Maybe so; but I think you're not giving yourself enough credit, especially considering time & workload. I always thought it was more like a triumvirate anyways.
That would help considerably, and is something I can specifically show people who've turned away from WWSD for personal reasons (such as hating on Karl or Ian). I'm pretty sure they don't even know that anyone other than those two are responsible for it... willful ignorance is disappointingly common, even given the amount of information available now.
Edit: I've seen the highlights of KP-15s being manufactured, but a quick how-its-made from start to finishing would help answer a lot of unasked questions, and add to the humanity-side of WWSD. No commentary really even needed.
Edit: I've seen the highlights of KP-15s being manufactured, but a quick how-its-made from start to finishing would help answer a lot of unasked questions, and add to the humanity-side of WWSD. No commentary really even needed.
Noted; I just didn't see it on your website (RECOIL is an entirely separate conversation on its own), and don't recall seeing it linked on any InRange or FW videos.
Now that I think on it, I can't recall any other firearm designers/teams with this level of ongoing personal interaction across multiple media platforms, Serbu being maybe the closest.... which is both encouraging & exhausting to think about.
Noted; I just didn't see it on your website (RECOIL is an entirely separate conversation on its own), and don't recall seeing it linked on any InRange or FW videos.
Now that I think on it, I can't recall any other firearm designers/teams with this level of ongoing personal interaction across multiple media platforms, Serbu being maybe the closest.... which is both encouraging & exhausting to think about.
To be fair, these guys have a lot of shit to do without having to worry about social media themselves. That's why you hire interns.
Not to say Serbu or Phagan don't have shit to do (I'll give both plenty of shit but I'll never call them lazy)... but that's got to be eating into their personal time.
Not to say Serbu or Phagan don't have shit to do (I'll give both plenty of shit but I'll never call them lazy)... but that's got to be eating into their personal time.
Imagine what'd happen if it leaked that they're looking for interns. The amount of exceptionals coming out of the woodwork & treeline would be scary, like an autistic zerg rush of notice-me-senpai.
Especially interns for Ian; I can already hear the girly shrieking coming from hordes of unwashed gunspergs, all beseeching His blessing.
Imagine what'd happen if it leaked that they're looking for interns. The amount of exceptionals coming out of the woodwork & treeline would be scary, like an autistic zerg rush of notice-me-senpai.
Especially interns for Ian; I can already hear the girly shrieking coming from hordes of unwashed gunspergs, all beseeching His blessing.
The old joke is we know what Stoner would do, because he made a bunch more successful and prototype firearms after the AR-15. Including the SR-25 which is a very popular DMR.
The old joke is we know what Stoner would do, because he made a bunch more successful and prototype firearms after the AR-15. Including the SR-25 which is a very popular DMR.
its always been my impression that stoner much preferred the AR-10 platform. its what he started with and its what he continued to refine down at knights.
its always been my impression that stoner much preferred the AR-10 platform. its what he started with and its what he continued to refine down at knights.
Not really, other than I would not try to hire from the fan base again. We tried to be very clear that this was tedious entry level production work; but there were several people who were clearly disappointed at what it was and got mad about it.
Yeah I'd like to be paid $25/h to shake Ian's hand when he walks in to inspect the Stonerguns as they're being shipped out, here's my half-page resume with my local FFL as my only reference.
Other than Alec Baldwin killing someone with a firearm there isn't much action in the gun lolcow front so I might as well dump some stuff I've looked into.
Let's talk about Ben Cannon aka "artherd".
His main claim to fame is being a calguns user who managed to get authorization for a JP Rifles CTR-02 to be imported into California in 2005. For those unaware, the CA Supreme Court decision in Harrott v. County of Kings determined that assault weapons had to be determined by make and model in a list promulgated by the Attorney General. Ben then contacted the CA DOJ to ask the legality of acquiring an off-list rifle.
Armed with this letter, Cannon went around asking FFLs to do the transfer for him. When he finally found one, the rifle was modified off state before being shipped to California so that the magazine could be "fixed" in place and require a tool to remove.
Possibly euphoric with this victory, he was one of the founders of the Calguns Foundation and became its first treasurer. I assume this is what he was wearing in the first meeting:
But who is this man? Someone called Allyson Mullins Glasscock who doesn't seem to have any particular links to Ben went over several forums to introduce Ben and his accomplishments. She was probably just hired as a young attorney to handle this guy's internet bullshit before going to work for Glasscock, Glasscock & Glasscock.
He's the co-founder and President of GeoVario, LLC. A Content Delivery Network and Web hosting company whose clients include Fortune 100 Companies and the US DoD. However, GeoVario LLC seems to have been incorporated in 2008 and cancelled in 2012.
He's the founder, President, & CEO of CBC Construction & Engineering. Well, it seems the company was founded in 2006, worker's comp insurance ran out in 2009 and the company itself closed in 2010. https://archive.md/jAbKd
Supposedly also the founder, Presidente, Generalissimo, CEO and King Shit of Fuck Mountain of Cannon Aerospace. I literally cannot find any record of this company existing.
So what did I leave out? GunPal/GPal. Many of you know that PayPal ToS is not friendly to gun transactions, and the gun blogosphere was set ablaze in 2009 when PayPal stopped the raffle sales by an organization called Soldiers' Angels (really, 54 links to other blog articles discussing it) . As part of a funding drive initiated by a gunblogger rendezvous, a gun giveway would serve to collect money for Project Valour IT (a 1911 of course, boomers gonna boom) and Soldiers' Angels organized the online raffle sales. PayPal not only shut down that online sale but also halted Soldiers' Angels contributions for 12 hours.
Enter Ben Cannon.
Because this genius CEO is always on the grindset, he started GunPal - a PayPal alternative that would deal with firearms transactions.
People started to notice delays and difficulties in getting their money. They start asking questions.
A little background is in order so what follows is understandable.
GPal’s agreement page and web pages state they are not a bank, they operate by pooling all of the funds of the members of GPal into one or more FDIC pass through insured bank accounts. The money goes in and out of the account(s) via Automated Clearing House transfers, meaning via a system the banks use to move money. Including credit cards and bank transfers. For clarification, that FDIC pass through insurance only covers the GPal bank account(s) if their bank folds, not the members if GPal folds.
The key here is the GPal bank account(s) with the pooled money. Also important is the ACH transfers take 3-4 bank days. Both in and out of the account(s).
What follows is from public records available to anyone online.
On 05 Mar 2008 in Santa Rosa Municipal Court, Sonoma County, CA American Express Centurion Bank received a judgement against Benjamin Cannon for $8,436.00 (Case #2008019692).
On 29 Apr 2008 in Santa Rosa Municipal Court, Sonoma County, CA American Express Centurion Bank received a judgement against Benjamin Cannon for $33,143 (Case #2008038742).
Both of these cases became liens against Mr. Cannon.
Public property tax records indicate Ben Cannon has never owned any real estate. Anywhere. The public phone book shows he lives with his parents. Confirmed by 2010 arrest information for which the charges subsequently were dropped. Ignore this arrest, it’s irrelevant, meaningless, and distracts from the issue, GPal.
The liens remained in force as Mr. Cannon did not pay them, and American Express did not locate any assets worth seizing.
When Mr. Cannon opened the GPal bank account (singular) where the pooled money of members would be temporarily maintained until paid to intended recepients, apparently he was unaware the contents of that account would be subject to seizure to pay off the two liens. His story about the bank lying to him may have been a contributing factor, if it’s true. GPal’s track record in this mess has not been consistent reliable truth. Not slander, a fact I also experienced personally on more than one occasion.
Had the account had $41,579.00 or more in the account when it was opened, it would have just lost the money owed American Express by Ben Cannon. If the account did not have this money, American Express would start seizing the money being deposited in the account via the ACH transfers, with the result being the ACH payouts wouldn’t happen. Which sounds a lot like what we have been seeing.
A pause for a moment, there’s more.
I don’t know Ben Cannon or any of his investors, friends, or fellow employees at GPal. I do not want this coming across as an attack on Ben or anyone else. Had they said it, I wouldn’t have had to investigate them. No one paid me to investigate them, I did it on my own. But I do have a California PI License (Mock Investigations Lic #PI 26431) and my work is limited to corporate investigations and identifying and locating all parties involved. I developed certain investigative abillities during a carreer as a cop (now retired) that have helped me in retirement.
Now that I’ve been honest, I expect someone to try to shoot the messenger. But, my integrity doesn’t allow me to post something like this without putting my name on it and who I am. It’s bugged me Gpal VP hasn’t been indicating his name in his communication. No offense, I just have a different approach to damage control, or lack thereof. And I’ll tell you upfront I was forciby retired after 19 years on an industrial disability retirement for post trauma stress disorder and concerns on the PD’s side that I’d gone nuts and was a danger to many. Wife divorced me, I went bankrupt (out of it now). That’s all there is to find on me. I may be 5150, but I’m not a criminal.
Back to GPal.
$41,579 doesn’t seem like it would set GPal back too far, and cause the amount of money they now owe people. Until you examine the ACH system delay of 3-4 days and money being seized out of the account on more than one occasion over a period of time, as it comes in.
The amount of time it is taking for GPal to pay the people they owe money is a big clue as to how long and how much that hit on the bank account set them back.
In a previous post on this thread I made the statement GPal is robbing Peter to pay Paul. Take a look at the response by GPal VP and ask yourself, did he address the statement in a professional manner befitting a professional online financial operation. Also, his reaction confirmed to me in my mind my statement had some truth to it. Otherwise I wouldn’t have been attacked and his response would have been a lot less emotional and more professional. Why would their website say nothing of any of this and continue to operate like business as usual, when they know the money coming in will not be paid out for months?
Damage Control
Obviously GPal has been doing damage control.
That bank account taking a hit could have been dealt with in 3 ways. Find another investor to cover the losses until they can catch up. Declare bankruptcy. Neither of these have happened, which takes us to the third option. Conitinue taking in ACH transfers form new transactions to pay the money owed from the earlier transactions and hope business continues enough to recover the $41,579 with the money GPal charges. And keep trying to find someone to invest in them to help them catch up.
FYI, Ben has never filed for bankruptcy, has never been sued in Federal Court, and has no Federal arrest records. Ditto GunPal and Gpal. Ditto Ben’s previous companies that are now no longer in business, some of which their corporate license was suspended, one of which is a partnership in a construction company that’s still active but has had their State license revoked for something related to failure to pay Worker’s Comp insurance. All of this is public records anyone can verify, if you know where to look.
If GPal had the money in their bank account, which is still ACH enabled in both directions, the transfers would go through. No bank takes money into an account and not pay out, unless there is a darn good legal reason for it. Now, after the liens have been collected, as the money comes in from new transactions, they are able to pay you. Their gamble is they will be able to catch up before everyone stops doing business with them.
After this event broke, GPal was able to issue checks which they mailed via FedEx. Clearly they had access to funds not accessible to American Express, as the checks didn’t bounce. When those funds dried up, they stopped issuing checks and went back to stall tactics. I’ll leave it to you to figure out where the money for the checks may have come from.
They may have changed banks or started another account, as one phone rep indicated to me, by someone other than Ben Cannon.
Step back and take a good honest look at all the damage that’s happened that no one other than GPal has been responsible for. Significant would be an understatement. And who has it happened too? People who are gun owners and want GPal as an option. Have you seen anything from GPal or their management that takes ownership of these problems? Most of what I have seen has been blaming it on someone or something else. Why? Think about it.
A note about public records. Not every city, county, and state makes their court records available to the public. Federal records, yes. There may have been other liens, but I did not find any in the public records.
I do not know what started the lawsuit by American Express Centurion Bank against Ben Cannon. According to Hoover’s … “A subsidiary of credit card and travel giant American Express, the company issues and services its parent company’s revolving credit cards, including the Blue, Blue Cash, and Blue Sky cards. (Revolving cards carry no annual fees, but levy finance charges on revolving balances.) The bank also issues consumer charge cards, raising funds for all of its lending activities by selling short- and medium-term debt and securitized assets. It offers CDs to retail and institutional customers as well. The company mainly markets its cards via direct mail, the Internet, and television.”
I cannot and do not do credit history checks.
All of this is just public information. I’ve avoided putting addresses, phone numbers, or making threats. My belief is those who think they can try to “get even” don’t comprehend there is no such thing. All that can be done by that behavior is to make things even more uneven. Leave Ben alone. Either do business with him, or don’t. Your choice.
What I don’t understand is why Ben and GPal didn’t just explain what happened. Clearly they have a lot of people who want to support them and have GPal survive. Myself included. Their version of damage control leads me to believe there are more things someone at GPal does not want known.
I don’t know anywhere near everything about GPal or Ben Cannon. The window I have looked through does not provide inside information that might clarify some of this.
I’ve seen enough for myself that I do not put any trust in GPal’s CEO to operate a business like I would like to see GPal become. Just my opinion, best thing that could happen, even if all of this can be explained, is someone who is capable and experienced with the banking industry and online ACH transfers to buy Cannon out and take over the business. The damage that’s been done, GPal may or may not recover financially. It’s moot to me, they’ve lost my trust.
Mr. CEO Playboy over here decided to start a business while having 40 grand in debt and no way to prevent the funds from being seized. The delays were most likely the result of Benjamin needing other people to pay through his system so he can cash the previous customers out. He ran it like a Ponzi scheme.
Worse, it seems like his business was unlicensed: https://sailorcurt.com/2010/09/another-gpal-update.html/ Unfortunately it links to the dead castboolits thread
The description of events mentions an arrest. The context is that around the same time he was scamming people he was also arrested for impersonating a cop and getting a woman to pull over.
He got away by presenting phone records but strobe lights were found in his car.
Correction: calguns user, reposted on arfcom
"I want to preface this by saying for about the last year and a half, I didn'y have a computer or internet access, so when I finally got back online a few months ago I did some catching up on Calguns and read about all the Gpal/Ben Cannon drama.
So anyways, I pull into a gas station in Petaluma about 2 hours ago and this guy is walking across the parking lot in front of me. So he looks at me as he's walking past me and I swear, I think to myself, "this guy just looks like a dirtbag". Then as I'm pulling around o the pump I think, "holy crap he kind of looks like Ben Cannon". Then I see the douchey car he gets into, complete with Olympic license plate and 10-99 Foundation frame, covered with "sponsor" stickers incuding one that said Geovario. And I thought "damn, there sure are a lot of people who hate this guy". So that's my brush with fame."
I actually talked to the guy who gave me the lead to look into Ben Cannon and he confirmed that Oleg is a sperg, but his autism is mostly contained to the gun forums and shit that's been lost to time.
Sadly I can't give you the juicy bits and screenshots. People started meme'ing his photoshoots by editing them, I assume Ben Garrison style considering he did the quotes stuff on his photos, and Volk decided to issue legal threats to posters on TheHighRoad other websites (my mistake lol, this is second hand info). The kind of stuff you get when you cross Web 1.0, boomer/Gen X mindset, and distilled autismo.
However, thanks to my original source guy I managed to focus on another lead. Oleg admitted that he had an "unpaid" and "unofficial" "adviser" position on GunPal/GPal:
Since I have no actual influence on their actions, I asked GPAL to remove my name from their web site. The position has always been an unpaid and unofficial, but it did lend my name to the enterprise. Right now, I can neither condemn nor endorse GPAL, only wait and see how they…
So we know he had at least a conflict of interest because he owned and moderated TheHighRoad until at least 2010 (when he settled with Derek Zeanah) and he was most likely running interference for his friend and business associate on the forums.
EDIT: I messed up, people started meme'ing Oleg's pictures on other websites. One thread was found on FARK:
This is my first time posting on this forum. But I used to be a fan of Karl like some of you. I didn’t know about his really shitty views until a few months ago and I was very upset to find out that not only is he a huge lefty (Don’t give me that libertarian crap, you’re a lefty) but he’s also a weird Satanist cuck.
I started to get suspicious a while go when he would post those weird videos where he’d talk about some radical group getting killed by the police and try to defend them. That made me stop watching any video that wasn’t gun related. So when I would see these kinds of vids, I would simply remove them from my sub box and wait for one that was actually Gun related. But the last straw for me was when he started interviewing literal dumpster fires like Atun-Shei Films AKA the guy who laughed at the idea of statues of the founders being taken down when people were concerned over confederate statue removal (guess what eventually happened?) and the actual vid that made me unsubscribe was the interview with TacticoolGirlfriend. TGF put out a video on her channel where in it she quite literally defends the Black Panthers. So when Karl gave a platform to someone who defends racial supremacists and uses the term “marginalized” in an unironic way…I was done. Fuck you Karl, I’ll stick with Ian. He at least keeps his opinions to himself and knows better than to insult his audience and turn people off from his fanbase.
Also, it’s good to know that Russell isn’t an asshole.
Also sorry for making an Uber long post. I just really got frosted over how much of a jerk Karl is.
