson Coleman, Ms. Wilson of Florida, and Mr. Yarmuth) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary – HR 4269

December 16th, 2015

[Let me quote one thing first.

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

What is so fucking hard to understand about that? Let me be clear, since evidently Heller and McDonald were too complicated for these simpletons.

Let me save you reading that entire slop and give you the few lines that matter:

(1) It shall be unlawful for a person to import, sell, manufacture, transfer, or possess, in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce, a semiautomatic assault weapon.

With a definition broad enough to encompass everything but bolt action rifles. While it exempts things manufactured prior to the date it won’t be long for that tune to change. Don’t let anyone ever tell you they don’t want to take your guns.

I have one phrase to cover this, Molon Labe. If the shooting starts, every person who put his name on that bill has declared themselves my enemy. They are willing to kill me and my family when I have done nothing to them. I’m sick of this shit. I’m sick of being abused. I’m sick of being blamed. You want to penalize me for shit I haven’t done, well let me introduce you to the concept of earning the penalty. When the first house’s door is kicked in, the war will not be with the police. It will be with the politicians who sent them there. -B]

Merry Christmas everyone.

But TMM, that’s a cover of AC/DC, that’s sacrilege.

That son is Lzzy Hale, don’t give a shit cause she’s that awesome.

Halestorm – Shoot to thrill.

Lost the political debate. Social media has made the debate on guns worse. For the anti-civil rights crowd. Look, Sparky, it’s working just fine. The good guys keep winning the gun debate exactly due to the internet.

Say Uncle – What a lack of educated grass roots has done
December 18th, 2015

[When your only methods of argument are to lie and provide disinformation, of course when information can more easily flow you’re going to lose the debate. In the immortal words, “You can’t stop the signal.”

The issue is they cannot hijack and control the narrative on the internet. Despite what they may think, that’s a feature, not a bug. -B]

It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness, that is life.

Jean-Luc Picard – Peak Performance [2×21]

[There are a large number of people who insist on life being fair. The fact of the matter is the above is the reality of the matter. Accept it, prepare for it, you’ll be in a much better position if you do. -B]

A world with no guns? It's run by large men with swords and is not "equal," "fair," "safe," or "democratic." https://t.co/W1v4pA1Zwe

— smallestminorty (@smallestminorty) December 14, 2015

[It’s amazing the number of people who do not know, understand, or forget: the gun is civilization. -B]

Five Finger Death Punch – Jekyll And Hyde

I see a whole lot of venom sprayed in my direction, like my exercise of my Second Amendment rights has anything to do with mass murders.

Do they not realize that there are about 100 million firearms owners in America and many more who agree with the right to keep and bear arms? Are we all somehow culpable per their twisted criteria? That is really a stretch. I have equal validity to tell them that since they drink alcohol and drive cars that they are responsible for the most hideous drunk driving accidents. Just silly.

All the dick and masturbation jokes really makes them sound depraved and juvenile.

The violence they wish upon us and the likely bloody results of confiscation attempts shows they are the blood thirsty ones. We simply want to be left alone, but their hoplophobia demands that they attack us. Again, they are pathetic.

Braden Lynch – Comment to Markley’s Law, ignorance, hate, and violence
December 14th, 2015

[I don’t have anything else to add. -B]