Tag: QotD

The Freedom To Fail

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Bill Whittle’s latest, My Friend Failure:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlLbFZxrzrc?rel=0]
Which reminded me of a previous Quote of the Day from Craig Ferguson’s autobiographical American on Purpose:

One of the greatest moments in American sports history was provided by Bobby Thomson, the “Staten Island Scot.” Born in my hometown of Glasgow, Scotland, in 1923, he hit the shot heard round the world that won the Giants the National League pennant in 1951. Had Bobby stayed in Glasgow he would never have played baseball, he would never have faced the fearsome Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Ralph Branca in that championship game, and he would never have learned that if you can hit the ball three times out of ten you’ll make it to the Hall of Fame.

Today I watch my son at Little League games, his freckled Scottish face squinting in the California sunshine, the bat held high on his shoulder, waiting for the moment, and I rejoice that he loves this most American game. He will know from an early age that failure is not disgrace. It’s just a pitch that you missed, and you’d better get ready for the next one. The next one might be the shot heard round the world. My son and I are Americans, we prepare for glory by failing until we don’t.

Damned straight.

Quote of the Day

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Another one from Quora, in response to the question Do most British people not want to have the ability to purchase firearms?

I used to be anti-gun, until the London riots where control of the streets London was lost completely for a week. Around that point the trivial stupidity of passing a law to prevent criminals using guns became apparent to me. “Criminal” means “non-obeyor of law” right? Instead, I realised that the police really can’t protect me from criminals. It’s my duty to protect myself and those I love.

At that point, I first moved out of London. This week, I’m leaving the country.

A number of straw men turn up above. The right to own guns in the home isn’t the same as the right to bring them to the pub. There is no reason why gun ownership shouldn’t be limited to those with NO convictions (including driving offences).

Two final points:
1. disarming the law-abiding increases the value of a gun to a criminal.

2. giving a woman a gun is better defence against rape than any propaganda. The “rape culture” can’t last if you Mom/wife/sister/daughter can defend herself.

— Anonymous

Quote of the Day – A 911 Dispatcher’s View

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I’m fortunate to never have had a personal moment where I’ve needed a firearm – though I’ve had a handful of situations that fortunately deescalated before I felt the need to draw my firearm. That being said, I live in many many of other peoples moments where they are glad to have a firearm or wishing they had one.

I’m a 9-1-1 and police dispatcher.

It is not uncommon for one of two scenarios to play out for me when a homeowner calls in what they suspect is someone breaking into their house (sometimes it is a false alarm going off, or a drunk banging on the door, or legitimate home invasions – but it always is real to these people when they are waiting for police.)
1.They have a gun and they usually listen to my advice to patiently maintain a defensive stance in bedroom or with kids in kids bedroom. Wait for police to arrive.
2.They do not have a gun and they spend the same time either hiding in complete fear, arming themselves with utterly ridiculous items (seriously I’ve had grown men tell me they are armed with a wiffle bat.), or spend the whole time worrying about if the police will get there in time.

In my professional opinion the majority of people in group 1 while being afraid enough to call police generally do ok knowing they have a viable means for defense. The people in group 2 generally wish at that moment they were a member of group 1, and owned a firearm.

*there is a very minority group of people who have chosen to arm themselves with other weaponry with varying levels of practicality and are more similar to group 1. Samurai swords, throwing knives, crossbows, etc… I respect but question their choice of defensive weapons over a firearm but they generally seem confident.

James Darkhollow’s answer to the question “What are some specific examples where being a gun owner got you out of a bad situation?” at Quora.com

Quote of the Day – Sultan Knish Edition

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Daniel Greenfield certainly has a way of cutting through the bullshit:

The progressive law professors, who are currently the only thing standing between the working class and the abyss, at least according to other progressive professors, not only haven’t worked for a living, but don’t know what working for a living entails and don’t even understand the concept. Other things that they don’t understand include personal responsibility, consequences, elementary arithmetic and human free will.

That last one never fails to throw them for a loop. No sooner do they pass some comprehensive plan intended to ameliorate a terrible problem then they discover that the working people have made a hash out of it. But they never despair because they are certain that there is no progressive solution that cannot be fixed by an even more comprehensive progressive solution.

The philosophy cannot be wrong! Do it again, only HARDER!

Choose Your Own Crime Stats

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Ran across this last night:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ooa98FHuaU0?rel=0]
A bit simplistic (it is, after all, a six-minute YouTube video), but it hits all the high points.  QotD:

So what I find astonishing about these numbers is that nobody’s talking about it.  We have a 50% reduction in violent crime over the last twenty years, yet no one is taking credit for it.  I find it pretty astonishing, I mean, it’s unbelievable.  Does it not play into their fear agenda?

Quote of the Day – Edward Snowden Edition

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In the end the Obama administration is not afraid of whistleblowers like me, Bradley Manning or Thomas Drake. We are stateless, imprisoned, or powerless. No, the Obama administration is afraid of you. It is afraid of an informed, angry public demanding the constitutional government it was promised — and it should be.

But given our media, the public won’t be informed, and being uniformed the public won’t get angry, so no worries!