Sunday Overnight Open Thread - January 5, 2025 [Doof]

Howdy Hordelings, and welcome to the first Sunday ONT of 2025! Hopefully you enjoyed the crossover from 2024 to 2025 in whatever way you chose to celebrate it or ignore it. Thanks for stopping by. Perhaps something will hit you as fun or interesting tonight.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 10:00 PM | Comments (484) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Gun Thread: First 2025 Edition!

Howdy, Y'all! Welcome to the wondrously fabulous Gun Thread! As always, I want to thank all of our regulars for being here week in and week out, and also offer a bigly Gun Thread welcome to any newcomers who may be joining us tonight. Howdy and thank you for stopping by! I hope you find our wacky conversation on the subject of guns 'n shooting both enjoyable and informative. You are always welcome to lurk in the shadows of shame, but I'd like to invite you to jump into the conversation, say howdy, and tell us what kind of shooting you like to do!

Holy jumping atomic shitballs! How in the ever-loving hell did it get to be 2025? Did you a) make a New Year's resolution, and 2) have you broken it yet? Every year mine is to not write the previous year on everything, and five days in I'm still holding strong. How many of you made focusing on shooting fundamentals a personal priority?

Snowmageddon

A big chunk of the country is getting hammered or will soon be hammered by very low temperatures, ice and snow. Are you prepared? Feel free to discuss in the comments. Good luck, stay warm, and don't forget to bring the puppies and kitties inside!

I'll mostly be in and out of the comments tonight so please don't burn the place down. Appreciate it.

With that, step into the dojo and let's get to the gun stuff below, shall we?

Posted by: Weasel at 07:00 PM | Comments (368) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Food Thread: Fried Eggs? Hold My Beer (And Bacon)!

That photo is the best I could come up with on short notice, because I ate my version of deep-fried eggs so quickly and with such gusto that I completely forgot to photograph the damned things!

Specifically? Bacon-fat deep-fried sunny-side up eggs. I made bacon yesterday, and it was particularly fatty, so I didn't want to waste all of that luscious goodness. So I poured all of it into a frying pan, heated it to 350 degrees, and plopped two eggs into it. Yes...it splattered. And I basted the tops of the eggs to cook the yolks. The whole process took about 45 seconds, but I was left with two absolutely delicious and perfectly cooked fried eggs. Fantastic!

The edges were wonderfully crisp, the yolks were just cooked, and there was no uncooked white to detract from the experience. I will be doing this a lot more in the future, although that means I will be making even more bacon.

What an unexpected bonus!

Posted by: CBD at 04:00 PM | Comments (357) | Trackbacks (Suck)

First-World Problems...

Do you see the difference?

***

DO YOU SEE THE DIFFERENCE!

This shall not stand!

Some idiot bought a box of 5,000K LED bulbs instead of the normal... human... physiologically tolerable 3,000K LED bulbs.

They call them "Daylight" bulbs, but I have never seen daylight like that! It is a horror. What are they for? Proctological exams? Torture?

Posted by: CBD at 02:00 PM | Comments (267) | Trackbacks (Suck)

If You Don't Think We Dodged A Bullet With Chlamydia Harris, Just Look at The Current Insanity In California!

The post-modernism that is so destructive to traditional culture is nowhere more evident than California. Its Democrat/Progressive super-majority in its legislature gives the governor carte blanche to enact pretty much any insanity he wishes, and of course he is happy to sign bills vomited out of the feeble brains of those mid-wits who California elects as its representatives. Add a maniacal regulatory state, and we have the perfect storm of craziness.

California Wants To View Air Quality Through 'Racial Equity Lens'

The job posting says the agency “is developing a racial equity impact analysis tool, known as CARB’s Racial Equity Lens, to advance the agency’s vision for racial equity — a future where all Californians equitably breathe healthy and clean air, benefit from actions to address climate change, and where race is no longer a predictor of life outcomes.”

CARB says it is seeking five “passionate community leaders and racial justice experts” to shape the Racial Equity Lens, which it calls “ground truthing.” To do this, these “experts” will need to “validate data and information by comparing it with direct, real-world observations or measurements from community members the tool is intended to serve.”

Huh? As an aside...how and where do these fools learn to write gibberish?

The concept of environmental protection policy being tailored to race is an expected extension of California's fixation on race as being the driver of all variation in culture. No matter that the data are clear, that there are huge variations in outcomes among minorities. The overwhelming assumption in this dystopia is that race trumps all. White people (men in particular) are injured less by pollution... by "Climate Change..." by every social variable that these mad social scientists can conjure.

But not just race! Psychiatric pathology is now a reason for protection and elevation to the cherished top of the grievance pyramid!

School told girls 'transgenders have more rights' as trans runner took away girl's varsity spot, parent says

Ryan Starling told Fox News Digital that the loss of his daughter's varsity spot disrupted his entire family emotionally, as cross-country played a pivotal role in her life. And then when his daughter and other girls on the team confronted their school administrators about it, he claims they were told "transgenders have more rights than cisgenders." [bolding mine]

At least they are honest about their favoritism!

Of course in the backward and racist/sexist Midwest, where people are stupid and ignorant and don't even eat kale, they do things like protect high school girls. How very revanchist of them! And because they are irredeemably evil and traditional, they are trying to extend that protection to college women athletes!

Indiana Lawmakers Are Looking To Extend Transgender Ban Into College Sports

The current law in Indiana, which was introduced back in 2022, bans anyone who was born a male from competing against girls who are in kindergarten all the way through high school. Well, lawmakers want to expand that into college, with Republican State Reps. Chris Jeter, Robert Heaton, Joanna King and Michelle Davis filing a bill to do so.

“To ensure a level playing field, it’s important that girls compete against girls, and boys against boys,” wrote Davis in an official statement sent to the Indy Star. “As a mother and legislator, I authored this bill because I’ve heard directly from Hoosier parents who want to ensure female athletes have a fair shot at competing and earning recognition.”

This is exactly what America needs, and these people should be praised and supported for their efforts. And the states teetering between the insanity of transgenders and a normal and sane approach to athletics (and everything else) should be emboldened by this.

Does anyone think that the election of Donald Trump to his second (third?) term has anything to do with this?

I sure do.

Trump and MAGA are becoming the lodestar for our journey back to a more sane America. He has made his feelings clear, and he does not support the transgender lunacy on our playing fields and in our military, and rejects the obsessive fixation on race.

For that alone he is worth the price of admission! And California can huff and puff and erect legal barriers to the coming changes, but all they will do is drive the remaining sane people to states that don't celebrate anti-scientific social engineering and the destruction of traditional society.

[Crossposted at CutJibNewsletter]

Posted by: CBD at 12:00 PM | Comments (249) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Sunday Morning Book Thread - 1-5-2025 ["Perfessor" Squirrel]

Welcome to the prestigious, internationally acclaimed, stately, and illustrious Sunday Morning Book Thread! The place where all readers are welcome, regardless of whatever guilty pleasure we feel like reading. Here is where we can discuss, argue, bicker, quibble, consider, debate, confabulate, converse, and jaw about our latest fancy in reading material. As always, pants are required, unless you are wearing these pants...

So relax, find yourself a warm kitty (or warm puppy--I won't judge) to curl up in your lap, abandon those New Year's Resolutions, and dive into a new book. What are YOU reading this fine morning?

Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:00 AM | Comments (335) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Daily Tech News 5 January 2025

Top Story

• SpaceX is planning another test flight of Starship this month with a payload of dummy Starlink V3 satellites on board. (Tech Crunch)
  
  The operational plan is to launch sixty of these V3 satellites, each one ten times as powerful as the current V2 Mini, with each Starship launch.
  
  This flight will also shake out new Starship hardware and test the booster chopstick catch mechanism a second time.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM | Comments (185) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Substitute Saturday ONT - January 4, 2025 [TRex]

[Photo: A-12 at the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama]

***

Posted by: Open Blogger at 11:20 PM | Comments (330) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Saturday Evening Movie Thread [moviegique]: Year-end roundup

The end of the year numbers are looking pre-pandemic levels, with over 100 films seen in theaters and drive-ins all over the country! (OK, Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Let me have this!) Hopefully 2025 will be even better. Here's a round-up of the past three weeks of movie viewing.

Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)

Catherine Deneuve plays the ingenue in this odd French musical about a sixteen-year-old who wants to marry her twenty-year-old boyfriend, has sex with the night before he's deployed to Algeria, then ends up gestating and dithering because of the boy's ambiguous letters home while a rich local courts her. (I know, right? French!) This is a very odd film. When La La Land came out, my friend (@JulesLaLaLand, fittingly enough) used to warn people by saying it was more Cherbourg than Singin' In the Rain, and I came out of this thinking Damien Chazelle had basically lifted this movie to make La La Land. Oh, it's careers rather than the and a pregnancy driving people apart, but somehow that felt to me like details.

The Boy was not much impressed by my evaluation, nor the movie.

The film is ninety-six minutes but it can actually feel like it drags a bit because a) the characters never stop singing; b) the singing is basically what we'd call recitative. That is, it's like an opera without the arias. Everyone delivers their dialogue in song, but very low-key song without, e.g., choruses or a lot of repetition. So it sort of feels like one hour-and-a-half long song.

It worked for me, in that the theme of the movie, which is frequently recapitulated, feels completely different at the end than it does at the beginning, and the ending is bittersweet, to say the least. Chazelle turns it up to eleven for La La Land, giving a dramatic visualization of what might have been: This is far more low-key.

"Maybe if we sold something other than umbrellas, I wouldn't have to marry some rich guy?"

Posted by: Open Blogger at 07:29 PM | Comments (317) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Hobby Thread - January 4, 2025 [TRex]

Welcome hobbyists! Pull up a chair and sit a spell with the Horde in this little corner of the interweb. This is the mighty, mighty officially sanctioned Ace of Spades Hobby Thread.

We gave the Ace of Spades Wheel of Hobbies(TM) a spin and it reminded us that we previewed a gingerbread theme last week. Maybe we need to feed the wheel more often...

Posted by: Open Blogger at 05:30 PM | Comments (113) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Ace of Spades Pet Thread, January 4

Do not trust this chart. General guideline only.

* * *

Good afternoon and welcome to the almost world famous Ace of Spades Pet Thread. Thanks for stopping by. Kick back and enjoy the world of animals.

Would you like a treat?

Let's relax a little with the animals and leave the world of politics and current events outside today.

Posted by: K.T. at 03:17 PM | Comments (96) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Gardening, Puttering and Adventure Thread, Jan 4

Happy New Gardening Year! Above, a striped rose growing in Turkey, of all places, a couple of years ago. Is everything frozen where you are?

Posted by: K.T. at 01:27 PM | Comments (48) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Conspiracy Theories about Conspiracy Theories

Good morning, Horde! Have you noticed a few unexpected issues (or narratives) appearing lately? Let's return to the thrilling days of yesteryear, namely January 2024, when the luminaries of the WEF in Davos chose "misinformation and disinformation" as the most severe short-term risk the world faced. Especially with AI taking over the internet.

Their aim was control. Something to think about, given the events of this year.

How do you think control of "the narrative" has proceeded during 2024?

*

BABYLON BEE

FBI Asks X Users To Please Stop Solving Crimes Before They Do

Posted by: K.T. at 11:20 AM | Comments (235) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Classical Saturday Morning Coffee Break & Prayer Revival

[H/T Biden’s Dog]

Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian at 08:30 AM | Comments (380) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Daily Tech News 4 January 2025

Top Story

• Microsoft is planning to spend $80 billion on AI datacenters in 2025. (Thurrott)
  
  Why?

  "In many ways, artificial intelligence is the electricity of our age, and the next four years can build a foundation for America's economic success for the next quarter century," Microsoft president and vice chair Brad Smith writes. "It's clear that artificial intelligence is poised to become a world-changing General-Purpose Technology, or GPT. AI promises to drive innovation and boost productivity in every sector of the economy. The United States is poised to stand at the forefront of this new technology wave, especially if it doubles down on its strengths and effectively partners internationally."

  Because you don't get a market cap of $150 billion by not creating the Torment Nexus.
  
  
  

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM | Comments (221) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Ohah Enn Tee, Bam-Ba-Lam

Howdy Horde! Friday night. Say, have I ever mentioned that Cal is my favorite president?

Posted by: WeirdDave at 10:00 PM | Comments (425) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Party Like It's 2025 Cafe

Nepotism can only take you so far

An unexpected caller.

Cat would like to take the air.

I'd be proud if I bowled a Mjolnir Strike like this.

The mimicry skills of a starling. He does an amazing R2-D2 at the end.

Nature's little Transformer.

Prancing in the park.

Largish cat purrs for headrubs.

Octopodes, the cats of the sea.

Dogs hate when the cat sleeps in their bed, but they love when their humans get in.

I said no pictures, mac.

This doggo is looking forward to the polar vortex. (Which is unfortunately coming to the central and eastern US through this weekend and then intensifying through the week.)

Posted by: Ace at 07:30 PM | Comments (334) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Lawsuit: "Hulking" Transgender Inmate Sexually Assaulted His Female Cellmate

"The thing that they say can never happen just happened again," commented J.K. Rowling.

The NY Post:

A former inmate at a Washington state women's prison was repeatedly sexually assaulted by her hulking transgender cellmate -- who was transferred to the prison after changing her gender identity, according to a shocking new lawsuit.

Mozzy Clark sued the state department of corrections in federal court last week for locking her in a cell with a 6-foot-4 convicted child molester who allegedly subjected her to months of stalking, threats of violence and sexual harassment and assault, according to the lawsuit.

The cellmate, Christopher Scott Williams, was convicted of sexually assaulting a young girl as a male, and was serving a separate sentence for domestic abuse.

Williams then petitioned to be recognized as female and be transferred to a women's prison, according to the lawsuit.

When the state granted the request and placed Williams in a cell with Clark, the latter's life became a living nightmare, she alleged.

State DOC records show Williams is listed as female at the Washington Corrections Center for Women.

Clark claimed Williams, who slept above her in the top bunk, would threaten to rape her, leer at her in the shower, and constantly ask for sex -- once with a homemade dildo he had brought into the cell, according to the lawsuit.

"In their cell, Ms. Clark was on the bottom bunk. Mr. Williams ... would hover menacingly over Ms. Clark's bunk with an erection while touching himself. He would also display his erection to Ms. Clark against her will, and gesture towards it, saying how much he wanted her," the lawsuit alleged.

"One night, Ms. Clark woke up and saw inmate Williams sitting on the floor next to her bed with his arm under her blanket, rubbing her genitals," the lawsuit adds.

Clark said the guards did little to protect her when she complained. Eventually Williams was moved to a separate cell, but the inmate would seek her out, stare at her in the showers, and follow her into the bathroom -- making perverted comments from the next stall, the documents alleged.

"He also started threatening her with violence if she complained about him again," according to the suit, which is asking for restitution from the state for "extreme emotional distress, shame, intimidation, humiliation, indignation, embarrassment, and fear."

Other actually-female females have also complained of him, saying that he leers at them in the showers and they feel unsafe around him.

You're not going to believe this, but almost two thirds of "transgender" inmates in UK prisons are, get this, sex offenders.

Almost two thirds of transgender prisoners who identify as female are convicted sex offenders, it has been revealed.

Out of the 245 trans women inmates, who are legally recognised as male, a total of 151, or 62 per cent, had committed at least one sexual offence.

Official figures showed that the number of prisoners who identify as transgender but do not have a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) rose by almost 10 per cent to 295 in 2024.

New rules mean that trans prisoners who identify as women but have male genitalia or those convicted of violent sexual offences cannot be held in female jails, unless there are exceptional circumstances.

Posted by: Ace at 06:30 PM | Comments (218) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Jimmy Carter Was Not a Good Man Who Made for a Bad President. In Fact, He Was a Very Bad Man, Too.

The Bee kills:

David Strom reveals something I didn't know. Iran took hostages to pressure the US into delivering over the deposed Shah of Iran, who'd fled the country as crazed jihadists sought to execute him.

I thought, wrongly, that Carter was some kind of friend to the Shah.

In fact, Carter aided the Ayatollah Khomeini in deposing him.

Carter, whose guiding principle was promoting human rights around the world, abandoned the Shah of Iran and basically cut a deal with Ayatollah Khomeini, paving the way for the zealous tyrant to ascend to power.

The BBC:

In a first-person message, Khomeini told the White House not to panic at the prospect of losing a strategic ally of 37 years and assured them that he, too, would be a friend.

"You will see we are not in any particular animosity with the Americans," said Khomeini, pledging his Islamic Republic will be "a humanitarian one, which will benefit the cause of peace and tranquillity for all mankind".

Khomeini's message is part of a trove of newly declassified US government documents - diplomatic cables, policy memos, meeting records - that tell the largely unknown story of America's secret engagement with Khomeini, an enigmatic cleric who would soon inspire Islamic fundamentalism and anti-Americanism worldwide.

This story is a detailed account of how Khomeini brokered his return to Iran using a tone of deference and amenability towards the US that has never before been revealed.

The ayatollah's message was, in fact, the culmination of two weeks of direct talks between his de facto chief of staff and a representative of the US government in France - a quiet process that helped pave the way for Khomeini's safe return to Iran and rapid rise to power - and decades of high-stakes tension between Iran and America.

In the official Iranian narrative of the revolution, Khomeini bravely defied the United States and defeated "the Great Satan" in its desperate efforts to keep the Shah in power.

But the documents reveal that Khomeini was far more engaged with the US than either government has ever admitted. Far from defying America, the ayatollah courted the Carter administration, sending quiet signals that he wanted a dialogue and then portraying a potential Islamic Republic as amenable to US interests.

...

To this day, former Carter administration officials maintain that Washington - despite being sharply divided over the course of action - stood firm behind the Shah and his government.

But the documents show more nuanced US behaviour behind the scenes. Only two days after the Shah departed Tehran, the US told a Khomeini envoy that they were - in principle - open to the idea of changing the Iranian constitution, effectively abolishing the monarchy. And they gave the ayatollah a key piece of information - Iranian military leaders were flexible about their political future.

I always thought that Carter was a victim of the Iranian revolution. Nope, he did his bit to foment it. It's not just that he was feckless in allowing Iranian jihadis to hold American hostage for (IIRC) 444 days; he in fact was part of the cause of that captivity.

Cynical Publius
@CynicalPublius

I promised to myself that I would not comment further on Jimmy Carter's death, but it bothers me to see so many otherwise sensible conservatives spouting the "Bad President, good man" line that the Democrat/Media Complex has been spinning for 40+ years. Thus, I feel the need to drop some truth bombs, propriety at time of death notwithstanding.

Yes, he hammered a few nails on some houses for poor people. But that alone does not make one a "good man," when the rest of the track record is so awful.

After Carter lost in spectacular fashion in 1980, he did not do what every other President before him did and retire to a quiet, private life. He could have farmed peanuts in Plains with Rosalynn. Instead, he bitterly engaged in active and public efforts to undermine the policies of the elected Republicans who came after him. He INVENTED the jealous, manipulative ex-President model that Obama put on steroids in 2016.

Jimmy Carter flew around the world for decades, un-asked by America, on self-appointed missions of national importance, almost always involving gleefully interacting with raging antisemitic terrorist and/or Communist leaders, always working against the official policies of the ACTUALLY ELECTED Presidents. Carter's hatred of Israel bordered on pathological, and reeked of a sort of cloaked antisemitism that has become quite fashionable today. Somehow Jimmy Carter convinced himself that he was such an important and historic figure that he stood outside and above the U.S. systems of election and governance, even though no one other than the Yassar Arafats and Hugo Chavezs of the world asked him to do so.

Jimmy Carter was a bitter, angry narcissist who cloaked his lifelong, seething rage at the indignity of being body-slammed by Ronald Reagan (someone he considered lesser than himself in every regard) with that genteel "Southern gentleman" accent, vague scripture references and the occasional hammered nail. He purposely and vengefully wreaked havoc on America's official foreign policy for decades and he INVENTED the concept of a meddling ex-President poisoning American political discourse. (In that regard, Obama has been Carter v.2.0--we have Carter to thank for that.)

Literally every aspect of the man's self-serving public life was harmful to America, he knew that, and he did it all anyway because narcissists always operate like that--they cannot help it, and they can never admit fault. Carter's "good man" image was a carefully constructed and nurtured illusion, one that he gladly worked with the corrupt media to maintain.

So please consider these factors before pronouncing "Bad President, good man." Sometimes truth needs to be said even when some find that truth untimely.

Doctor_Zero
@Doctor_Zer0

I'm old enough to remember Carter's gas lines, malaise, turn your thermostat down in winter, and the endless national humiliation of the Iran hostage crisis, so you'll pardon me if I'm not interested in reading any encomiums to his unappreciated greatness.

Carter was the avatar of the illogical and infuriating political myth that demands left-wingers be given endless credit for good intentions, even when their policies are horrifying disasters foisted upon us with fraudulent rhetoric.

The presidency of the United States is not some kindergarten assignment where everyone who plays gets a participation trophy and a smiley face sticker. Carter was an unholy disaster, and he stubbornly executed his stupid policies over the loud objections of better men and women.

He doesn't get a pass because he devoted himself to charitable work after he was thankfully bounced out of the White House by a vastly superior president. Carter's post-presidency included a great deal of vicious and destructive meddling in American diplomacy in the Middle East.

And even if Carter had kept quiet for the past half-century and just focused on building homes for the poor, the damage his administration did to the United States for generations to come was incalculable. Our children still suffer from what he did to education, for example.

Carter's failed presidency should have been studied in detail to avoid similar catastrophes in the future, including WHY he made some of his awful decisions - but those tales of venal backroom deals and political payoffs to special interests would clash with his St. Jimmy image.

The presidency of the United States is a job for serious people that should carry the highest levels of accountability. Jimmy Carter was never really held accountable for the damage he inflicted on this country, and that set a very unfortunate precedent. /end

Posted by: Ace at 05:30 PM | Comments (265) | Trackbacks (Suck)

As Kathy Hochul Claims the New York City Subways Are Safer Than Ever, Another Freerange Murderous Lunatic Pushes a Man In Front of an Oncoming Train
Update: Johnson Re-Elected Speaker, 218-215

On the same day that a woman was set afire and burned to death on a NYC subway, Kathy Hochul posted selfies of herself on the subway and crowed about how "safe" it was.

She avoided photographing her armed Praetorian surrounding her.

Since the proclamation that the subways are "safe," a -- get this -- deranged homeless man with a mile-long rap sheet pushed a man on to the tracks of an approaching train (content advisory).

And then, get this, a very smug Young Scholar slashed the throat of a subway rider.

And that's not all:

Libs of TikTok
@libsoftiktok
Kathy Hochul told us just last week that the subway is safe. Since then:

Woman burned alive
Man shoved into oncoming train
Man slashed in the neck
TdA [Tren de Aragua prison] gangs robbed riders
Woman stabbed in throat

Kathy Hochul needs to resign.

The New York Post fulminates:

Leftists know their policies will result in more victims, and they don't care

Five straight days of attacks in the subway: Welcome to the world progressives knowingly created.

From Sunday night's knifing in an L station to Thursday morning's stabbing of an off-duty MTA worker on a Bronx platform, the violence follows the horrific pre-Christmas arson murder of Debrina Kawam and includes Tuesday's miraculously non-fatal shoving onto tracks in Manhattan.

And the hell-ification of the underground is a predictable consequence of "social justice" policies.

Take Kamel Hawkins, 23 and charged with second-degree assault and attempted murder for allegedly shoving that unsuspecting stranger in front of an incoming 1 train.

No surprise: His long rap sheet includes a 2019 attack on a police officer, plus an assault, harassment and weapons possession charge from October and a 2020 case where the judge released him without bail despite prosecutors asking for remand.

Keep letting violent perps walk free, and the violence grows -- but progs insist going easy on criminals matters more than preventing innocent people from being killed or maimed.

They've told us this.

Way back in 2007, Milwaukee District Attorney John Chisholm, one of the first wave of radical "reform" prosecutors, laid it out: "Is there going to be an individual I divert, or I put into a treatment program, who's going to go out and kill somebody? You bet. Guaranteed. It's guaranteed to happen. It does not invalidate the overall approach."

Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg and the state legislators behind New York's "criminal justice reforms" might not be as frank about it, but they make the same calculation.

As do those who proclaim the moral urgency of letting the dangerously mental ill roam free and untreated, or allowing millions of unvetted illegal migrants -- rapists, murders and gangbangers among them -- to cross the border.

"Enforcing the law" is an inherently evil, white supremacist project that must be eradicated; the people who get robbed, raped or murdered along the way are collateral damage.

...

And the whole sad wave of underground violence is a predictable -- indeed, predicted -- result of the progressive refusal to fight farebeating, the "gateway drug" of subway crime.

The needless, bloody chaos won't stop until this poisonous ideology is rejected at every level of government.

Not even leftwing lunatics will accept this level of public disorder, mayhem, and slaughter.

So Kathy Hochul is pretending to care for the moment, saying she'll take a look at laws which make it nearly impossible to involuntarily commit a dangerous lunatic to the mental asylum.

She's triangulating against the NY Assembly, blaming them for the state of chaos:

Gov. Kathy Hochul says the recent surge in violence in the subway "cannot continue."

This week alone, a man survived being shoved onto the tracks and fracturing his skull. The new year also started with three subway stabbings in two days. One of the victims was an MTA employee.

Late last month, Debrina Kawam was set on fire and killed on a train in Coney Island.

"Many of these horrific incidents have involved people with serious untreated mental illness, the result of a failure to get treatment to people who are living on the streets and are disconnected from our mental health care system. We have a duty to protect the public from random acts of violence, and the only fair and compassionate thing to do is to get our fellow New Yorkers the help they need," Hochul said in a statement.

She says people on the streets with untreated mental illness "is an issue that has plagued New York for decades."

She says she will include new legislation in the executive budget to change New York's involuntary commitment standards.

"Currently hospitals are able to commit individuals whose mental illness puts themselves or others at risk of serious harm, and this legislation will expand that definition to ensure more people receive the care they need," Hochul said in a statement. "I will also introduce companion legislation to change Kendra's Law, improving the process through which a court can order certain individuals to participate in Assisted Outpatient Treatment while also making it easier for individuals to voluntarily sign up for this treatment. I've been pushing these changes for the past three years -- the time for legislative action is now."

...

The New York Civil Liberties Union said that while Hochul is correct that the status quo regarding mentally ill homeless people is "untenable," the solution she's seeking isn't the right one.

"The change we need is not simply to lock more people away, especially those who pose no immediate threat to themselves or others. That doesn't make us safer, it distracts us from addressing the roots of our problems, and it threatens New Yorkers' rights and liberties," NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman said.

Note the below incident -- which is horrifying, discretion advised -- was supposedly not an act of terror. Rather, supposedly, the driver was 69 years old and became "confused" while driving.

But this sort of thing doesn't get stopped when crime is rampant. If NYC weren't an ultraviolent zoo this side of A Clockwork Orange, cops might have stopped this guy from driving earlier.

Posted by: Ace at 04:30 PM | Comments (323) | Trackbacks (Suck)