Splendid Isolation

Tag: Evil Bastards

Because It’s Worked SO Well

Africa, Marxists, Third World

…in Zimbabwe.  But I’m sure it will work in Seffrica:

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has signed into law a bill allowing land seizures by the state without compensation.

The new law allows for expropriation without compensation only in circumstances where it is “just and equitable and in the public interest” to do so.

Of course.  In the meantime:

Bye bye, White farmers.  Bye bye, the Seffrican agricultural economy.  Hello, starvation.

But hey, it’s all about equitable redistribution, right?  As long as the intentions are in line with Party principles… never mind the consequences.

The 80:20 Beginning

Crime, Illegal immigrants, Trumpism

Many conservatives have queried the pace of illegal immigrant deportation recently, saying that the few hundred or so deportations made so far are not going to make a dent in the massive illegal immigrant population.

That’s true, but we need to be mindful of the “80:20” approximate rule of thumb:  that 20% of the population, in any given activity, account for 80% of that activity.  (We all know that in the supermarket business, for example, the “top” 20% of a store’s customers — in spending terms — account for about 78% of total sales;  less well-known is that those 20% also generate about 93% of a store’s total gross profit.  They are the people who keep the store’s doors open.)

And it’s pretty much the same with criminal behavior.  When NYfC mayor Rudi Giuliani first went after crime in that benighted city, his “Broken Windows” strategy –arresting petty criminals as fast as they could be arrested — was at first a source of derision.  That derision ceased when it became apparent that crime fell precipitously because those “petty” criminals accounted for a disproportionate percentage of total crime.

And here’s a pointer from the very first round of ICE arrests:

Fox News witnessed ICE Boston make eight arrests, including multiple MS-13, Interpol Red Notices, murder and rape suspects, and a volatile Haitian gang member with 18 convictions in recent years who told our cameras that he “ain’t going back to Haiti” and “f— Trump, Biden forever!”

Note:  just one fucking mope had been convicted eighteen times over a couple of years.  (Exactly why this asshole wasn’t still in jail for Crime #1, #2 or #3 is a topic for another time. #3StrikesRule)  If ever there was a candidate for the Pinochet Example, this would be one.

And I doubt that too many people in his home country would shed a tear at his disappearance either.

In any event, going after the most egregious offenders is not going to affect the total illegal immigrant number — but it sure as hell is going to improve public safety.

And by the way, the article makes it plain that in going after the worst first, there will be “collateral” arrests and deportations as well.  Of course it will;  criminals tend to band together (e.g. MS-13), so by all means toss their asses onto the one-way C-135 flights as well.

More to the point is that foreign criminals are soon going to become aware that the U.S. is not going to be the soft target that it used to be, and they may be deterred from coming here to set up, for example, burglary gangs.

Keep it going, guys.  Gooder and harder, to quote Insty.

Never Mind That Pesky Reality Stuff

Eco-Crap, Journalist Scum

..in which the Climate Doomsayers are once again embarrassed by actual events:

Last year reinforced previous conclusions that hurricanes are neither becoming more frequent, nor more intense, as measured by the number of the stronger Cat 3, 4 and 5 storms and by accumulated cyclone energy (ACE), an index used to measure the activity of a cyclone/hurricane season.

Meanwhile a new study has found that the destructive power of hurricanes has declined in the Indian Ocean since the mid-1990s. Elsewhere there has been little trend at all, the study found.

And there are charts and charts of recorded data to underline those findings.

Not that this would trouble the Doomsayers, of course:

The BBC continue to ignore the real world data as well as the verdict of hurricane experts. Instead they remorselessly push the lie that hurricanes are getting worse.

At the end of last year’s Atlantic hurricane season, weatherman Ben Rich proclaimed that the season had ‘broken records’, when it was barely above average. He went on to state that global warming had made every Atlantic hurricane last year stronger, a claim propagated by the climate lobbyist group, Climate Central, without a shred of data to back it up.

Yeah, well, as everyone knows:  if the facts do not support the theory, they must be ignored.

And never so much as when the Great Lie of Global Warming Climate Cooling Change© is being propagated.

Timeless Wisdom

Bad News, Deep Thoughts, Economics, History, Modernism

On this website, I have said time and time again that the reason I look so closely at British politics and society is that what happens Over There inevitably follows Over Here.

So I beseech you with all my heart to watch the discussion entitled The Fall Of England, between historian professor David Starkey and comedians (!) Konstantin Kisin  and Francis Foster. 

It is a very long discussion — over an hour and a half — because to be quite frank, it’s a topic that absolutely cannot be encapsulated in bullet points and bumper stickers.

And you should then understand the absolute magnitude of the task that faces us MAGA folks, because in some regards we are worse off than the Brits.  The only thing in our favor right now is the fact that we may have elected our equivalent of Argentina’s Milei — I hope — whereas Britain (England) has no such figure either present or on the horizon.  The Margaret Thatchers of England don’t come along that often to save the day, and to be honest, we don’t get them that often either.

Listen, and learn.

Hooray– Oh, Wait

Bureaucracy, Corporate Fuckery, Gummint, Health

Here’s some good news:

Drugs used to treat cancer, diabetes and other chronic conditions are among 15 picked for negotiations that could result in lower prices for patients, the Department of Health and Human Services confirmed Friday.

The 15 drugs selected by HHS are all covered under Medicare Part D and represent the second round of negotiations between drug companies and the department, with a goal of lowering costs for Medicare patients.

And the good news:

Popular diabetes drugs Ozempic, Rybelsus and Wegovy, which are also used for weight loss are among the 15 announced Friday.

Hooray!  Let me tell you, as one who has to take Ozempic for diabetes (at $60 per shot per week), this is welcome.

But wait!  There’s more!

Negotiations between the government agency and drug companies will take place this year with any agreed upon price changes taking effect in 2027.

…by which time I could be dead.  How nice.  Even better:

Drug manufacturers can choose whether or not to enter negotiations with the government for a collective price for Medicare patients.

Any bets as to who will decline the offer?

Snoops

Corporate Fuckery, Drive Time, Surveillance Society

Yeah, don’t fuck mess with Texas:

Texas has sued insurance provider Allstate, alleging that the firm and its data broker subsidiary used data from apps like GasBuddy, Routely, and Life360 to quietly track drivers and adjust or cancel their policies.

Allstate and Arity, a “mobility data and analytics” firm founded by Allstate in 2016, collected “trillions of miles worth of location data” from more than 45 million people, then used that data to adjust rates, according to Texas’ lawsuit. This violates Texas’ Data Privacy and Security Act, which requires “clear notice and informed consent” on how collected data can be used. A statement from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said the suit is the first-ever state action targeting comprehensive data privacy violations.

How so?

According to Texas’ complaint (PDF), the data collected included “a phone’s geolocation data, accelerometer data, magnetometer data, and gyroscopic data, which monitors details such as the phone’s altitude, longitude, latitude, bearing, GPS time, speed, and accuracy.”

With that data—plus, in some cases, data from connected vehicles—Allstate could see when, how far, and for how long someone was driving, along with “hard braking events” and “whether a consumer picked up or opened their phone while traveling at certain speeds.”

Texas’ lawsuit claims that Arity incentivized—through “generous bonus incentives”—apps like GasBuddy, a gas price-tracking app, and Life360, which is intended to keep tabs on family members’ location, to “increas[e] the size of their dataset.” Under their agreements with app makers, Arity had “varying levels of control over the privacy disclosures and consent language” shown to app users, according to the complaint.

And now for the doublespeak:

“Arity helps consumers get the most accurate auto insurance price after they consent in a simple and transparent way that fully complies with all laws and regulations.”

But they’re not the only villains in this piece:

The suit also cites Allstate as gathering direct car use data from Toyota, Lexus, Mazda, Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Jeep, Maserati, and Ram vehicles.

And if these assholes shared data with Allstate, you can bet your house that they did so with other insurance companies too.

If you’re not into letting corporations do this to you:

…you may want to avoid any dealings at all with these bastards.  It’s not like Stellantis (Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Jeep, Maserati) are reporting a boom in sales, after all.

When the Texans win their suit, at it should, I would argue against fines because those bastards will just pass the cost into their customers and claim a tax deduction at worst.

What I would do as TxAG is get a list of all Texans with Allstate policies, and demand that Allstate provide free insurance to them for a period of time commensurate with the start date of Arity’s snoopery.

I know, that would just cause Allstate to cease operations in Texas.  That’s fine, too — take away access to the second-largest pool of drivers in the U.S.