Scattershots – 5oct17

George Rebane

The news media, including Fox News, are confounding the latest buzz about the SecDef and the President being at odds about the Iran agreement.  Trump has called the Iran deal “the worst ever” for the US, while Mattis along with the JCoS chair testified that Iran appears to be living up to the agreement.  To the pea-brains who pass for journalists these days, this is a stand-off in the making within the administration.  No one seems to understand that the two assessments are totally independent.  Yes, Virginia, it is possible for the Iranians to be living up to the letter of the worst agreement ever that Obama negotiated with Iran.

With all the latest histrionics about ‘gun violence’ and ‘police brutality’ witnessed at entertainment venues across the land, it is clear from just the raw data about gun deaths that neither the blacks nor the Democrats believe that ‘Black Lives Matter’.  Given the stats from longstanding Dem-controlled urban areas, it is clear that no such concerns exist about the overwhelming proportion of black-on-black murders committed there every month, year after year, numbers that also overwhelm the carnage in Las Vegas.  But all those whites killed by a white man, now there’s “a disaster that must not be wasted” to give government control over more of our lives.

Control over our lives is governed by regulations that actually implement laws passed by elected legislatures; regulations that more often than not overextend what was intended in law.  Here is the latest from the Mercatus Center of George Mason University on ‘Regulatory Accumulation: The Problem and Solutions’.  Note the vertical scale of the graph below.

Regulations are created one by one. By design, each new regulation contains obligations or prohibitions—regulatory restrictions that policymakers hope will deliver benefits that justify their costs. Over time, however, the buildup of more and more regulatory restrictions distorts and deters the business investments that drive innovation and economic growth. These dynamic effects of regulatory accumulation can hinder economic growth considerably, on top of the many other consequences often associated with regulations, such as higher unemployment, higher prices, and lower wages, particularly for low-income households

Here is a quick look at the “gobbledygook” in which the nation’s gerrymandering problem is now mired and argued in the SCOTUS (more here).  According to my lights, the solution to gerrymandering seems to me an easy one.  Set an upper threshold on the ratio of area to perimeter of the district to be gerrymandered to such a value that keeps the defined regions reasonably compact.  The ratio would have to be defined in terms of a specific unit of length (e.g. mile, meter, kilometer, furlong, …) since the ratio or fraction of area divided by perimeter will be in units of length given that perimeter is a length and area is in length squared.  So if we pick ‘mile’ as the unit of length, we can set a lower threshold like, say, ‘2 miles’.  For a rectangle that means that L*W/(2*L+2*W) must more than or equal to T = 2 miles.  This will keep everyone from coming up with these thin tangled regions with very wiggly boundaries.  The geometers among you will realize that the most compact region is a circle with its area/perimeter = radius/2.

Comments

[Todd Juvinall]

The US Constitution leaves the elections and the ways of choosing their Congressmen up to the states. It is pretty unspecific. The SCOTUS should bow out.

[fish]

Ooooh look……..common sense gun control!

NRA Caves On "Bump Fire Stocks," Says They Should Be "Subject To Additional Regulations"

Looks like the NRA decided to sacrifice a pawn…….

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-10-05/nra-caves-bump-fire-stocks-says-they-should-be-subject-additional-regulations

[Don Bessee]

"Liberalism is white supremacy" according to BLM who shut down an ACLU event at the College of William and Mary. UH OH lefty civil war is breaking out. What does that portend for dem turnout next year? ;-)

[Account Deleted]

fish at 1:06 - Yeah, throw 'em a bone. Once we ban bump stocks, gun violence will go away and Chi-Town's monthly blood bath will cease. Stupid device - has very little to do with rate of fire past a certain point. You can only throw so much lead through a un-cooled barrel before you have problems. I've heard semi's popping off in the BLM lands nearby and some of those boys can pull a trigger pretty quickly.
It's all a big show of BS anyway. You can still legally buy all the components of a Timothy McVeigh style truck bomb and do in hundreds. Heck, that guy in Vegas could have just loaded up one of his aircraft with plastic gasoline jugs and pancaked it right in on top of the crowd and 58 deaths would look like nothing. Humans are so stupid, it makes you wonder how we managed to get out of the caves.
But, of course - "it's a step in the right direction".
Until the next mass murder, and it starts all over again.

[fish]

Posted by: Scott Obermuller | 05 October 2017 at 07:28 PM

Indeed......best line I saw re the horrible evil, evil springs that can be fabbed up and integrated into a standard buttstock in someones garage in an afternoon....."A remarkably stupid yet effective way to turn money into noise"!

[fish]

Posted by: Scott Obermuller | 05 October 2017 at 07:28 PM

Indeed......best line I saw re the horrible evil, evil springs that can be fabbed up and integrated into a standard buttstock in someones garage in an afternoon....."A remarkably stupid yet effective way to turn money into noise"!

[fish]

....and of course Instapundit weighs in most effectively!

THEY KNEW ABOUT HIS BEHAVIOR — BECAUSE, APPARENTLY, EVERYONE KNEW — BUT HE WAS USEFUL AND AS POLITICIANS THEY HAVE NO ACTUAL VALUES OR PRINCIPLES BEYOND POWER: Harvey Weinstein Harassment Claims Put Obamas, Clintons in Tough Spot.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/harvey-weinstein-harassment-claims-put-obamas-clintons-tough-spot-1046107?utm_source=twitter&utm_source=t.co&utm_medium=referral

[Bill Tozer]

I once did a report on “domestic violence” among teens. Stabbing granny 80 times, that kind of thing. Every school shorter was on head meds. So, this is not surprising:

https://www.facebook.com/RowdyConservatives/photos/a.217983685002343.55586.217926015008110/1178531988947503/?type=3&theater

Now, it is oblivious to the most casual observer that Botox Queen Nancy is insane, and after signing the Santuary State bill yesterday, Jerry Brown is criminally insane.

[Bill Tozer]

@7:47am

Harvey Weinstein, the chronic serial sexual abuser/predator of young women has announced what he will do to atone for his long list of evil deeds. He will dedicate his life to end the existence of the NRA. Oh, the libs love that! He is a friggin hero. Now, why didn’t Bill Cosby think of that? At least OJ is out and can continue his life mission to find the real killers of his wife (the one he beat the crap out of) and Ron Goldman. The real killers of Nichole Simpson, Ron Goldman, and all the people in Vegas is the NRA.

Liberals are insane,but we all knew that. Politics trumps race, gender, and the confused.

[Bill Tozer]

Re: Do black lives matter???

Crickets.
https://www.facebook.com/lastamericapatriots/photos/a.235087906641439.1073741826.235086849974878/931000753716814/?type=3&theater

[Walt]

Your going to LOVE this one.
http://www.breitbart.com/california/2017/10/06/new-law-forbids-california-landlords-from-cooperating-with-ice/

Never rent to someone with the slightest foreign accent.

[Account Deleted]

George - my posts are disappearing when I hit refresh.

[Account Deleted]

California Dems lead the way to stop gun violence.
http://www.foxandhoundsdaily.com/2017/10/bill-on-governors-desk-could-reduce-penalties-for-gun-use-during-a-crime/
Since guns are the problem, we need to give folks who shoot randomly into a crowd a lesser sentence.

[Account Deleted]

There was a hyper text link in the post - is that causing the problem?

[Account Deleted]

Just need the last one posted - no need to re-post them all.

[Bill Tozer]

Violence. Well, it ain’t violence if a gun was not used.

Did you vote for Prop 57 in the last election? Well, it passed. Pay particular attention to the list of what are considered "non-violent" crimes. Your "YES" vote gave these perpetrators consideral benefit including early release. And it looks like rape of someone unconscious or drugged and human trafficing involving a minor is on the non-violent list. Was this a good idea? California, you are about to find out.

“Violent” felonies per P.C. 667.5
 Murder
 Attempt Murder
 Voluntary Manslaughter
 Mayhem
 Forcible sex offenses
 Rape in concert
 Robbery
 Arson
 Kidnapping
 Carjacking
 Certain gang offenses
 First degree burglary where victim is present
 Any felony punishable by death or life in prison
 Any felony where D inflicts GBI
 Any felony in which a gun is “used”

Not “Violent” felonies
 ADW - deadly weapon & force likely [245(a)(1) and 245(a)(4)]
 Battery with Serious Bodily Injury [243(d)]
 Solicitation to Commit Murder [653f(b)]
 Domestic violence [273.5]
 Inflicting corporal injury on a child [PC 273d]
 First degree burglary [PC 459]
 Rape/sodomy/oral copulation of unconscious person or by use of date rape drugs. [ 261(a)(3) & (4), 286(f), 288a(f)]
 Human trafficking involving a minor [PC236.1(c)]
 Hate crimes [PC 422.7]
 Arson of forest land [PC 451(c)] causing physical injury
 Assault w/ deadly weapon on Peace officer [245(c)]
 Active participation in a street gang [186.22]
 Exploding destructive device

And all this time Obama was working behind the scenes weakening what constitutes a violent crime in the eyes of Immigration judges, thus lowering tons of felonies to misdemeanors. An illegal alien could rob you at knifepoint, but since a gun was not used, it was just not quite a robbery....it is classified as some other violation, a non deportable offense......not a the state level but at the immigration level.

Give them hell President Trump....

[Account Deleted]

re Tozer 7:28 - My previous post was about SB620 - it's on the Gov's desk, but in light of the Dems braying about gun violence, it might not go through.
from Fox and Hounds
" Yet SB 620, which has been sent to the Governor for his approval or veto, would loosen penalties for those convicted of using a gun in a crime.

Multiple shots fired during a drive-by shooting into a crowd of innocent people the shooter didn’t know, striking one–that’s the crime committed by the person Senator Steven Bradford picked as the poster boy for his legislation. It is truly puzzling why this attempt to kill multiple people was chosen as an example of why penalties for using a gun in a crime should be lessened."
Guns are the problem, not folks using the guns. Just seize the bad gun and melt it down and let the shooter go. That's the ticket.

[Bill Tozer]

I strongly disagree with this meme. How can you possibly lose what you never had? Riddle me that, Batman.

https://www.facebook.com/RowdyConservatives/photos/a.217983685002343.55586.217926015008110/1177484892385546/?type=3&theater

Now on a more serious note, if Dems would stop shooting each other, the homocide rate would drop 90%.

[George Rebane]

Administrivia - Apologies; am on travel with sporadic connectivity. Hope I've gotten everything erroneously collected in the spam folder posted.