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–Dan Weaver

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It is not a help. In fact, it’s a hindrance and it greatly places people in danger. The police are liable to shoot someone with a gun.

Dan Weaver
Moscow Police Chief
May 21, 2007
UI senior tried to help but became victim
Referring to Peter Husmann who grabbed his pistol and went to help stop the person shooting up the Latah County Courthouse.
[I’m in total agreement with Weaver. In addition the evacuation and care of Husmann consumed resources that could perhaps have been better allocated to other tasks had Husmann not been collecting bullet wounds. If you are there when the shooting breaks out and can stop the shooter then by all means do so. But you don’t leave a safe area and seek out the shooter. There may be some exceptions such as when the police will not be arriving for many minutes or perhaps hours and your loved ones are in danger but Husmann’s actions were clearly wrong. This event took place just outside the Sheriff’s office and maybe three blocks from the Moscow Police Station. In this case the police response time could be expected to be within one or two minutes and perhaps even in seconds. A person out of uniform with a gun in hand in these circumstances when the police arrive have special names–they are call a “Target” or “Bullet Magnet”. I understand Husmann’s motivation. I am glad there are people willing to put themselves in danger to help others. But this wasn’t the time or the place.–Joe]

More Details

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It turns out that the Moscow shooter had multiple issues.  According to the police chief, the guy had been convicted of domestic violence, had tried suicide earlier and failed, had been involuntarily committed to a mental facility.  In the past he had told people he was going to off himself and take others with him.

Saturday night he went to a local bar and had some drinks, then went and killed his ex, then attacked the courthouse complex.

Side note:  Though several major news sources said there was an SKS “assault rifle” involved, spoke of ten-round clips, etc., and repeatedly showed a photo of an SKS, there was in fact no SKS.  There was an AK and an M1A used– a big difference to people who know guns, but of no real significance otherwise.  The lesson here is that rumors can spread like wildfire and be totally wrong.

There is the issue of urban response and combat tactics, which leave me curious.  The guy apparently was shooting at anything that moved.  He was on a hilltop surrounded by mostly residential streets and a high school, but also surrounded on two sides by solid buildings.  What do you do?  That’s my question, and I don’t have a good answer, mainly because I have no exact details and maybe never will have them.  IF (if) there is guy in a parking lot firing shots at everything around him (was he maneuvering? was he behind cover?  we don’t know) he might be a fairly easy target for someone intent on stopping him.  Certainly a SWAT team arriving hours later was in this case of no use.

These are my thoughts and questions.  It is a given that the occasional, random douche-bag will go off like this.  What are the best ways to handle it?

 

Shooting suspect information

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Via Dale and the Lewiston Morning Tribune we have more information about the suspect in the shooting over the weekend:

Crime scene investigators began searching the suspect’s brown, single-story house at 1020 Juliene Way. Neighbors gawked at the FBI suburbans and a Kootenai County crime scene trailer parked out front. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives assisted with the search.

Juliene Way is in a rather poor, isolated, and unkempt part of town. While in high school our daughter Kim had a friend just a block or so further east she frequently spent the night with. The friends father was in jail and her mother, in her late 30’s, was living with a 19 or 20 year old boyfriend. Then the boyfriend committed suicide and things got so messed up that Kim didn’t visit much anymore. What I’m trying to say is that some of the people in this area of town have more than their share of problems.

I find it very interesting that the FBI and ATF are involved. Some Federal law(s) must have been broken. The first thing that comes to mind is that perhaps the SKS rifle had been converted to full auto. That would explain the reports of “automatic rifle” in some of the early news reports and what the assistant Police Chief said at the news conference yesterday. It’s a little odd that Kootenai County would be involved too. Kootenai County is 90 miles north of Moscow.

Something that bugged me on the drive back to the Seattle area and as I was trying to go to sleep last night was that part of the Federal Building and Post Office were taped off by the police:

The picture above is looking north at the Post Office. The one below is looking south at the taped off area with the Post Office just out of the picture to the right. 5th and Jefferson is the intersection where the barricade is in the middle of the street. Use the two police cars parked there on 5th street for reference between the two pictures.

The Post Office/Federal Building is two blocks west of the dispatch center that was shot up. It’s out of sight, down a hill, and on the opposite side of the building from the window and door that were shot up. But looking at maps and where the police officer was killed it looks like bullets intended for him could have continued down the hill and street and connected with the Federal Building. I suppose this could also be reason enough for the Feds to get involved.

The next news conference is in 90 minutes. We’ll all learn more then.

Pictures from Moscow Idaho shooting

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From the air we have these pictures. At the center bottom is the Latah County court house, sheriff’s office and dispatch center. The at the junction of the white roofed north-south building with the darked roofed east-west building is the dispatch center where the first shots occurred. If we could stand in the parking lot you could see through the glass in the door through a glass window into the dispatch center itself. There were three people in the dispatch center when the bullets came through the glass. Two women, one a trainee, and a man. They called for help and were escorted to the basement where the jail is.

At the press conference they reported the dispatch center was messed up pretty good. There is broken glass everywhere, bullet holes in the wall, and some equipment was broken, etc. They have an alternate dispatch center at the drivers license office at a shopping mall at the east end of town. They opened it up and are “back in business”.

It was at this Sheriff’s office that I got my Idaho concealed carry permit. I taught a NRA Personal Protection firearms class in a room at the north east end of the courthouse, just across the street from the high school.

The Moscow police officer that was killed came to investigate and was shot some place outside. The second officer shot was a Latah County Sheriff’s officer who was attempting to come to first police officer’s aid.

Just north of the court house is another white roofed building. This is the high school Xenia attends. The shooter entered the building just to the east of the high school which is the First Presbyterian Church and killed the caretaker.

Police attempted to negotiate with the shooter but to the best of my knowledge never got a response from him. The last shot heard was about 1:00 AM this morning. This was probably a self inflicted gunshot to the head.

When I arrived about 7:30 this morning the police were still taping off the area:

I walked their perimeter as did numerous news people:

There were lots and lots of police present. Officers from Lewiston, Whitman County (just to the west from Washington State), and Washington State University Police officers came. Idaho State Patrol from Coeur d’Alene to Twin Falls (by airplane from hundreds of miles away) were there as well. The ISP will be doing the investigation since both city and county police officers were victims.

The Sheriff’s deputies below were well armed. AR-15’s or maybe M-16’s. I did not see any unloaded guns or unsafe gun handling. All appeared to have iron sights.

The picture above and the one below were taken facing north at the intersection of sixth and Adams at the south west corner of the Latah County Courthouse, Sheriff’s office, and jail. In the picture below you can see the radio tower for the dispatch center. One block further north is the Moscow High School.

The 9:00 AM press conference was at the Moscow City Court House at 3rd and Washington. It was well populated with news crews:


(Photo by Xenia)

Xenia and I took lunch to Barb at the hospital. While waiting for her to meet us across the street at Therapy Central I took a picture of someone lowering the flag outside the hospital to half-mast:

IMG_4197Web.jpg

Update: Complete video of the press conference Xenia and I attended is here. It includes my question about the SKS rifle being an automatic.

Shooting in Moscow Idaho

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Some of the main stream media coverage is here:

Xenia and I got back from the press conference a few minutes ago.

Two police officers were shot. The first one shot took multiple hits at about 11:31 PM last night. He wasn’t able to be evacuated until 12:05. He was dead on arrival. The second officer was shot a few minutes later and was taken to Gritman hospital (where Barb works) his condition is “serious”. A private citizen was shot in the same time frame as he came out of his house and approached the area to “try and help”. He has been in surgery for hours and his condition is satisfactory.

The police did not fire any shots. None of the police officers could determine the exact source of the gunfire. The shooter is believed to have started shooting while on the street then moved to the church nearby where additional shots were fired. At about 1:00 AM this morning the last shot was fired. About 5:45 AM three police entry teams went into the church while a diversion was taking place at the opposite end of the building. They found two people dead inside. One of them had a rifle next to him and is believed to be the shooter.

David Duke, assistant Police Chief, reported that a “SKS type rifle” was found. Earlier he had said the rifle was an “automatic” so I asked, “You said the rifle was an SKS but the SKS is not normally fully automatic. Are you sure it was a fully automatic rifle?” He only clarified to say, “It was an SKS type rifle. The exact rifle has not been determined.” He also said that four empty magazines were found. He did not know the capacity of the magazines or the type of ammo used.

Barb came home a few minutes ago to change her clothes after a patient vomited on her (unrelated to the shooting). She reports police officers are outside a patient room at the hospital.

Xenia wanted to go to the press conference. One of her best friends, Jessa, is the daughter of the Paster of the Church where final shots were fired. Jessa wasn’t answering her cell phone and calls to the house went unanswered. Xenia reports on her Live Journal here. At the press conference we learned, indirectly, that Jessa’s father is OK.

More later after I take a shower and get some breakfast.

Update: The best coverage I have seen so far is from the Daily News (you need an account to read the article but Dale has a copy up) and KXLY. KXLY has officer Newbill’s time of death wrong. He was probably dead at the scene and certainly was dead on arrival at the hospital.

Quote of the day–Ry Jones

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You’re alive!

Ry Jones
7:16 AM May 20, 2007
[I was in bed. A call came in from Ry and those were the first words he said. He then told me what he knew about the shooting in Moscow were I live. I went to investigate. I took lots of pictures and had a minor confrontation with the police. Xenia and I just now got back from the Press Conference. More blog posts and pictures to follow.–Joe]

“Power Sharing”

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One of the marvels of the United States has always been Her “Melting Pot” status, wherein people from all walks of life, from all around the world have come together to produce the most successful society in human history.

That’s why it bugs me when I hear people who should know better discussing the political situation in Iraq, for example.  We hear about the various and disparate groups in that country having trouble coming to an acceptable “power sharing” agreement.  What does that mean– power sharing?  That’s something that might be arranged between one king or one dictator and another, or between rival gangsters, but in a free society?

No, Grasshopper!  In a free society all individuals have the same rights, so the term “power sharing” has no meaning.  That one race, religion or other demographic might outnumber another in a certain region is, rightly, of no consequence for the simple fact that they haven’t the political power to trample on the rights of the minority.  If that ideal is not the foundation of their Constitution, then the Constitution needs a serious rewrite.

I am reminded of a quote from Ayn Rand (thanks to “The Smallest Minority” web site):  “The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities.”

Its time more of the freedom-hungry people in Iraq understand and embrace this simple concept if they are to have any hope of realizing their dream.  It would be nice if more Americans understood it too.

Quote of the day–Tamara K.

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The guy’s as popular in France’s Muslim ghettos as a bag of pork rinds, which rates another thumbs up in my book. If non-assimilating misogynist welfare leeches hate him, he can’t be all bad.

Tamara K.
May 9, 2007
My reaction to the Frog reaction to the Sarkozy win…
[Sarkozy has a big job ahead of him. But his election gives me hope for a world where the Islamic extremist demands for world domination are thwarted.–Joe]

It’s all about feeling safe

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From The Roanoke Times January 31, 2006:

A bill that would have given college students and employees the right to carry handguns on campus died with nary a shot being fired in the General Assembly.

…

Virginia Tech spokesman Larry Hincker was happy to hear the bill was defeated. “I’m sure the university community is appreciative of the General Assembly’s actions because this will help parents, students, faculty and visitors feel safe on our campus.”

As the evidence from today illustrates it was not actual safety. Just feeling safe. Feeling safe yielded the largest mass shooting in US history. A bunch of people lost their lives today because some politicians deprived the people of their right to keep and bear arms. Those politicians should be tried for accessory to murder.

[Thanks to Jerry. I did little more than copy and paste his email to make this post.]

Quote of the day–Tamara K.

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Can you imagine what would have happened if some wide spot in the road had kidnapped a boat full of ‘Er Majesty’s tars back in the days of Pax Britannia?

HMS Thunderer would have dropped anchor in the harbor of whatever pathetic hamlet they were being held captive. Royal Marines would have been disembarked. Crowds of Wogs would have been mowed down by Gatlings and run through with Martini bayonets. The local rajah would have forked over his prisoners, or he would have found his house burned to the ground and Tommy Atkins pissing on the ashes.

Tamara K.
March 30, 2007
England, ma’am. It’s where Great Britain used to be.

Inconvenient news

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This is just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. A sample:

“Nowhere does Mr Gore tell his audience that all of the phenomena that he describes fall within the natural range of environmental change on our planet,” Dr Carter wrote. “Nor does he present any evidence that climate during the 20th century departed discernibly from its historical pattern of constant change.”

…

Professor Easterbrook disputed Mr Gore’s claim that “our civilisation has never experienced any environmental shift remotely similar to this”. Nonsense, Professor Easterbrook said. He flashed a slide that showed temperature trends for the past 15,000 years. It highlighted 10 large swings, including the medieval warm period. These shifts were up to “20 times greater than the warming in the past century”.

This is mild stuff compared to what I heard when I listened to the audio book version of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming (and Environmentalism). Gore isn’t so stupid that he doesn’t know he is trying to sell “snake oil”. My guess is that he wants to use this issue to gain power for him and for the socialists of the world. Don’t let him or his followers get away with it.

A slip towards the abyss

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Via Phil at Random Nuclear Strikes comes this story from the U.K. about another small step toward a police state:

Thousands of council staff are being trained to police the smoking ban in bars, restaurants and shops in England.

Ministers have given councils £29.5m to pay for staff, who will be able to give on-the-spot £50 fines to individuals and take court action against premises.

They will have the power to enter premises undercover, allowing them to sit among drinkers, and will even be able to photograph and film people.

…

But the council is also exploring the possibility of getting street wardens, who currently aid the local police force, to help ensure the ban is effectively enforced.

Steve Dowling, director of environment and public protection at Nottingham City Council, said: “We have about 100 wardens and they could keep an eye on whether people are smoking in pubs as they go about their other duties.”

“But it is not just about pubs and restaurants. We will also be looking at the likes of car garages and shops are complying as well.”

Does anyone remember what happened with all the “Revenue Agents” after the end of prohibition? Faced with unemployment congress passed a jobs creation bill to keep them employed. That piece of legislation is now known as the National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA34, or just NFA). Something that most people don’t think about is that people believed that in order for the Federal government to have the authority to ban the recreational use of alcohol they needed to amend the constitution. And the thinking after the repeal of the 18th Amendment with the 21st Amendment was that without a repeal of the 2nd Amendment congress couldn’t prohibit gun ownership either. But what they could do was put a huge tax on certain guns. $200, the standard transfer tax specified in NFA was about six months salary in 1934. All those “Revenue Agents” now had a job to do. They had to collect those $200 transfer taxes on guns that sold for, maybe, $10.00.

Even if these street wardens and council staff, trained to “keep an eye on people”, don’t have their job functions removed by legislation more enlightened about the rights of property owners there is still a serious danger lurking. Since they are already watching, taking pictures, and reporting on “anti-social” behavior they will be utilized for other things. What will it be next? Will people that complain about the smoking ban get called in to answer some questions about their loyalty to The Crown? Or perhaps ten years from now it will gay lovers who hold hands or steal a kiss in the dark corner of bar that will be charged with a “crime against nature”. East Germany had approximately one out of every 50 people as informers in the late 1980’s just before their collapse. The U.K. has better technology and is now recognized as having the most surveillance of western democracies. 

Adding informers to assist their technological surveillance will come in quite useful when the next tyrant comes to power. You don’t think they will get a tyrant in the U.K.? Maybe not anytime soon. But one never knows for certain what can happen in just a few years time. But what you can be certain is that the more power given to the state the more people that love power will be attracted to that centralized power. People that love power (why do I have these images of a certain Senator from New York flashing in my mind now?) use it to gain more power. They then exercise it to the detriment of a free society. Currently the U.K. is further down The Road to Serfdom than we are and just took another step ahead with the training of these informers.

News about the religion of peace

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It’s not just Israel, Europe (H/T to Kim), or the United States that Muslim have problems with. Here is the latest from Thailand:

BANGKOK, Thailand — At least 23 bombs exploded Sunday in apparently coordinated attacks in parts of southern Thailand plagued by a Muslim insurgency, killing three people and wounding more than 50, the military said.

The bombings targeted electricity transmitters, hotels, karaoke bars and markets in the country’s southernmost provinces, the only parts of predominantly Buddhist Thailand with Muslim majorities. Two schools were torched.

Violence in the south has been escalating in recent months despite a major policy shift by the military-imposed government, which is trying to replace an earlier, iron-fisted approach in dealing with the rebels with a “hearts and minds” campaign.

More than 2,000 people have died in the provinces bordering Malaysia since the insurgency erupted in 2004, fueled by accusations of decades of misrule by the central government. The insurgents have not announced their goals, but they are believed to be fighting for a separate state imbued with radical Islamic ideology.

Add things like the above to my listening material (audio books) in recent weeks:

And with the recent developments in congress I have become more and more convinced we, the non-Muslims, are going to be pushed into essentially unthinkable actions in the near future. By retreating from, or failing to accomplish, the least distasteful of the options available (what President Bush is trying to accomplish in Iraq) we will allow them to develop and use nuclear weapons against us. This war is different than any other war I have heard about. This is a war where there is no one leader, country, or countries to negotiate “terms of surrender” (the surrender of either side) with. You could take out the top three layers of leadership and still the war would not end.

I believe the “religion of peace” will either permanently succeed or permanently fail in the next few decades at the cost of 100’s of millions, if not billions, of lives.

Questions You Won’t Hear

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The prerequisite, of course, to getting the correct answers is to ask the right questions.  Doing so, of course, will often be extremely difficult, and for a wide variety of reasons.

Regarding the Trolley Square shooting incident: We understand that the perpetrator was stopped by an “off duty policeman”.  Said off-duty policeman was also outside of the jurisdiction in which he worked as a policeman and was presumably carrying his own, privately-owned handgun (unless I’m wrong and it is in fact the policy of the Ogden Police Department that officers are allowed to carry their city-owned, issue weapons while off-duty and outside the jurisdiction).

So the questions you wont hear are:

Wouldn’t that make him just another, regular, armed citizen?

Wouldn’t he in fact have been a concealed carry permit holder, like you and me?

If so, how many concealed carry permit holders have you heard of being recommended for honors by city officials after using their guns to save lives, as has been done in this case by Ogden city officials?

Wouldn’t the normal response have been “No charges have been filed as of yet” if the defender had NOT been a policeman?

What might have happened if the perpetrator had done this in NYC, DC, San Francisco, or Chicago, where citizens cannot legally defend themselves with concealed firearms?  In that case, wouldn’t we be treated to days or weeks of demands in the media for even more gun restrictions, even though the gun restrictions themselves had resulted in a higher death toll?

How should we, as concerned citizens, treat our public servants when they attempt to undermine our ability to defend ourselves and our families against aggression?

Equality Under the Law? Sure, I’ll Take it!

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I thought that banks were required by federal law to have the Socialist Security numbers of all account holders.  It turns out not be true, apparently, for illegals.  I’ll choose to think of that as good news.  I’ll assume I can now open accounts all over the country, including credit card accounts, without my Socialist Security number or any other documentation of my true identity.  Cool.

A hint of attention to the law

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Usually when some state or local political type ignores the law (18 USC 242 as well as the 2nd Amendment) and attacts people exercising their constitutionally protected rights the Feds just look the other way. The impression I get is that they figure it’s just some uppity gun nut–so who cares? This time it’s a little bit different:

In a stern rebuke to the city’s high-profile crusade against illegal guns, the feds warned the Bloomberg administration that it could face “potential legal liabilities” if it continues to conduct sting operations that fall within the jurisdiction of federal agents.

…

According to a letter sent to City Hall, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and various U.S. attorneys’ offices have determined the city’s findings against the 15 dealers “do not rise to a level that would support a criminal prosecution.”

The letter – sent Tuesday by Michael Battle, director of the executive office for United States Attorneys at the Department of Justice – also scolded City Hall for engaging in sting operations involving persons “without proper law enforcement authority,” saying that could put the city in legal jeopardy. Battle added that City Hall could “unintentionally interrupt or jeopardize” criminal probes.

But of course, just like the classic deep south sherriff that is a member of the KKK, this politician doesn’t get it either:

Asked if the Bloomberg administration plans to stop conducting the sting operations, Deputy Mayor Ed Skyler said, “Not necessarily.”

“The city hasn’t violated any laws,” Skyler said defiantly, adding that the city will continue to pursue its civil lawsuits against the gun dealers.

Via Cam, Jeff, and Uncle.

Blinking lights and bombs

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Even though I have never built a bomb (ignore all the people that keep asking me for help building one) I know a little about them. Tam gets the sarcasm right and now I’m going to fill in a few technical details for you clueless types:

  • Hollywood does not do reality. Putting the time remaining until detonation in large numbers on a bomb is a Hollywood gimmick to increase tension in the story.
  • Lights do not serve any purpose on a bomb other than to draw attention to it.
  • If someone’s intent is to hurt people or property drawing attention to the bomb is probably counter productive.
  • Conventional explosives can only directly injury and kill via three different mechanism:
    • High speed projectiles, usually metal, that have been accelerated by the explosion
    • Overpressure which ruptures the lungs of the victims. You must be very close and sheltered from the high speed projectiles for this to matter
    • Acceleration of the victim. The various body parts are accelerated at different rates and the victim is torn apart or the victim can be thrown into an object that hasn’t been accelerated; i.e. they are thrown against a concrete wall
  • Bombs can cause indirect injuries such as the structural failure of a bridge, building, dam, dangerous chemical container, or starting fires (non-trivial but possible). Falling glass from the building above you is a big one to be concerned about.
  • Surprisingly small amounts, fractions of a pound, of properly placed explosives can do amazing things to structures without the explosion hurting people just a few feet, even inches, away.
  • Surprisingly large amounts (hundreds of pounds) of improperly placed explosives can do virtually nothing to structures and people who are relatively close by.
  • Hollywood does not do reality. There are no safe ways to disarm bombs in general. Anything you can come up with I (or any other competent electrical engineer) can defeat such that either my bomb will detonate when I want it to or you make a bigger explosion than mine in order to destroy my bomb.
  • Hollywood does not do reality. Fireballs are not an inherent part of explosives. It takes additional effort to create a fireball.  I’ve spent a lot of time figuring out how to make them (see also this page). It takes a lot of fuel to get something very interesting. The picture below used two pounds of explosives and four gallons of gasoline and I was clearly safe less than 50 feet away.

If you see something suspicious there are two things that are important; 1) How large is it? 2) What is it’s placement?

Here are the evacuation distances based on the size of a bomb. Those are worst case distances based in part over the concern of broken glass from the windows between you and the bomb and on the buildings above the sidewalks. A few licorice string sized objects properly placed would be more effective in taking out a bridge than a car fully loaded with explosives driving across the top.

If the placement is very near some important structure such as a bridge or fuel tank one should be more suspicious than if it is in the middle of the Safeway parking lot.

Blinking lights on a flat panel attached to non-interesting structures are either not a bomb or evidence of a very stupid bomber. In either case it’s not something to shut down a city’s transportation about. Stupid bombers, with the exception of suicide bombers which aren’t bombers but bomb delivery vehicles, are very rare because Darwin is very severe in his thinning of that herd. I just wish Darwin would thin the herd of stupid politicians as severely.

The creation of Maxwell’s Demon?

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Initial reports are a little ambiguous but if the Wikipedia entry is to be believed I don’t have reason to faint as I was initially inclined (violation of the Second Law of Thermodynamics is a very big deal in my world view).

Still, it is perhaps as big a deal as electronics. And since Maxwell’s Demon is very much like the very first electronic device, the diode, the analogy works pretty well. If the analogy holds, as things scale, then the analog of the integrated circuit will be mind boggling let alone the analog of the multi-core, multi-CPU, desktop computer.

Does the law apply?

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Vi Ry and Reason. A 80 year old man was shot and killed by undercover police after he told them to leave his property. He brandished a gun and they shot and killed him. Witnesses say the officers never told him they were undercover. What would the law do if it had been real drug dealers that had shot and killed him? Would they be prosecuted? Almost for certain. Assuming the witnesses are correct, what law says the police are held to a different and lower standard? Will they be held to the same standard as any other person that did the same thing?

Don’t count on it. The police are out of control and a good portion of the reason is because of the war on some recreational drugs. It’s time the legislature declared victory and gave it up.

Update: More info on the case (thanks to Steph for the link):

Police are now conceding that Singletary was completely innocent. The Jacksonville sheriff describes him in this article as an “honest citizen trying to do good.”

Which means that two undercover officers trespassed onto Singletary’s property. They then invited criminals onto his property to engage in criminal activity with them. Mr. Singletary, recognizing the trespassers as drug dealers, then properly demanded they leave. He brought a gun along to defend himself, not an unreasonable action, given the circumstances. For this, he was shot to death.

These police officers should be treated exactly the same as any other private citizen who shot to death a private citizen under similar circumstances. I.e. trespassing while engaging in a transaction involving illegal drugs. “The kings men” do not have special, unwritten privileges that places them above the law–both legal and moral law.

Just a Reminder

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From our friend in Israel:

Friends:
The terrorists have begun killing each other.  The U.S. is racing to infuse millions of dollars into the Fatah terrorist group.  So whats new?
 
Have a good weekend.
Howard

The U.S. has been supporting Jihadist organizations in the name of “Middle East Peace” for decades, as has Israel, by the way.  Can there be any doubt as to why this problem goes on and on, with no end in sight?  What would have been the result if the Allies had adopted this same policy toward the Nazis, or the Imperial Japs?  Does anyone doubt what needs to be done to secure peace over there, or are we still trying as hard as we can to convince ourselves that the Jihadists just want to get along?