Monthly Archives: January 2014

MMA Hero Vs. CNN Cowards

GUNS, Media, Private Property, Propaganda

Mixed martial arts fighter (MMA) Joe Torrez is the hero in this story, the men who invaded his home and attacked him deserved death all, their sympathizers at CNN are worthy of ignominy.

The broadcasters that have extended their mandate to annually anointing the nation’s politically acceptable heroes know just how to shape debate. A Latino “reporter” oozed his sympathies to bimbo anchor Brook Baldwin—sympathies to the “victims” of a homeowner who defended home and hearth with all the MMA might he could muster.

Torrez refused to curl up in the fetal position upon being savagely attacked in his inner sanctum. Most importantly, the MMA lightweight did not risk sure death, which would have been his lot had he extended an invitation to the local Polizei to break down his door and “help” him. (Or shoot him, or his kid, or his lady friend, or his best friend The Dog.)

Joseph Torrez, 27, repelled a home invasion, killing one man, injuring another so badly he left in an ambulance and persuading two others to run in fear, authorities said.
Torrez and the men clashed on New Year’s Day at his home outside of Las Cruces, reportedly part of an ongoing feud. One of the attackers, 22-year-old Leonard Calvillo, called ahead to threaten Torrez, the Las Cruces Sun-News reported, citing court documents.
Mixed Martial Arts fighter Joseph Torrez fought off four men who broke into his house, killing one and putting one in the hospital, authorities say.
“I’ll kill you and your family … I’ll go to your house,” Calvillo reportedly said.
Calvillo arrived shortly after with 20-year-old Nathan Avalos and brothers Sal and Raymond Garces and pounded on Torrez’s door, authorities said.
Torrez’s fiancee, son and the fiancee’s sister were all home at the time, authorities said.
The fiancee leaned against the door of the mobile home, trying to keep them out, but they busted through, authorities said.
There they met Torrez, a 155-pound lightweight with a record of one win and five losses, according to the fight website SherDog.com.
The four men are all gang members, a Dona Ana County Sheriff’s spokeswoman said.
C.J. McElhinney, an attorney for Torrez, told the Sun-News witness said the attackers brought a crude shank and one picked up a knife once they forced their way inside.
Sal Garces, 25, was stabbed to death during the fight. Avalos suffered “severe” facial injuries and was taken to a New Mexico hospital, authorities said.
Torrez endured [the NYD writer meant to say “sustained,” surely] only minor injuries, his lawyer said.
Calvillo and Raymond Garces were both arrested on charges of conspiracy and property damage after they ran from the house.

MORE @ The New York Daily News.

Minimum Wage ‘Pulverizes The Poor’

Economy, Free Markets, Labor, Law

Minimum-wage legislation fixes the price of labor above its productivity, making it less likely that the young and the unskilled will be hired. Those who claim to represent the interests of unemployed youngsters—whose labor-participation rate has been in decline—and other unskilled laborers don’t much care that such legislation circumvents voluntary exchanges in the marketplace. Because government has fixed the price of labor, economic actors are prevented from engaging in mutually beneficial, voluntary exchange.

Still less is the hike justified because it impoverishes. Government can set wages above market value (productivity), but it cannot compel business to hire (and lose money), the outcome of which is unemployment among the young and the poor.

USA Today reports that “13 states are raising pay for minimum-wage workers at the start of 2014.” Another site more savvy than the Seattle Times—almost any website on the WWW qualifies—pegs the additional labor costs to the City of Seattle of “a $15 minimum wage” at “nearly $700,000.

Get rid of the minimum wage altogether says Prof. Walter Block, and jail those who pass it for the crime of “pulverizing the poor.”

‘Into The Cannibal’s Pot’ In University Libraries

Education, English, Ilana Mercer, Political Correctness, South-Africa

It transpires that intellectually curious and honest academics are having some luck in their efforts to increase the chances of students being exposed to solid facts and serious analysis pertaining to South Africa.
A very nice professional who wishes to remain anonymous—he works behind enemy lines in academia—has been kind enough to forward me a list of “the [university] libraries that have [“Into the Cannibal’s Pot: Lessons for America from Post-Apartheid South Africa”] and have reported that they have it to WorldCat.” The gentleman informs me that, “Most books are purchased via standing orders for major publishers, or approval plans, so books not acquired in that way get bought when someone, usually a faculty member, requests that they be purchased.”
You know what this means? Academics can place orders for the book and thus increase the chances that students are not bamboozled by idiots (such as my co-panelist on the Cross-Talk TV show).

Let me know how it goes. I’ll be sure to mention any successful outcomes.

Location  Library  Local Holdings   
US, AK ANCHORAGE PUB LIBR XYZ  

US, CA ALIBRIS ALBRS  
US, CA STANFORD UNIV LIBR STF  

US, CO DENVER PUB LIBR DPL  
US, CO LAFAYETTE PUB LIBR FIU  
US, CO PUEBLO CITY CNTY LIBR DIST   

US, DC LIBRARY OF CONGRESS DLC  

US, FL AVE MARIA UNIV AVMAR  

US, IA DORDT COL Local Holdings Availa…   
US, IA JOHNSTON PUB LIBR JUH  

US, IL WARREN NEWPORT PUB LIBR DIST IHZ  

US, KY HENDERSON CNTY PUB LIBR DIST KG6  

US, MA MASSACHUSETTS INST OF TECH MYG  

US, MI UNIV OF MICHIGAN LIBR EYM  

US, MO KANSAS CITY PUB LIBR KCP  

US, NH YBP LIBRARY SERVICES YDX  

US, NJ PRINCETON UNIV PUL  

US, NY CORNELL UNIV Local Holdings Availa… COO  
US, NY MID-YORK LIBR SYST ZTM  
US, NY SUNY AT ALBANY NAM  

US, OH AKRON-SUMMIT CNTY PUB LIBR APL  
US, OH SHAWNEE STATE UNIV OSS  
US, OH WORTHINGTON PUB LIBR OWR  

US, PA TEMPLE UNIV TEU  

US, WA PACIFIC LUTHERAN UNIV OPV  

CA, AB UNIV OF ALBERTA UAB  

CA, ON COUTTS LIBR SERV CDX  

New Zealand AUCKLAND LIBRS NZAUC  

South Africa DACST-DEPT TRADE & INDUSTRY LIBR
 
US, CO DOUGLAS CNTY LIBR DAD  

US, FL SARASOTA CNTY LIBR SYST FSP  

US, MD JOHNS HOPKINS UNIV JHE  

US, MO OZARKS TECH COMMUN COL TLO  

US,NH YBP LIBRARY SERVICES YDX  

US, WA FORT VANCOUVER REG LIBR YEP  
US, WA NORTH CENT REG LIBR OEI  

Australia LIVING CITY SVC ATNSP  
Australia STONNINGTON LIBR & INFOR SVC ATVLI  
Australia SUTHERLAND SHIRE LIBR ATSSL  

South Africa NATIONAL LIBR OF SOUTH AFRICA
 
Germany UNIVERSITATS BIBLIOTHEK POTSDAM

CA,AB

UPDATED: Quacking Over Ducksters As Freedoms Go POOF

Constitution, Crime, Criminal Injustice, Federalism, Founding Fathers, Government, Homeland Security, Law, Race, Racism, Regulation

“Quacking Over Ducksters, As Freedoms Go POOF” is the current column, now on WND. An excerpt:

“While the nation fretted over the ouster of one Duckster from the parallel reality of a TV reality show, more of the protections enshrined in the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution evaporated.

Just after Christmas, district-court Judge William Pauley ruled that the privacy protections afforded by the Constitution were relative freedoms, not absolutes ones. As such, Fourth-Amendment rights had to be calibrated against a government’s need to maintain a database of records that would (putatively) prevent future terrorist attacks. …

… This is the inglorious history of American freedom and federalism. In the rare event that the Supreme Court refuses to play along (as nicely as plaything Justice John G. Roberts did for ObamaCare)—there is always a perfectly legal, extra-constitutional, quasi-legislative, quasi-executive, quasi-judicial, “independent” regulatory commission or executive agency to kill off or override constitutional protections.

A “civil liberties officer,” for example.

The nice men in periwigs who came up with the Fourth Amendment were recklessly naive to imagine that branches of a government, each of whose power is enhanced when the power of the other branches grows, would serve to check one another. The idea of a judiciary that would police the executive as an arm of a self-correcting tripartite government was worse than naive.

As “luck” would have it, legislation that flouts the Fourth Amendment was previously in place to provide Pauley with all the positive-law backing the judge needed to justify an anti-constitutional ruling. To wit, the grounds upon which the New York jurist dismissed this ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) case against the NSA were, primarily, “that bulk collection was [already] authorized under existing laws allowing ‘relevant’ data collection to be authorized by secret US courts.”

Here you have the essence of modern-day, Managerial-State America. Natural law, common-law and Constitution have been nullified; buried under the rubble of legislation, statute, precedent, ad infinitum, rights having long-since been outsourced to the “better” judgment of bureaucrats and hired “experts.”

In this case, to Eric Holder’s Department of Justice. …

Read the complete column. “Quacking Over Ducksters, As Freedoms Go POOF” is on WND.

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UPDATE (1/3): Someone is guilty of a performative contradiction. In any event, I’m glad I have not lost the reader who claims he is lost to me. From the COMMENTS @ WMD:

Nys Parkie
• 12 hours ago

Mercer lost me. Was a fan. Now her libertarian squeamish mish-mash of words only offend me. Her article on hunting cut the cord. I, as a conservative libertarian only have this response. Let me live as I choose and don’t demonize me for it. Maybe you (Her) is some type of PETA Vegan in disguise, I don’t know. Hate your mirror and not me.

Reply
Spyker May Nys Parkie
• 10 hours ago

Nys..,

You cannot chastise Ilana for your lack of command of the national language of the USA. She uses no words not from a good dictionary – the only “mish-mash” is the pancake between your ears.

As far as being ‘offended’ – kindly consider carefully what is ostensibly ‘arrogance’ and what is de facto personal insecurities.

To follow Ms Mercer demands no greater effort than reading through ATLAS SHRUGGED in a week…