We Make Our Own Meanings

The folks that write this type of stuff have this meaning - whites had more power, therefore their violent behaviors were more wrong than the violent behaviors of the folks with less power.

They should read "Guns, Germs and Steel" so they could see the reality of human experience. Those who progressed to agriculture had extra food and that allowed food storage, building of year around shelter, and specialization (smiths, farmers, politicians, priests, fishermen, carpenters, masons, etc). Disease followed, leaving the surviving "civilized" folks living in cities less vulnerable to the germs they supported via civilization. While they grew smaller and sicker eating an agriculturalist's diet, they could have a child each year, and would win the breeding wars.

Specialization and population growth was a two headed monster that allowed some groups to be as dominant as the whites were when they arrived in america. If they were violent to the natives, it was just as likely the natives were violent to them - only the ones with guns, germs and steel were better at warring and could replace those lost. The natives, limited to a  child every 4 years, could not compete.

One example, the Comanche, who were exterminating competing tribes to dominate the great plains and the buffalo, were estimated to have been 16,000 in number at their peak. At that time, there were already millions of whites. Were whites worse than the Comanche because they were better at genocide? In my view, no, whites were evolving to a point of view that exterminating, enslaving or dominating non-white, or non-Americans, was wrong. That's why there are still pockets of natives in this country. That they were as murderous as the natives but better at it does not make for me the meaning that whites were bad and the less powerful natives were good. Humans are humans, with many good and bad elements in how we struggle to secure our own safety and abundance of resources.

Crying about asymmetry of power is missing the point that human groups have struggled for dominance since they were human, and this point in history may be the most peaceful time that has ever been.

https://bt24news.com/analysis-comment/opinion-the-vicious-reality-behind-the-thanksgiving-myth/

What Does "inequality" Mean and How Should it Be Measured?

I should memorize this article.

There is a simple theory of inequality in which rich people have nearly all the wealth and income, and do nearly all the spending, while poor people struggle along with the minimum of those things necessary for survival. It’s understandable that some people think this way. In many places in the world today, and for most complex societies in human history, the picture is accurate. Moreover, the rich elite usually hoards most of the economic opportunity, civil freedoms, political power, legal status and other good things for itself and its children.
https://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2019/12/03/inequality_is_decidedly_not_the_problem_in_the_us__103991.html

Clown Show for Clowns

"First it was COLLUSION! Can you believe it? Trump was colluding with the Russians to steal the election from its rightful owner, H.R. Clinton."
https://spectator.us/impeachment-pathetic-clown-show/

Good luck democrats, I hope it works as well for you as it did for the GOP.

Back to the Syrian Future

Interesting. Not getting much coverage.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/us-resumes-large-scale-operations-against-isis-in-northern-syria/ar-BBXhYhN

On the Former Secretary's Firing

Great comments and leadership by the former secretary. It will be difficult to replace him.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/opinions-richard-spencer-i-was-fired-as-navy-secretary-here-s-what-i-ve-learned-because-of-it/ar-BBXrcAS?li=BBnb4R5

Kanye, Meet Scott

Scott Peck describes the process of spiritual growth as going from:
-I am the most important thing, to
-There is a being greater than I am, and will do exactly as directed by that being; some folks term this fundamentalism. The person in this phase feels saved, because they are liberated from the tyranny of their own self importance. Then comes
-I can regulate myself and have a more liberal interpretation of the greater being's intent - may not go to church each religion day, may not interpret the holy text literally, will begin to see the application of the greater being's intent as less compliance and more cooperation for a bigger purpose
-Mysticism, which I don't understand fully enough to describe

And here's Kanye:

West has led church services that have attracted thousands of black youths, some of whom said they had never entered a church before. More than 14,000 thousand people jammed Joel Osteen’s megachurch when West confessed to his previous lifestyle of arrogance and self-aggrandizement and acknowledged his bouts with mental illness. Departing from conventional forms of worship, Kanye’s large chorus surrounded him and, hands raised, stepped to the beat of his new album, “Jesus is King,” which he rapped as an enthralled crowd swayed with the beat. 

https://thehill.com/opinion/civil-rights/472091-kanye-west-a-welcomed-disruptive-voice

Those Oh So Important Diplomats

I've been a fan of Atkisson since I was in flight school in the 90s and would see her delivering the news on CNN while eating lunch of the officer's club.

Many will debate the substance of the public impeachment testimony against President Trump. To me, each of the Democrats’ witnesses of the past two weeks appeared to be well-intentioned and hard-working, and seemed genuinely to believe they know what’s best.

But a picture also emerged of U.S. diplomats who appear to believe they, rather than the U.S. president, have the ultimate authority to determine our foreign policy. And if the president doesn’t go along? He clearly must be wrong — in their view. Or, even worse, he’s a traitor. He’s to be obstructed. Taken down. 

https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/471643-impeachment-inquiry-its-a-question-of-who-should-run-the-show

Greta You Should Have Taken the Slow Boat to China

In summary, the paris climate treaty is still the same joke it always was, and the Chinese will make sure it is never worth discussing again. They are going from around 4000 coal plants and adding at least ten percent to that. That's more than the rest of the world could close even if they could do so. 

"The International Energy Agency notes that coal accounts for 46% of global carbon emissions. To meet the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change target of keeping global warming below 1.5°C through 2100, the world much achieve, as Global Energy Monitor puts it, a “58[%] to 70% reduction in global coal power generation by 2030.”"

If the world's most political scientific body, the IPCC's absurdly specious predictions happen to be true, that means we are all going to be toasty warm and all the climate alarmists can say "I told you so" assuming we live to see the day. 

I hate to repeat any of this conjecture, which is being treated as if it has any basis in reality, at all - the point is, even if one bites on the pretense that the IPCC can predict the future of climate based on their paranoia about the ferocious power of CO2 to warm planet earth; and they are right that warming will be worse for humans and not better; and that wealthy, healthy humans cannot adapt; there's nothing the non-Chinese world can do to stop it. Better build your survival strategy around being wealthy and adaptable.

https://nypost.com/2019/11/23/china-going-big-on-coal-guarantees-the-world-wont-meet-its-carbon-cutting-goals/

Well then - what is this impeachment about ....
"Yet Sondland noted that “we did not think we were engaging in improper behavior” — that no one expressed any concerns. And he admitted that Trump never told him of any “preconditions” for aid or a meeting.

Asked outright, “No one on this planet told you that President Trump was tying aid to investigations. Yes or no?”, he answered, “Yes.”

The followup: “So you really have no testimony today that ties President Trump to a scheme to withhold aid from Ukraine in exchange for these investigations.”

Sondland’s answer: “Other than my own presumption.”

Indeed, when he directly asked Trump what he sought from Ukraine, the president responded: “I want nothing. I want no quid pro quo. Tell Zelensky to do the right thing.”

For weeks, Sondland testified, he saw no link between investigations and aid or a Trump-Zelensky meeting. And, he stressed repeatedly, he had no clue at all, ’til “late in the game,” that Joe or Hunter Biden was remotely tied to any of this."

https://nypost.com/2019/11/20/sondlands-bombshell-turns-out-to-be-merely-his-presumption/

The Mental and Moral Health of "Royalty"

Weird about royalty now - they need not do a single thing to be alive. Their lives are never in their own hands. They live an entire celebrity life without having to do a thing to earn it, or be worth it. How can the Brits stand to be associated with these people? Powers corrupts etcetera.

https://spectator.us/prince-andrew-bbc-interview-jeffrey-epstein/

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/nov/17/the-guardian-view-on-prince-andrew-entitled-obtuse-and-shamefully-silent-over-epstein-victims

 https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/nov/17/prince-andrew-abuse-emily-maitlis-queen

Big Ole Crazy World

"I've had the story for three years. I've had this interview with Virginia Roberts [Giuffre]. We would not put it on the air,” Robach said. "First of all, I was told, 'Who is Jeffrey Epstein? No one knows who that is. This is a stupid story.' Then [Buckingham] Palace found out that we had her whole allegations about Prince Andrew and threatened us a million different ways. We were so afraid we wouldn't be able to interview Kate and Will that we, that also quashed the story."

"It was unbelievable what we had. Clinton, we had everything," she continued. "I tried for three years to get it on to no avail. And now it's all coming out, and it's like these new revelations, and I freaking had all of it."

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/the-media-protected-jeffrey-epstein-and-crucified-brett-kavanaugh

This is a thoughtful read. I remember when NICS was passed and we the gun owners knew it would just be a boon doggle, as it has been. However, if the money's going to be spend by we the people to do NICS, it should be done well. 

Taxpayers should be able to sue criminally ineffective governments. If only ...

Take universal background checks as an example. Although these could probably be legislated in a way that respects gun owners’ privacy and the Second Amendment, there is no evidence that any significant amount of crime is committed using the very small minority of guns whose sale would be affected — i.e., intrastate purchases in the 31 states that do not already require a background check. We are not aware of even one mass shooting committed with such a gun, and we doubt that many such guns are used in common crimes either. In short, universal background checks are an attainable but not very useful idea. They wouldn’t prevent much violence.

As another example, take prohibitions on the sale of so-called “assault weapons.” Although there is a campaign underway lately to rewrite history and pretend that the assault weapons ban of the 1990s was effective in preventing shootings, its failure has been statistically demonstrated, and it was universally acknowledged at the time Congress allowed it to expire. Moreover, gun violence has rapidly declined in the time since.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/editorials/congress-did-something-about-gun-sales-and-its-helping

Hypocrisy Much?

James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas, a group that has often infiltrated news organizations to uncover liberal bias, has released an explosive “hot mic” video of Good Morning America co-host Amy Robach venting about ABC’s decision to spike a story about Jeffrey Epstein’s nefarious activities three years ago.

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/abcs-excuse-for-failing-to-report-on-jeffrey-epstein-makes-absolutely-no-sense/

ABC News anchor Amy Robach was recorded on a hot mic claiming the network spiked a story exposing Jeffrey Epstein three years ago. The hot mic outburst was published by Project Veritas, a controversial conservative watchdog group that claimed the tape was leaked by an ABC News insider.

https://www.foxnews.com/media/abc-news-epstein-clinton-george-stephanopoulos

This week, Project Veritas released a video featuring ABC News anchor Amy Robach on set, speaking in August with a running camera and a hot mic. In her conversation with others off-camera, apparently during a setup or commercial break, Robach noted with some frustration that she had the story about the allegations against Jeffrey Epstein all to herself three years ago and with about as much detail as anyone could expect. But her network, she added, inexplicably refused to air it.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/the-media-protected-jeffrey-epstein-and-crucified-brett-kavanaugh

Sure, We Could Do That

"On another, more important level, the idea is ludicrous in terms of the tax code and basic common sense. After adding in the ultra-millionaire’s tax and factoring in the other capital taxes Warren wants to levy — on financial transactions, on unrealized capital gains, on corporations — we’d be asking every billionaire to hand over more than two-thirds of their total wealth over a 10-year period. If the government actually managed to collect it, their fortunes would rapidly erode — and so would tax collections. The plan might be a good way to smash wealth, but it’s a terrible way to fund the nation’s health-care system."

What could possibly go wrong?

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/opinions-the-math-for-warrens-health-care-plan-adds-up-if-you-accept-its-ludicrous-premise/ar-AAJKSLw

Fascinating Story, I Wish Her Well in Her Journey

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/how-mattress-girl-changed-her-mind

Dirt from the Ivory Towers

Can universities survive themselves?

https://www.realcleareducation.com/articles/2019/10/02/university_admissions_scandals_go_deeper_than_you_think_110363.html

"The Pseudo Science is Settled"

“Climatology has become a political party with totalitarian tendencies,” she charges. “If you don’t support the UN consensus on human-caused global warming, if you express the slightest skepticism, you are a ‘climate-change denier,’ a stooge of Donald Trump, a quasi-fascist who must be banned from the scientific community.” These days, the climatology mainstream accepts only data that reinforce its hypothesis that humanity is behind global warming. Those daring to take an interest in possible natural causes of climactic variation—such as solar shifts or the earth’s oscillations—aren’t well regarded in the scientific community, to put it mildly. The rhetoric of the alarmists, it’s worth noting, has increasingly moved from “global warming” to “climate change,” which can mean anything. That shift got its start back in 1992, when the UN widened its range of environmental concern to include every change that human activities might be causing in nature, casting a net so wide that few human actions could escape it.

https://www.city-journal.org/global-warming#.XbGKGtFqQQM.email

There's Plenty of Dirt Out There

Can you live and work in that cesspool and come out clean?

Why do we think any of them are not dirty?

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/biden-outreach-to-dhs-and-doj-overlapped-with-work-by-son-hunters-lobbying-firm

Politicization of Science

https://electroverse.net/another-climate-scientist-with-impeccable-credentials-breaks-ranks/

This is how the Nazis convinced the people of Germany to hate the gypsies and Jews - repeat the same lies over and over. Even the IPCC agrees with this:

"Climate forecasting is simply not possible, Nakamura concludes, and the impacts of human-caused CO2 can’t be judged with the knowledge and technology we currently possess.

The models grossly simplify the way the climate works."

CO2 Up, CO2 Down

https://www.climatedepot.com/2019/09/25/israeli-astrophysicist-dr-nir-shaviv-how-climate-change-pseudoscience-became-publicly-accepted/

Shaviv: "There is no evidence on any time scale showing that CO2 variations or other changes to the energy budget cause large temperature variations. There is, however, evidence to the contrary. Tenfold variations in CO2 over the past half-billion years have no correlation whatsoever with temperature; likewise, the climate response to large volcanic eruptions such as Krakatoa.Both examples lead to the inescapable upper limit of 1.5 degrees C per CO2 doubling—much more modest than the sensitive IPCC climate models predict. However, the large sensitivity of the latter is required in order to explain 20th-century warming, or so it is erroneously thought."

Censorship: "My interview with Forbes. A few hours after the article was posted online, it was removed by the editors “for failing to meet our editorial standards.” The fact that it’s become politically incorrect to have any scientific discussion has led the public to accept the pseudo-argumentation supporting the catastrophic scenarios."

Will on "Conservative"

This is a definition of "conservative" I could get with, were it possible, since most conservatives are not. Part of the failure of this brand of conservatism is the loss generally in the culture/world of the meaning of "right", in that one can never have a right to what another creates or provides or the word has no meaning.

"“American conservatives are the custodians of the classical liberal tradition.” The core of conservatism is a commitment to the constitutional arrangements of the American founding, particularly the separation of powers, the preeminence of the legislative branch, and the independence of the judiciary. Further, classical liberalism acknowledges and protects a sacred space for the individual, who by nature possesses fundamental rights -- rights not up for barter."

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2019/10/05/the_sense_and_sensibility_of_george_will_141400.html

Heartbreaking to read. I cannot believe the claim of "no warning signs" was ever made.

“This incident that occurred, this outrageous tragedy that we have had to deal with, we really had no signs, no warning, no tips,” announced Broward County School Superintendent Robert Runcie on CNN on Feb. 15, 2018.

Runcie was speaking of the tragic school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that had left 17 students and staff dead the day before. 

“No signs, no warning.” Well, that’s simply not true.

The confessed shooter in Parkland, Florida, had a long history of violence that school officials were well-aware of—a history that should have alerted them to the potential risk. 

The demand for socialism is on the rise from young Americans today. But is socialism even morally sound? Find out more now >>

Andrew Pollack and Max Eden document this in their new book “Why Meadow Died: The People and Policies that Created the Parkland Shooter and Endanger America’s Students.” Pollack is the father of Meadow, a girl who lost her life on the third floor of Stoneman Douglas that day. 

The warning signs were abundant—from animal torture and attempted suicide, to bringing knives and bullets to school and an overall obsession with guns. Police had been called to the shooter’s home 45 times to deal with incidents involving him or his brother.

https://www.dailysignal.com/2019/09/18/father-of-parkland-victim-on-what-could-have-stopped-the-tragedy/

Another Not-Crisis

“What he is proposing is the infliction of a massive injustice on millions of Americans who had nothing to do with this or any other shooting by infringing on their rights. Justice Department statistics show that rifles of all types are used in murders less often than clubs, bare hands, or knives.”

https://www.ammoland.com/2019/09/a-comparison-of-techniques-in-defending-the-second-amendment/#axzz5zbTbzc8N

If you listened to the media types, you'd never guess that gun violence rates are at an all time low.

Why Convince When Coercion at Gunpoint Is Easier

Legislating incandescents out of production is a tribute to the arrogance of the "knowitall" climate goons. Every problem is a chance for the well intended to force people at gun point to do the bidding of the elites. That is wrong.

And the Left says they don't like guns or violence -

https://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/editorials/2019/09/14/Light-bulbs-efficient-LED-incandescent-Trump-administration-energy/stories/201909130032

CAFE Laws Just Keep on Giving (Worst of Both Worlds)

In the Obama era, Edmunds explained, fuel economy regulations “changed from just a straight average across the board to what’s called a platform-based fuel economy standard. So your fuel economy target for a given vehicle is based on its wheelbase and its tread width, which is the width between the tires left to right. So if you multiply that you find the area of that rectangle and there’s a table that shows what your fuel-economy target is. The bigger the vehicle, the smaller the target.” 

https://www.insidehook.com/article/vehicles/why-pickup-trucks-keep-getting-bigger

First they gave us older, gas guzzlers that polluted more but were kept longer because their functionality could not be replaced after manufacturers shifted their fleets to meet new legal requirements. Then, they gave us SUVs to replace the big family station wagons doomed by the CAFE laws.

It is delusion to think this type of regulation is ever going to win for the citizenry. 

Like A Mob Boss

“Ball of Collusion” is a detailed, connect-the-dots read. McCarthy, a former top federal prosecutor in New York, knows the workings of the CIA and the Department of Justice.

It looks to me like a Chicago Way takedown. In the old days, boss mayors would call in trusted detectives — even those on the payroll of the Chicago mob — and ask for dirt on opponents, which would be leaked to friendly local scribes.

Just as the Steele dossier, paid for by Clinton, was leaked to CNN and BuzzFeed.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/columns/john-kass/ct-white-house-collusion-andrew-mccarthy-kass-20190824-5mn2vv6ovvaz5m2nzblge2yun4-story.html

More Storms? Fewer Storms?

The devastating impacts in 2017 from Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria invoked numerous alarming statements about hurricanes and global warming. However, it’s rarely mentioned that 2017 broke an 11 year drought in U.S. major hurricane landfalls. This major hurricane drought is unprecedented in the historical record.

Of the 13 strongest U.S. landfalling hurricanes in the historical record, only three have occurred since 1970 (Andrew, Michael, Charley). Four of these strongest hurricanes occurred in the decade following 1926.

https://judithcurry.com/2019/06/25/hearing-on-climate-change-and-natural-disasters-today/

Case Closed?

I don't like the language "climate hustler" as much as "true believer" or "religious zealot".

This has been a tough week for climate hustler Michael Mann, who lost his defamation and libel lawsuit against respected climatologist and warming skeptic Dr. Tim Ball at the same time it was announced by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that there has been no U.S. warming since 2005.
Mann, who poses as a climatologist at Penn State, has had his court case against genuine climate scientist Dr. Tim Ball dismissed, with Mann ordered to pay court costs, for failure to produce supporting evidence to prove his claim that global temperatures took a sharp upward turn when the Industrial Revolution and fossil-fuel use began pouring CO2 emissions into the atmosphere.

https://www.americanthinker.com/…/michael_manns_treering_ci…

I want less pollution like Mann does, but I'm unwilling to throw everything under the bus for the pretense that they know what is causing what in the atmosphere, especially since they can barely even measure what is happening in the atmosphere.

Also covered in the review is Mann's boasts about trickery the data in 2009, Mann's careful use of data, much like Keys did with his 7 countries study, to hide temperature variation in the hockey stick.

Millionaire Victim

Millionaire victim who lost by 55,000 votes.

There are some who are so desperate to see victims, they see it everywhere they look.

https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/458562-stacey-abrams-benefits-from-a-voter-suppression-tale

If you can do this 8% of the time you can be president ....

Of the 37 fact-checked claims attributed directly to Donald Trump, 14 were labeled “False,” seven were “Misleading,” four were “Exaggerated (Misleading),” three were “True,” two were “Mostly False (Misleading),” and one each was “Correct Attribution (Misleading),” “Distorts the Facts (Misleading),” “False (Lack of Evidence),” “Half True (Misleading),” “Mostly False,” “Mostly False (Misleading) (Lack Of Evidence)” and “Three Pinocchios.”

While it is difficult to directly compare such a wide range of verdicts -- and Trump’s number of fact checks far exceeds Biden’s -- it is worth noting that both candidates had 38% of their claims labeled “False”; 46% of Trump’s statements were merely “misleading” in the view of the fact-checker (rather than false) compared with 38% of Biden’s. And 8% of Trump’s statements were judged to be true versus none of Biden’s.

And these are the people who are supposed to further take over health care ... what could possibly go wrong.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2019/08/31/trump_lies_biden_slips_--_but_fact_checks_tell_different_story_141144.html

It will be interesting to see how this unravels over time.

"The information suggests that a nuclear reactor was involved in the blast, which lends weight to the theory that Russia was testing a missile known as Burevestintnik, or Skyfall. President Vladimir Putin told Russia’s parliament in 2018 that the nation was developing the missile, which is propelled by an on-board nuclear reactor and could have unlimited range."

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02574-9

Who Is Responsible for What ...

Part 1:

She described what happened next: "I am still so upset that I concluded the easiest, least confrontational way forward was to place male satisfaction above my own desires and to go back to bed." The sex made her feel "gross," she wrote, and Kaiman left immediately afterward. His recollection is that she was a full participant and that he stayed the night. When he went to kiss her goodbye the next morning, he says, he was surprised that she seemed distant and upset.

After he left, she stewed about what had happened. She was angry with both herself and him, and she wrote an email to tell him so. He felt "gutted" by her reaction, immediately apologized, and suggested they get together to talk it out. They met, and she ended up feeling his apology was insufficient. He thought that since she voluntarily resumed sex, their encounter was fully mutual, that his apology was appropriate, and that when they parted their friendship was on track.

https://reason.com/2019/08/23/im-radioactive/

Part 2:
Tucker provided both a societal and a personal explanation. She wrote that in the wake of #MeToo, she wanted to "add my voice to the broader outcry against sexual misconduct." She also said she had come to realize that "what happened was not my fault…and I do not share the blame. This was Jon's fault."

Tigers by the Tail for Two

Between the proverbial rock and hard place.
https://geopoliticalfutures.com/the-geopolitical-logic-of-the-us-china-trade-war/?fbclid=IwAR2gOt_kC04aqizmk2iBIoWHbUnrDQOiAKsqqSRBWvJeg2L6ZIf_2aPACiA

Tamny Wins

https://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2019/08/15/dear_catherine_rampell_the_former_soviet_union_had_many_experts_too_103850.html

A frequent theme in this column is one about the fallability of the brilliant. Jeff Bezos regularly acknowledges how often his experiments prove much less than great, the best venture capitalists admit that more than nine out of ten capital commitments result in bankruptcy, and then the world's best traders note that they're wrong almost as often as they're right. It's incredibly difficult to predict the future, and that's an understatement.

"The DOJ’s silence on the road that the FBI willfully chose not to take is all the more deafening given what we already know about the Clinton email case.

As I previously wrote, then-FBI Director Comey’s original draft findings in the Clinton case concluded her transmission of classified emails through an unsecure server was “grossly negligent,” the legal standard supporting a felony charge under the Espionage Act.

But the findings were edited and the term changed to “extremely careless,” and Comey chose on his own to announce on July 5, 2016, that he would not seek criminal charges, a decision that the DOJ's IG concluded had wrongly usurped prosecutors’ authority to make charging decisions.

In addition, as I have written, FBI general counsel James Baker believed — almost until the last minute before Comey’s announcement — that Clinton should, in fact, face criminal prosecution, but he was talked out of it."

https://thehill.com/opinion/criminal-justice/458478-the-road-not-taken-another-fbi-failure-involving-the-clintons

We just have to imagine what would have happened if she got what she deserved for the arrogance she lives by.

John Lott: Myths of American gun violence - NY Daily News

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/john-lott-myth-american-gun-violence-article-1.2268490

"In his address to the nation, Obama claimed that, "We as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries. It doesn't happen in other places with this kind of frequency."

But Obama overlooks Norway, where Anders Behring Breivik used a gun to kill 67 people and wound 110 others. Still others were killed by bombs that Breivik detonated. Three of the six worst K-12 school shootings ever have occurred in Europe. Germany saw two of these — one in 2002 at Erfurt and another in 2009 at Winnenden. The combined death toll was 34. France and Belgium have both faced multiple terrorist attacks over the past year. After adjusting for America's much larger population, we see that many European countries actually have higher rates of death in mass public shootings."

The Frailty of Human Nature

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/08/26/the-failure-to-see-what-jeffrey-epstein-was-doing

No one would say "the emperor has no clothes"? Epstein provided a product that was worth the risk? People in those circles don't rock the boat for fear someone will come for their boat? 

Why was anyone willing to tolerate Clinton palling around with this perve, given Clinton's proclivities? #metoo is a joke compared to the tolerance for this person and his accomplices.

"Money offers one explanation for why people seemed to ignore what was plain to see. But money, here, is really shorthand for a range of ways to exert influence. Epstein used it to buy prestige, donating millions to Harvard and hosting dinners for scientists and scholars; and to buy protection, hiring ruthless legal representation. Even now, though, it’s not clear what his business was. Some of the people who dealt with him were wealthier than he was and, one would think, at least as financially adept."

Algore - Does He Feel Berra's Pain?

https://issuesinsights.com/2019/08/12/gore-says-his-global-warming-predictions-have-come-true-can-he-prove-it/

"Predictions are hard, especially about the future."

Wonderful Wacky World of Foreign Affairs

https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2019/08/14/venezuela_china_russia__oh_my_110466.html

Meddling? Or saving the Venezuelans from the oppressive Russians/Chinese?

Permit holders or the Popo - who's more dangerous?

https://www.dailysignal.com/2016/08/09/these-gun-owners-are-least-likely-criminals-report-finds/

“With about 685,464 full-time police officers in the U.S. from 2005 to 2007, we find that there were about 103 crimes per hundred thousand officers,” the report reads. “For the U.S. population as a whole, the crime rate was 37 times higher—3,813 per hundred thousand people.”

The study refers to Texas and Florida, which it says mirror most other states, to compare permit holders with police and the overall population. It used data from 1987 through 2015.

“We find that permit holders are convicted of misdemeanors and felonies at less than a sixth the rate for police officers,” the report says. “Among police, firearms violations occur at a rate of 16.5 per 100,000 officers. Among permit holders in Florida and Texas, the rate is only 2.4 per 100,000.10. That is just one-seventh of the rate for police officers.”

Murder and concealed carry - what's your bet?

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jul/14/murder-rates-drop-as-concealed-carry-permits-soar-/

The number of concealed carry handgun permits has skyrocketed since President Obama was first elected, while murder rates have fallen, according to a new report released Wednesday.

Since 2007, the number of concealed handgun permits has soared from 4.6 million to over 12.8 million, and murder rates have fallen from 5.6 killings per 100,000 people to just 4.2, about a 25 percent drop, according to the report from the Crime Prevention Research Center.

Predictions Are Hard, Especially About the Future

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Yogi_Berra

Neils Bohr, Yogi Berra, the quote is as funny from either source. The linked article is about the many and desperate predictions of the alarmists. It reminds me of all of the doomsday cults who talked themselves into thinking that the creator was ready to end the world and bring us all home to him or her, on some specific day or other. They were convinced! Certain! And they are all still here.

It would be foolish not to worry about humanity's impact on the climate we need for survival. However, equally foolish would be to believe all the belief about how much humanity could know about what has causes the world's climate to change over the many years.

"Correlation is not the same as causation. And any gap between the two grows wider with each additional component that affects climate. A non-exhaustive list of climate inputs includes the sun, the moon, Earth’s rotation, Earth’s orbit, ocean currents, volcanic activity, and clouds, all of which are beyond man’s control."  https://issuesinsights.com/2019/07/29/will-the-global-warming-hysterics-never-tire-of-being-wrong/

My point is there's no reason to kill today out fear that we may be killing tomorrow. The alarmists believe that "saving the earth (for human use)" is worth massively increasing the power of governments, making massive reductions in human wealth and more or less giving those oh so enlightened beings, politicians, the chance to say what is good and what is bad in human behavior.

I'm not real keen on that. In fact, that anyone would be willing to do so is hard to believe.

Lastly, since AGW concerns are mostly an example of the "emperor's clothes" phenomenon, and therefore a matter of marketing (often called making people want what they don't need and can't afford) we find that we are extolled to hate big oil companies and all the evil "science deniers" they spawn. The "real" enemy then, is those few organizations that deliver the most useful product of all time at an absurdly low price every free citizen and therefore keeps more humans alive and living with more ease and choice than at any time in human history. Hmmm.

I'll know they are serious about their dire predictions when they sell all their coastal property and move to Colorado.

I'll know they are serious when they advocate killing and eating all pets as one of the desperate measures needed to save the planet (for the use of people), because there would be nothing that would stop unneeded carbon emissions faster than the cessation of feeding pets and no human rights would necessarily be violated.

I'll know they seriously believe that catastrophe approaches when they advocate the termination of all humans past a certain age, or past a functional capacity of health, or beyond the ability to produce more value than they consume - because certainly if the entire planet (specifically, the use of the planet by humans) is at stake we have to make some "hard choices".

I'll know they are more serious when US politicians simply admit that, even given the fact that the US is reducing emissions more than rejected world standards would have required, it will amount to nothing given the growing power generation of the Chinese and a similar boom in other nations just growing into industrial capacity. Why do they still guilt trip you and me when we can literally do nothing to solve the global issues?

The easy and obvious answer - fear gives them a path to power, and power is their aim anyway, AGW is the means to the end.

Do What I Say, Not What I Do

"Zarif’s comments prefigured the strategy that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is following today in his brinksmanship with President Trump. Playing on the fear, especially prevalent among European elites and American Democrats, that Trump is, precisely, an agent of chaos, Khamenei has taken a leaf from the book of Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who in 2017 appeared at the World Economic Forum as the representative of enlightened globalism. “We should adhere to multilateralism to uphold the authority and efficacy of multilateral institutions,” Xi declared. “We should honor promises and abide by rules.”"
https://mosaicmagazine.com/observation/politics-current-affairs/2019/06/what-iran-is-really-up-to/

I agree with Xi. He and the Chinese should honor promises and abide by rules. Perhaps one day they will.

Tamny on CO Tax Hike

Tamny's gift for seeing things more clearly, for reframing the question, is unique in the econ world.

https://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2019/04/26/gov_jared_poliss_rocky_mountain_tax_hike_is_a_self-defeating_non_sequitur_103716.html

Looking Back at Barbarossa

Stalin either believed Hitler, or was trying to "first punch" Hitler. 

Trying to understand the decisions of a crazy idealist and a crazy, drunken murderer, whoa. Then millions died because they put these two in charge. 

https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol50no1/9_BK_What_Stalin_Knew.htm

Never Would Have Guessed This

When I was a Patrolman in the late 80s, about 100 police officers were shot to death each year. One of my most frightening moments was when I received my body armor (relatively new then). I had been waiting a month, still on the job each night working 11-7, and when I put the vest on the first time - I could see how much of me was not protected. Not comforting at all. Lucky for me I was never in need of the vest or more than the vest in 3 years of police work.

I'm glad that it is safer now, and I believe it will be safer still when the US finally gets over drug prohibition.

https://www.fau.edu/newsdesk/articles/police-deaths-study.php

Fine Mess Yes, Other Options ... Which?

The author rightfully bashes FDR for, like TR, making treaties with a foreign nation without the legislative branch's endorsement. However, the problem it addressed was not one so simple that I feel any need to judge FDR. As for the oil and Saudi Arabia leading the US by the nose - nope. I don't see it.

Mark this down under a general category which is "no government is smart enough to run its own  business, much less the business of others". The less influence the US Govt provides, the less the US Govt will goon it up.

https://www.realclearhistory.com/articles/2019/04/11/another_fine_mess_in_the_middle_east_431.html

Flying Into One's Own Bullets

My dad told me this story many years ago, but I didn't realize it took a minute to catch up to the fired bullets.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/aviation/a27967/the-fighter-plane-that-shot-itself-down/

Government, a monopoly on coercion by force

Under the bill, all federally funded entities, from educational programs (college sports teams, school bathrooms) to public accommodations (women’s shelters, locker rooms), would be forced to interpret “sex” to include “gender identity.” In other words, to treat men as women if they identify as such, and vice versa.

Already we are seeing the harmful effects of such policies. In the state of Connecticut, two biologically male students who self-identified as transgender finished first and second in an event in the girls’ high-school track championships. A biological man asked the Massachusetts attorney general’s office to force a women’s spa to wax his genitals. In Palm Springs, Calif., three teenage girls encountered a naked man showering in the women’s locker room. All of these incidents are part of a social and legal revolution that the Equality Act would advance.

https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/04/the-equality-act-is-about-coercion/

This is a no win for all sides - I empathize with those who live with the issue in question. What to do by force to the rest of us for the sake of possibly ameliorating the suffering of this population is vexing. Use of the vast coercive power of the government in this way will hurt more people than it helps.

What Will They Do With This?

Girl power! Right?

https://nypost.com/2019/03/04/trans-athletes-are-making-a-travesty-of-womens-sports/

I'm going to sit back and watch them deal with the mess they made. 

Surprise!

This is so surprising!

What, you are not surprised?
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/educated-white-liberals-intolerance/

No Gun Ban Will Work, Just Ask the French

New Zealand's bad idea.
https://thehill.com/opinion/civil-rights/435110-new-zealand-gun-ban-is-not-the-answer-to-stop-mass-shootings

Man Con Strikes Again

https://www.manhattancontrarian.com/blog/2019-2-7-the-climate-scare-ever-more-shrill-ever-less-serious

Always a good read for us denialists.

This is a link to keep handy for pure entertainment when needed:

https://www.manhattancontrarian.com/blog/2018-10-11-manhattan-contrarian-quiz-climate-tipping-points-edition?rq=tipping%20points

There's No Racism In That Racism

What is racism? It's rare to see any frank discussion of the term or why it still holds so much power when it makes so little difference in the interactions we have with each other each day.

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2019/02/without_elitist_racialism_there_is_little_racism.html

I think I get why it was useful to make any hint of racism the ultimate boogey man. I also think that time may have passed. I think we might all be better humans if we weren't reminded all the time how much worse things were than they are now. 

The Appeal of Simplicity

I know many Americans are chomping at the bit to turn our entire economy over to a bunch of coastal blue city hipsters and college professors, along with all our money and our personal freedom, because of a dubious moral panic over future weather, but I’d like to suggest a better idea. I call it the Red, White and Blue New Deal, and it’s a little different than the proposed Green New Deal that seems to benefit only virtue signaling limo libs, crony capitalists, and aspiring commissars. The Red, White and Blue New Deal would, instead, be directed at benefiting Normal Americans – you know, those people who built our country, feed it, fuel it and defend it. People like you and me. So, here it is. All of it:

Support your own damn self and leave me the hell alone.

https://townhall.com/columnists/kurtschlichter/2019/02/11/how-about-a-red-white-and-blue-new-deal-n2541116

That kind of simplicity has appeal. I have been pondering of late, as I listen to some other empty headed animal food trough wiper bemoaning inequality, is what percentage of the US population is not capable of making their own way in the world.

One group might be the ones with the 10-20% lowest IQ. One group might be addicts. One group might be injured/ill or genetic anomaly.  One group might be the mentally ill. In the ideal these folks would be cared for by their families or a charitable effort, but most of us now think that's too much of a burden to place on so few.

How many of us are a net economic loss (we produce less than we consume)? What percent of us are carried by the wealthy?

Fewer Guns Less Crime? Nope

But, as we can see, civilian guns in Austria, for instance, are six times more numerous what they are in the UK. But the homicide rate is lower in Austria. Similarly, there are twelve times more civilian guns in Switzerland than in the Netherlands. Yet both countries have about the same homicide rates.

Attempts at proving causality here then especially starts to go off the rails when we look at Russia. In Russia, there is a modest 12 guns per 100 people — which is about half the Swiss rate. And yet the country's homicide rate is 10.8 per 100,000.

https://mises.org/power-market/fewer-guns-less-crime-not-europe

The weird web we weave when we ask government to regulate health care

In a recent piece for the print magazine, I wrote that the Republican party, however ineptly and inadvertently, might have stumbled into a health-care policy that actually works. Obamacare still exists for all those who want it: The law’s subsidies ensure that the poor and middle class can buy insurance for a reasonable percentage of their incomes, and the exchanges have robust protections for people with preexisting conditions. The individual mandate is dead this year, so people who don’t want insurance don’t have to buy it. Through executive action, the Trump administration has broadened access to non-Obamacare-compliant forms of insurance that are far cheaper than anything available through the exchanges. And any state that doesn’t like the new arrangement is free to pass its own laws reinstating the old one.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/02/report-obamacare-changes-benefiting-consumers/

Paris Accord, Long on Promise

Three years after leaders from around the world signed on to the Paris climate agreement, pledging to cut their carbon footprints, global CO2 emissions accelerated. Does anyone still think President Donald Trump was wrong for pulling the U.S. out of this sham agreement? According to the Global Carbon Project, which monitors this, global CO2 emissions climbed by 1.6% last year. They are on track to shoot up by 2.7% this year. That's after three years of annual emissions remaining flat.

https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/co2-emissions-paris-agreement/

AGW Facts, Fiction, Strongly Held Beliefs

Makes the case as concisely as I've read in a while. But it's worth skipping the first third of the writing to get to the more factual information.

Taylor countered that “global warming doom and gloom” isn’t backed by science, that 2017 ended the longest period in history without a major hurricane strike the United States and set a record for the smallest percentage of the U.S. not covered by drought. Additionally, the last two years set a record low for the number of tornadoes in this country, while at the same time, we’ve had record increases in global crop production.

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2019/01/its_climate_alarmists_who_remain_in_denial.html

"I Believe the Science!" (Amen)

Lee’s report wasn’t the first time that doubt had been cast on Wansink’s work: in 2016, he published a blog post (which he later deleted) revealing that he had encouraged graduate students to do this sort of data fishing; the post resulted in a flurry of critical coverage toward his methods. But Lee’s was the most comprehensive and damning account. “Year after year,” she concluded, “Wansink and his collaborators at the Cornell Food and Brand Lab have turned shoddy data into headline-friendly eating lessons that they could feed to the masses.” Two days after Lee’s story was published, John Becker posted on the official “Joy of Cooking” Twitter account, “We have the dubious honor of being a victim of @BrianWansink and Collin R. Payne’s early work.”



https://www.newyorker.com/culture/annals-of-gastronomy/the-strange-uplifting-tale-of-joy-of-cooking-versus-the-food-scientist

How Was This Person a Candidate

The message from the Clinton email scandal, the Mueller investigation, and the careers of Brennan, Clapper, Comey, and McCabe seems to be that if the government wishes a document then do not provide it. If you are finally forced to surrender it, either erase or destroy what you can reasonably get away with hiding. Or barring that, insist that it be heavily redacted, according to your own judgment, for the sake of America. If asked to explain such behavior or allegations of leaking information to the press, either deny or claim faulty memory.

Do all of that and be of the correct political persuasion and of Washington repute, and there is little chance of criminal exposure.

https://amgreatness.com/2019/01/06/an-epidemic-of-erasures-redactions-omissions-and-perjuries/

Ruby

Dallas, Oswald, Ruby, Watts, Whitman, Manson, Ray, Sirhan, Bremer, Viet Nam, Nixon, Watergate, FBI, CIA, Squeaky Fromme, Sara Moore—the list goes on and on. Who the hell wrote this script, and where will it end? A dozen years of violence, shock, treachery, and paranoia, and I date it all back to that insane weekend in Dallas and Jack Ruby—the one essential link in the chain, the man who changed an isolated act into a trend.

https://www.texasmonthly.com/politics/who-was-jack-ruby/

In truth, aside from the Washington hysterias, 2018 was a most successful year for Americans.

In December, the United States reached a staggering level of oil production, pumping some 11.6 million barrels per day. 

For the first time since 1973, America is now the world's largest oil producerSince Trump took office, the U.S. has increased its oil production by nearly 3 million barrels per day, largely as the result of fewer regulations, more federal leasing, and the continuing brilliance of American frackers and horizontal drillers.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2019/01/03/actually_2018_was_a_pretty_good_year_139064.html

Another quote:
The American economy grew by 4.2 percent in the second quarter of 2018, and by 3.4 percent in the third quarter. American GDP is nearly $1.7 trillion larger than in January 2017, and nearly $8 trillion larger than the GDP of China. For all the talk of the Chinese juggernaut, three Chinese workers produce about 60 percent of the goods and services produced by one American worker.

Love Workers?

Businesses don’t exist to create jobs. If readers doubt this they need only try to raise start-up funds with “creating jobs” listed at the top of their business plan. Lots of luck finding investors when your goal is costs, as opposed to returns.

Crucial here is that the desire for returns among investors is what indirectly leads to copious hiring. Workers enable the returns that entice those with means to delay consumption in favor of the investment without which there are no companies, jobs, and progress.

Still, it’s the investment returns that matter simply because they beget more investment. If you love the worker, you must love much more the investors who make work opportunity possible in the first place.

https://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2019/01/03/if_you_love_workers_you_must_love_investors_even_more_103560.html

Fascinating - Wall On The House

About $50-100 billion worth currently held by USDA are very marketable and attractive commercial paper investments. The rights to collect the remainder of the debt on these loans could be sold to private parties who would pay a premium for such a steady stream of cash payments. The sales would give a profit cushion to the government and alleviate taxpayers from any future risk of nonpayment while retaining certain borrower guarantees.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2018/12/24/donald-trump-shutdown-congress-approval-build-border-wall-spending-column/2402442002/

Miraculous, Yes

It is a miracle, seems too good to be true.

What seemed like an impossibility just a few years ago is now a reality for many across the country: gasoline that costs less than $2 a gallon. It's amazing for many reasons.

https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/2-a-gallon-gas-prices/