Category Archives: Current News

This is about stuff in the mass media that generally has a short interest life span. Speculation about an election outcome a few days before the election is an example.

Quote of the day—Elon Musk (@elonmusk)

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I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means

Elon Musk (@elonmusk)
Tweeted on April 25, 2022
[There are other things closely related that I thought I should point out at the same time.

Elon Musk’s buying Twitter is good for free speech. And a ‘nightmare’ for progressives:

despite warnings that censorship is necessary “for democracy to survive,” neither the Tesla CEO and billionaire nor ordinary citizens appear to be sufficiently terrified of free speech. Twitter confirmed Monday that Musk will acquire the company in a deal worth $44 billion. Once the deal is complete, Twitter will become a privately held company.

Progressives, in the meantime, have adopted a dangerous shift in their strategy of calling for corporations to censor speech.

…

Obama favors free speech only if it does not include disinformation, including what he considers to be “lies, conspiracy theories, junk science, quackery, racist tracts and misogynist screeds.”

…

He is talking about imposing “standards” on companies to force them to censor “lies” and “disinformation.”

…

As is often the case, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stripped away any niceties or nuance. Clinton called for the European Union to pass the Digital Services Act (DSA), a measure widely denounced by free speech advocates as a massive censorship measure. Clinton warned that governments need to act now because “for too long, tech platforms have amplified disinformation and extremism with no accountability. The EU is poised to do something about it.”

Clinton’s call for censoring disinformation was breathtakingly hypocritical. President Obama was briefed by his CIA Director John Brennan on “alleged approval by Hillary Clinton on July 26, 2016 of a proposal from one of her foreign policy advisors to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by Russian security services.” The intelligence suggested it was “a means of distracting the public from her use of a private email server.”

I have to wonder how Obama, Clinton, and/or Biden would respond to being censored for trying to spread disinformation by talking about “the gun show loophole”, “gun manufactures cannot be sued”, or “private citizens could not own cannons during the revolutionary war era”.

Larry Correia (@monsterhunter45) tweeted on Mon, Apr 25, 2022:

Twitter, Disney, Netflix, CNN+ and more stuff every day.
I told you guys a few months ago that we’d hit Peak Woke. They pushed too hard. Regular people are sick of this shit.
The tides are changing in the culture war.

On Sunday I had this very conversation with Brother Doug. My perception is that many people have been thinking this crap was near the breaking point for years and finally some people started openly talking about it and the dam has now burst. And people who were afraid to say something are now openly saying they aren’t going to take it anymore and are going to do something about it.

Brother Doug said that he has noticed that friends and relatives on Facebook on the political left have been keeping quiet about political stuff for several months.

Andy Ngô ️‍ (@MrAndyNgo) tweeted on Mon, Apr 25, 2022:

From my sources: Vocal Twitter employees on internal chats indicate their biggest fear is Donald Trump being unbanned. Many express strong hatred toward @elonmusk & say they’re sick of hearing about “free speech.” They’re concerned about their mental health. #ElonMuskBuyTwitter

Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) tweeted on Mon, Apr 25, 2022:

I fear Elon Musk could undermine the ideological diversity, equity and inclusion at Twitter which currently maintains a careful balance of 98.7% for one side.

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Just Asking (@WasJustAsking) tweeted on Mon, Apr 25, 2022:

Just seems odd…haven’t they spent years saying they don’t limit speech based on a partisan bent? If that is the key thing he states that will change, and they claim they haven’t been doing it, what is the freak out about? 😉

And my favorite, David Burge (@iowahawkblog) tweeted on Mon, Apr 25, 2022:

If you think you’re having a bad day, spare a thought for the Twitter person who decided it was a good idea to ban the Babylon Bee

In case you don’t know, I think I have this correct, let me know if I misstated something and am spreading disinformation, The Babylon Bee had their Twitter account blocked pending their deletion of a tweet linking to their article The Babylon Bee’s Man Of The Year Is Rachel Levine. The Babylon Bee refused to delete the tweet. Elon Musk took the side of The Babylon Bee and used $44 Billion of his pocket change to buy Twitter. He then informed them, “This is now a free speech platform. Enable The Babylon Bee account and, while your at it, there are a bunch of other accounts you need to enable before you go home for your free range tofu, gluten free, certified organic dinner and curl up with your copy of The Communist Manifesto. And tomorrow you are going to make your ‘unbiased’ algorithms open source. Sleep well.”

Twitter founder Jack Dorsey got the hint and not only his nose but his entire head down to his shoulders came out brown just before he said:

Elon’s goal of creating a platform that is “maximally trusted and broadly inclusive” is the right one. This is also [current Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal’s] goal, and why I chose him. Thank you both for getting the company out of an impossible situation. This is the right path…I believe it with all my heart

I hope Correia is right. But always remember, the political left believes violence is a legitimate tool for them to use. And they believed they were on the edge of extinguishing Republican influence at all levels of government. If they think they were that close and see it slipping away their response may be… impolite. Prepare appropriately.—Joe]

When demand exceeds supply…

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If there is excess demand for something the market will supply shoddy goods. Apparently the FBI was in the market for domestic terrorists and couldn’t find enough to meet their needs so they made some of their own. They did such a poor job of it they couldn’t get convictions.

One has to wonder, how many times that happens and (mostly) innocent people are convicted. In particular, it casts a huge shadow over the arrests and prosecution of people on January 6th, 2020. Doubly so with this news:

At least 20 FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives “assets” were embedded around the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, a defense attorney wrote in a court filing on April 12.

The disclosure was made in a motion seeking to dismiss seditious conspiracy and obstruction charges against 10 Oath Keepers defendants in one of the most prominent Jan. 6 criminal cases.

Who watches, and when appropriate, arrests and prosecutes the watchers? I am of the opinion there are probably many thousands of government employees and elected officials who should be prosecuted.

Quote of the day—Henrik Impola

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We have a saying in my office. Don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story.

Henrik Impola
FBI Special Agent
As told to a confidential informant after the kidnapping suspects were arrested in 2020
FBI’s tactics doomed case against men charged in kidnapping plot of Michigan governor
[It looks to me as if the facts should be used at Henrik’s, and others in that office, trials  It would make a good story. And with convictions it would even have a happy ending.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Ryan Sabalow and Dale Kasler

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They’ve banned high-capacity magazines and cracked down on assault weapons. They’ve made it so Californians have to pass a background check to purchase a gun and ammunition. They’ve prohibited buyers from having ammo or “ghost” gun parts shipped directly to their homes.

When it comes to gun laws, California’s legislators have passed some of the most stringent regulations in the country, checking off nearly every box on national gun control advocates’ wishlist.

A mass shooting early Sunday that left six dead and 12 wounded just a block from the Capitol — the very building where these laws were enacted — immediately prompted new calls for legislation to curb gun violence, from California elected officials and gun-control advocates across the nation.

Ryan Sabalow and Dale Kasler
April 3, 2022
California has toughest U.S. gun laws. After Sacramento shooting, what else can lawmakers do?
[“What else can lawmakers do?” Surrender to law enforcement then write and sign their confessions.—Joe]

Boomershoot 2022 Ukraine discount

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I do not ever recall a time when such a lesson was made clearer than in the last few weeks. The Ukraine government has given guns to “all patriots who are without hesitation ready to use them against the enemy!” Many of those people had never fired a gun before. And yet, they are more than holding their own against the Russians.

Imagine if those patriots, instead of getting their hands on government AK-47s and hoping they can hit targets at 100 to 200 yards had practiced with their own equipment and knew they could confidently engage targets at 700 yards. This is what Boomershoot is about. You train and practice at long range targets. You engage reactive targets which give you immediate positive feedback. When you hit a target, you make the earth shake. The thrill that elicits is indescribable. It is extremely rewarding.

And in addition to being fun it gives you the knowledge of what you are capable of. Should a scenario like that which befell the people of the Ukraine happen here you will have a tremendous advantage over those patriots.

With this in mind, the Boomershoot team is giving people signing up for Boomershoot 2022 a 15% discount on most events. Use the discount code “Ukraine” when you sign up at https://entry.boomershoot.com/.

Boomershoot 2022 is April 29th, 30th (High Intensity, Precision Rifle Clinic, and Field Fire) and May 1st (Long Range). Sign up now while there are still positions available. Be able to engage hostile invaders at 700 instead of hoping you connect at 200 yards.

All electric cars in Washington state

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As an electrical engineer I find this “interesting”:

Washington state plans to ban most non-electric vehicles by 2030, according to a newly signed bill by Gov. Jay Inslee.

The bill says that all vehicles of the model year 2030 or later that are sold, purchased, or registered in the state must be electric.

As the next year’s model come out in the fall the target for their mandate will be in a little over seven years. I don’t think the electrical infrastructure can be upgraded to handle the new load in time. This will be especially true if the leftist politicians pushing to remove many of the hydroelectric dams are successful.

It is my belief they hope to bring wind and solar online. But those sources are intermittent. Those cars are going to be lower in the priority que than heating and lighting homes and offices. If you pull into the charging station during peak usage in early January with little wind and almost no solar for a few days you could be told you won’t be able to recharge until the wind blows from the south again so the heating load isn’t so high. Perhaps in a week or two. Or maybe you can find a black market diesel generator if you know who to ask and have the cash to pay for it.

My guess is that one of two things will happen.

  1. The politicians who voted for things like this mandate, the anti-business regulations, the schools teaching math is racist, and the oppressive gun laws will be unable to maintain the required margin of fraud in future elections and the oppressive laws will be repealed.
  2. The productive and freedom loving residents will leave the state and the state will spiral down into an economic abyss resembling downtown Seattle and Detroit. I.e., an Atlas Shrugged like scenario.

I often wonder if the economic destruction authoritarians create is due to obliviousness, maliciousness, or a deliberate gamble that things will somehow recover from their reign of power.

We live in interesting times. Prepare appropriately.

Quote of the day—Brad Raffensperger

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We need to get a subpoena for the fella who this John Doe is. Was he paid? How much was he paid? And then who paid him. And we’re going to follow the money, and we’re going get to the bottom of it. And we’re going to prosecute this, if we find that there’s substance to it.

Brad Raffensperger
Georgia Secretary of State
March 20, 2022
Georgia ballot harvesting probe advances as state elections board approves subpoena
[I wish them well, but I suspect they will not make much progress.—Joe]

They don’t have an accurate model, or…

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Comments from a recent blog post matched the skepticism I expressed about the crime situation in downtown Seattle.

An article in Thursday’s Seattle Times indicates the skepticism was justified:

In a panel at the event, City Attorney Ann Davison, citywide Councilmember Sara Nelson and King County Regional Homelessness Authority CEO Marc Dones discussed how to manage public safety and offer mental health, addiction and housing services to those in need downtown.

Davison, who took office in January and has committed to cracking down on crime, and Dones, whose commitment is to providing services to those experiencing homelessness, agreed that the missing component in solving the city’s crime and homelessness crises is collaboration among partners.

“I believe fundamentally that how we interrupt cycles of violence and crime are by addressing material needs that drive crime cycles,” Dones said. “People steal bread because they’re hungry, not because they’re mad at other people.”

The article I linked to the other day tells us:

Officials said most of the charges in cases referred to the City Attorney’s Office involving High Utilizers were theft (1,019 charges), trespassing (589 charges), assault (409 charges), or weapons violations (101 charges).

Another related article tells us even more about why businesses are leaving:

Amazon moved into the 312,000-square-foot location in 2017, taking over the top six floors of the old Macy’s building. The office at 300 Pine St. is about a half-mile from the company’s headquarters on Seventh Avenue.

Since Feb. 21, there have been at least three shootings, two stabbings and one carjacking in the area, according to the Seattle Police Department.

…

Olga Sagan, owner of Piroshky Piroshky, decided in February to close the bakery’s Third and Pike Street location, citing high crime in the area and fears about employee and customer safety.

These aren’t people “stealing bread because they are hungry” or even “mad at each other”. There are food banks (I’ve donated hundreds of pounds of lentils to them, Barb has donated money, food, and her time) which give food to the needy. The people with the responsibility to reduce crime cannot possibly arrive at the proper solution if they don’t have an accurate model describing the problem. Or, just as likely, they do have an accurate model and they don’t view the crime as a problem. They view it as a way to destroy capitalism. In which case, changing course is not on their agenda.

In either case, don’t expect conditions in downtown Seattle to improve anytime soon.

Prepare appropriately.

Quote of the day—Tammy Mutasa

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Less than 120 people have caused more than 2,400 criminal cases throughout Seattle in five years.

These prolific offenders have been identified through the High Utilizer Initiative (HUI).

City Attorney Ann Davison announced the HUI launch Tuesday morning, a program made to identify those who repeatedly cause criminal activity throughout Seattle.

The program will then ensure these people will have the actual help they need, and their cases will be prioritized.

Tammy Mutasa
March 15, 2022
New initiative identifies hundreds who have caused thousands of crimes in Seattle
[These criminals were selected on this basis:

The people each has 12 or more referrals from SPD to the City Attorney’s office in the same time and at least one case in the last eight months.

That is an average of four crimes per year per person where the police did sufficient investigation to conclude there was a good chance of conviction. One has to wonder how many criminal acts were actually committed. What is the ratio? 2:1? 10:1?

That last sentence is a bit odd: “people will have the actual help they need”. I would have thought what they really need are “three hots and a cot”. But I guess they are going to try something else.

I remember in the 1960s and 1970s there was a lot of talk about “reform” rather than incarceration. My understanding is they tried a lot of things but there didn’t seem to be any real value. “Three strikes and you’re out” was the response to those failures. “Three strikes” has it’s own problems but there were indicators it was more effective at reducing crime than the previous decades of trying to reform the criminals.

While I would like to think the criminals can be reformed I’m skeptical the reform community of today has something new that wasn’t tried decades ago found to be nearly useless. I just hope whatever they do they make sure those known habitual offenders do not continue their criminal ways.

In the mean time, prepare appropriately if you visit Seattle.—Joe]

No surprise

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Boston social justice activist, hubby scammed at least $185K from donors: feds:

A high-profile social justice activist in Boston and her husband used a nonprofit they founded to scam at least $185,000 from donors who included a Black Lives Matter chapter and the local district attorney’s office, federal authorities allege.

There was so much rioting and looting going on over completely justified shootings that, when at my most charitable, I thought of it as a mass delusion. That there was literal fraudulent use of donations in some chapters does not surprise me.

It does sadden me. Just like Jessie Smollet’s stunt sadden me. Fake crimes makes it increasingly likely that a real crimes will be doubted. And the fraudsters, with a shortage of outrage to fuel their money train, create the market for other types of fraud.

Amazing conclusion to an amazing story

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I read a book (or maybe one story in a collection of survival stories) about the Shackleton expedition. A short version is here. In the long version you have difficultly believing there is an escape path for anyone at nearly every step in their journey. Yet, everyone survived.

And now people have found the ship Shackleton and his crew abandoned. It is four miles south and nearly two miles below where Shackleton reported it abandoned:

The wreckage of polar explorer Ernest Shackleton’s ship “Endurance” has been found, a team searching for it said on Wednesday, March 9.

The ship was crushed by Antarctic ice and sank some 10,000 feet to the ocean floor more than a century ago.

The three-masted sailing ship was lost in November 1915 during Shackleton’s failed attempt to make the first land crossing of Antarctica.

The pictures and video of the ship are incredible:

image

image

Endurance is right.

Quote of the day—Steven Kovac

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The special counsel alleged that rampant fraud and abuse occurred statewide in many of Wisconsin’s 6,875 nursing homes (housing 92,000 residents) during the 2020 election.

When visited by OSC investigators, many nursing home residents who are on record as having voted absentee in the election, were unaware of their surroundings, what year it was, or to whom they were speaking.

Steven Kovac
March 4, 2022
Wisconsin Special Counsel Alleges Massive Misconduct in 2020 Election
[A friend of a friend tells a similar story about what he saw on election day in Philadelphia with nursing home residents brought to the polling place via wheelchairs.

There is a reason Democrats are so strongly against voter ID and other reasonable qualifications for voters.—Joe]

Mugme Street news

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Another shooting death one block away from the one on Sunday.

Police are investigating after a man in his “late teens or early 20s” died after being shot in downtown Seattle Wednesday night.

The shooting happened around 7:15 p.m. on the 1500 block of Third Avenue, which is near the intersection of Third Avenue and Pike Street. When officers arrived, they found the victim suffering from a gunshot wound to the abdomen.

The one on Sunday was at 3rd and Pine. Pine and Pike are one block apart.

Barb’s nickname of Mug Me Street is appropriate.

Here is a recent video of the street (via Chuck Petras @Chuck_Petras) :

See also this article.

So, what is your assessment of the “defund the police” policy?

Why the response to Ukraine but not Crimea?

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Can anyone tell me why there is such a big social response to the Ukraine invasion but there wasn’t a similar response the Crimea invasion?

Or is my perception of the situation out of tune with reality?

Thanks.

Quote of the day—Larry Correia @monsterhunter45

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“I can’t tell what’s truth, propaganda, lies, or fraud on social media and in the news right now!”
… wait… you think this is different than usual? 

Larry Correia @monsterhunter45
Tweeted on February 27, 2022
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]

Quote of the day—KING 5 Staff

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Seattle’s popular Piroshky Piroshky Bakery is closing its Third Avenue location in downtown “until further notice” over “countless safety concerns.”

Following a fatal shooting Sunday afternoon at Third Avenue and Pine Street, the bakery sent a series of tweets detailing problems with crime in the area. The shooting on Sunday was the third in the area in a month, according to the bakery.

KING 5 Staff
February 27, 2022
Piroshky Piroshky closing downtown Seattle location over ‘countless safety concerns’
[This is Mug Me Street in Seattle. If you look at the picture at the top of the article you will see the McDonald’s store which is ground zero of Mug Me Street. My boss, a former Seattle cop, recently told me a story of his undercover coworker shooting a drug dealer in that store several years ago when a drug deal went sour.

Defunding the police is working just as expected.

Prepare appropriately.—Joe]

No one needs an AR-15 or AK-47

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Via the JPFO:

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Quote of the day—Jason Rantz

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A top King County prosecutor told a group of South Sound law enforcement officials that they better “get used to” no jail time for juvenile criminals responsible for the alarming rise of violence in the region. He even joked about their concern, using a popular meme that some on the call found offensive.

Ben Carr is the senior deputy prosecuting attorney for King County. He offered a PowerPoint presentation on how the county treats juvenile offenders driving much of the crime. The meeting was called after mayors criticized the prosecutor’s office for going too easy on criminals, demanding answers. It did not go well.

Jason Rantz
January 4, 2022
Rantz: Prosecutor says ‘get used to’ no jail time for teen gun crimes, assault, theft
[King County encompasses Seattle and many of the nearby towns.

Other items of interest from the same article:

  • Violent criminals will be enrolled in restorative justice programs run by police and prison abolitionists
  • a large portion of the changes are overdue, being done to address racial disproportionality and over-incarceration
  • The alternatives are offered to certain felony suspects. Rather than going in front of a judge, RCP puts the suspects in front of a community panel of activists. That panel decides how the suspect can be held accountable.
  • RCP explains its “end goal is ABOLITION,” and that they are “fighting to dismantle the carceral state.”

Things are going to get a lot worse around here before they get better.

Prepare appropriately.—Joe]

The city has charged the looters

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It was over a year and a half ago when the looters hit Bellevue Square. The city responded by pulling in police officers from nearby cities and the State Patrol. The next couple of “protests” in Bellevue were closely escorted and there was zero looting.

It was a tough job tracking down the masked individuals via 10k+ pieces of video evidence but the city allocated the resources and last Thursday the Bellevue Reporter announced the current status:

Twenty-five individuals charged in relation to Bellevue Square Mall looting that occurred in May 2020

Twenty-five different individuals have been criminally charged in relation to looting that occurred in Bellevue in May of 2020, according to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.

The 25 felony cases against the defendants include 31 burglary charges, three possession of stolen property charges, one unlawful possession of a firearm charge and one malicious mischief charge.

Most of the charges are related to demonstrations and looting that primarily occurred on May 31, 2020 at businesses in Bellevue Square Mall. The defendants came from places across the region, including residents from Bellevue, Tacoma, Seattle, Everett, Renton, and at least one defendant was recognized as being homeless in the charging documents.

…

Additional cases are expected to be referred by police at the misdemeanor level, and the King County Prosecuting Attorney;s Office said they will be sent to the Bellevue City Attorney’s Office to be handled in Municipal Court.

A year and half is a long time and the pursuit of justice had to be extremely expensive. But Bellevue is a very wealthy community and I expect almost everyone in the city is willing to pay the price. I expect there will not be any more looting in Bellevue like that seen in so many other cities for many years.

I hope the criminals enjoy their trials.

Just a cost of reaching utopia

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This should be a clue:

US congresswoman carjacked at gunpoint in daylight

Philadelphia has seen a massive rise rise in car theft this year, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Police reported 225 carjackings in 2019, 409 in 2020 and 720 so far this year, according to CBS News.

The figures amount to an 80% increase in carjackings in 2021.

Gunpoint robberies are up 27% over 2020.

Philadelphia has also seen a record 544 homicides this year, up from 347 in all of 2019, according to the Wall Street Journal.

It is hard to believe this was unforeseen by anyone capable of rational thought. But, then, it could be this is the desired outcome. Criminals are the natural enemy of capitalists and hence allies of socialists. This might be considered part of the price paid to reach their socialist utopia.

I wish I had copied the entire text of the post when I first saw it. An earlier version mentioned she co-sponsored a bill to defund the police and redirect the funds to mental health problems.