The Michael Brown Case, Update 12: Disparate Impact vs. The Rule Of Law

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Attorney General Eric Holder, Darren Wilson, DOJ, Justice Department, Michael Brown, President Barack Obama

credit: youngcons.com

The Federal Depart of (in) Justice has finally admitted what I reported in Update 11: Injustice and Truth, there is no evidence whatever to charge former Ferguson officer Darren Wilson with a civil rights violation:   

The Netanyahu Speech: Real Alternatives

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barack obama, Benjamin Netanyahu, Iran, Israel, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Obama

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made history yesterday (March 03, 2015). Not only was he the second world stage leader to address Congress three times—Winston Churchill was the first; good company—his speech was a speech for the ages. Such speeches aren’t always recognized as historic at the time. Lincoln’s Gettysburg address, which is very brief, was initially thought an inconsequential failure. It is now recognized as one of the greatest speeches ever made. The confluence of elements–the right man, the right words and the right time–will likewise secure Netanyahu’s speech in history.

For the moment, President Obama and others desperate to defend his badly tarnished messianic reputation, are complaining that Mr. Netanyahu did not offer an alternative to the horrendously bad deal Secretary of State John Kerry and President Obama are so foolishly negotiating. They could not be more wrong or short sighted.

Keep in mind that for the progressive, the mere act of speaking with a deadly enemy is considered a great and worthy accomplishment in and of itself. Reaching a verifiable, rational agreement beneficial to the United States is a distant second. Thus do we see leftists seemingly comfortable with mere talk and with any deal.

The Trayvon Martin Case: Three Years On

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Martin, Social justice, Trayvon Martin

L To R: Social Justice Martin, the real Martin, the result of social justice

February 26 was the third anniversary of the death of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida. Sanford was not actually Martin’s home, but he was staying with his father during a ten day suspension from school. Had Martin not been a petty crook, drug user and thug wannabe, he would never have met and assaulted George Zimmerman.

Regular readers are, of course, familiar with my work on the Martin case, which was among the most widely read on the Internet at the time. My archive of that work is available here. 

At The Truth About Guns, I have up a brief article–Fact vs. Narrative in the Trayvon Martin Case–that provides factual information about that case, information particularly useful in refuting those never-ending advocates of the social justice narrative.

If you have a few minutes, you may find it a worthwhile refresher.

Obama and Iran: The Delusions of Clowns

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barack obama, Iran, Israel Benjamin Netanyahu, nuclear weapons, President Obama

The leader of the free world spoke to a joint session of Congress today. Barack Obama refused to attend, refused to speak with him, and would admit only to “looking at” a transcript of his speech. He, of course, is Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu.

I’m not going to quote extensively from the speech. Anyone wishing to read it–and it is a speech that will rank among the most important in history–may do so here.  A video of the speech–a bit more than 40 minutes–is available here. 

Before I present a variety of views from around the Internet, it may be worthwhile to review where we–America–are in relation to Iran in 2015.

New Jersey: 0; Liberty: 1

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Gordon Van Gilder, Van Gilder

Gordon Van Gilder

In a recent article–Liberty: New Jersey Screws The Pooch Again–I wrote about the plight of 72-year old retired teacher and history buff, Gordon Van Gilder. He had the great misfortune to be caught by the police with a 300 year-old flintlock pistol he had just bought for his collection of historic relics, and arrested, was facing up to a decade in jail.   In that article I noted:

This is the height of insanity and abuse of power. Police officers have substantial discretion, and that discretion exists for cases just like this. While I have no doubt that New Jersey’s notoriously anti-liberty and anti-gun politicians fully intended that people like Van Gilder be arrested for daring to exercise their Second Amendment rights–even if they have to return to Revolutionary War era technology to do it–rational, if cowardly, legislators often write laws fully expecting, even hoping, that police officers will use common sense and never enforce them. In that way, politicians can have it every way, placating rabid statists, while also assuring the honest they never meant their insane and unconstitutional laws to apply to them.

Respect Me Or Else!

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Self-esteem, Self-respect, Texas, University of Texas at Austin

Among the first things I teach my students every year is the difference between self-respect and self-esteem. Self-esteem is nothing more than positive feelings about oneself based on no criteria whatever. One can be among the worst people on the planet, yet have stratospheric self-esteem. Self-respect, however, is earned positive feelings about oneself based on external criteria. It is reflected in the good will and opinions of others, in good deeds and kindness, not a self-indulgent imagination. Self-esteem is meaningless; self-respect is vital.

That’s why I am so often amused by people demanding respect of others because they’re just so damned special! A good example of that recently occurred at the University of Texas at Austin. Austin, for those not familiar with Texas, is a small island of lunatic progressivism in a vast sea of conservative rationality. National Review has the story: 

Safe Spaces And Acronym Incoherence

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Heather Mac Donald, safe space, students, Wesleyan University

Young alphabetic folk

I sometimes have a bit of fun at the expense of various politically correct victim groups, making gentle parodies or satires on their excesses, such as their acronyms. Thanks to the invaluable Heather Mac Donald, we now know that such people are beyond satire or parody. Observe: 

Just when you’d gotten the hang of LGBTQ, they go and triple the number of categories. Wesleyan University is now offering a ‘safe space’ (formerly known as a ‘dorm’) for students of the LGBTTQQFAGPBDSM persuasions, or, for those who need things spelled out, for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Transsexual, Queer, Questioning, Flexual, Asexual, Genderfuck, Polyamourous, Bondage/Disciple, Dominance/Submission, Sadism/Masochism student acolytes. If you are so heteronormative as to see the word ‘FAG’ in the center of that jumble, you will surely not be allowed into the ‘safe space,’ known as Open House.

Education: It Has Nothing To Do With That Anymore…

credit: thejosevilson,com

This week, I need to get a few things off my chest, so to speak. Malcolm Forbes said:” if you have a job without frustrations, you don’t have a job,” the point being, of course, that all jobs have frustrations; it’s the nature of the beast. As much as I love what I do, I’ve had, of late, more than my fair share of frustrations. Perhaps they may provide a bit of insight concerning certain issues.

Common Core:

I saw–from my computer monitor–Jeb Bush at CPAC this week talking about Common Core. It was quite the political performance as he reiterated his undying support for Common Core while claiming that education policy should be the sole province of the states. Common Core is all about centralized control and a single mandated standard, hence “common.” Sorry Jeb, but one cannot claim unwavering support for state control of education while fully supporting Common Core. That’s rather like claiming Islam is fully compatible with western civilization while taking a sledgehammer to irreplaceable, priceless historic relics, which, like Jeb Bush’s contradiction, took place this week as well.