Red Stick

3 Cops dead, 3 wounded.

So who else thinks Black people shooting cops is not the way to get cops to stop shooting Black people?

Strange Days Indeed

Turkey: Don't Let a Crisis go to Waste

An interesting coup attempt in Turkey perhaps somewhat reminiscent of the Reichstag fire. There have been many coups in Turkey by the military which sees itself as the protector of Atatürk's secular legacy, oddly this doesn't seem to have been one of them. This coup seems to have come from a limited sector of the Turkish military, a sector that Ergodan is happy to blame on an exiled cleric in Pennsylvania who has denied any involvement and condemned the coup.

Ergodan is no friend of ours other than one of expediency and he is certainly no friend of democracy and of constitutional government.  I wouldn't call him an enemy, but simply Ergodan is in it for Ergodan.  In the immediate aftermath of the coup Turkish TV announced a purge of some 2,745 judges, a rather convenient consequence for a man accused of corruption.  This coup will be the opportunity to purge anyone and everyone in government who is opposed to Ergodan and his "Justice" and Development Party.

You can't make this stuff up!

Cause Dammit! Everybody Loves a String Quartet!

Congress Fiddles while Zika Burns

282 cases of Zika in Florida, 2,500 in Puerto Rico.

Funding is stalled as House Republicans in a conference committee inserted provisions unrelated to Zika such as limits on Obamacare, restrictions on abortions, funding cuts for birth control, and the lifting of environmental restrictions.

There have been 599 cases of Zika among pregnant women in the United States and its territories and seven infants have been born with Zika-related birth defects.

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/congress/article89422077.html#storylink=cpy

This is why I am no longer a Republican.  Grow the eff up and govern will you? I don't know which bloodsuckers are worse, the mosquitoes or the politicians.

Photo: Geoff Gallice

 I don't know, seemed fitting ;)

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/congress/article89422077.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/congress/article89422077.html#storylink=cpy

South China Sea

NO!

Established in 1899 and revised in 1907 by the Hague Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes of which China is a signatory member, The Permanent Court of Arbitration has ruled that China's claims to roughly 90% of the South China Sea are Invalid.  In response, China laughed. While the decision was unanimous and is considered legally binding, there is no mechanism for enforcement and China has already said they are going to pay it no mind.

Who you gonna call?

Share

Photo: WaddleDee72

Philando Castille was stopped 52 times by police.

How about you?

I have been driving for 32 years and have been stopped 7 times.

Ten year old 1976 red and black, bondo'd Camaro; never stopped.

New 1987 dark blue VW Fox; never stopped. It was totaled in an accident but the other driver was cited based on witness testimony.  I don't count this as a stop.

Used 1982 six year old beige AMC Spirit; never stopped.

New blue 1990 Mazda Miata; (1) stopped once for speeding, no citation, although it was a legitimate stop for me going 15 over.  (2) Stopped a second time for speeding at 2:00 A.M after the clubs closed with a drunk friend in the car.  I wasn't speeding and hadn't been drinking, and think the cop just pulled me over because of the time of night; no citation.

New 1992 Mazda 626; never stopped.

New 1995 Ford Windstar; never stopped.

Used 3-yr old 1987 Jeep Cherokee (not Grand); never stopped. Had the Cherokee for seven years overlapping time we had the Miata, 626, and Windstar.

New 1998 Ford F-150; (3) stopped for speeding (ten over) and cited. At the time the cop claimed he had me on radar I was being passed by another vehicle going around a curve, to this day I swear the radar reading he got was from the other car. I was doing five over.

New 2000 Subaru Impreza; (4) stopped for speeding and cited, seven over - legitimate stop.

New 2003 Land Rover LR2; never stopped.

New (well 1 yr old) 2005 Dodge Ram 2500;  (5) stopped in NM coming out of the mountains on a dirt road after four wheeling.  Came out on the highway about a quarter mile from a border patrol checkpoint and was stopped by the border patrol. I wasn't doing anything illegal, yet the BP was suspicious of me being a Coyote. I had four BP cars on me that time.

New 2007 Jeep Wrangler; (6) stopped once when I first got it because the cop wanted to look at the newly released four door Wrangler and even admitted that's why he pulled me over. ( I counted this as stop though). Wrangler's been on the road for nine years so far.

New 2008 VW Beetle Convertible; never stopped.

New 2010 Mercedes C300; (7) stopped once coming back from a dinner party with a burned out headlight.  It had just burned out that night, which I explained to the officer; no citation - legitimate stop. Car was on the road for six years.

New 2015 Mercedes GLA bought this year; I've never been stopped but my wife has been stopped once for speeding, her first time ever stopped, insists she wasn't speeding.

I include the make, model, age of vehicle because it is potentially relevant.  Although people claim that older used cars (poorer drivers) are stopped more frequently; I've never been stopped in one of my older cars, although I do maintain my cars in good working order.  The Jeep has a perpetually cracked windshield, and although I do replace it I've never had one last longer than three months without a crack (fair warning if you want one). It was brand new and not cracked at the time I was stopped in it. I generally try and stay within 5 of the speed limit, keeping up with the general flow of traffic, meaning I'm not weaving in and out but I may be in the left hand lane.

What are your experiences with the police and traffic stops?

Crime Statistics

______________________________________

The first question you need to ask is why did the government stop publishing statistics on interracial crime in 2008.

The second question you need to ask is why doesn't the government publish crime statistics correlated to both race and economic factors.

Our government does a horrible job of publishing accurate and meaningful crime statistics.

Examining data from 2012-2013 the Manhattan Institute derived the following statistics:

Violent Crime Victims:

White 42.9, Black 22.4, Hispanic 14.8, Other 12.1, Unk. 7.8

Violent Crime Perpetrators:
 
In 56% of the cases Whites were the victims of other Whites.
In only 13.7% were Whites the victims of Blacks and in 11.9% were they the victims of Hispanics.

In 62.2% of the cases Blacks were the victims of other Blacks. In only 10.4% were they the victims of Whites and in 4.7% were they the victims of Hispanics.

In 38.8% of the cases Hispanics were the victims of Hispanics.  In only 21.7% were they the victims of Whites and in 21.2% were they the victims of Blacks.

Murder

In 2013 there were 5680 murders in the US according to the FBI

3005 victims were White, 2491 victims were Black, and 227 were other or of an unknown race.

83.5% of White homicides were committed by other Whites, only 13.6% were committed by Blacks.

90% of Black homicides were committed by other Blacks, only 7.5% were committed by Whites.

For what it is worth 43.6% of Other/Unknown homicides were committed by Other/Unknowns, while only 25% were committed by Whites and 19.3% were committed by Blacks.

___________________________________________________

Between 2003 and 2013 565 Police Officers were "feloniously killed" according to FBI statistics.

51.5% of the Officers were killed by White/Hispanic offenders, 43% were killed by Black offenders.  97.5% of the offenders were male. Only 1.4% of the offenders were Asian/Pacific while in 2010 they were roughly 5% of the population.

Since the FBI lumps Whites and Hispanics into the same category:

77% of the US population is White/Hispanic

13.2% of the US population is Black

In 2015 990 people were shot by police officers.

80% of those shot had a deadly weapon

5.5% of those shot were presumably using a vehicle as a deadly weapon

3.5% of those shot had a toy gun 

9.4% of those shot were unarmed

2.7% of the shooting circumstances were termed "unknown".

Of those shot 67% were White/Hispanic, 26% were black.

Go back to that original figure relating to police officers killed.  43% of police officers killed in felonious assault were killed by Blacks. Police officers kill Blacks at a rate twice as high as their proportion of the population but Blacks kill police officers at a rate three times as high.

If you are a police officer your chances of getting killed by a White or Black offender are almost equal despite the differences in demographics.  

“Adjusted for the homicide rate, whites are 1.7 times more likely than blacks die at the hands of police,” he said. “Adjusted for the racial disparity at which police are feloniously killed, whites are 1.3 times more likely than blacks to die at the hands of police.” Moskos-Wash Times

What remains a gaping hole in all of this are the socioeconomic factors, what do the numbers look like when adjusted to income bracket and race?

Police & Violence

Be Warned: This video is the most disturbing of them all

It appears like we have an ongoing problem with policing in this  country that seems to be getting worse.  SF summarized it nicely in a comment yesterday:

Law enforcement at all levels often goes directly to violence in a non-violent situation.

It does seem that way. In the Louisiana Alton Sterling shooting the video is kind of blurry but he doesn't seem to be in a position in which he posed an immediate and direct threat, reports are that after the shooting police officers removed a gun from his pocket.

In the Minnesota Philando Castile shooting, the shooting itself is not on video, the report is that when asked for his license and registration he reached for his wallet while informing the officer that he was armed and licensed to carry, when the officer said "don't move", he went to raise his hands and the officer fired.

In the Pennsylvania David Kassick shooting the police officer was acquitted of all charges.

Crime in the US peaked in roughly 1991 at  5897 per 100,000 people, that year violent crime also peaked at 758 per 100K.  Today (2014 data) the crime rate stands at 2971 per 100K, a rate not seen since before 1967's rate of 2989 per 100K.  Violent crime stands at 375 per 100K  a rate not seen since 1971's 396 per 100K.

Let's just look at violent crime since that would presumably get one shot by a police officer.

In 1971's era of 396 violent crimes per 100,000 in population police officers fatally shot 248 people.  At the peak of 1991 with violent crime at 758 per 100K police officers fatally shot 149 people.  In 2014 with the violent crime rate 375 per 100K police officers fatally shot only 122 people.

Let's summarize that:

1971 - 248 people killed by police - 396 violent crimes per capita
1991 - 149 people killed by police - 758 violent crimes per capita
2014 - 122 people killed by police - 375 violent crimes per capita

What is the difference between 1971, 1991, and 2014? The prevalence of personal, portable video recording devices.  Watching the videos elicits a visceral emotional response.  To be honest I thought we had a problem, when reading SF's comment "Law enforcement at all levels often goes directly to violence in a non-violent situation" I initially agreed with it, after examining the statistical data I'm not so sure anymore, and I must admit I was surprised.

The per capita death by cop rate:

2014 - .04 per 100,000
2004 - .06
1994 - .07
1984 - .08
1974 - .13

1964 - .09
1954 - .08
1944 - .06
1934 - .18
1924 - .23
1914 - .11
1904 - .10
1890 - .09
1880 - .06
1870 - .05
1860 - .03

So as you can see, you have to go all the way back to somewhere in the 1860's to achieve as low of a rate as we have today. I'm not saying that we don't have any problems, that policing can't be better, that it couldn't be improved greatly.  

Perception is a strange thing.  When I was a child in the summertime we were kicked out of the house after breakfast, allowed back in for lunch, and kicked out again until dinner. We roamed all over the neighborhood pretty much unsupervised.  If lucky, after dinner and after dark we would get to go out and catch lightning bugs or play what we called flashlight tag (think hide and seek in the dark with a flashlight). Today parents wouldn't dream of doing that with their kids, and if they do they may get arrested for child endangerment.  They call that style of parenting today "free range" and people question the sanity of the parents, but  statistically, it is far safer today then it was when I was a child.

This post is specifically addressing the general climate and makes no attempt to address socioeconomic, cultural, or racial factors.  We'll save those for another post.

 





 

It's Summer

Crime and Punishent

"When it comes to crime, our prison industrial complex is a self-fulfilling cancer on the society and we should be shamed for it." Jersey Mc Jones

 Why? Who is inflicting that cancer on society? And why should we be ashamed?

 I dare say that most of us are law abiding citizens.  We commit no wrongs against our neighbors. Damn few torts, fewer misdemeanors, and even far fewer felonies than any denizen of your local, state, or federal correctional facility. For the most part, the average American citizen has limited experience of any sort of crime, and that mostly second hand. And far fewer have run afoul of the judicial system, and let's be honest, we believe those in such straights, probably deserve it. Being personally innocent, we may feel for those misguided souls, but can't escape the feeling that they have brought it on themselves.

 They invariably have!

I write this as the brother of a victim. Not of a crime, but of the consequence of one.

 My sister once had a fiance. A brilliant man. Friendly, sociable, witty, philosophical, a student, a teacher, a scholar. In short, one of us. Already had a Masters in Economics, and was working on a Doctorate. Taught that subject at a local community college, and to help make ends meet moonlighted as a cab driver. One night he picked up a fare. That cancerous soul, recently paroled from Jersey's "prison-industrial-complex" otherwise known as the New York State Correctional Facility at Singsing decided that the easiest way to rob this particular cabbie, was to shoot him in the head first. He was found slumped over the steering wheel. The perp, when finally apprehended three year later, was already serving 8 to 12 years for yet another armed robbery in NY.

 This happened around 35 years ago. By now that poor victim of the "prison industrial complex" is probably once again among us.

 What is it again we should be ashamed of?

WELCOME TO THE 3RD WORLD

John Deutch was CIA director during the mid-nineties.  A CIA investigation found that he stored and processed hundreds of files of highly classified material on unprotected home computer.  A report by the Inspector General found that Deutch had failed to follow "the most basic security precautions".  Deutch apologized for his actions and was pardoned by President Bill Clinton.

Bryan Nishimura was a former naval reservist found with classified information on his home computer.  FBI agents found classified information in both hard copy and electronic forms.  Nashimura also admitted to having destroyed some information.  Nishimura pleaded guilty to unauthorized removal and retention of classified materials. A judge fined him $7,500, and he was ordered to surrender his security clearance.  The violation was a technical and unintentional one, but one that the Justice Department nonetheless thought it needed to punish "to make its point."

We, as a nation, are beyond redemption.

 

The Rape of Europa

Yesterday's discussion with FT on the merits and flaws of Sefjan Steven's Start Spangled Banner got me thinking outside the political box of Hillary Clinton burning her schedules and murdering mewling kittens in her basement.  Wouldn't the world be a very boring place if we were all Michaelangelos painting with the same old brush?

The paintings are in order: Claude Lorrain (1655),  Felix Valloton (1908), Fransisco Toledo (1972), Francois Boucher (@1733), Valentin Serov (1910), Peter Paul Rubens (1630), Ryuzaburo Umehara (Unk).

All of these paintings are on the same theme "The Rape of Europa"... fitting following the Brexit eh?  See how politics creeps into everything?  They all produce a response in us and evoke emotion and thought. Is there any one in particular that you would hang in your living room or burn in your fireplace?

Oddly enough as I sit here writing this, although I didn't like it at first the Umehara (bottom) is growing on me.  Me? I have these hanging in my living room, reproductions of course ;)

Paul Cornoyer - The Plaza after Rain

 

Jean Baptiste-Camille Cerot - Ville d'Avray

What does our 'art' say about us?

Happy 4th

Holy cow patties it's only 10 years to the Sestercentennial!

Full disclosure: This is not our national anthem 

For the traditionalists among you, here's the original version:
 

Jesus: The Remake

Sermon on the Mount: Carl Bloch

Jesus VR filmed in 360 degree 4K with Enzo Sisti who was the executive producer of The Passion of Christ will be available this Christmas for anyone with a VR Headset (Google Cardboard, Samsung Gear, Oculus Rift, PlayStation VR and the HTC Vive).

Variety 

Guardian

Mack Rice 1933-2016

The Smoking Gun

Huma Abedin, Hillary Clinton's version of Tonto or Boy Robin revealed in deposition:

Clinton did not want the State Department emails that she sent and received on her private computer server to be accessible to "anybody,"

Associated Press

There is no way Hillary Clinton, an attorney, Senator, and wife of a two-term president can plead ignorance of the Federal Records Act of 1950 and the Freedom of Information Act of 1966.

The Federal Records Act is the "basis for the Federal Government's policies and procedures for creating, maintaining, and disposing of Federal records. The act and its related regulations define Federal records, mandate the creation and preservation of those records necessary to document Federal activities, establish Government ownership of records, and provide the exclusive legal procedures for the disposition of records."

The Freedom of Information Act defines agency records subject to disclosure, outlines mandatory disclosure procedures and grants nine exemptions to the statute. It  requires agencies to publish their rules of procedure in the Federal Register, 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(1)(C), and to make available for public inspection and copying their opinions, statements of policy, interpretations, and staff manuals and instructions that are not published in the Federal Register, § 552(a)(2). In addition, § 522(a)(3) requires every agency, "upon any request for records which. . . reasonably describes such records" to make such records "promptly available to any person." 

Ignorance of the law is no excuse, but if you want to make that argument in re. to Hillary Clinton I would simply say that if true it simply underscores her incompetency as an attorney and as a federal executive. Honestly, at this point it should be "Game Over" for Hillary Clinton.

Turkey 2016

36+ Dead, 147+ Wounded.

EU SUPERSTATE

Goren tek-en

Is it me or didn't the Germans already try this once?

With the help of the Vichy French too, I might add.

The foreign ministers of France and Germany are due to reveal a blueprint to effectively do away with individual member states in what is being described as an “ultimatum”.

Meanwhile, there are rumors of an alliance with the Japanese.

Express

Daily Mail

TEXIT?

Amidst the Brexit, renewed calls for Texas Independence

The Texas Nationalist Movement is renewing calls for a ballot referendum calling for secession from the United States. Texas which was an independent nation from 1836-1845 would have the 10th largest economy in the world if an independent state.

US News 

CBS 

Reuters 

All is not coming up roses

Spain and Belgium would likely vote No on Scottish membership in the EU.  Spain "will not want to create the precedent" of a region "deciding to leave and join the EU in their own right" given the secessionist movements in Catalonia and the Basque Country." and Belgium is "extremely worried ... a Scottish precedent would really encourage the now very rich region of Flanders to secede from the Kingdom", adding: "This would impoverish Belgium." Telegraph

It also calls into question whether other countries with secessionist movements like Italy and Romania would vote in favor.

Meanwhile the Mayor of Calais Natacha Bouchart and the President of the Hauts-de-France region Xaviar Bertrand want to let the migrants through the Chunnel. The Sun

BREXIT?

By the time this posts they'll probably know which way the vote went but for American's it will be fresh news when they wake up.

Today's the day

Voters in the United Kingdom go to the polls to vote on the Brexit and according to CNN it's too close to call.  Admittedly it's none of our darn business but what do you think they will do vs. what do you think they should do? Results are expected around breakfast UK time so maybe sometime in the middle of the night here.

Bushido?

TEPCO, the utility that ran Fukushima has apologized for what is in essence a cover-up in intentionally not using the term "melt-down" to describe the catastrophe.

TEPCO President Naomi Hirose issued the apology after it was revealed he instructed officials not to use the term melt-down and instead use the term "core-damage".

"I would say it was a cover-up," Hirose told a news conference. "It's extremely regrettable."

Hirose said he will take a 10 percent pay cut, and another executive will take a 30 percent cut,

 for one month each to take responsibility.

Really? That's what you're going with?

What the government originally released:

"I pledge allegiance to [omitted] may God protect him [in Arabic], on behalf of [omitted]."

What eventually came out:

“I pledge allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi may God protect him [in Arabic], on behalf of the Islamic State,” 

So the key question is... WHY? Why would you release a redacted version in the first place?  The intent was to protect? ISIS? Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi? 

Here is a full transcript of one of the calls:

OD: Emergency 911, this is being recorded.
OM: In the name of God the Merciful, the beneficent [Arabic]
OD: What?
OM: Praise be to God, and prayers as well as peace be upon the prophet of God [Arabic]. I wanna let you know, I’m in Orlando and I did the shootings.

OD: What’s your name?

OM: My name is I pledge of allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi of the Islamic State.
OD: Ok, What’s your name?
OM: I pledge allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi may God protect him [Arabic], on behalf of the Islamic State.
OD: Alright, where are you at?
OM: In Orlando.
OD: Where in Orlando?
[End of call.]

The full transcript was only released after public and political outcry.

And silly me, I always thought OCO stood for Overseas Contingency Operation when in reality it is [omitted] Contingency Operation, who'd have thought? 

This call was followed by a nine, sixteen, and a three minute call.

According to TIME:

In these calls, the shooter, who identified himself as an Islamic soldier, told the crisis negotiator that he was the person who pledged his allegiance to [omitted], and told the negotiator to tell America to stop bombing Syria and Iraq and that is why he was “out here right now.” 

Palomares

In January 1966 a B-52 bomber collided with a KC-135 tanker over Spain spilling its contents of Mk-28 hydrogen bombs.  Three landed near the village of Palomares, the fourth fell into the ocean.  The non-nuclear explosives in two of them detonated contaminating a 2 square kilometer area with plutonium.

Here is a story of the veterans that got stuck cleaning it up.

You are Worthless

Painting: Labor by Charles Sprague Pearce

While wandering the electronic halls of the internet I came across this fairly interesting argument, laid out in part here:

Example 1: Gains on Capital

            Joe places $100,000 in a certificate of deposit earning 6% per annum. Joe gave up his $100,000 for a year and at the end of the year he received $106,000 of which only $6,000 would be income as defined by the act. Joe still has his original $100,000 and can 'rent' it out again for another year, but he pays taxes only on the $6,000 gain.

Example 2: Gains on Sales

            Tom buys a widget for $1 and sells it for $2. Tom gave up $1 in order to receive $2, but only the additional $1 is considered income. Tom still has his dollar back and can purchase another widget to sell, but he pays taxes only on the $1 gain

Example 3: Gains on Labor

            Bob pays Bill $50 to unplug Mrs. Haversham's drain for which Bob charges Mrs. Haversham $75. Bob gave up $50 in order to receive $75, but only $25 is considered income, his realized gain of $25 on Bill's labor. Bob still has his original $50 that he can use to purchase more labor that he can sell for profit, but he pays taxes only on the $25 gain. 

But what about Bill's $50?  What has Bill given up? Nothing?  Bill gave up a day out of his life, he expended his effort and skill, employed the use of his working tools. Bill no longer has his day or his labor, both are spent. He cannot, even with every penny of his $50, buy another day or recover the effort he expended, yet according to the government, his $50, every bit of it, is profit, gain, accession to wealth and was received in exchange for nothing.

Joe recovered his $100,000, and paid no tax on it; Tom recovered his $1 and paid no tax on it; Bob recovered his $50 and paid no tax on it; but Bill can never recover his day, energy or labor, but pays tax on his gross revenue, including the value of his day, energy and labor and even if the value of that day, energy and labor exceeds the gross revenue!  

Read the entire article here: What is Income?

The government assigns a value of 0 to your time and labor by declaring that the entirety of your compensation is profit, in other words; You are Worthless! And you have got something (profit) in exchange for nothing (time/exertion/skill).

Desert Trip II

On October 7th, 8th, and 9th... and now with a second weekend added Oct 14th, 15th, and 16th in Indio, California at the Empire Polo Club is the Mega-concert of this millennium (at least so far). On Friday nights will appear The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan, Saturday night will feature Paul McCartney and Neil Young, and Sundays will see Roger Waters and The Who. A general admission three-day pass will run $399.

Reactionary Much?

I am, I have to admit, sadly disappointed in my fellow Americans.  In a poll of some 380,000 of you, when asked the question "Should people on the terror watch lists be banned from buying guns?" An overwhelming 94% of you replied "YES".

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger

nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law;

No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

And yet you are ready and willing to allow some nameless bureaucrats to place your name on a list.

Shame. 

Let's not Ignore the Elephant in the Room

Photo: Peter H. Wrege

Now before you get all bent out of shape, I'm not impugning the bravery or commitment of the Orlando Police Force.

But lets face some difficult facts:

The first shots were fired at 2:02 AM

The police breached the building at approximately 5:05 AM

The police response directly contributed to 39 of the 49 deaths (yes, 49... I don't  give a rat's ass about the shooter).

Why do I say that? Because National Guard combat studies have shown that survivability can be increased by up to 66% with immediate paramedic critical trauma care. In practice the chance of survival can easily be boosted by 25%.

The problem is not with our police officers but with our tactics.  We cannot wait 3 hours to breach in a situation like this.  If the police had breached the building in 15 minutes from arrival or even 30 the casualty count would have been much lower.

Police say they had to wait three hours to access (sic) the situation, get armored vehicles on the scene and make sure they had enough personnel. CNN

If your goal is preventing the deaths of police officers our tactics are highly effective, if they are aimed towards reducing or minimizing civilian deaths they suck.  I thought we expected far more from our police than what was given, I am just as sure that many of the officers were immediately prepared to breach the building and were held back by leadership.

Interesting

In the wake of the Orlando attacks I was perusing some poll results:

Out of 24000+ respondents 60% support a temporary ban on Muslim immigration.

Out of 4000 70% think Obama should label it for what it is... Radical Islamic Terrorism.

Out of 2500 64% think Trump would be more effective at stopping terrorism than Hillary (21%)

In the wake of the attack Hillary calls for banning assault weapons and Trump calls for banning Muslim immigration.  Which do you think will play better in the election.

So what does Hillary actually want to ban? Below is the weapon allegedly used in the Orlando attack, the Sig Sauer MCX .223

Guns and Ammo: Sig Sauer MCX

 It's black and scary for sure but honestly, it can't really fire any faster than this:

Which is a Ruger Mini-14 categorized as a "ranch rifle", I believe.

Folks, a semi-automatic is a semi-automatic is a semi-automatic. They fire as fast as you pull the trigger and they fire as many bullets as are in the clip. You want to do something effective? Ban collapsible stocks and set a minimum length so they are not easily concealable, but frankly there is little mechanical difference between them. The term "Assault Rifle" is little more than a dog whistle.  We did after all fight WWII with this one:

What's the difference?  The SIG Sauer is made out of cheap plastic.

ORLANDO

NEED I SAY MORE?

 

Desert Trip

On October 7th, 8th, and 9th... and now with a second weekend added Oct 14th, 15th, and 16th in Indio, California at the Empire Polo Club is the Mega-concert of this millennium (at least so far). On Friday nights will appear The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan, Saturday night will feature Paul McCartney and Neil Young, and Sundays will see Roger Waters and The Who. A general admission three-day pass will run $399.

4.7%

Administration claims that unemployment fell to 4.7% in May is belied by the latest Harris poll.

The Labor Department reported that the headline unemployment fell to 4.7 percent. That rate does not include those who did not actively look for employment during the month or the underemployed who were working part time for economic reasons.

The Harris poll indicates that 43% of the unemployed have given up looking and that the number of people not counted in the unemployment figures grew by 664,000 to 94.7 million. Of those in the not looking category, only 22% were voluntarily out of the workforce. Of those 94.7 million roughly 73 million have just given up.

 

Is Trump Right

About Judge Gonzalo Curiel?

Can a Judge, at least a former member of the San Diego La Raza Lawyers Association, a group associated with, if not affiliated with, The National Council of La Raza, preside in a fair and unbiased manner over a lawsuit involving the man who wants to build the Great Wall of America?

Would you liberals have been comfortable if the judge presiding over the Ferguson case had been a former member of the Missouri WASP Bar Association?  Or would you have claimed bias? 

Is La Raza a racist organization?

“I hear more and more Mexicans talking about la raza—to build up their pride. Some people don’t look at it as racism, but when you say ‘la raza,’ you are saying an anti-gringo thing, and it won’t stop there. Today it’s anti-gringo, tomorrow it will be anti-Negro."  ~  César Chávez

Seriously, liberals, what would you think of a white organization named "The Race"?

Do I think that Gonzalo Curiel is biased against Donald Trump because he wants to build a wall? I don't know him, but probably not, Trump's complaints about Curiel (and in NY, AG Schneiderman) go back to the beginnings of these cases.  Still, there can be no question of impartiality on the part of the Judge and I think it best that he recuse himself, just as I would think it best if the Judge in the Ferguson trial recuse himself if he was a former member of the Sons of the Confederacy.    

Not So Secret Service

Former Agent David Byrne has a tell-all book due to come out the 28th of June.  Crisis of Character: A White House Secret Service Officer Discloses His Firsthand Experience with Hillary, Bill, and How They Operate. On Hillary he has the following to say:

"volcanic, impulsive, enabled by sycophants, and disdainful of the rules set for everyone else"

This post isn't really about the book though, this post is a question.  Should our own Praetorian Guard be publishing tell-all books about the inhabitants and goings on of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue?

Congratulation Liberals

You have far exceeded the abilities of my conservative brethren and may have actually figured out a way to get me to vote for Trump

How 'bout one for the old Alma Mater

 

 

The Future: Leonard Cohen

In light of yesterday's post:

And here's some more Leonard Cohen just for fun:

Imagine if you will...

Photo: Chen-Pan Liao

Imagine if you will that it's 1950, 1960, 1970, or 1980, in fact any year before 1984 will work.

You get up in the morning at 0623 get in a shower set to 114 degrees for 12 minutes.  You remove 2 eggs, some bacon, and orange juice from your refrigerator.  You have toast... medium light.  Unbeknownst to you all of this information is being recorded by a third party.  You get in your car at precisely 0725 and head to the train station, your route, turn by turn being annotated in a ledger.  You buy a ticket on the 0745 train, and find a seat.  Someone looking over your shoulder takes note of every article you read.

At work you spend 73.4% of your time actually working, everything you do is monitored and recorded.  On the way home you go to the mall, you are followed from store to store, not only what you buy is recorded but everything you look at as well.  Finally home you kick back on the couch with a TV dinner and watch only 23 minutes of the news (you change the channel after the weather), everything you watch, the commercials you flip away from, all of it is recorded.  At the end of the day you get into bed at precisely 2117 PM.

For those of you old enough to remember... how would you have felt about the society described?  A society in which all of your activities are monitored, scrutinized, and analyzed.  Everywhere you go, everything you do, everything you buy (and how much and how you paid for it), EVERYTHING, is tracked.

That society exists today.  If I asked you thirty or forty years ago to allow me to attach a tracking device to you, chances are you would have gotten fairly upset... today, we carry them willingly.  They are in our phones, our cameras, our cars.  Didn't get NAV? Doesn't matter your car is still equipped with a GPS... OnStar, Sync, Access Assist, every vehicles has the equipment whether you subscribe to the service or not. How do you think GM knows where to send the police if you're in an accident and unable to press the button? Disabled the GPS on your phone? Doesn't matter the phone can be tracked based on the cell towers it is in communication with.  

You don't even need to go online, if you make a purchase with anything but cash everything about it, time of day, amount spent, what items you purchased can be assigned to your name and tracked. If you have a credit card with RFID not only what you purchased can be tracked but how long you spent in front of a particular display can be tracked... ever wonder how come you get bombarded with ads for a product you didn't purchase?  Well, you simply spent too long in front of the Balsamic Vinegar shelf.

The time is not far off when you can get a complete inventory of what is in your house, your refrigerator, your kitchen cabinets at any given time, the technology exists today. General Mills most likely knows what you buy already, in the not to distance future they'll know if and when their products are in your home and whether you bought and ate that box of Cheerios or whether it's still up there lingering in some dark corner of your kitchen, uneaten and unappreciated.

Welcome to the future! Hope you like it.

Censorship by another name...

When business colludes with government to silence the people it's still censorship.

Utah Republican Todd Weiler, sponsor of the Utah Bill declaring pornography a public health crisis has sponsored new legislation that would put statewide filters in place to ensure no Utah residents could view pornography. Internet users would be required to contact their internet service provider to opt-out of the filter so they can view adult content.

RawStory 

Facebook, Twitter, Google, and Microsoft to partner with the EU government to combat "hate" speech.  "there is a need to ensure such activity by Internet users is “expeditiously reviewed by online intermediaries and social media platforms, upon receipt of a valid notification, in an appropriate time-frame,”"

Bloomberg 


Facebook, already accused of manipulating data trending to suppress conservative topics is now being suspected of manipulating religious stories as well.

CNA