By Nathan Barton

Mama’s notes: I thought that happened only in Chicago! Wonder how widespread this is, and how it matches with the actual vote totals.

Eight Texas counties list more voters than residents, according to Fox News. The difference is only about 3,000 out of roughly 50,000 estimated eligible voters, according to the US Census.  Assuming the Census is right in their “estimate,” (and I can tell you from personal experience that Census data is seriously flawed), this is not unreasonable given (a) frequent moves, (b) slow bureaucratic updating of records, (c) errors in data transcription, like misspelling names and addresses, and (d) MotorVoter laws which ENCOURAGE false voter registration and make it difficult to catch either mistakes or intentional “errors.”  The “integrity” of the vote (arguments about secret ballot, etc., ignored) is shot and has been for decades, even while regulations and laws have supposedly improved it. (Someone did point out that though Texas is now considered a “red state,” it was a dominant-Democrat state for a long time. Habits die hard, and dead people are not deprived of their right to vote! <grin>

Mama Liberty comments again: This next story sounded fairly good until I got down to the part about free land, taxpayer financed “loans” and all the rest of the wallowing with politicians. Isn’t this kind of stuff what China offered to manufacturers? All the things that made people mad about “outsourcing?” Sounds like a deal Wyoming could well do without. Now, if he was proposing to manufacture .22-cal Long Rifle, he might have private investors lined up for blocks – miles even.

An ammunition-maker plans to move from China to Laramie, according to the Casper Star-Tribune. We know how tempting it is to accept “freebies” from the government, especially when we’ve already decided on doing something.  Sadly, this company probably hasn’t really thought through all the strings attached.  And Laramie? One reason that these people may be so willing to accept guvmint freebies is because Laramie and the University of Wyoming are BUILT on FedGov giveaways, from land to government education grants and all the rest.  Come on, the only WORSE place in Wyoming to start a factory is in Jackson.  They will rue the day.

Speaking of university towns and universities which are on the FedGov teat, Insanity is catching – young people get it from their professors.  Vision to America says that the University of Tennessee at Knoxville has told students to stop using the standard English language, to make people feel more comfortable and make the campus “more inclusive” by using “ze” instead of he and she, to include “all genders.”  Funny, I didn’t know electrical parts got their feelings hurt and felt left out. (I admit that I am old-fashioned when it comes to English; one of my pet peeves is the ‘modern’ confusion of ‘gender’ and ‘sex.’ Humans and animals have ‘sexes’ while electrical and electrical equipment and (in some languages, nouns and verbs) have ‘gender.’) I am reminded (I’m sure I’ve told this anecdote more than once) of an Analog SF magazine editorial back in the Campbell days, in which someone came up with just such a word to REALLY include all the sexes AND the sexless (not that most people would admit today that such exist) by merging “she,” “he,” and “it” into a common English, four-letter word.

Scott notes: “’Bout time!”  Russia Insider reports from an Israeli news site that Russia plans to intervene in Syria against the Caliphate [ISIS].  So, will there be Russian Jets in Syrian skies for the first time since the height of the Cold War? This article originally appeared at Ynet, with thanks to Scott for forwarding this. Russian fighter pilots are expected to begin arriving in Syria in the coming days, and will fly their Russian air force fighter jets [what, NOT American or French aircraft? Duh] and attack helicopters against ISIS and rebel-aligned targets within the failing state. Nothing but more evil can be expected, of course, especially if claims that ISIS is supported sub rosa by the West are accurate.

I have heard, more than once, about how evil, racist Anglo- and European-Americans want to start a “race war” and wipe out the black and brown people, citing sick, evil killers like the guy who shot up a church in South Carolina and singlehandedly got the Southern Cross flag banned in dozens of places.  But as far as “legitimate” representatives of any sizeable segment of the population, it is the REALLY sick, evil, death-promoting nutcases like Louis Farrakhan who are actually calling for it.  Farrakhan, a member of that death cult called Islam, is calling for 10,000 volunteers to start killing “white people” to pay “white people” back for cops killing blacks. Or so it is reported by Freedom Outpost.  Is Farrakhan REALLY THAT STUPID or insane?  Apparently.

Mama’s Note: It is entirely possible that he’s that stupid, though I would hope his followers have a tiny bit more exposure to reality. I noticed that none of them, so far, have answered the call. I suspect his followers have a slightly better idea of how many people they might target are quite able to shoot back…

Don’t have a cow, man!  World Net Daily reports that the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is “biting bullets” over an AR-15, “The Crusader” being produced by a Florida gun maker, that features Psalm 144:1 engraved on the outside of the magazine well and features a Crusader cross. They call this racist and designed to foster hatred and violence.  Gee! As if the very name of their organization doesn’t do so, clearly claiming that Muslims (adherents of the religion “Islam”) cannot be “Americans.” At the same time, they apparently want to disarm ALL “Americans” (ah, residents of the Fifty States), including Muslims.

ALN Magazine reports that researchers have found “the neuron responsible for alcoholism.”  Actually, the story says that they have “pinpointed” a group of neutrons that neutralize the desire to take one more drink,  And that they believe this will lead to a “cure” for alcoholism.  That is sheer baloney, absolute nuttiness.  First, there has been a cure for alcoholism for centuries – indeed, millennia.  It is a VERY simple one that ANYONE can prescribe and follow.  DO NOT DRINK ALCOHOL.  If there is not a first drink, you don’t have to worry about taking “one more.”  SECOND, influence is NOT cause – alcohol is the cause.  We choose whether or not to drink, however great the temptation to do so may be, no matter how our body reacts.

Mama’s Note: I do wish it was that simple, Nathan. As someone who’s family had some serious problems with alcohol, and has subsequently both worked with and studied such things, the bottom line is still the sad fact that science has not yet caught up with this problem, among so many others. We just don’t know enough yet… And, even though I have serious difficulty believing any medical research these days (too many perverse incentives), I marvel at what they seem to be discovering, even while reserving judgment to see if they prove out in real live, over time. The jury is certainly still out on this one.

Darwin Award winner:  Wichita Falls Radio Newstalk 1290 tells of a Texas teenager who apparently mistakenly shot and killed himself while taking a selfie.  Everything about this incident screams stupidity:  the dead man and a cousin “found” the gun earlier in the day; the dead black guy was 19 years old but had two children, and was supposedly starting community college this week.  Really sharp! Too bad he’d already passed on his genes.