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6/7/26 Fortune article title:
‘The golden years are not golden’: Boomers are hoarding most of America’s wealth and power because they’re terrified of outliving their money
The arrogance of that title really steams me even the article quotes a number of Boomers refuting that title in part.
1. "Hoarding": like we are never going to spend it. For the most part, Boomers are not overwhelmingly rich. There are homeless Boomers and many barely making their rent or mortgage payments. I am not one of them, but I know such.
2. Power: does he mean we elected Trump? Or that we reliably show up to vote? Zoomers can fix this easily enough.
3 Where is our "hoarded wealth" going after we die? We are not taking it with us. We are going to leave it to our GenX children who Zoomers will again claim are hoarding. Much of my wealth is already spent on meals out and services overwhelmingly provided by younger people.
4. Houses? Yes we bought houses for $106,000 in the 1980s on wages commensurate with those prices ($45,000 was my salary at the time). We paid interest rates that seem horrifying today. I refinanced a mortgage at 10.5% in 1989. We had a 18.5% car loan. (We had pretty good credit at the time.) Life was not easy back then.
5. We had limited capabilities because of technology. A few years ago, my son asked, "Hiw did you buy houses before the Internet." Slowly and carefully .
BZoomers need to stop whining or Boomers might buy billion dollar yachts and sink them at sea to deny that wealth to the Zoomers.
Canis Ex Machina
It had been 40,000 years since the Great Collapse when our expedition reached HD56689 B. We knew that before the GC our ancestors had seeded B with our distant cousins. Would they still be recognizably human in culture. Other planets we had explored were still physically human with slight variations in size and color (two-meter adults on Rigel F with coal-black skin, one meter adults with interesting and sometimes beautiful primary color skin spotting on HD44449 C). These were startling, but we grew to see them as just interesting variants on the basic human pattern.
What we found too disheartening was civilizational drift. Some had gone cannibal; the sociologists recorded what they found. After losing a few sociologists to the pot, we decided this was a civilization best studied from drones and moved on. Others completely lost technological knowledge; they had reverted to hunter-gatherer societies with no apparent forward progress in 40,000 years to the state from which they had regressed.
HD56689 B was unique. We could see evidence of an advanced civilization: large cities; some strangely narrow, unpaved roads; what seemed to be something like very large bird roosts made of concrete. The population was clearly shrinking. We contacted the small remaining leadership. After a bit of struggle getting the AI Translators working with what seemed (t us) a very primitive language, we pieced together what happened.
Their ancestors separated from the mainstream of human technology by the GC had started insanely breeding the Earth-origin mammals to do the important jobs of machines. The swifferhound had a large fine haired tail. It was very small, about 500 grams. It would climb shelves and use its tail for dusting.
They bred the vacuum shepherd to inhale dirt and dust into outsized lungs, then exhale the contents outside. They had fairly short lifespans because of high lung cancer rates.
They bred a transport elephant with a very broad flat back on which enormous loads could be strapped to the mid-abdominal tusks. (Our biologists suspected some now lost to them gene editing played a part in that one.)
They bred bats to 40 meters long with commensurate wingspans that carried humans on transcontinental journeys from batplane roost to batplane roost. They consumed vast quantities of insects and birds on the way. This limited them to travel on the only settled continent and outlying islands.
Tractordogs operated the only agricultural machinery they had still produced. Combines were operated by their canine pilots through the fields.
It was both unsettling and impressive to see our mighty species operating almost without technology. So why was the civilization dying. Some centuries before, at what they now called Peak Animal Helper, an interspecies virus spread rapidly through all the mammals killing most of them in one generation. While survivors carried a gene for immunity, the generations of careful breeding made the survivors weak and less effective at their functions. As an example, chauffeur dogs sometimes intentionally crashed ground vehicles so that they could devour the occupants.
We tried to explain the concept of machines as less vulnerable helpers and dogs as companions, but I fear the concepts would not stick and future explorers would find empty cities here.
This whole concept was dreamed up by my wife as ww were returning from a star party in Payette. There has to be a better title for this. Maske suggestions!
On May 31, 2026, before 11 a.m. a woman who had obtained a domestic violence injunction, escaped kidnapping in a church parking lot. Two armed Samaritans intervened and prevented an armed man from dragging the woman away. In a news conferenced Police Chief Leo Niemczyk identified the suspect as Jose Tsu Zamora, 64, who had been in a long term prior relationship with the victim.
Zamora is a convicted felon who is reported to have said to the victim, words to the effect: If I can't have you, nobody can. The suspect is reported as knowing the victim attended the church in Port St. Lucie, and intercepted the victim as she exited a vehicle. From cbs12.com:
Two male bystanders, who told police they were armed, intervened and confronted Zamora. Chief Leo Niemczyk with PSLPD credited the two bystanders for saving the woman's life.
Several people are reported as seeing the attempted kidnapping. One man is seen confronting the suspect, seconds later, another runs into the scene. The video appears to show what may be a holster on the second armed Samaritan.
Before 1987, it would have been unlikely two people in a church parking lot in Florida would have been armed and able to respond to a kidnapping by an armed man. The suspect was reported to have held a handgun against the victim's side as the kidnapping was attempted.
In 1987, Florida passed a shall issue concealed carry permit bill, which is credited with being the start of the shall issue revolution in the United States. Another change since 1987 is the increase in church security teams. News coverage has not mentioned if the armed Samaritans were part of a church security team.
As of 2025, over 20 million concealed carry permits were active in the United States. In 29 states no permit is needed for people to carry loaded handguns, either openly or concealed, in most public spaces.
John Lott and others have published peer reviewed papers which show an increase in concealed carry permits is correlated with a drop in violent crime. Other academics dispute this finding. Papers sometime claim to show a limited increase in very specific types of crime in particular states. Most of the literature shows either a decrease in violent crime or no measurable change.
©2026 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
Details:
On Friday, June 5, 2026, at 10:23 p.m., deputies from the San Jacinto Sheriff’s Station were dispatched to the 1300 block of Heron Way in San Jacinto, regarding an assault with a deadly weapon. Upon arrival, deputies located evidence of a shooting and a subject with injuries consistent with a gunshot wound. The subject was pronounced deceased at the scene. The Riverside Sheriff’s Central Homicide Unit responded to the scene and assumed the investigation.
During the investigation, deputies learned the homeowner was visiting a neighboring residence when he heard screaming and the sound of gunfire from his residence. The homeowner ran to his residence and saw an unknown male intruder inside his home, armed with a shotgun. The homeowner armed himself and confronted the suspect inside the residence. During the confrontation, the suspect fired multiple rounds at the homeowner. The homeowner returned fire, striking the suspect. There were no additional injuries reported.
The homeowner was transported to the San Jacinto Sheriff’s Station for further investigation. The suspect’s identity is being withheld pending notification to the next of kin. No arrests have been made at this time. The case will ultimately be submitted to the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office for review. This is an ongoing investigation, and no further details will be released.
A heated conversation between the victim and Miller escalated.
Miller and an unidentified black male co-defendant fired at the victim, and the victim returned fire, according to MCSO.
The shooting left the victim injured and caused damage to his home.
The sheriff’s office said that the homeowner reportedly overheard the suspects stating, “we need to take care of him as well”, but they had discharged all their ammunition before fleeing the location.
The New York State legislature recently tackled the vital, pressing issue of whether the terms “mother” and “father” are cruel and oppressive. They concluded that these terms are indeed transphobic and need to be replaced in law by “gestating parent” and “non-gestating parent.” “Paternity” is also bigoted and axed. Among the Democrats, the vote was, natch, a few shy of unanimous. And let’s not kid ourselves: Hochul’s signature is inevitable. On all questions gay and trans, the Dems are now entirely controlled by trans and “queer” extremists....I suspect the queers are so insulated they don’t even realize that this is what they have been effectively saying to Joe Public for a decade now. Remember when they told you that gay and lesbian people were just like everyone else, and just wanted to be left alone? Scrap that. We’re actually queers who believe marriage is a “fundamentally violent institution” and that the sex binary is a white supremacist fiction. Now we’ve gotten marriage, we will indoctrinate your kids in queer and gender theory, fire you if you don’t repeat our pronouns, force girls to shower next to boys in locker rooms, give irreversible sex changes to minors, and insist that “a penis is not a male body part. It’s just an unusual body part for a woman.”
Yes. When LGBs pleaded for rhe right to be left alone, there was little argument. Active and aggressive prosecution of LGB activities in private was out of fashion. Police had more important problems to pursue. When "the love whose name we dare not speak" refused to shut up, it was hard to ignore.
The genital mutilation of children made a lot of people upset. That LGBs who wanted to be left alone were now automatically assumed to be tied to the T and Q did not help. LGB sex seems positively tame compared to cutting off genitals and breasts.
I am reminded that 82 years ago today, Operation Overlord kicked off. The crusade to retake Europe focused on five beaches on the Normandy coast.
Eisenhower had prepared a press release in the event that the landings failed. He was prepared to accept full blame if the operation failed. That was the ethical choice. He was the Supreme Commander. It was his show.
We can draw parallels to more recent military disasters and the lack of accountability.
People who have concealed carry permits are one of the most law-abiding groups in the United States. Police officers have crime rates far below the general population. People with concealed carry permits are more law-abiding than police officers.
The arrest rate for the overall adult population in the USA is about 2,100 - 2,200 per 100k in recent years. The arrest rate for police officers has been about 170 per 100k. This may be low because no one tracks police arrests officially. Officials may be reluctant to charge police officers. The conviction rate for concealed permit holders is about 17.6 per 100k in Texas, according to an academic paper by John Lott, Moody, and Wang published in 2025. From the paper:
Of the 43,932 total convictions in the Texas DPS 2023 report, only 284 — or 0.6 percent — were convictions of LTC holders, a conviction rate of
17.6 per 100,000.37
Convictions are not the same as arrests. Arrests for felonies tends to result in about 65% convictions. Arrests for misdemeanors results in about 45% convictions. A conviction rate is likely to be about half of the arrest rate. If we double the conviction rate to approximate the arrest rate, concealed permit holders have less than one fifth the arrest rate for police officers. Concealed carry permit holders have 1.7% of the arrest rate for the general population.
The Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC) sums up how law-abiding permit holders are for convictions of firearm related violations:
Concealed handgun permit holders are extremely law-abiding. In Florida and Texas, permit holders are convicted of firearms related violations at one-twelfth of the rate at which police officers are convicted.
Minnesota tracks the number of carry permits which are revoked each year. A look at the Minnesota numbers shows revocations of permits are close to what concealed permit convictions are in Texas. The numbers and methodology may be significantly different in the two states. In 2024 the number of permit holders in Minnesota were about 400 thousand. The number of permit revocations was 47. That is a rate of revocation of 11.5 per 100k in 2024.
The crime rates of permit holders are much, much lower than that of the general population and much lower than that of police officers. In terms of other population groups, permit holders crime rates are about as law abiding as Asian Americans as a group. Both groups show high levels of civic responsibility and respect for the rule of law.
Analysis:
Very few people believe disarming the police is a good idea. Police officers, even retired police officers have the legal right to carry in most places where most people are prevented from carrying weapons. Police officers have the legal right to carry in all states and territories of the United States. The Congress created the LEOSA act as a way to protect the public with more responsible armed people on the streets. They also created it as a way to protect police officers. The same logic applies to people with concealed carry permits. Those people are much less likely to break laws than even police officers are.
It is common sense to increase the number of such protectors by 15X. There are about 700 thousand sworn police officers. There are about another 500 thousand retired officers. There are over 20 million Americans with concealed carry permits.
©2026 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Graham then continued to assault the man, police said.
“An uninvolved witness in the Summit Avenue area observed the incident and believed the male was in immediate danger. In response, the individual retrieved a handgun and shot Mr. Graham,” the news release said.
The person who shot Graham stayed at the scene and “complied with officers during the investigation,” police said.
Police Chief Dennis Stevenson says a man reported firing his gun at another man, who was allegedly vandalizing his car. The suspect then ran off into the woods behind a nearby store and daycare.
The search took place just off Bowen Street. The daycare which police were searching near was unoccupied. Surveillance video from a nearby business showed the suspect limping with a wound to his right leg.
I mowed grass today, for the third time this season. I'm not proud of that, but we've had a wet May and my yard holds water. I timed it perfectly, because when I finished mowing, it started raining.
I don't have a lawn in the traditional suburban sense. I have a mixed-grass pasture. The Bahia was going to seed and was nearly knee-deep in places. It used to drive the HOAS crazy. When I moved here 20-something years ago, we had an HOA. I and some like-minded neighbors decided to ignore the sonsofbitches and see if they could make their treats work. They had no heart for conflict and folded up like a cheap pocketknife.
I'm not opposed to mowing grass, you understand, I am opposed to rutting up my yard. I raised beef cattle for 20 years and know that the proper use for good grass is feeding beef. I don't object to keeping a lawn, I am just baffled that anyone cares.
Tomorrow I'll break out the weed eater and trim around the culverts, then go to Popeye's. Belle has a yearning for fried chicken.
The post Sako M92S: Finland’s Last Civilian AK (now being imported to the US) first appeared on Forgotten Weapons.
Cheers!
Because I work in the criminal justice system, some readers ask me why I don’t generally comment on high profile shooting cases that are in the news. I guess I owe them, and you, an explanation. In the past I worked as a police prosecutor, prosecuting misdemeanor cases. I was a cop for longer than […]
"Glock switch" images from ATF, public domain.
Murders committed with handguns patterned after the extremely successful Glock line of pistols, equipped with "Glock switches", are extremely rare, according to research done by the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC). The research was published on May 27, 2026.
No database of cases where "Glock switches" are used to murder people is maintained by the federal government . The CPRC did what they characterize as "an exhaustive search" for incidents where such a "Glock switch" was used to murder people, from 2021 through most of May, 2026. They found 20 incidents where 43 people were killed over the more than five years studied.
Every murder is a tragedy. However, the number of murders committed with "Glock switches" is a tiny blip in the overall number of murders in the USA, over the five years examined by the CPRC. The CPRC carefully and correctly states they may have missed some murders committed with "Glock switches". It is the nature of crimes that some are not detected. It is the nature of the media that some events are not reported in a way which is easily found. The demonization of these devices works to insure most known events are reported.
Handguns do not make good automatic weapons. They are more difficult to master than rifles or shotguns, even when one shot is fired for every trigger pull. The yare much more difficult to control on full auto, especially a full auto with a high cyclic rate of fire. With modifications, expert users can use them effectively, with practice. Machine pistols, as they are called, have not been a popular item with military services because of these limitations.
"Glock switches" take an excellent handgun design and transform it into a bad machine pistol. As noted by the CPRC, the "Glock switches" are dangerous to the user and to everyone near the user, including the user's allies and confederates. "Glock switches" override the handguns disconnector, allowing the handgun to fire before it is fully locked. The difficulty of controlling a handgun in full auto, with an extreme cyclic rate, makes the danger of shooting in a direction which is not desired, a real possibility. This may be a reason the "Glock switches" are not used more commonly.
CRPC notes the total number of murders committed from 2021 - 2024 are about 80,657 murders in the USA, according the the FBI. The numbers for 2025 have not been officially released. Of those from 2021-2024, we know 29 were committed with "Glock switches". It is impossible to know if more or fewer murders would have been committed without the "Glock switches" being used. It is plausible, perhaps likely, the use of the switches prevented some murders because of the difficulty and danger of use, and the inherent lack of accuracy with such devices. If the first shot is on target, it is likely the second and following shots are not on target. The homicide rate in the USA has been falling since 2021. The murder rate in the USA is at an historic low, probably the lowest ever recorded in the USA.
As mentioned in the CPRC article, these devices are mostly used by criminal gangs. Most of the murders appear to be during gang wars. "Glock switches" are already illegal to produce or own for nearly all people in the United States. Only licensed machine gun manufacturers, law enforcement, and the military have the ability to legally possess them.
Analysis: The focus on "Glock switches" is another attempt at creating a crises where none exists. The purpose appears to be to pass legislation to make items which are already illegal to own, double or triple illegal. The desired effect seems to be to ban or make illegal ordinary Glock pistols. Glock type pistols may be the most popular pistol in American society, perhaps in the world.
Those who wish to disarm the population have never been worried about logic, facts, or cost/benefit ratios. Most people still value logic, facts, and cost/benefit ratios. The CPRC article sheds light on a subject primarily shrouded in myth and emotion. It is likely the emotion based laws against Glock pistols will run into difficulties as they are challenged in the courts. Commonly owned firearms which are used for legal purposes are protected by the Second Amendment. Glock pistols are common. They are overwhelmingly used for legal purposes.
©2026 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Police said they believe Jordan was battering his girlfriend when the woman’s brother heard the assault, went upstairs and saw his sister being beaten.
“After several attempts to get the individual to stop, he produced a firearm and he shot the victim,” Price said.
No injuries were reported in the shooting. According to the police chief, a homeowner returned fire after allegedly being shot at. He said one individual was taken into custody. The suspect has not been identified.
Aluminium prices are at a four-year high, up more than 25% this year, as war in the Middle East and a blocked Strait of Hormuz choke off nearly a quarter of the world’s seaborne metal supply.Not just aluminum, though. The global helium supply has been kneecapped as well, which will impact everything from microchip manufacturing to MRIs.
The war has also upended markets for products extracted from natural gas. Among the most critical is helium, an odorless element produced as a byproduct of natural gas extraction. Before the war, Qatar supplied roughly one-third of the world’s helium.I've already had a couple people tell me that even though prices on everything from portable electronics to memory cards for cameras is up, if I have any I need to buy, I shouldn't be waiting for Christmas because it's going to be a year minimum once the shooting stops for things to even start getting back to normal.
Chip manufacturers use it to cool machines that etch circuits onto silicon wafers. Pharmaceutical companies rely on it for quality checks of their products. In magnetic resonance imaging machines, helium cools superconducting magnets.
Knowledge to make your life better. If you have some free time, check out some of these links this weekend. The Allure of Accuracy “There are many reasons to train accuracy to a high level. First, it refines fundamentals—posture, grip, trigger speed, vision, and process—allowing a shooter to know they can hit a target […]
Are you joining the red dot revolution? Get some basic training tips and drills to help you master red dot pistol shooting!