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Archive for 2013
May 18, 2013
LEFTY OUTFITS SEEM BIG ON OTHER PEOPLE PAYING TAXES, BUT . . . Google insider exposes ‘immoral’ tax scam.
REPORT: Authorities: Hofstra student was killed by police. Some people are giving this an anti-cop spin, but I don’t see it. It’s a tough situation: “A Hofstra University student being held at gunpoint by an intruder was accidently shot and killed by a police officer who had responded to the home invasion at an off-campus home, police said Saturday. Junior public relations major Andrea Rebello was shot once in the head early Friday morning by an officer who opened fire after the masked intruder pointed a gun at the officer while holding the 21-year-old in a headlock, Nassau County homicide squad Lt. John Azzata said.”
UPDATE: More:
Police fired eight shots at the intruder, who authorities say was holding a gun to the head of 21-year-old Andrea Rebello during a home invasion robbery Friday at an off-campus house in Uniondale.
One of the shots hit Rebello in the head, killing her, police spokeswoman Maureen Roach said.
Also killed was the intruder, who authorities identified as Dalton Smith, 30, of Hempstead. He was struck seven times.
Authorities say Smith, who was wearing a mask, invaded the home Rebello shared with her twin sister and two others during the pre-dawn hours on Friday.
At some point, a female roommate of the twins was able to leave the home and call police, a police spokesman told CNN on Friday.
When a police officer arrived, Smith was holding a gun to Rebello’s head, Roach said.
He told the officer he was going to kill Rebello, and then turned the handgun toward the officer, she said.
The officer, fearing for his life, drew his gun and fired, Roach said.
Based on these facts, it doesn’t sound like the officer did anything wrong.
UPDATE: Prof. Joseph Olson writes:
Civilian “combat shooters” who participate in IPSC or IDPA competitions practice, practice, practice, head shots to the bad guy while missing the hostage. Sometimes they do it after 10 push-ups or a 50 yard run (designed to induce physical stress). 99% of the time they miss the hostage and get the bad guy.
Regular street cops are allowed to carry guns but don’t get this level of training.
The student was killed because the city is too cheap to provide adequate realistic training.
Well, possibly. And reader William Gasper writes: “I think this is simply a case of the police not getting enough tactical simulation practice. Likely due to the Obama administration trying to limit ammunition available to citizens. Obama has a lot of blood on his hands.”
Well, it’s no worse than blaming Bush for Benghazi.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Stephen Hamori writes:
Plus; after all the recent gun owner bashing, a lot of us are holding law enforcement up to the standards we think we are held to by the usual suspects / MSM. If someone took a hostage in a public place and a civilian fired at them… because the other guy started aiming at a crowd… you can image the press. Untrained gun nut kills hostage by ‘mistake’. Changed with manslaughter by DA. Add in that few law enforcement people are speaking out against taking gun rights away from the general public…
I see the point, but I still don’t think the cop here deserves the blame.
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THIS WILL CONFUSE FUTURE MUSIC HISTORIANS: Smack My Bitch Up, performed by The Beatles.
SHOCKER: “Yet, as it turns out, the claim reveals less about men and misogyny than it does about gender studies and academic feminism.” “No scholarly text is ever error-free. But in the case of Kimmel’s book, there is a consistent pattern of using selective evidence and even pseudo-facts to stress women’s victimization and paint males (particularly American males) in the worst light. The fictitious claim that most boys would choose death over girlhood–which will undoubtedly live on the Internet after it’s gone from future editions of the book–fits seamlessly into the big picture. Internet myths aside, The Gender Society is widely used in college courses. And if it is indeed the most balanced gender studies textbook available–which may well be true–that says a lot about the rest.”
CELLPHONES AS A DIRTY BOMB DETECTOR NETWORK.
REMEMBERING WORLD WAR TWO’S DAMBUSTERS.
UPDATE: Link was wrong before. Fixed now. Sorry!
NEW BLOOD: Transfusions Reverse Aging Effects On Hearts In Mice. “‘When the protein … was injected into old mice, which develop thickened heart walls in a manner similar to aging humans, the hearts were reduced in size and thickness, resembling the healthy hearts of younger mice.’ Through a type of transfusion called parabiotic or ‘shared circulation’ in mice — one old and sick, the other young and well — they managed to reverse this age-associated heart disease. From there, they isolated an active agent, GDF-11, present in the younger mouse but absent in the older, which reverses the condition when administered directly. They are also using the agent to restore other aged/diseased tissues and organs. Human applications are expected within six years.” Faster, please.
PHOTOS: The Italian Hotel built inside Abandoned Medieval Grottos.
UPDATE: Link was wrong before. Fixed now. Sorry!
NATURALLY, I WANT ONE: $17,000 Linux-powered rifle brings “auto-aim” to the real world.
Only can I get it retrofitted to the Tactilite .50 BMG?
NEWS YOU CAN USE: Want To Be Happy? Get To Work. “Work is an essential aspect of human life, one of the things that fulfill us as human beings. There is a basic human desire to contribute to society, so we grow depressed and feel listless when we’re not doing that. While we don’t want to read policy directives right out of this research, the general principle, that work is important for people of all ages, should always be in the background of our thinking about retirement and employment more broadly.”
There’s work, and there’s work, of course.
QUESTIONS: “Please detail the content of the members of your organization’s prayers.”
In the Obama era, the question isn’t whether you’re paranoid. It’s whether you’re paranoid enough.
I MENTIONED LAST NIGHT THAT WE GOT COPIES OF the Insta-Wife’s new book, Men On Strike. It comes out one month from today. I also got a copy of Jim Bennett & Michael Lotus’s America 3.0: Rebooting American Prosperity In The 21st Century. I wrote the foreword to the latter. And I encourage you to pre-order both, of course!
JONATHAN TOBIN: Denial Flows Like A River At The IRS.
NOT A CARRINGTON EVENT, HAPPILY: Giant Solar Flare Sideswipes Earth. Of course, if it had been, you wouldn’t be reading this now. “The solar flare associated with Tuesday night’s CME registered as an X-class flare, the most powerful type. It was the fourth X flare unleashed by a sunspot known as AR1748 since Sunday night (May 12). While incredibly powerful, Tuesday’s flare actually was the weakest of the four rapid-fire X flares, clocking in at X1.2. The previous three registered as X1.7, X2.8 and X3.2 flares, respectively. Those three all occurred while AR1748 was facing away from Earth, however, so they did not affect our planet.” And a good thing, too.
IN THE MAIL: Rory Miller’s Logic of Violence and Kris Wilder and Lawrence Kane’s Dirty Ground: The Tricky Space Between Sport and Combat.
NOW AVAILABLE ON SSRN, MY LATEST SECOND AMENDMENT PIECE, coauthored with Brannon Denning: How to Stop Worrying and Learn to Love the Second Amendment: a Reply to Professor Magarian. It was just published by the Texas Law Review.
Download it early and often! (Bumped).
NEW YORK TIMES DECIDES ON SPIN, changes headline.
Related: TaxProf: IRS Scandal Roundup, Day 9. These roundups just keep getting bigger each day . . . .
IT’S POTEMKIN VILLAGES ALL THE WAY DOWN: IRS Official Lois Lerner Called Lawyer To Plant Targeting Question.
THIS SEEMS RIGHT TO ME: First Circuit Rules That Police Need a Warrant to Search A Cell Phone Incident to Arrest.
INVESTOR’S BUSINESS DAILY: Cloudy with a 100% chance of scandals: Obama ducks and weaves.