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#21 - CLOCK BOMB, BOGUS SCIENCE, OFFICER DOWN


CLOCK BOMB
So the school in Texas thought that the Muslim kid had built a bomb? Did they isolate the device? Did they call the bomb squad? Did they evacuate the school? No. They stayed in the same room with the device while they waited for the cops. When the cops came, they didn't call the bomb squad. They transported the device in their car with the kid, unprotected, and they kept it in the station house unprotected. 
The school administration and the cops either knew that the device wasn't a bomb or, if they did think that it was a bomb, they are too stupid to have the responsibility to protect children.

BOGUS SCIENCE
Check out any discussion of global warming and the deniers are bound to make the case that there has been absolutely no warming for the past 18 years. Last year, they pointed out that there had been no warming for 17 years. Next year, they'll say that there has been no significant warming for 19 years. Get the picture? The deniers point to a single, outlying year.

Try this on for size. Ten years ago, your boss gives you a one-time, considerable bonus. Each year for the next nine years, you get a nice salary increase, but no bonus. Today, your salary is equal to the total compensation that you received ten years ago. Has your salary been increasing? Of course it has. Is global warming real? Of course it is.

OFFICER DOWN
The Officer Down Memorial Page (www.odmp.org) makes for interesting reading. The site chronicles the names of police officers who have died in the line of duty and the circumstances of their deaths. The deaths are listed by date and categorized by type - from gunfire to heart attack, from motorcycle accident to 9/11 related illness. 

As should be, the list also includes K9s. It is particularly disheartening to read that a major cause of K9 deaths is from heat exhaustion. One can only hope that's not from being left in enclosed vehicles for extended periods of time in extreme heat.

Let me be very clear. Being a cop is a tremendously difficult, dangerous job. Putting your life on the line daily on behalf of your fellow citizens is an admirable profession. What I'm about to point out is in no way meant to diminish the nobility of that calling.

In 2014, 47 officers - and that includes ATF agents and others, by the way - were killed by gunfire. Not accidental shootings. Accidents are listed separately. So far this year, 24 have been killed by gunfire. Extrapolating through the end of the year, that's 32 deaths, a decrease of about 30% against last year. In 2010, 68 were killed by gunfire. 47 again in 2009. 41 in 2008. 67 in 2007. 51 in 2006.

My point? The 24 hour news cycle has convinced us that there is a war on police when police deaths by gunfire are actually as low as they have been in many years. Why does the media manipulate us like this? Why do we allow the media to manipulate us like this?
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