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Nuclear Unicorn

Nuclear Unicorn's Journal
Nuclear Unicorn's Journal
July 31, 2015

Catfished! Girls Scam ISIS on Social Media for Travel Money

Catfished! Girls Scam ISIS on Social Media for Travel Money

If you’re low on funds for that big vacation, you could always ask to borrow some, run a Kickstarter campaign … or swindle a couple of Islamic State recruiters. It may not be the safest way to make money, but that’s what three young women from Chechnya, a Russian republic in southeastern Europe, did.

The Chechen women are under investigation for fraud after they allegedly scammed IS members into giving them money on the pretense that they would use it to travel from their homeland to Syria. The ladies got away with some $3,300 before being discovered, according to RT News.

The IS members allegedly reached out to the young women on their social media accounts, asking them to join the militant cause. The women kept in touch with IS members and even sent fake pictures to string them along.

https://www.yahoo.com/travel/catfished-girls-scam-isis-on-social-media-for-125374397897.html


I'm not going to lie -- I hope they get away with it.
July 29, 2015

Since bragging about one's "Ignore" list is all the rage allow me to share mine --

RejistrayshunWreckwired

MagazineCap4U


I really haven't ever come in contact with them but they just strike me as so annoying I don't see why I should even bother being annoyed by them.
July 27, 2015

How come the only time the MIC finds favor on DU is when it involves gun control?

Mind you, this is not a slam against members who are military veterans. Lover Boy is a veteran and a proud one because he considers the people he served with to be the best he has ever known. Having met his friends, I agree.

However, the military industrial complex is normally criticized for consuming too much revenue, infringing on civil liberties and leading to military adventurism.

Yet, in discussions involving gun control suddenly we don't need individual gun ownership because the beneficent MIC satisfies our every security need.

And when it comes to having arms to fend off from a potentially rogue MIC, well, they're just so gosh darn golly powerful it would be futile to resist -- so just surrender your guns now get back in line, prole.

But then there are the "We're coming for your guns sort" who seem to relish the thought of a contest between citizens and the MIC with the MIC prevailing. Killing ISIS as it spreads to numerous nations? Bad. Killing Americans on American soil for daring to own guns? AWEZUM!

Am I missing something?

July 22, 2015

Report: Navy officer and Marine fired upon Chattanooga gunman

Report: Navy officer and Marine fired upon Chattanooga gunman

A Navy officer and a Marine fired their sidearms at the gunman who killed five service members last week in Chattanooga, according to the Navy Times.

It is unclear whether either hit the gunman, Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez, according to the paper.

...

The Washington Post first reported that the Marine may have been carrying a 9mm Glock and possibly returned fire on the gunman.

The report is raising questions over why the service members were armed, since it is against Defense Department policy for troops other than military police or law enforcement to carry weapons on federal property.

http://thehill.com/policy/defense/248771-report-navy-officer-and-marine-fired-upon-chattanooga-gunman


Had the service members survived they could well be looking at military punishments such as reduction in rank, dishonorable or less-than-honorable discharges, loss of rank and pay or even courts martial.

Would that be justified?

If not, why keep the policy?

It seems of little value to maintain a gun control policy if the policy is waived in instances of legitimate self-defense. We should focus on crimes actually committed, not pre-crime punishments.
July 22, 2015

Concealed Carry Permit Holders Across the United States

Concealed Carry Permit Holders Across the United States

John R. Lott Jr.
Crime Prevention Research Center

John E Whitley
Crime Prevention Research Center; Institute for Defense Analyses

Rebekah C. Riley
Crime Prevention Research Center

July 13, 2015

Abstract:

Since President Obama’s election the number of concealed handgun permits has soared, growing from 4.6 million in 2007 to over 12.8 million this year. Among the findings in our report:
-- The number of concealed handgun permits is increasing at an ever- increasing rate. Over the past year, 1.7 million additional new permits have been issued – a 15.4% increase in just one single year. This is the largest ever single-year increase in the number of concealed handgun permits.
-- 5.2% of the total adult population has a permit.
-- Five states now have more than 10% of their adult population with concealed handgun permits.
-- In ten states, a permit is no longer required to carry in all or virtually all of the state. This is a major reason why legal carrying handguns is growing so much faster than the number of permits.
-- Since 2007, permits for women has increased by 270% and for men by 156%.
-- Some evidence suggests that permit holding by minorities is increasing more than twice as fast as for whites.
-- Between 2007 and 2014, murder rates have fallen from 5.6 to 4.2 (preliminary estimates) per 100,000. This represents a 25% drop in the murder rate at the same time that the percentage of the adult population with permits soared by 156%. Overall violent crime also fell by 25 percent over that period of time.
-- States with the largest increase in permits have seen the largest relative drops in murder rates.
-- Concealed handgun permit holders are extremely law-abiding. In Florida and Texas, permit holders are convicted of misdemeanors or felonies at one-sixth the rate that police officers are convicted.

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2629704
July 22, 2015

Should NICS be available to private transactions?

I'm thinking NICS should be available for private sellers as an incentive to do so the seller would be provided with a reference number that is associated with the gun's serial number but not the buyer's personal information.

In the event the gun is later recovered in connection with a criminal act the previous owner could present the reference number as an immunity from civil or criminal complaints. That would incentivize private sellers to use the system.

Good idea? Bad idea? Needs amending?

July 22, 2015

The myth of the trigger happy vigilante

In 2012, there were 8,855 criminal gun homicides in the FBI's homicide database, but only 258 gun killings by private citizens that were deemed justifiable, which the FBI defines as "the killing of a felon, during the commission of a felony, by a private citizen."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/06/19/guns-in-america-for-every-criminal-killed-in-self-defense-34-innocent-people-die/


Okay. So, what are some underlying facts we should know about this stat?

* There are over 300 million guns in the US.

* Those 300+ million guns are owned by roughly 90 million households.

* 1% of the US population is responsible for approximately 60% of the crime

* Approximately 60% of homicides are perpetrated by someone with a prior criminal record

* Depending on the source there are 70,000 DGUs annually (though some studies assert hundreds of thousands of DGUs annually)


What's the takeaway? Americans are heavily armed but they aren't itching for a fight. Of the 70,000 who do find themselves in a situation where they are legally entitled to defend themselves only 258 actually killed their attacker.

Criminals, however, are on a trajectory to increasingly violent behavior and cannot be trusted to consider the consequences of their actions.
July 20, 2015

The mass killing the Controllers never told us about

Every time there is a tragedy the Controllers consider it their personal, moral duty to share it with us. We are to be made to feel the shame and regret that attends the loss of life from such wholly preventable tragedies as only they claim to feel it. To put forth any comment short of penitent self-flagellation over the human toll is to confess a heartlessness -- nay, soullessness -- that disqualifies the unrepentant from all future discourse.

Today, in the city of Denver, a trial moves into the penalty phase for a capital murder case in which the convicted killed 5 people. Five is more than the 4 killed in Chattanooga last week and better than half the number killed in Charleston (the perpetrator ran out of victims on the premises). Obviously we were informed of these tragedies immediately and are to be reminded for as long as they can remember. Yet, I cannot recall any mention of this crime from the Controller side that insists, in the name of human decency, we grant our full attention to every mass murder perpetrated in the US.

Why were we not informed?

July 18, 2015

Fake Ammo Causes Real Panic on MBTA Bus in Brighton



Fake Ammo Causes Real Panic on MBTA Bus in Brighton

At about 4:20 PM on Friday July 10, 2015, officers assigned to District D-14 (Brighton) responded to a call for a person with a gun on an MBTA bus in the area of Cambridge and Harvard Streets. Officers learned that the driver had pulled the bus over as passengers began calling 911 when a male suspect boarded the bus with what appeared to be military grade ammunition strapped around his waist. The driver stated that the passengers were in a panic, fearing that the suspect was about to pull out a weapon. The suspect, later identified as Kevin Young, 26, of Watertown, exited the bus and was stopped by police on Penniman Road at which time it was discovered that the ammunition was fake. Officers recovered 69 replica bullets in all. The suspect was wearing what was described as spiked fighting gloves and spiked leather bracelets.

The suspect was placed in custody and will appear in Brighton District Court on charges of Unlawful Possession of Ammunition, Unlawfully Carried Dangerous Weapon and Disorderly Conduct.

http://bpdnews.com/news/2015/7/11/fake-ammo-causes-real-panic-on-mbta-bus-in-brighton


Gun control hysteria has reached its apex. The guy is a heavy metal rocker, he had no ammunition -- not that it should be a crime to do so -- nothing dangerous or a weapon yet he's looking at jail time.

The only thing he's guilty of is being a fashion cliché.

Some people seriously need to learn to control themselves before they reach out to control others.
July 17, 2015

Hedging bets in 2016: Some donors give to Bush and Clinton

Hedging bets in 2016: Some donors give to Bush and Clinton

WASHINGTON — John Catsimatidis, a Manhattan grocery chain owner, gave as much money as allowed to Hillary Rodham Clinton’s Democratic primary campaign. Two months later, he gave the same amount, $2,700, to Jeb Bush, her would-be Republican challenger.

“I’ve been friends with both of their families for many, many years,” he said. “They both love America, and I’d be happy if either of them won.”

The billionaire is one of at least 60 donors hedging their bets heading into 2016 by giving to presidential campaigns of both parties, an Associated Press review of federal campaign finance records found. While those contributions totaled only about $300,000, they are an odd wrinkle of presidential politics in a race expected to see 22 candidates vying for billions of dollars in contributions.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/hedging-bets-in-2016-donors-give-money-to-bush-and-clinton/2015/07/16/6d152bca-2bfc-11e5-960f-22c4ba982ed4_story.html

America's politicians are so awesome some people buy two.

I'm nauseated beyond polite description.

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