Filed under “why are they so violent, Episode number 54-A.”
A “professor” at Rutgers , Kevin Allred, tweeted “will the 2nd amendment still be cool when i buy a gun and start shooting random white people or no…?” He was reported, and carted off in an ambulance for a psych eval, which set off a tweetstorm that is hysterically un self-aware. Of course he’s the victim, of course it’s Trumps crackdown on free speech, etc….
How do they tie their shoes in the morning?
Just because someone knows most of the words doesn’t mean they can use them in a complete sentence that makes sense:
If a politician has no idea what they are talking about they have no business making law regarding that subject.
H/T Boyd K.
Now, to be fair, there are morons on in any large group of people that you can cherry-pick quotes from. No question about that. But the sheer number of quotes available from high-profile leaders on the left that spew this sort of thing to reveal their thought process is just amazing. Continue reading
Kshama Sawant is an admitted Socialist who sits on the Seattle City council.
From the Seattle Times:
The Seattle City Council member, you may recall, spent the last six months protesting not Trump, but Hillary Clinton. Sawant held a rally in Philadelphia — the biggest city in a crucial state — urging people not to vote for Clinton. She called Clinton a warmonger and a tool of Wall Street. She wrote a column in The Nation, the national house organ for the progressive left, urging liberals not to “waste your vote on the corporate agenda” — by which she meant Clinton.
“Progressives should not support Clinton,” she said, calling the election a “false choice between a corporate Democrat and a yet more horrifying Republican.”
What she said about Clinton is probably true but it turns out she seriously miscalculated in trying to bring Hillary down. And so now from the same article:
The other day she led two rallies against Trump’s shocking election. She said she was so horrified at Trump’s “racist agenda” that she was calling for a national protest in Washington, D.C., in January to shut down the inauguration.
“I think it is our moral and political and historic duty to call for peaceful and powerful protest against Trump’s agenda,” she said.
Hmmm…. so didn’t she think this through? She just likes having things to complain about? No matter how things turn out she will never be happy with the results? She has mental issues? All of the above?
My advice is to never compromise with a socialist thinking it will stop their whining. It doesn’t work that way. It only encourages them.
Eric Levitz in New York magazine writes Why the Decimated Democrats May Turn Left:
Without the immense power (and glamour) that comes with the White House, Democrats no longer have any distraction from their fundamental weakness at all other levels of government.
Since President Obama took office, more than 900 Democratic state legislators have been ousted. In January 2009, the party occupied 29 governor’s mansions. Today, it lays claim to 15. The GOP — the party that was supposed to be headed for a great crack-up — holds 33.
In 24 states, Republicans control the Executive branch and both legislative houses. Of course, they now enjoy the same trifecta in Washington, D.C.
But Democrats have lost more than power. They’ve also lost their faith in demographic destiny.
…
The upcoming DNC leadership election is expected to be cast as a struggle for control of the party’s future. For now, the party’s Sanders-Warren wing appears best positioned to win that civil war.
Sure thing Eric. Socialism is the future. Go for it.
In the light of the news that Hillary Clinton went to “Orgy Island” on the “Lolita Express” at least six times I find this tweet from Jenny Block very telling about those who support Clinton for president:
Female orgasm’s the most powerful force in the world. Don’t forget to Climax for Clinton today! Let me know you did with
#ClimaxForClinton !
I don’t have a problem with consenting adults doing pretty much whatever they want in their bedrooms, or on an island, but the reports are that many of the participants on the island were not adults and some of the adults were not consenting.
But almost as disturbing is that Ms. Block somehow thinks orgasms are applicable to a presidential election.
The Anonymous Conservative will claim this is a validation of r/K theory.
This isn’t quite an example of Markley’s Law because it doesn’t appear in the context of a debate about gun owner rights. But it’s close enough to be on topic:
Via email from Jeff on Saturday who said:
Saw this on a car today in Kitsap county…
Kitsap county is just across Puget Sound west of Seattle.
That they think hunting has anything to do with male genitalia conclusively demonstrates they have crap for brains.
I’m at the breaking point.
…
It’s not because I don’t like paying taxes. I have voted for every park, every library, all the school improvements, for light rail, for anything that will make this city better. But now I can’t afford to live here anymore. I’ll protest my appraisal notice, but that’s not enough. Someone needs to step in and address the big picture.
Gretchen Gardner
May 2014
Surge in property tax bills spurs push to reform tax appraisal process
[I’m not sure I’ve seen a better case for the “Crap For Brains” category.
As Margret Thatcher said, “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.” But this bimbo can’t seem to comprehend this even when she is the one running out of money.
The big picture is that people this stupid shouldn’t be allowed to vote.—Joe]
Veritaphobia: fear of the truth
Veritaphobe: one with veritaphobia.
Example usage: People who think we can balance the budget and pay off the national debt without raising taxes or cutting spending are veritaphobes, just like those who think banning guns will solve all our crime problems.
You are wasting your time if you try to make someone see reason when reason is not influencing the decision. If you’ve ever had a frustrating political debate with your friend who refuses to see the logic in your argument you know what I mean. But keep in mind that the friend sees you exactly the same way.
When politicians tell lies they know the press will call them out. They also know it doesn’t matter. Politicians understand that reason will never have much of a role in voting decisions. A lie that makes a voter feel good is more effective than a hundred rational arguments. That’s even true when the voter knows the lie is a lie.
If you’re perplexed at how society can tolerate politicians who lie so blatantly you are thinking of people as rational beings. That world view is frustrating and limiting. People who study hypnosis start to view humans as moist machines that are simply responding to inputs with programed outputs. No reasoning is involved beyond eliminating the most absurd options. Your reasoning can prevent you from voting for a total imbecile but it won’t stop you from supporting a half-wit with a great haircut. If your view of the world is that people use reason for their important decisions you are setting yourself up for a life of frustration and confusing. You will find yourself continually debating people and never wining except in your own mind.
Few things are as destructive and limiting as a world view that assumes people are mostly rational.
Scott Adams
How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life
2013
[Adams articulates this better than I have been able to.
I keep wanting to believe, and to a great extent behaving as if, people are rational. This is despite my frequent claim that it is irrational to expect people to be rational. I know it’s not true, I get frustrated that it is not true, and I sometimes just want to retreat from contact with the general population.
I’m extremely lucky that Barb and I share nearly identical irrational views of reality and rationality.—Joe]
Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.
Charles Mackay
1841
Extraordinary Popular Delusions and The Madness of Crowds
[I look around me and, if I look closely enough, I see this nearly everywhere.
We have such a tenuous grasp on reality it is scary.—Joe]
Via Sheila Stokes-Begley:
It’s scary that it’s true. I have to conclude it’s some sort of mental disorder that there are so many people that think this way.
Taking action to prevent terrorists from having access to assault weapons would be a good start. However, it seems that in the waning days of this Congress, there is more appetite for advancing un-American and counter-productive proposals such as closing the borders to Muslims or ethnically profiling whole communities.
To reiterate what Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson has testified to Congress, that with the current threat picture, homeland security cannot be achieved without sensible gun control laws.
Bennie G. Thompson
House Homeland Security Committee ranking member (D-Miss)
September 21, 2016
Homeland security means keeping assault weapons off our streets
[Sometimes I’m just amazed that people can say and believe the things they do. Immigration from other countries is not a constitutionally protected right. There isn’t anything more American than our country’s founding document. The right to keep and bear arms is a specific enumerated right protected by that document. Is this guy’s mind that well partitioned that he can’t connected what he wrote in consecutive sentences?
The only way this makes sense to me is that people say things with the knowledge, at some level, people will hear what they want to hear. The anti-gun politician will say they “respect the Second Amendment and they don’t want to ban guns”. The next sentence will be that they “support the banning of assault weapons”. It could be that those sort of contradictory messages work on both the receiver and the sender. They say and hear what they want depending upon individual biases of the person at that particular moment. And those biases change from second to second. For example, one second they are of the opinion that the Bill of Rights is important and should be respected. The next second they believe nothing should stand in the way of preventing terrorists from murdering innocent people. They somehow cannot make the connection that these two beliefs are incompatible.
It could be this a built-in psychological mechanism common to almost all people.
I view it as some sort of mental illness.—Joe]
Those who need to know already know what the following means. If it’s not crystal clear to you then don’t worry about it. It’s not for you. It’s more fun and games for the NSA: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This is a breath of fresh air:
Instead of practicing running, jumping and stabbing in all directions, it might be a really good idea to work on perfecting the basics. It is only when you have truly perfected the basics that a person is ready to learn advanced skills. Nothing will end a criminal attack like a smooth draw and an accurate hit to the vital zone.
Nearly 40 years ago my first engineering mentor, Everett Nelson at Boeing, strongly advocated for the KISS principle. Keep It Simple Stupid.
This has served me well professionally in hardware, as well as software, design and development. I have found that one of the best indicators of a poor or novice engineer is the complexity of their designs. And if you knew enough of the history of Boomershoot targets you would recognize the evolution to better targets was in large part about making things more simple.
The self-defense, unarmed as well as armed, techniques taught at Insights also reflect this philosophy and is something I have always appreciated. Some other schools, as alluded to in the quoted article, show strong indications they are poor or novice designers of self-defense techniques.
Clinton is probably one of the least crooked politicians currently running for office. She came from a middle class family and married a poor boy who made good.
amiable
September 8, 2016
Comment to No matter how you spin it, crooked Hillary is still crooked
[Via Tam.
As Robert Heinlein’s character said in Time Enough For Love (page 241):
Delusions are often functional. A mother’s opinions about her children’s beauty, intelligence, goodness, et cetera ad nauseam, keep her from drowning them at birth.
Lazarus Long
1916-4272
Still, the depth of the delusion is amazing.—Joe]
Two government mechanisms prevent real interest rates from getting too negative. The first is cash: As long as people can hold currency, which loses its value only at the rate of inflation, they won’t buy safe assets that yield even less. The second is the central bank’s promise to keep the inflation rate low and stable — at about 2 percent in most developed nations. As a result, people have little reason to hold any asset that yields less than negative 2 percent (perhaps negative 3 percent, considering that cash is bulky and hard to store).
In other words, governments — by issuing cash and managing inflation — put a floor on how low interest rates can go and how high asset prices can rise. That’s hardly a free market.
…
What’s the fix for this problem? John Williams, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, has offered some ideas, such as increasing inflation targets — but these are partial work-arounds at best.
The right answer is to abolish currency and move completely to electronic cash.
Narayana Kocherlakota
September 1, 2016
Want a Free Market? Abolish Cash
[Via Michael Krieger who says:
Possibly the most idiotic article I’ve ever read.
See also The Sinister Side of a Cashless Society (via email from Lynn Z.).
Electronic cash would allow government to be so much more efficient. Just imagine how much easier it would be to find people who were trying to cheat on their taxes by not reporting their tips. And bribes would be easy to catch. And armed robbery of banks would cease to exist. It would be wonderful, right? Isn’t that what everyone wants, a more efficient government? Who could possibly object?
Oh, yeah. Now I remember. It fails The Jews in the Attic Test.—Joe]
These documents demonstrate Hillary Clinton’s reckless and downright dangerous handling of classified information during her tenure as secretary of state. They also cast further doubt on the Justice Department’s decision to avoid prosecuting what is a clear violation of the law. This is exactly why I have called for her to be denied access to classified information.
Paul Ryan
Speaker of the House
September 2, 2016
Statement on Clinton Investigation Document Release
[See also FBI files show Clinton claimed ignorance on classification:
According to the files, Clinton claimed to have relied on the judgment of her aides and other officials to handle classified material appropriately. She even told investigators — when asked what the “C” marking meant before a paragraph in an email marked “Confidential” – that “she did not know and could only speculate it was referencing paragraphs marked in alphabetical order.”
The FBI document notes that the email was in fact marked “classified at the Confidential level.” And when asked about different classification types like “Top Secret,” Clinton went on to say she “did not pay attention to the ‘level’ of classified information and took all classified information seriously.”
The documents also say Clinton claimed she could not recall “any briefing or training by State related to the retention of federal records or handling of classified information.” Further, Clinton “could not give an example of how classification of a document was determined.”
Such passages could help explain why FBI Director James Comey said during congressional testimony in July that there were questions over whether Clinton was “sophisticated enough” to know at the time what a particular classified marking signified.
The markings on a classified document look something like this (in red):
Top Secret
(S) We now have all the required guns and ammo for the attack.
(TS) We attack at dawn.
Each paragraph is marked at the highest level of classification in that paragraph.* The marking at the top is the highest level of classification of any paragraph in the document.
Hillary Clinton, as described by the FBI, is not “sophisticated enough” to understand these markings. This makes it exceptionally clear that she is not “sophisticated enough” to be a president of a community book club, let alone the President of the United States.—Joe]
* A game I used to play with the classifier of the documents I created was to write the paragraphs such that no single paragraph contained any classified information. Yet when the paragraphs were taken as a whole they did qualify as classified. It was a far more amusing game for me than my poor classifier who didn’t know what to do with them and never thought to ask me to rewrite them to make it easier for her.
There are so many details in the gun and ammo industry it might be easy to overlook some little decision and the side effects of it. Some mistakes are minor. Some are a little larger.
The ATF accidentally banned ammunition manufacturing.
Well, not exactly, but sort of. The changed the regs and reclassified nitrocellulose as a high explosive. You know, nitrocellulose. The stuff that is used to manufacture virtually ALL smokeless powder? All the facilities that made or handled powder would have to be totally redesigned, and frequently relocated, and shut down in the meantime. Yeah, just a minor change. So, the ATF, having been informed of the effect of this minor update, issued a “it’s still on the books, but never mind for the moment” notice.
Joe, I know you say you’ve had nothing but positive interactions with the ATF field agents and personnel, but you must live in a odd location in the time-space continuum.
Yeah…. Top. Men.
As is often the case with virtue-signaling lifestyles, number-crunching doesn’t quite justify the supposed benefits of granola-crunching. “When applied to an entire global population, the vegan diet wastes available land that could otherwise feed more people,” concluded news site Quartz in a review of a scientific study published in the journal Elementa that compares the sustainability of various eating patterns.
Just as global-warming hysteria leads to draconian restrictions and taxes that devastate the poor in order to provide conscience relief to progressives, totalitarian eating habits aren’t as sustainable as more moderate ones. For instance, trying to grow crops on land best suited for use as grazing land for cattle means wasting resources.
Kyle Smith
August 4, 2016
Selfish vegans are ruining the environment
[“As is often the case with virtue-signaling…”. I think a good case could be made that it goes beyond problems with simple number-crunching. Data and logical thinking in general is not something they are really all that familiar with.—Joe]
Crime is one example where a rebound in carbon emissions could be an issue, according to this study. While there is an energy cost to operating prisons, the study notes, inmates generally consume less than an average citizen in the country, so fewer prisoners might mean higher overall energy consumption.
Additionally, the money saved from reducing crime would go into the government’s budget and people’s pockets. All that money could be spent in other ways — infrastructure, buildings or goods — that may require more energy to produce or operate, possibly adding more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.
Tatiana Schlossberg
August 3, 2016
How Lowering Crime Could Contribute to Global Warming
[H/T to Anonymous Conservative.
I found this very telling. The violation of the rights of people by criminals is secondary to the concern about carbon emissions. And, most importantly, they now have the idea that putting lots of people in prison is good for the environment. Think about what that might lead to.—Joe]