False Ideas of Utility

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Quote of the Day

A principal source of errors and injustice are false ideas of utility. For example: that legislator has false ideas of utility who considers particular more than general conveniencies, who had rather command the sentiments of mankind than excite them, who dares say to reason, “Be thou a slave;” who would sacrifice a thousand real advantages to the fear of an imaginary or trifling inconvenience; who would deprive men of the use of fire for fear of their being burnt, and of water for fear of their being drowned; and who knows of no means of preventing evil but by destroying it.

The laws of this nature are those which forbid to wear arms, disarming those only who are not disposed to commit the crime which the laws mean to prevent. Can it be supposed, that those who have the courage to violate the most sacred laws of humanity, and the most important of the code, will respect the less considerable and arbitrary injunctions, the violation of which is so easy, and of so little comparative importance? Does not the execution of this law deprive the subject of that personal liberty, so dear to mankind and to the wise legislator? and does it not subject the innocent to all the disagreeable circumstances that should only fall on the guilty? It certainly makes the situation of the assaulted worse, and of the assailants better, and rather encourages than prevents murder, as it requires less courage to attack unarmed than armed persons.

Cesare Beccaria
An Essay on Crimes & Punishments, translated from the Italian with a commentary, attributed to M. de Voltaire, translated from the French
(New York: Stephen Gould, 1809), 124-25.

Emphasis added.

Via Laws that forbid the carrying of arms…(Spurious Quotation) | Monticello.

This has a lot of truth in it, assuming the legislator actually believes the utility of arms restrictions will make the general population safer. I suspect some do. But I am completely convinced many know this is not true and have evil intent in disarmament of the people. They want subjects to rule rather than be a servant to the public.

Pre-Attack Behaviors of Active Shooters

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Quote of the Day

For this study, “suicidal ideation” was defined as thinking about or planning suicide, while “suicide attempt” was defined as a non-fatal, self-directed behavior with the intent to die, regardless of whether the behavior ultimately results in an injury of any kind. Although these definitions are broad, the FBI concluded that an active shooter had suicidal ideation or engaged in a suicide attempt only when based on specific, non-trivial evidence.

Nearly half of the active shooters had suicidal ideation or engaged in suicide-related behaviors at some time prior to the attack (48%, n = 30), while five active shooters (8%) displayed no such behaviors (the status of the remaining 28 active shooters was unknown due to a lack of sufficient evidence to make a reasonable determination).

An overwhelming majority of the 30 suicidal active shooters showed signs of suicidal ideation (90%, n = 27), and seven made actual suicide attempts (23%). Nearly three-quarters (70%, n = 21) of these behaviors occurred within one year of the shooting.

Federal Bureau of Investigation
A STUDY OF THE PRE-ATTACK BEHAVIORS OF ACTIVE SHOOTERS IN THE UNITED STATES BETWEEN 2000 AND 2013
June 2018

From a causal reading suicide ideation and/or suicide attempt appeared to be the single most common observable behavior prior to a mass shooting.

Notably, the studied demographics appeared to be all over the map. I wish they had included political affiliation. Anecdotally there appears to be positive correlation with democrats and active shooters. See near the end of this post for some examples.

I also wish the use of psychiatric drugs would have been on their list of “demographics”. Although they did consider “mental illness” (only 25% of them had ever been diagnosed with mental illness).

Their key findings were:

  1. The 63 active shooters examined in this study did not appear to be uniform in any way such that they could be readily identified prior to attacking based on demographics alone.
  2. Active shooters take time to plan and prepare for the attack, with 77% of the subjects spending a week or longer planning their attack and 46% spending a week or longer actually preparing (procuring the means) for the attack.
  3. A majority of active shooters obtained their firearms legally, with only very small percentages obtaining a firearm illegally.
  4. The FBI could only verify that 25% of active shooters in the study had ever been diagnosed with a mental illness. Of those diagnosed, only three had been diagnosed with a psychotic disorder.
  5. Active shooters were typically experiencing multiple stressors (an average of 3.6 separate stressors) in the year before they attacked.
  6. On average, each active shooter displayed 4 to 5 concerning behaviors over time that were observable to others around the shooter. The most frequently occurring concerning behaviors were related to the active shooter’s mental health, problematic interpersonal interactions, and leakage of violent intent.
  7. For active shooters under age 18, school peers and teachers were more likely to observe concerning behaviors than family members. For active shooters 18 years old and over, spouses/domestic partners were the most likely to observe concerning behaviors.
  8. When concerning behavior was observed by others, the most common response was to communicate directly to the active shooter (83%) or do nothing (54%). In 41% of the cases the concerning behavior was reported to law enforcement. Therefore, just because concerning behavior was recognized does not necessarily mean that it was reported to law enforcement.
  9. In those cases where the active shooter’s primary grievance could be identified, the most common grievances were related to an adverse interpersonal or employment action against the shooter (49%).
  10. In the majority of cases (64%) at least one of the victims was specifically targeted by the active shooter.

One thing I don’t understand is that in item 8., above, we see “most common response was to communicate directly to the active shooter (83%) or do nothing (54%).” How is this possible? 83% and 54% add up to greater than 100% and I don’t see how both could be true at the same time. Any ideas as to what I am missing here?

Unmoored

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Quote of the Day

The Seventh Circuit’s contrived ‘non-militaristic’ limitation on the Arms protected by the Second Amendment seems unmoored from both text and history. And, even on its own terms, the Seventh Circuit’s application of its definition is nonsensical.

Clarence Thomas
U.S. Supreme Court Justice
July 2, 2024
Illinois’ gun ban remains in place, but rights advocates say days are numbered – Washington Examiner

I would like to believe he toned down his thoughts before putting them in writing. I am inclined to believe that not only is the Seventh Circuit decision unmoored from text and history, but the judges are unmoored from reality and/or deliberately lying.

Disarm Those Who Are Threat to Democracy

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Quote of the Day

German court rules that members of the right-wing Alternative for Germany party are BANNED from owning firearms.

They say it’s because the second largest party in the country is a “suspected threat” to democracy.

PeterSweden @PeterSweden7
Posted on X, July 3, 2024

Wow! Now that resonates through history and to the present.

They have been working on this since at least July of 2022. And of course they succeeded with something very similar in 1938. You would think the socialist would remember what they did last time and how it ended for them. Perhaps they remember very well and expect to get away with their crimes against humanity this time.

And of course, the political left in our country is also pushing as fast and hard as they can to disarm those who they claim is “a threat to democracy.”

Prepare appropriately.

Via a post by Chuck Petras @Chuck_Petras

No Celebrations for Sotomayor

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Quote of the Day

Today’s decision is a massive sea change. Litigants seeking further dismantling of the ‘administrative state’ have reason to rejoice in their win today, but those of us who cherish the rule of law have nothing to celebrate.

Sonia Sotomayor
SCOTUS Justice
June 27, 2024
Sonia Sotomayor foreshadows Supreme Court ‘dismantling’ administrative state (msn.com)

People being allowed to have a jury trial rather than a “judge” trial who is part of the regulatory agency prosecuting them is a problem for her.

She supports the enablement of dictators and tyrants and is opposed to the Bill of Rights. I want her to celebrate very little in her time at SCOTUS.

This War Will Certainly Go to the Nuclear Level

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Quote of the Day

This logic inevitably leads to the third world war. And if right now the further involvement of the West in the conflict in Ukraine is not stopped, then the full-fledged, “hot” war between Russia and NATO will become inevitable.

Moreover, due to the superiority of the United States and NATO in the field of conventional weapons, this war will certainly go to the nuclear level.

Dmitry Suslov
Senior member of the Moscow-based think tank Council for Foreign and Defence Policy, wrote about the suggestion in the Russian business magazine Profile
May 2024
War Footing: World on Edge as Russia is Told to ‘Demonstrate’ Nuclear Explosion to ‘Scare’ West (msn.com)

I want to be in my underground bunker in Idaho. My employer wants me to be in the office a minimum of four days a week.

Prosecute Them!

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These people need to be prosecuted.:

Charged with possessing his own gun, Purple Heart recipient suing NYPD for discrimination

Purple Heart recipient Raffique Khan still can’t believe he was pulled over while driving his BMW in Brooklyn for no apparent reason — then arrested for carrying a legal gun.

Sadly, he says, he can only conclude he was charged because he’s Black.

Khan, 40, retired from the U.S. Army and now working as an armed federal environment protection specialist assigned to Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island, has filed a federal lawsuit alleging discrimination, wrongful arrest and a denial of his Second Amendment right to carry a firearm.

“There was no probable cause, to stop [Khan] other than he was a person of color operating an expensive late model vehicle…” said the suit, filed in Brooklyn Federal Court by his lawyer, Cory Morris, on May 21. A similar suit was filed by Morris June 14 in State Supreme Court in Brooklyn.

“To be honest, I’m disappointed,” Khan, a native of Trinidad and Tobago, told the Daily News in an interview. “I never thought I would serve and come home to be treated in this manner. I love my country. I wasn’t born here but what better way to pay your country than to serve. i did it honorably.

“I could understand if i was arguing or trying to fight, being belligerent — but it was nothing like that.”

The criminal complaint — filed after Officer Matthew Bessen, who Khan described as white, arrested Khan last Nov. 26 in East New York — clearly indicates that the NYPD’s own database indicates Khan has a license to carry a firearm. The complaint said Khan can only carry the weapon while at work, but Morris said Khan has no such restrictions on his license.

…

Khan said he was not told why he was stopped — and there is nothing in the complaint to indicate it, either.

But Kkan, noting his “great respect” for law enforcement, said he immediately told Bessen he was a licensed gun holder and that the weapon was in his glove compartment.

With that, Khan said he and his passengers were ordered out of the car, with Bessen reviewing Khan’s documents — including his carry permit and military identification — and questioning how he got them.

“Maybe he didn’t expect a minority to have credentials like that,” Khan said. “I did not say that to him, but I was saying that to myself. I wanted to still give him the respect he deserves but even though I’m asking him what is going on he didn’t explain anything to me at all.”

After about a half hour, Khan, his cousin and his friend were handcuffed and taken to the 75th Precinct, with Khan eventually charged and the other two let go.

I hope the officers and prosecutors involved enjoy their trials.

Via a post by Chuck Petras @Chuck_Petras.

Boring

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Quote of the Day

That, and the fact you have a micropenis.

Bruce Normal @BrianMalcolm20
Posted on Twitter June 30, 2023

It’s not only another Markley’s Law Monday, it is another science denier (see also here)!

No originality. No cleverness. No humor. Boring.

Former Judge has Crap for Brains

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Quote of the Day

One problem with the court’s approach is that it is formalist, pedantic—soulless. It wrongly suggests that the court should give the words in a statute a form-over- substance significance that focuses on dictionaries, and historic word usage while ignoring the basic right at stake or the basic evil a law aims at ending. In the abortion case, an anti-abortion court could have turned the decision on weighing a life or potential life protected by the Constitution against the liberty of a woman to control her own body—another right protected by the Constitution. Rather than methodically marching to the foregone conclusion that women had no rights historically, the court could have overturned Roe simply by restriking the balance of rights in favor of a life or potential life that might be lost in abortion. Rather than spending their time fixated on the interior life of a gun, the court in Cargill could have considered what the law was obviously aimed at limiting—guns that mindlessly spew multitudes of bullets and threaten public safety. Laws have values in them—life, liberty, public safety, etc., and when the court ignores them in favor of games with words, it undermines respect for the institution.

Thomas G. Moukawsher
Former Connecticut complex litigation judge and a former co-chair of the American Bar Association Committee on Employee Benefits.
June 25, 2024
Bump-Stock Ruling Reveals a Supreme Court Obsessed With Word Play | Opinion (msn.com)

I dropped my jaw in amazement reading this. He thinks judges should weigh the pros and cons and examine how they feel about the topic to decide the case? Really? That is the job of the legislators when making the laws. If he were to have it his way we would end up with bump stocks being legal or illegal depending upon which judge was assigned to our case. Abortion doctors and the women who employed their services would be sent to jail or on their way, again, depending on what judge they were assigned or perhaps even the mood of the judge that day.

Word mean things and the law depends on the precise meaning of the words used to create those law. If not, then the result will be injustice and chaos. You just won’t know what is an ordinary everyday activity and what a multiple year felony.

This guy is a former judge! Well, maybe this is the reason he is a former judge. He has crap for brains.

BRICS Gold-Backed Currency to Launch at 2024 Summit?

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Game changer:

BRICS aims to launch a new currency that will be backed by gold as a counter to the US dollar. A common currency will make the alliance usher into a new financial era and become a cornerstone for further developments. The upcoming summit in 2024 will shed more light on the policies that are aimed to topple the US dollar.

We live in interesting times.

Don’t Ever Change, Democrats

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Quote of the Day

Groups supporting the amendment, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the Anti-Recidivism Coalition, have been pushing to amend the state constitution for years.

A similar effort introduced in 2020 to put the issue on the ballot in 2022 failed to gain traction in the Legislature after Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom opposed it, saying it had the potential to cost billions of dollars if prisoners had to be paid the state minimum wage. (The current proposal does not require prisoners to be paid minimum wage.)

Emily Schultheis
June 27, 2024
Californians will vote on slavery ban in November (msn.com)

If they can’t have slaves, at least don’t make them pay minimum wage. One dollar an hour is plenty.

And, of course, most of these slaves are “people of color”:

Advocates of the change say the current rules disproportionately affect people of color, who make up a majority of the state’s prison population.

From this it appears Democrats are stuck on having slaves.

Some things never change.

Now What?

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Quote of the Day

His job was to calm his party, to make them feel that, yes, I can do this. I have four more years in me. He did not do that.

He did the opposite of that. He made them more panicked.

Joy Reid
June 27, 2024
MSNBC host Joy Reid said Democrats are on the verge of a ‘full fledged panic’ after Biden’s ‘extremely weak’ performance

Scott Adam’s “quite likely” scenario may be coming true.

Now what happens?

World War 3

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Quote of the Day

The wars of the future draw on a grim heritage. The fact that peace would seem to be the rational option for most humans has never been able to stifle the urge to fight when it seems necessary, or lucrative, or an obligation. And that heritage is the chief reason it is possible to imagine a future war. After the end of the Cold War, there was once a fashion for saying that war was obsolete – if only that were so, we might now live in a world without weapons and fear. While few would actively seek the Third World War, few envisaged or wanted the other two. The sad reality is that our understanding of why wars occur has so far contributed little to setting warfare aside as an enduring element in human affairs.

Richard Overy
June 23, 2024
Why it’s too late to stop World War 3 (yahoo.com)

I want an underground bunker in Idaho.

Ratshot, 50 BMG

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Quote of the Day

Via a post from Chuck Petras @Chuck_Petras.

I’m thinking the variety of rats are those where you want less forensic evidence left behind.

Federal Deficit Versus GDP

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The national debt is over $34 trillion. It’s time to tell the truth about the U.S. government’s finances (msn.com)

This catastrophe has been a long time in the making. In 1993, for instance, the annual deficit amounted to 3.8% of GDP, and the debt, which seemed astronomically high at a “mere” $4.4 trillion, was Lilliputian by today’s standards.

The trend goes back longer than that. The growth of the U.S. government in modern times is the story of post-WWII America. President Dwight Eisenhower seems to have been the last guy in the post-WWII era who understood that the welfare state, the warfare state, and tax cuts not backed by tough spending cuts are incompatible with fiscally responsible government, or at least with reasonably-sized government. His predecessor, Harry Truman, who had funded the Korean War effort, left Eisenhower a level of federal spending equivalent to 18.5% of GDP. Between then and now, both parties, with short-lived exceptions, have pushed both the defense and domestic budgets exponentially higher.

Lyndon Johnson took spending to 19.6% of GDP; Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford to 21.5%; Jimmy Carter to 21.8%; George W. Bush to 21.9%; Barack Obama to 24.9% (before bringing it back to 21.9%); Donald Trump to 31.3% (during the COVID-19 meltdown), and Joe Biden to 31.7%, although now it has come down to 22%.

…

It’s now come down to this. Unless a new generation of leaders has the courage to cut such “untouchables” as the defense, education, justice, and homeland security budgets, and privatize the Social Security program (as more than 40 countries wisely have done), sooner or later, the current trajectory of federal finances will lead to an extremely ugly place. If you think things are bad now, just wait.

I need an underground bunker on a farm in Idaho.

Blood Biomarkers for Centenarians

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Interesting study on aging:

The Blood of Exceptionally Long-Lived People Reveals Crucial Differences : ScienceAlert

Centenarians, once considered rare, have become commonplace. Indeed, they are the fastest-growing demographic group of the world’s population, with numbers roughly doubling every ten years since the 1970s.

…

We found that, on the whole, those who made it to their hundredth birthday tended to have lower levels of glucose, creatinine and uric acid from their sixties onwards.

Although the median values didn’t differ significantly between centenarians and non-centenarians for most biomarkers, centenarians seldom displayed extremely high or low values.

For example, very few of the centenarians had a glucose level above 6.5 mmol/L earlier in life, or a creatinine level above 125 µmol/L.

For many of the biomarkers, both centenarians and non-centenarians had values outside of the range considered normal in clinical guidelines.

…

Keeping track of your kidney and liver values, as well as glucose and uric acid as you get older, is probably not a bad idea.

That said, chance probably plays a role at some point in reaching an exceptional age.

But the fact that differences in biomarkers could be observed a long time before death suggests that genes and lifestyle may also play a role.

If the cancer and dementia in my family history don’t take me out and civil/WWIII doesn’t make a negative contribution to my health I probably have a higher than average, but far from good, chance at reaching 100.

Worryingly, People Are Defending Themselves

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Quote of the Day

When a large slice of the public believes that crime is out of hand and most offenses go unpunished, some people inevitably take the law into their own hands.

Worryingly, we’re seeing more signs of that phenomenon in Chicago, with three separate episodes over the last weekend in which would-be victims proved to be both armed and willing to fire at their assailants. Four people who police said were attacking these concealed carry holders were shot and wounded, all of them critically.

…

But the majority of Chicagoans, we’re convinced, don’t feel any safer when they read stories of good-guy-with-a-gun responses to street crime. They may feel some satisfaction when street criminals feel the same level of fear their would-be victims do. But overall, it’s not a healthy environment in a city — where by definition people live close together — when gun-packing citizens become more the norm than the exception.

This is not to pass judgment on those who for their own protection go through the steps necessary to get a concealed carry permit and then take advantage of the legal rights that license gives them.

…

Surely, our public officials, no matter what side of the criminal-justice-reform divide they’re on, can agree that the growing risks of more ordinary citizens taking responsibility for their own safety at the point of a gun isn’t a healthy development.

The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune
June 6, 2024
Editorial: Potential victims are shooting back. This should raise alarms for Chicago public officials. (yahoo.com)

Even ignoring that someone shooting in self-defense is not “taking the law into their own hands”, this is a little warped.

It seems as if they really want to say how bad it is that people can carry guns to defend themselves. And if only public officials would do their job then we could get those icky guns out of the hands of the unclean common people without so much fuss.

Russia Versus America and NATO

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I think I found this on X or Gab. I’m just not sure where:

A Russian wife turned to her husband and asked, “What’s this special military operation our glorious leader keeps talking about?” Her husband replied, “It’s a war to stop America and NATO.” “Oh, right” she says “How’s it going?”

“Well” he replied “so far we have lost over 20 generals, 100,000 troops killed, countless injured, 3000 tanks, 300 aircraft, hundreds of helicopters, countless armoured vehicles, artillery and trucks, our flagship along with other naval ships, our army is being defeated in most areas and we have had to resort to conscripting 500,000 Russians including murders and rapists to replace our losses”.

“Wow” replied the wife “what about America and NATO”?

“They haven’t turned up yet”

While not entirely true, there is probably a little too much truth to be funny to the top Russian politicians and the military.

Micropenis Rapid Response Force

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Quote of the Day

Holy shit lol the entire Micropenis Rapid Response Force came out to reply to you here

‘Cope! Seethe! 3 inches is big enough!!’

Of the 20 replies you got, there’s gotta be a total of 80 domestic violence charges & *zero* satisfied women between them all

Spaghetti Policy? @alt_DoooooM
Posted on Twitter March 4, 2022

It’s not only another Markley’s Law Monday, it is another science denier (see also here)!

I have to give him a bonus point for the phrase “Micropenis Rapid Response Force”. I have not heard that one before.

And he gets another bonus point for the prejudice of expecting gun owners to be perpetrators of domestic violence.

Via a tweet from In Chains @InChainsInJail.

Worse Than the NRA

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The National Rifle Association is not what it used to be, and that’s created a gap. And what has gone into the gap are a bunch of further-right organizations that are trying to take the mantle of the NRA by being as extreme as possible. Foremost among them is the Firearms Policy Coalition. Friday was a real moment for them. It’s one of the most extreme groups; it uses extraordinarily violent rhetoric. And it’s putting out material that’s getting blessed by a majority opinion of the Supreme Court. You have to take a step back and look at where we are—I don’t think that’s anything you could imagine happening even 10 years ago.

David Pucino
Legal director of the Giffords Law Center
June 15, 2024
The group rewriting America’s gun laws for the Supreme Court Is Worse Than the NRA. (slate.com)

I was already convinced the FPC deserved my support. You don’t need to oversell them.

I know I shouldn’t be surprised but I was amazed at the projection, lies, and deception presented in this interview. Here is an example:

Justice Clarence Thomas’ majority opinion is rooted in historical misrepresentations and utterly implausible manipulations of the statutory text.

The link leads to these claims:

Justice Clarence Thomas’ opinion for the court tortures statutory text beyond all recognition, defying Congress’ clear and (until now) well-established commands.

…

Thomas adopted a highly technical interpretation of the statute that does not align with its text. A “single function of the trigger,” he wrote, does not mean a single pull of the trigger, but rather a complete “cycle” of the spring-loaded hammer inside the gun. Because the hammer (rapidly) resets to its original position between shots, Thomas concluded, “bump firing” involves more than “a single function of the trigger.”

Deception and lies. It what they do because it is the best they have to bring to the debate.