That is a Parent/Teacher meeting for the record books.

I can’t imagine the pain of losing a child, especially losing a child in something like a school shooting.  I understand that grief does terrible things to a person’s psyche, and in the immediate aftermath of a tragedy, people can do or think things that make so sense to a rational and sober person.

One of the problems with today’s political climate is that rather than let these grieving parents alone, they are turned into activists and folk heroes, which exacerbates their emotional problems.

Rather than come back to a rational center (assuming they had one) they go further and further off into distraught la-la land.

Take the case of Manuel Oliver whose son, Joaquin was killed at Parkland.  Manuel has become an anti-gun/anti-NRA street artist activist.

His foundation – because now every parent starts a foundation after something like this – is called Change the Ref.

On a side note, this foundation thing makes me uncomfortable.   Trayvon’s parents have the Trayvon Martin foundation.  There is Newtown Action, Orange Ribbons for Jamie, Parkland Survivors, etc.  They all seem to take in huge sums of money.  Yes, these people can say they are not doing it for the money, but when they are the center of attention at lucrative fund raisers, is that what they tell themselves so they don’t feel like you are profiteering off tragedy.

So why is Oliver’s foundation called Change the Ref?  Let Oliver explain in a Tweet.

First thing, to an objective reader, it seems like this is a family of sore losers.  I know that sounds mean, but there is no evidence in this anecdote that they were ever proven right that the ref was biased.  They didn’t like the outcome and so assumed they were the victims of dishonesty.

How this relates to politics is that anybody who opposes their gun control demands has been bought – presumably by the NRA and the system is unfair.  By refs they mean elected officials.

This is the narrative being constructed: politicians who support gun rights are dishonest and have been compromised, while the anti-gun politicians are honest, unbiased, and pure and clean as the driven snow.

That’s wrong.  The vast majority of people who support gun rights do it because they honestly believe in it.  Moreover, this reduces the argument to “everyone who disagrees with me is a cheater and a bad person.”  We’ve already seen how this “everyone who disagrees with me is a Nazi/Russian Bot/etc” has played out in political debate.  Hint: not well.

So where he and his side see Change the Ref as virtuous, to the outside it comes off as a sore loser accusing everyone on the other side of corruption.

The July 2018 report.

If my calculations are right and the same trend continues, we are not going to reach the 2 million licenses this year but we are going to be mighty close: about 10,000 short. That means that probably (barring EMP attack) come the end of January 2019, we will be the first state of the union with 2 million licenses to carry concealed.

Welcome to the Gunshine State.

PS: I forgot, sorry! Florida ladies with a CWP went up to 509,014. C’mon ladies, those a rookie numbers!

The two Americans killed in an ISIS-claimed attack in Tajikistan over the weekend were a couple from Washington D.C. who left their lives in the nation’s capital to see the world together by bicycle. According to Lauren Geoghegan’s parents, the year-long cycle adventure was typical of their daughter’s “openness to new people and places, and her quest for a better understanding of the world.”

D.C. couple killed in ISIS-claimed attack were cycling around world

Although fastly approaching the “Get Off My Lawn” age bracket and raised within the boundaries of “The glass is half full/empty/poisoned” school of life, I have no problem with people with lofty goals and idealism. But no matter what crusade you want to attempt, never forget that there are immutable hardcore limits in this world and in many cases, deadly.  You cannot jump off a cliff, wave your arms and expect a soft landing or swim among sharks forever and expect not getting a dental tattoo from them.

Evil exists. Evil people exist. They have existed since Sapiens decided to go upright and probably will exist all the way to the extinction of our line. Going out in the world with the idea that Evil is some sort of social construct is a dangerous thing to do. This is a quote from their blog simplycycling.org:

I don’t buy it. Evil is a make-believe concept we’ve invented to deal with the complexities of fellow humans holding values and beliefs and perspectives different than our own—it’s easier to dismiss an opinion as abhorrent than strive to understand it. Badness exists, sure, but even that’s quite rare. By and large, humans are kind. Self-interested sometimes, myopic sometimes, but kind. Generous and wonderful and kind. No greater revelation has come from our journey than this.

I could make long snarky remarks, but truthfully they would not contribute a thing compared with the harsh truth that this your idealistic couple ignored basic facts of life and paid the ultimate price.

Hat Tip Joshua

Tomorrow is my 10 year wedding anniversary.

My wife asked me, jokingly, what I got her and what we were going to do for it.

I reminded her that I had bought her tires at Sam’s Club and set up the service appointment and that she had to go over her lunch break and get them installed.

She asked “is that it?”

To which I responded “I just spent $700 on the finest hydroplane resistant, mountain snowflake rated, 70,000 mile, all season tires made by man.  I spent good money on the best tires I could so that you could be confident driving in a downpour when you are taking the kids to school.  What do you want, jewelry?  Will a necklaces get the kids safely to school when it’s raining?  Will earnings give you good traction in the snow when we drive to Indiana to visit your parents at Christmas time?  No, I don’t think so.  I love you and the kids so much I got you premium tires.  Mozel Tov!!!”

“That’s the most practical present I could ask for.  I love you too.”

“Happy anniversary.”

In a press release from the LAPD:

South Los Angeles: The Los Angeles Police Deppartment and 77th Division Robbery Detectives are asking for the public’s help in providing any information that would lead to the identification and arrest of three suspects involved in a robbery.

On July 14, 2018, around 3:10 a.m., 77th Area patrol officers responded to a radio call of a robbery that just occurred in the 1300 block of West Manchester Avenue.

When the officers arrived, they discovered that three suspects had entered the taco truck parked at the location and robbed the workers at gunpoint. One of the victims was pistol-whipped during the incident.

Their investigation revealed that two male Blacks and one male Hispanic entered the truck, forced the workers to the ground and demanded money. The suspects attempted to gain access to a safe at the location, however were unable to access the safe. The suspects then demanded property, including cell phones and cash, from the workers.

The suspects were last seen running from the location with the victims’ property. The suspects are described in their 20’s, with no distinctive physical features.

There is security camera footage and it’s good.  Nice and clear.

I’m going to assume that at 3:10 am they were serving the last call bar crowd or were cleaning up have just done that.

Still, if I were operating a late night taco truck, I’d do my clean up at a more secure location.  I’ve done some late night bar backing and once the patrons go, you deadbolt everything.  You don’t want to get held up while mopping the floor.

The robbers only had one gun between them.  If these weren’t California, I’d say a CCW holder would have had a good chance of defending himself in those odds.  Being CA, there is no chance anybody working after midnight legally carrying.

Lastly, one worker was pistol whipped.  He handed over his money and phone and still was beaten.  You cannot trust that if you comply with the bad guys, they won’t hurt you.  You might get beat on the head, you might get shot to keep you from being a witness.

It’s by sheer dumb luck those guys are still alive and not anything else.

Be careful out there.  If you don’t have to be out after midnight, don’t.  If you do and you can be armed, do that.