Tuesday, June 9, 2020

A Lot of Sanity in 15 Minutes

I'm a long time subscriber to Glenn Beck's internet streams, first signing up right around the time of the legendary “wardrobe malfunction” Super Bowl half time show.  Beck's right hand man for the life of the program has been Stu Burguiere and they talk about having worked together since the first days of the show in Tampa, Florida.  In my early days listening to them on the radio at work, I thought Stu was really the brains of the outfit and Glenn, who described himself as a rodeo clown, was essentially just that.  In the years since, I've come to regard them as a really good team that comes at problems from some very different directions.  Glenn is driven by his emotions while Stu is a much more logical thinker.  On his own shows and on the Blaze TV network he has done a segment called Stu-tistics, in which he takes a decidedly analytical approach to things.  The Glenn Beck show is another example of a situation where the sum is greater than the parts.

We've all seen some of the statistics thrown around about the riots and urban unrest going on.  We've seen Instagram remove the 2013 FBI crime stats because it violates their narrative standards.


Larger version at the above link (90 Miles From Tyranny).

Stu takes a look at some of these stats with a different take than I've heard anywhere else.  I thought the fact of the day Stu quotes is that 144 people a year die from constipation.  If the number we've seen elsewhere is correct that 10 black men were killed by the police last year, then they're over 14 times more likely to die of constipation than from being killed by a cop.  I've heard a lot of demands, but none for free Ex Lax. 


Over 60 people died from an unfortunate lawnmower incident but almost 700 people a year die falling out of bed.

Stu's point, and it's a good one, is that in a population of over 300 Million, something that affects 10 or 20 people is awfully hard do anything about.  All the data we can find that's from real academics and not race hustlers says the rate of these police killings has been declining for years.  If next year's statistics said it was 12 instead of 10, was that a horrible relapse or random variation?  What are the error bands? 

So the cities are going to de-fund police because some radical activists say so? 
  



15 comments:

  1. IMHO, the riots have as much to do with their purported reasons (racial oppression, et al) as the C-19 fiasco had to do with medicine. As in NONE.

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    1. I'll be generous. Maybe the first five minutes in the first demonstration was about George Floyd.

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  2. Next Monday's post is about Saul Alinski's Rules for Radicals. (Spoiler Alert)
    This is number 13:

    "Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it."

    The goal isn't to get rid of cops. The goal is cops that are dependent upon the Left. The Left is never going to give up police power - the Left wants to own and transform police power into something they own and control and can get you fired if you have the wrong opinion.

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    1. I’ll be looking forward to that one, John. You radical, you.

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  3. Please, de-fund police.

    They're the only thing keeping decent folks from killing the scum of the earth; without them, being a Useful Idiot for Progressives becomes a life-shortening career choice, at about 3200fps.

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  4. Can you cite that 10 black men per year info? Your number for the nation is extremely low compared to both the FBI and WaPo numbers.

    Also, unless 144 black men die of constipation per year, comparing that number to your 10 black men shot by police and deriving some sort of ratio is flat out junk.

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    1. Do you have data to refute it?
      And you seriously cite the WaPo as a data source?

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    2. I'll post sources after work this evening. And yes, wapo can be a source of actual data when they back up their claims with original sources.

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    3. Sorry busy day, multiple appointments. Very unusual.

      The actual number for the last year taken was NOT 10 black men killed by police, it was 9. Summary on Townhall.com.

      "According to The Washington Post database, there were nine cases in the United States last year in which unarmed African Americans were fatally shot by the police. Meanwhile, 48 police officers were murdered in 2019 in felonious assaults, according to FBI data."

      FBI data for 2019 is here

      I'm not going to indulge the second paragraph. In my mind, when I make jokes about Ex Lax, it ought to be obvious it's an attempt at levity. Bringing a touch of humor to a deadly serious situation.

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  5. Hey Bro....NICE BLOG, man. WTF is going on in this country??!!

    I'm back to my blog, finally. Come say "hey" if you get a chance.

    https://gunslingersjournal.blogspot.com/

    /gun

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  6. One thing I noticed that seems odd and points to an agenda.

    The message behind Covid-19 is: We are all in this together.

    The message behind police corruption and brutality is: Blacks are the only victims and EVERYBODY else must acknowledge and support this narrative. If you try to include your 'tribe' or group that is not allowed.

    Gee, it's almost like the powers that be are deliberately trying to force this problem with our policing as a racist issue.
    Because of this, I don't think mainstream America will sign on and NOTHING will get done.

    The cynic in me believes that this is deliberate.

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  7. I believe the stat is that 10 unarmed black men were killed by the police, but I don't have a source for it.

    What was done to George Floyd was wrong and those officers should be held accountable for it. They should also get their day in court, not by a mob.

    There appears to be a problem with the police in this country. No-Knock warrants, civil forfeiture, qualified immunity, and police brutality all need to be addressed. Burning the world down will not do that.

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    1. I would say the problem is police unions that defend bad cops and politicians who play along with the unions because they them to deliver the votes the politicians need to get reelected. For reference see teacher unions.

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