Gun Free Zone

Where a Redneck Jew, a Hispanic Catholic, and a Computer Geek write about Gun Rights, Self Defense and whatever else we can think about.

Month: February 2020

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I so want to run for Congress right now

Feb 28, 2020 J. Kb 0 comments

Yesterday, I brought you the news that AOC said that Vice President Mike Pence “literally does not believe in science.”

I said this was wrong, stunk of anti-observant Christian bigotry, and a non-serious way of talking about science.

AOC has been a huge proponent of “trans rights.”  Yesterday the news broke that some beefy fucking dude who won several woman’s weightlifting medals while breaking several world records because he identifies as a woman is one step closer to making it to the Tokyo Olympics as a female weightlifter.

Who needs doping when you have so much natural testosterone that you have male-pattern baldness?

Ted Cruz decided to reply snarkily to AOC with this question about science vs. articles of progressive faith.

AOC defended herself to cheers of “yassss queen” from Progressives.

From her statement ” I hold awards from MIT Lincoln Lab &others for accomplishments in microbiology” you’d think that she’s a laboratory researcher or professor of microbiology.  No, she won second place in a high school science fair.  It may be a prestigious one, but that’s it.

From the article that she links that quotes her:

“Alumni of the International Science and Engineering Fair… have gone on to create major companies, win the Nobel Prize, and now Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has become the youngest member of Congress,” said Maya Ajmera, president and CEO of the Society for Science & the Public, and publisher of Science News.

“We expect that the lessons she learned during ISEF—the importance of evidence-based science, clear communication and team work—will translate well in her work on Capitol Hill.”

AOC is taking scientific credit by proxy.  She hasn’t started a biotech company.  She hasn’t won a Nobel Prize.  She won a science fair.

This is the scientific acumen that she brings to the table when discussing things like the Green New Deal.

Clearly, she puts Progressive ideology over evidence.  She may have graduated “cum laude dual major in Economics & International Relations” but she openly supports policies that have been economic disasters since the October Revolution in 1917.

She rants against the United States, but the US has reduced its CO2 emissions on its own far more than any of the Paris Accord signatories.  China, which she never mentions, is increasing its CO2 emissions.

There is not a reputable scientist talking about energy policy that has not made the point that the US cannot generate all of its electricity carbon-free without major reliance on nuclear power, but the Green New Deal bans nuclear power.

AOC has weaponized science into something that she believes in even when she doesn’t and her opponents don’t, even when they are more technically correct than she is.

It’s times like this that I want to run and get elected so I can Tweet:

BS in Chemical Engineering
MS in Materials Engineering
PhD in Materials Science
PE in Metallurgical Engineering
Published in peer-reviewed journals on the topic of materials science
American Society for Testing and Materials committee member

The United States cannot generate sufficient carbon-free power on renewables alone.  Nuclear power must be part of the equation. 

I know that won’t mean much to ideologues like her, but we have to fight the narrative that her side is the pro-science side when it clearly is not.

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We need a lot more of this woman – a followup to Pence, HIV in Indiana, and the State of California

Feb 28, 2020 J. Kb 0 comments

In my post from yesterday, I explained how needle exchanges and programs that subside drug use and addiction had severe negative consequences for the non-drug users in a community, and that Mike Pence’s lack of support for needle exchanges wasn’t an anti-science position.

Like mana from heaven, this appeared in my news feed this morning.

From Fox 29 Philadelphia:

‘You’re a sneak’: South Philadelphia residents speak out against safe injection site plans

South Philadelphia residents, including city officials, made sure their voices were heard as they opposed plans to open a safe injection site during a Wednesday morning press conference.

Former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell was among a group of officials who addressed the crowd as they discussed their plans to open a site the nation’s first supervised injection site next week.

In a final ruling Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Gerald McHugh said the Safehouse proposal does not violate federal drug laws because the intent is to save lives, not encourage drug use.

The news article does not do it justice.  You have to watch this.

Holy shit.

That hit home for me.  I know Passyunk Ave in Philladelphia.  I used to work at the refinery that was were Passyunk crossed over the Schuylkill River. There used to be a great little hole-in-the-wall cheese steak place over on East Passyunk Ave.  Not Geno’s or Pat’s, those are famous and always have a line.  This place was a little non-descript shop and was fantastic.  I haven’t been there in years, but when I was there, the streets weren’t covered with shit with vagrants doing drugs out in the open.

This is what these Liberal policies do.  They may appear to be compassionate to drug addicts or the homeless, but they destroy the quality of life of the hard-working, law-abiding, tax-paying people who have to pay for these programs and live in the neighborhoods affected by them.

This woman had had enough and let the governor know that.

I hope to see more and more people respond just like here, and make their voices count on election day.

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So I have been looking at the Corona Virus…

Feb 28, 2020 Miguel.GFZ 3 comments

Checking out the available reports via the World’s Health Organization and finding the numbers interesting.

As of yesterday, the death rate in China alone was 1.92 %. For the rest of the world sans China, it dropped to 1.5%. Iran ha the largest body count outside China with 22 and the highest death rate  in the world at 15.6%. Next  would be Italy with 12 deaths and only 3% death rate. Korea who carries the most people affected by the virus outside China with 1766 cases, only had 13 deaths or 0.73% rate.

So I removed Iran from the calculations and I ended up with 3523 China-Less World cases and  35 deaths which gives us a death rate of 0.99%.

I believe that Iran is an statistical aberration compared to other countries. The death rate probably can be attributed to a crappy health care system.   The good news is that the virus has not invaded Africa or Central & South America (only tone case reported in Brazil, Egypt and Algeria each.) With the crappy health care situation in Venezuela, I don’t want to even know how bad it would get there if it starts spreading.

But as of now here in the US we stand at 59 cases with zero deaths.  Even if we apply the China odds, you would stand a 98% chance of recovery if you get infected by the virus.

If the number of infections suddenly start to climb, there will be an initial period of Media-driven panic (If it bleeds, it leads) and I figure it will take about a month for the panicky waters to recede, don’t forget there is an election to be had in November and yes, I do believe the Democrats will use the virus as political weapon if they can get away with it.  Prepare accordingly and don’t fall for the gregarious panic.

PS: If you have sites that give smart ideas and advice about how to avoid and prep for the spread of contagious diseases, post them in the comments and I will update this post.

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Another Mass Shooting that will disappear.

Feb 27, 2020 Miguel.GFZ 2 comments

I am sure you have all heard the tragic workplace killing that happened  yesterday at the Molson Coors complex where 5 people got killed. Pundit were quick to asses the usual blames on the usual political mules to beat. but the lack of fast information such as the shooter’s name was getting a wee bit suspicios to some (lots) of us.

Lo and behold. here is why:

Meet Anthony Ferrill. Oh yes, he kinda destroys the Left’s narrative about White people being mass murderers…again. And if that was not all, he used two pistols, not a hated AR -15s that shoots 5,000 rounds a second via those high capacity magazine clips.

By tomorrow night, the only thing you will hear in the media about Coors is the regular commercials.

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A Quick Silly Post

Feb 27, 2020 Miguel.GFZ 0 comments

“All I needed to know about marriage, I learned from these two.”

That is what I say while usually pointing or tagging Gomez and Morticia Adams.

When I was a kid, I hoped I would be like Gomez: Rich and married to a gorgeous wife and that we would adore each other with absolute devotion till we were too old to do anything but sit in rocking chairs and enjoy each other’s company. So only half of that happened, the good part I must say.

I happened to bump into this next pic and it got me grinning big time. It reminded me that somehow the ideal is still alive and still lovable weird.

And yes, Raul Julia and Anjelica Houston did perfect versions of my favorite couple and I enjoy watching them. But you must understand that first loves are deeply imbedded and your heart will always go there.

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The Democrats are going to get us all killed with the Coronavirus

Feb 27, 2020 J. Kb 4 comments

Coronavirus is big news.  So big that it became a topic at the Democrat debate.

Elizabeth Warren took a moment to announce that she will be releasing a plan to deal with the Coronavirus.  She didn’t preview exactly what she is going to do to prevent a deadly pandemic, but she made sure everyone knew that her plan included stopping Trump’s wall.

Clearly, to Warren, ending the wall is more important than controlling the outbreak of a deadly disease.

She also attacked Vice President Pence as “actively disqualified” to manage the Coronavirus taskforce.

This is something that Congresswoman and de facto leader of the House Democrats also did on Twitter.

When someone uses the term “believe in science” you know they are not serious about science.  Furthermore, this is clearly anti-Cristian bigotry, which assumes that devout Christianity is incompatible with a scientific approach to technical problem-solving.

As governor, Pence’s science denial contributed to one of the worst HIV outbreaks in Indiana’s history.

This is from the quoted article from The Verge:

Pence is not a public health expert, either. Instead, as governor of Indiana, he slashed public health spending and delayed the introduction of needle exchanges, which led to the state’s worst outbreak of HIV. He takes over from Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar who has been heading the White House coronavirus task force since the beginning of January.

Yale epidemiologist Gregg Gonsalves, who conducted the research linking the Indiana HIV outbreak to Pence’s policies, tweeted that the decision “speaks to a lack of seriousness by the White House.”

This article links to one from HuffPo:

It’s a shame, since lackluster public health efforts are what led to the defining moment of Pence’s one-term Indiana governorship: a massive HIV outbreak spurred by public health funding cuts and Pence’s moralistic stance against needle exchanges.

Pence first laid the groundwork for Indiana’s HIV outbreak as a congressman back in 2011, when the House passed his amendment to defund Planned Parenthood.

That is Pence’s real crime, defunding Planned Parenthood.  What Planned Parenthood has to do with intravenous drug use is neither here nor there.  I want to see data that shows that heroin addicts take advantage of PP’s HIV testing services before sharing needles in a drug den before I say this is responsible for anything.

Then in 2013, Pence’s first year as governor of Indiana, Scott County’s one Planned Parenthood closed in the wake of public health spending cuts. Since that particular Planned Parenthood was also the county’s only HIV testing center, there was no longer a place for the county’s 24,000 residents to get tested.

Actually…. the Scottsburg Hospital also did routine HIV testing.

During that time, Pence dragged his feet. Although the outbreak was identified in late January of 2015, it took Pence until April of that year to allow a temporary needle exchange in Scott County. It was a big shift for the governor, who was morally opposed to needle exchanges and believed they promoted drug use.

This position is dead wrong, according to health experts.

“People think that if you give someone a syringe, it means they’re going to go out and inject drugs, and if don’t give them syringes, they won’t inject drugs,” Robert Childs, executive director of the North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition, told HuffPost in 2015.

“But the thing is that if you don’t give them syringes, they share them, and then people will start getting HIV and viral hepatitis C.”

Needle exchanges as a public good are less science and more an article of faith among the Left.

I will concede that the data shows that needle exchanges do reduce HIV and Hepatitis transmission.  But they are not all ice cream and rainbows.

Needle exchange is what these programs are called, but not how they work.  Take a look at San Francisco, where 40% of used needles given out are not dropped in public sharps containers.  This leads to local news having to print headlines like:

So you saw a needle on the street. What should you do?

People are stepping on needles in the streets, and getting poked with them when they sit on needles stuck in the seats in public transportation.  In New York City, needle programs are filling public parks with needles.  More than 5,000 found in one week.  Kids are finding them in playground sandboxes and under bushes.  Free needle programs have been shown to encourage public drug use, addicts admit to it.  Addicts flock to cities that provide free needles like San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Seattle, and Portland.

Needle exchanges create a black market for clean needles and drugs.  It is a manifestation of perverse incentive, the Cobra Effect should be called the clean needle effect.  The problems that it causes some cities to reconsider needle exchanges, as they make it harder for very addicted people to get help.

Free needles subsidize drug intravenous drug use, and when you subsidize something, you get more of it.

Lastly, and I am not the only person who wondered about this, why does the Left, which advocates for free needles for drug addicts and complains about the cost of insulin supplies, not have a needle exchange program for poor diabetics?

So while Warren, AOC, and others can criticize Pence and his moralistic stance against needle exchanges, it’s not an unreasonable question to ask:

Are needle exchanges that combat HIV transmission among IV drug users worth the cost of subsidizing addiction, creating public drug injection hangouts, making it easier for drug users to become deep addicts, creating a black market, and, filling streets, public transportation, and parks with dirty needles that expose innocent people to disease a justified cost?

Pence apparently didn’t think so.

Furthermore, this has nothing to do with a response to Coronavirus.

That HIV outbreak was the result of poor people in rural Indiana being addicted to IV opioids and sharing needles.  There are a number of reasons for this, including the terrible Obama recovery in rural America, widely available heroin and other opioids from China and Mexico, the destruction of America’s family structure through bad Liberal policies, etc.

This is entirely different from how Coronavirus is spread, which seems to be close proximity human to human communication.  This won’t be stopped by providing free needles and decriminalizing shooting up on a BART train.

“Pence didn’t give free needles to addicts to shoot up in a park so he doesn’t believe in science and won’t stop the Coronavirus” is an incredible stretch.

Then there was this:

The problem CNN has is that there are not enough black, lesbian epidemiologists giving Trump advice.

The Hill defended CNN with a “Republicans Pounce” story.

Tucker Carlson, Trump Jr. mock CNN for story about lack of diversity on administration’s coronavirus task force

They just can’t stop.

This is the Left.

“Trump is not taking Coronavirus seriously.  Also, the most salient features of our Coronavirus plan is to bankrupt Trump’s border wall and make sure that the Coronavirus advisory committee looks like the United Colors of Benetton.  Actual solutions and qualifications are irrelevant.”

I don’t know if Trump’s plan will work or not.  I hope it does.

What I do know is that the Left’s plan will fail because to them the biggest threat isn’t the Coronavirus, but breaking articles of Leftist faith while trying to combat the Coronavirus.