Starvin Larry

First time’s the charm.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy said Monday there’s no backup plan in case the agency’s proposed Clean Power Plan – the first federal measure limiting carbon emissions from existing power plants – is overturned in court.

“It will be legally solid,” McCarthy said during a lunch event hosted by Politico. “I don’t need a Plan B if I’m solid on my Plan A.”

She added: “We’re going to deliver.”

RELATED

EPA’s Clean Power Plan May See Changes, McCarthy Says

Oil and coal groups, certain utilities and conservative lawmakers in statehouses and on Capitol Hill have loudly opposed the Clean Power Plan, a still-to-be-finalized measure that aims to slash power plants’ carbon emissions by 30 percent from 2005 levels by 2030.

Opponents say the plan, by forcing older and more heavily polluting coal and oil plants offline, will raise electricity rates and decrease the electric grid’s reliability. Already, it faces a challenge in a federal appeals court, while the Supreme Court last week heard arguments over separate EPA rules on toxic air pollutants.

“EPA’s [Clean Power Plan] will cost Americans more … out of their own pocket to use less energy,” Laura Sheehan, a spokeswoman for the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, posted on Twitter on Monday.

Clean Power Plan and EPA supporters are skeptical of opponents’ claims, and states that generate a greater share of energy from renewable sources like wind and solar have experienced lower electricity prices compared to those that rely more heavily on fossil fuels, according to a study published earlier this month by the venture capital firm DBL Investors, which funds clean energy projects.

McCarthy in particular has emphasized that the Clean Power Plan will prove a boon to state economies by reducing health costs for people living downwind of coal- and oil-fired power plants, and by spurring investment in clean energy facilities.

“Under this administration we’re seeing basically solar move tenfold, and we’ve seen wind move threefold,” McCarthy said Monday. “There’s more job growth.”

President Barack Obama has made confronting climate change a central issue of his second term, harnessing the EPA, Energy Department and Interior Department to sidestep opposition in Congress and reduce the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions.

This week, he is expected to unveil the nation’s plan to cut emissions ahead of a U.N. climate summit in Paris.

“My hope and my full expectation is he has outlined an ambitious but compelling argument on why we need to take action now,” McCarthy said. “I have a clear path forward, and we’re going to move ahead.”

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/03/30/gina-mccarthy-clean-power-plan-doesnt-need-a-plan-b

A New Jersey video game shop fell victim to a calculated “swatting” attempt on Saturday night—one that, according to reports, nearly saw the victim play an active role in inflaming the police response.

The story began by resembling far too many other recent swatting attempts. As Jersey area news site Cliff View Pilot reported, Passaic County officers received an anonymous, phony tip about a hostage situation with shotguns and wounded victims. The location in question was a video game store in Clifton, New Jersey, called Digital Press. The store was hosting its usual monthly gaming meetup that night—ironically, one devoted to “super cute” video games—and the county sheriff’s department sent a SWAT team to the shopping strip in question to investigate.

What made this swatting different from other recent high-profile cases, according to tips sent to gaming site Kotaku, was that the victims also received an anonymous call that attempted to pour gasoline on the fire. The game shop’s Web administrator, Frankie Viturello, told a story of seeing a police presence begin to descend upon the store’s shopping district, at which point the 40-strong crowd of gamers locked the shop’s doors and relocated away from the windows and toward the building’s basement. Soon afterward, the shop received a call from a supposed fire department representative.

“Full riot gear with assault weapons”

That caller asked the store to close its blinds, which it did. After that, the caller asked the store employee to peek outdoors and “shout something to the effect of, ‘Clear the area, somebody has a gun,'” at which point the store owner interfered, hung up, and contacted the local police department. The incident ended with the SWAT team entering the building “in full riot gear with assault weapons,” handcuffing all of the attendees and examining the premises before concluding that the anonymous hostage-situation tip was indeed false.

In a statement to New Jersey newspaper The Record, Clifton Police Detective Sergeant Robert Bracken confirmed that the department was actively seeking the phony tipster, who would foot the bill for the SWAT response’s expenses upon being apprehended. He noted that the tip had been vetted for credibility before being acted upon, but Bracken declined to clarify what that meant exactly. We have reached out to the Passaic County Sheriff’s Office with questions about the incident, and we will update this report if we get a response.

Two American teenagers have faced high-profile swatting charges in the past two months. Like this incident, both alleged perpetrators targeted fans of video games, and the practice has been used to attack other gaming fans and critics of the GamerGate hashtag. In the meantime, Digital Press is taking the incident in stride, and Viturello suggested to Kotaku that the monthly game night’s next iteration would revolve around classic, law enforcement-themed video games like Virtua Cop and NARC.

Source-

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/03/game-store-swatted-nearly-became-complicit-in-inciting-police-response/

A group of gunsmiths just 3D printed a bigger, better caliber rifle.

PrintedFirearm.com , a website devoted to 3D printing of guns, announced that one of its members successfully developed a lower receiver for a Colt CM901 rifle. The receiver for the CM901—which is considered to be a much stronger brother of the infamous AR-15 assault rifle—was crafted on a XYZ Da Vinci printer, which normally costs around $500 – considered cheap in the 3D printer world. While they were not the first to 3D print a lower receiver, it seems as if Printed Firearm has taken an evolutionary step.

“This is the FIRST EVER 3d Printed AR-10 (CM901/LE901) lower receiver by JT,” reads a blog post on PrintedFirearm.com. “OH YES WE DID!!!!!!! Yes people its pure awesome sauce and it has been tested, fired with little to no issues.”

The CM901 has a similar design to the AR-15 but can fire a heavier and more powerful 7.62 millimeter round, which results in higher range and stopping power. The standard NATO rifle cartridge has a 7.62 mm diameter and a 51 mm case length.

The rifle is also a modular weapons system, which allows for multiple modifications, so it is also capable of firing lighter 5.56-millimeter rounds as well.

Printed Firearm posted a five-second GIF of the lower receiver in action at a firing range. Like most 3D printed objects, the part is made from a plastic-like filament so it is not clear how many shots could be fired before it breaks or becomes damaged.

“This receiver is durable enough to work,” The Author of Printed Firearm’s blog, who asked that his name be withheld, told FoxNews.com.  “The reality is the lower receiver in an AR style weapon does not need to be that strong.

Schematics for the lower receiver. (printedfirearm.com)

“Is it as strong as metal, no, is it as strong as wood, probably not, is it strong enough to work, yes and it has proven just that.”

The blogger adds that the creator of the part claims to have fired over 100 rounds of ammunition without any issues of visible wear and tear.

Blueprints for parts like a lower receiver for the AR-15, have been available on the web to download for several years but this is the first instance where it has been drafted with an affordable printer and has raised the question among some in the community that an affordable rifle — from barrel to stock — will eventually be as simple as hitting the print button.

(printedfirearm.com)

Others say it will be a long while before that is a reality.

“It’s good for the narrative for the improvements in 3D printing,” Cody Wilson of Defense Distributed, another group that made what was considered the first working 3D printed handgun back in 2013, told FoxNews.Com “But it’s going to be a long time before a rifle can be made on an affordable 3D printer.”

Makeshift gunsmiths have focused mostly on printing lower receivers because it is the only part of the rifle that has federal regulations. Every other part, such as the barrel or the handgrip can be purchased without any sort of permit.

Under current law, there are no federal restrictions on making a gun for personal use – so long as it is under the parameters of both the Gun Control Act and the National Firearms Act.

http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2015/03/30/powerful-3d-printed-rifle-fires-nato-rounds/

Via David Codrea

Things everyone should be learning-now-while there’s still time.