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- Written by Michael Z Williamson
Over the Hedge:
This is the story of RJ, a raccoon (Quisquiliae Ailurapoda) who is a textbook thieving socialist.  We start the movie with him stealing from a hibernating bear. Despite cautioning himself to only "take what he needs," he tries to steal everything on hand, including the food from the bear's paws. Once a socialist has an opening, they will always go too far, and RJ does. 
RJ gets caught, and resorts to fast talking and promises of extravagant returns if only the bear won't kill him, arguing that if the bear does, he'll have to repeat all that labor himself.  The bear grudgingly grants a grace period for compensation of RJ's crimes, and releases him on parole.
Denied a Have to leech off, RJ scavenges through trash for food and finds little.  He takes his bag of minimal possessions and goes stalking a new subdivision of Haves he hopes to exploit for the debt he's already acquired, and the resources he needs moving forward. This uncannily matches every Five Year Plan the USSR ever had. 
Without shills, Socialists starve, so he also seeks accomplices.  He finds them in the form of a motley band of foragers just waking from hibernation.
Being a dedicated socialist, he goes full Bernie Sanders, persuading the foragers that they can have all the good stuff for free, just by taking it from the leftovers of the Haves. They do so, oblivious of the wreckage they leave behind. RJ is aware, but doesn't care.  There's always more loot to be had.
Vern, the patriarchal conservative tortoise, loudly denounces RJ as taking advantage of the gullibility and stupidity of the group.  Offended by his presentation of documentable truth, they turn away from him entirely, and hug socialism to their bosoms. Hilarity and disaster ensue, as they always do, because socialists are gullible and stupid and never learn.
When an exterminator, representing capitalist power, is brought in, they realize they should retreat to safety and live within their means, but once again, RJ the Politician persuades them that enough just isn't enough, that they must enter the very homes of the people and steal goods directly.
Keep in mind this is to enrich himself personally by his position, and pay off the bear who has a legal claim against his very life if he doesn't furnish compensation. The bear represents a bank or investor who acted in good faith, but was screwed over by claims of "fairness."  RJ is a textbook democrat, stealing with one hand, lying about it, and feeding his sponsor with the other hand lest he become lunch himself.
The house is a shambles, the homeowner imprisoned for attempting to defend her premises, the exterminator deemed a villain for attempting to enforce the rules of society, and the bear is forcibly removed from the home where he was doing nothing wrong.  What was a functional system is totally destroyed.
And the socialists retreat to the life they had before, enhanced by the rotting remains of capitalist production, blissfully unaware that when it runs out they'll return to the edge of starvation. Then they'll repeat this pattern of behavior, and wonder why it never works out in the end, and why exterminators keep coming to kill them.
AFTERNOTE: It does deserve credit for showing the dangers of energy drinks on excitable youth.
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- Written by Michael Z Williamson
Madagascar:
This is the story of four naive urban socialists, unfamiliar with the processes that feed and support them, winding up in "the Wild."
The Wild is a libertarian paradise where no one has toilets or toilet paper, and occasionally feral creatures eat one of the residents due to the complete lack of national defense or police functions. They throw some bitchin parties, however.
The socialists, in classic fashion, demand to talk to "The people," code for the bureaucrats they expect to handle all their life issues for them.
Meanwhile, a group of right-wing extremist penguins hijacks the ship and head for their native paradise, only to find it sucks a lot more than an industrial society in the temperate zone.
They head back to Madagascar, where the socialists have finally learned to somewhat fend for themselves, but are still dependent upon others for the necessities of living.
Ultimately, everyone winds up On The Beach, with no drinking water, toilets or way to get home, but declare a win because the party is a lot of fun.
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- Written by Michael Z Williamson
The Emperor talks too much.
Luke was clearly never trained in repartee.  As soon as it was clear Emps was going to monologue, he should have just fired back.
EMPEROR:  monologues about the Dark Side.
LUKE:  Forcedamnit old man, are you fucking trying to talk me to death? Shut up already.
EMPEROR: monologues louder.
LUKE: Seriously, dude, the first "Death Star" (finger quotes) got splattered, just like those drone control ships from the Trade Federation.  You weren't even original, and wasted a shit ton of money.  Is your dick as shriveled as the rest of you?
EMPEROR: monologues about "insignificant rebellion."
LUKE: Yeah?  So why did you bring an entire fleet AND a "Death Star" (more finger quotes)?  It's pretty clear you're scared. And why a second "Death Star"?  The first was Viagra Star and this is Cialis Star?  What's next?   Some sort of planetoid that drains suns or something? How original.
EMPEROR: Angrily monologues about the power of the Dark Side.
Luke:  Are you still blathering?  If it's so damned powerful, why the shriveled face, shriveled dick, reliance on mundane weapons and unoriginal thinking? You don't even have a harem?  It's pretty clear why it's "Dark." It's the opposite of "Bright." 'Look at me! I rule the galaxy!  I have to send entire fleets around to get the shit kicked out of them by wookies, retired Jedi, half-witted smugglers and gamblers and bumpkin farm boys.  I'm ugly, shriveled and don't have a woman. I have a creepy relationship with this orphan I helped mutilate. But trust me, this is as awesome as it gets!' You are one disturbingly pathetic geezer.
EMPEROR: throws ruling the galaxy out there one more time.
Luke: Yeah, you keep on with that. It's like you're Amway or something, multi-level marketing your repression.  'Oh, please! Take over in my downline!  I'm all powerful but need help ruling!' What have you done with the galaxy?  Is GDP up?  What about GINI index?  You're like the eight year old bully who steals all the balls in the neighborhood, but throws like a girl and can't bat even with the balls, in more ways than one. If this is the best the "Dark Side" has, I'm yawning.  Rent yourself one of those blue chicks with the head-handles and get blown. When you can accomplish just that, come back and we'll talk. From here, I see nothing worth my time.  You're old and need a replacement.  I don't need you. Go force choke your chicken.
- Details
- Written by Michael Z Williamson
I will try once again to explain to the ignorant why this will NEVER, EVER work, no matter how much you want it to.
It will do nothing about firearms already in existence, which, depending on whose numbers you use, are between 350 million and 1.2 billion. Yes, that's in the US.
Lawsuits will kill it. The first time an authorized shooter, cop or citizen, pulls the trigger, nothing happens, and the bad guy's gun works, they or their family will sue. I need it to FAIL TO THE UNLOCK STATE.
The first time an unauthorized shooter is able to access it, the victims will sue. The mfr needs it to FAIL TO THE LOCK STATE. It cannot do both.
Any disclaimer that the mfr is not responsible for failure of the lock means no one will buy.
There's no guarantee said gun will fit the ergonomics and tastes of existing shooters. People who don't shoot seem to think all guns are the same. Every brand, model, and even individual guns are different. I don't care how safe it is, if it feels like, say a Beretta 92, I will never buy one. Others don't like Glocks.
Guns are increasingly mechanically very simple. It needs repeated to you, no matter what the electronic component is, there will be a simple way to bypass it. If not bypassed, it can be jailbroken.
Your spouse/partner/buddy/trained kids/companion needs to be able to use it if you're down or not available.
Now, does this thing use batteries?  Do I need to comment on that?
Technology is irrelevant. The idea is crap.
So then I got commentary below an article about this.
 
"Well, that's just your OPINION! Those aren't facts."
Actually, yes, what I stated were facts. You could possibly come to a different conclusion, but I'd question your logical chain in doing so.
"The military manages to make missiles work on the battlefield will all kinds of electronics." They do. A missile works ONCE. And to do so, requires a large team of technicians performing regular maintenance, and spends a percentage of its time not ready for deployment. They cost thousands to millions of dollars.  Most of them are transported in secure, padded, isolated, electrically grounded containers against damage while in transit.
"My car has ABS and airbags! And they work!" How well does your ABS work after 1000 impacts? Or even 1000 panic stops? How many cars does your local dealer have in the shop for ABS failure? Airbags are DESIGNED to fail. That's what they do. Yet the last time I was hit, my airbag failed to deploy.
"Ever hear of a grandfather clause?"
21 of the revolvers in this image were made in the 19th century and still shoot. My daughter's favorite is a century old this year.  
Even if you sell a million smart guns (you won't), that's .35% of those in existence. Actual effect on guns used in contact crime cannot exceed .0175% (because a lot of gun crime is non-violent (license violations, carrying where not allowed, etc), and criminals will simply use other guns. You will spend billions, and have zero effect for generations.
If by "grandfather clause" you mean those valuable antiques will become contraband at some point, it's a shame about that 5th Amendment, isn't it?
Stop trying to be smarter than me about a subject you know nothing about.
Simple question: Once you've installed this mythical "smart" circuitry in the gun, let's say, a common Glock, where will it interface? What component will your smart circuit block to prevent the weapon from firing?
When you can answer that question, I'll then tell you why that won't last three minutes against someone with hand tools.
Until you can answer even that, stop pretending you have any knowledge of the subject whatsoever.
EDIT:  It's still going.  Some idiot invoked airbags again.  IIRC, there are 34 million of them awaiting recall.
One of my cars is on recall for an ignition switch that suddenly go from run to accessory. That's like a "smart" gun where pulling the trigger ejects the magazine.
 
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