I had a client recently—call him Sam—who got in the law’s bad graces for some conduct involving alcohol and the brandishing of a firearm in his garage while his young daughter slept upstairs. The daughter—well-fed, well-loved, well-adjusted and well-cared-for—was never in any danger and never even knew what had happened.
Only a total idiot would think it was a good idea to take that child out of that home, but CPS was all over Sam’s case, questioning his daughter at school, filing suit against him, threatening to take her away from him and his wife. By spending a bunch of money on lawyers, Sam and his wife were able to fend off CPS and keep their very lucky child in their home.
Bennett then recounts another case where an eight year old girl starves to death because CPS repeatedly ignores signs of neglect.
In the first case, the parent was white; in the second, black.
I think there was bigotry, but not against race. My comment on DP [still awaiting moderation]:
One factor jumps out at me far more than race:
Sam’s case involved a firearm. I believe, based on many other stories I’ve read (i.e., anecdotal avidence) that CPS workers have a very strong prejudice against firearms and firearm owners.
Of course, Sam behaved irresponsibly. However, he in fact caused no harm. He very properly should have been rebuked with a fine. I think a mandatory gun safety course would be an excellent step. I might even support his gun being confiscated for a repeat offense.
But to confiscate his child? When no harm came to her or anyone else?
There is indeed prejudice here, outright bigotry. But it’s not against Sam’s melanin deficiency. It’s against his exercise of the Second Amendment.
He should have died in front of a firing line or dangling from a rope. Instead Murtha died in bed.
As far as I know, he served his country well, as a Marine. This is in marked contrast to, say, John Effn Kerry.
As a politician, he was a filthy corrupt traitor, and we’re better off without him.
In other disgraced military news, ex-Army PFC Michael McManus was charged with wearing numerous military medals and honors he did not earn, including the Soldier’s Medal, which General George Patton did not have, “Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star, Bronze Star and a Purple Heart, as well as celebrated insignia for pilots and two British military medals….He is one of about 50 people charged under the 2006 Stolen Valor Act, which makes it a federal crime to falsely claim to have received a medal from the military, regardless of whether the accused does not try to profit from the deception.”
The picture makes it look as if he’s just some kid, goofing around at a costume party with trinkets he doesn’t understand. Blackfive’s account of his previous run make it clear he understands exactly what he’s doing.
PayPal prohibits payments for transactions involving guns.
Gunpal “is an alternative to PayPal™ that does not discriminate based on the nature of your transaction, requiring only that the merchandise or services you purchase legal.”
Good on them, and I’ll try to use them everywhere I can.
Paypal? Piss off and die, or embrace the Second Amendment.
When some of his fellow officers, “including supervisors”, decided to stay home behind the snow, he’s ticked at his department for reasons he didn’t go into, and the Days Inn he stayed at close to his station ripped him off.
Sometimes the simple stuff needs to be recognized, and this is one of those times. Thanks, Officer. And thanks to all the cops, firefighters, and medics who went out in the cold and snow and did what needed to be done.
I’ve linked before to the Eames’ mind-opening short film, Powers of Ten.
Here’s another incarnation of the Eames’ idea, with updated physics, interactive display, and simply lovely music. No kidding, follow the link for the music alone.
Usability note: The link takes you to what appears to be a game-oriented bulletin board. The post itself contains a large, gaudy ad for some random game. Don’t click in that. Instead, click on the word “Play” underneath it, displayed in plain white type against a dark gray background.
Unlike the Eames movie, this demo does not play itself, despite the music. You must move the slider to change scales. I recommend the left/right arrows on your keyboard rather than your mouse.
It’s more work, yes, but gives you much more control over the pace of the thing.
TREES will not uproot themselves and embark on blood-soaked killing sprees by 2035, global warming experts have admitted.
The IPCC headquarters in Geneva
The International Panel on Climate Change confirmed the evidence had not been peer-reviewed and will now amend the section of its 2007 report devoted to ‘killer trees’.
A spokesman said: “It appears the claim was not based on new data or field research but on that bit with the angry, talking trees in Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.”
…
“We still think there’s a strong chance that trees will become sentient and take revenge on man for chopping down all their friends and turning them into spatulas, we’re just not sure when.”
Anyway, I prefer Teflon or stainless steel spatulas, so I should be pretty much on their side.
update:
The original article includes this image, which portrays the home of Bilbo Baggins, one of the hobbits from Lord of the Rings. I believe this was taken from the movie trilogy.
I just this minute realized, it’s an eye. An eye in great contrast with the other eye in the story, the flaming Eye of Sauron.
Trencherbone provides a study guide into how Islam and the Koran works. Dozens of links, organized alphabetically by topic, to other articles extensively quoting the Koran. I’m posting the link because it’s not a quick read; this deserves long, careful study.
This is Islam in its own words, folks, and it’s nasty, violent, toxic filth.
I am a kaffir, an unbeliever, and damn proud of it.
There is no god, particularly not Allah, and Mohammed, may piss be upon him, is no prophet, but a child raping, psychotic, mass murderer.
Fifteen year old girl gets pregnant despite lacking a cooter — her former boyfriend caught her performing oral sex on her new lover, and stabbed her in the stomach….
I’m more than a little rushed this morning, but I have to point to Eric S. Raymond’s excellent analysis of the collapse of the Anthropomorphic Global Warming movement, calling for “The Naming and Shaming the AGW Fraudsters”:
The best reason not to relent, to name and shame the fraudsters and shatter their reputations and humilate them — ideally, to the point where there’s a rash of prominent suicides as a result — is this:
If we don’t destroy them, they’ll surely ramp up yet another colossal, politicized eco-fraud.
The segment Raymond has identified as zombies and greenshirts I’ve heard elsewhere named as watermelons: green on the outside, red on the inside.
Oh, and don’t miss his conclusion:
The key point — and the reason the AGW frauds need to be shamed and punished — is that the political background conditions favoring this kind of fraud are still in place.
That is, the zombies and green-shirts still have a powerful interest in magnifying scientific errors that suit their agendas into politicized crusades that could produce error cascades just as huge. Somewhere out there, there are now-innocent scientific research groups who could become the next decade’s version of the “team”, degenerating into fraudulent conspiracies as careerism draws them in, the political villains cheer them on to rationalize the power-grab of the week, and the Gaianists gamely but stupidly try to do the right thing.
I’m even prepared to hazard a guess where the next fraud would be ginned up from: environmental toxicology and what are called “endocrine disruptors”.
[Emphasis ESR's]
Absolutely, read the whole thing. This is one of those lens articles that brings an entire scene into focus.
rickety at name of blog dot com
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