Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Great News.

Number of cops killed by gunfire in 2013 dips to 33, lowest since 1887

Published December 31, 2013
| FoxNews.com
The number of law enforcement authorities killed by gunfire dipped to 33 in 2013, the lowest total since the Wild West days of 1887, according to a report from a law enforcement advocacy group.
The number of police officers felled by bullets around the nation has been trending downward in recent years, but the 125-year low reported by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund was welcome news for the nation's peacekeepers. Experts also noted that overall line-of-duty deaths of federal, state, local, tribal and territorial officers dropped to 111, the lowest total since 1959.
“The only good news is zero deaths, but this very significant drop in law enforcement fatalities the past two years is extremely encouraging,” said Craig Floyd, chairman and CEO of the fund. “Our organization, in partnership with others, is working hard to create a new culture of safety in law enforcement that no longer accepts deaths and injuries as an unavoidable part of the job. This year’s officer fatality report is strong evidence that this intensified effort to promote law enforcement safety is making a difference.”
Floyd's organization this week put out its annual report chronicling the improved numbers, noting that increased use of body armor could bring shooting deaths of police down even further.

According to the Officer Down Memorial Pagewhich also tracks police deaths dating back to 1822, but had 2013 numbers that were slightly different from those of the NLEOMF automobile accidents were the second-biggest killer of police officers, claiming 26 lives, followed by seven deaths due to being struck by a vehicle. One police officer in Detroit died six months after being struck by accidental gunfire.
The annual report from NLEOMF credited an increased culture of safety among law enforcement agencies, including increased use of bulletproof vests, that followed a spike in deaths in 2011. Since that time, officer fatalities across all categories have decreased by 34 percent, and gun deaths have fallen by 54 percent.
Among law enforcement officers killed by gunfire last year, just two were women: Police Officer Patricia Parete of the Buffalo (N.Y.) Police Department, who died on Feb. 2; and Santa Cruz (Calif.) Police Department Det. Elizabeth Butler, who died on Feb. 26 while investigating a sexual assault.
The Officer Down Memorial Page tally also includes four police dogs, including Koda of the Leon County (Florida) Sheriff’s Office, Kilo of the Indiana State Police, Ronin of the Glendale (Arizona) Police Department and Ape, who was fatally shot in March just three weeks after completing his FBI training, according to the website.
The most recent gunfire death among law enforcement officers occurred last week when Sgt. Kevin “Gale” Stauffer, 38, of the Tupelo Police Department was shot on Dec. 23 as he responded to a bank robbery in Mississippi. Stauffer, a nine-year veteran who previously served with the Louisiana Army National Guard, was posthumously promoted to the rank of sergeant and is survived by his wife and two young children.
Conversely, the gunfire-related death of Police Officer Kevin Tonn of the Galt (Calif.) Police Department on Jan. 15 marked the first among law enforcement officers in 2013, according to the website. The 35-year-old U.S. Army veteran was killed as he responded to a burglary in progress.
Among the 105 total line-of-duty deaths tallied by the website last year, 13 occurred in Texas, followed by 10 in California and 7 in Mississippi. Nine were federal law enforcement officers whose deaths occurred in various locations. The overwhelming majority — 101 — were men and their average age was 42. The median tour of duty among the fallen officers exceeded 13 years, according to the website. February was the deadliest month, with 14 fatalities, followed by September (13) and December (12).
In 2012, 47 of the 123 line-of-duty fatalities were classified as death by gunfire, with an additional two accidental fatalities. In 1887, a total of 44 law enforcement officers were killed, 30 of whom succumbed to gunfire. Another two officers were killed by accidental gunfire, according to the website.

Sunday, December 29, 2013

MIA, Paul Leonard Foster

Paul Leonard Foster, MIA, this date, 1967, over Laos, A26 Crewmember.  I served with Paul in France and England, mid-60s.

Friday, December 20, 2013

Monday, December 16, 2013

Marine’s Career In Jeopardy After Exposing Child Rapist Linked To Taliban (Video)

Marine’s Career In Jeopardy After Exposing Child Rapist Linked To Taliban (Video)

Republican Congressman: Obama’s Disregard of Law ‘Has Reached an Unprecedented Level’ (Video)

Republican Congressman: Obama’s Disregard of Law ‘Has Reached an Unprecedented Level’ (Video)

School Shooter-Communist

School gunman Karl Pierson liked debate, running, but acted "weird" at times
CNN.com
Claire Davis, a 17-year-old senior, was identified by Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson as the girl who was critically wounded Friday, December 13, in a shooting at Arapahoe High School. A student who carried a shotgun into the school in Centennial, Colorado, and asked where to find a specific teacher. The student then opened fire before apparently killing himself, Robinson said. Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson holds a picture of Davis at a press conference on Saturday, December 14, after identifying her as the victim of the shooting at Arapahoe High School the day before. Robinson identified the shooter as 18-year-old Karl Halverson Pierson. Students are escorted out of Arapahoe High School in Centennial, Colorado, on Friday, December 13. Students wait outside Arapahoe High school after being evacuated on December 13. Officers escort students out of Arapahoe High School. Susie Ohle hugs Rob Escue as he came out of the school on Friday afternoon. Ruben Allen hugs his son Alex Allen, 17, after being evacuated from the school Students and parents walk away from the school. Law enforcement personnel arrive at the high school in a military-style vehicle. SaSha Meiler is overcome with emotion after hearing the voice of her younger sister, a freshman. Parents Cathy Thorson, left, and Heather Moran, facing the camera, embrace while they wait for news on their children. Students walk away from the school in single file with their hands up. Students from Arapahoe High School gather at the school's track. People gather outside the school. Parents wait for word about their children after a gunman opened fire at the school. Members of law enforcement are seen outside the school. Law enforcement personnel gather near the high school. HIDE CAPTION
Centennial, Colorado (CNN) -- To many of his neighbors, Colorado school gunman Karl Pierson was the wholesome boy next door who liked achievement and ran on the cross country team. He even worked on an Eagle Scout project two years ago.
To schoolmates, Pierson was known for his outspoken intelligence that served him well on the debate team. But at times, he acted "weird" and alienated peers with rants about communism and his aggressiveness to win every argument, they said.
One neighbor described him as bright but a social misfit whose peers ridiculed him. His mother had transferred him from another high school because of the mockery and altercations, the neighbor said.
Pierson, 18, opened fire Friday inside Arapahoe High School, where he was a senior. Claire Davis, 17, was wounded in a point-blank shooting, and Pierson, who apparently didn't know Davis, then killed himself in the library, Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson told reporters Friday.
"He was a really smart kid. He was intelligent. He knew how to speak; he really did. I don't think I ever won an argument with that kid," junior Daylon Stutz said in the school parking lot on Saturday, when students were allowed to retrieve their cars.
Stutz, an offensive tackle on the football team, had known Pierson since the two shared a human behavior class when Stutz was a freshman and Pierson a sophomore. They worked on a class experiment together in which they went into the community and tried breaking unwritten rules, Stutz said.
"I did think he was a little weird, but I didn't think he was, like, bad weird," Stutz added. "He always kind of talked about how America was a communist country, how the government was, like, trying to take us over and stuff. I don't know, just some weird stuff that I didn't really pay close attention to, but nothing that alarmed me.
"He was definitely kind to me. I never saw him mean to anybody. He wasn't condescending to anyone," he said.
In Friday's shooting, Pierson was armed with a shotgun, a bandolier stocked with ammunition, a machete and three Molotov cocktails, Robinson said. Pierson fired five shots within 1 minute and 20 seconds, he said.
Pierson entered his school looking for the debate team's coach, CNN affiliate KUSA reported, citing Robinson. Pierson was apparently seeking revenge against a faculty member because of a "confrontation or disagreement," the sheriff said.
High school senior Frank Woronoff said he had known Pierson since they were freshmen.
"He was the last person I would expect to shoot up a high school," Woronoff said.
"He was pretty geeky and nerdy but in a charming way, one of the nicest, most humble people I know," he added.
Senior Chris Davis, 18, was among many students Saturday trying to make sense of Pierson's shooting rampage.
"He was a weird kid," Davis said. "He's a self-proclaimed communist, just wears Soviet shirts all the time."
Pierson became easily aggravated, "always liked to be right" and didn't like losing, Davis said.
"It seems realistic, now, that he did it," Davis added.
The home where authorities believe Pierson armed himself is five miles from his school and appeared vacant Saturday. Its front door was sealed and boarded a day after federal agents raided the property and executed search warrants.
A man who declined to be identified in an CNN interview lives a few doors away and said he has known Pierson since he was a boy. In the last few days, the neighbor noticed Pierson driving at excessive speeds throughout their normally quiet, modest middle-class suburb.
The neighbor said Pierson's mother, Barbara, transferred her son to Arapahoe High School from nearby Highland Ranch High School because her son had been subjected to constant ridicule and physical altercations.
"He was socially awkward and just didn't seem to fit into the larger teenage groups, and I think that weighed on him," the neighbor told CNN.
The neighbor said Pierson's parents had been separated for years, and Karl was living with his mother and younger sister.
"While Karl was socially a misfit around kids his age, he was intellectually bright and loved to debate in school," the neighbor said. "If he was disciplined in a debate class, that must have meant everything to him. It may have been trigger point."
Pierson was active in his community, KUSA reported.
He took pride in how he routinely won contests on his speech and debate team, the station reported. He showed off his first place and second place trophies online.
One neighbor described him as a "nice young man," the affiliate said.
In fact, the TV outlet interviewed him seven years ago about the design of a quarter commemorating Colorado.
Pierson submitted questions to the station in 2008 for a show about the Colorado Supreme Court and asked a question at a U.S. Senate debate in 2010, the news outlet said.
CNN's Stan Wilson reported from Colorado, and Michael Martinez wrote and reported from Los Angeles. Ana Cabrera also contributed to this report.

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Krugman: Obamacare Becoming ‘Benghazi-Type Affair’ – ‘Nobody Else Cares About’ but GOP (Video)

Krugman: Obamacare Becoming ‘Benghazi-Type Affair’ – ‘Nobody Else Cares About’ but GOP (Video)

Thanksgiving, ten years ago

Ten Thanksgivings Ago... Posted By Blackfive • [November 27, 2013] This is a repost from ten years ago: Below is an email (via military reader "In Media Res") from a Captain in the 501st (a unit that I know well) that was at President Bush's Thanksgiving Dinner. With all the talk of fake turkey and photo ops, maybe you should hear about the President's visit from someone that was actually there: We knew there was a dinner planned with ambassador Bremer and LTG Sanchez. There were 600 seats available and all the units in the division were tasked with filling a few tables. Naturally, the 501st MI battalion got ourtable. Soldiers were grumbling about having to sit through another dog-and-pony show, so we had to pick soldiers to attend. I chose not to go. But, about 1500 the G2, LTC Devan, came up to me and with a smile, asked me to come to dinner with him, to meet him in his office at 1600 and bring a camera. I didn't really care about getting a picture with Sanchez or Bremer, but when the division's senior intelligence officer asks you to go, you go. We were seated in the chow hall, fully decorated for thanksgiving when aaaaallllll kinds of secret service guys showed up. That was my first clue, because Bremer's been here before and his personal security detachment is not that big. Then BG Dempsey got up to speak, and he welcomed ambassador Bremer and LTG Sanchez. Bremer thanked us all and pulled out a piece of paper as if to give a speech. He mentioned that the President had given him this thanksgiving speech to give to the troops. He then paused and said that the senior man present should be the one to give it. He then looked at Sanchez, who just smiled. Bremer then said that we should probably get someone more senior to read the speech. Then, from behind the camouflage netting, the President of the United States came around. The mess hall actually erupted with hollering. Troops bounded to their feet with shocked smiles and just began cheering with all their hearts. The building actually shook. It was just unreal. I was absolutely stunned. Not only for the obvious, but also because I was only two tables away from the podium. There he stood, less than thirty feet away from me! The cheering went on and on and on. Soldiers were hollering, cheering, and a lot of them were crying. There was not a dry eye at my table. When he stepped up to the cheering, I could clearly see tears running down his cheeks. It was the most surreal moment I've had in years. Not since my wedding and Aaron being born. Here was this man, our President, came all the way around the world, spending 17 hours on an airplane and landing in the most dangerous airport in the world, where a plane was shot out of the sky not six days before. Just to spend two hours with his troops. Only to get on a plane and spend another 17 hours flying back. It was a great moment, and I will never forget it. He delivered his speech, which we all loved, when he looked right at me and held his eyes on me. Then he stepped down and was just mobbed by the soldiers. He slowly worked his way all the way around the chow hall and shook every last hand extended. Every soldier who wanted a photo with the President got one. I made my way through the line, got dinner, then wolfed it down as he was still working the room. You could tell he was really enjoying himself. It wasn't just a photo opportunity. This man was actually enjoying himself! He worked his way over the course of about 90 minutes towards my side of the room. Meanwhile, I took the opportunity to shake a few hands. I got a picture with Ambassador Bremer, Talabani (acting Iraqi president) and Achmed Chalabi (another member of the ruling council) and Condaleeza Rice, who was there with him. I felt like I was drunk. He was getting closer to my table so I went back over to my seat. As he passed and posed for photos, he looked my in the eye and "How you doin', captain." I smiled and said "God bless you, sir." To which he responded "I'm proud of what you do, captain." Then moved on. - See more at: http://www.blackfive.net/main/2013/11/ten-thanksgivings-ago.html#sthash.psBXs2Hk.dpuf

Saturday, November 23, 2013

Monday, November 18, 2013

Brought to you by The Religion of Peace?

Afghan villagers find the bodies of 6 beheaded contractors in restive southern province

By Associated Press, Published: November 17

KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghan villagers discovered the beheaded bodies of six government contractors Sunday in the country’s restive south, the apparent victims of insurgents who regularly target state projects, officials said.
Meanwhile, the death toll from a suicide car bombing at the site of a key national council in the capital, Kabul, rose to 12, officials said, as NATO said an international service member was killed by a roadside bomb.
Kandahar police spokesman Ahmed Durrani said villagers found the bodies. He said the men were involved in building police compounds and checkpoints in Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. The Taliban have previously targeted contractors, warning Afghans against working for the government.
The Taliban did, however, take credit for the blast Saturday outside the huge tent where the Loya Jirga consultative forum is to be held later this week in Kabul. Thousands of prominent Afghans are scheduled to meet there to debate a contentious security agreement with the United States.
Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said three of the 12 dead were members of Afghanistan’s National Security Force, with many of the rest civilians. The Taliban gave the bomber’s name as Saeed Kabuli, but provided few other details.
Hours before the blast, President Hamid Karzai announced that U.S. and Afghan negotiators had completed a final draft of the Bilateral Security Agreement to be presented to the gathering for debate. If approved, it would allow U.S. troops to stay in Afghanistan after the final withdrawal of international combat forces in 2014.
Also Sunday, NATO said a service member was killed in the south. It did not announce the nationality of the service member killed, though most troops serving in southern Afghanistan are from Britain and the United States.
So far this year, 139 NATO service members have been killed in Afghanistan, according to an Associated Press count. This compares to 394 troops of the NATO-led coalition killed in 2012.
Meanwhile in northern Afghanistan, a suicide bomber attacked the deputy governor of Balkh province. While the official escaped unhurt, one civilian was killed, Balkh police spokesman Sher Jan Durrani said.
____
Kathy Gannon is AP Special Regional Correspondent for Afghanistan and Pakistan and can be followed at www.twitter.com/kathygannon .
___
Associated Press writers Rahim Faiez in Kabul and Mirwais Khan in Kandahar, Afghanistan, contributed to this report.

Dem Lapdog Gwen Ifill: Obama’s Apology “So Un-Obamalike” (Video)

Dem Lapdog Gwen Ifill: Obama’s Apology “So Un-Obamalike” (Video)

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

DHS to Hire "Top Secret" Security Force

DHS to Hire “Top Secret” Domestic Security Force
Posted By yihan On November 5, 2013 @ 12:20 pm In Red Title Front Page,Tile | No Comments
Is the Department of Homeland Security building a mercenary unit?
Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
November 5, 2013
The Department of Homeland Security is to spend $19 million dollars on a private security force in Wisconsin and Minnesota, an armed unit that must have a “Top Secret” security clearance according to an official solicitation.
Image: Department of Homeland Security.
According to a solicitation posted on the Federal Business Opportunities website, the Federal Protective Service, a sub-agency of the DHS, intends to hire “armed Protective Security Officer (PSO) services at various locations throughout the states of Minnesota and Wisconsin.”
“The project will have a requirement for the contractor to have a Top Secret facility clearance by the start of performance,” states the FPS notice.
Unlike previous solicitations, which normally detail how the guards will be deployed to protect government buildings, the document does not divulge what role the armed security force will undertake.
The fact that the contractors being hired must have a “Top Secret” security clearance clearly suggests that the DHS is not merely seeking to hire armed guards, but Blackwater-style mercenaries who will be engaged in some kind of clandestine activity.
The notion of an armed security force operating domestically under a “Top Secret” designation, something normally reserved for foreign spying and military operations, underscores how the DHS increasingly treats America like some kind of occupied territory.
The hiring of private mercenaries with Top Secret clearances also suggests the DHS may be planning on using the contractors as cutouts who will be involved in a variety of different operations outside the purview of public and Congressional scrutiny.
For some, the idea of an ever-expanding federal government turning to a private security force with a “Top Secret” clearance will stir memories of Barack Obama’s pre-election promise to build “a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded (as the US military).”
The DHS’ purchase of over 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition over the course of the last 12 months has also prompted concerns that the feds are gearing up for trouble.
As we previously reported, the federal agency has spent large sums of money in recent weeks hiring large numbers of armed guards to protect government buildings, a development some have connected to the likelihood of civil unrest in America which could arise from food shortages linked to welfare cuts.
Fox News’ Neil Cavuto suggested that the Department of Homeland Security’s recent $80 million dollar outlay on armed guards to protect government buildings in upstate New York was related to potential food stamp riots.
The federal agency is also seeking to acquire 723,000 hours of armed guard services to protect government buildings in Arkansas and other areas.
The DHS also recently purchased half a million dollars worth of fully automatic pepper spray launchers and projectiles that are designed to be used during riot control situations.
*********************
Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Infowars.com and Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a host for Infowars Nightly News.

Article printed from Infowars: http://www.infowars.com
URL to article: http://www.infowars.com/dhs-to-hire-top-secret-domestic-security-force/

Saturday, November 2, 2013

A New Theory of Liberalism-From Powerline

POSTED ON NOVEMBER 2, 2013 BY SCOTT JOHNSON IN LIBERALS
A NEW THEORY OF LIBERALISM
A distinguished writer and friend whom we greatly admire writes with timely thoughts based on painful
experience, submitted for your consideration:
I’m always searching for a whole-field theory of liberalism that reconciles its craziness,
destructiveness and sanctimony. I thought the “liberalism is a mental disorder” meme came close,
but in the end was too easy. It’s like having a madman as a villain in a story–you don’t have to
explain, motivate or justify his behavior. It’s the dif erence between “Friday the 13th” and “Crime
and Punishment.”
A recent sad experience with a friend undergoing rehab has left me with another analogue. I now
think liberalism is an addiction and displays all the behaviors commonly associated with
addictive behavior.
Well, not “liberalism” per se. That policy-agenda is really an elaborate metaphorical delusion built
to camouflage the true drug these poor souls crave so desperately: moral superiority.
It’s as powerful as heroin or cocaine. It supplies a terrific high: all sense of personal failure,
betrayal, guilt, inef ectiveness, irrelevance, of being nothing and nobody, disappears in a flash.
Instead our hero feels extraordinarily good about himself. He is helping. He is compassionate. He
is without sin. He is sensitive, caring, part of the solution and not the problem. He feels handsome,
daring and heroic. He thinks it will get him laid. How could he not love this?
He cannot see the harm he is doing, either at the micro level or at the cataclysmic macro level; he
cannot see how his “generosity” with other people’s money, for example, has devastated the black
community, turned it bitter, hopeless, impulsive, violent and addicted itself to free stuf from the
gub’mint as well as the crutch of “racis” to justify everything.
But you have seen this most explicitly in the last few weeks, as Obamacare, a hopelessly idiotic
delusional program meant to redistribute wealth (in the form of medical care) to the unfortunates
who’ve never paid a tax in their lives, has crashed and burned. As anybody who knows anything
about the addictive state knows, when the addict is threatened with the cut-of of his supply, he
becomes a monster.
I saw this with my friend, who it turned out had been lying to me for years about his addictions.
He loved me; I kept him alive. But he could not help himself from using me and feeding me a
tapestry of lies to keep the money coming. I thought I was “helping,” just as liberals think they are
helping. But I learned, finally, that I was just enabling. This is a lesson liberals will never learn.
As the collapse of Obamacare reveals, they go into reflexive monster mode. Like any addict, they
will lie, cheat, steal, even become violent when their supply is threatened. They have no moral
qualms about betraying their closest friends because the moral part of them is dead. They see
only the end of their high and that becomes the defining issue of their life. They will do anything
to protect it. That is why they are such wily opponents and such aggressive defenders of what the
whole of the rational world now realizes was fabrication, delusion and ultimately fantasy.
So if we look to liberate them from the agony they don’t even know they suf er from, we must look
to the known cures of addiction. Terrible, hard work, draining and demoralizing, but I th

Obama Uses Executive Order to Take Over American Climate Change Policies

Obama Uses Executive Order to Take Over American Climate Change Policies

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Anti-bullying suicides

atimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-school-bullying-videos-20131028,0,150664.story

latimes.com

Anti-bullying videos questioned after two students' suicides

By Matt Pearce and Melanie Mason
This post has been updated, as indicated below.
1:20 PM PDT, October 28, 2013
advertisement

SPARKS, Nev. -- Two students from separate schools committed suicide within days of each other this month -- which is National Bullying Prevention Month -- and both boys apparently had been bullied. Now, parents are asking questions not just about bullying but also about anti-bullying videos, which both schools aired shortly before the incidents.
Brad Lewis' son Jordan, 15, a sophomore at Carterville High School in Illinois, killed himself Oct. 17 by shooting himself in the chest.
Jordan left behind an affectionate, apologetic note that, according to Lewis, concluded with the line, “Bullying has caused me to do this. Those of you know who you are.”
Lewis criticized investigators for not pursuing the bullies more aggressively, but also turned some of his questions toward his son's school, which showed an anti-bullying video to students the day before Jordan killed himself.
"All I know is they were discussing the bullying, and showing kids bullying, and at the end of the show they showed pictures of kids that took their lives," Lewis said. "When a child or a person is at the end of their rope, and they don’t think there’s anywhere to go, and they don’t think anyone's doing anything about it, and they see something on video, and they relate."
Lewis added, "You’re dealing with kids. Kids don’t look at the long-term situation -- they look at the short term, they look at the pain they feel now, how can they end that pain.”
[Updated, Oct. 28, 12:34 p.m.: Carterville Unified School District Supt. Bob Prusator told the Los Angeles Times he didn’t know exactly which program had been shown, but added that it was apparently one shown at many schools across the U.S. He said the schools’ ant-ibullying efforts would continue to be evaluated.
“It’s part of the ongoing challenges of public school systems,” Prusator said. “I think every school district in America would agree, the issue of how we keep kids safe in all aspects ...  there’s a lot of different levels. We feel a lot of pressure to keep our kids safe, and so we’re always evaluating things, but we also need feedback from people.... Particularly on social media stuff, we just don’t know what kids are experiencing.”
Prusator said school officials had never received reports of Jordan being bullied at school, and added that the incident was still under investigation by local law enforcement.]
Then last week in Sparks, Nev., 12-year-old Jose Reyes brought a gun to school, shot two classmates and killed a teacher before killing himself.
Those who knew Jose said sometimes he would cry and say people were calling him names. One witness to the shootings recalled Jose saying, "You guys ruined my life, so I'm going to ruin yours."
On Oct. 11, the documentary "Bully" reportedly had been shown to all Sparks Middle School students during their sixth-period class. The film, according to students, depicted two stories in which bullying drove one student to commit suicide by hanging and another to bring a gun on a school bus.
Some students and parents say the parallels are disturbing.
“I don’t understand why that would be shown in the schools,” said Veronica Rudd, whose daughters are in seventh and eighth grade at Sparks Middle School.
“They are trying to be very proactive [about bullying], but I don’t know if it’s coming across to the kids that way,” Rudd said. ”Because at this age, children can be influenced by many things.”
Washoe County School District officials did not respond to requests for comment about the video. Lt. Erick Thomas of the Sparks Police Department said the film is part of the investigation into the Oct. 21 shootings.
"Detectives are reviewing the video to see if it has any bearing on the investigation," Thomas said.
Research is mixed on the benefits of in-school bullying-prevention programs.
One 2010 scholarly review of existing research estimated that school prevention programs reduced bullying by more than 20%.
A different study released by University of Texas-Arlington researchers came to the opposite conclusion, noting that their data showed "students attending schools with bullying prevention programs were more likely to have experienced peer victimization, compared to those attending schools without bullying prevention programs."
The Texas-Arlington study cautioned that the programs may not be causing increased bullying and said more research was necessary to draw conclusions.
The issue presents a significant policy problem for educators.
Bullying victims are more likely to experience suicidal thoughts, and suicide is the third-leading cause of death for teenagers. According to the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control statistics from 2000 to 2010, between 300 and 450 kids ages 12 to 15 killed themselves every year -- about one a day.
Teenage suicide rates rise every year, even though research suggests bullying decreases as students get older.
Brad Lewis said parents from around the country contacted him after his son's suicide. They were concerned not just about bullying, he said, but also about bullying videos.
Lewis wondered if parents should be notified before schools show such videos -- or even if parents should see the films first. "Sometimes it might be graphic," he said, "but it can affect people, especially kids that are in a dark place."
Mason reported from Sparks, Nev.; Pearce from Los Angeles.

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Brrr… Antarctica Sea Ice Reaches 30 Year Record by Extent and Volume

Brrr… Antarctica Sea Ice Reaches 30 Year Record by Extent and Volume

From NRO, Valerie Jarrett

Obama's Valerie Jarrett: Often Whispered about, But Never Challenged
By  John Fund

Surprise! Michelle Obama’s Princeton Buddy Is Exec at Company That Built Failed O-Care Website

Surprise! Michelle Obama’s Princeton Buddy Is Exec at Company That Built Failed O-Care Website

Former Gitmo Detainee Was on the Ground in Benghazi the Night of 9-11 Attack

Former Gitmo Detainee Was on the Ground in Benghazi the Night of 9-11 Attack

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Are Guns the Problem?

Townhall.com logo
October 3, 2013

Are Guns the Problem?

Walter E. Williams

10/2/2013 12:01:00 AM - Walter E. Williams
Every time there's a shooting tragedy, there are more calls for gun control. Let's examine a few historical facts. By 1910, the National Rifle Association had succeeded in establishing 73 NRA-affiliated high-school rifle clubs. The 1911 second edition of the Boy Scout Handbook made qualification in NRA's junior marksmanship program a prerequisite for obtaining a BSA merit badge in marksmanship. In 1918, the Winchester Repeating Arms Co. established its own Winchester Junior Rifle Corps. The program grew to 135,000 members by 1925. In New York City, gun clubs were started at Boys, Curtis, Commercial, Manual Training and Stuyvesant high schools. With so many guns in the hands of youngsters, did we see today's level of youth violence?
What about gun availability? Catalogs and magazines from the 1940s, '50s and '60s were full of gun advertisements directed to children and parents. For example, "What Every Parent Should Know When a Boy or Girl Wants a Gun" was published by the National Shooting Sports Foundation. The 1902 Sears mail-order catalog had 35 pages of firearm advertisements. People just sent in their money, and a firearm was shipped. For most of our history, a person could simply walk into a hardware store, virtually anywhere in our country, and buy a gun. Few states bothered to have even age restrictions on buying guns.
Those and other historical facts should force us to ask ourselves: Why -- at a time in our history when guns were readily available, when a person could just walk into a store or order a gun through the mail, when there were no FBI background checks, no waiting periods, no licensing requirements -- was there not the frequency and kind of gun violence that we sometimes see today, when access to guns is more restricted? Guns are guns. If they were capable of behavior, as some people seem to suggest, they should have been doing then what they're doing now.
Customs, traditions, moral values and rules of etiquette, not just laws and government regulations, are what make for a civilized society, not restraints on inanimate objects. These behavioral norms -- transmitted by example, word of mouth and religious teachings -- represent a body of wisdom distilled through ages of experience, trial and error, and looking at what works. The benefit of having customs, traditions and moral values as a means of regulating behavior is that people behave themselves even if nobody's watching. In other words, it's morality that is society's first line of defense against uncivilized behavior.
Moral standards of conduct, as well as strict and swift punishment for criminal behaviors, have been under siege in our country for more than a half-century. Moral absolutes have been abandoned as a guiding principle. We've been taught not to be judgmental, that one lifestyle or value is just as good as another. More often than not, the attack on moral standards has been orchestrated by the education establishment and progressives. Police and laws can never replace these restraints on personal conduct so as to produce a civilized society. At best, the police and criminal justice system are the last desperate line of defense for a civilized society. The more uncivilized we become the more laws are needed to regulate behavior.
What's worse is that instead of trying to return to what worked, progressives want to replace what worked with what sounds good or what seems plausible, such as more gun locks, longer waiting periods and stricter gun possession laws. Then there's progressive mindlessness "cures," such as "zero tolerance" for schoolyard recess games such as cops and robbers and cowboys and Indians, shouting "bang bang," drawing a picture of a pistol, making a gun out of Lego pieces, and biting the shape of a gun out of a Pop-Tart. This kind of unadulterated lunacy -- which focuses on an inanimate object such as a gun instead of on morality, self-discipline and character -- will continue to produce disappointing results.

Saturday, September 28, 2013

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Delta II launch, skydiver

Delta II launch as seen from a skydiving view.
 

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Why "stand down" orders for DC SWAT team?


Navy Yard shooting: Swat team awaits answers


Members of a Washington DC Swat team who the BBC has learned were ordered not to respond to Monday's Navy Yard shootings have yet to be contacted by the authorities.
The Capitol Police tactical response team was told by a supervisor to leave the scene instead of aiding municipal officers, sources told the BBC.
Meanwhile, the department has installed a new leader of the elite unit. No reason has been given for the decision.
Gunman Aaron Alexis killed 12 people.
The BBC has also learned that four members of the highly trained team have applied for temporary leave, as they "grapple" with the aftermath of the incident.
The Capitol Police department has not yet granted the request, nor given approval for them to use their own paid time off.
Command shake-up
Days after the shooting, none of the officers has been questioned by officials or investigators from a special panel that was convened on Wednesday.
Members of the Containment and Emergency Response Team (Cert) are typically debriefed "right away, at the very least the following day" after an incident, a Capitol Police source said.
"[They] haven't even been given the courtesy of a debrief… They have not even been given an answer as to why the decision was made that they should not respond," the source added.
Another Capitol Police source close to the incident told the BBC: "No-one's talked to these officers since this happened."
On Thursday, members of the tactical unit, which has several dozen members, were told that it had a new leader, a Capitol Police source said. It is not clear why the command shake-up occurred.
Four Cert team members wearing full tactical gear and armed with HK-416 assault weapons arrived on scene at Navy Yard at 08:36 (12:36 GMT) on Monday, after reports surfaced of an active gunman at the complex at 08:20.
According to sources, an officer with the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), Washington DC's main municipal force, told the Capitol Cert officers they were the only police on site equipped with long guns, and requested their help stopping the gunman.
When the Capitol Police team radioed their superiors, they were told by a watch commander to leave the scene, the BBC was told.
On Thursday, FBI Director James B Comey Jr told ABC News it took roughly half an hour for armed police to arrive and engage Alexis. All 12 victims were killed within that time.
Capitol Police sources suggest "lives may have been saved" if the Cert team had been allowed to intervene.
'Better off this way'
On Wednesday, Capitol Police Chief Kim Dine appointed a "Fact Review Team" to investigate the department's response to the Navy Yard shootings. It will report back on 21 October.
But on Thursday sources questioned the efficacy of such a panel.
They said Capitol Police officers had more confidence in the results of an independent FBI investigation which aims to uncover the facts surrounding the incident.
One officer close to the situation called the lack of communication from department leadership "unforgivable".
Details of the gunman and the shooting continue to emerge.
Alexis, a former Navy reservist, reportedly had a history of mental health problems and gun-related brushes with the law.
He had sought treatment for insomnia at two Veterans Affairs hospitals in the last month, according to media reports.
Law enforcement officials said the IT subcontractor had carved the messages "better off this way" and "my ELF weapon" on the stock of his sawn-off Remington 870 pump-action shotgun.
All victims were killed in hallways or their offices, not in the building's atrium as media outlets previously reported.
Alexis also gunned down a security guard and took his Beretta handgun, Mr Comey said.

Sunday, September 8, 2013

No Joke: Susan Rice Will Brief Congress On Reasons To Attack Syria On Anniversary of Benghazi…

No Joke: Susan Rice Will Brief Congress On Reasons To Attack Syria On Anniversary of Benghazi…

Dinosaur media ignores hate crime,

National Media Completely Ignore NY Man Left Brain Dead By Attacker Shouting 'I Hate White People'

Still Nothing to See Here

Still Nothing to See Here

Sorry Irthers: The Arctic Ice Cap Has Returned!

Sorry Irthers: The Arctic Ice Cap Has Returned!

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Democrat talking points, from: Daily Glob

CONFEDERACY: The New Democrat Talking Point Has Been Issued

August 28, 2013


Democrats have a flair for whisper campaigns.
When they want to damage their opposition, they float a word or phrase that starts in the farthest reaches of the blogoshpere which then works its way into the mouths of activists, media allies, debate moderators and politicians.
It works like magic. Just ask any Obama voter where they first heard the term “war on women” and watch them struggle to answer. Hmm… was it the Huffington Post? The Daily Kos? ABC News? Obama?
The new whisper campaign aims to re-write history and paint conservatives as “Confederates” or “members of the confederacy.”
It doesn’t matter that the Republican Party was founded to end slavery which Democrats supported. Nor does it matter that the Civil Rights Act was overwhelmingly supported by Republicans, not Democrats.
It doesn’t matter that the last member of the KKK to serve in congress, Senator Robert Byrd was a Democrat. Nor does it matter that the only black member of the US senate, Tim Scott is a Republican.
All that matters is the new talking point. See if you can spot the trend…
August 16, 2013: MSNBC host uses the term Neo-Confederate to describe libertarians and conservatives.
August 20, 2013: MSNBC contributor uses the term Neo-Confederate to describe 2nd Amendment supporters.
August 27, 2013: Before MLK celebration, Jesse Jackson calls the Tea Party the new Confederacy.
August 28, 2013: MSNBC host asks – Are Conservatives the new Confederates?
This phrase or some variation of it will be repeated endlessly between now and the 2014 mid-term elections. It will eventually make its way into MSM television reports and onto the front page of various newspapers.
As I’m writing this post, liberal activists and bloggers are crafting posts and post comments that include the words “Confederates” and “Confederacy” to describe anyone who opposes Democrats. That’s how this works.
Keep your ears open.
I guarantee you we haven’t heard the last of the new “Confederacy” meme.

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Why does Greenpeace want children to die, Hat tip: Instapundit

The True Story About Who Destroyed a Genetically Modified Rice Crop

Crowd breaking through fence in prior to destroying field of golden rice, Phillipines.
A crowd breaking through a fence to destroy an experimental field of genetically modified golden rice in the Philippines, Aug. 8. Photo courtesy Philippine Department of Agriculture Regional Field Unit 5
Did you hear that a group of 400 angry farmers attacked and destroyed a field trial of genetically modified rice in the Philippines this month? That, it turns out, was a lie. The crop was actually destroyed by a small number of activists while farmers who had been bussed in to attend the event looked on in dismay.
The nature of the attack was widely misreported, from the New York Times to New Scientist to BBC News, based on false claims by the activists. But then anti-GMO activists often lie. In support of the vandals, Greenpeace has claimed that there are health concerns about the genetically modified rice. In fact there is no evidence of risk, and the destruction of this field trial could lead to needless deaths.
The rice is genetically enhanced to produce the vitamin A precursor beta-carotene, giving it a golden color. This vital nutrient is missing from the diets of millions of rice-dependent people in poor countries, where vitamin A deficiency leads to preventable blindness and death on a massive scale.
The golden rice trial was being conducted by the government’s Philippine Rice Research Institute, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), and other public sector partners—contrary to the activists’ accusations, there is no private corporate involvement.
In an exclusive interview at IRRI in Los Baños, I spoke to the golden rice project senior manager Raul Boncodin, who personally witnessed the attack on the morning of Aug. 8.* IRRI also provided photos of the attack; this is the first time they have been seen outside of the Philippines.
Boncodin had traveled to the field site because the researchers had been expecting a rally and a dialogue with activists, he told me. A band of more than 50 split away from the main group of 300 to 400 protestors and broke down the fence around the golden rice plot. They trampled and uprooted the young rice plants across the entire plot. "You could see they were angry—it was a mob," Boncodin said. The local police were outnumbered and did not intervene.
Crowd attacking golden rice field in the Phillipines.
The golden rice field being destroyed.
Photo courtesy Philippine Department of Agriculture Regional Field Unit 5
So who were these attackers? Did they look like farmers? "No," replied Boncodin. "Maybe two or three of them were farmers, but the rest of them were not real farmers. I could see that this was the first time they had stepped in mud or been to a farm. They were city boys, city girls. Two of them were even sporting dyed hair. ... Would you consider a farmer having dyed hair?"
There is additional evidence beyond the physical appearance of the activists. "Real farmers will not trash a living rice plant," said Boncodin, who is a native of the region where the vandalism took place. "They have this culture that it is unlucky to kill a living rice plant," even if plants are diseased and threaten to infect the rest of the crop.
This taboo on destroying green rice plants is widespread and even has a name: Bosung. Boncodin insists that the real farmers "stayed by the side, and didn't directly participate in the trashing of the trial site." When local people were informed, their reaction, he said, was that "no sane farmer would do that to a living rice plant."
When the news of the attack was related to local farmer leaders, they were aghast. According to Boncodin, one of them, a 50-year-old man, burst into tears at the thought that so many young rice plants had been destroyed.
The local office of the Department of Agriculture backs up this version of events. Their press statement also names names: "The surprise attack was staged by the group led by Wilfredo Marbella, deputy secretary of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) and Bert Auter, secretary general of KMP Bicol. Also identified were members of Anakpawis Partylist and MASIPAG."
So who are these groups? MASIPAG describes itself as a "farmer-led network of people's organizations." It has long been a mainstay of the anti-GMO scene in the Philippines and recently joined with Greenpeace in securing a court injunction against a genetically modified eggplant designed to reduce insecticide use.
KMP is an extreme-left organization that promotes a conspiracy theory that golden rice is being produced to facilitate a multinational takeover of the Filipino rice market. In reality, golden rice is being produced by public sector organizations and would be handed out free to farmers, who would be encouraged to save and replant seeds year after year with no technology fees or royalties. Such widespread, free distribution is central to the project’s plans for achieving its humanitarian goals.
The attack was rapidly condemned worldwide. A petition on the website change.org, written by a team of internationally renowned scientists, quickly gathered thousands of signatures. (You can add your name here.) Most of the signatories expressed moral outrage that the ideologues of the anti-GMO movement, including behemoths like Greenpeace, demonize golden rice despite its potential to prevent millions of premature deaths from vitamin A deficiency in the developing world.
Although some anti-GMO activists dismiss the public health problem of vitamin A deficiency to bolster their case, the medical community agrees that it is a major killer, comparable in scale to malaria, HIV/AIDS, or tuberculosis. The World Health Organization estimates that 250,000 to 500,000 children become blind each year because of a lack of vitamin A in their diets, and half of them die within 12 months.
Vitamin A deficiency also depresses the immune system, raising overall mortality from other causes such as diarrhea, measles, and pneumonia. For these diseases the additional toll is estimated at 1 million preventable deaths a year, or around 2,700 per day, mostly among children younger than 5.
Greenpeace, with its $335 million annual revenue, has nearly four times more funding than the entire International Rice Research Institute (most of whose work involves conventional plant breeding). Greenpeace has waged a decade-long campaign against golden rice because it involves transgenic technology. The scientists at IRRI insist that there was no other way to get genes for beta-carotene into rice.
Greenpeace's scaremongering includes the regular production of glossy reports spreading unscientific myths about golden rice. In China last year it successfully created a fake media scandal which landed some of the key Chinese project scientists in jail. Greenpeace Southeast Asia spokespeople took to the media to speak in support of the destruction of the golden rice trial in the Philippines.
The project's scientists are reluctant to battle Greenpeace directly over golden rice before results of their research come in. I didn't meet any experts at IRRI who claimed that their project would solve all or even a majority of the vitamin A deficiency problem worldwide. As the IRRI website makes clear, dietary diversification, capsule supplements, and food fortification are also important strategies.
Field of golden rice, Phillipines.
The golden rice field after the attack.
Photo courtesy Philippine Department of Agriculture Regional Field Unit 5
But these approaches have not worked on their own. Capsules need to be provided to children every three months, for example, presenting a major logistical challenge. Nina Fedoroff, former president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, told me via email: "Golden rice addresses a major nutritional problem in the most direct way imaginable, through a dietary staple."
Opponents claim that golden rice is "poison," to quote from a statement by a KMP spokesman. Fedoroff replies: "There is absolutely no evidence, repeat no evidence, that modifying plants by molecular techniques is dangerous. There is no evidence that rice expressing a compound that lots of plants make is dangerous." (The compound, beta-carotene, is what makes carrots orange—hardly very scary.)
Vitamin A deficiency is a disease of poverty. Golden rice network coordinator Gerard Barry told me it exists, "because hundreds of millions of people have access to rice in their diets, but little else." There is universal agreement that a long-term solution can only come through eliminating extreme poverty, but in the meantime, large numbers of deaths can be prevented. As Barry says: "Millions of children are dying senselessly and needlessly from common childhood diseases because their immune system is compromised."
How far does the attack set back the golden rice development program? The test that was destroyed is one of five currently underway in the Philippines. The other four can still yield useful data—if they survive to the end of the season.
IRRI project leaders have met government officials to discuss what new work may be necessary after the attack to complete of the project's environmental release dossier. It is still unclear whether the trial will need to be repeated. If so, then golden rice will be delayed for many months, or even longer if more vandalism is done or if the anti-GMO activists find other strategies to hamper and delay the scientists' work.
I asked Boncodin how he felt about the attack on his and his colleagues' potentially life-saving work. "It wasn't anger, it was more like a sense of loss. And grief for my fellow Biccolanos [natives of Bicol province]," Boncodin said. "Everyone shed a few tears."
The simple question now is this: If anti-GMO campaigners do manage to delay the launch of golden rice, how many more children will die? If all goes as planned—and if the activists stop trying to block the project—the life-saving rice could be made available within as little as two years in the Philippines, and soon after in Bangladesh and Indonesia.
Additional deaths resulting from further delay of the launch of golden rice will not be random; they will be largely restricted to children younger than 5—some of the poorest and most vulnerable young people in the world. The future success of the anti-GMO movement will be written on the gravestones of these children, who will die painfully but out of sight in remote poverty-stricken communities across South and East Asia.
Unlike some I am not accusing Greenpeace and its ideological allies in the Philippines of committing a crime against humanity. Not yet, at any rate.
Correction, Aug. 27, 2013: This article originally misstated the date of the attack on the golden rice test plot. (Return.)
Cornell University supported Mark Lynas’ travel costs for this research trip to the Philippines.
Mark Lynas is an environmentalist, a former anti-GMO activist, and the author of several books on climate change and the environment.