The Left Suddenly Cares About Soldiers?

Leftists on Twitter are all upset because there was a Pat Tillman tribute during the Superbowl. Although the left is all in favor of going to war against a nuclear armed Russia, wars that are started by Republicans are bad, so the facts of his death have to be viewed in that light. The reasons that the left is giving for being upset are:

  • Tillman was supposedly opposed to the war in Iraq, according to some rando who claims to have been in his unit (of course he was killed in Afghanistan, so I don’t see how this matters)
  • Tillman was not killed by the enemy, but by friendly fire when a part of his platoon mistook Tillman’s forward position for an enemy one, and fired on it. (friendly fire or not, he was killed in a firefight with enemy combatants. If a cop dying a week after J6 can be pinned on the right, I think we can chalk this one up to a combat death.)
  • Tillman supposedly said (again according to a rando who claims to have heard a guy who claims to have been in Tillman’s unit) “If something happens to me, I am afraid they will parade me in the streets. I don’t want them to parade me through the streets.” (Even assuming that Tillman actually said this, he couldn’t possibly have been referring to the Rangers who were killed and then dragged through the streets of Mogadishu, and not wanting that to happen to him, could he?)

So if the US winds up in a shooting war with Russia, I expect all of those bloviating leftists to rush down to the recruiting office to sign up.

CNN to Black People: You Were Born Stupid and Poor, But It’s White People’s Fault

A recent study found that black children have less grey matter in their brains than white children. They researchers then came to the conclusion that this was the result of the stresses of poverty, drugs, and violence, which was caused by systemic racism. How can you draw that conclusion? It seems to me as if they began with the conclusion, then went looking for the support.

I can think of several alternative conclusions.

  • Cause and effect is reversed. Perhaps it is the lack of grey matter that causes the poverty and violence.
  • Perhaps it is that poverty and violence were caused by something else. Why does it have to be racism, and what supporting evidence do you have?

The study itself said this:

Black children experienced more traumatic events, family conflict, and material hardship on average compared with White children, and their parents or caregivers had lower educational attainment, lower income, and more unemployment compared with those of White children. Black children showed lower amygdala, hippocampus, and PFC gray matter volumes compared with White children. The volumes of the PFC and amygdala, but not the hippocampus, also varied with metrics of childhood adversity, with income being the most common predictor of brain volume differences. Accounting for differences in childhood adversity attenuated the magnitude of some race-related differences in gray matter volume.

OK. So how did you determine cause and effect? Were the black children born with less grey matter than whites? Did the amount of grey matter decline over time? Did you compare black children who were wealthy (say, Jayden Smith or the Obama girls) to white children who were poor, to see if there were correlations there? How about including other races? Asians?

Nope. Instead, the study began with the following assumptions:

Current U.S. Census data show that Black households, on average, have a lower median income, lower educational attainment, and higher rates of unemployment and poverty compared with White households. Moreover, research suggests that Black children are more likely to be exposed to trauma and domestic violence and are more likely to have a parent who died, an incarcerated parent, or divorced or separated parents compared with White children. Additionally, research has shown that Black children live in disproportionately disadvantaged neighborhoods and are more likely than White children to be exposed to neighborhood violence. These racial disparities are not random. Rather, they are deep-rooted structural inequalities that result from a history of disenfranchisement of racially minoritized groups (e.g., slavery, segregation) that reinforce themselves through societal norms and practices (i.e., systemic racism)

(highlighting added)

I was with them on the other evidence. Yes, there is evidence that black children are likely to be poor, have incarcerated parents, and lower intelligence. I agree. What they are essentially saying is that blacks are poor, less intelligent, and more likely to be criminals than are whites, and that there is a biological and physiological basis for this. That’s exactly what I have been saying for years. What I have a problem with is the conclusion that is unsupported by any evidence presented by this so-called study- that it’s white people’s fault.

This seems like junk science with no control group and little in the way of actual, well, science. When I was a teacher, had one of my students turned in an unsupported conclusion like that one, it likely would have received a poor grade.

Kavanaugh Is Wrong, IMO

This past week saw a huge win for gun rights, in that SCOTUS the Fifth circuit struck down a part of the GCA that was added during the Clinton administration– making eliminating a provision of the law that prohibited persons out of people who are subject to domestic violence restraining orders. AWA over at GunFreeZone did an excellent post on the ruling, and I won’t attempt to recreate that here.

There are those who oppose that ruling and are claiming that there will be domestic abusers lining up to kill their former partners over this. I don’t think that there will be any big changes. Those who want to kill their partners just aren’t deterred by a piece of paper saying that killing someone is illegal, even if signed by a judge. The left always assumes that criminals are simply honest people who gave in to a moment’s impulse, and each of us is equally likely to give into an impulse to kill others. An interesting insight into the leftist mind, eh?

My opinion on these DV orders is that they are bullshit aimed at men in an attempt to give women another arrow in their lawfare quiver. About ten years ago, I was the subject of one of those orders. It was sought and granted without me even being present, with the initial order not even having my correct name on it, by a woman that I hadn’t even seen in months, and in that order she alleged that I did things in stalking her that were impossible because I was not even in the country when they were alleged to have happened.

David Letterman was once subject to a DV order that was obtained by a woman who lived thousands of miles away, after the woman alleged that they were in a secret affair and that Letterman was sending her secret messages using his top 10 lists as a code. Using accusations of domestic violence has become a common tactic for women who wish to win divorce and child custody cases, as well as angry girlfriends who wish to get back at former boyfriends. Men have no legal recourse against women who are proven to be lying.

 Here are the disturbing statistics:

The decision that is the subject of this post fixes some of that. That isn’t how the left, or apparently Brett Kavanaugh, sees it. Kavanaugh wrote a concurring opinion in the Bruen case, arguing that sometimes we have to weigh in on whether or not a law is a good idea.

That’s where he is wrong.

The Amendment says “shall not be infringed.” It doesn’t say “… unless you have a really good reason to do so.” The Supreme Court isn’t there to decide whether or not a law is a good idea. The court is there to decide whether or not a particular law comports with the Constitution. Deciding whether or not a law is a good idea is the job of Congress. All of the authority of the government derives from the Constitution. Any power or authority that the government takes upon itself that is outside of that authority is nothing more than tyranny, an unconstitutional power grab that is based upon the principle of “might makes right” that flies in the face of the principles upon which the “government of the people, by the people, and for the people” was built upon.

There are those who would try and make the case that there is some balancing act to be done, but that isn’t how our government is supposed to work. Thomas sees that. Scalia, although a pragmatic sort of man, saw that as well. Kavanaugh does not.

The left, well, they don’t see the Constitution as anything more than a piece of paper containing words that can be worked around, as long as the words are pretty enough.

Fuck them. Not one more inch. This decision is proof to me that the jury box isn’t completely dead. The war continues.

NIMBY

As is typical of the left, we see an article where a prominent, rich leftist who demands more housing be built for the poor then having a meltdown when that housing is proposed for their neighborhood. That was perfectly illustrated when DeSantis shipped illegals to Martha’s Vineyard. So now it’s an Obama supporting sportsball athlete who demands more housing be built for the poor at public expense, but doesn’t want poor people living near his home.

It’s the lefty who demands that he be allowed to feed homeless bums in the park, but who shies away from allowing a homeless person to stay in his own home, or doesn’t want to set up his soup kitchen in his own gated community.

It’s seen when the left demands that landlords be forced to accept section 8 vouchers, or advocates prohibiting foreclosures, or rent control, or any one of another things that are paid for by someone else.

The government who robs Peter to pay Paul can always count on the enthusiastic support of Paul.

Blood in the Streets

My news aggregator turned up this little gem: A convicted felon flouted gun laws and was arrested at gunpoint. When he was arrested, he had three different handguns, as well as a supply of drugs, on his person.

What really struck me about this, is that this story came to me while the liberals of Florida are in the midst of a meltdown over Republicans (and especially Ron DeSantis) pushing Constitutional Carry in this state. The biggest arguments that I see are:

  • that, without a law making permits necessary for legal concealed carry, criminals will carry guns
  • Police can’t tell the difference without permits telling them who the good guys are

What is so disingenuous about this, is that it wasn’t that long ago that they were saying that people with concealed weapons permits are nothing more than criminals who haven’t been caught yet, who will snap at the slightest provocation and turn every contested parking space into a full scale firefight.

As I said in response to the above linked article: There are already 25 states that have passed Constitutional Carry. Crime and shootings in those states haven’t gone up any more than anywhere else. Every time a gun rights bill comes up, the anti gun people drag out the same old, tired arguments about how every car accident will result in a gun battle and it never happens. They did made that argument in 1989 when Florida passed concealed carry. None of it happened then, and none of it will happen now.

What we know for sure is that criminals are called criminals because they don’t obey the law. This is evidenced by the number of convicted criminals who are caught not only possessing weapons, but doing so without a permit. Therefore, we must assume that this law only works to prevent people who AREN’T criminals from carrying weapons. Who would be opposed to a person who isn’t committing crimes carrying a weapon? The answer is obviously one of the following:

  • people who are planning to commit a violent act against that armed person
  • people with so little self control that they themselves know that they cannot be trusted to carry a firearm, and are projecting that lack of violent impulse control upon others

So my question to those people who are opposed to law abiding citizens carrying weapons is: Which of those are you?

Thousands of Rounds?

ATF should be called Agents That Fib. They are on the record as claiming someone with a Glock switch is capable of firing ‘thousands of rounds per minute’ from a Glock handgun. Anyone with gun knowledge knows that they are talking about cyclic rate when they say that a gun is firing 1,200 rounds per minute. That would require a weapon to have an unlimited supply of ammunition. It’s an attempt at dishonest manipulation of soccer moms.

“It turns a semi-automatic firearm into, essentially, a machine gun,” explained [ATF Agent] Estevan. “So, instead of one round being discharged from a firearm with the single pull of the trigger, when the switch is installed onto a firearm, you’re looking at 1,200 rounds with the single pull of the trigger within a minute.”

If you have to lie in order to make your point, perhaps your point isn’t worth making.

Pushing Back

The communists in this country have been reeducating our children into their dogma for decades. Florida’s Governor is out to change that. The NAACP is furious that he isn’t letting the College Board teach a course in African American studies that covers such weighty topics as Black Queer studies and Reparations. They are demanding that the College Board not allow any AP courses to be taught in the state until DeSantis caves. I don’t think that they realize just how many students in Florida there are, and how much money is at stake. Enough that the College Board is rewriting the course to remove some of the objectionable material.

Who cares what the NAACP thinks? They are a communist front, disguised as a racial movement. They might as well call it Negroes About Advocating Communist Propaganda.

The left also forgets that state colleges receiving funding from the taxpayers of Florida are run by trustees who are appointed by the Governor. The trustees of the most liberal state college in Florida, so liberal that it doesn’t give grades or even require attendance, have been replaced by ultra conservatives.

Times, they are a changin’, at least in Florida, and the left can’t stand it. DeSantis is playing the same game that the left has been playing for years.

Snoozefest

The New Yorker Post is claiming that Florida is a “snoozefest” compared to New York.

I guess it is.

The truth is:

  • We aren’t all old.
  • Yes, we eat early down here. I usually eat dinner before 6.
  • No, we don’t have crocodiles, you moron. We have alligators. You must have learned that in your superior New York education you are bragging about.
  • We have hurricanes. So what? We aren’t pussies about it. Remember “Superstorm” Sandy? Yeah, that was a Category 1 storm. Pussies.
  • No, we don’t all sit around waiting for you to hand us money to drive your mother around.

On the other hand:

To the NY Post: please, please keep telling New Yorkers that Florida sucks. We don’t want your liberal asses and their votes down here. Stop trying to turn Florida into the southern annex of New York. We don’t care how you do things “up north” or even want to hear, “Well, up in New York, we…”

We don’t care, as long as you keep your liberal ideas, taxes, and votes up in New York, where they belong.

Preemption

Florida has had a preemption law for damned near 35 years. The only entity that can pass laws restricting guns is the state legislature. The left didn’t like that, and frequently ignored the law. They would pass gun restrictions and would hassle lawful gun owners, safe in the knowledge that they would never pay the price for violating people’s rights.

Until the state managed to get a law passed in 2011 that allows public officials to be held personally accountable for violating people’s rights with regard to guns. The left absolutely hates this law. Several cities, aided by that antigun commie bitch Nikki Fried, tried to sue the state to get the law overturned, which would have allowed every political entity in the state to pass its own gun laws. Concealed weapons permits would have become useless, as each city and county passed its own restrictions on carry.

That case died last week as the Florida Supreme Court refused to hear the case, leaving the preemption law in place.