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January 2018
Elon Musk: I'm not plotting a zombie apocalypse to promote flamethrower sales
Of course, that's just what he'd want us to think, if he really was.
School shooting media claims debunked
In the Wall Street Journal. It's behind a paywall, but essentially a former EMT researches a NY Times report of 11 school shooting already this year, and finds they include:
a school bus window broken by a pellet gun,
a shot that hit a school building at 2 AM,
two suicides (one a non-student, in the parking lot of a closed school),
two apparent drive-by shots that hit school buildings when no one was present, and
an accidental discharge of a firearm legally there.
The New York Times relied upon data it was fed by Everytown for Gun Safety to argue that "Gunfire ringing out in American schools used to be rare, and shocking. Now it seems to happen all the time."
Weatherby pulls out of California, moving to Wyoming
Story here.
I wish there were more titles like this one....
A challenge to New York's "gravity knife ban," under which, if any human in existence can flip a folding knife hard enough to open it, the owner will be arrested, draws the title of "Federal Court Hears Constitutional Challenge to a New York Statute that Incarcerates Working Class People of Color."
hat tip to Alice Beard....
One long shot
Sniper team picks off an ISIS enemy at 3,871 yards. Tho I think the article over-simplifies Coriolis Effect.
The spirit of John Calhoun is laughing its butt off
Interesting insight
I was in Washington, DC last week. On an Uber ride, the driver was a fellow from Moracco and began talking politics.
Seems his other job was working at the Trump Hotel there, and he sees Donald Trump as the greatest man on the planet. He explained that the hotel starts dishwashers at $20 per hour. He'd worked at other hotels, and nobody starts dishwashers at $20. (I checked: the DC minimum wage is $12.50). He added that all employees get first-rate health insurance, for free. (Add that in, and they start the dishwashers twice the minimum wage). In his enthusiasm he even pulled out his insurance card to prove it. He ended by saying that Trump is a great leader of the greatest nation on earth.
Where can we find more like this guy?
Radio interview on my new book
Audio here.
Back to Tucson
Back from DC. I lived there for ten years, but had forgotten what the horrific weather was like. And how unpredictable it is.
Wednesday: forecast was for a high of 42 tomorrow.
Thursday: I fly in after 5 PM, and the temp is 62.
Friday: high about 70, and I'm sweating in a suit because humidity must be 100%. Literally, I saw masses of fog rising up from the Potomac, and I'd never seen that before.
Friday night: a cold front, highs from here on in the high 30s, but a biting 18 mph wind. I really needed an overcoat.
An interesting tale: On Friday I was filmed for the Jesse Ventura show. On the way back, I was driven by an Uber driver who was an immigrant from Morocco. He talked of Donald Trump. He worships Donald Trump. He told me that his other job was for the Trump hotel in DC, and that they pay even dishwashers $20/hour. He'd worked for other hotels, and none of them pays like that. And he gets great health insurance with Aenta, for free. He got so enthusiastic about it that he showed me his Aetna card to prove it. He said Trump was a great man who would lead the greatest country on earth.
I just wonder--where can we find more immigrants like my driver? I'd let them in 10,000 at a time.
Definition of Chutzpah
is the plaintiff in this case. He's a mentally impaired convicted child molester, given lifetime probation. He was placed in a group home, where the provider was supposed to give him 24/7 supervision. An employee drove him to an event and, instead of staying with him dropped him off. He promptly molested another child, and was sentenced to 8 years' imprisonment.
So he sued the provider for, essentially, allowing him to molest a child, with the damages being that he got caught and sentenced to 8 years! (Not to mention pain and suffering and anxiety from the enforced stay).
He didn't get very far in court. Perhaps the attorneys that took that one on a contingency should have a check up from the neck up, too.
Paloma Capanna on oral argument in 2nd Circuit
She's a pro-gun attorney and describes the experience here.
I wish I could say the situation -- judges who don't understand the appeal, and probably haven't read or at best skimmed the briefs -- is unusual, but it isn't. It depends a lot on what court you are in. Division Two of the Arizona Court of Appeals has an interesting practice in order to prevent this: they'll take a preliminary vote before argument, and send both attorneys a draft opinion. That way at least one judge (the author) is well-versed, and the others at least somewhat versed, and you know exactly how to structure your argument.
Judge dismissed charges against Cliven Bundy
She dismissed charge based on extreme prosecutorial misconduct -- violations of the Brady obligation, named after a Supreme Court case. The concept is that it violates due process of law for the government to convict a person while keeping secret evidence that tends to prove their innocence. Dismissal, as opposed to just forcing the government to disclose the information, is reserved for truly extreme violations of the requirement.
The judge, incidentally, was nominated by President Obama at the request of Harry Reid....
UPDATE: in my book I mention what happened to the prosecutors in the Ted Stevens case, who likewise concealed a load of evidence proving he was innocent. They all kept their jobs, and most of them later went to very well-paying jobs in big law firms.
Break out the shotguns!
Aggressive turkeys hinder mail delivery in Ohio town.
"Why Black People Own Guns"
At the Huffington Post, which has in the past occasionally run a pro-gun article.
Waco documentary Thursday night
ABC is airing a two hour documentary on Waco Thursday night, 9 EST, 8 Central.