Author Archives: Commander Zero

News – Daniel Penny acquitted in NYC subway chokehold case after jury finds him not guilty of criminally negligent homicide

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I’ve been following this case since it started.

Daniel Penny has been acquitted in the chokehold death of a homeless man aboard a New York City subway car last year.

The 26-year-old former Marine had been charged with second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in connection with the May 2023 death of 30-year-old Jordan Neely.

A jury found Penny not guilty of criminally negligent homicide Monday — three days after a Manhattan judge dismissed manslaughter charge when the 12-member panel said it could not come to a unanimous decision on the first and more serious of the two charges. The second-degree manslaughter charge carried a maximum 15-year prison sentence; criminally negligent homicide carried a maximum sentence of four years. There was no minimum sentence for either charge.

Judge Maxwell Wiley had ordered the jury to return Monday to consider the second, lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide. It deliberated for less than two hours before delivering its verdict.

It’s a terrible thing to have to defend yourself and have it result in a death. No matter how justified it may seem, you never really know if you’re “in the clear” or not until the people who weren’t there and weren’t involved decide whether or not to take you to the docket.

No matter how “in the right” you think you are, it’s not up to you to decide, unfortunately. And the crappy part of that is that when you do need to defend yourself, you may waste valuable, precious fractions of a second in responding because you’re thinking about the legal after-effects.

I’m glad the jury did the reasonable thing and acquitted this guy, but his life is never, ever gonna be the same. Civil suits, reputational damage, etc, are all in store for him.

 

Glock 17 Gen3 cop trade-ins $300

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AimSurplus has a bunch of LE-tradein Glock 17’s on the block. $299 ea. for Gen3 17’s with night sights and in original case. One mag.

Since I have plenty of Magpul G9 mags here, I wasn’t concerned about the guns coming with only one mag apiece. A $300 G17 will always grab my attention. But cop guns are notorious for being beaten up aesthetically while being mechanically good. Ordered three and they showed up yesterday:

Absolutely excellent condition. Night sights still have plenty of glow. Barrels need a cleaning at the chamber end as there’s a lot of fouling on the feed ramps, but thats five minutes with Hoppes and a q-tip. I ordered three, which came out to $17.51 to ship for each gun. That puts my basis as $317.51 for each very clean G17. Strong recommend.

They still have them in stock as of today, so if you’ve got a buddy with an FFL, or you’ve a LGS who does reasonable transfer fees, I’d say  jump on this deal.

Someone will ask why Gen3 when there are trade-in Gen4 and Gen5 out there. The Gen 4 made some changes to the ejector/extractor, I believe, that caused some problems. Gen5 is alright I suppose but interchangeable backstraps aren’t a thing in my world. The Gen3, IMO, is the best version of the Glock. In fact, Glock still makes the Gen3 for various agency commitments.

I see this as an opportunity to grab yourself an ideal pistol at a bargain price. Passing the info along to you guys, do with it what you will.

CUT bunker for sale

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The old CUT bunker in Emigrant is apparently on the market. I remember when these guys were in the news after ATF raided the place. It’s a time capsule to 70’s/80/s survivalism.

Two Earth Sheltered (Bunker) Homes on +/-7 acres in the beautiful Paradise Valley of SW MT. Within 30 miles of Yellowstone Park, public hotsprings, hospitals and airfields. In an area of limitless outdoor beauty and recreation, with world-class flyfishing, hunting, and limitless public forest access. These privately spaced underground reinforced concrete structures were designed and built as earth-berm shelters for multiple people. Each on the grid but with its own backup power, HVAC system, fresh well water and permitted septic system. Both homes are designed for comfort and long-term living. Either or both could have a custom home built with discreet entrances into these hidden shelter systems. A local, experienced builder in the area has provided a sample picture showing a building option. First earth home shelter is +/-2,500 sf, with 3+BR & 2 BA. Tile counters & stainless sinks. All appliances are included. Additional underground storage areas. The second shelter is +/-6000 sf. Designed to accommodate many people. Over 300 feet long underground, suite. 11 toilets, 7 showers, 15 sinks. 2 cook stoves/ovens, washers/dryers

Whats interesting is that you might be inclined to think that this is quite a setup and there can’t be too many like it. Mmmm, you might be surprised. There are some very motivated and very resourceful organizations and families out in this region. There are some very serious bunkers out there, out of the public eye.

If you buy this old CUT facility, please invite me.

7000

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Minding my own business, not harming anyone, and I thought “Hmmm..I haven’t been on Facebook Marketplace for a while, let’s see what’s there.”

And then it just escalated quickly. End result:

Along with an antenna, various power cables to run off household, cig lighter, or battery terminals, spare fuses, lotsa docs, and a pelican case with cut foam to hold it all.

This thing is strictly a receiver and has some basic scanner functions. It picks up a rather wide swath of frequencies, including stuff my 7300 doesn’t pick up.

Price seemed reasonable. Heck, the Pelican case would have been a hundred bucks all on its own. The extras that it came with also made it a sweeter deal.

Now I just need to RTFM and learn the operations.

Trust, but verify

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I’ve mentioned in the past that I have a buddy who works in a coin shop. I also mentioned that, from time to time, he’ll sell me gold at spot – no premium. Usually this happens when he gets something in thats a little odd of in an unattractive condition. For example, if he gets a gold coin thats bent… its harder to sell than one that isnt, so he buys it for below spot and then flips it to me.

So..with that backstory done. Here’s todays acquisition:

Its a US Gold Eagle (1 troy ounce) coin. It has some sort of crud or something on it whih makes it aesthetically not as attractive as one that doesnt have such an issue. So, a good question would be how do you know thats a real gold coin and not some made-in-China knockoff thats all over eBay?

Well, my buddy at the shop has a gold tester which you can see in the photo. I don’t have silver tested, usually…. but I always have gold tested. He tests it when he buys it, but I politely insist the he test it in front of me before I purchase. I trust him very much, but theres always the possibility of mixing the coin up with another one. And this keeps everyone on the same page.

The tester isnt cheap, they cost about a grand. But if it keeps you from buying one Chinese carbide-filled ‘gold’ coin, then it has paid for itself…twice.

When I get the opportunity to buy gold at spot, I usually jump on it. I use the money from one of my various savings funds. For instance, I save money over the course of the year for paying my property taxes. If gold becomes available, I’ll convert some of that savings into cash figuring that by the time the taxes come due, the gold will still be worth what I paid or better. And if it dips, I have enough to cover it anyway. But my lizard brain likes having some gold in the safe.

I’d really prefer a smaller fraction of gold…I love me some 1/10 oz… but I almost never get those at spot. They are far too desirable, even at their inflated premium. But, hey, when the opportunity comes to buy gold with no premium…sign me up.

Tote

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You guys are familiar with these ubiquitous yellow-n-black 27-gallon totes, right? In my opinion, they aren’t the best totes from a survivalist standpoint but sometimes the not-best becomes the most ubiquitous and by virtue of that ubiquity it becomes the de facto ‘standard’. A good example of this would be the old VHS vs. Betamax war in the home video market back in the day…Betamax was a superior format, but VHS was cheap and it was everywhere…and it drove the better product into the dustbin of history.

So, I have a bunch of these totes for storing things I want to protect from..well..everything. What I did not know, but that I should have guessed, is that there is a surprising thrid-party market for accessories for these things. Case in point, I was up at Lowes picking up some things and saw these:

A set of internal dividers for those yellow-black totes. I suppose you could whip up something similar using an Xacto knife and some heavy duty cardboard. But..I’ll take the easy way when I can. Assembling them and fitting them in the totes gives you this:

Handy for some needs. But as I mentioned, there’s a bunch of third-party support out there for these things.Another notable accessory, which is currently available at Costco (or, at least, my local CostCo)…a wire shelving rack.

What is it I don’t like about these totes. Really, three big complaints: a) a more tactical color would be nice, although  other companies do make versions of this in OD, though. 2) the tote tapers from the bottom to the top…the footprint of the bottom of the tote is smaller than the footprint of the top of the tote..like a funnel. This means stacking things uniformy is pretty much impossible. I understand why this situation exists – if the tote were straightwalled it wouldnt drop out of the mould as easily as a taperd design. But…still annoying. III) The lids for these are designed to facilitate stacking these totes, and thats a good thing, but the tradeoff is that lid will collect any liquid or debris that accumulates on top. Also, they really cant take too much weight on them. A couple of totes full of Christams lights and decorations? No sweat. Canned goods? Gonna be an issue.

But, as I said, the ubiquity of these totes, and their price point ($6.99@ at CostCo today) makes them the most common tote in this size that youre gonna find virtually everywhere. And, since these things are all over the place, with the large numbers out there the aftermarket sweeps in to bring us the aforementioned accessories.

Usually these totes are about $10 at most places, and my CostCo, as of late, haas them at $6.99. For that kind of money, theyre a nice way to keep stuff off the floor, outta the wet, free from dust, and just generally keep what limited space you have looking orderly.

Canned Sunshine

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Its interesting to read some of the other blogs out there these days in regards to the actions going on in Ukraine. There’s definitely a contingent of people who are certain that the current course of action, and the ‘permission’ given to the Ukes to use the US supplied long range munitions, will lead us into a genuine nuclear scenario.

Nuclear weapons are interesting weapons and deterrents. Ostensibly, no one wants to be the first to use them but no one wants to be the last to use them either. What is more liekly to happen if someone launches a (small) nuke at someone….the receiving side and it’s allies restrain themselves form retaliating in kind in the name of the moral high ground? Or they retaliate in kind?

Is the current likelihood of nuclear war, or at least a couple ‘tactical’ or ‘limited’ nuclear uses, higher or lower than what it was during the Cold War?

I was pretty sure the Russians weren’t going to invade Ukraine and I was quite wrong about that. My ability to reasonably predict the future is, obviously, not that great. Do I think someone is going to open up some canned sunshine in this conflict? I really don’t know. I think that it would be alot like the situation the Israelis were (supposedly) in back in ’73 – When their back was to the wall and it looked like they were gonna take it in the shorts, they made a somewhat public show of prepping their nuclear weapons for use and Nixom quickly fired up Operation Nickelgrass and turned on the taps of materiel. I could see the Russians letting the satellites see them moving nuclear munitions to a ‘ready’ position and suddenly US pressure for Kiev to make ‘reasonable compromises’ occurs. Of course, we’d never know about it…but I bet if there’s a dramatic shift in policy towards compromise or appeasement, I’ll bet its because someone put on a show for satellites.

But, do I think anyone will heave a nuke, even a small tactical battlefield nuke, at someone? No,but I’ve been wrong before.

On the other hand, it’s always a good idea to be prepared just in case. And even if thes no nucelar exchange, those preparation work for other non-nuclear disasters as well. I mean, if you’re prepared for WW3.5 youre probably prepared, by default, for lesser things like hurricanes.

TurkeyFest 2024

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Or, as others call it, ‘Thanksgiving’.

Personally, I don’t restrict my gratitude to one day of the year. I’m always aware of what I do and don’t have and who is or is not responsible for that.

This year, I’m thankful the election didn’t go to Harris. I’m also thankful that the fourth quarter of the year was pretty good to me market-wise. And, of course, I am thankful to me for all the cool and good stuff I’ve done for me this year. Thanks me!

The problem, if you want to call it that, with being aware of what you do and do not have is that it makes you very sensitive to things that threaten that status quo. I can sit in front of a giant plate of turkey, potatoes, stuffing, pie, and ice cream, and while I’ll enjoy the heck out of it I’ll also be very aware that just because I have it now doesn’t guarantee I’ll have it next year. But..I’d bet folding money that the odds of me having an abundant holiday next year are a darn sight better than a lot of folks. Again…thanks me!

And lets hope next years Thanksgiving doesn’t go like this:

Article – The oldest known firearm in the U.S. unearthed in Arizona

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A bronze cannon recently recovered by researchers in Arizona appears to be the oldest known firearm ever found in the continental United States. According to experts, analysis indicates the 40 lbs weapon was likely owned by one of history’s most famous and notorious conquistadors, although he may never have fired it in battle.

A 500-year old swivel gun is an interesting find. My favorite, though much younger, is the ’73 Winchester found propped against a tree.

Every now and then someone digs up an ancient, pitted, rusted ‘relic’ here in Montana. The stories those guns could tell………..