Algernon Moncrieff
Algernon Moncrieff's Journal10 Pro-Gun Myths, Shot Down
10 Pro-Gun Myths, Shot DownFact-check: Mass shootings stopped by armed civilians in the past 33 years: 0
Chances that a shooting in a hospital emergency department involves guns taken from guards: 1 in 5
Myth #5: Keeping a gun at home makes you safer.
Fact-check: Owning a gun has been linked to higher risks of homicide, suicide, and accidental death by gun.
For every time a gun is used in self-defense in the home, there are 7 assaults or murders, 11 suicide attempts, and 4 accidents involving guns in or around a home.
43 percent of homes with guns and kids have at least one unlocked firearm.
In one experiment, one third of 8-to-12-year-old boys who found a handgun pulled the trigger.
This Is What Its Like Arguing with Gun Nuts on the Internet
This Is What Its Like Arguing with Gun Nuts on the InternetQuestion: Why don't we have national property tax?
The "fair taxers" keep hyping that national sales tax is more equitable, even though it places the tax burden far more proportionally on lower income families. Wouldn't it be more "fair" to place the tax burden on property owners? Why do we have a defense budget? - to defend your property. Why do we have a civil court system? To handle disputes regarding your property. Why do we need roads? To get stuff to and from your property? Why have police? To protect your property.
I don't claim to have thought about this extensively. I'm just wondering what other thoughts are out there on the subject.
And now, a story about the current political climate dividing a family
Parents Of Republican Senate Hopeful Max Out Donations To Democratic OpponentJust months after Republican Kevin Nicholson announced his bid to run against incumbent Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) in 2018, Nicholsons own parents donated the legal maximum to Baldwins primary campaign, CNN reports.
Nicholsons parents, Donna and Michael, reportedly donated $2,700 to Baldwin in December 2017. Nicholson had announced in July that he was seeking the Republican nomination for the Senate seat.
Thanksgiving should be fun at the Nicholson house!
So you've seen the portraits - how do you feel about them?
The fight for the right to be a Muslim in America
From The Guardian...
Long after Chaudry retired from both AT&T and electoral politics, he continued to keep a busy schedule of volunteer activities, most focused on building religious tolerance. He ran a small nonprofit organisation called the Center for Understanding Islam, and taught classes at local universities. Chaudry is bantam-sized, with a silvery moustache and a starchy manner, and despite his age now 75 he possesses a bottomless reservoir of diligent energy. He would travel the state, speaking to audiences young and old, always dressing the part of a politician, with a little American flag badge in his lapel. If there was prejudice around him in his adopted hometown, Chaudry later said that it was not obvious, or visible, or overt.
That changed in 2011, when he found a new cause: building a mosque in Basking Ridge. For years, Chaudry and other local Muslims had been using a community centre for a makeshift Friday service. But Chaudry decided that the Islamic Society of Basking Ridge needed a permanent place to pray, and he located what he believed to be a suitable site: a four-acre lot occupied by a rundown Dutch Colonial house. Soon after purchasing it, Chaudry held an open house to greet the neighbours. There was not too much tension, he said. It was kind of jovial. He put the letters ISBR on the mailbox in front of the house, to announce the Islamic Societys arrival.
Then someone smashed the mailbox. I was, of course, very surprised, Chaudry said. Under New Jerseys planning laws, the Islamic Society had to secure the approval of the municipal government to build the mosque, and from his experience as a public official, Chaudry knew that the town, which prided itself on its quaint homes and a history dating back to colonial times, was resistant to new development of any kind. But this was a house of worship, and he was someone well-known to the community. Its not that I was expecting any favours, Chaudry said. I expected them to be fair. What shocked him, though, was the hatred.
If the Dow dropped 38 points in a day, would you say that was bad?
If it were tomorrow, probably not. But if it was October 28, 1929, and you were in the market, it would be really bad -- especially of you had bought on margin. That's because that 38.3 point drop represented a little bit less than 13% of the overall value of the market.
You might want to check out this List of largest daily changes in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
Black Friday wasn't even the worst drop of all. One fine day in 1987, in the early days of computerized trading, the DJIA dropped 508 points in one day, or 22% of the market's overall value.
This is not to say that this is a good or bad time to be invested in stocks. It's just some perspective. 1000 + point drops seem scary until you remember that last week, the market was setting records at around 26,000.
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