Friday, August 31, 2018

BeCos(play) It's Friday

More not safe to seek Grails with below the break, and as always bonus nerd points for recognizing characters.

Thought of the Moment

"The target of the Jihad was a machine-attitude as much as the machines," Leto said. "Humans had set those machines to usurp our sense of beauty, our necessary selfdom out of which we make living judgments. Naturally, the machines were destroyed." -Leto II, God Emperor of Dune

One has to reflect how much nowadays people don't so much lose their sense of selfdom as cast it away with both hands to flee to an unthinking group.

Also something amusing for those who are reading this in the morning.

Thursday Wifus with Rifus

More not safe for fan-service below the break.

When Even NPR Calls Bullshit

This spring the U.S. Education Department reported that in the 2015-2016 school year, "nearly 240 schools ... reported at least 1 incident involving a school-related shooting." The number is far higher than most other estimates.
But NPR reached out to every one of those schools repeatedly over the course of three months and found that more than two-thirds of these reported incidents never happened. Child Trends, a nonpartisan nonprofit research organization, assisted NPR in analyzing data from the government's Civil Rights Data Collection.
We were able to confirm just 11 reported incidents, either directly with schools or through media reports.

So about that narrative. Don't get me wrong low probability/high consequence events are worth taking reasonable precautions against. I don't define reasonable as trying to remove guns from an entire country. Reasonable is maybe make schools less of a soft target and maybe actually pay attention to real red flags that get waved in front of your faces.

Seeing Red

More not safe for that much direct sunlight below the break.

Tuesday, August 28, 2018

ALL IS WELL!!!!

A Chinese-owned company operating in the Washington, D.C., area hacked Hillary Clinton’s private server throughout her term as secretary of state and obtained nearly all her emails, two sources briefed on the matter told The Daily Caller News Foundation.
The Chinese firm obtained Clinton’s emails in real time as she sent and received communications and documents through her personal server, according to the sources, who said the hacking was conducted as part of an intelligence operation.

Media Reaction:

The Chairman of the House Freedom Caucus ignited a political firestorm on Tuesday after he said that he has information suggesting that the FBI leaked information to the media and then used those reports to obtain FISA warrants.
"We've learned NEW information suggesting our suspicions are true: FBI/DOJ have previously leaked info to the press, and then used those same press stories as a separate source to justify FISA's," Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) tweeted. "Unreal. Tomorrow's Bruce Ohr interview is even more critical. Did he ever do this?"

Media Reaction:

So anyone actually buy it?

Tuesday Tap, Rack, and Bang

More not safe to field strip below the break.

One Side of Why Bodycams are Important

Police body-cams mostly provide independent evidence that criminals are lying. There are however the low occurrence high consequence events like this:

Another scandal has added two more law enforcement officials to the list of those charged with abuses of power in Llano, Texas, facing combined charges that include official oppression, evidence tampering, assaulting arrestees and deleting body camera video.

Given the blantantness of what happened and what was captured it would be nice to see a bit less professional courtesy from other law enforcement to assure the rest of us about their ethos. Forbearance in this case undermines the pubic trust.

Monday Made Me Laugh

Had me till the last one, WTC 7 got hit by a bunch of a building that got hit by a plane. Or do you people watch a set of dominoes and think each one has a tiny explosive charge in it?

Sunday, August 26, 2018

Instructables

Unfortunately this guy has an insane waiting list to get into his class.

Saturday, August 25, 2018

Random Hotness

Just trying to keep the un-categorized photo folder under control, have a nice outdoorsy weekend.

Stupidity or Wishful Thinking?

I've gotta agree that Oliver Cromwell isn't someone you quote when you're still interested in working within the electoral system.

In citing this famous speech, Boot is making an important concession. He is admitting that to his way of thinking president Trump is so terrible that extreme and otherwise unacceptable measures should be used to remove him. One imagines that even a murderous tyrant like Cromwell thought he had good reason to overturn the will of the people — people like Cromwell always do. People like Cromwell know that the coarse electorate of farm and field must sometimes be bucked by their betters and denied their own choices.

Just in case anyone needs an entertaining history lesson:

BeCos(play) It's Friday

More not safe for high-noon below the break, and as always bonus nerd points for recognizing characters.

The Monsters Closest to Us

Like Tam's "You probably know the person, you're going to have to pepper spray", I'm afraid that we have to add a corollary: You probably share chromosomes with the person most likely to help pimp you.

COLUMBIA, Mo. – A Missouri mother who police say let men have sex with her daughter, who authorities say has the mental abilities of a 2- or 3-year-old, in exchange for drugs and money was charged Tuesday, according to the Columbia Daily Tribune.

A sad story that no amount of well deserved retribution can undo, best I can say is that if you're a non-custodial parent you really need to be in enough communication with your child to sound this kind of alarm.

Thursday, August 23, 2018

Can't We All Just Shoot Along?

A Plausible Case

Socialism as a hate crime.

Given the number of tiny things we are now told qualify for that status you would think the democide of 100,000,000 plus people would qualify.

Thursday Wifus with Rifus

More not safe for fan service below the break.

Tunes

Some music for the evening. I liked the song when Kenny Wayne Shepard did it, I like this version too.

Stealth Inflation

Many have noticed that the official stated rate of inflation doesn't line up with things you see in day to day life.

First a disclaimer: Even though I have a degree in Economics and another in Accounting I only play one on TV if you base your financial desisions only on what I say and don't consult a professional and lose your money. You deserved to lose it.

There are a couple of reasons the powers what are, are understating the real rate of inflation. First nobody wants to stand up to the temper tantrum that the markets would throw when they learn the era of free money is over. By hiding the rate of inflation the fed doesn't have to raise interest rates and end everyone's ~~heroin~~ free-money bender.

Secondly demographic changes (longer lifespans and fewer children) are rapidly bringing the Ponzi Scheme that is Social Security to make painful decisions. However if wages (therefore payroll taxes) can be grown while Social Security cost of living adjustments (tied to official inflation) are kept stagnant, people think they can kick this can down the road enough that it wont be their problem anymore.

I wouldn't count on Social Security for more that a tithe of your senior living expenses if that.

Seeing Red

More not safe to receive "that look" from below the break.

The Associated Press was the first to report that Iowa officials confirmed that the suspect, 24-year-old Mexican national Cristhian Bahena Rivera, is being held on a federal immigration detainer since he is in the United States illegally.

Since every time some sob story of someone being deported gets trotted out gets amplified, it seemed fair to present another side.

Or we could be mature and talk about uncontrolled borders like adults instead of trotting out pathos laden anecdotes and discuss things in terms of real national interest.

Tuesday, August 21, 2018

Perhaps this should actually be a Ministry instead of a Force.

I’m okay with a US Space Force. But what we need most is a Truth Force — one that defends against all enemies of accurate information, both foreign & domestic.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) August 20, 2018

And you morons want "Literally Hitler" in charge of it?

Tuesday Tap, Rack, and Bang

More not safe to field strip below the break.

Wolf They Cried!

The media’s hatred of Trump is only hurting itself

Ethos is a drastically underestimated piece of the rhetorical triad. Every immature mush-brain knows the power of pathos. Mature and rational people attempt to harness logos to ethically and soundly argue. However if you don't have ethos, your attempts to use either will crumble like a building with a sand foundation.

Have care of your own ethos, once damaged it is hard to repair.