THE IDEA IS SUPPOSED TO HOW TO REDUCE ANTISEMITISM, NOT HOW TO EFFECTUATE IT:

APES ARE LIKE PEOPLE: Popular chimpanzees set hand-holding trends for the whole group.

BOUND TO HAPPEN: Chicagoans are shooting back. Wirepoint paints the background by noting that Chicago’s 67,000 reported major crimes last year were 41 percent higher than in 2021 and already this year they’re up 58 percent. For the 11th-year running, Chicago led the nation in murders in 2022 – with 697. Crime on public transit is also badly out of hand. Making things worse, major crime arrest rates in Chicago averaged just 5 percent. And 400,000 times in 2021 there were no police to respond to high-priority 911 calls.

Increasingly, says Wirepoint’s Matt Rosenberg, “Chicagoans are taking matters into their own hands. By shooting back, stabbing back, and defending themselves in any way they can. It’s not going to stop as long as city and county officials let the chaos continue.” And the tired circus of “rewriting gun-control laws” has now made some law enforcement officials fed up:

Sure, in 53 Illinois schools not one single child can read at a fifth-grade level. And a city known for government corruption at every level since the 1920’s even outdoes itself every now and then. The solutions? A look at this clip explains a lot.

Rosenberg, like so many, has started to list and identify situations where citizens chose to fight and save their lives rather than wait for on overworked but DEI indoctrinated social worker to arrive just in time to write out your toe tag:

• An 80-year-old man on Chicago’s Northwest side used his legally-registered gun to shoot and wound one of a pair of home invaders. The two had to seek treatment at a local hospital and were later arrested and charged. The victim was badly battered and hospitalized in critical care. Without his weapon he might well have been killed. Readiness is all.
• In Austin on the CTA Green Line a would-be armed robber was shot by an intended victim who had a legally registered gun and a concealed carry permit. The suspect was charged with felony armed robbery and felony armed habitual criminal. That means he had at least two prior weapons convictions. Such offenders are routinely set free with little punishment in progressive Cook County. The lesson here? If the criminal justice system won’t protect you, your legal firearm may.
• A man unloading his car in Albany Park was approached by a suspect who threatened him and indicated he had a gun. The vehicle owner pulled his gun and shot at the interloper – who was not injured but was arrested. Anyone engaged in daily routine activities can become a target.
• A pair of alleged car thieves in downtown Chicago shot at a vehicle’s owner, emerging from a hotel. But he was a concealed carry permit holder and shot back, wounding one. The two fled separately and both were later charged with felonies. One for burglary, the other for unlawful use of a weapon by a felon. That revolving door in Cook County courts, again.

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker announced $50 million in funding for Chicago violence prevention programs run by nonprofits. Compared to the baseline year of 2019. The results?

Carjackings in 2022 were up 175 percent from 2019. Murders rose 39 percent, shooting incidents 32 percent, and robberies 13 percent. With those results, the city would be better served if its violence prevention grants went to training people in how to defend themselves.

LAUGHING WOLF: Peace At Any Price. “Far too much of what is being discussed and pushed is not in touch with the reality of Russian culture and internal dynamics, much less that of Ukraine. Anything that does not take such into consideration will fail. Spectacularly. Creating something viable, or at least make each step suck the least, requires strong, informed, and capable leadership. Looking at the Biden Regency, Castreaux, Macaroon, Charles/Sunak, Shultz, Vladimir, etc., yeah, right.”

A longer piece but I found it well worth my time.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: Japan set to launch new flagship rocket.

FACT CHECK: Did George Soros Endorse Ron DeSantis?

GOOD THING SALT ISN’T PARTICULARLY BAD FOR YOU: Pizza tops list of 15 foods that account for more than half of salt intake.

CUT DOWN THE TALL POPPIES: To Increase Equity, School Districts Eliminate Honors Classes.

NOW BLAST OFF: SpaceX launch doubleheader! Watch 2 Falcon 9 rockets fly 9 hours apart on Feb. 17. “The two missions are scheduled to launch at 2:12 p.m. and 10:59 p.m. ET, respectively.”

UNEXPECTEDLY! California’s Predicted Fiscal Firestorm Has Arrived. “The bad news for California starts out with ‘California tax revenues, a bellwether for the country, declined 42% year-over-year in January, led by a 50% decline in income tax revenues.'”

That’s where the bad news starts.

Related: You Won’t Believe How Many People Have Fled California.

CHANGE: Israel Joins the Club of Oil Exporting Nations, Sends First Ever Shipment to Europe.

FREE THE FOOD TRUCKS: Denver’s Downtown Food Truck Ban May Be Unconstitutional, Law Firm Says.

The Institute for Justice (IJ), a Virginia-based nonprofit law firm, sent a letter to the city council last week urging them to “repeal” the temporary ban. In response to a crime spike and disastrous shooting earlier this summer, officials prohibited food trucks from operating on portions of Market, Blake, and Larimer streets between 18th and 22nd streets on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights.

“None of the bystanders in LoDo were hit by a flying spatula. That’s not what happened,” attorney Justin Pearson, who authored the letter, said. “It makes no sense to punish food truck owners because the city government is ashamed of its own mistakes. If you’re worried about crime, the last thing you want to do is get rid of food trucks.”

Lawyers say the policy is unconstitutional because it violates equal protection measures, adding that legal action is possible.

Previously: Los Angeles Is Ending Its War on Street Food.

MEANWHILE, OVER AT VODKAPUNDIT [VIP]: Putin’s Stupid and Unnecessary War, Part III. “NATO hasn’t been this unified since the 1980s, when Ronald Reagan, the UK’s Margaret Thatcher, and German Chancellor Helmut Kohl were all of one mind about resisting the Soviet threat. In a few years from now, frontline NATO countries will be better armed than they ever have been.”

Don’t forget that VODKAPUNDIT promo code if you’ve been thinking of joining us.

DEAL OF THE DAY: 5 in 1 Electronic Stud Detector with Upgraded Smart Sensor. #CommissionEarned

A TRILLION HERE AND A TRILLION THERE…: Debunking Biden’s Malarkey: 7 Ways He Added $6 Trillion to Deficits.

FIGHT THE POWER (CONT’D): Pro-Jefferson, anti-DEI trustee confirmed to University of Virginia board.

OH, GROW UP: Dept. of Interior Now Offering ‘Eco-Grief’ Training to Employees.

FIGHT THE POWER: South Carolina next in line to investigate DEI spending.

HEH: ‘They Should Be Willing To Drink It’: EPA Administrator Says Water Is Safe After Ohio Train Crash, J.D. Vance Invites Him To Take A Sip.

IF YOU SAID THIS TWO YEARS AGO YOU WERE “PEDDLING DANGEROUS MISINFORMATION,” EVEN THOUGH IT WAS OBVIOUSLY TRUE: Lancet meta-study: Naturally acquired COVID immunity at least as good as vaccination.

“The robust nature of this meta-analysis makes this difficult to ignore. What readers may not recall is that earlier published studies reached the same conclusion, as far back as September 2021. Ron DeSantis drew a fact-check from the Tampa Bay Times for citing an Israeli study that concluded the same thing — and in fact found naturally acquired immunity to be stronger and longer-lasting than vaccination.”

“Fact check.” LOL.

Plus: “Those who asked such questions got labeled as cranks or worse and found themselves gagged on social media and the public debate.” There needs to be a reckoning for what went on here.

EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY, CHAIRMAN XI: Elderly in China protest cuts to health benefits in rare show of dissent: Large groups of mostly older people gathered in the cities of Wuhan and Dalian, in the latest sign of the economic fallout of China’s “zero-Covid” policies.

SLOUCHING TOWARD LARRY NIVEN’S FUTURE HISTORY: Massachusetts Lawmakers Propose Reducing Sentences for Inmates Who Provide Bone Marrow or Organs.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: The Eco/Green Weirdos Need Some Tough Love. “The notion that grown-ups need a hug because Floaty the Polar Bear might soon show up on the streets of Manhattan is beyond embarrassing. That we’re now subsidizing this nonsense is a sure sign that karma won’t be kind to this once great Republic.”

STILL A FEW BUGS IN THE SYSTEM: Japan aborts H3 launch moments before liftoff. SpaceX makes it look easy, but this stuff is hard.

WELL, I CERTAINLY HOPE SO: “After talking to his government sources, Peter Zeihan thinks that we won The Great Balloon War, having gained valuable insights by capturing Chinese tech, and that the entire episode is another symptom of high level CCP dysfunction.”

Though in some ways a dysfunctional CCP is more dangerous. And, uncharacteristically, Zeihan’s outlook appears a bit too sunny here.