by Geoff | Dec 9, 2015 | Politics, Society
So a strange combination of the anti-Rahm Emanuel /Anita Alverez groups and the Black Lives Matter group(s) just passed by up here in the Gold Coast. I got some video, listed below. The protests were peaceful, with lots of shouting, not much shoving by the protesters, and total restraint (as usual) from the police.
As unexpected as it was, the event itself was peaceful, confined to the streets (not sidewalks, not interfering with people there), and exceedingly well documented. From the media crews to the helicopters, the protesters, the bystanders, and the police themselves; everyone seemed to have a camera or phone in use.
I was highly amused by the dude in the ‘Observer’ ball cap – orange cap, name-tag sticker. So very official looking.
There were some arrests, and a squad just shot north on Division, so there may be some more to come. Interesting to see, and all credit to the CPD. Well done, officers.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?listType=playlist&list=PLKyhgKZa1cLQEHuVO8CzXcElAJ-PEL0qt&plindex=0&layout=gallery[/embedyt]
by Geoff | Dec 3, 2015 | Politics, Society
Another shooting, another litany of the dead, and it is, of course, politicized before any motive is known. As I write this, there is no known reason Syed Rizwan Farook, Tashfeen Malik, and possibly a third person (many conflicting reports on that, so I’ll leave it as ‘possibly’) decided at some point to open fire at a holiday party for county employees. We just don’t know.
But that has not stopped the blame – from CAIR rushing to assure the public that ‘not all Muslims do this’, which is laughably obvious, even to the most anti-Islamic – to the crowd calling for more and more gun control. ISIS is, of course, a popularly speculated motive. Personal offense given at the party is getting short shrift, as there seems, at least at this time, to have been an unreasonable amount of planning involved. The specifics of the attack, tactical gear, pipe bombs, possible communications rigs, and an exfiltration plan, point to a serious amount of planning.
Do you know what the one, so far incontrovertible, truth is?
That Syed Rizwan Farook, Tashfeen Malik, and possibly a third person chose to do this.
They. Chose.
They chose to pull the trigger.
They chose to kill innocent civilians and coworkers.
They chose to leave at least one pipe bomb behind.
They chose to leave their 6 month old child behind to kill people who had, to all accounts, done them no harm, and had celebrated with them on the birth of said child.
They. Chose.
The NRA didn’t choose. The Koran didn’t choose. The volume of vile ignorance spewing from left and right didn’t choose. Rhetoric didn’t choose. Climate change didn’t choose. They chose.
There needs to be an awakening here – the shooters, in the end, chose to shoot. Why is there so much effort spent to demonize some other factor? Why can we not look at finding a way to move society to a place where violence of any stripe is not the response?
We have issues with responsibility, and issues with individuals acting as such. We, as humans, have to have some greater force to blame. From blaming the mob, CIA, FBI, KGB, BSA, and every other group for the Kennedy assassination to blaming climate change for Hitler, to blaming internet trolls for Congresswoman Gifford’s shooting, we have to blame someone.
With no motive, perhaps we should blame the shooters this time.
by Geoff | Nov 20, 2015 | Politics
Absolutism is an American love. It always has been – even when we compromise, we compromise into an absolute. The ‘Great Compromise’ in the Constitution? Still absolutely allowed slavery, encouraged it, even. We have never been a people that liked seeing more than one side of a story. Maybe it is human, but Americans take it to an extreme.
So when the Syrian refugee crisis (and it is a crisis) began hitting the news cycle, of course the social sphere split into ‘let them all in’ and ‘keep them all out’ camps. But quietly.
Then came Paris. And it became a verbal war of ‘refugees hide terrorists’ and ‘they are just like Anne Frank’. Of course neither is true.
Neither is false either.
The simple reality here is that while a large number of refugees are exactly what they appear to be – people fleeing a brutal civil war for somewhere safe, even if it means leaving no only home, but the very climate they are familiar with. And, as Paris showed, some are indeed terrorists as well. But not all.
Families seeking a better life.
Men of questionable age and background looking for handouts and becoming violent when they are not forthcoming.
Families seeking handouts and leaving a nice life to get free money.
Christians fleeing those who would kill them because of their faith.
Muslims fleeing those who would kill them because their sect backed the wrong guy 1300 years ago.
The refugees are any combination of the above. Or more than one in the same individual. Yes, some are terrorists, but there is no foolproof way to tell – and the person fleeing the war today may be forced into a ghetto in a suburb, and fall in with terrorist friends tomorrow. We cannot know.
But that is not to mean we cannot try. Screening as best we can is not only in our best interests, but in the best interests of the refugees. Knowing that they can be resettled into a prosperous nation that won’t force them into a ghetto, and that they can point to our history, having passed through a modern Ellis Island. Joining the millions who came before, making America stronger, as an alloy is stronger than elemental metal.
Yes, some may be here in bad faith, and yes, there may (likely will) be incidents and attacks on our way of life. But we can weather that – we will weather that. We just need to accept that we have to be better than the Islamists who would being us down, and not be cowed by their ignorance.
Open the doors, but screen the entrants. Trust but verify. And stop being so damned afraid to either see that there is more than one side to this story.
by Geoff | Oct 16, 2015 | Politics
It is campaign season, and the parties are in full swing. For the Democrats, this means making Hillary look good, while she prays that Biden doesn’t enter the race. For Biden, this means weighing the opportunity to grope and grab more unsuspecting women vs not. The rest of the Democrat candidates sure are looking like witless foils to Hillary, propping her up as the voice of experience and moderation. Sad.
Sadder still is the Republican Clown Show. Every Republican (and Trump) that can form a PAC or committee enters the race in January, then engages in media-encouraged red-on-red sniping to wear everyone down, especially the electorate, thus ensuring that the money class’ candidate emerges as the nominee, but can’t win after having to slog through the Clown Show. Plus, for the Dems, free oppo research.
The process is so amazingly broken it is almost physically painful. I started blogging in 2003 because of the blatant lies of the Kerry campaign – political blogging is something I used to like to do. I never had even a measurable fraction of the numbers of an Ace of Spades or Allahpundit, but enjoyed the game. I don’t anymore. I want to like the Republicans, but I am finding that my conservatism and their version are wildly divergent.
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