Surprise: Senator Chris Murphy (D) Lies About Mass Shootings

By William Teach January 2, 2016 – 7:35 am

As Vox Day notes, the first law of social justice warriors is that they always lie. Then they continue the lie, and build on the lie in order to push The Narrative forward. Here’s a perfect example

(Breitbart) On December 31 Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) claimed there were 372 mass shootings–or more than one mass shooting a day–during calendar year 2015. On the other hand, Mother Joneseditor Mark Follman reported four mass shootings for the whole year and USA Today reported approximately 22.

What accounts for the jump from from four–or even 22–to 372? The jump is the result of Senator Chris Murphy’s (D-CT) complete rejection of the FBI criteria for a mass shooting. That criteria is four fatalities in one shooting incident. Instead of using this, Murphy has adopted the criteria of Shooting Tracker, a website which labels any shooting or series of shootings a “mass shooting” if there are four or more injuries.

There does not have to be a death, and the injuries do not have to be the result of just one shooting incident but can be the result of numerous incidents added together. This means Senator Murphy counts a parking lot shootout–like the one WMC-TV reported between two groups of people in two separate cars in Memphis, Tennessee in October–as a “mass shooting.” And it also means that an Elkhart, Indiana, parking brawl involving over a 100 people–where some of those people pulled guns and opened fire–counts as a “mass shooting” too. The South Bend Tribune reported that “four individuals were found to be wounded” in that October 14 brawl.

Murphy also inflated the number of deaths by including the shooters themselves, an example of doubling down on the lie to continue The Narrative.

With all these gang related shootings, one might think we have a gang problem, not a gun problem.

Meanwhile, our semi-retired president plans to unilaterally enact some executive actions on gun control, which will pretty much do nothing except make Liberals Feel Good.

“President Obama failed to pass his anti-gun agenda though congress because the majority of Americans oppose more gun-control. Now he is doing what he always does when he doesn’t get his way, which is defy the will of the people and issue an executive order,” said NRA spokesperson Jennifer Baker.

“This is nothing more than a political stunt to appease anti-gun billionaire Michael Bloomberg and will do nothing to increase public safety. The plain truth is that President Obama’s gun-control agenda will only make it harder for law-aiding citizens to exercise their constitutional right to self-protection. It will not stop criminals.”

If guns are the problem, why does Obama surround himself with large numbers of people carrying guns? Isn’t that dangerous?

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Europe Shouldn’t Give In To Xenophobia Of Refugees Or Something

By William Teach January 2, 2016 – 7:16 am

The Washington Post’s Editorial Board, which features members who live in neighborhoods which will never see placement of even small numbers of these “Syrian” refugees, is in high dudgeon over the growing rejection of the refugees in Europe

Europe cannot allow xenophobia to overpower its response to refugees

CHANCELLOR ANGELA Merkel of Germany walks a very narrow tightrope in managing the gravest crisis to hit Europe in years. As more than 1 million refugees from Syria and North Africa streamed into Germany in 2015, Ms. Merkel was firm in her resolve to welcome them. “It is important not to follow those who, with coldness or even hate in their hearts, want to claim Germanness solely for themselves and exclude others,” she said in her year-end address.

Ms. Merkel’s instincts have been right, both as a humanitarian response to the tide of misery and as an opportunity to build a stronger Germany. But she faces deep and serious unease in her own political camp over the influx…

Can someone explain how allowing hundreds of thousands of people who do not speak the language, have few to no skills, and have completely different cultural standards into a country will “build a stronger Germany”? Sure, many may assimilate, but, many won’t, as witnessed by the large number of Muslim communities throughout Europe which gather together in enclaves and live lives completely different from the norms and culture of their host country. There’s little assimilation. They demand that their host country allow them to practice their own laws and customs, which are often in violation and direct contradiction of the laws.

That’s how we end up with the Rotherham rape epidemic.

The WPEB also notes the rising “xenophobia” in Sweden, which is one of the most Progressive/Socialist country’s in Europe, and how they have supposedly shut their borders, which all leads to

However, Germany, Sweden and all Europe should not succumb to rising xenophobia. As long as the Syrian civil war continues, the refugees will keep coming, and European nations cannot seal themselves off. Nor should the United States, which has been deficient in welcoming refugees from Syria. The only way to truly stop the tide is to stop the war. That should be the focus of European and U.S. policymakers in 2016.

Let’s look at a few headlines, shall we?

I could continue on for quite a bit, however, you get the point. Norway is holding classes, which are sadly voluntary, on how to treat women and not rape them. Citizens across Europe in some communities are seeing vast amounts of these refugees placed in their towns. In some cases, the refugees outnumber the original members of the towns, and bring violence, rape, theft, and trash.

Perhaps the people Speaking from their high and mighty towers would be willing to accept these refugees in their own neighborhoods? Yeah, we know they won’t.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

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Review: “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”

By William Teach January 1, 2016 – 9:18 pm

I was finally able to find the time to go see Star Wars: The Force Awakens this afternoon. I caught the 3D viewing, and, I’ll say that the hype was worth it.

As you might remember, when I find a movie to be really good, I do not go into a long review of it. It’s more of a recommendation. Despite many of the discontinuities relating to the Expanded Universe, and, let me tell you, I’ve read the majority of the books, excluding the young adult and graphic comics, all the way up through the end of the Fate Of The Jedi series. These are now considered the “Legacy” universe, and there several discrepancies for what they are called the “canon” universe with The Force Awakens (what purists would call the “non-canon”). Some names are wrong, some characters are different, some characters are missing, some things that happened in the legacy are different. Heck, in the legacy Chewbacca was dead for 9 years. Beyond that, would be spoilers.

But, really, I liked this enough to look past the discontinuities. This was a really good movie, hearkening back to the spirit of the original A New Hope, followed by Empire and Jedi. No cute gimmicks like Ewoks, or Jar Jar Binks. Great characters, great acting, a great plot. J.J. Abrams did a damned fine job in putting the story above explosions and un-needed action. In 3D, directors often overdo it with the action, which makes it difficult to watch. That was not the case here. The 3d added value.

Daisy Ridley was a delight, as was John Boyega. They had emotion, and did not seem wooden like in so many of the prequels. Adam Driver as Kylo Ren, the Bad Guy, brought something different. He didn’t play it as pure evil. In fact, all the acting was great, even the non-humans in costume and CGI were excellent.

I’ll give this one my highest rank, go see it in 3D during the full price evening showings.

I’d love to see them do a few on the beginnings of the Jedi, moving into the war with the Sith.

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The Conservative Retreat On Hotcoldwetdry Has Begun Or Something

By William Teach January 1, 2016 – 8:19 pm

So say Washington Post cartoonist Tom Toles

The conservative retreat on Climate Change has at last begun

After close to three decades of ignoring and/or actively subverting climate science, conservatives have finally been forced to acknowledge the face-lashing climate facts that are now afflicting the planet.  The accumulating evidence of melting glaciers, drought, record wildfires, rising oceans and devastating flooding, has finally dislodged the permafrost  position conservatives have clung to on climate science.

It is the watershed moment of retreat on this issue, which has seen an ever-quickening tap dance of clever positions, from ‘there isn’t any evidence’, to ‘climate change will be a good thing’, to ‘scientists are all corrupt and actively perpetrating a worldwide conspiracy’.

That link goes to National Affairs, a nominally Conservative magazine which virtually no Conservatives ever cite. Heck, it’s traffic isn’t all that much more than my little spot on the web. And I don’t have big moneyed Republicans paying me nor dumping money into my site.

Anyhow, apparently one article from National Affairs means everything is changing! And we get a cartoon!

Huh

Yup. When something weather related happens in a part of the US, like the East coast heat, we’re doomed from ‘climate change.’ When it’s snowy and cold, well, then it doesn’t matter. Of course, they’ll also blame cold and snow on ‘climate change.’

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If All You See…

By William Teach January 1, 2016 – 1:00 pm

…is a horrendous future rising ocean requiring marches and spreading awareness, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Vox Popoli, with a post asking if you’re ready for 2016.

Starting off 2016 with exercise, what everyone wants to do after the holidays, which will go through the following Saturday. Though, if we did this like the real world, this theme would end Tuesday.

Not too be preachy, but, if you want to exercise, you need to establish a routine, to the point where you feel a bit bad when you don’t go but can.

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John Kerry: Non-binding, Voluntary Paris Climate Agreement Obama’s Most Important 2015 Accomplishment

By William Teach January 1, 2016 – 8:55 am

I did not want to make the headline really long, so I left out “with no force of law and no legally binding requirements”

(CNS News) Secretary of State John Kerry says the climate change deal he helped broker in Paris was the Obama administration’s most “important” accomplishment in 2015.

“As one year gives way to the next, international leaders have an opportunity to build on several major achievements of 2015,” Kerry wrote in an oped published Tuesday in the Boston Globe in which he also listed the nuclear deal with Iran, signing the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and normalization of diplomatic relations with Cuba.

“Of these, none is more important than the recent global agreement in Paris to prevent the most harmful impacts of climate change.” Kerry wrote.

It’s such an awesomely huge achievement that Mr. Obama will not even submit it to the United State Congress for debate, discussion, and a vote. Liberals will, of course, say that the GOP would kill the agreement. And, their right (hopefully. You never know with the GOP, but, I do think they could muster 34 votes against it). But, if they did kill it, it would give Obama and the other members of the Cult of Climastrology a chance to lambaste Republican “deniers”. Yet, he won’t even give it a whirl. Says quite a bit how worthless this agreement actually is.

President Barack Obama and federal officials agreed to give $3 billion in funding to the U.N.’s Green Climate Fund to help developing nations – including China and India, which produce more greenhouse gases than industrialized nations – deal with the effects of climate change.

Let’s not forget that the entire thing almost jumped the tracks over the initial idea to make contributions legally binding, with John Kerry threatening to walk out. Obama/Kerry demanded they not be legally binding. And notice whose money they plan to give away. That’s right, not their own.

None of the pledges actually get the world to the apocalyptic 2C, or even 1.5C. Numbers which the world aren’t even close to now, being only about .8C above temperatures at the end of the Little Ice Age 166 years ago, and most likely wouldn’t get there in the first place, except in computer models.

There’s no process to verify anything. There’s no real process to properly vet the use of the Green Climate Fund. Sounds historic!

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NY Times: “How are cops supposed to know who the good guy or the bad guy is with the gun?”

By William Teach January 1, 2016 – 8:27 am

It’s a new year, so, the NY Times Editorial Board uses the occassion to pimp gun control with their usual flavor of hysteria

Two Ways of Dealing With Guns

This is a big day for Texans yearning to flaunt their handguns in belt and shoulder holsters. A new “open carry” law enacted by the Republican Legislature goes into effect on Friday, posing a challenge for law enforcement, businesses and other institutions that are understandably wary of how social interchange will be affected.

Got that? Flaunt their handguns. Does this apply to women who arm themselves to provide protection from assault and rape? Men average 50% higher strength than women. Men are 15 to 20% bigger. Do the NY Times and their Progressive supporters not want to allow women to protect themselves? Why do they hate women?

It’s also a big day in Seattle, where the City Council’s new “gun violence tax” takes effect, levying a $25 charge on each gun sold and an ammunition tax of 2 to 5 cents per round. The law was upheld in December by a county judge, who found it did not interfere with the right to bear arms and was a legitimate tax to finance gun violence research and help pay for its costly effects. If it survives appeal by the gun lobby, the taxation route deserves to be widely used as a tactic in battling the gun menace.

Boy, that should be a big roadblock to criminals, who tend not to purchase guns and ammo from regular gun shows.

The contrasting developments in Texas and Seattle demonstrate politicians’ tug of war over gun rights and civilian safety, which the gun lobby has been manipulating by pushing through state laws that block local governments from enacting needed ordinances. The resulting crazy quilt of clashing interests demonstrates the need for federal laws, which, of course, have been rejected by a Congress captive to the gun industry’s agenda.

How will taxes on guns and ammo provide safety? No one is ever able to provide a reason.

The effect of the industry’s power on local streets has the Houston police chief, Charles McClelland, worrying about how his officers will deal with openly armed citizens amid rising fears over mass shootings and terrorism. “How are they supposed to know who the good guy or the bad guy is with the gun?” he asks.

This is surely the favorite line for the Editorial Board, who surely think every civilian with a gun is a bad guy (and probably the police too. No word whether the armed security at the NY Times building are considered bad guys). But, hey, it’s pretty darned easy to know. The bad guy is the one whipping the gun out and pointing it at the police. The good guy is the one smiling at the police, wishing them a good day, and going about their business. The bad guy is the one hiding the gun under their very baggy shirt or jacket, or in a pocket. The good guy is the one confidently practicing their open carry capability in a holster. Interestingly, in almost every place that allows open carry (and concealed), those who are legally allowed aren’t shooting the streets up.

The confusion for the public can be considerable. A woman called 911 in Colorado Springs in October when she saw a man toting a weapon in the street. She was told the gunman had that right under the open-carry law. The man began a shooting spree outside her door and randomly murdered three innocent people.

Well, there you go, an obviously evil handgun carrier with nefarious intentions…oh, wait, the NYTEB forgot to tell us something, which we see at the provided link

On Halloween morning, Naomi Bettis called 911 to report a man with a long black rifle outside her home. The dispatcher asked her to describe what she saw.

Yeah, not a handgun. A rifle.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

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If All You See…

By William Teach December 31, 2015 – 1:00 pm

…is a scorching New Year’s Eve celebration because of too much carbon pollution, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day, the last day of the year, is The Lonely Conservative, with a post on 18 things that became raaaaacist in 2015.

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Is Polar Vortex To Blame For Warm Weather?

By William Teach December 31, 2015 – 11:34 am

I actually didn’t see this one comeing

The Polar Vortex may be back, only this time it’s making it warm?

….

So, what caused this wacky wave of winter warmth?

Just like any good mystery, there is more than one theory. And with weather systems and climate trends being so complex, it could take years of research to definitively crack the case. (snip)

El Niño, however, might not be the only culprit causing many winter days to feel like spring. Some meteorologists and climate experts say another big factor, and perhaps the more significant one, playing a role in the balmy East coast weather pattern is the polar vortex.

Might be, might not be. Might be El Nino, might not.

Another climate expert agrees that multiple factors are influencing our recent weather pattern.

“It’s not black and white,” said Judah Cohen, director of seasonal forecasting for Atmospheric and Environmental Research, a weather and climate research company based in Massachusetts. “It’s more gray.”

Cohen believes our warm December weather pattern appears to be more influenced by the strong polar vortex than the strong El Niño.

Wait, I thought every weather event was caused by a tiny increase in CO2? No? Huh.

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Writing About Something Is Not An Endorsement

By William Teach December 31, 2015 – 10:30 am

I wanted to address something, as brought up by Jeffrey, and felt it better to move it to a new post, rather than continue the conversation within that post, as it is a different subject. This comes from the post The Donald Schools A Clinton Compliant Media Hackette. After much back and forth, the goalposts were shifted, and then it went back to the original assertion, and got personal

Little Willy,

You typed:

Let me say right off the bat, I’m still not a Trump for president supporter or fan.

That is clearly a lie, as your actions count more than your words.

Similarly you claim to acknowledge that the Earth is warming, yet post article after article claiming that the Earth has stopped warming.

Actions speak more loudly than words.

This kind of “double thought” is diagnostic for the new conservative “mind”, such as it is. Since the new conservative is driven by ideology and not logic or evidence it seems natural to hold two diametrically opposed positions. Modern conservatives are incapable of recognizing their lies.

Writing about something in a positive manner does not make one a supporter. Does anyone think Ruth Marcus is a Trump supporter despite writing an op-ed entitled Trump is right: Bill Clinton’s sordid sexual history is fair game? If I write something nice about Obama, or agree with him on some subject, does that make me an Obama supporter? I’ve written in support of Obama expanding the Pacific marine reserve. I think he did it for the wrong reason (climate change, of course), but I support the decision. Consider

  • I very much support the recently passed federal ban on the use of microbeads, even though the legislation came from a Democrat. Doesn’t mean I support Frank Pallone (D-NJ), the primary author.
  • If I post something from Sarah Palin that makes sense, it in no way makes me a supporter. I’m not. If she ran for office, I would not endorse her, and I wouldn’t give a dime. She lost my support and respect back in 2011, to the point I even had a post with the phrase “Governor Half-term” in the title.
  • Just because I may slam Republicans on some issues, doesn’t mean I do not support the GOP.
  • I’ve slammed Bush on things, especially amnesty. Doesn’t mean I wasn’t a supporter.
  • I’ve said nice things about some Democrats, and even agreed with them on some issues. Doesn’t mean I support them.
  • I’ve met Hillary once, way back. She was very nice for the few minutes I talked to her. Doesn’t mean I support her.
  • If I slam the crazy rape culture nutters, doesn’t mean that I don’t think that rape is not a problem, nor that rape laws should be done away with.
  • Back when the Occupy Wall Street movement started, I actually wrote, can’t remember whether here or in someone’s comments, that they had some points, and there could be room for both OWS and the Tea Party to find common ground. Didn’t mean I supported OWS (especially when they went bat guano insane.

The list could go on, but, you get the point.

When it comes to climate change, acknowledging that the Earth has warmed post-Little Ice Age but has seen no statistically significant warming over almost 19 years is in no way a lie. There have been multiple periods during the current warm period where there were pauses in warming. There were periods during the Little Ice Age where the temps were going up. It was so hot during the summer of the Battle of Monmouth where more soldiers died from the heat than from battle wounds. This is not “double thought”, it’s acknowledging actual events. As opposed to Believing that tiny increases in CO2 will cause global temperatures to rise 3-6C and the seas to rise upwards of 50 feet by 2100.

Acknowledging that there should be some real world effective gun regulations doesn’t mean I don’t support the 2nd Amendment, nor, conversely, that I am a gun grabber.

There are several book authors that produce material I love/like, even though I know they are hardcore Progressives. Steve Alten has written some great books (especially The Loch), and, even though he wrote the idiotic and very political Shell Game, I still read some of his books afterwards. John Scalzi is a massive Social Justice Warrior, and I’ll side with Vox Day on the fight, but, I still enjoyed several of his books (most don’t interest me, just not my kind of story).

I do not support Trump. Yes, he says a few good things. He has a few good ideas. I like that he is willing to attack, especially in a manner that goes after his detractors twice as hard. I think he’d make a bad president, and would be entirely too Leftist for my beliefs set. I’d take him over Hillary if he gets the nod as the GOP candidate, a case of “bad over worse”. When the primaries hit NC, I will not be voting for him. It will be either Cruz or Rubio. I mostly agree with Jonah Goldberg, Trump is no Conservative. Donald made a big deal out of getting tough on illegals and completing the border fence. Great! Everyone forgets that he also supports amnesty. He’s great on ‘climate change’. But, he’s flipped around on other issues. And been incoherent on others. Some of his stances are Republican/Conservative, others are very Leftist. He said in 2000 that we must have universal health care. Now he’s against Obamacare. Which is it?

Could he convince me? Possibly. I don’t trust him right now. I don’t trust anyone who is seemingly telling me what I want to hear. Could his business acumen translate to a good economic president? Possibly. Convince me.

Writing about something positively doesn’t mean support.

If you want to piss me off, by all means, claim I lied and fail to offer a shred of proof.

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