Friday, March 02, 2018

Friday's show: Chaos in The White House and other stories of the day


We will look at the stories of chaos in The White House........the gun control debate and improving school security.......Texas 1836..........and other stories..

Click to listen:



Friday's video: Too much theory in the gun control debate




Too much theory in the gun control debate



During the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007, I recall hearing a radio interview with a student who was close to the shooter and was lucky to survive the shooting.  I remember the young man sharing his frustration and saying something like this: I was forced by a gun-free zone to leave my gun in the car and felt hopeless watching a killer kill innocent people.
Image result for gun control debate images
During the recent South Texas school shooting, we heard survivors say something similar: that a gun could have changed the story.
Unfortunately, too much of the gun control is all about theories – this gun vs. that gun, or whether this weapon looks like a military rifle or not.  In other words, none of the “experts” talking on TV have ever been between a killer’s gun and their lives.
The latest nonsense comes from U.S. companies, such as Walmart, who’ve decided to add their meaningless contributions to the debate.  They will be raising the age to purchase guns or ammunition to 21.  How does this solve anything?  It doesn’t.
Furthermore, these companies may not even be in tune with their customers, who are likelier to blame government than guns, as Rasmussen just reported: 
Most Americans think government error is more responsible than a lack of gun control for the Valentine’s Day massacre at a Florida high school.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 54% of American Adults believe the failure of government agencies to respond to numerous warning signs from the prospective killer is more to blame for the mass shooting.  Thirty-three percent (33%) attribute the deaths more to a lack of adequate gun control.  Eleven percent (11%) opt for something else. 
So maybe the public sees all of the talk about “theory,” too.  My guess is that most Americans find all of this talk about gun control as irrelevant as I do.  It’s all a lot of talk from people who have never been in a room with a killer killing at will.
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PS: You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.


The Mexican political class living a lie about Mexico's violence


Down in Mexico, the political class continues its entertaining distraction over the fence.     They react to all of the “border fence talk” as an insult to Mexico’s sovereignty.    
In the meantime, the cartels and violence continue to plague Mexico, as Patrick Corcoran wrote:  
After a three-year rise in murders, 2017 was the most violent year in Mexico’s recent history. 
The more than 29,000 murders registered by the National Public Security System represented a 27 percent jump from 2016, and a nearly 60 percent increase since 2014. 
As is usually the case, organized crime was the chief driver of this wave of bloodshed.
And yes a border fence could actually help Mexico fight the same organized crime walking dollars and weapons south of the border every week.
PS: You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.

October 2006: The NY Times: 650,000 dead in Iraq but the margin of error is between 426,000 and 793,000!



A post from October 2006

Can you believe this story?

Check the headline Iraqi Dead May Total 600,000, Study Says .

Now, read the story and see this:
"A team of American and Iraqi public health researchers has estimated that 600,000 civilians have died in violence across Iraq since the 2003 American invasion, the highest estimate ever for the toll of the war here.

The figure breaks down to about 15,000 violent deaths a month, a number that is quadruple the one for July given by Iraqi government hospitals and the morgue in Baghdad and published last month in a United Nations report in Iraq. That month was the highest for Iraqi civilian deaths since the American invasion.

But it is an estimate and not a precise count, and researchers acknowledged a margin of error that ranged from 426,369 to 793,663 deaths."
Why do they even print the story? How can any serious newspaper run this headline based on such a margin of error?

Let me write a headline: I weigh 175 pounds. However, the margin of error is between 40 and 75 pounds!

Again, how can any serious person read this newspaper?


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