Still Heading Towards Civil War

Instapundit linked to "Schumer's shutdown reveals: Democrats will destroy America just to spite Trump." While hyperbolic, it's not enough of an exaggeration for comfort. While probably not willing to "destroy" America, I think many Democrats would be willing to cause damage to all of America if it inflicted severe pain on Red America.

And I'm virtually certain many republicans would happily damage America if it inflicted sufficient pain on Democrats. Indeed, that's at least part of what the election of Trump was. Perhaps Trump hasn't actually damaged all of America as much as might've been expected, but prior to his election, I definitely got the feeling that a lot of Trump voters supported him believing that it was quite likely he was going to be like Samson and pull the entire temple that is America down, but it was worth it because it would damage Democrats and the elite.

So there are a substantial number of people on both sides who are willing to sustain damage and pain if only it hurts the other side more. That's really not a good situation, especially if it festers for decades. Someday, the Left and the Right of the United States will be just like the Palestinians and the Jews, forever at each others' throats and forever killing each other with no possible solution.

Have a nice day!

Ho Hum - Another San Diego Sunset

This one was from a couple of weeks ago when the sun was especially far south (visiting Clovis and his neighbors). Fortunately, the sun is coming back now and summer will be here in no time! Not that winters here are so terrible. :-)

Martyr 2018, s**thole version

What would you do if, in your view, your country was taken by a pseudo-communist dictatorship, rewriting the Constitution as it pleased and turning the courts, including the Supreme one, into a tool of the Executive, while expelling or jailing the opposition?

Well, if you happen to live in a s**thole country, you could try to emigrate to one with better bathrooms, as well as better rule of law.

Or, since such emigration is getting harder and harder by the day, you can just as well make a revolution!

Or die trying to make one. That's what Oscar Perez, a former cop in Venezuela (and a former actor too, with a keen sense for marketing) tried to do when, in last June, he robbed a helicopter and used it to launch explosives against the Venezuelan Supreme Court. Since then, he and his group has been hunted down by the Venezuelan security forces. After a few humiliating months, where their merry band made a fool of Maduro's forces like this...

Then in December, a video posted on Perez's YouTube account shows armed, masked men taking control of military barracks under cover of night.
They smash photos of Maduro and his predecessor, the late Hugo Chavez, handcuff around a dozen soldiers and berate them for supporting 'dictatorship' in Venezuela. Perez says his team stole around 26 AK-103's and over 3,000 munitions for the rifles, as well as pistols.

... the security forces finally got hold of the rebels (very short video):

If you have patience, and the stomach for it, you can watch a series of short videos Mr. Perez himself sent, in his last minutes, through Instagram (the link opens up the first of 18 of those videos, you can follow the rest in that same Youtube sequence).


To which I must grudgingly concede the point, often presented in favor of the 2nd Amendment, that an armed society is indeed a drag to any autocratic ruler.

One For Erp

Teachers unions may not be the root of all evil, but they may well be counterproductive for society in aggregate. Here's an excerpt from a recent paper from Cornell University:

We find robust evidence that exposure to teacher collective bargaining laws worsens the future labor market outcomes of men: living in a state that has a duty-to-bargain law for all 12 grade-school years reduces male earnings by $1,493 (or 2.75%) per year and decreases hours worked by 0.52 hours per week.

Wow

According to a pair of reports, one from the Aviation Safety Network and the other from the Dutch consulting firm To70, zero passenger jets crashed anywhere on Earth in 2017. And this despite more airline flights than ever in history.