I’m not blinded by hate. I hate because I’m not blind
Greg Hamilton
August 28, 2020
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]
Category Archives: Current News
Quote of the day—Barack Obama
To the young people who led us this summer, telling us we need to be better – in so many ways, you are this country’s dreams fulfilled. Earlier generations had to be persuaded that everyone has equal worth. For you, it’s a given – a conviction. And what I want you to know is that for all its messiness and frustrations, your system of self-government can be harnessed to help you realize those convictions.
You can give our democracy new meaning. You can take it to a better place. You’re the missing ingredient – the ones who will decide whether or not America becomes the country that fully lives up to its creed.
Barack Obama
August 20, 2020
Read Obama’s full speech at the Democratic National Convention
[I find it very telling that Obama acknowledges the domestic terrorists has the approval of the Democratic Party and that the terrorists are fulfilling his dreams.
Respond appropriately.—Joe]
Best Kyle Rittenhouse video
I had seen good still images and a videos of the second and third terrorists Rittenhouse shot and it was clearly self-defense. But the first guy, shot in the head, I have wondered about all day. Was it a justified shooting?
This video (graphic, disturbing content so I’m not embedding it) adds clarity to all the terrorists he shot. [Update: The YouTube account with the video has been terminated. Try this link instead.]
I no longer have any doubts about the justification for first guy downed. Rittenhouse was being chased by multiple people. They guy leading the charge and about to make contact received a grazing shot to the right side of his skull. He, as the narrator points out, was playing a stupid game chasing a guy with a rifle and collected a stupid prize.
This is not to say that Rittenhouse didn’t make an ill advised, perhaps even illegal, contribution to the situation. He deliberate put himself in a position which increased the odds of something like this happening. If he was on his own street instead of 15 miles from home it would look a lot better for him. And what lead up to him being chased by the first set of people? Did he deliberately provoke a confrontation knowing he could come out on top if they “took the bait”? That is still unanswered.
Similar questions could be asked of the dead and wounded terrorists. I know one of them lived a similar distance away. And perhaps all three. They went there, obviously, looking for a fight. They found more fight they they bargained for.
I would like to suggest both dead terrorists be nominated for Darwin Awards.
And here the image that is going to be a classic for years to come. It’s Peaceful Protestor Terrorist number two hitting Rittenhouse in the head with a skateboard a couple seconds before taking a rifle bullet to the midsection and dying:
He should get Darwin Award of the year for that maneuverer.
Quote of the day—Christian Johann Heinrich Heine
Dort wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man auch am Ende Menschen.
[Where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings.]
Christian Johann Heinrich Heine
Almansor: A Tragedy (1823)
As translated in True Religion (2003) by Graham Ward, p. 142
[Note that he wrote this nearly 100 years before USSR was created and 110 years before Nazi Germany began burning books and shortly thereafter people.
There is a sound reason why the progression from burning books to burning people occurs. The reason for the book burning is to stop the spread of “dangerous” ideas. When the book burning fail the desired goal then the spread of those ideas “must” be stopped by the “burning” of the people who spread the ideas.
Black Lives Matter and Antifa have taken the first step. Respond appropriately.—Joe]
Quote of the day—Christopher F. Rufo @realchrisrufo
To the people who are in disbelief that the woke Seattle City Council would fire a black woman police chief:
It’s never been about diversity; it’s about power.
Race is the means; Marxism is the end.
Christopher F. Rufo @realchrisrufo
Tweeted on August 11, 2020
[This seems to fit all the given data.—Joe]
Quote of the day—Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias
Continued odd happenings in the Pacific Northwest where a 70% white city has hounded its Black police chief out of office as an act of racial justice.
Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias
Tweeted on August 10, 2020
[Yeah, I suppose it’s a bit odd. But if you knew the nature of the politicians in Seattle it would seem far less odd. To the casual observer they are absolutely bonkers. If you think of them as the destroyers of a city with the constraint that they intend to have minimal risk of going to prison then they are doing a great job.
Tomorrow’s QOTD will feature the most accurate hypothesis I have yet seen to explain the given data.
I do have to give Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best credit for standing up for what is right and not participating in the mass-delusion/deliberate-lie that the Seattle PD is the problem.—Joe]
Quote of the day—Alan Dershowitz
I’ve never heard of a case where an attorney general’s tried to dissolve a first amendment – and in this case First and Second Amendment protected political organization – that is a bridge too far constitutionally.
If she is selectively prosecuting and selectively investigating the NRA because she disagrees with its politics, that’s wrong,
…
I believe in the Second Amendment, but I also believe in reasonable gun control. But I would defend the NRA’s right advocate its position without being subject to selective investigation and prosecution if it turns out that the attorney general is looking into this organization because she disagrees with its politics.
Alan Dershowitz
August 5, 2020
Alan Dershowitz to Newsmax TV: NRA Move Political Prosecution
[I’ve known about the NRA’s wasteful use of money since 1997 and have put the vast majority of my 2nd Amendment dollars elsewhere. But I’m with Dershowitz. I strongly suspect New York Attorney General Letitia James is attacking the NRA for political reasons.She openly says this:
Strong gun laws in NY haven’t been enough to stop the gun violence that rips communities of color apart every day. Today, I’m announcing my plans as Attorney General to stop gun violence & take on the NRA, gun manufacturers, retailers & banks that fund these weapons of death
I would like to see NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre out but that can be done without destroying the NRA.—Joe]
Beirut explosion
A large cache of explosive material seized by the government years ago was stored where the explosions occurred, according to top Lebanese officials — specifically ammonium nitrate…
The cache was estimated to be 2,750 tons. Boomershoot uses about 1 ton each year. Timothy McVeigh used (IIRC) about 2.5 tons in the Oklahoma City bombing.
This is the best video I’ve seen so far:
Shocking video of massive #explosion from 7 different angles.
Reports of casualties are still coming in according to #Lebanon‘s health ministry. Still, no one is sure what caused the massive #blast that shook #Beirut. Here is the explosion from seven different angles. pic.twitter.com/dJVBoiCEQt— CGTN America (@cgtnamerica) August 4, 2020
Incredible tragedy. I’m sure the death toll will rise for many days. And of course the property damage will be horrendous as well.
As Boomershooter Aaron M. said in email:
Check out that white in that explosion. Remind you of something? They are now saying it was something like 2000 tons of ammonium nitrate. It looks correct for that.
I agree. The white “smoke” is probably the water vapor from the ammonium nitrate decomposition.*
* NH4NO3 –> N2 + 2H2O + 1/2 O2
Quote of the day—Sam Jacobs
Most Americans have never heard of these acts of terrorism from leftist groups that were so numerous throughout the 1970s. But this is a prime example of “those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” The urban unrest, which has rocked America in the early 2020s, is nothing new. The 1960s saw both race riots and left-wing terrorist groups looking to exploit animosity between racial groups in America.
The question is what are we going to do about it? The answer so far from our elected officials is “not much.” If leftist terrorist cells were willing to go this far when they had active opposition from government and corporate figures alike, what are they going to do when confronted with apathy or encouragement from elected officials and the business sector?
The answer remains to be seen, but will certainly be some variant of “nothing good.”
Sam Jacobs
July 2020
America’s “Days of Rage”: The Extensive Left-Wing Bombings & Domestic Terrorism of the 1970s
[See also:
It’s a great book with surprising parallels to the current leftist violence..—Joe]
Quote of the day—Elyssa Khalifé
So here is what happened yesterday at the “protest.” We were waiting and watching live from the precinct as the rioters set 5 portable construction offices on fire. They then completely destroyed, looted, and lit the Starbucks on 12 ave and E Cherry St. on fire. As the group was walking they were breaking random car windows, car prowling, and spray painting everything…
They made their way to the East precinct with all of us inside. They spray painted the building, tried to break the fence, they threw a mortar that left an 8 inch hole in the wall… We could see a person pouring gasoline around the building that we were occupying, which is when all of us came out. We commanded people to “move back” as we advanced. People who assaulted us were arrested. We formed a line guarding the block. People threw paint, rocks, metal, frozen water bottles, glass and improvised EXPLOSIVES at us which is when we used our dispersal tools. In the process I was injured along with 20 other officers. Yes, I was injured even though I was wearing shin guards, and other protective gear.
The puzzling part is people were chanting “I don’t see no riot here, take off your riot gear.”
Why didn’t we deploy and stop them when the looting started? Our instructions were not to respond to property damage. The fire department was delayed in response because of the big hostile crowd but they made it and started putting out fires. We only responded when they were about to literally burn down our precinct with everyone in it and the connecting apartment complexes. This is insane. I don’t know what the message here is anymore. These people were 99% white and young. They were saying the most horrible things you can imagine to officers of color. They were also assaulting each other in the crowd. I saw signs and shirts that indicated Anarchy, Anti-Christ, abolishing religion, bringing down the government, defund/abolish SPD, defunding Seattle Parks and Rec (huh?), abolishing America?! I don’t think that the point to those riots is anything but inflicting as much damage and injury as possible.
About my injury: I sustained a torn medial meniscus and I most probably will require surgery to be able to live an active lifestyle again.
Elyssa Khalifé
City of Bothell Police Officer
Posted on Facebook July 26, 2020
[This is about what happened in Seattle.
It’s not so “puzzling” to me. The bigger the lie…
The stories of the “weak government” of pre-Nazi Germany keep coming to mind.
These “people” are closer to feral animals. The officials who give orders for the police to not protect property are showing their true colors. Both groups should be dealt with appropriately. They all should be arrested and prosecuted.—Joe]
Quote of the day—J. KB
These protesters and activists are the most supremely ignorant people in history.
They literally have the entire wealth of recorded human knowledge at their fingertips. It’s all available online and immediately accessible through the smartphones that they all have.
I can only believe that they have to be willfully ignorant because they should have at least accidentally stumbled onto some bit of knowledge by now.
J. KB
June 27, 2020
Splatter is coming, Part 5
[And/or lying and/or delusional.
In any case J. KB concludes with:
There is no reasoning with them. That is abundantly clear.
As they used to say “civilize ’em with a Krag.” I have a feeling it will come to that.
I don’t think it has to come to that. I think arrests, convictions, and a few years in prison will help them reconnect with reality. Getting them out of their bubble for even a few months will be therapeutic.
H/T to less fat Dave @BigFatDave for the pointer.—Joe]
Quote of the day—Stephen Kruiser
The nagging feeling that these putrid progressive cities should be left to riot and rot long enough for people to vote with their feet keeps growing on me.
Stephen Kruiser
July 27, 2020
The Morning Briefing: It Might Be Time to Let the Liberal Riot Hellholes Burn — Let Seattle and Portland Riot Themselves Into Oblivion
[I suppose one could say, “It worked” for Detroit.
I realize it’s not legal or practical but I fantasize about conditioning such abandonment on the building of a wall around the city to keep the vermin from escaping. It could be the inspiration and location of a movie for someone like Kurt Russell, Escape from Seattle.—Joe]
Living in a bubble
Random thought: Joe, are you and Barb giving any consideration to relocating?
I mentioned this to Barb as we were getting up and received the expected answer, “No.”
That’s a little more strongly worded than the reality and also deserves a bit of an explanation. Barb and I talked about it some as we went on our morning walk and I took a few pictures to help explain. As we walked along I was struck by the alternate reality she and I are living in compared to downtown Seattle only a few miles away. Barb elaborated with, “We are living in bubble.”
In this picture, a short walk from our house, you can see the U.S. flag on the left edge of the image:
Below is an expanded snip of another flag near the car on the right in the image above:
It’s extremely rare to see a U.S. flag in downtown Seattle. Unless, of course, if someone is burning it.
Here is a common view on our walk:
In the distance to the south you see Mount Rainier which is over 50 miles away. The air is frequently that clear. My cell phone camera doesn’t do it justice but you can almost as frequently see Mount Baker 80 miles to the north from another location on our walk.
In the picture below you can see Seattle (click to get higher resolution and see the Space Needle) in the distance the night after the most recent “peaceful protests”. I imagine the couple on their deck reading about the riot in the newspaper as if it had happened 1000 miles away instead of 10.
Our reality is much different from downtown Seattle. The streets and air are clean, the neighbors are polite, the police are responsive, the views in all directions with only a short hike are a joy to behold. There is a lot of territory between us and ground zero of the riots. There are thousands of homes and a large lake between us and the terrorists. The roads into our neighborhood are few with lots of cover and concealment along the sides. It is my belief that there will be a lot of warning and a heck of a lot of “vigorous” resistance to the terrorists migrating out of their turf into ours. And the primary resistance will be supplied by the local police department who has not been shackled like the Seattle Police.Department. When I was shooting matches I frequently had a Bellevue police officer on my squad. The next chance I get I will ask a few questions about how he thinks an attempt at a riot migration to our side of the lake might turn out.
That said, daughter Jaime asked that Barb and I take a look at houses “out in the country” with her and her spouse last Saturday. They live in Bellevue near where the nearly completed light rail from downtown Seattle terminates near Microsoft. She tends a bit toward the neurotic side of normal and her location near easy access from the communist infected downtown Seattle bothers her. She received permission from “all the way up the management chain” at Microsoft to work from home “forever”. Barb and I looked at homes with them for several hours which were an hour drive from her current location. They made an offer on a place with a one acre lot next door to a home with a “Trump 2020” sign in the yard. That might as well be an alternate universe from downtown Seattle.
Also, I have accelerated my plans to buy or build a home in Idaho. A good part of our visit over the 4th of July weekend was to look at three different homes near Boomershoot we expect to be on the market soon. In this neighborhood property seldom gets formally “listed”. It’s almost always via word of mouth that you find out something is for sale or someone is interested in buying. We drove by the homes and told my brothers and sister-in-law that we are interested. We also looked at three different potential sites on my property to build. We chose one and have contacted a potential builder/architect. Then yesterday I completed a tentative floor plan. This would be small “summer home” or bugout location if things get too dangerous or politically intolerable in our current location.
So, to answer Alien’s question in something more than one word and less than a page, we feel pretty safe where we are for now and really like what we have here. We won’t be moving unless there is some pretty drastic changes happening a lot closer to home. However, we and others, are implementing plans to deal with that scenario.
Quote of the day—Carl "Bear" Bussjaeger @BearBussjaeger
Dear Seattle,
You’re screwed, and it’s the mayor and city council’s fault.
Best ‘luck with the riots.
Luv&Kisses,
Police
Carl “Bear” Bussjaeger @BearBussjaeger
Tweeted on July 25, 2020
[This was in response to this open letter from the Chief of Police to local businesses and residents.:
We live in interesting times.—Joe]
Karma
While I got a chuckle out of this it’s quite misleading. There is a big difference between the gun owner protests which leave the streets cleaner than when they arrived with the most “violent” exchanges are spirited legal briefs compared to the riots, looting, and destruction of the Marxists of the last few weeks.
They can’t honestly believe we would be on their side. You almost have to start looking at elderly nun demographics to find a group of people more law abiding than people who have concealed carry licenses.
The only thing that I know of which we have in common is the skill set and tools to quickly create a lot of damage. It’s just that no one has flipped our switch yet with a valid target. There are a number of scenarios where the rioting Marxist change that. But in all the futures I see the police will give the gun owners a slight nod and turn back to engage the remaining commies.
What am I missing?
A Seattle Times reporter claims:
This ruling could potentially put my and my Seattle Times colleagues’ safety at risk. https://t.co/yZffIKkGoP
— Paige Cornwell (@pgcornwell) July 24, 2020
When asked to elaborate on the risk she replied,
We do not work for or with the police, and it’s important that we are not perceived as doing so. Journalists have been met with increasing hostility and threats because of this perception.
But, the subjects of those pictures and video surely would expect the recordings to fall into the hands of law enforcement when they were published. That is, unless they expected them to be edited or withheld in their favor before being published, right?
So, it would seem to me, that either the criminals would have to expect reporters to be biased in their favor or expect the recordings be available to the police. Hence, either the reporters are complicit in the crime or the risk to reporters is not changed.
Am I missing something here?
Peaceful protestors
Portland Mayor yesterday:
This afternoon I was made aware of concerns within the community that federal agents may be authorized to use live ammunition on demonstrators this evening.
— Mayor Ted Wheeler (@tedwheeler) July 23, 2020
I keep thinking that nearby rooftops occupied by small teams with suppressed AR’s would calm things down quietly and quickly.
Apparently nothing really changed because we didn’t get a fresh batch of truly peaceful protestors last night. It was the same stuff with “peaceful protestors” trying to barricade the exits of the Federal building then setting it on fire with law enforcement officers inside.
Rioters have set fire to the Portland federal courthouse. #PortlandRiots #antifa pic.twitter.com/1BZrPpv2fd
— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) July 23, 2020
Historic
A few minutes ago the price of gold reached a new high in relation to the U.S. dollar. Or, one could be equally accurate to say that the U.S. dollar reached a new low relative to gold. Click for a higher resolution version:
In the mid to late 1990’s gold was selling for $300/ounce. I was making more money than I am now (contracting work for Microsoft with unlimited amounts of overtime allowed at 1.5X base rate) and bought a few ounces. But most of my money went into paying down the house mortgage and putting a new roof on it. And then half of that, which wasn’t very much to begin with, went to my ex-wife in the divorce. I wish I had bought more now. It would be worth a lot more than what the house appreciation was.
Gold surging is generally an indicator of troubling times which certainly describes 2020. But what is interesting now is that vaccine trials are looking pretty good and the economy is doing okay considering the circumstances. But yet, the price of gold continues to climb. I suspect the huge surge in the “printing” of money is a major contributor.
We live in interesting times. This year will be one for the history books.
Why can’t the U.S. be more like England?
Ever since I can remember anti-gun people have used England as an example of how guns should be regulated/banned. Here is what you get, UK Knife Crime Hits Record High, Murder Surges in Khan’s London
Knife crime in England and Wales reached a historic high in the year leading up to the end of March, as murders climb again in Sadiq Khan’s London.
…
London Assembly Member David Kurten said in response to the surge in crime: “There must be an end to politically correct policing — more stop & search, more arrests of burglars and violent gang members, less hassling people for having the wrong opinions.”
Former Brexit Party MEP Martin Daubney added: “All this while London’s dismal Mayor, Sadiq Khan, orders an urgent review into… ‘racist’ statues.”
The proportion of crimes actually being solved in England and Wales also fell to a record low, with just 7 per cent of criminal acts resulting in a court appearance for a suspect, down from 8 per cent last year and 16 per cent in 2014-15 when such records began to be compiled.
The Home Office report said that the fall represented some 33,460 fewer offences resulting in a criminal charge or court summons compared to the year prior. The number of sexual offences that resulted in charges fell from 5.2 per cent two years ago to just 3.2 per cent last year.
The number of rapes that ended in prosecution was just 1.4 per cent.
This is why we have the Second Amendment.
Just say, “No!” to gun control.
Cascading failures in policing
I recently had an opportunity to play a card I had been holding for a few weeks. I waited until a former Seattle police officer I know grumbled* again about his current job. So I asked, “I’ll bet you really wish you still had your old job back at the Seattle Police department.
This triggered a five minute monologue which began with “Absolutely not!” on the consequences of the political situation in regards to police in general and Seattle and surrounding areas in specific. He described it as “cascading failures”. Here is a synopsis of what he told me:
As of a couple years ago there were about 1350 people in SPD which was considered significantly understaffed. This number included support staff and rookies patrol officers up through to the captain level.
SPD is currently losing hundreds of people via retirement and them finding different jobs. Officers that have 20+ years on the job can’t take their pensions yet (I think he said they have to be 53 years old before they can do that) but they can quit and still get their full pension when they do cross the age threshold. Replacements are nearly impossible to get. Not because of defunding, but because no one wants those jobs. Detectives and other high skill areas are especially hard hit because those are the people most likely to have 20+ years on the job.
Some skill areas have mutual aid packs with surrounding areas. But while the surrounding areas have not had as severe political stress as SPD they have been affected. The mutual aid packs increase the stress on the surrounding areas and is causing people to leave their law enforcement positions there as well. It’s a cascading system of failure that affects the entire area.
Even some rural counties are pushing people out of law enforcement. One such country recently removed all U.S. flags from their patrol cars. This was to avoid offending anyone.**
SPD is rapidly approaching the situation where when you call 911 the only time someone will show up is if there is a life and death situation.
I’m now extrapolating from his observations.
If the police only show up for life and death situations and detectives are among the skills sets hardest hit by personal shortages then law enforcement protection of property is going to asymptotically approach zero. If a cold body with no obvious signs of foul play and/or no hot leads is found it will essentially ignored. Even clear murder cases will have low closure rates. Assault and battery will be ignored. Without justice for the victims of violent crimes and reduced odds of being punished self administered “justice” will become common.
These cascading law enforcement failures will trigger other cascading failures. This is city killer type stuff. Seattle is highly dependent upon high tech money. Most of those jobs can be performed by people 100s of miles away as easily as they can be performed by people within commuting distance. People and companies will leave the immediate area in droves. The property values, and all tax bases will crash. City services of all types will suffer. This could create Detroit like conditions within a few years.
* I think, overall, he actually likes his job. He just likes to grumble about things.
** I expect the people insisting the flags be removed are bewildered as to how the police could have a “real” issue with this. This probably extends to at least some of my readers.
A significant number police are former, and even current reserve, military. The U.S. flag is more than a piece of red, white, and blue colored cloth to members of the U.S. military. I have never been in the military and I only sort of understood this. A former Army Ranger described the depth of that meaning when he told me that if he were on the jury of someone accused of murdering a person who was burning a U.S. flag he would not vote to convict even if there numerous witnesses and video of the event, fingerprints in the neck bruises, and matching shoe prints in the blood. He wouldn’t kill someone burning a U.S. flag. But he could understand why someone would.