Of Crime and Punishment and Non-Crime and Punishment

28 Tuesday Nov 2017

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While in Asia the other week, President Trump secured the release of three high value American prisoners. All good and well, but Lawrence Vance ponders if Trump’s amnestying efforts might be better spent at home.

LiAngelo Ball, Jalen Hill, and Cody Riley, who are now on indefinite suspension from the UCLA Bruins basketball team, were in China with their team for a basketball game against Georgia Tech. The trio was arrested after allegedly shoplifting from a Louis Vuitton store in Hangzhou, China. After being detained for over a week and facing up to ten years in prison, they were released after President Donald Trump intervened on their behalf with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

These are not the only prisoners that Trump should have freed. Far more important are the people imprisoned in the United States for victimless crimes.

The United States is indeed an exceptional nation. It has less than 5 percent of the world’s population, but almost a quarter of the world’s prisoners. It has over 2 million people behind bars, more than any other nation. And it has the highest per capita prison rate.

A great many of the Americans who are in prison have been incarcerated for victimless crimes, and especially drug crimes. Only violent criminals should be incarcerated, and no one should ever be locked up for committing a victimless crime.

Every crime should have a tangible and identifiable victim with real harm and measurable damages. Rape, robbery, assault, child abuse, battery, burglary, theft, arson, looting, kidnapping, shoplifting, embezzlement, manslaughter, and murder are real crimes. Possessing “illegal” drugs, “illegal” gambling, prostitution, discriminating, price gouging, and ticket scalping are victimless crimes.

Prosecuting Americans for committing victimless crimes turns vices into crimes; unnecessarily makes criminals out of otherwise law-abiding Americans; is an illegitimate function of government; criminalizes voluntary, consensual, peaceful activity; costs far more than any of its supposed benefits; does violence to individual liberty and private property; and is incompatible with a free society.

Committing victimless crimes may be unwise, addictive, unhealthy, risky, immoral, sinful, and/or just plain stupid, but it is not for the government to decide what risks Americans are allowed to take and what kinds of behaviors they are allowed to engage in as long as their actions are peaceful, private, voluntary, and consensual.

According to Article 2, Section 2, Clause 1 of the Constitution, the president “shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States except in cases of impeachment.” According to the case of Ex parte Garland (1867), the scope of the president’s pardon power is quite broad. And according to United States v. Klein (1871), Congress cannot limit the president’s grant of an amnesty or pardon.

This means that Trump could, today, pardon every American in a federal prison for committing a victimless crime. And like he did for the American basketball players in China, Trump could work to free every American held in a state prison for committing a victimless crime.

On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, President Trump followed in the tradition of his predecessors and pardoned a turkey. Better that he ate the turkey and pardoned everyone in a federal prison for a victimless crime and ordered their immediate release. No one should ever be detained by police, arrested, tried, fined, or imprisoned for a victimless crime.

I completely agree with this idea. However, assuming (pointlessly) that we still have a Constitution, all Trump could do with the States would be lobby as he did with China. On the federal front things would be a little easier. Some, most, rather, violent federal inmates would have to freed as well.

That Constitution thing, the parts in, above, and below Article Two, only specifies three crimes. Honestly, if it’s not piracy, counterfeiting, or treason, what business has Washington prosecuting it.

Pardon this interruption…

Don’t Worry, Buy a Tesla!

27 Monday Nov 2017

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Mr. Musk sees a statistically unpleasant outcome from the robot wars:

Elon Musk has been very vocal about his concerns over artificial intelligence, and now the Tesla and SpaceX CEO has quantified his worries.

In a recent talk, Musk claimed that efforts to make AI safe only have ‘a five to 10 per cent chance of success.’

The warning comes shortly after Musk claimed that regulation of artificial intelligence was drastically needed because it’s a ‘fundamental risk to the existence of human civilisation.’

Of course, of course – regulation always fixes everything. Trust in the government. See their shining work in eradicating: war, poverty, drugs, terrorism, obesity, etc.

In the meantime, please by a Tesla…

OR!

Buy a FLYING CAR!!!!!

Available in 2020! (2020 in Flying Car advertising talk translates to 2220 in actual time…).

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Hanna Barbera.

The Old, Tired, Overly Expensive, and Utterly Worn Out College Try

24 Friday Nov 2017

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The colleges, what’s left of them, appear to be dying. Jim Goad has the good news at Taki’s Mag – in typical, hilarious Taki style.

“The only intelligent thing to do with modern American colleges is to get rid of them.”

At a symposium in May, Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen predicted that “50 percent of the 4,000 colleges and universities in the U.S. will be bankrupt in 10 to 15 years.”

Christensen appears to be onto something. The number of students enrolled in American colleges and universities has dropped every year for the past five years. In 2016, the majority of private and public American colleges failed to meet their enrollment and tuition targets.

This is possibly the best news I’ve heard all year. And not because I’m against learning or education—it’s because American colleges no longer teach people how to think; they command people what to think, with the constant looming Sword of Damocles hanging over the head of anyone foolish enough to express a dissident thought.

American colleges are no longer institutions of higher learning. It would be more apt to refer to them as state-sanctioned seminaries for the secular religion of Cultural Marxism. Instead of strolling out of college with nimbler minds, students now stumble out into the real world with their brains scrubbed clean of the ability to hatch a single independent thought.

A world of useful, free alternatives? Or $40,000+ per year for a piece of paper and some socialist dogma? And the dogma is also available for free on FB and Twitter. Hmmm…

“Conservatives,” The Second Amendment, and that Constitution Thing

22 Wednesday Nov 2017

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Lawrence Vance looks into the kooky antics of what pass for conservatives in America. As is now utterly obvious, conservatives conserve nothing:

But the strangest reaction did not come from a Democrat, a progressive, or a liberal. It came from a conservative. Bret L. Stephens joined the New York Times as an op-ed columnist in 2017 after a long career with the Wall Street Journal. Stephens, a neoconservative, argues in his book America in Retreat: The New Isolationism and the Coming Global Disorder that America should be the world’s policeman.

In an opinion piece for the New York Times, titled “Repeal the Second Amendment,” Stephens declares that he has “never understood the conservative fetish for the Second Amendment.” From a law-and-order standpoint, “more guns means more murder.” From a personal-safety standpoint, “more guns means less safety.” From a national-security standpoint, “the Amendment’s suggestion that a ‘well-regulated militia’ is ‘necessary to the security of a free State,’ is quaint.” From a personal liberty standpoint, “the idea that an armed citizenry is the ultimate check on the ambitions and encroachments of government power is curious.”

…

Only once in American history was a constitutional amendment repealed. The Twenty-first Amendment of 1933 repealed the Eighteenth Amendment of 1920 that instituted Prohibition. What would happen if the Second Amendment were repealed?

Absolutely nothing.

If the Second Amendment didn’t exist, Americans would still have the natural right to keep and bear arms. This is because there is no authority granted to the federal government by the Constitution to ban, regulate, or otherwise infringe upon the right of the people to keep and bear arms.

The federal government has no authority whatsoever under the Constitution—even if the Second Amendment were repealed—to ban or regulate handguns, high-caliber guns, shotguns, sawed-off shotguns, rifles, assault rifles, extended-capacity magazines, bump sticks, ammunition, automatic weapons, machine guns, grenades, or bazookas.

And neither does the federal government have any authority whatsoever under the Constitution to establish or mandate gun-free zones, background checks, waiting periods, trigger locks, limits on gun purchases, age restrictions on gun purchases, gun-barrel lengths, concealed weapons laws, licensing of gun dealers, gun-owner databases, gun licensing, or gun registration.

If anything should be repealed it is all federal gun laws—even the ones supported by Republicans and conservatives.

How about just repealing the whole Constitution. Replace it with nothing (or the old Articles – Articles of loose, weak, powerless, non-taxing Confederation).

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Carlos Slim’s Blog.

Mugabe at the End (Thank God)

21 Tuesday Nov 2017

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Still working on that comedy sketch about the old Mugabster. In the meantime, here’s a good analysis from Taki’s Mag and Hannes Wessels:

After 37 years of murderous and destructive rule, it looks like the curtain is finally coming down on the Mugabe regime. Military coups are seldom welcome, but few of Zimbabwe’s beleaguered citizenry are unhappy with this dramatic turn of events. After decades of misery, the prospect of life under “Gucci Grace,” the ghastly First Lady, provided a frightening future scenario that propelled the military into a direct and decisive confrontation. Almost universally this man is now reviled, and few will lament his political demise. But it was not always like that, and be mindful; he did not get to where he did without international help, and he could not have ruled for 37 years without the enthusiastic assistance of a liberal-socialist political and media machine that revered him no matter what he did.

British foreign secretary Boris Johnson spoke emotionally about “this beautiful country” that has suffered a “brutal litany of events” under the despotic rule of a man who has rigged elections and stands responsible for the “murder and torture of his opponents.” He said that “all Britain has ever wanted for Zimbabwe…is for Zimbabweans to be able to decide their own future in free and fair elections.” Prime Minister Theresa May expressed sincere concern for the safety of “British nationals” in the benighted country. These pronouncements resonate with the mood but invite some scrutiny.

Interesting to note that Her Majesty’s leader of the government is now concerned about Britons in the wake of a coup, but through the course of almost fifteen years of civil war, when Rhodesia fought to stave off the odious challenge posed by Mugabe and his forces, and thousands of “British nationals” faced the gravest of threats, the British government of the day resolutely backed the other side. And Boris Johnson’s recollection of history and Britain’s long-term commitment to “free and fair elections” is also rubbish. The fact is, the Mugabe accession to power was carefully choreographed through the ’70s by the wily mandarins of the Foreign Office, culminating in the Lancaster House Conference.

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Taki’s Mag.

Things have been a little slow, here, I’ll admit. I’ll also admit things here are still free…

 

Malcolm Young, RIP

19 Sunday Nov 2017

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Hard Rock will probably never be the same.

Malcolm Young, guitarist and co-founder of AC/DC, died Saturday at the age of 64. Young had been suffering with dementia for the past three years, an illness that forced his retirement from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame-inducted band he founded with his brother Angus Young in 1973.

AC/DC’s Angus Young Talks Retirement, Malcolm Young Health Update
Guitarist opens up about enlisting Axl Rose and fate of legendary hard rock band
“Today it is with deep heartfelt sadness that AC/DC has to announce the passing of Malcolm Young,” AC/DC wrote in a statement.

“Malcolm, along with Angus, was the founder and creator of AC/DC. With enormous dedication and commitment he was the driving force behind the band. As a guitarist, songwriter and visionary he was a perfectionist and a unique man. He always stuck to his guns and did and said exactly what he wanted. He took great pride in all that he endeavored. His loyalty to the fans was unsurpassed.”

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Rolling Stone.

YouTube.

Politicians in Peril: Send Money

16 Thursday Nov 2017

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Al Franken: He’s gropey enough, he’s grabbey enough, and doggone it, you’d better wear body armor if you fall sleep around him.

No doubt Mitch McConnell, Ivanka, the WSJ, and The Jeb will immediately call for his resignation. ……. Hahahahaha! No.

Anyway, Al probably needs money. Send money.

Roy Moore: I met Roy Moore (briefly) one time after he gave a speech. He did nothing untoward. I also had dinner one night with his former colleague, Hon. Harold See. I didn’t know who Moore was at the time and we did not discuss him or any alleged … proclivities. The man certainly failed to confide in me any rumors of strange mall walkings.

Anyway, Roy probably needs money. Send money.

Robert Mugabe: I’ve never met the man although I did once catch an ugly, cross-eyed flounder that kind of looked like him. His atrocities I have read about, maybe more extensively than the average. I still detest the filth. I am happy to learn he is under house arrest and “negotiating” his retirement.

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — In the first round of negotiations over how President Robert Mugabe will leave power, the Zimbabwean leader met Thursday with the army commander who put him under house arrest and mediators, including South African Cabinet ministers and a Catholic priest.

Meanwhile, an emergency summit of heads of state of regional countries was called by the 16-nation Southern African Development Community and is expected to formalize the terms of Mugabe’s exit.

It takes a village to fire an idiot.

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Almost as good as “Mugabe Under House.” AP.

A short preview of my forthcoming, Mugabe-centered piece (which will require necessary post-arrest revision):

Is is “Mugabe”? or “Mugaboo”? Mug – A – Boo. He mugs a lot of boos. All of them in fact.

Mugabe’s picture adorns Zimbabwe’s $100 Upmty-trillion Bill, currently sufficient to buy half a slice of bread.

UPDATE: Thanks to Mugabe’s stellar agricultural management, there is currently no bread in Zimbabwe. Save your money!

If not for periodic catheterization and his weekly prostate massage, Mugabe would have no social life at all. (Firehat, RIP!)

If Obama had a really haggard, crusty old grandpa, who wrecked a formerly prosperous nation and looks like he lives in the back of a garbage truck, he’d look a lot like Mugabe – but still not as bad.

Anyway, Robert probably needs money. Send rope.

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Grab ’em by the flak jacket! And why have I never heard of Leeann Tweeden before?! Purdy!! KABC.

Robert Mugabe “Safe,” Say Coup Leaders

15 Wednesday Nov 2017

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Well, thank God for that. Hopefully he’s safely on his way to the gallows as I type.

In what may or may not be a coup (hmmm…) the army has seized control of Harare and Mugabe.

HARARE, Zimbabwe — Zimbabwe’s military said early Wednesday that it had taken custody of President Robert Mugabe, the world’s oldest head of state and one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders, in what increasingly appeared to be a military takeover in the southern African nation.

After apparently seizing the state broadcaster, ZBC, two uniformed officers said in a short predawn announcement that “the situation in our country has moved to another level.” While denying that the military had seized power, they said that Mr. Mugabe and his family “are safe and sound, and their security is guaranteed.”

“We are only targeting criminals around him who are committing crimes that are causing social and economic suffering in the country in order to bring them to justice,” said the main speaker, who was identified as Maj. Gen. S. B. Moyo, the army’s chief of staff.

The criminals around him!!! Mugabe is like a gas giant planet, a big, ugly, ancient, decrepit, smelly gas giant; he, being the main criminal, has scores of smaller hoods orbiting around like moons and rings. Happy hunting there, generals!

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“Woof! Woof! Woof!” Mugabe and associate thugs celebrate 1,000,000% inflation at prior communist tent revival. EPA/NYT.

Coup in Zimbabwe?

14 Tuesday Nov 2017

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Interesting. Couldn’t happen to a finer country nor a thuggier thug.

HARARE (Reuters) – Zimbabwe’s ruling party accused the head of the armed forces of treason on Tuesday as troops took up positions around the capital in an escalation of a dispute with 93-year-old President Robert Mugabe over political succession.

Just 24 hours after military chief General Constantino Chiwenga threatened to intervene to end a purge in the ruling party, a Reuters reporter saw six armored personnel carriers on major thoroughfares on the outskirts of the capital.

Aggressive soldiers directing traffic told passing cars to keep moving through the darkness.

“Don’t try anything funny. Just go,” one soldier said on Harare Drive.

The presence of troops, including the movement of at least six armored personnel carriers from a barracks northwest of Harare, sparked rumors of coup against Mugabe, although there was no evidence to suggest Zimbabwe’s leader of the last 37 years had been toppled.

The lead item on the ZBC state broadcaster’s evening news bulletin was an anti-military rally by the youth wing of Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party.

The Southern African nation has been on edge since Monday when Chiwenga, Commander of Zimbabwe Defence Forces, said he was prepared to “step in” to end a purge of supporters of a sacked vice president.

The unprecedented statement represents an escalation of a rumbling political struggle over who will succeed Mugabe, who has been in power since the country gained independence from Britain in 1980.

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Those things run on diesel. Who knew they had any left? REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo.

I know some (mostly idiot coastal academics) hold modern Rhodesia Zimbabwe and Mugabe in high esteem for Mugabe’s agricultural “reforms,” tolerant, open, and honest governance, and economic stabilization. I simply detest the senile bastard and weep for what the people lost (or gave away … took … whatever).

A week or so back I had drafted a comedy piece of sorts about Mugabe, based on his recent handling of a certain American college student (whose professors probably adore the warlord in chief). It needs a little tweaking but it’s pretty good. Coming soon! Yes, and if this rumor turns out true, I could perhaps append a very happy ending – maybe with a picture of Mugabe on a pike or the gallows or something.

Hope springs eternal.