I'm Generally Skeptical of "False Flag" Theories ...

... because most of them suffer from a lack of real, verifiable evidence to make them seem very likely.

But I have to admit that the murder of Hadiya Pendleton, by an as-yet-uncaptured lone gunman, in a town run by Barack Obama's former chief of staff, the week after she performed at Obama's second inauguration and just as he's really cranking up his victim disarmamament ... er, "gun control" ... initiatives, seems rather implausibly convenient. Especially when we take into account that Obama is the first American president to really be very up-front in claiming a power to order the murder of an American whenever he might happen to find such a murder politically useful.

No, none of that is real evidence, either. And I'm still skeptical. But if I was looking for Hadiya Pendleton's killer, I'm thinking maybe Obama's someone I might want to bring downtown for a chat, you know?

In the meantime, victim disarmament ... er, "gun control" ... advocates are already dancing on Pendleton's grave and screeching that what we really need more of are the victim disarmament ... er, "gun control" ... laws that have served Chicago so well. Why am I not surprised?

Surprise: Good Advice on Guns from Joe Biden

The vice-president of the United States dispensed some zombie apocalypse self-defense advice at a Google Plus hangout last Thursday:

Guess what? A shotgun will keep you a lot safer -- a double-barrel shotgun -- than the assault weapon [in] somebody’s hands who doesn’t know how to use it .... it's harder to use an assault weapon and hit something than it is to use a shotgun, ok? So if you want to keep people away in an earthquake, buy some shotgun shells.

And you know what? He's right. If you don't want to spend the money on a top-notch main battle rifle or a good large-caliber handgun, and the time required to become proficient in its use, a 12-gauge shotgun is a cheap alternative with a shallow learning curve -- you just need to be able to point it and squeeze the trigger while leaning into it if you don't want a nasty bruise behind where the stock is resting -- that's just about perfect for anything you might run into at short range.

Of course, he started babbling nonsense after that. He's not qualified to decide what you "need" -- only you are -- and he didn't mention government organizations being willing to do without "fighter jets, tanks and machine guns."

But as far as it goes, the shotgun advice is pretty good. Especially if you keep in mind that he's also not qualified to tell you whether or not to saw the barrel off for close quarters work.

Review: Logic Power Series Electronic Cigarette

Electronic cigarettes have come a long way in the past couple of years (Morey Straus introduced me to vaping back in 2010). Various models are available at most convenience stores these days, instead of it being a "look online or find a local club" thing.

I tend to fall of the vaping wagon and go back to regular cigarettes when I run out of "juice" or whatever and have forgotten to order more. One of my New Year resolutions was to get back on the vapor, and I did so concurrently with the move to Florida (a first step was a "no smoking in the new house" rule -- it's vape or go outside).

Because all my e-cigarette stuff was packed in storage totes that took a couple of weeks to get here, I went out and bought the Logic Power Series starter kit. My review is up at Epinions.

In other vaping news, I ordered e-juice from a company I hadn't used before -- Charlotte, North Carolina's MadVapes. No problem with the other companies I've done business with, but:

1. Those other companies are out west, so I figured I'd get my juice more quickly by ordering closer to "locally;"
2. The price was right; and
3. I just happened to notice that MadVapes had started following me on Twitter, right about the time I was thinking about ordering some juice. You pay attention to me, I pay attention to you ;-)

No complaints. Like I said, the prices are right. I ordered on Thursday evening before a holiday weekend, the order shipped Friday by regular US Snail, and it arrived today (Wednesday). The juice is an 80% vegetable glycerine / 20% propylene glycol mix. It works. I'm not as happy with the flavor as I expected to be, but that's just a selection thing on my part (I should have read the reviews of the flavor I chose; next time I'll go with "Minthol" instead of "Menthol Tobacco").