Idaho's Proposition 1

The big political fight in Idaho's upcoming election will be Proposition 1 which will largely nullify Idaho's restrictions on abortion-on-demand. Idaho currently makes it a crime for a person (i.e., a doctor or other abortionist) to perform or attempt to perform an abortion except (i) during the first trimester of a pregnancy; or (ii) to prevent the death of the pregnant woman. The act does not make it illegal for a woman to obtain an abortion, however, which means she is free to go to another state. So really, all it makes illegal are abortions in the second and third trimesters except when to prevent the death of a pregnant woman.

    But this law has really pissed off liberal white women, particularly those who don't want a handicapped child or child with medical problems. For instance, this article at The 19th relates the following about one supporter of Proposition 1, Lisa Wirsching:

    On some days, it seems as if the campaign to overturn Idaho’s abortion ban has taken over Wirsching’s life. But just a year ago, this grandmother living outside of Boise would hardly have called herself a political woman. She supported abortion rights, she said, and mourned the overturn of Roe v. Wade. Still, she never thought the issue could shape her own life so intimately. 

    That changed when her youngest daughter, Abby Nichols, was pregnant with her first child.

    Near the end of her first trimester, Nichols learned her fetus had trisomy 18, a genetic anomaly that stunts development. Only 10 percent of babies born with the condition survive to their first birthday. When Nichols decided to end her pregnancy — which she felt would spare needless suffering — she couldn’t get help in Idaho. After contacting medical providers in Colorado and Washington, she finally found an appointment in Seattle. 

Note well, however, that Nichols learned about the condition in the first trimester and could have at that point obtained an abortion in Idaho. It's not clear from the article why she couldn't get help in Idaho--whether she waited too long to make a decision, her doctor refused to perform the abortion, or she wanted to keep the baby but her mother convinced her to have an abortion. 

    The article from The 19th suggests that this is wholly a homegrown effort, although it goes on to note that supporters of the proposition had received a $250,000 donation from former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg; and a few days ago the local Public Radio station reported that "[s]ince Sept. 1, Idahoans United for Women and Families has brought in nearly $2.5 million to support Proposition 1, according to state campaign finance records." That may not seem much for most states, but for a state with as small a population as Idaho, that is a lot of money. 

    But as with most things that are supported by liberals, the image they try to create are at odds with what they are actually pushing. You can read the text of Proposition 1 here, but a few points:

• It goes well beyond abortion and impacts all aspects of health care for women related to contraception, fertility treatment, prenatal and pregnancy care, childbirth, etc.  
• It creates a right of privacy which would extend to minors seeking care, meaning that parents could be left in the dark about any pregnancy care or abortion services provided to their children.
• Its definition of "reproductive health care" could probably be stretched to include transitioning children to a different sex.
• It allows abortion up to the point of "fetal viability" which is defined as the point when the physician determines that "the fetus has a significant likelihood of sustained survival outside of
  the uterus without extraordinary medical measures." What are "extraordinary medical measures"? It isn't defined, but my guess is that anything requiring serious NICU care would qualify. 

So, under Proposition 1, healthy babies could be aborted up to about 25 or 26 weeks (i.e., almost all of the way through the second trimester which ends at 27 weeks) and babies with severe medical issues potentially longer, perhaps even up to birth. 

    In other words, although the Left is framing the debate around women supposedly unable to get an abortion to deal with a medical emergency, the intent of the bill is to allow unrestricted abortion up to the beginning of the third trimester; and to keep knowledge of teen pregnancies from parents. 

Ruger Guts Its Revolver Line

In addition to one or two models discontinued earlier this year, Ruger has announced it is discontinuing immediately or after the beginning of the new year an additional 19 models. Unfortunately, it sounds as though Ruger is gutting its revolver line up, with the video mentioning that Ruger is immediately discontinuing production of its LCR, SP101, GP100 and Bearcat revolvers; and, after the end of its 2026 production runs, discontinuing the Redhawk, Super Redhawk, Blackhawk, Super Blackhawk, Single-Series revolvers, and Vaquero revolvers. At that point, I believe that the only revolvers left in its line up will be the Wrangler and Super Wrangler revolvers. 

Ruger is also discontinuing some of its upper-end sporting rifles (the No. 1, 77-Series rifles, Hawkeye and Ruger Precision Rifle) and pistol caliber carbines.  

• See also "Ruger to Discontinue Several Major Models"--American Rifleman.

 As the cited article notes:

With this shift, Ruger's handgun product lines continuing into 2027 will consist of the company's LCP offerings, RXM, MAX-9, Security-380, Security-9, Ruger 5.7, Mark IV and 22 Charger. In its revolver line, Ruger will continue making its affordable Wrangler and Super Wrangler models. For rifles, remaining Ruger offerings will consist of the company's American Rifle and American Rimfire line, as well as the Ruger Precision Rimfire, Harrier, 10/22 and Mini-14 models. 

As for a reason, the Company indicates:

"These decisions reflect our review of consumer demand, evolving market preferences, manufacturing complexity and the long-term profitability of each product family," Clary said. "The goal is to focus our resources on the products consumers want most today while creating capacity for future product development and manufacturing modernization."

The producer/host of the video, below, floats the idea that most of the products--particularly the revolvers--take skilled workers that just might not be around anymore. Another issue might be declining sales, not helped by the fact that Ruger revolvers have become as expensive as offerings from other major players like S&W and Colt. And when you look at what remains in their lineup, it is primarily the budget and mid-price range offerings. If the Mini-14 had not seen a surge in popularity recently, I wonder if it would have been facing the chopping block as well. 

VIDEO: "Ruger Discontinues / Suspends Production of 20 Different Models..."
The Turkey's Opinion (10 min.)

Distance and Reaction Time

You all have heard of the Tueller drill. It presupposes an attacker armed with a knife rushing a defender with a holstered handgun. Through the drill, it was determined that the shortest distance the average police officer could draw his handgun and fire on the attacker was if the attacker was 21 feet. But what about shorter distances? 

    In "Understanding the distancing and reaction time continuum" by Brian K. LaMaster at Buckeye Firearms Association, the author notes that most attackers will probably be initiating an attack at 10 feet or less. "On the average," he relates, "reaction times can vary from .4 seconds to .8 seconds. This means you have very little time to perceive their movement and react to it. Alright, you have about three-fourths of a second to react to someone who is moving towards you at ten feet away. If your reaction time is one half to three-fourths of a second, that leaves you with little or no time to react!"

    Unfortunately, the author continues, lateral movement does not create as much additional space (and time) as you might think. He conducted some tests, the gist of which is that at distances closer than 21-feet, even when attempting to create space, the defender was generally able to react fast enough to draw his handgun. For instance, moving the attacker to a 10 foot distance from the defender:

... The attacker made the first move and within one second the attacker was on the victim and had cut him at least once. After that, we had the defender move laterally by sidestepping. About one-half second into the attacker's movement the defender started his lateral movement. On the average, the defender was only able to cover about four feet of ground. Moving laterally does not created distance away from the attacker fast enough in order to survive especially when using the sidestepping method of footwork. In some instances the defender drew their gun only after being cut multiple times by the attacker.

A more experienced gunman did better, able to get off at least one shot even with the attacker at 5-feet. This was because:

When moving laterally the defender used cross-stepping method of footwork which kept the defender ahead of the attacker and out of reach for the most part. The defender was able to create about ten feet of ground before finally getting cut. I might ad that for the most part the defender only received cuts on his free side arm since he was drawing and shooting one handed! All of this happened in just a little over one and one-half seconds and it took that long only because the defender was able to create so much distance by cross-stepping.

Also, the experienced attacker was familiar with pre-attack indicators which gave him an edge. 

    At 5-feet starting distance, none of the inexperienced defenders could even get their gun out and the experienced gunman could not get a shot off. The foregoing was in normal lighting conditions. In dim light, even if a handgun could be drawn, the defenders were not able to hit their target.

    What the experiments did show, however, is that if the defender resorted to unarmed combatives first in order to give them time to create distance, and then to drawing their firearm, they did much better. 

In short, responding with unarmed combatives [to a knife wielding attacker] will keep you in the fight longer than by going straight for your gun. Going straight for your gun most of the time is not going to be a wise idea. And, if you move laterally or other directions with a step-n-drag method of footwork, you will not create enough distance to survive!

Related: But what about someone armed with a firearm? "Get to cover? A requiem for common sense." by Aaron Cowan. A good discussion of what is or is not cover (along with illustrations) with an emphases on what cover is offered by different parts of a vehicle.

House Dems Announce How They Will Screw Us Over If They Win

From the AP: "House Democrats plan a first 100-days agenda if they sweep to power in midterm elections." Per the article:

Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, who is in line to become House speaker if the party wins power, said the Democrats will be united “right out of the gate” on reinstating Affordable Care Act tax breaks [i.e., effectively subsidies for health insurers], reversing Republican Medicaid cuts [i.e., taxpayer funded health care for illegals], holding votes against the Iran war [i.e., posturing for the press] and undoing President Donald Trump’s tariff regime [i.e., helping out China and making it cheaper to ship jobs overseas]. 

Point Nemo

An interesting piece at Atlas Obscura entitled "The Most Remote Place on Earth Has Space Junk and a Sea Monster." The most remote place--i.e., the farthest point from any dry land--is called Point Nemo and is located in the South Pacific at 48°52.6’S 123°23.6’W. Because it is so remote, it became a favorite place for Russia and a few other countries to use as a crash site for decommissioned satellites and such, including the Russian Mir space station. Thus, the reference to space junk in the title. 

    And the sea monster reference? That has to do with Cthulhu and the fictional sunken city of R’lyeh. From the article:

    Decades before Point Nemo was named, and before satellites started raining down, H.P. Lovecraft used these lonely waters as the setting for R’lyeh, a “nightmare corpse city (…) built in measureless eons beyond history by the vast, loathsome shapes that seeped down from the dark stars”.

    In The Call of Cthulhu (1928), R’lyeh is described as “a coast-line of mingled mud, ooze, and weedy Cyclopean masonry which can be nothing less than the tangible substance of earth’s supreme terror … loathsomely redolent of spheres and dimensions apart from ours”.

    The sunken city is the prison of the giant monster Cthulhu, part octopus, part human, part dragon: “There lay great Cthulhu and his hordes, hidden in green slimy vaults”. His followers pray for his regeneration, repeating the phrase: Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn (“In his house at R’lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming”).

    Remarkably, Lovecraft placed his lost city at 47°9′S 126°43′W, just 205 miles (330 km) away from Point Nemo. August Derleth, co-creator of the Cthulhu Mythos, placed Rlyeh at 49°51′S 128°34′W, also in the general neighborhood. Clearly, both were looking for the furthest place from land, but without the benefit of modern satellites and computing. 

Watergate As A CIA Operation

An interesting piece at American Greatness--"Long-Concealed Facts Exonerate Nixon and Require Sanctioning the Unethical Prosecution"--discusses the evidence that Nixon and his campaign staff did not know about or authorize the Watergate break ins, but that it was a CIA operation (which, frankly, ties in neatly with the Washington Post pushing the narrative that Nixon had ordered the break in). The key bits:

    The prosecution and the Senate had ample evidence that Watergate was primarily a CIA operation designed to gain ostensible authority for its prostitute-taping program. Howard Hunt was an undercover CIA agent who, in his criminal Watergate trial, was prepared to offer a “CIA defense,” which he pursued until pleading guilty at the urging of John Dean, Nixon’s White House Counsel, who turned state’s evidence.

    The prosecutors were well aware of this defense, while another CIA operative, burglary leader James McCord, told his Metropolitan Police friend on the morning of the burglary that this had been a CIA operation.

    Republican Senator Howard Baker published a detailed, persuasive 43-page, unpublicized minority report on July 2, 1974, detailing CIA participation in the burglary, but the Washington Post’s reporting of it concealed its findings, and the highly publicized 1,250-page Watergate Committee Report (also known as the Ervin Report), prepared by the Democrat majority, ignored this key evidence.

And:

    While the prosecution and congressional investigations premised the break-in as a campaign operation gone wrong, it was, beyond a doubt, about wiretapping prostitutes and their visiting Democrat johns.

    The Washington Post has been overheated in its rhetoric denying this incontrovertible fact, but this strenuous denial only shows its guilt for this gross concealment.

The question then becomes, why was the CIA interested in wiretapping the prostitutes visited by Democrat officials and politicians? The logical answer would be to collect compromising information about those politicians that the CIA could use to "persuade" those politicians. Really, not much different than what it is theorized that Epstein was doing. 

UK: 4 In 5 Jobs Go To Migrants

From The Telegraph (via Yahoo): "Migrants taking four in five new jobs." An excerpt:

    The analysis by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) found that the number of jobs recorded through PAYE increased by about 3.7 million between 2014 and the end of 2025.

    Just 734,000 of the increase was accounted for by British nationals taking the jobs. EU nationals represented a further 408,000, while the number of jobs held by non-EU nationals increased by around 2.5 million.  

Immigration: The Gift That Keeps On Giving

The New York Post warns: "Deadly, brain-liquifying fungus is on the rise in the US — and scientists don’t know why." Some items noted in the article:

• "Cladophialophora Bantiana is a dark or black mold and found in soil and decaying matter around the world."
• "C. Bantiana has been thought of in the past as a tropical infection associated with warmer climates and high average humidity — but is now acknowledged to be found worldwide."
• "While the number of cases [in the U.S.] ranged from one to five per year between 2009 to 2023, they rose to eight in 2024 — then jumped to 14 in 2025." According to another report, this represents an approximately fourfold increase from 2023 to 2025 and, per the same report, "[t]he largest numbers of cases originated in California (six), Florida (five), Texas (five), and Pennsylvania (four); the state of origin was unavailable for three cases."
•  "One study showed that C. Bantiana cases similarly jumped in France in 2022 ...."

The article suggests that its appearance in the U.S. and France is due to global warming because global warming causes everything, but the increase in occurrence tracks jumps in illegal immigration under the Biden Regime. And it is notable that illegal immigration into the EU increased dramatically between 2021 and 2022--up 59% according to this report. And, frankly, the ties to immigration--a well known source for the spread of pathogens--seems more likely an explanation than an imaginary climate crisis. 

Life Under The Biden Regime

The New York Post: "Major banks closed accounts of MAGA, pro-life and other conservative groups disfavored by Biden admin: bombshell report." From the lede:

    Major banks closed accounts and refused credit to MAGA merchants, pro-life causes, religious groups, conservative organizations and sectors disfavored by the Biden administration, such as firearms, oil and gas, and private prisons, a bombshell report from the federal banking regulator has found.

    The Debanking Review by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) investigated 100,000 complaints and scrutinized 50,000 internal bank records to reveal how customers were “debanked” based purely on their political, social, or religious beliefs.

    JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citibank, Wells Fargo, U.S. Bank, Capital One, PNC, TD Bank, and BMO Bank were found to have discriminated against American consumers, citing “reputation risk” as a reason to deny service between 2020 and 2025. 

A Sad Reminder Of Hollywood's Hypocrisy

Hollywood types love to lecture the rest of us about needing to be more diverse, caring, inclusive, etc., but then we come across news articles like this--"‘Breaking Bad’ star RJ Mitte claimed Hollywood didn’t want him on screen in heartbreaking texts before death at 34"--and it again reminds us that Leftists are just a bunch of hypocrites.

If you don't know who is RJ Mitte, he played the handicapped son of the character "Walter White" in the show Breaking Bad.  Mitte reportedly took his own life a few days ago. The article relates:

    RJ Mitte was frustrated at having a hard time finding work following his success on “Breaking Bad,” his personal text messages reveal.

    The actor died Monday by suicide, Page Six confirmed. He was 34 years old.

    Mitte, who had cerebral palsy and was a disability rights advocate, said he was facing obstacles from landing meaningful acting gigs in text messages to a close friend obtained by the Daily Mail.

[snip]

    In a text message from April 2022, Mitte wrote, “Looking for interesting stuff to do, getting a lot of scripts where I would be a prop and they don’t want to give any depth, 3 lines if that. I’m writing my own s—t now.”

    The situation didn’t improve four months later, when he wrote, “Just doing animation, no one wants me on screen… it’s annoying as f—k.”

    He also detailed getting overlooked by casting directors because of his disability.

    “When I go for a part, they sometimes tell me that it’s not a character with a disability, and I’m like why can’t the character be disabled?” he wrote in April 2017.

    “They get real uncomfortable when I say that,” he added.

    He also called some casting agents “a—holes” who “won’t even look at me.”