Falsehood: “People, not guns, kill people”

Falsehoods and Skepticism, Violence and Guns, , , ,

Yes, of course, you need a person (usually) to pull the trigger. But it is abundance of and ease of access to guns that causes the United States to be off the charts in woundings and killings from firearms. This is what the research has shown for a very long time and continues to show. Here, I’ll give you yet another example. All of the following text, and the tables, are exerted directly from the paper. Continue reading Falsehood: “People, not guns, kill people” →

President Obama and Vice President Gore

Syria Will Sign The Paris Climate Accord

Climate Change, , , ,

It is now being reported that Syria will sign the Paris Climate Pact.

This will leave the United States as the only country in the entire world that has not signed the accord. This may be the first time that the US was quite so alone in an international agreement. The reason the US has not signed is because Donald Trump decided this. Many assume this is because Trump, the Petroleum Industry and Russia are in cahoots over oil. I think not. The main driving force for Trump Policy is this one single thing: Did the black guy do it? If the black guy did it, then undo it. Paris is a product of President Obama’s administration, therefore it can not stand under Trump. Never ind what our country, or the world, wants or needs. Continue reading Syria Will Sign The Paris Climate Accord →

A Great Echo Math Skill-Building Skill

Education, Technology

An Echo is a small round robot that lives in your house, and that you can give commands to, converse with, get to run your devices, and learn from.

(See this review of the Echo and related devices.)

An Echo “skill” is an app, essentially, which you can turn on and have available at any time to do whatever it is that that skill does. You can safely think of the word “skill” as equivilant to “app” for most purposes. Continue reading A Great Echo Math Skill-Building Skill →

Is this terrorism?

Violence and Guns, , ,

Is a particular act an act of terrorism? Is a particular person a terrorist?

People want the label applied to acts and people that are readily and resoundingly vilified. It hardly matters if the person is an actual official terrorist. If they killed someone and you are really really mad at them you want them to be a terrorist. Or, if they are just scary. Like the elderly black homeless man in this story, labeled by the Iowa Farmers as a terrorist because it was impossible for him to squeeze his wheelchair through a door gracefully.

We yell at each other about whether or not a person will be labeled as a terrorist, and it is often said that if a mass killer is found out to be brown, he’ll be labeled as one, but if he is found out to be white, his actions will be attributed to mental illness. And so on.

People also want the label to be applied instantly, just as the news of some horrid event is coming out. No matter what. Call the terrorist a terrorist NOW or you, too, are a TERRORIST.

Here’s the thing. What a terrorist is, or what terrorism is, has an official definition. There are probably going to be unclear cases, but the term terrorism has a meaning and it is important to get this right even if getting it right somehow goes against the sensibilities of the Extremely Annoyed. Also, since there is a real definition and details matter, it is absurd to demand that the label be used instantly. It takes time. And, we can wait. There is no gain in instant labeling of a terrorist. Police and investigators would do the same things in either case in the initial stages of an event.

The FBI gives these two definitions of terrorism:

International terrorism: Perpetrated by individuals and/or groups inspired by or associated with designated foreign terrorist organizations or nations (state-sponsored).

–for example, the December 2, 2015 shooting in San Bernardino, CA, that killed 14 people and wounded 22 which involved a married couple who radicalized for some time prior to the attack and were inspired by multiple extremist ideologies and foreign terrorist organizations. Continue reading Is this terrorism? →

A true American Patriot

Politics, , ,

on Thursday, November 3rd, 2017, deactivated Donald Trump’s Twitter account. It was an employee of Twitter on his last day of work. He did what Twitter should have done, by its own rules, months ago.

Trump’s latest violation of Twitter policy was probably his calling for the death of an American Citizen who had just been sentenced for a crime he had pled guilty for, but that was not a death penalty crime.

If I called for the death of someone, they would delete my twitter account, and I can’t really kill someone by saying “kill them.” But the President actually does have that power, and short of actually ordering a black op to have someone murdered, he can insist that someone should be killed, and one of his deplorable followers may well carry it out. If that happens in this case remains to be seen. At this point, anything bad that happens in part or fully due to a Tweet by Donald Trump is Twitter’s fault.

Deo from Burundi and Forensic Geology (cheap books)

Other

In Strength in What Remains, Tracy Kidder gives us the story of one man’s inspiring American journey and of the ordinary people who helped him, providing brilliant testament to the power of second chances. Deo arrives in the United States from Burundi in search of a new life. Having survived a civil war and genocide, he lands at JFK airport with two hundred dollars, no English, and no contacts. He ekes out a precarious existence delivering groceries, living in Central Park, and learning English by reading dictionaries in bookstores. Then Deo begins to meet the strangers who will change his life, pointing him eventually in the direction of Columbia University, medical school, and a life devoted to healing. Kidder breaks new ground in telling this unforgettable story as he travels with Deo back over a turbulent life and shows us what it means to be fully human.

I’ve not read this but obviously I have to: The Forensic Geology Series by Toni Dwiggins.

QUICKSILVER:
Forensic geologists Cassie Oldfield and Walter Shaws plunge into the dark history of the California gold country, into the dark past of two brothers, into a poisonous feud that threatens lives and the land.

BADWATER:
Death Valley earns its name when a terrorist threatens to unleash lethal radioactive toxins. The only ones who can find and stop him are the forensic geologists, and they are up against more than pure human malice. The unstable atom–in the hands of an unstable man–is governed by Murphy’s Law. Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.

VOLCANO WATCH:
The volcano beneath the geologists’ home town is seething, and the mayor is found murdered with a note saying NO WAY OUT. The fate of the town now rests in the hands of an emergency planner with his own twisted agenda. As the volcano moves toward red alert, the geologists race to prevent ‘no way out’ from becoming a prophecy.

Mueller has probably caught multiple small fish.

Politics, , ,

Many were surprised when the “first indictment” in Muller’s probe of Trump’s collusion with Russia to take over the United States was Trump’s actual campaign advisory, Paul Manafort. One expects prosecutors to go after the small fish first, then use their testimony to catch the bigger fish.

But that confusion is almost instantly settled on realizing that many weeks ago, Mueller and the FBI arrested and got a guilty plea from George Papadopoulos. You’ll remember him as an individual who was supposedly involved in opening up a Trump-Putin channel. The Trump campaign, under Manafort, pretty effectively discredited or diminished those claims, and threw Papadopoulos under the bus. We now know two things, however. One is that those claims were serious, even worse than they originally appeared, despite the Trump campaign’s efforts to tone them down. The other is that Papadopoulos was a small fish, and in this case, a small fish likely wearing a wire. Oh what would it be like to have an accounting of all the places he’s been, people he’s seen, since his guilty plea? Reporters? Got anything?

Once I heard all this I jumped to a provisional but I think correct conclusion. Mueller has multiple small fish. Papadopoulos is just the one we know about. He’s been collecting them, quietly, all along. And, moments ago a reader of this blog passed me some new information. Turns out that Sam Clovis, the current nominee to the Department of Agriculture’s chief science spot, is likely also a cooperative witness. It may be the case that Clovis was involved as well in setting up the Trump-Russia back-channel or related activities. That’s interesting. I wonder if his nomination is in jeopardy?

Anyway, I’m putting in on record now that I think Mueller has a whole kettle of fish. A virtual apiary of singing canary fish. Or at least, a few more. Any guesses as to who they might be?

Trump Isn’t the American Reality

Books, Politics, , , ,

Lately — since, oh, sometime in early November 2016 — I’ve been reading history, especially US history and especially centered on national history and presidents. Why? Because Donald Trump is not the American reality. Other things are the American Reality. They are not all good things, some are bad, but many are good. And with Trump, it is all bad, very very bad. Reading about Lincoln, Grant, JFK, Roosevelt, Johnson, and all those other famous white guys at this moment in time is one of several ways of coping with the hopefully temporary end of American civilization. This is only one thing I’m doing to cope, but it is one of the things.

Meanwhile, Chris Matthews has been doing something similar but different. Instead of reading about famous executive-level Americans who were good, he wrote a book about one. Last night, on the Rachel Maddow show, Matthews literally said that he wrote this book because “Trump isn’t the American reality.”

And so we have, coming out just now, “Bobby Kennedy: A Raging Spirit” by Chris Matthews.

I vaguely remember the assassination of JFK. And I remember the assassination of MLK. But Bobby was my Senator, and he was part of the political community in which I grew up. When he was killed, my father, who had been watching the TF, following the primaries, came and dragged me out of bed so I could watch that part of history. It was an event that helped determine who I am today. It was an event that helped me to become of the the millions of Americans who ultimately will not put up with Donald Trump, and who will spend the rest of our days fighting Republicans because of what they have done to this country.

I have not read the book, but I’m going to. Here is the blurb:

A revealing new portrait of Robert F. Kennedy that gets closer to the man than any book before, by bestselling author Chris Matthews, an esteemed Kennedy expert and anchor of MSNBC’s Hardball.

With his bestselling biography Jack Kennedy, Chris Matthews shared a new look of one of America’s most beloved Presidents and the patriotic spirit that defined him. Now, with Bobby Kennedy, Matthews returns with a gripping, in-depth, behind-the-scenes portrait of one of the great figures of the American twentieth century.

Overlooked by his father, and overshadowed by his war-hero brother, Bobby Kennedy was the perpetual underdog. When he had the chance to become a naval officer like Jack, Bobby turned it down, choosing instead to join the Navy as a common sailor. It was a life changing experience that led him to connect with voters from all walks of life: young or old, black or white, rich or poor. They were the people who turned out for him in his 1968 campaign. RFK would prove himself to be the rarest of politicians—both a pragmatist who knew how to get the job done and an unwavering idealist who could inspire millions.

Drawing on extensive research and interviews, Matthews pulls back the curtain on the public and private worlds of Robert Francis Kennedy. He shines a light on all the important moments of his life, from his early years and his start in politics to his crucial role as attorney general in his brother’s administration and his tragic run for president. This definitive book brings Bobby Kennedy to life like never before and is destined to become a political classic.

Sam Clovis hired both Carter Page and George Papadopoulos

Politics, , ,

Climate Hawks Votes has just released this very intereting statement pertaining to today’s revelations and arrests:

News reports indicate that Trump USDA chief scientist nominee Sam Clovis hired both Carter Page and George Papadopoulos for the Trump presidential campaign. Furthermore, Clovis acted as supervisor to George Papadopoulos and encouraged Papadopoulos to go to Moscow during the 2016 presidential campaign. Senate Agriculture Committee chair Pat Roberts of Kansas has set a nomination hearing date of November 9 for Clovis to be undersecretary of Agriculture for research, education and economics.

Climate Hawks Vote president RL Miller states: “Clovis was a supervisor of Russian outreach at the Trump campaign and is now about to be rewarded with a USDA chief scientist appointment. What’s Clovis going to science at USDA, Russian caviar?”

Clovis’ appointment hearing is November 9. He is not a scientist. He was, however, a co-chair of the Trump campaign, who hired Carter Page and who supervised Papadopoulos. Papadopoulos has pled guilty to lying to the FBI. Climate Hawks Vote was one of the first organizations to call for blocking Clovis’ confirmation, and is part of a coalition that has collected over 400,000 signatures in opposition to the nomination.