Friday, January 6, 2012

News Roundup

  • From the "Oops" Department - General Motors, also known as the Glorious People's Automotive Manufacturing Cooperative # 1, has announced that it will recall all of its Chevrolet Volt hybrids so that the area that houses the lithium batteries can be reinforced against damage.  This comes as a response to an incident at the NHTSA where a Volt that had gone through impact testing spontaneously caught fire three weeks later due to damage to the batteries.  My guess is that GM will put each of the Volts up on a lift, shove a Toyota Corolla underneath, then lower the Volt down.  That should fix everything.
  • From the "Good For Them" Department - The United States Navy has shown that the law goes beyond politics.  During a time when Tehran and Washington are hissing and spitting at each other, a team from a U.S. destroyer freed 13 Iranian sailors from their pirate captors.  One would hope that the Iranians would do the same for us.
  • From the "Small Change" Department - A bill that is working its way through Congress would force the TSA to stop pocketing the money that is left behind at security checkpoints.  Instead, the money would be given to the USO, a service organization that provides aide to service members while travelling and deployed.  I support starving this particular beast, so I hope to see this come to fruition.
  • From the "My Home is my Castle" Department - Squatters in Texas are trying to take over homes by moving in and filing paperwork with the state while the owners are away.  Homeowners are forced to go to court in order to reclaim their property after coming home from an extended time away to find a stranger living in, modifying, and cleaning out their homes.  Personally, I would be asking my representative from the offices of Ruger, Smith, Wesson, Taurus, Mossberg, and Remington to take care of the issue for me.  They seem to be very persuasive.

4 comments:

Bryan Reavis said...

I have to wonder if Castle Doctrine would come into play in regards to the squatters. Can I shoot a squatter in my home if he's actively inflicting damage (renovations) and/or stealing my stuff (cleaning out my home)?

Old NFO said...

Yep, the Navy did good, but as usual got NO press... re TSA, hell yeah, give it to the USO, at least the USO does good!

DaddyBear said...

RaudBjorn, I'd say it depends on how the law is written in your state. Are you allowed to use deadly force to stop harm to your property, or its theft? Or is it only permissible to defend your life or the life of others?

Jake (formerly Riposte3) said...

Well, in Virginia, deadly force is allowed "when making a citizen's arrest if the person making the arrest believes a felony has occurred."

It would be interesting to see how that played out, as long as it didn't involve me. But I do have to say that if I came home and some stranger was in my house, I would react the same whether they had "filed paperwork" or not - as if they were intruders who had broken into my house, since that's what they are.

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