Da Techguy's (no longer backup) Blog

The irony of course is that the business owners, seeing other completely wiped out and likely unable to get insurance might just decide that paying these guys for protection from everyone (except them of course) is worth it and if a few thugs end up dead instead of arrested, well they’ll figure it’s a powerful incentive not to do that anymore.

Datechguyblog: Society Without Police: Meet the New Bosses, not quite the same as the old ones

For almost two years I’ve been saying that the explosion of crime in the cities is a business opportunity for the Mafia and various other ethnic criminal organizations who could choose to play Robin Hood and protect the people of their neighborhoods and areas from those that prey on them (other than themselves of course) that the police won’t touch.

In fact it was crime and punishment and the idea of defunding police that was the primary driver of the nomination and election of the new NYC mayor Eric Adams.

But unfortunately for New Yorkers it really doesn’t matter who you elect as mayor if your DA decides he’s not going to play along:

Manhattan’s new DA has ordered his prosecutors to stop seeking prison sentences for hordes of criminals and to downgrade felony charges in cases including armed robberies and drug dealing, according to a set of progressive policies made public Tuesday.

In his first memo to staff on Monday, Alvin Bragg said his office “will not seek a carceral sentence” except with homicides and a handful of other cases, including domestic violence felonies, some sex crimes and public corruption.

How bad is it? This bad:

Armed robbers who use guns or other deadly weapons to stick up stores and other businesses will be prosecuted only for petty larceny, a misdemeanor, provided no victims were seriously injured and there’s no “genuine risk of physical harm” to anyone. Armed robbery, a class B felony, would typically be punishable by a maximum of 25 years in prison, while petty larceny subjects offenders to up to 364 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.

and remember that year and $1000 fine is the MAX penalty.

Well I’m sure Eric Adams isn’t going to let this slide…

“I have not communicated with the DA. I have not looked over and analyzed exactly what he’s calling for,” he said.

But Adams, a former NYPD captain who was elected on a law-and-order platform, added: “I have a lot of respect for DA Bragg, a former prosecutor. He has a real vision.”

Jazz Shaw Absolutely nails it:

The lack of cash bail for virtually all offenders means that the jails will be keeping their revolving doors in place and serial robbers will continue to roam the streets at will. The same goes for drug dealers and black-market resellers.

If Bragg is left in charge and is allowed to have his way, a great deal of Adams’ promised reforms will suddenly be entirely gutted. He can refund and rebuild the NYPD (as he has promised to do), restoring the major crimes units and all the rest. And the police can track down and arrest as many gang bangers as they are able to catch. But if Bragg just simply flushes almost all of them right back out onto the streets, what difference will any of it make?

In the End NYC voters put these fools in charge and are going to get what they deserve but if I was a Mafia boss in the city I’d start my Operation Robin Hood almost at once.

By Christopher Harper

Going green may end up making many of us see red, particularly since the Brandon administration plans to force automakers to make 50% of all automobiles electric by 2030.

All you have to do is look at the issue with one important mineral in developing a “green” car: lithium.

First, the cars will be significantly more expensive. The cost of lithium has increased geometrically as governments push for so-called “green” technology. Lithium, a mineral that is key for electric car batteries, has skyrocketed more than 250% over the last 12 months, hitting its highest level ever, according to an industry index from Benchmark Mineral Intelligence

The average cost of an electric-vehicle battery ran $157 per kilowatt hour, a measure of energy capacity, in 2021, the Department of Energy said in October. That means a typical EV battery is between $6,000 and $7,000, a Bloomberg analysis showed.

Battery costs would need to come down to $100 per kilowatt hour for overall EV prices to compete with traditional internal combustion engine cars, according to Bloomberg. The price of lithium will play a large role in achieving that goal.

Second, the United States has limited lithium resources, while China and Russia have vast amounts of the mineral. China dominates the battery processing market, and it is responsible for about 80% of global battery chemical refining capacity.

Depending on China and Russia for such minerals is a bad option in anyone’s book. Just think about how the U.S. dependence on foreign oil dominated American economic and foreign policy for decades.

Third, a big surprise: environmentalists, who say they want “green” energy, don’t want the mining industry to provide it from the United States.

Lithium Americas proposed to mine lithium on a dormant volcano in Nevada. However, the firm has yet to mine any lithium due to pushback from environmentalists and ongoing lawsuits related to allegations that the federal government approved the company’s mining permit too quickly.

But there’s more. Lithium isn’t technically what’s known as a “rare-earth mineral” because there’s supposedly enough to go around. We’ll see once the developed countries force most people to buy an electric vehicle.

China mines over 70% of the world’s rare earths and is responsible for 90% of the complex process of turning them into magnets used in electric vehicles and other “green” technologies, such as windmills.

Not surprisingly, environmentalists are also holding up permissions to mine rare earths in the United States.

Isn’t it time to realize that the movement toward “green” energy needs to pause to determine what economic and political costs are associated with such a radical change in the energy needs of the United States?

Do we really want to be dependent on China for our energy?

The answers seem pretty obvious to me.

there was an amazing story that came out yesterday concerning the death rate in the US:

Davison said the increase in deaths represents “huge, huge numbers,” and that’s it’s not elderly people who are dying, but “primarily working-age people 18 to 64” who are the employees of companies that have group life insurance plans through OneAmerica.

“And what we saw just in third quarter, we’re seeing it continue into fourth quarter, is that death rates are up 40% over what they were pre-pandemic,” he said.

“Just to give you an idea of how bad that is, a three-sigma or a one-in-200-year catastrophe would be 10% increase over pre-pandemic,” he said. “So 40% is just unheard of.””

Gee what might this large group of working people across the country have in common?

I predict that before election day 2022 and certainly during the 2024 election the media will pivot to giving credit to Donald Trump for the vaccines (we’ve already seen that begin from the White House) but I also predict that at the time said pivot takes place, the credit will have turned to blame.

A while back I wrote a piece about what what both Tom Brady and Bill Belichick had to do in order to be considered successful in their new situations: Brady in Tampa Bay and Belichick in New England.

It goes without saying that Brady winning a superbowl means that he is a success and everything else is gravy.

But now with one game to go in the Season the New England Patriots are back in the playoffs and more importantly with a 10-6 record after week 17 would be in the playoffs even if another playoff team was not added.

Additionally they can still win their division if they win and the Bills lose or tie and while it’s unlikely that the Chief and Titans also somehow implode they could still actually end up as the top seed and get a 1st round bye

This is the first time that Bill has made the playoffs with a starting QB not named Tom Brady and with one game left to the season puts his record as a head coach in games when Brady has not started at 35-40 with the potential to get to .500 in non Brady games sometime next season.

Given these facts we have to conclude that Bill Belichick has not only had a successful season (no matter what happens in the playoffs as there are no pushovers in this field) and if Zac Taylor’s Bengals were not tearing up the league the top contender for coach of the year.

I would not be surprised if they are bounced in the 1st round by Buffalo, or the Chiefs, or the Bengals or the Titans or, if they win the division the Colts. But neither would I be surprised if they won a playoff game against any of these teams.

I’m sure the NFL is praying for a Brady vs Belicheck superbowl but while it’s unwise to ever bet against Brady I think it’s unlikely that Bill and Mac Jones can get past that really tough field to set up that matchup.

But no matter how you slice it we must conclude that Bill, like Tom have proved to anyone that doubts it, that both of them deserve all the credit in the world for the six superbowls that they were able to win together and the nine that they appeared in .