California Democrats legalize child prostitution. A somewhat misleading headline. They did not legalize the paying for child prostitution, only thing they legalized was children offering themselves up.
Open Society Needs Defending. Entire essays could be written about the failures of logic in this short article. But it is interesting nonetheless because it is written by George Soros.
Detention and Prosecution of Tibetans under China’s “Stability Maintenance” Campaign . One of my big tests for critics of Israel is “would you advocate that China face same boycotts and whatnot that you are advocating for Israel?” I have had people tell me that China’s occupation of Tibet was not as bad as Israel’s occupation of majority of Palestinian areas. Their grounds for thinking this was that “Tibet was not in the news as much.”
Will Trump Break the Special Forces? The title is almost enough for this to get placed in the Bogus News section. But the actual article is a good run down of a long standing problem.
Trump’s Nuclear Boast Is Obama’s Modernization Plan. This is in the bogus news section for two reasons. The first is that headline is very misleading. Nobody really knows what Trump is referring to. On the other hand, the article does correctly point out that anybody who hyperventilates about Trump wanting to “restart the arms race” without acknowledging that Obama was already planing on spending over a trillion dollars on nuclear weapons is being extremely misleading. In other words, this article is both an example of bogus news (at least in the headline department) and it highlights how others spread bogus news.
Stunned By Trump, The New York Times Finds Time For Some Soul-Searching. I am sure this ex-New York Times reporter has his own ax to grind. But there should be more news stories examining the media and how they decided what stories are worth reporting. It is extremely rare for investigative reporting to be done about the media itself.
It Happens This Fast. Cops get a lot of criticism for being too trigger happy. This may or may not be true depending on what situation we are talking about. But it is worth understanding that regardless if they are right or wrong, cops are paranoid for a reason. They all watch videos like the one in the linked post. The fact that the media hypes the questionable incidents but does not show the times when cops were not paranoid enough gives people a skewed perspective on why cops do what they do. Most people never see stuff like this and don’t understand how fast things can go south and so they judge cops on unrealistic standards.
One other thing this video should teach us is how poorly trained cops are. That is not to say that you should fault the ones in video for getting shot. Unless cops treat everybody extremely harshly regardless of probable cause, this sort of ambush is going to happen. But cops really should have better first aid skills then what was demonstrated in this instance. That is one of the thing you would think all Americans could agree on and support, but like most such things that everyone should agree on, you are never going see a push to train cops properly.
Entertainment of the Day
I am not sure this should really be call entertainment. But if you have never heard of BOPE it is a good (albeit very superficial) introduction. They are famous in certain circles.
Newsrooms are sanitizing that Ivanka harassment story. Another story about a bogus story. I would not care if they did not cover it. Crazy people are always harnessing the famous and not so famous, so I don’t consider it particularly news worthy for Ivanka to get harassed. But if you are going to cover the story, don’t leave out crucial information.
N.Y. Times’ Fake News That Electoral College Was Created to Protect Slavery . I saw the New York Times article and was going to post it in bogus news. But I did not want to take the time to explain to the historically ignorant why it was so bogus. The above article does a pretty decent job. I think one of the things that make the “Electoral College Protected Slavery” sound so plausible to the ignorant is that it did have something of that effect later on. But in the beginning of the country, the Southern states did not feel the need of that kind of protection. Moreover, only two states had no slaves when this country was founded. So “protecting” slavery was not really a big concern.
Polaris Wins Canadian Special Forces Ultra-Light Combat Vehicle Contract. I find this kinda of funny. In World War II, we had the jeep. Then NATO (primarily the US) kept making the “Jeep” bigger and more heavily armored until they became the Monsters that modern soldiers ride around it. Now, the Jeep is back (US is already using something like this).
State-Sponsored Terror in Argentina I have been following this story for a long time. I have to say in impresses me that there are enough semi-honest people in Argentina that it is worth the Government’s time to go through all this work to cover its tracks.
The below video is the start of a really cool series put out by a guy determined to bring the old late medieval fencing manuals to life. If it tickles your fancy it should be easy to find the rest of them. I actually think the later ones are more entertaining but it is better to start at the beginning.
Nothing for today. I guess my outrage receptors are getting dull.
In The News
Trump wins Electoral College vote. Two republican electors switched from Trump. Eight democratic electors switched from Hillary (or tried to, not clear that all will be allowed to.
The below clip tells you something you already know and it is not all that scientific. Still, it should be required viewing by all idiots who think that all season tires are sufficient.
