Bill Gates: How the world can avoid a climate disaster.
—CBS News, February 15th.
Bill Gates Joins Private-Equity Firms in $4.7 Billion Deal for Private-Jet Company. —The Wall Street Journal, February 5th.
I’ll start considering that ‘climate change’ might possibly be a real problem when the people who tell me it’s a problem start living their own lives like it’s a real problem.
I hope this helps people believe what we've been trying to tell them, some of us for months, others for years.
— James Lindsay, increasingly relevant (@ConceptualJames) February 15, 2021
Twofer in Miami.
Shooting at SW Miami-Dade ATM Leaves Suspected Robber Dead
Police are investigating a Saturday night shooting at a Southwest Miami-Dade bank that left one suspected robber dead and another fleeing the scene.
Miami-Dade Police say the shooting took place at the BB&T Bank branch located on Southwest 137th Avenue near Kendall Drive around 8:30 p.m.
Investigators say the victim was at a drive-thru ATM at the bank when a suspected robber approached the victim’s white pick-up truck and the two got into a confrontation. Shots were fired, according to police, and the robber was struck and died at the scene.
The victim was also struck by gunfire and taken to an area hospital, where he is listed in stable condition.
A second suspected robber fled the scene on foot and officers are still searching for that person. Officials have not released any information on anyone involved at this time.
23-year-old woman fights back, reportedly shoots suspect during attempted robbery
The mother of a 23-year-old woman who shot at an attempted robber at a Valero gas station told Local 10 News that her daughter had a legal license to carry the firearm. Miami-Dade police said the victim shot the suspect multiple times during the attempted robbery.
Miami-Dade Police said the shooting took place at 7 a.m. at the gas station near Northwest 79th Street and 13th Court.
Neighbors told Local 10 News they heard gunshots.
Resident Carlos Frometa lives next to the gas station and told Local 10 News’ Annaliese Garcia he heard what sounded like three gun shots.
Other witnesses said they heard the apparent gunfire around 7:15 a.m.
The subject was transported to Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital, where he is in critical condition.
Gun Control is a scam aimed at people control. It has been aimed at specific groups of people who were deemed a problem by the powers that be in historic and modern times. In the past its goals were not hidden. In our times it falsely hides behind the guise of safety and security.
I have been watching it closely for over 40 years, since they started with Handgun Control Inc. They have a play book that they keep going to over and over again, with minor variations. The end game is the elimination of all civilian gun ownership, which is the only thing that stops them from wholesale implementation of EU style “progressive” government and policies.
The whole anti-tyranny, 2nd Amendment thing is the only thing that stops them from making the US part of their “world community”, and it drives them nuts. So they will create false crises and scream, “the children”, “epidemic and scourge”, “reasonable compromise”, and “gun safety”, when the facts don’t support it, their laws don’t make sense, and they have no intention of compromising.
They lie to take every inch that gun owners give to make it as difficult as possible to be a law abiding gun owner, and use it as a stepping stone for their next push. They don’t care that the laws don’t effect criminals, or reduce mass shootings or crime, ’cause that’s not their goal.
The slippery slope is not a myth. It is a real anti gun/anti freedom strategy. It is here. —–CAD007
While it wasn’t as harsh as some might believe, Basic was never like this.
U.S. Troops Go One Year Without A Combat Death in Afghanistan.
A year has passed since the last US service member was killed in combat in Afghanistan — the first such stretch since the war started almost 20 years ago, a report said Tuesday.
The last two Americans who died in battle in the country — Army Sgts. 1st Class Javier Gutierrez and Antonio Rodriguez — were slain on Feb. 8, 2020, Stars and Stripes reported.
But the period of calm, which coincides with the US-Taliban peace deal, could be threatened if the US decides to keep troops in Afghanistan past a May 2021 deadline, the military newspaper reported.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told the outlet that if the US rejects the deal, signed last February, insurgents “will definitely return to war.”
Under the deal, the US promised the removal of troops in exchange for, among other things, the Taliban preventing terrorist groups from using Afghan soil to attack foreign forces.
The future of the deal remains uncertain, with the Biden administration vowing to review it, along with other Trump-era foreign policies.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the administration would review “whether the Taliban was living up to its commitments to cut ties with terrorist groups, to reduce violence in Afghanistan, and to engage in meaningful negotiations with the Afghan government and other stakeholders,” according to a press release obtained by Fox News.
Sullivan spoke with Afghan national security adviser Hamdullah Mohib on Jan. 22 about the review, the report said.
In Must-Watch Clip, Trump Attorney “Michael van der Veen, Citizen” Destroys Media
Saturday night, President Trump’s attorney, Michael van der Veen, appeared on CBS News and was asked about Sen. Mitch McConnell’s comments after Trump’s acquittal. As Bonchie covered earlier, McConnell said that “President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day,” and that Trump is “still liable for everything he did during his period in office.” When he was specifically asked whether he was surprised to hear such a serious rebuke from the leader of the Republican party in the Senate, van der Veen’s expression, tone, and words said it all.
I’m not surprised to hear a politician say anything at all. No.
Crickets. The CBS News anchor, Lana Zak, wasn’t quite sure what to make of the reply. She decided to move forward and attempt to “gotcha” van der Veen, and it doesn’t go well for her at all. This, like Friday’s supercut of Democrats inciting violence, is a must-watch clip for two reasons: one, it’s rare that someone so articulately calls out the media, and two, it’s rare that the media have a guest they’re afraid to just cut off as they speak “their truth.”
MVDV just destroyed the entire media in this clip. Absolute must-watch. pic.twitter.com/RqyruxI3AD
— Jack Posobiec 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) February 14, 2021
Let’s just be blunt about this.
This ‘teacher’ realizes that many black students – for whatever reasons, poor primary schooling/cultural rejection of ‘whitey education’/what have you – aren’t able to keep up with high school level math/algebra/geometry and instead of working on fixing the reasons that cause this, wants to provide an excuse. This lets the education system ‘off the hook’ for its failure and reinforces the notion that black ‘culture’ need not be educated but can rely on welfare to live on.
Oregon promotes teacher program that seeks to undo ‘racism in mathematics’
A toolkit includes a list of ways ‘white supremacy culture’ allegedly ‘infiltrates math classrooms’
The Oregon Department of Education (ODE) recently encouraged teachers to register for training that encourages “ethnomathematics” and argues, among other things, that White supremacy manifests itself in the focus on finding the right answer.
An ODE newsletter sent last week advertises a Feb. 21 “Pathway to Math Equity Micro-Course,” which is designed for middle school teachers to make use of a toolkit for “dismantling racism in mathematics.” The event website identifies the event as a partnership between California’s San Mateo County Office of Education, The Education Trust-West and others.
Part of the toolkit includes a list of ways “white supremacy culture” allegedly “infiltrates math classrooms.” Those include “the focus is on getting the ‘right’ answer,” students being “required to ‘show their work,'” and other alleged manifestations.
“The concept of mathematics being purely objective is unequivocally false, and teaching it is even much less so,” the document for the “Equitable Math” toolkit reads. “Upholding the idea that there are always right and wrong answers perpetuate objectivity as well as fear of open conflict.”
CBS Declares: You’ll Need a COVID ‘Vaccination Passport’ To Travel by Summer 2021
Without a mention of privacy rights the mainstream media appears to be all in for making you ‘show your papers’.
As the United States prepares to open back up after the unnecessarily long COVID lockdowns, the mainstream media is shaping the narrative that “vaccination passports” will not only be required for travel, but that they will arrive as a necessity by this summer.
CBS News travel editor, Peter Greenberg, almost appeared gleeful when he predicted two things: that travel – both domestic and international – would most likely return this summer, and that there would be a prerequisite to being able to travel.
Greenberg stated bluntly that in order to travel you will most likely need proof that you’ve been vaccinated for COVID. Vaccination passports, he said, will be the new standard in travel.
“It will be required,” Greenberg said. “The real question is what technology will be available to create a universally acceptable and universally readable document that can’t be forged.”
Rub this in the noses of people who want to ban children’s access to guns
12-year-old shoots, kills home intruder after 73-year-old woman shot during NC robbery
GOLDSBORO, N.C. (WTVD) — A 12-year-old shot and killed a 19-year-old who shot a woman after forcing his way into her apartment, Goldsboro police say.
When officers responded to a shooting at an apartment around 1 a.m., they found the 73-year-old resident with a gunshot wound.
After finding the woman who had been shot, officers then found a man with a gunshot wound at the intersection of William Street and Elm Street. The man was later identified as Khalil Herring, 19, of Goldsboro.
Both were taken to Wayne UNC Health Care. Herring died from his injuries.
The investigation revealed that Herring and another masked person broke into the 73-year-old woman’s residence and demanded money before the shooting.
As the robbery was happening, a 12-year-old shot the intruders, and they fled the residence.
Evidence reportedly suggests that Herring was one of the two masked intruders who was shot during the robbery.
Goldsboro police say they do not anticipate charging the 12-year-old.
24-year-old fatally shoots man trying to rob him at Cleveland gas station
CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) – A 19-year-old man was shot and killed by the person he was trying to rob, said Cleveland police.
Cleveland police said this happened in the parking lot of the HP Gas Station in the 7300 block of Lorain Avenue around 8:45 p.m. Wednesday.
According to police, a 24-year-old man called 911 and told dispatchers he had shot a man during a robbery attempt and a second suspect had followed him home and was standing outside his house.
When police got to the gas station, they found Rufus Harris, 19, laying on the parking lot, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.
Harris was pronounced dead at MetroHealth Hospital.
The second suspect was arrested outside the 24-year-old man’s house.
Cleveland police said the incident remains under investigation.
The Emergent Urban Anti-progressivism
President Biden’s appeal for unity in his inaugural address was a welcome invitation to end “this uncivil war that pits red versus blue, rural versus urban, conservative versus liberal.” The challenge for Biden, of course, is to show that his administration can lead by example in pursuit of this goal.
Nowhere will this challenge play out more than in America’s cities. His campaign’s urban policies — from affordable housing to education to worker pay — together with his recent flurry of “racial equity” executive orders on January 26, were all drafted according to the familiar Democratic playbook. But urban voters seem to be reading off a different script.
In fact, one of the most interesting and underreported outcomes of the 2020 presidential election was an emergent urban anti-progressivism — or at least, that’s the best way to interpret what happened. After a season of protests and urban unrest against the backdrop of a pandemic, a sizeable percentage of city dwellers, ranging from small-business owners to working-class public-school parents, seemed to have had enough of the urban status quo.
Democrats have puzzled over why Biden did not perform as well in cities as expected, and conversely, why Trump seemed to overperform in them. Overall, Biden won major metro areas, but his slippage compared with Trump’s gains was notable.
“Because you might have to” works for me
Why You Should Practice Drawing From Concealment.
The vast majority of those who legally carry a handgun use concealed carry. However, we rarely see them at the shooting range practicing making their pistol presentation from under a concealing garment. The fact is that drawing from under the concealing garment takes more time than an open draw. It can take even more time if it is a move that is not regularly practiced. Fumbling the draw stroke from under a concealing garment in an actual gunfight can be more than just time consuming; it can also be quite costly.
The smart thing to do is to make drawing from under the concealing clothing a regular part of defensive practice. If the local range doesn’t allow that sort of thing, then it should be a part of a person’s dry practice at home.
When the decision is made to draw the handgun, the clearing move should not be a hesitant, or tentative one. The garment should be forcefully brushed aside as an integral part of the pistol presentation.
However, in reality, we often wear different kinds of covering garments, often on consecutive days. Some will have buttons. Others will have zippers. And some are of the pull-over variety that have to be lifted up in order to clear the handgun. In that moment when things get real, one might forget just exactly what is need to clear that particular piece of clothing. There may be a better way.
The armed citizen rarely has to deal with an actual threat (Condition Red) but he is often presented with a potential threat (Condition Orange). Once we recognize that we are in the presence of a potential threat, it’s a really good idea to make sure that our shooting hand is free. And it is also an excellent time to get the covering garment unfastened in preparation for the draw stroke, should that become necessary.
We can do these things without looking like we are in full gunfighter mode and even still have a smile on a face during the process. But clearing the garment becomes part of the getting ready process and we will have more time to remember to deal with buttons, zippers, or whatever. Once the potential threat dissolves into nothing, as they generally do, we can fasten back up with no one the wiser.
Give some thought as to how to clear that covering garment. And then be sure to practice it. It saves time and very well could save your life.
“A conviction would have also set the stage for a vote to bar him from serving in public office again.” The outcome leaves the populist forces in the field and the old GOP party in the dust.
Up next: the battle to define conservative politics as Biden faces a new world. . . .
Republicans senators Richard Burr of North Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah, Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Patrick Toomey of Pennsylvania all voted guilty.
The ancien regime needed a Blue Tsunami to effect a restoration. But they achieved a mild and perhaps doubtful electoral surf despite a maximum effort. The impeachment was a second chance at pursuit. Its failure means the populists will be back.
Trump and the Democratic leader’s age means a new cast of characters will be coming on for Season 2. The Blue failure to smash the populists means people are now refiguring the odds. Expect new political startups.
The reason why threats to go after Trump in court are pointless is because the Biden administration, like every incumbent, will soon be on the political defensive. New challenges are going to put Biden between the hard rock of the left and even more obdurate reality.
Armed passengers? New push underway in Missouri to allow concealed carry on public transportation
JEFFERSON CITY — Concealed-carry permit holders would be able to legally board MetroLink trains and buses with their firearms if a proposal Missouri lawmakers are weighing becomes law.
The Senate General Laws Committee heard legislation Tuesday by Sen. Bob Onder, R-Lake Saint Louis, that would allow guns on trains and buses amid continued security concerns regarding the region’s mass transit systems. The measure wouldn’t apply to Amtrak.
The hearing this week followed the fatal shooting of security guard James Cook on Jan. 31 at the Delmar MetroLink station. Eight days later, the Bi-State Development Agency, which oversees MetroLink, voted 7-2 against rearming security guards.
Democrats have mostly opposed the measures, but state Sen. Steven Roberts, D-St. Louis, said Friday he would consider supporting the bill as written — if GOP proponents maintain limiting who could carry guns to concealed-carry permit holders…………..
Utah: Governor Cox Signs Permitless Carry Legislation!
****
The fledgling governor had previously said he supported the legislation, a departure from his predecessor. Former Gov. Gary Herbert had blocked legislation to do away with the concealed carry permit for years with a veto and, later, a promise of veto.
The measure, sponsored by Rep. Walt Brooks, R-St. George, and Sen. David Hinkins, R-Orangeville, takes effect May 5………….
How dumb are reporters?
This dumb:
Between two of the “top” journalists in the US they couldn’t divide two numbers. And bear in mind that this was a prepared segment.
That means their fact checkers and editors couldn’t do it either.
I’ll take ‘As A Post‘ for $500, Alex.
What’s surprising is that she hasn’t deleted all of this in the usual attempt at making believe it really never happened.
Years ago, I had a lot of fun with the New York Times Corrections section, which documented the fact, day after day, that the paper’s reporters and editors had little knowledge of mathematics, science, literature or history. The gaffes that appeared in the Times were stunning to anyone with a halfway-decent education.
I have been off that beat for a while, but our reporters’ educational deficiencies continue to amaze. Thus we have NBC’s Andrea Mitchell, who tried to one-up Ted Cruz. Bad decision. Cruz described the Democrats’ farcical impeachment proceeding as “like Shakespeare, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” Mitchell sought to correct Cruz:
.@SenTedCruz says #ImpeachmentTrial is like Shakespeare full of sound and fury signifying nothing. No, that’s Faulkner
— Andrea Mitchell (@mitchellreports) February 10, 2021
Heh. Cruz and many others explained that Faulkner got the line from Shakespeare, a writer of whom Mitchell apparently is unaware. Mitchell tried to retire from the field with her ego intact:
I clearly studied too much American literature and not enough Macbeth. My apologies to Sen. Cruz.
— Andrea Mitchell (@mitchellreports) February 11, 2021
Here’s the thing, though. No one who studied Faulkner even superficially could fail to understand that the title of The Sound and the Fury was a Shakespearean reference. This was explained in every freshman English class where Faulkner’s book has been taught.
Here’s why: The full Shakespeare quote, from MacBeth, says that life “is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” Why did Faulkner choose that Shakespeare quote for the title of his book? Because the first section of The Sound and the Fury is, in fact, a “tale told by an idiot.” It is a narrative by a character named Benji who lacks normal mental capacity. He describes many things that he does not understand–other people playing golf, for example–and the art of that section of the book is for Faulkner to write it so that Benji doesn’t understand what he is seeing, but we do.
This is all undergraduate English stuff, and no one could study Faulkner in college without the origin and significance of The Sound and the Fury being explained. And, if you didn’t take English classes in college, as Andrea Mitchell perhaps did not, you could just Google it.
In short, by trying to match wits with Ted Cruz, Andrea Mitchell revealed herself as a person who knows little or nothing about either Shakespeare or Faulkner. That isn’t necessarily disgraceful, except that 1) she shouldn’t have picked a fight with a very smart guy from a position of ignorance, and 2) her fallback position, claiming to be a Faulkner scholar, made her look dumber than ever. Deservedly.
This is all trivial, except for one fact: the politicians, reporters, writers, editors, “intellectuals,” college professors and so on who try to intimidate you with their claim to be smarter and more knowledgeable than you, are, with only occasional exceptions, frauds.
UPDATE: I am sorry to report that Andrea Mitchell (who is allegedly noteworthy only because she is married to Alan Greenspan, maybe we should return to describing her that way) majored in English literature at Penn. So she has no excuse for being ignorant of both Shakespeare and Faulkner. Maybe she skipped class a lot, I don’t know. But one way or another, she failed to get the most basic education. And now she is trying to export her ignorance to the rest of us.
That is pretty much the story of the 21st century.
Attacks on Second Amendment Trigger Tyranny
The election swept in a legion of Second Amendment foes. Americans can expect them to take James Madison’s statement that disarming the people is “the best and most effective way to enslave them” as less of a warning and more of a directive.
During the campaign, Joe Biden was asked by CNN’s Anderson Cooper if a Biden administration would mean “they are going to come for my guns,” and Biden responded, “Bingo.”
BLUF:
Metropolitan Police Department Assistant Sheriff Brett Zimmerman said Payton had a violent history with police, including charges of attempted murder, attempted robbery of a firearm and assault on a protected person. All involved police and arriving officers had knowledge of Payton’s violent past before the shooting.
“Justice System” failure, or is that ‘feature’?. hrmmmm.
27 years old with a rap sheet of several violent felonies and still on the street means the Justice System Revolving Door™ seems to work just fine. It’s apparent Marvon felt-with a certain justification -that he could get away with whatever he wanted, with minimal consequences, until he finally ran into people who wouldn’t put up with his crap and they took care of business. Permanently. As In Dead Right There.
Vegas Man Shot 14 Times Outside a Vegas Gun Range
Las Vegas — Officers were called at 11:59 a.m. last Weds to The Range 702, at 5999 Dean Martin Drive, after an employee reported that a man had been caught rifling through a customer’s bag during a break from a concealed carry permit course . Range employees escorted the man, Marvin Payton Jr, 27 outside to await the police.
Seconds after police pulled up, the man attacked a female officer, striking her twice with a screwdriver. Most everyone on the scene then shot Payton 14 times.
Metropolitan Police Department Assistant Sheriff Brett Zimmerman said Payton had a violent history with police, including charges of attempted murder, attempted robbery of a firearm and assault on a protected person. All involved police and arriving officers had knowledge of Payton’s violent past before the shooting.
The injured officer, who has not been named, was treated and released from University Medical Center the afternoon of the shooting. She suffered a fracture near her eye, Zimmerman said.
No charges have been filed against the crowd that shot Payton.
Indiana looks to scrap carry permits for handguns, allow ‘constitutional carry’
(The Center Square) – Sixteen other states have done it. And Indiana now looks ready to join them in getting rid of the requirement that a person have a license in order to carry a loaded weapon on them or in their vehicle.
Earlier this week, the House of Representatives held a hearing to consider allowing what’s called “constitutional carry.”
It was the first time a hearing has been held on such a bill, and the first sign in years the Republican supermajority in the Indiana General Assembly is getting behind permit-less carry.
Numerous county sheriffs testified in support of the bill.
