Tough On Crime

Why Is Our Country Screwed Up?

Excerpts from the radio news:
…shooting of a jogger early this morning on a secluded beach in an apparently random attack…
…rioting following services which were held in memory of a man who died in police custody…
…who were apparently planning to fly to Syria and join the army of the Islamic State…
…make an arrest in killing of six, including baby…

Some things that happen are so terrible that you have to ask yourself, not just “Why?”, but “How could a human being even do that?” The statistics on violent crime in this country show a steady decline, but on the other hand, at any given point in time, nearly 3% of the adult population is either in jail, in prison, or under some form of correctional control (probation or parole). Because of the gender gap in prosecution and sentencing, that works out to one in eighteen adult males.

(more…)

F&L 2020: Trump/Pence vs. Biden/Harris

Opinion/Analysis

It’s been decided:  This November, our ballots will feature Biden/Harris for the Democrats; presumably, they’ll be facing Trump/Pence* for the Republicans.  This settles one of the oft-repeated questions from past weeks, “Who will he pick?”, leaving us with… well, with rather more questions.  These include “What will the electoral map look like?”, “How do the candidates stack up against each other?”, and the all-important “Who should I vote for?”

At present, the editorial staff here at The Not Fake News has mixed feelings ourselves on that last question, so we’re not inclined to opine. (more…)

F&L 2020: Kamala Harris (No, Not The Wrestler)

The first major candidate to drop out of the Democratic Primaries, Senator Harris was nevertheless in the race long enough to eviscerate Uncle Joe in the debates and to get spanked by Tulsi in her own turn.  Her fundraising was legendary but her polling was abysmal (particularly after the Gabbard debacle), and she dropped out not only before New Hampshire and Iowa but actually before 2020 — on the 3rd of December 2019, in fact, before even such notable losers as John Delaney and Marianne Williamson.

As a result, we never profiled here alongside the other candidates — a deficit we mean to make up for now.  So who is she really, and what was she before? (more…)

Predictions, June 2020

Monday the 15th is the 20th anniversary of the North–South Joint Declaration in Korea.  Reunification hasn’t been accomplished, and many outside observers believe that the government in the North is about to do something fairly radical and possibly even rash.  They’ve been ramping up their public pugnacity for the past few weeks, so it’s not an unreasonable supposition.

But presuming they don’t and nothing else horrific happens over the next week, I have a prediction to make — something that will be of great interest (more…)

Virtue Signalling For Votes

“The only people truly bound by campaign promises are the voters who believe them.”
― Christopher Hitchens

There are two types of promises:  comforting lies, and those meant to be kept.  Campaign promises differ from normal ones only in the choice of subject; where a doctor might tell a panicked child, “Now, you might feel a little pinch,” a politician will promise to end world hunger (more…)

Objects In The Mirror

It’s been quite a year, after quite a year.

The funny thing about 2017 was, we were still recovering from 2016.  We still haven’t recovered from 2016 today.  Here’s an example:

If you observe casually that the 2016 presidential race pitted two (more…)

How To Fix The World

The NFL is being boycotted in retaliation for some players kneeling in protest during the national anthem.  The protests began as against police brutality, particularly against members of minorities.

There was another mass shooting, this time against a crowded open-air concert.  Thoughts and prayers are being sent, and they’re being ridiculed by people demanding gun control — never mind that no practicable gun laws would have prevented this latest atrocity.

Marches and protests and riots.  Tearing down statues.  Congressional stalemate matches.  Hurricanes, floods, fires, earthquakes.  Bad economy, lousy job, sick parents and sick kids, student loans we can never pay back and an underwater mortgage.

Not just the country but the whole world is in rough shape, my friends, and small wonder there are protests.  But I put it to you that there are better ways (more…)

There Is No Opioid Epidemic, Dammit!

Heroin and its analogues can be deadly.  Heroin overdoses have more than tripled over the past couple of decades.  The supply has ballooned; the price has plummeted.  And, since 2013, dangerous synthetics have hit the streets in truly vast quantities.  These are facts, beyond dispute.

Despite this, it has become apparent to me that there is in fact no such thing as an “Opioid Epidemic”.  Despite massive reporting and editorializing on the subject, hearings in Congress, and now even a potential military deployment (more…)