Home front – Technology
Are the Xbox and unleaded gas helping keep you safe from violent crime?
(NBC News)

Mama’s Note: And, of course, not a single word about the role played by an increasing number of people both willing and able to defend themselves.

Nathan: This is quite an astonishing list: I really AM as surprised as you are that both concealed carry AND open carry expansion in the past three decades are not also listed.  Other studies, many peer-reviewed, have indicated the huge impact.  In fact, L. Neil Smith just mentioned that, going back to 1971 in Florida, and the huge impact in Florida in just over four decades.  We’ve both seen articles on some of these “causes” and the logic and numbers aren’t always there.  For example, the causation between abortion rates and crime.  Or that between lead (based paint and gasoline additives).  Now that the last known lead smelter in the US has been closed, does that mean that crime rates will again come down?  (Of course, now that I think about it, the vast majority of those currently in power from town hall right up to the White House) were children during those lead-present eras: is THAT why they are so stupid?)  And sometimes, his logic is just plain missing.  White collar crime is STILL crime, even if the yuppies and Gen-Xer criminals prefer on-line theft to the honest old-fashioned way with a sap from a dark alley.

But the plain fact is, government and the nanny state did little or NOTHING to create this drop in crime (and of course, we are assuming it IS a real drop, not just a failure in reporting and recording – or criminal manipulation of the data), and there is NOT ONE EFFORT to try and claim “100,000 extra cops on the streets in year X” had effect Y, or “a 10% increase in spending on law enforcement resulted in a XX% drop in crime in location Z.”

And of course, I see that the author did not compare ANY of these factors to the crime rate among serving and ex-Congressmen.  That would probably not help his thesis at all.

Of course, in SOME places the crime rate is going up, like the NY DHS underground bunker:

New York Homeland Security Director uses laser target designator as pointer:(Times-Union) Jerome M. Hauer, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s director of homeland security, took out his handgun and used the laser sighting device attached to the barrel as a pointer in a presentation to a foreign delegation, according to public officials. It happened Oct. 24 in Albany at the highly secure state emergency operations center below State Police headquarters.

Nathan: This just popped up (so to speak) here.

I had to share this example of a bureaucrat’s stupidity with our esteemed publisher.  She wrote: Hmmm, and none of us can be trusted with a gun? He was, of course,  immediately tasered, or at least tackled and smashed to the floor with a thug scrum of 20 “officers” and handcuffed, facing life imprisonment…
No? Hmmmm…..

Nathan: I pointed out: triple standards: one for us, one for grunt cops (who surely would not have gotten away with this), and one for the elite.  Of course, the gutless people of NY will do nothing to squawk about this, and Swedes?  In 200 years they’ve gone downhill faster than the French. (Yes, I realize I am being disrespectful of both Sweden and France.)

Mama’s Note: You know… I missed this originally. It might well be that this was done deliberately to impress the foreign delegation with the idea that all Americans are insane, especially those who have guns. Could be…

Nathan: Of course, even Swedes are aware of the great cultural differences found in the Fifty States.  But understanding a tiny bit about the way New York State Government operates, there may be SOME strange and bizarre reason for him doing this.

Mama’s Note: Most criminals have “strange and bizarre” reasons for the things they do. Blatant disregard, or incredible ignorance of, the absolute rules of safe gun handling may be a “reason,” but of course is no excuse.

1. Never put your finger on the trigger until you have your target sighted and are ready to shoot.
2. Never point a gun at anything you are not prepared to destroy.
3. All guns are considered “loaded” at all times, and treated accordingly.
4. There is no such thing as an “accidental discharge.” All unintended discharges are due to negligence. Guns do not fire unless the trigger is pulled. (see rule #1)

On to other news:

Stupid government tricks
DOD Reviewing Its ‘Equal Opportunity’ Training–After Anti-Christian Materials Exposed
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Well, you’d hardly expect them to review BEFORE it came to light.  Several people have pointed out, with strong justification, that the DoD’s Equal Opportunity Program and the EEO officers and NCOs required to be appointed in every unit and office, are in fact the American (post-Republic) version of Political Officers or Kommissars (and are the replacement of “chaplains” mimicking the role chaplains played in the military of religious dictatorships). There is much to be said for it.

Stupid government tricks – The “messiah”
Krauthammer: ‘How Can a President Commit Troops If His Heart Isn’t In It?’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Krauthammer is speaking like an idiot here.  He knows that MANY occupants of 1600 PA have “not had their hearts in it” – or indeed, not cared about anything except what political power they keep or gain by using the troops.  No different than Congress.

Stupid government tricks – Congress in Action – Tranzis
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee: Change the Word ‘Welfare’ to ‘Transitional Living Fund’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Exactly what we can expect for her.  Like using “Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program” (SNAP) instead of food stamps.  Liberals seem to be such childish people, who are satisfied with calling something a different name in order to pretend that it is different.  Or redefining the definitions of simple English words, to twist them into reflecting their world-view.  And the rest of us let them get away with it.

Mama’s Note: I’d say that SOME people let them get away with it. Others have been battling this problem for a long time.

First Minion – Ex-Minion – Politics 2014 (2 stories)|
Gates bashes Biden in memoir
(Washington Post) Former defense secretary Bob Gates, in his new memoir, reserves some of his harshest criticism for Joe Biden, saying the vice president is almost always on the wrong side of foreign policy. “I think he has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades,” Gates wrote of Biden, according to the New York Times.

Nathan: Takes one to know one: Gates has a wonderful track record of being wrong on foreign affairs AND defense.  Especially when he was in office.  Biden is your typical ne’er-do-well scion of a wealthy and successful man:  a problem faced by most American family-held corporations, Mafia families, and of course, royal dynasties.  We are so LUCKY to have him.  Of course, the White House couldn’t leave well enough alone:

White House responds to Gates’s criticism of Biden
(Washington Post) In an e-mailed statement, the White House weighed in on former defense secretary Robert Gates’s judgments about President Obama’s leadership and his commitment to the Afghanistan war, as well as his harsh criticism of Vice President Biden, both contained in Gates’s new memoir, “Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War.”

Nathan: Harsh?  Harsh would be exaggerating what an idiot the First Minion really is, how he is incapable of keeping his mouth shut, and how his chief talent is to be a clown. Not a GOOD clown, maybe, but a clown.  If Gates wanted to be nasty, he could have included a modification of THIS story in his book:

Last Saturday afternoon, in Washington, D.C. , an aide to former     House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the Cardinal in the Catholic cathedral in D.C. He told the Cardinal that Nancy Pelosi would be attending the next day’s Mass, and he asked if the Cardinal would kindly point out Pelosi to the congregation and say a few words  that would include calling Pelosi a saint. The Cardinal replied, “No. I don’t really like the woman, and there are issues of conflict with the Catholic Church over certain of Pelosi’s views. Pelosi’s aide then said, “Look, I’ll write a check here and now for a donation of $100,000 to your church if you’ll just tell the congregation you see Pelosi as a “saint.” The Cardinal thought about it and said, “Well, the church can use the money, so I’ll work your request into tomorrow’s sermon.”

As Pelosi’s aide promised, Nancy Pelosi appeared for the Sunday worship and seated herself prominently at the forward left side of the center aisle. As promised, at the start of his sermon, the Cardinal pointed out that former Speaker Pelosi was present. The Cardinal went on to explain to the congregation, “While Ms. Pelosi’s presence is probably an honor to some, the woman is not numbered among my personal favorite personages. Some of her most egregious views are contrary to tenets of the Church, and she tends to flip-flop on many other issues. Nancy Pelosi is a petty, self -absorbed hypocrite, a thumb sucker, and a nit-wit. Nancy Pelosi is also a serial liar, a cheat, and a thief. I must say, Nancy Pelosi is the worst example of a Catholic I have ever personally witnessed. She married for money and is using her wealth to lie to the American  people. She also has a reputation for shirking her Representative obligations both in Washington, and in California. The woman is simply not to be trusted.” The Cardinal concluded, “But, when compared with President Obama, Speaker Pelosi is a saint.”

I could not resist sharing that – it just took a while to find a story where it matched!  Thanks to Gillie for sharing it with me.