Sleepless in Midland

Would Wendy Davis do better if Obama campaigned for her?

One writer thinks so. It's Bob Ray Sanders at the Fort Worth Star Telegram. Link.

Obama got a majority of the votes in the large Texas urban areas. And as unpopular as he is among most Texans, those urban areas are home to many who might follow an Obama recommendation. With Obama campaigning for Davis, those people, plus a few million who haven't yet registered to vote, will hand her the governorship, or so the theory goes.

Is he right? To most Texans President Obama is the worst president the country has had since they were old enough to know what a president is. But Mr. Sanders points to the demographics of those urban areas -- African American and Hispanic -- and assumes Wendy Davis will not able to make the case herself but that those voters would act on an Obama recommendation.

Since many of Obama's voters voted for him because of his skin color, it's questionable whether the Obama magic would rub off on a white blond lady. But it's fun to speculate. Which is larger: the number voters Obama would draw or the number of voters Obama would repel?

Wendy is probably right on this one thing. She's better off without him.

The difference between capitalism and socialism

The difference between capitalism and socialism

This is a great quote, but I can't find the source. (Instapundit maybe?) Paraphrased:

In capitalism those who are good at what they do rise to the top.

In socialism those who are good at gaming the system and sucking up to people in power rise to the top.

How true. Unfortunately, there are far too many people who would do well in that latter environment.

Joan Rivers unapologetic about calling Obama gay -- good for her

It was three weeks ago. Joan Rivers responded to some reporter's question about whether the country was ready for a gay president with a remark that we already had one. Barack Obama is gay and Michelle Obama is transgender. See the video here.

First there was the expected outrage, but it died quickly as soon as the grievance squad stopped to think about it. After all, what exactly is wrong with calling someone gay? Gay and transgender are categories protected with great zeal by the PC police. It can't be an insult to identify someone with a politically powerful group. They were reduced to whining about the use of the word "tranny." Yawn.

But the best part is that Joan Rivers didn't apologize. According to the above linked article she explained that it was a joke and moved on. Contrast that with the groveling Steve Martin did recently after some joke about ethnic spelling. The poor lefty, always having to walk that tight rope between humorous observation and perceived racist remark.

Gay, transgender -- not that there's anything wrong with that. Keep on trucking Joan. May we all be as productive when we're 81.

Oops -- marijuana legalization led to more homelessness

Yesterday we talked about Angela Hawken's C-Span interview about legalization of marijuana. In the interview she was fairly even handed about the issue, although she is in favor of legalization. And as a social scientist she's highly curious about what will happen in Colorado and Washington now that marijuana is legal. Aren't we all? We're fortunate to live in a country with 50 social laboratories.

Anyway, for all the positive that can be said about it, here's a downside to being one of the first states to do it. The homeless population has increased in some Colorado cities.

The theory is that legal marijuana has drawn some new people, particularly younger people, into the state. Maybe they're looking for jobs in the industry. My guess is that they're the 7% of regular marijuana users who are clinically dependent, meaning they're unproductive, can't get things done, and can't quit. They were motivated enough to go where they could smoke legally, but that was it.  They don't have the resources to get a place to call home.

Perhaps that's the downside of being one of the first states to do it. When other states legalize marijuana one might expect a reduced rate of migration and the resulting homelessness.

Angela Hawken on C-Span re marijuana legalization

She's an Associate Professor at Pepperdine University and is one of the co-authors of Marijuana Legalization: What Everyone Needs to Know. A C-Span interview with her is available for online viewing.

Some of the highlights of the interview:

- Alcohol is much more harmful than marijuana yet the law is much more relaxed about alcohol.

- A majority of American support legalizing marijuana.

- The big players in California are looking for that state to legalize marijuana in 2016. The effort failed there in 2010 by a thin margin. She expects a other few states to do it in 2014, so California will be a laggard.

- Globally marijuana users comprise 3 to 4% of the population, however among Americans it's around 12%. About a third of those would be called "experimenters." For about 20% of users it's a way of life, smoking every day or every other day. About a third of that latter group meet the clinical criteria for abuse or dependency. That compares with an 88% rate for cocaine users. The typical heavy user of marijuana is not dependent on marijuana. They typical heavy user of cocaine is dependent on cocaine.

- People fitting the clinical description for dependency and abuse of marijuana are unproductive, unable to get things done, and can't quit. Although it affects a small percentage of users, for those people it's a serious issue.

- Marijuana legalization advocacy groups were touting massive tax benefits from legalization. She thought the initial estimates were too high. However, the tax results so far in Colorado were much higher they even the advocacy groups had expected. Keep in mind that there was an influx of tourists seeking marijuana. Demand exceeded supply and the prices skyrocketed. Therefore, the initial tax receipts were quite high but will ultimately fall as the market levels off.

- Marijuana and alcohol have about the same rates of abuse or dependency.

- Alcohol and marijuana have a complicated relationship. Driving while stoned on marijuana is probably not as bad as driving drunk. However, driving after using alcohol and marijuana is worse than driving under the influence of either one alone.

- If the federal government wanted to take on the states that legalized marijuana now is the time. Soon it will be too late.

Ms Hawken is in favor of legalization. What would change her mind? If in the next few years marijuana legalization leads to an increase in drunk driving or if an increase in alcohol use is accompanied by an increase in marijuana use, "I will fundamentally change my mind on marijuana legalization." We'll know in the next few years.

If like me, you are fascinated with this huge social experiment but not enough to actually read the book, watch that interview.

Hondurans as refugees? If the reason is risk of murder they need to be 90% males. Also gun control apparently not working there.

Thousands of Central Americans are coming to the US in the current illegal immigration crisis. Not helping much is the UN which is pushing the US to treat the Hondurans as refugees. And Obama is even floating the idea of sending people to Honduras to pre-screen prospective immigrants for refugee status.

The immigrants are coming primarily from three Central American countries. We talked about the murder rates in those three countries the other day. The stats cited in that post came from the UN, so let's take a closer look at them as they pertain to Honduras. Click to go to the page from which you can download the spreadsheets for each data set.

One of the documents provides the murder rate in the most populous city in the nation. For Honduras that would be Tegucigalpa which had a rate of 102.2 per 100,000 in 2011. That was higher than the national rate of 91.4 for that year. Solution: move out of the city. However, with a quarter of the workers unemployed that might be easier said than done. The country has an underlying economic problem. Unfortunately, too many well intended folks here in the U.S. are trying to emulate the circumstances that caused that problem.

The mechanism of murder is recorded in one set of data. And they show that 84% of the murders in 2011 involved a firearm. Although citizens may own guns, open and concealed carrying are prohibited. Furthermore, each gun must be registered. Clearly these restrictive gun laws have not stopped people from committing murder.

Finally, let's talk sex. In 2010 93.1% of the victims were male, and 6.9% were female. In 2011 93.2% were male and 6.8% were female. So the granting of any refugee status should reflect those proportions if the concern really is the prospect of getting killed. That comes to roughly nine males for each female to be granted refugee status. That should go over big with feminists. Expect to hear lots of heart rending anecdotes about female victim-hood before this is all over.

Fox Friday 7-25-14

Welcome to Fox Friday, a collection of the best urban fox photos snapped during the past seven days in the Bone Yard, a fox food court in an undisclosed back yard in Midland, Texas.

Lately there have been two foxes visiting the feeding zone, long time visitor Old Crooked Tail and her pal, Scrawny Tail. Actually, they may be related -- they both have similar crooked tails. The amount of tail hair is the only noticeable distinction.

Here they are in different photos:

Old Crooked Tail and Scrawny Tail compared. The last one isn't a good photo, but it shows them in the same frame so you know there really are two foxes.

Last Sunday around 4:30 pm I got a call alerting me to a road kill squirrel. I got there a half hour later, and the squirrel stunk to high heaven. I picked it up anyway and buried it right behind the feeding zone.

The fox found the shallow grave and dug up the stinky squirrel carcass. She dragged it about two feet and left it out in the open. I retrieved it and buried it in another location which so far hasn't been disturbed. But apparently the fox was so disgusted by the idea that I would feed her a rotten squirrel that she's been boycotting the area.

Not bad for a week in which the fox was MIA for three straight days. I still have an eye out for fresh road kill squirrel, but in this heat they don't stay fresh long. Anyway, see ya next week.

The murder rate in Central America isn't why the moms and dads are sending their kids on a dangerous trip to the US

We keep reading editorials justifying the the thousands of unaccompanied minors surging into the U.S by the high murder rate in those central American countries from which they come. So how high is it?

The United Nations publishes stats on the subject. See UNODC Homicide Statistics 2013 for links to various documents, for example, download Homicide counts and rates, time series 2000-2012 for a country breakdown.

El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras are cited most frequently by the press, so let's look at those three.

El Salvador -- For the year 2012, according to the document cited above, El Salvador had a murder rate of 41.2 per 100,000. That's a huge improvement over 2011 in which they had a 69.9 rate. That's a 41% drop. So it's going in the right direction, but that doesn't fit the narrative.

Guatemala - For the year 2012 Guatemala had a 39.9 murder rate per 100,000. For 2011 it was 38.6, and that's in line with the whole 13 year period covered by the stats. So it's not a new problem.

Honduras - The murder rate has been rising, and for 2012 and 2011 the rate was 90.4 and 91.4 respectively. The rate was steady at around 50 from 2000 to 2007 but took a big jump in 2008, and has stayed high.

So is this a reason to send children accompanied across Mexico to the U.S? One would have to weigh the risk. A murder rate of 90.4 in Honduras means that 99,909.6 out of 100,000 people didn't get murdered. It leads one to speculate that the chance of getting murdered at home wasn't the reason for sending a child unaccompanied on a long, dangerous trip.

Let's look at a country on another continent, Nigeria. In spite of the horror of the murdered and kidnapped school kids, Nigeria had a murder rate of only 20 per 100,000 in the year 2012 according to the UN stats. If the murder rate is the motivating factor for migration, perhaps Nigeria should be a possible destination for the next wave.

Sympathy hashtags rule the net -- plastic wristband makers hardest hit

Some of the older people reading this post may remember when colored plastic wristbands were all the rage. They demonstrated that the wearer supported some cause -- a yellow wristband for Lance Armstrong's Livestrong charity, for example. There were many colors to choose from, each demonstrating sympathy for a particular cause. And some causes had more than one color. Luckily for colon cancer sympathizers, blue could be substituted for brown. Here's a list to help put the color to the cause.

Then along came social media, and all you had to do to demonstrate you cared was tweet a hashtag. How much simpler could it get? Michelle Obama showed us how it was done when she tweeted about the kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls. She cared. She really did.

There was a time when liberalism meant caring for the underdog. There are remnants of that still around, but today it's really all about showing others that one cares, not about doing anything. So the hashtag fits perfectly with that sentiment. It's easy and it costs nothing. But it shows how much the hashtagger cares.

But pity the poor manufacturer of the sympathy wristband. That symbol has come and gone.

Progressives. What a history they have!

Andrew Syrios' piece is an eyeopener. It's titled A Brief History of Progressivism, and in it he provides exactly what the title says.

For anyone who didn't know, Progressives at various times in their history have championed such causes as prohibition, eugenics, and communism. And they've made heroes of such unsavory characters as Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. So it's not a proud history, except to the Progressives who write it and anyone else who can get wooed by a clever use of words. Speaking of their words, here's Syrios:

Progressives have a way with words that is truly impressive. Perhaps it started when they stole the word liberal from libertarians and since has snowballed out of control. From “social justice” to “pro-choice” (except with light bulbs) to various “isms” to describe their opponents, progressives are experts at such linguistic feats. And while conservatives and even libertarians unfortunately use many trite phrases in place of an argument as well, progressives are the all-time champions. The best proof of this is the term progressive and their excessive use of it when referring to everything they support as being progressive and everything they oppose as more or less reactionary. This simple dichotomy is a pleasant fiction for those who like their politics boiled down to the most unsophisticated, partisan blather. However, the idea of progress coming on some gradient between reactionary conservative or libertarian and progressive liberal is blatantly fallacious.

My favorite is the way "Pro-choice" replaced "Pro-abortion." And let's not forget "climate change denier."

Who would have thought that Democrats would be holding up George W. Bush as the gold standard

Every time I hear a Democrat try to justify the border invasion by reciting that George W. Bush signed the law allowing unaccompanied Central American kids free entry into the U.S. I have to chuckle. GWB is now the gold standard. If he did it, it must be OK.

What a contrast from previous years. Obama has decried Bush since at least 2008. Bush invaded Iraq, so Obama did his best to reverse everything accomplished there. Bush established the prison at Guantanamo, so Obama is doing his best to release all the inmates. But the border law? Can't touch that, George signed it. It's sacrosanct.

Who would have thought Dems held him in such high regard?

Sharia in Philadelphia -- Mosque boss tried to chop of thief's hand

Here in the melting pot of the U.S. we are expected to tolerate all religions and their practices, however bizarre they might seem to those of us not indoctrinated in said religions.

But the Sharia law popular in some religions really takes it over the line. Check out this one at Phlily.com: Police: Suspected thief almost gets his hand cut off.

A leader at a West Philadelphia mosque was arrested for allegedly trying to chop off the hand of a member accused of stealing money from prayer jars, police said Friday.

The mosque leader was only partially successful as the machete was too dull to cut all the way through. One arrested and a warrant was issued for the arrest of an accomplice.

Let's give a one handed clap for religious tolerance.

Via bizpacreview.com.

Safety rules for Russian Missilemen

I've referred to this short list of gun safety rules several times in the past. And it's always good to review them. But it's not just gun users who need this review, it's missilemen. The trigger man for the Russian missile that downed the Malaysian airliner the other day certainly didn't follow the rules. So let's help them out to try to avoid a "next time."

1. All missiles are always armed. Even if they aren't, treat them as if they are.

2. Never set your sites on anything you are not willing to destroy.

3. Keep your finger off the red button until you are locked on the target.

4. Identify your target and what is behind it. Never shoot at anything that you have not positively identified.

Clearly the missileman disobeyed rule #4. Let's be charitable and call this incident a negligent discharge. Vlad Putin needs to put in place some safety rules for his equipment. Let's impute a fifth rule:

5. If you're in charge of your nations missiles, before you turn them over to a rag tag trigger happy militia, at a minimum, make sure they know the safety rules. Give a quiz if you have to.

To help bring about a better tomorrow, and thanks to Bing translator, here are those five rules in Russian:

1. все ракеты всегда вооружены. Даже если они не, относиться к ним, как будто они являются.

2. никогда не задавать ваши сайты на все, что вы не готовы уничтожить.

3. Держите палец на красную кнопку до тех пор, пока вы заперты на цель.

4. Определите ваши цели и то, что позади него. Никогда не стрелять в то, что вы не определили положительно.

5. Если вы находитесь в заряда вашей Наций ракет, прежде чем включить их тряпку тег триггер счастливые милиции, как минимум, убедитесь, что они знают правила техники безопасности. Если вы должны дать викторина.

Be safe, not sorry. Know where your missile is going.

Fox Friday 7-18-14 -- Two foxes!

Old Crooked Tail has a friend. She's been traveling solo for almost a year, but we finally have proof she has a pal. And having a friend around paid off the other night. There's a ferocious feral cat that almost always gets to the food first, and the cat's not intimidated by one lonesome fox. But two, now we're talking.

One night this week the pair of foxes showed up while the gray/white cat ate.

Old Crooked Tail sneaks up on the cat. The cat takes a defensive stance.

The cat skedaddled, and the fox pair descends into the food court.

The standard fare is two frozen chicken drumsticks. But this night there was a delicacy:  road kill bird. Here's Old Crooked Tail with the bird in her mouth.

Scrawny Tail samples the buffet while Old Crooked Tail stands guard in the background.

A closeup of Scrawny Tail's tail.

The potentially bad news for us is that this other fox may have lured Old Crooked Tail off to a better place as she showed up for dinner here only three times this week. I can't tell whether Scrawny Tail is male or female. If he's male I hope he's a good provider. Hey, maybe they're off making made passionate love. My my, wouldn't it be grand if she had a litter of pups?

Jury nullification

I ran across this article today titled Good News: Jury Nullification is Interfering With Marijuana Convictions at a website named The Daily Sheeple. If that name deters you, try one at the Houston Chronicle.

Their focus was on marijuana cases, and with the current trend toward decriminalization of marijuana, jury nullification would seem to fit in nicely with a juror mindset that wants to correct perceived wrongs in a setting designed to correct wrongs.

The issue of jury nullification reminded me of my own call to jury duty a couple of months ago here in Midland, Texas. There were two cases on which I was on the panel - not the jury itself, just the jury panel. I got struck both times. One was a criminal trial in which the defendant was charged with "failure to appear," i.e., having an obligation to show up at a trial and skipping it. During the prosecutor's voir dire he asked whether everyone could have an open mind about the penalty of 2 to 10 years in the slammer. When asked if probation was a possibility, the prosecutor answered that it was not.

More than a few potential jurors said they would have a problem with that. The words "jury nullification" were never spoken, however the prospect of a mandatory jail sentence would surly have weighed on the minds of some of the jurors in the guilt/innocence phase. After all, why didn't they try him for the crime with which he was originally charged? Instead they picked what they thought was an easy one to prove.

A bunch of us on the panel probably got challenged for cause when the attorneys conferred with the judge, because when they called out the 12 jurors they got all the way to number 33 on the 36 member panel.

Anyway, jury nullification can apply to other than the marijuana cases, and in this case, the prosecutor was wise to weed out those who might be tempted to do it. It certainly helped the prosecution in this case as the jury sentenced the defendant to three years, one more than the minimum.

Editor's note:
If one believes the morning paper, jurors here are a step ahead. They're nullifying the whole process by failure to appear for jury duty. -- Robo-ed. | No sheeple here. -- Sleepless.

Those snooping cell phones - they're such busy bodies

Google and Apple know where you've been and how long you were there if you carry a phone with one of their operating systems. This is according to Psst! Your phone is snooping on you. What you need to know and how to stop it – video. (Via article of the same title at theguardian.com.)

Most users don't care, otherwise they'd opt out or use different phones. IPhone has a privacy feature which enables the user to refuse to give information to app providers. Unfortunately for Android users, those features are hard wired into the phone's operating system.

How long before NSA gets access to it? Oh wait. They already do.

There's a way to hide your data with a special phone pouch. How does it work? From Detraktor.com:

This is accomplished by having a conductive material encapsulate the device, card or passport. The conductive material acts as a Faraday Cage which shields all RF signals from going into or out of the device or card.

I assume there's a wire mesh inside the pouch. Meanwhile, I'll be making my own tin-foil-hat.

Editor's note: You know they haven't made tin foil in years, don't you? -- Robo-ed | Dammit, I smell a conspiracy! Sleepless.

Rick Perry predicted this underage illegal immigrant surge two years ago - in writing

This is from that letter Rick Perry tried to give to President Obama two years ago:

In the first six months of this fiscal year, reports indicate more than 5,200 unaccompanied minors have crossed the border illegally into the United States, with more than 1,300 arriving in March alone. This represents an increase of more than 90 percent over the same period last year. ...

These unaccompanied illegal minors should be cared for in their home countries, rather than burdening our already unsustainable entitlement systems. Projections indicate the number of illegal crossings will continue to increase. With no long-term plan to address this situation, the federal government is simply ignoring the fiscal, health and social interests of our own citizens. ...

Every child allowed to remain encourages hundreds more to attempt the journey. Our country can no longer provide the temptation for these unaccompanied minors to engage in this tragic and illegal migration. To end it, the federal government must stop new arrivals at the border, repatriate those already here and prevent and discourage others.

[Bold added.]

This comes to us from David Nakamura in the Washington Post via Ricochet.

The situation was obvious to the governor two years ago, and just as he predicted, allowing the kids to stay in the U.S. encouraged others to do the same. So either President Obama and the rest in his administration deliberately refused to think about it or they knew it was coming and declined to stop it.

The only thing they couldn't predict was the moment it would become a national news story. Now the politician in chief has to spin this crisis in a way that demeans Republicans. Expect heart wrenching stories about the poor little tykes who trekked all the way to the U.S. border to escape horrid conditions at home. Democrats will have the opportunity to display their warmth -- never mind the cost or consequences. And anyone wanting to send them home will be the heartless slob too selfish to share the bounty he's accrued off the backs of the poor.

Millennials are socially liberal and fiscally centrist according to poll -- maybe they should form a third party

The The Reason-Rupe Spring 2014 Millennial Survey is out, and here are the key findings (from the concluding remarks):

(1) Millennials are already strongly socially liberal, and we have little reason to anticipate millennials will become less tolerant or supportive of gay rights as they age.

(2) Millennials are currently fiscally centrist, and there are reasons to expect they may become more fiscally conservative as they age.

(3) Millennials endorse the underlying values behind a free market.

(4) Millennials highly endorse individual autonomy and personal freedom, values essential to a free society.

And get this closing paragraph:

This unique combination of values and beliefs is the reason the millennial generation is politically unclaimed. Jaded by hypocrisy in both parties, millennials are far more independent than their older counterparts. Given their social liberalism, fiscal moderation, and underlying philosophical pre-disposition to support meritocratic policies and individual autonomy, they have the potential to become one of the most liberty-friendly generations ever as they get older.

That's a bold statement: "...the potential to become one of the most liberty-friendly generations ever as they get older." They'd better grow up quickly if they want to keep that liberty.

One prominent liberal is boasting that this is proof that the GOP is dead. Maybe, maybe not. But currently their only alternative is the Democrat party, and social tolerance without fiscal discipline isn't going to save the country from financial ruin.

Maybe they should consider forming a third party.

Mollie Hemingway -- Media ignorance is too common

A super smart friend of mine always rolls his eyes whenever I try to talk about someone being not so knowledgeable, so I'll just let Mollie Hemingway do it this time. She generalizes a bit, but she primarily targets a few high profile liberal writers. Read it at Media Ignorance Is Becoming A Serious Problem.

One target was Zach Carter, The Huffington Post‘s senior political economy reporter. Here's Hemingway:

I don’t mean to pick on Carter, who was a good sport. If anything, I give him credit for sticking through the entire interview [with Hugh Hewitt]. But it speaks to a larger problem we face with our media, which is that they frequently are not well read and, more importantly, they do not realize it. ...

Remember how President Reagan once quipped, “The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they are ignorant, but that they know so much that isn’t so”? Yeah, well, I think the ignorance may be turning into a problem.

Yes it is. The problem really shows when the electorate reflects that same ignorance.

Bear as mascot for Obama? Nah, weasel is more appropriate

Peter Wilson at Americanthinker.com in Obama the Bear is Loose  provides a montage of instances in which the msm says “The bear is loose" to say President Obama is out and about rather than doing his usual routine.

Obama himself has joined in: "With Secret Service, I always tease them that I'm like a caged bear and every once in a while, I've got to break loose."

Wait, there’s more: Obama is “shaking off his schedule,” and breaking the chains of his handlers. This week he’s really breaking loose…to have a beer with women in Denver and Austin who wrote him fan letters.

Seriously, this is acutely embarrassing stuff. It’s an obvious razzle-dazzle meant to distract from the multiple calamities facing the Obama Administration, but such a lame epic fail deserves acknowledgement.

"Bear" is obviously a poor metaphor, but Mr. Wilson's suggestion of "coyote" isn't much better. Coyotes are elegant, wild canines, as anyone who has ever seen one would acknowledge.

How about one that has a more appropriate definition: 3: a sneaky, untrustworthy, or insincere person. The weasel is loose!

Fox Friday 7-11-14

Welcome to Fox Friday, the weekly display of the best of the Fox Cam photos from the previous seven days in the bone yard, a spot in the city of Midland, Texas, which serves as a feeding station to lure wild urban foxes. Let's proceed.

Standoff with a feral cat! Old Crooked tail is circling, probably looking for that second drum stick. The two animals are very close to each other.

But no contact. The fox left without a fight.  But she came back later for the leftovers and didn't go home hungry.

Wednesday night was squirrel night. There's Old Crooked Tail giving it a good sniff, then feasting on finely served raw squirrel. Scrawny Tail - far right - got the leftovers. Scrawny Tail could be from the same gene pool as Old Crooked Tail, but this one didn't get the bushy tail DNA.

An observation about squirrels: Squirrel night this week was about the fourth time the critters have dined on road kill squirrel in the past couple of months. Typically the squirrels' limbs were severed, and the body parts were placed in five different spots within the feeding zone so that one carnivore wouldn't cart the entire carcass out of view. But here's an interesting phenomenon which I only realized the other day. These squirrels were killed in the streets around town, not near the feeding station. However, there are no longer any squirrels scampering around the area like they used to. It's possible that either the feral cats, the wild foxes, or both, have developed a taste for the furry rodents and may be keeping the squirrel population in check. If so, there's some good that has come of this project.

It's Senate Dems, not Obama, who want to block proposal to send the kids home

It should be common knowledge that the way to end the border crisis -- the overwhelming influx of underage immigrants -- is to send all those recent arrivals back home.

Most Republicans seem to want that, and even President Obama is said to want to do it. All it takes is an amendment to the 2008 law which created an exception for Central American minors.

But then there are the Democrats in the Senate. Thehill.com reports it in Obama, Senate Democrats clash over how to handle border crisis. Patrick Leahy and Dick Durbin are both concerned about legal rights of the arrivals. These are liberals with hearts so big the beat is too loud to allow any clear thinking. But maybe during this election year the other senators will listen to the people.

What's still missing is a border that's not so leaky. Strong border security would not have prevented this particular crisis. But it might prevent the next one.

Skyscraper project killed -- small number of elite real estate investors hit hardest

Ha ha just kidding. That was the headline I'd like to see - that the whole taxpayer funding of the skyscraper thing was killed off. Once it was called crony capitalism, although John Stossel is trying to coin the word crapitalism.

The way it has gone lately here in Midland, Texas, the cronies appeared to be on the ropes with the city council scrapping a contract for the monster skyscraper. But not so fast. They've only gone back to the drawing board to work up a new deal for a shorter skyscraper. (One wonders if the developers simply didn't get enough interest from potential renters to go forward on the big one.)

As for who will make up for the funds applied to the subsidies, it's the taxpayers, of course. The city council wants to hike our property taxes for the umteenth time. This time the excuse is the growing population. It would seem that new arrivals would be contributing to the tax revenue through the sales tax, the hotel/motel tax, and property taxes (they would have to be living in a van down by the river to avoid paying property taxes directly or indirectly.) So they would seem to offset any expense they caused the city. But in government, taxes go in only one direction, up.

It's a shame that in a boom town they can't make it without government largess -- at least they were honest about that. But that's life. Government shouldn't be in the business of picking and choosing which businesses fail or succeed. Let them do it on their own without the crapitalism.

Border crisis Obama's Katrina? Naw, they've got it all wrong

Some are suggesting that the mass arrival at the U.S. border of the Central American immigrants and Obama's reaction thereto is his Katrina. They've got it all wrong.

Hurricane Katrina was characterized by a competent chief executive but more importantly by an incompetent *local government, an incompetent state government, and an incompetent news media.

The border invasion is characterized by competent local and state governments, but an incompetent chief executive. We can't yet judge the news media coverage until we know what they omitted or got wrong.

The border crisis isn't Obama's Katrina. It's more like Obama's Veterans Administration, Obama's IRS, Obama's Fast and Furious, or Obama's Obamacare. There's plenty to choose from.

*Ray Nagin who was New Orleans mayor at the time was sentenced today to 10 years in the slammer for accepting bribes.

Is MSNBC about to side with Liz Warren against Hillary?

Apparently, there are tape recordings of Hillary chortling over a win she got for a client years ago when she was practicing law. The client was charged with raping a minor, and Hillary prevailed for the defense. There's nothing earth shattering about that, but it's news today because of the tape recording in which Hillary Clinton, the front runner in the party of women's victim-hood, laughs and brags about getting an accused rapist off.

This is the type behavior Democrats would typically hammer if it were a Republican but ignore in another Democrat. So it's noteworthy that some of the Dems on MSNBC not only acknowledged it but seem to almost criticize Hillary's behavior. See MSNBC: Hillary Clinton Tapes ‘Disturbing, Jarring’.

The other day we talked about Edward Klein's report that the Obama crew will throw their weight behind Elizabeth Warren if she runs for the Democrat presidential nomination against Hillary. MSNBC has a direct line to the White House, and it's doubtful they would do anything Obama doesn't want them to do. So it seems likely team Obama is egging MSNBC on in a smear campaign against Hillary. We'll get a clearer picture when more evidence comes to light.

Editor's Note: Wasn't the alleged rapist innocent until proven guilty? Maybe he was innocent, and Hillary got the right outcome. Robo-ed | Quite true, quite true. The notion that a male accused of a sex crime could be innocent seems quaint today. Sleepless.

Remembering when Democrats were quite eager to return an immigrant kid to his papa?

Twitter sends me an occasional email with tweets they think I might like. And boy, did they nail this one.

The author is someone named Stuart, and here's the link to Remember when Democrats thought it was important to return Hispanic children to their parents?

If in your mind you pictured that armed ICE agent grabbing for little Elian Gonzalez, you were right. It was very important that the lad be returned to his loving father, you see.

Editor's note: Isn't Twitter trying to manipulate you, a la Facebook? Robo-ed | Naw, manipulation would be trying to make us feel guilty for not welcoming the little children with open hearts. Sleepless.

Cat fight! Hillary vs. Liz Warren in Dem primary

Bloggers are waiting breathlessly for this announcement. What a good time we'll have if it comes about.

Edward Klein speculates in This means Warren: Obama backs challenger to Hillary where he says Valerie Jarrett, under Obama orders, is wooing Elizabeth Warren to get her to run against Hillary Clinton in the Democrat's presidential primary.

Here's one of his unnamed sources:

“The Obamas believe that Warren sees things from the same ideological point of view as they do. She is a committed progressive who, like Obama, wants to transform America into a European-style democratic-socialist state.”

[Aside: Do they really talk like that? Conservatives have long believed Obama wants to turn the country into a "socialist state," although the model is probably more South America than European. But do progressives actually come out and say it? It wasn't too long ago that calling Obama a socialist was a no-no. If it's OK now I didn't get the memo.]

More:

“Both Valerie and Michelle Obama have convinced the president that Elizabeth Warren is his Mini-Me,” said a person who has discussed the issue with Jarrett.

Lots of unnamed sources in there, and Klein could be getting played. But it's fun to speculate.

How to repel those pesky mosquitoes

It's not the noise of the buzzing around the ears that is so annoying, it's knowing you're about to become food for a critter higher on the food chain that is so galling.

I don't know if it's city wide, but here at the Sleepless Manor in Midland, Texas, there's at least one loose in the house.

Deet is the all time favorite mosquito repellent. Although it doesn't repel them, it blocks their ability to smell the things they're otherwise attracted to. I just bought two bottles of Repel 100 which should do the trick. However, like most folks, I would prefer not to get too many chemicals cycling through my liver. There's an internal debate going on over which is worse, mosquito bites now or the possibility of cirrhosis of the liver at some distant time in the future. Put that way, and after a glass of wine, the chemical risk doesn't seem that great.

One alternative is a mosquito net -- I've got two, one for the bed and one for camping. The aesthetics of mosquito netting probably make them more amenable to the campground than the bedroom. But when the buzzing is driving me batty, that ugly net starts to look like a canopy of beautiful flowers.

Speaking of mosquitoes, here's an interesting factoid:

There are 346 chemicals involved in the scent of human hands, a study found in 2000, and 277 of them can attract the annoying critters. A key one seems to be l-lactic acid, which, when added to the scent of a less-targeted person, can make certain mosquitoes go after them.

Maybe we should just wash our hands.

Here's another one. Terminex has developed a bait with garlic oil and sugar. Apparently it works:

“They feed on it, and then, literally, the garlic oil makes them sick enough that they don’t want to then go bite a person,” Cope says.

Garlic. Hmm. If that works maybe Cecil Adams might want to update his opinion on the limitations of garlic as a repellent, although to be fair, he didn't contemplate the bait setup Terminex has. But for mild short term repellents he does include some other ingredients. To wit:

Garlic is only one of a list of plant compounds with similar "repellent" effects, including citronella, cedar, verbena, geranium, lavender, pine, cinnamon, rosemary, basil, thyme, allspice, and peppermint.

Here's an idea. Get all those compounds, grind them up, distill them into an oil, and burn them like e-cigarette smoke juice. It will be like a cloak of invisibility. The little buzzers won't even know we're there.

Fox Friday 7-4-14 -- A fight for food!

Welcome to Fox Friday, the weekly collection of the best photos from the Fox Cam for the previous seven nights. For anyone who doesn't know, the Fox Cam is situated in an undisclosed neighborhood in Midland, Texas. The objective is to capture in pixels some urban foxes. However, the foxes are outnumbered by feral cats, and most nights the cats get the food before the fox shows up. And the fox has to settle for leftovers. BTW, the bait is two frozen uncooked chicken drumsticks. That probably doesn't sound very tasty, but the cats are getting fat over them. If only the fox could gain some weight, too.

One night this week there was a confrontation between the fox and one of the feral cats. The cat got there first and was standing guard over the food. The events shown in the next six photos transpired within 14 seconds.

The fox tried to rope-a-dope around the cat. Notice how the cat seems to lead with its behind -- not exactly the most fearsome posture. But it seemed to work.

The fox circled out of camera view, then a half minute later she returned to stage an attack.

She's poised for attack. Then she makes a false charge -- see the leaves scatter? Unfortunately, the cat wasn't intimidated.

The fox watches from a distance. See the eyes? Once the cat leaves, she grabs the cat's leftovers.

All this happened on Wednesday night. Thursday night the fox didn't show up. I hope she doesn't let this little setback ruin the area for her. If only she had a pack. That would show those fat felines who's king of the back yard jungle.

Happy 4th of July.  Let freedom ring!

Facebook's latest incursion into users' minds

Although the details might not have been predictable, it should come as no surprise that Facebook did to consumer what they're alleged to have done. See Facebook Added 'Research' To User Agreement 4 Months After Emotion Manipulation Study.

The movie The Social Network told us a lot. An interview aired on some radio program with the guy who wrote the book which supplied the story for the movie. The author used transcripts from depositions from the lawsuit in which one betrayed friend and two betrayed business associates sought recovery for their share of the Facebook business. Since live people were involved in a litigated dispute, the author had to be careful to stick very closely to the testimony in the depositions. The movie did too.

So while it is never a good idea to base one's belief in historical events on the movies, "The Social Network" might be as close to an exception as we can get.

In any event, someone who treats his friends and associates the way the character in the movie did is not a friend. That so many people trusted him and his company with their most personal information doesn't speak well of the level of critical thinking that exists in modern consumers.

Meanwhile, the above linked Forbes.com article contains another tidbit. To wit:

Defenders of the Facebook study including my colleague Jeff Bercovici say that everyone on the Internet is doing A/B testing — showing users two versions of something to see which resonates more based on how they click, share, and respond.

Quite so. Yahoo mail users see a completely different lineup of news items after they shut down cookie acceptance. Surely they're using some program that figured out what might keep the user on the yahoo site.