The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

BREAKING: Suspect in Idaho Student Murders Was Criminology Grad Student UPDATE: Killer Is ‘Obsessive’ Vegan?

Posted on | December 30, 2022 | Comments Off on BREAKING: Suspect in Idaho Student Murders Was Criminology Grad Student UPDATE: Killer Is ‘Obsessive’ Vegan?

Details compiled by Heavy.com:

Bryan Kohberger is the suspect and criminology graduate student who is accused in the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students, who were killed in Moscow, Idaho. Kohberger, 28, was arrested on December 30, 2022, in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, court records show. His name was first confirmed by WPVI, a Philadelphia news station.
The accused man’s full name is Bryan Christopher Kohberger, according to Monroe County court records in Pennsylvania. . . .
Kohberger is facing extradition to Idaho on murder charges, the WPVI news station reports. Kohberger, an Albrightsville, Pennsylvania native, is a graduate student at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington, not far from Moscow. According to the WSU website, Kohberger is pursuing his Ph.D in criminal justice and criminology. . . .
The deaths were previously ruled homicides, police said.
“These individuals have been identified as Ethan Chapin, 20, Conway, WA; Madison Mogen, 21, Coeur d’Alene, ID; Xana Kernodle, 20, Avondale, AZ ; and Kaylee GonCalves, 21, Rathdrum, ID,” Moscow, Idaho, police wrote in a statement.
The cause of death was homicide by stabbing. . . .
When Kohberger was arrested, he “asked if anyone else was arrested,” [reporter Brian] Entin wrote in a tweet, adding, “I’m told he had a ‘quiet, blank stare.’” . . .
According to the NBC Philadelphia story, which broke on December 30, 2022, Kohberger was “taken into custody near the Pocono Mountains” in connection with the November 13, 2022, Moscow homicides. . . .
Kohberger . . . obtained a master’s degree from DeSales University, according to a commencement document from DeSales, which is located in Center Valley, Pennsylvania. . . .
Kohberger is listed on Meritpages.com as being a graduate of “Northampton Community College, Class of 2018” and “From Albrightsville, PA.” That website says that he made the dean’s list at Northampton, where he was studying “Liberal Arts, Psychology,” according to Meritpages.com.

UPDATE: The fact that Kohberger was attending grad school at Washington State University, just eight miles from the University of Idaho campus where the four students were murder in November, is certainly intriguing. Some had also previously suggested that the Idaho murders were the work of a serial killer, tying them to unsolved stabbings in Silverton, Oregon, and Washougal, Washington.

UPDATE II: Well, the police in Idaho held a press conference, but because the suspect has not yet been arraigned, they couldn’t divulge anything about the case except (a) they haven’t found the murder weapon yet and (b) a white Hyundai Elantra, matching the description of a vehicle seen near the murder scene at the time of the crime, was seized at Kohberger’s Pennsylvania residence. So we don’t know how the cops broke the case, or what evidence they have against Kohberger, and won’t learn more until after the suspect is extradited to Idaho and gets arraigned, at which time we’ll see the affidavit.

UPDATE III: More background on the suspect:

A relative told The New York Post Kohberger is ‘OCD’ about his eating habits and forced his family to buy new pots that had never been used to cook meat. 
‘It was above and beyond being vegan. His aunt and uncle had to buy new pots and pans because he would not eat from anything that had ever had meat cooked in them. He seemed very OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder)’ the woman said. …
Law enforcement sources told CNN that his DNA was discovered at the scene of the crime – with officers managing to track down who owned the car seen in the area of the slayings.
However, Kohberger has no prior arrests, according to public records, so it is unclear how officials got hold of his DNA.
Authorities then discovered that he had left the area and traveled to Pennsylvania, where an FBI surveillance team had been tracking the 6ft tall man.
He was kept under surveillance, with the FBI watching him for four days, while investigators from Moscow Police and Idaho State Police worked to get an arrest warrant. . . .
Nick Mcloughlin, who was friends with Kohberger [in high school] told the Daily Beast he was ‘stunned’ to see his old acquaintance arrested.
Mcloughlin said Kohberger was ‘down to Earth,’ when he graduated junior year. But at the start of senior year, Kohberger returned ‘thinner than a rail,’ had turned ‘aggressive’ and taken up boxing.
Recalling how their friendship soured, Mcloughlin added: ‘He always wanted to fight somebody, he was bullying people. We started cutting him off from our friend group because he was 100 percent a different person.’
[Mcloughlin] said he has ‘no idea’ what prompted the sudden change. . . .

The murderer is a vegan? Round up all the vegans! Lock them away! No one is safe from the violence of these killer vegan maniacs!



 

Category: Crime, Idaho

In The Mailbox: 12.29.22

Posted on | December 30, 2022 | Comments Off on In The Mailbox: 12.29.22

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Silicon Valley delenda est.

Mount Butler, on the southwest side of Tonopah. Bit foggy tonight.

OVER THE TRANSOM
357 Magnum: What’s The Interest Rate On Borrowed Trouble?
EBL: Putincide, also, Pele, RIP
Twitchy: Catturd Says If They Can’t Explain Ray Epps “They Were In On It”, also, Fascism-Fighting Journo Says “Hateful Homophobic Hillbilly” DeSantis Is Investigating Venue Over Drag Show
Louder With Crowder: Meet ‘Screwdolph,’ the family-friendly drag queen who guides Santa’s slay with his nipples in front of kids, Elon Musk roasts Anthony ‘the Science’ Fauci while hinting corporate media might be next target of ‘Twitter Files’, and ‘Jared, you’re a pervert’
Vox Popoli: The Soft Will Die, The Losers Lauding the Lame, Predictions From the Tree of Woe, and The Greatest is Gone

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
Adam Piggott: The Greasy Pole #24 – The Killer Koala episode
American Conservative: Economics for the Nation, also, BlackRock Plots to Buy Ukraine
American Greatness: AZ Republican Abe Hamadeh Files Motion for Stay to Delay Inauguration For Office of Attorney General Until All Issues Are Resolved, also, CDC Pressures Teachers to Increase ‘LGBTQ Inclusivity’ in Classroom Instruction
American Power: In Memphis Public Schools, Literacy Taught in Every Class
American Thinker: The Big Question about Ukraine, Black Lives Matter Lauded Fidel Castro, Domestic Terrorists, and The Real Story of the Brooklyn Dodgers
Animal Magnetism: Animal’s Daily Labor Force Participation News
Babalu Blog: NBC News outraged immigrants fleeing socialist dictatorships are getting asylum preference, Castro dictatorship’s false narrative fails to explain the mass exodus of Cubans, and Shocking! ‘Dream holiday’ in totalitarian poverty-ridden hellhole of Cuba is ruined for some Canadians
BattleSwarm: Can You Run .223 And 5.56 NATO Interchangeably?
Behind The Black: Red China’s Long March 3B rocket launches “experimental satellite”, Royal Astronomical Society ends blacklisting of James Webb, A hint at Mars’ past climate cycles, and Pushback: Catholics sue Michigan for imposing queers and the queer agenda in religious schools
Cafe Hayek: Ronald Coase (1910-2013), also, Innovism’s Packaging
CDR Salamander: Diversity Thursday
Chicago Boyz: House
Da Tech Guy: Under the Fedora, Don’t be a weak follower like John Blumenthal, and The latest Twitter Files contains evidence of High Crimes and Misdemeanors
Don Surber: FBI investigates George Santos — but not Hunter Bribened, also, No, judge, the First Amendment protects hate speech
Gates Of Vienna: The ECHR Rules Against Eric Zemmour, How Deadly is the Vax?, and It Would Have Been So Much Worse If I Hadn’t Been Vaxed
The Geller Report: DEFEATED: January 6 Panel WITHDRAWS Trump Subpoena, also, In 2019, 40 Democrats Called Ukraine’s Nazi Azov Battalion a Terrorist Org. Now They Send It Billions
Hogewash: Team Kimberlin Post of the Day, Don’t Know Much Biology, Supernova Remnant LMC N49, and The Saga Continues
Hollywood In Toto: The Whale Punishes Us from Start to Finish, also, Why Did You Stop Going to the Movies?
The Lid: Will China Reinfect The World? Will Biden React Correctly This Time?
Legal Insurrection:  U. New Hampshire’s Student Bar Association Won’t Recognize ‘Religious Freedom Club’, Iran Court Sentences Woman to 10 Years For Removing Hijab in Protest, Declares it “Prostitution”, Time Interviews Author Who Explores the ‘White Supremacist Origins of Exercise’, Netanyahu Returns as Prime Minister While Media Throws Hissy Fit Over Israel’s “Most Right-Wing” Government, and End of Year Thanks
Nebraska Energy Observer: Reflections
Outkick: Georgia OC Shares Blunt Comments On How Football Isn’t Family, LeBron James Appears To Hint The End Might Be Near, Kliff Kingsbury Says Cardinals Had ‘No Idea’ JJ Watt Was Retiring, Josh Dobbs Gets The Nod For Titans In Completely Meaningless NFL Game, and Hooters Girl Sloan Miavitz: Trust Me, Millennials Are ‘Still Into Boobs’
Power Line: Thought for the Day: Churchill on “Expert” Rule, Why No One Trusts the CDC, and A Twitter Files footnote (4)
Shark Tank: Findings Imminent In Drag Queen Show Investigation, Possible Criminal Recommendations On Table
Shot In The Dark: Root Causes, The Minnesota Way, and They Fought The Law & The Law Won
STUMP: Cold Kills: Some Comparisons of Heat and Cold Deaths 1999-2020
This Ain’t Hell: Manipulated, part II, Congressman-elect lies about..well everything, and Retired veteran shot at Shaw Air Force Base
Transterrestrial Musings: Light Posting, Frank Tipler, The New Normaling Of Blackouts, and Going To The Movies
Victory Girls: Antiquated IT System Is Key Reason For Southwest Airlines Implosion
Volokh Conspiracy: New York’s Ultra-Broad Definition of “Blight” Continues to Enable Eminent Domain Abuse
Watts Up With That: UK weather extremes to become new normal, says National Trust, also, BBC’s Fake Worst Drought in China Claim
Weasel Zippers: DHS Comedy Hour: “The Border Is Not Open, We Will Continue To Fully Enforce Our Immigration Laws”, also, Liberal NYC Mayor Defends Carribean Vacation During Severe Winter Storm
The Federalist: Courts Won’t Stop The Feds From Deputizing Big Tech—The People Must, Only Spiritual Brotherhood Can Save Men In The Job Crisis, and The Federalist Staff’s 2022 Winners And Losers Of The Year
Mark Steyn: New Year and a New Normal, also, Don’t Let Them Eat Cake

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Category: Linkagery

Why Have Democrat-Controlled Schools Become Such Cesspits of Racism?

Posted on | December 29, 2022 | Comments Off on Why Have Democrat-Controlled Schools Become Such Cesspits of Racism?

The headline phraseology is borrowed from Glenn Reynolds who, in a different but related context, calls attention to the concurring opinion of a judge on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals:

“I write separately to express my views on the topic of hate speech, disturbingly present in both the facts of the case before the panel and regrettably, a reemerging threat to society throughout the nation today. . . . The continued prevalence of hate speech and crimes against American citizens and residents on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability is evidence of the enduring threat of hate crimes to the fabric of American democratic society and to the safety and security of individuals.”

What bothers me most here is that casual conflation of (a) “hate speech” with (b) “hate crimes,” suggesting that suppression of (a) will prevent (b), a suggestion offered without evidence. And it is my belief that, not only is this false, but that the opposite is true, i.e., that there is likely to be more violence motivated by “hate” if people are forbidden to express whatever resentments and grievances might inspire such violence.

Consider the fact that the case before the court involved two students — Cedric Epple and Kevin Chen — who were expelled from Albany High School in Alameda County, California. This is on the east side of San Francisco Bay, barely three miles from the Berkeley campus of the University of California, which is to say that this school is nearly at the Ground Zero of Wokeness. Less than 5% of the voters in the town are registered Republicans. There is perhaps no place in America where “hate speech” is more strongly condemned, and yet here’s what was going on among these teenagers:

In November 2016, at the suggestion of a friend, [plaintiff] Epple created a private Instagram account to share comments “privately with my small group of friends.” . . .
Chen “followed” the account using the Instagram username “kkkevinkkkkk.” Chen likewise understood that Epple’s second Instagram account was to “be a private forum (by invite only), exclusive to [their] friends, and a place where [they] could share sarcasm, jokes, funny images, and other banter privately.” Not all of the persons who eventually followed the account knew who the owner of the account was.
Between November 2016 and March 2017, Epple used the account to make a number of cruelly insulting posts about various AHS students. These ranged from immature posts making fun of a student’s braces, glasses, or weight to much more disturbing posts that targeted vicious invective with racist and violent themes against specific Black classmates. For example, in early February 2017, Epple uploaded a photograph in which a Black member of the AHS girls’ basketball team was standing next to the team coach, who was also Black, and Epple drew nooses around both their necks and added the caption “twinning is winning.” In another post, he combined (1) a screen shot of a particular Black student’s Instagram post in which she stated “I wanna go back to the old way” with (2) the statement “Do you really tho?”, accompanied by a historical drawing that appears to depict a slave master paddling a naked Black man who is strung up by rope around his hands. On February 11, 2017, he posted a screenshot of texts in which he and a Black classmate were arguing, and he added the caption “Holy shit I’m on the edge of bringing my rope to school on Monday.” Other posts, although not referencing specific students, contained images either depicting, or making light of, Ku Klux Klan violence against Black people. One post included what appears to be a historical photograph of a lynched man still hanging from a tree; another depicts a Klan member in a white hood; and a third combines the caption “Ku klux starter pack” with pictures of a noose, a white hood, a burning torch, and a Black doll.
Epple also created several posts that, while omitting references to violence, still aimed highly offensive racist insults at identifiable Black classmates. In one, he uploaded an image of a Black student sitting in class that was captioned with the statement “The gorilla exhibit is nice today.” . . .

Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

The issue before the court was whether the school could expel students based on private communications that happened off-campus, a relatively narrow question about the limits of public school disciplinary policy. What is of interest to me, however, is what the behavior of these students says about the apparent presumption of the Circuit Court judge who thinks that censoring “hate speech” is the best way to deal with what he calls “a reemerging threat to society.” As if California public schools weren’t already in the iron grip of wokeness?

Isn’t it likely that these teenagers were pursuing the thrill of defying authority — the frisson of rebellion — by expressing beliefs and attitudes they knew were forbidden? Maybe these kids aren’t actually any more racist than their classmates, but instead are just doing what adolescents have always done, rebelling against the prevailing social norms which, in Alameda County, are those of uber-woke liberalism.

While it is certainly not my intention to defend such behavior — crude and deliberately offensive “jokes” — or even to argue against expelling these students, it seems to me that the facts of the case contradict the Ninth Circuit judge’s argument in favor of more aggressive suppression of “hate speech.” It’s not as if Epple and Chen were doing this in an environment of tolerance toward expressions of racism — quite the opposite. So, the judge seems to be arguing, the answer to acts of rebellion against repression is . . . more repression?

Count me as skeptical — or call me a RAAAAACIST! for doubting that more stringent political correctness will solve anything.



 

Category: California, Constitution, Education

In The Mailbox: 12.28.22

Posted on | December 29, 2022 | Comments Off on In The Mailbox: 12.28.22

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Silicon Valley delenda est.

OVER THE TRANSOM
Ninety Miles From Tyranny: The 90 Miles Mystery Box, Episode #1945
357 Magnum: Tesla Won’t Charge At 19 Degrees
EBL: Mastodon is apparently not about free speech, also, How to prevent young people falling prey to socialism?
Twitchy: Ia. State Auditor Stunned Some Are Celebrating School Vouchers As A Means Of Ending Public Schools, also, Taylor Lorenz Handling Shout-Out From @LibsofTikTok’s Chaya Raichik As Well As You’d Expect
Louder With Crowder: Waffle House (again) descends into AEW-style brawl, employee blocks thrown chair with ninja-like reflexes, Kim Kardashian whines about being ‘canceled’ over Balenciaga sexually exploiting children, and Twitter loves the fact Chaya Raichik bears a striking resemblance to archnemesis Taylor Lorenz
Vox Popoli: Globalization Taketh Away, The Nature of Truth, “Private” Companies, and The Only Effective Opposition
Stoic Observations: The Intelligence Problem

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
American Conservative: History Is Tragedy, Not Melodrama
American Greatness: The Coming Split, White House Attempts to Blame GOP for Border Crisis, and Florida Investigates Christmas-Themed Drag Show for ‘All Ages’
American Power: In Response to the Twitter Files, Establishment Media Rushes to Defend the FBI, How Twitter Rigged the Covid Debate, and The Nihilism of the Ruling Class
American Thinker: The End of Free Elections?, also, Biden’s Unopposed Imposition of Stalinism
Animal Magnetism: Animal’s Hump Day News
Babalu Blog: They write letters: Amb. Otto Reich corrects The New York Times on why Cubans flee the island, When you deny Cuban exiles are refugees, you deny the Castro dictatorship’s crimes against humanity, and Mexico buys another 119 Cuban slave doctors
BattleSwarm: Biden’s America: Buffalo Looters Sack Family Dollar, also, Twitter Lawsuit Against Ken Paxton Dismissed
Behind The Black: SpaceX launches 54 more Starlink satellites, Russian investigators conclude leak on Soyuz caused by external impact, A “What the heck?” glacier image on Mars, and Today’s blacklisted American: Computer maker Raspberry Pi boycotted because it hired a former policeman
Cafe Hayek: Judith Curry Counsels Calm About the Climate
CDR Salamander: Lanes, Lies, Power, and Politics – Biden’s NatSec Problem
Da Tech Guy: A Great Turning Point in The Chosen (Spoiler Alert), New Year’s resolution: Write your obit before you die, I Suspect it’s not just Mitch, and Santos the Pol vs Santos the Catholic
Don Surber: Looters do the government’s work, Make George Santos speaker, and A Christmas Story star speaks out
First Street Journal: Killadelphia, also, The American left go full neo-con!
Gates Of Vienna: Tear Down This Mosque!, Culture-Enriching Nightmare in Skellefteå, The Betrayal of Europe, and Germany Invites India to Come to the EU
The Geller Report: Drag Queen Performer: Time to “Kick Down Traditional Family Values,” “F**k Family”, also, Arizona Gov.-Elect Katie Hobbs Demands Legal Action Against Kari Lake
Hogewash: Team Kimberlin Post of the Day, True But Inconvenient, Rings That Aren’t Saturns, and Moar Twitter Follies
Hollywood In Toto: ACLU Silent on McInnes’ Free Speech Lawsuit, Twitter Files, Russell Brand Shreds ‘Nepo Baby’ Pelosi Propaganda Doc, and Babylon Is a Future Classic … And Here’s Why
The Lid: Huge Gaps In El Paso Border Security-TX Busses 1000’s- DHS Chief Demands Amnesty
Legal Insurrection: #Twitterfiles Vindicate Dr. Andrew Bostom, Iranian Dissidents Charge Oberlin College with Whitewashing Professor’s Alleged Complicity in Crimes Against Humanity, Black Astrophysicist Targeted for Not Supporting Smears about NASA’s James Webb, and Democrats Get Reminded That Before George Santos, There Was Joe Biden
Nebraska Energy Observer: I can’t help it
Outkick: NFL Absolutely Demolishes NBA in Christmas Day Ratings, Rams Fan Is Pummeled On Christmas Day At SoFi Stadium By A Guy Wearing An Al Bundy Polk High Shirt, Luke Fickell Pulls Off Classy Move For Jim Leonhard’s Final Game With Wisconsin, Former Nebraska QB Tommy Armstrong Jr. Called A Hero After Saving Family From Burning House, Terrell Owens, 49 Years Young, Has Discussed Returning To Dallas Cowboys, and Shannon Sharpe Hates Russell Wilson And Wants His Parking Spots Removed
Power Line: A Twitter Files footnote, The Daily Chart: China’s Dependence?, and Root Cause of the Crime Problem
Shark Tank: Anna Paulina Luna Endorses Harmeet Dhillon For RNC Chair
Shot In The Dark: Two Plagues, , Paging Alan Dershowitz, and Good Riddance
The Political Hat: Blogroll Cleanup 2022
This Ain’t Hell: Culture Wars, Russians fled in panic, leaving lots of high value equipment behind, Army veteran improving shipyard competency, and Troops With Skills Walk
Transterrestrial Musings: A Wrap Up of 2022, Job Hunting For Ex-Twitter Employees, and Charlie Brown’s Inside Job
Victory Girls: Rachel Levine Demands Censorship, also, NY Times: Louisa May Alcott Was *Ackshually* A Trans Man
Volokh Conspiracy: Plagiarism and ChatGPT
Watts Up With That: Gas Power Saves Texas from Blackouts, As Wind Power Collapses Again!, US Grid Needs Fossil Fuels, Not Wind, and The Faux Urgency of The Climate Crisis Is Giving Us No Time or Space To Build A Secure Energy Future
Weasel Zippers: Feds Ban TikTok On All US Government Devices, MSNBC Claims Justice Jackson And Black Woman Harvard Prez Are Victims, DOJ Official Admits Targeting Pro-Lifers Is Response to Overturn of Roe, and Biden Heads To St. Croix For Another Vacation As Crises Ensue At Home
The Federalist: If Your Kids Are Unhappy, Take Them To Church, Harvesting Low-Effort Votes Is Working Great For Democrats, So They’re Going For More, and SEC Fakes Approval For New Climate Regulations From Activists, Foreign Investors While Ignoring American Companies’ Mass Opposition
Mark Steyn: The Post-Pandemic Order, also, An Ounce of Prevention

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Category: Linkagery

In The Mailbox: 12.27.22

Posted on | December 27, 2022 | Comments Off on In The Mailbox: 12.27.22

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Silicon Valley delenda est.

Naomi Wu has opinions about knives. And other things. 

OVER THE TRANSOM
357 Magnum: Urutau 9mm Carbine
EBL: The Fix Was In, US ECONOMY HEADING FOR DISASTER, and Who Has The Higher Body Count?
Twitchy: Occasional Cortex Calls For People To Defend Drag Queen Story Hour From The Far Right, also, Oilfield Rando Takes A Deep, Disturbing Dive Into CDC’s “LGBTQ Self-Assessment” For Schools
Louder With Crowder: Watch: Elon Musk says the obvious part out loud about ‘almost every Twitter conspiracy theory’, Fed-up store owner locks thief in his store until she pays up for what she’s stealing, and Potential GOP presidential candidate shows off the flamethrower Santa Claus brought her for Christmas
Vox Popoli: A Vibrant Christmas, On the Cold Snap, When There is Nothing to Play For, and The Manufactured

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
Adam Piggott: Christmas Listening, also, Just for laughs, some examples of recent blog bannings
American Conservative: Living in the X-Files, also, A Darkness Revealed
American Greatness: What Did Nancy Pelosi Know and When Did She Know It?, What Will the FBI Not Do?, and Wray’s FBI Is Rotting from the Head Down
American Power: The Obligatory Taylor Lorenz Suspended From Twitter Post, L.A.’s P-22 Has Been Put Down, A Diminished Trump Meets a Damning Narrative, and Gal Gadot Not ‘Booted’ From DC Cinematic Universe
American Thinker: There Certainly Was an Insurrection, But Not by Trump, Take This Potentially Deadly Vaccine, Or We Will Deny You Lifesaving Care, Even in War, Good Will toward Men, and Omnibus Fraud
Animal Magnetism: Goodbye, Blue Monday, also, Animal’s Daily Census News
Babalu Blog: Cuban activist prohibited from boarding flight back home to Cuba from U.S. for a fourth time, Cuban opposition leader and Sakharov Prize winner: ‘We have been betrayed by the democratic world’, Reports from Cuba: Waiting in line in Havana behind 600 others to buy pork, and Vietnamese entrepreneurs will renovate and build apartheid hotels in Cuba
Baldilocks: Fear Not! also, Life Cycle
BattleSwarm: LinkSwarm for December 23, LinkSwarm for December 24, and Has Russia Blown Its Wad In Bakhmut?
Behind The Black: Finding Martian glaciers from orbit, SpaceX has about 100 Starlink terminals working in Iran, Red China launches Earth observation satellite, December 26, 2022 Quick space links, and Today’s blacklisted American: Black scientist blacklisted for doing good research
Cafe Hayek: Some People Have A Comparative Disadvantage at Understanding Comparative Advantage, also, Jonathan Sumption on Risks, Risk Aversion, and the (Further) Rise of the Authoritarian State
CDR Salamander: When you Raise a Monster, You Most Own the Consequences, also, No Sense of Urgency to Act on What is Waiting West of Wake
Chicago Boyz: All Hat and No Cattle – Section 25C Tax Credits, also, Christmas 2022
Da Tech Guy: The Three Dangers of the Frank Pavone Case – Danger #3, The Idolatry of the Masses, Navy Community Outreach 2023…fail or success?, Progress Report, and Christmas musings from an alienated “bah humbug” conservative in a Blue State
Don Surber: The Most American Christmas Ever, The gift of free speech, They got covid 100% wrong, and Netflix may prosecute customers
First Street Journal: It’s 0º F outside, and Kentucky Utilities is employing “brief service interruptions”, Our Betters are so very much smarter than we are that I’m certain, certain! that they have a plan for all of this, and Adeste Fideles
Gates Of Vienna: Culture-Enriching Terror Arrests in Limburg, Excess Mortality in Germany, Part Five, Gypsies vs. Gypsies, and Joyeux Noël
The Geller Report: A Very Merry Christmas To All, Victims of Palestinian Terrorism Sue Biden Admin for Sending Taxpayer Aid to Palestinian Authority, Top School Principal Hides Students’ Academic Awards in Name of ‘Equity’, CATASTROPHIC: Twitter COVID FILES: US Govt Censored Content, Suspended Users, Targeted “Anti-Vaxxers”, Promoted Fear, Celeb-Funded Bail Group Closed After Helping Criminal Who Went On Crime and Shooting Spree, and January 6 Was A ‘Fed-Surrection’
Hogewash: Team Kimberlin Post of the Day, Intergalactic Homelessness, I’m Not Making This Up, You Know (1), and I’m Not Making This Up, You Know (2)
Hollywood In Toto: Bad Omen – L.A.’s Hollywood Sign Will Be Dark in 2023, 6 Celebrities Who Torched Their Legacies in 2022, Margot Robbie … Box Office Poison?, and Dueling Pinocchios: Why del Toro Trumps Zemeckis
The Lid: More Illegals Dropped Near VP Harris’ DC Home on Christmas Eve
Legal Insurrection: Signs that the “Tripledemic” is Winding Down, Habitual Election Denier Rep. Jamie Raskin Calls Electoral College a ‘Danger’, Conflict of Interest Issues Arise as Sec. of Interior’s Daughter Lobbies for Moratorium on Oil and Gas Leasing, Texas and Virginia Commissions: BDS Plays Key Role In Fomenting Antisemitism, and WaPo Uses Picture of NYC Orthodox Jews for Story About Ohio Measles Outbreak
Nebraska Energy Observer: Change is good, Christmas Notes, and Boxing Day
Outkick: Ole Miss Players Go Bananas For Teammate’s Surprise Rendition Of Chris Stapleton Song ‘Tennessee Whiskey’, JJ Watt Announces Retirement With Heartfelt Message To His Son, Top 10 Biggest ESPN Fails Of 2022, Kyler Murray’s Attitude Reportedly A Problem For The Cardinals, and Indiana Hooper Anthony Leal Uses His NIL Money To Pay Off Sister’s Student Loan Debt On Christmas
Power Line: Blackouts Today, Blackouts Tomorrow, Blackouts Forever!, Guess What: Electricity Isn’t Free, Notes on the Twitter Files (10), and A Twitter Files footnote
Protein Wisdom Reborn: Matt Walsh & The Textualists Are Wrong About Language, But…
Shark Tank: DeSantis Investigating “Drag Queen Christmas” That Exposed Children To Sexualized Acts
Shot In The Dark: In The Abstract, Pony Up, Tradition, and Christmas Morning Special
STUMP: Twitter Files Hits COVID Stats: Good Luck with Rebuilding Trust, CDC
The Political Hat: 12 Posts of Christmas, 2022 (Day 12)
This Ain’t Hell: National Guard Soldiers paid late due to expired continuing resolution, Christmas Eve Short takes – Navy up or out, new SMA, new Infantry 2LT, March awards, China conducts military incursion exercises around Taiwan, and Skeet, With Prizes
Transterrestrial Musings: The Ideological Capture Of Our Scientific Institutions, A Good Start, New Linux Problem, and Climate Alarmism
Victory Girls: Principal Chooses Feelings Over Merit Awards, also, Power Substations Sabotaged On Christmas
Volokh Conspiracy: Hamline University Lecturer “Is Fired Over a Medieval Painting of the Prophet Muhammad”, also, Hamline Student Newspaper (the Oracle) Removed Published Defense of Lecturer Who Showed Painting of Muhammad
Watts Up With That: The Great Travel Reset, The Eco-Dictatorship Coming Your Way, and The Great Buffalo Christmas Blizzard Of 2022!
Weasel Zippers: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Sends Busloads of Illegal Immigrants To Kamala Harris’ Home On Christmas Eve, Pelosi Wishes Everyone A “Happy Shwanza”, WZ QUARTERLY DONATION DRIVE, List Crowns 2022’s “Worst of The Woke” Companies, and California Lost More Residents Than Any Other State In 2022, More Than 300K Fled Socialist Nightmare
The Federalist: Five Real Things More Appalling Than George Santos’ Fake Resume, It’s Been 10 Months Since Russia Invaded Ukraine. Where Do Things Go From Here?, New Year’s Resolution: Ignore The Anti-Fun Woke Babies, and From A SCOTUS Assassination Attempt To Threat Of Nuclear War, Here’s 2022 In 6 Minutes
Mark Steyn: Santa, I Don’t Care: Robert Mitchum, Howard Hughes and Holiday Affair, Christmas Eve Lessons and Carols, Christmas Day with Mark and Friends, and Tal Bachman: New Year’s Day, part one

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Category: Linkagery

‘I Don’t Talk to the Police, Sir’

Posted on | December 27, 2022 | 1 Comment

One of the difficulties of trying to get Americans to understand our nation’s crime problem is that most people don’t acknowledge the existence of the category “criminals.” That is to say, because of the way crime is portrayed in entertainment and news media, there seems to be a widespread belief that criminal behavior is more or less randomly distributed throughout the population, so that practically everybody is equally at risk of being a crime victim or, perhaps, perpetrating a crime. However, anyone who actually researches crime will discover that a majority of serious criminal offenses are committed by a comparatively small group of repeat offenders — career criminals, the kind with the proverbial “record as long as your arm.” You could reduce the crime rate by more than 50% simply by identifying these offenders and locking them up and, in such cases, prosecutors should treat these repeat offenders according to what I’ll dub “The Al Capone Principle.”

Al Capone was the most notorious Mafia boss of the 1920 and ’30s, whose gang committed innumerable robberies, hijackings and murders, along with many other lesser crimes — bootlegging, pimping, extortion, you name it. Getting witnesses to testify to Capone’s crimes was problematic, because any witness was likely to be killed or terrorized into silence before the case went to trial. This led to the ironic consequence that, when Capone was finally sent to federal prison, it wasn’t for any of the many acts of brutal violence he had committed, but instead for evading federal income taxes. And this, I say, is the secret to reducing crime: Once you figure out who the criminals are, it doesn’t matter what offense you convict them for, so long as they’re put behind bars for a long, long time.

Well, “mass incarceration,” say the Social Justice Warriors — America is racist and too many black men were in prison, and so activists demanded policies to change this. The problem is that, from a public-safety perspective, “mass incarceration” worked. Prior to the Ferguson riots, the U.S. homicide rate had declined drastically for more than 20 years, from a peak of 9.71 per 100,000 in 1991 to 4.44 in 2014 — a 57% reduction. Several factors were involved in this remarkable public-safety success story, among them mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines that sent drug dealers to prison for many years. Cry all you want about the “War on Drugs” leading to racial injustice, the fact is that a lot of violence was being perpetrated by urban gangs involved in drug trafficking, so that putting gang-bangers behind bars on drug charges had a correlated effect of reducing violent crime — “The Al Capone Principle” in action.

Mandatory sentences for drug crimes weren’t the only factor involved in this two-decade-long reduction of criminal violence, however. A lot of it had to do with how technology made it easier to apprehend and convict criminals. Surveillance video, DNA analysis, computerized fingerprint databases — beginning in the 1990s, cops and prosecutors began to acquire more and more tools to help them identify perpetrators and prove their guilt. Consider one of the biggest stories about public safety in the 1990s, the application of so-called “Broken Windows” theory in New York City. Social scientists James Q. Wilson and George Kelling are credited with popularizing the idea that by enforcing laws against “quality of life” offenses (e.g., vandalism, public intoxication, loitering), police send a signal to the community that has the effect of reducing more serious crimes. Which is no doubt true, but what really made this approach effective in New York City was NYPD’s use of CompStat:

On a weekly basis, personnel from each of the NYPD’s 77 precincts, nine police service areas and 12 transit districts compile a statistical summary of the week’s crime complaints, arrests and summons activity, as well as a written report of significant cases, crime patterns and police activities. This data, with specific crime and enforcement locations and times, is forwarded to the chief of the department’s CompStat Unit, where information is collated and loaded into a citywide database.
The unit runs computer analysis on the data and generates a weekly CompStat report. The report captures crime complaints and arrest activity at the precinct, patrol borough and citywide levels, presenting a summary of these and other important performance indicators.
The data is presented on a week-to-date, prior 28 days and year-to-date basis, with comparisons to previous years’ activity. Precinct commanders and members of the department’s senior officers can easily discern emerging and established crime trends, as well as deviations and anomalies. With the report, department leadership can easily make comparisons between commands. Each precinct is also ranked in each complaint and arrest category.

By compiling crime reports in a database, CompStat gives cops knowledge of what crimes are happening and where on a weekly basis — a computerized roadmap that helps them target enforcement in areas where crime is most common. Many cities across America adopted the approach pioneered by NYPD and, not surprisingly, it turns out that putting more cops where the most crime is happening has a remarkable deterrent effect on criminal activity. If this also results in more black people going to prison, well, “Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time.”

Crime is not just a statistic, however. Or, rather, statistics are just a compilation of separate events, and if you spend enough time watching police activity videos on YouTube, you begin to see distinct patterns of criminal behavior, which brings us to the case of Teronnie Austin Wade.

Wade is a lifelong career criminal. In 2014, when he was sentenced to a year in prison after pleading guilty to grand theft auto. In 2017, he was sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to having a gun as a convicted felon. In 2020 — that is to say, almost immediately after his release from prison — Wade was a passenger in a car that was pulled over for a traffic violation. He was found in possession of a handgun, 22 bags of cocaine and the synthetic drug Flakka. At this point, it should have been apparent that Wade was at all times a member of the category “criminal.” At no time since he reached adulthood had Teronnie Wade attempted to make a legal living, but was instead constantly either (a) committing crimes or (b) serving time in prison.

A judge ordered Wade held on a bond of nearly $130,000, but for some reason, that was later lowered to $50,000, and the career felon was released from jail in Jacksonville, Florida. He failed to show up for an October 2021 court hearing, and a warrant was issued for the fugitive’s arrest. So it was that Teronnie Austin Wade next encountered law enforcement at 1 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 8, 2022. Five people were inside a sedan that made an illegal U-turn at a red light on Lem Turner Road in Jacksonville. When police pulled the car over, Wade was sitting in the front passenger seat. Officers noticed the smell of marijuana and began questioning the occupants:

Officer B then asks the passenger in the front seat to roll the window down.
“I don’t talk to the police, sir. I’m a passenger,” the man replies.
“OK,” the officer replies. “Can you just roll the window down for me? You don’t need to talk to me.”
“I’m a passenger, sir,” the man replies.
“No, hey, don’t go reaching in your pockets, alright?” Officer B said.
“I’m a passenger, sir,” the man repeats.
The officer tells the man it’s OK if he doesn’t want to talk to him, he just wants him to roll the window down.
“Got to talk to the driver, sir,” the man responds.
Officer A then walks back over to the white car to talk to the front seat passenger, who was wearing a bulletproof vest. The officer asks the man if he has a medical marijuana card.
The passenger replies, “Sir, I don’t answer any questions, sir.”

Now, when a police officer notices that a civilian is wearing a bulletproof vest, this naturally arouses suspicion. But before we get to that, let’s examine Wade’s claim that, because he is only a passenger in the vehicle, and not the driver, he doesn’t have to answer the officer’s question. Maybe this is true, in a narrow legal sense, but when you get pulled over in a vehicle that reeks of marijuana, you are then a suspect in a crime unrelated to mere traffic violations. And because these cops weren’t born yesterday — because they are experienced enough to recognize patterns of criminal behavior — there was a good reason why they wanted Teronnie Wade to roll down his window, namely to improve their ability to see inside the car, to see if there were any weapons present.

Criminal activity follows certain patterns, and while the driver of the car claimed that he and his friends had been on their way to Walmart — intending to get supplies to fix another car, only to discover that Walmart was closed — the police suspected there might have been another motive for this trip. Because why were there five guys in this one car, including a passenger who’s wearing a bulletproof vest? None of the officers recognized Wade as a convicted felon, but experienced cops tend to acquire a sixth sense, and so he was taken out of the vehicle, at which point the cop saw the extended magazine of a pistol sticking out of the back of Wade’s pants. Bulletproof vest + pistol = trouble.

What resulted was an “officer involved shooting” (OIS) incident. When officers attempted to handcuff Wade, he broke free and ran, then turned and fired at officers, who returned fire. More than 40 shots were fired in the gun battle, which ended with Wade seriously wounded. He survived, and was charged with two counts of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, plus possession of a weapon by a felon and resisting arrest. This time, he was held without bail.

 

This incident is an example of a pattern we have seen repeatedly in recent years — suspects with extensive criminal records, out on bail, committing crimes that cause people to ask, “Why wasn’t this guy behind bars?” Wade’s multiple previous convictions, including being a felon in possession of a firearm, should have been sufficient to convince any judge that this guy was too dangerous to be released after he was busted with drugs and a gun yet again in 2020. Yet there he was, riding around after midnight, wearing body armor and carrying a pistol with an extended magazine, a fugitive who had (predictably) violated terms of his bail.

How is it that the same liberals who bemoan “mass incarceration” also want to lecture us about “gun violence”? As if a policy of turning loose criminals has no impact on the crime rate? As if the gun itself — an inanimate object — were the cause of violence, rather than the criminals that liberals want to turn loose? It is difficult for me to believe that in Florida, which is certainly not a haven of liberalism, a guy who just got out of prison for a weapons charge could have gotten busted with a gun again, and then turned loose on bail. Where is “mass incarceration” when we really need it? This shootout in Jacksonville is, in a way, a microcosm of what’s gone wrong in our criminal justice system in recent years.

“I don’t talk to the police, sir,” says the career criminal, a fugitive with a warrant for his arrest, carrying a pistol with an extended magazine and wearing body armor while he’s riding around at 1 a.m.

This is what “social justice” looks like — armed criminals ready, willing and able to murder the police, because Black Lives Matter, you see.



 

Category: Crime, Florida

Rule 5 Monday: St. Stephen’s Day Edition

Posted on | December 27, 2022 | 1 Comment

— compiled by Wombat-socho

For a minute I considered having Ingrid Pitt as an appetizer again, since St. Stephen is the patron of casketmakers and Ms. Pitt spent a lot of Hammer movies in caskets, but I thought it was a bit of a stretch…so you get Cikita Pechova, a Czech model I spotted on Reddit. Hope everyone had an enjoyable Christmas.
Ceterum autem censeo Silicon Valley esse delendam.

NINETY MILES FROM TYRANNY: Hot Pick of the Late Night, The 90 Miles Mystery Box Episode #1939, Morning Mistress, and Girls With Guns. 

ANIMAL MAGNETISM: Rule Five War On Cars Friday, and the Saturday Gingermageddon. 

EBL: MAGA Mike Lindell Threatens To Snuff Out DeSantis, “Fairytale Of New York”, Jack Ryan Season 3, Extraordinary Attorney Woo, It’s A Wonderful Life, The Bishop’s Wife, “Joy To The World”, 1923 – A Yellowstone Origin Story, So How’s The Avatar Sequel Doing?, Die Hard – Both A Christmas AND A Hanukkah Movie!, and Black Adam.

A VIEW FROM THE BEACH: Laura Haddock is No Ordinary Fish, The Christmas Song, Fish Pic Friday – Christmas is Coming, River, Bring on the Beavers!, Thursday Tanlines, Christmas Wrapping, A Hazy Shade of Winter, Wednesday Wetness, Blue Christmas, Tattoo Tuesday, The Monday Morning Stimulus, Carols by Candlelight, Palm Sunday and I’ll Be Home for Christmas

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Category: Rule 5

Long Season for the ’Bama Boys

Posted on | December 26, 2022 | Comments Off on Long Season for the ’Bama Boys

L-R: Jalen Hurts, Tua Tagovailoa, Mac Jones

The NFL season is too long. The league’s decision to extend the season from 16 games to 17 was a mistake, as was the decision to expand the postseason playoffs from 12 teams (six in each conference) to 14 (seven in each conference). Under the previous playoff format, the two division champions in each conference with the best records (i.e., the #1 and #2 seeds) got “byes” in the wild-card round, but now only one team in each conference gets that precious bye. And an extra week’s rest really matters because, after playing a 17-game regular-season schedule, every team in the league has its share of injuries, major or minor.

Until last year, when the New England Patriots drafted Alabama quarterback Mac Jones in the first round, I hadn’t paid much attention to the NFL. But the idea of a ’Bama boy being tapped to fill the gigantic shoes of all-time great Tom Brady fascinated me, and having seen Jones lead the Crimson Tide to an undefeated National Championship season, I felt he was up to the challenge. The fact that he beat out former MVP Cam Newton for the starting QB job in New England, and led the Patriots to the playoffs as a rookie, seemed to confirm my judgment. Of course, the Patriots were “one and done” in the playoffs last season, and they have suffered all sorts of struggles this year — Mac Jones missing four games with an ankle injury, amid a misguided revamp of the team’s offensive scheme — but I still believe Mac is destined for NFL greatness.

Jones isn’t the only former Alabama quarterback in the league, however. At one time, Mac was the third-string QB for the Crimson Tide, when Jalen Hurts was the starter and Tua Tagovailoa was the No. 2 QB. Hurts had been the starter for the 2016 team that made it all the way to the National Championship game before losing to Clemson, and returned for the 2017 season, with Tagovailoa, a freshman recruit from Hawaii, beating out Jones for the No. 2 spot. That year, Alabama lost to Auburn, which cost them an appearance in the SEC title game, but the Tide made it into the national playoffs as the No. 4 seed, then upset top-seeded Clemson to make it to the championship against Georgia. That was one of the greatest games in Alabama’s long and glorious football history. At halftime, the Bulldogs led 13-0 and Coach Nick Saban made a shocking choice — the true freshman Tua Tagovailoa would start the second half. Tua did not disappoint, throwing for 166 yards and three touchdowns, leading the Crimson Tide to an exciting 26-23 overtime victory.

Tagovailoa remained the starter for ’Bama the next season and, although Hurts continued to see significant playing time as a backup, after 2018 he transferred to Oklahoma, where he passed for 3,851 yards, ran for another 1,298 yards and led the Sooners to the Big 12 conference championship. In 2020, both Hurts and Tagovailoa entered the NFL draft, where Tua was a first-round pick (fifth overall) for the Miami Dolphins and Hurts was a second-round pick (53rd overall) for the Philadelphia Eagles. Both Tua and Jalen had their struggles during their first two NFL seasons, but this year Hurts emerged as one of the most dynamic QBs in the league, passing for 3,472 yards and 22 touchdowns, adding 747 yards and another 13 TDs rushing. At 13-2, the Eagles have the best record in the NFL and are one win away from clinching the NFC East title, although Hurts has been sidelined after spraining his left (i.e., non-throwing) shoulder against Chicago in Week 15.

Meanwhile in Miami, after starting the season 8-3, the Dolphins have hit a four-game losing streak, including a Christmas Day defeat at home against Green Bay, when Tua threw three interceptions as Aaron Rodgers led the Packers to a 26-20 comeback win. Before the streak, the Dolphins looked like they might displace the Buffalo Bills as AFC East champions; now the Bills have clinched, and Miami is fighting for a wild-card playoff spot, a competition that will be highlighted on New Year’s Day, when Tua and the Dolphins play Mac and the Patriots in Foxborough. Both Miami (8-7) and New England (7-8) have lost four of their last five games — the Patriots haven’t won since beating the Arizona Cardinals on Dec. 12 — and, regardless of how the outcome affects the playoff scenario, there will be a definite factor of self-respect at stake for both teams.

Every team in the league is now banged up and had their lineup reshuffled since the season began. For example, look at the San Francisco 49ers, who have clinched the NFC West title with an 11-4 record. The Niners began the season with Trey Lance, a 2021 first-round pick, at quarterback. In the second game of the season, however, Lance suffered a broken ankle, and veteran Jimmy Garoppolo stepped in at QB. Jimmy G was good enough that San Francisco took a 7-4 record into their Dec. 4 road game at Miami, where Garoppolo suffered a broken foot on the opening drive. That left the 49ers to bring in rookie Brock Purdy at QB. Purdy was the very last player chosen (7th round, 262nd overall) in this year’s draft, and the idea that this low-rated prospect out of Iowa State would become the starter his rookie year was a million miles away from anything San Francisco coach Kyle Shanahan had in mind.

Wow, a late-round draft pick stepping in at quarterback because of injuries — doesn’t that story seem kind of familiar?

With Purdy at QB, the Niners are undefeated, having won five in a row, and they’re unlikely to lose their last two games, against the Raiders and Cardinals, so that this long-shot obscurity — a kid that almost nobody thought had a chance to make it in the NFL — now appears ready to lead a division champion in the playoffs. And the toll that injuries have taken during this long season can be seen in the rosters of all the playoff teams, several of which will go into the postseason with players in their starting lineups who began the season on the practice squad.

The season is just too damned long, and any player who makes it through 17 games without a significant injury is just lucky. All three of the former Alabama QBs starting in the NFL this season have missed games with injuries, and the fortunes of the Philadelphia Eagles — the team with the best record in the league — hinge on whether Jalen Hurts can come back from his shoulder injury at full strength for the playoffs. As my brother Kirby has pointed out, the new rules surrounding concussions guarantee that many top players, including quarterbacks, will be forced to sit out at least one game during the year. Should the team owners and the players union try to make a new agreement to increase roster sizes, to ensure that teams have enough depth to be able to make it through the season? And wouldn’t it make sense to admit that the 17-game schedule was a mistake? Go back to 16 games and, while you’re at it, go back to the 12-team postseason playoffs. As much as we hate to admit it, we have learned that there is such a thing as too much football.



 

Category: Football
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