Apparently Cantor's defeat not due to the Tea Party: Heavy Democrat voting in Republican Primary

From The Hill newspaper:

"We had probably 15,000 card-carrying Democrats come into this primary. There's just no way to anticipate something like that," Allen tells The Hill. . . ."My guess is now looking at the precinct-by-precinct analysis, probably half this electorate wasn't Republican," he said. "There's not a pollster in this country who polls voters from the other party in primary."
His analysis mirrors McLaughlin's.
"Where the voter surge was, it was Democrats who united against Cantor, who don't like him. And the mistake for our campaign above all the others, we should have polled Democratic primary voters and see if they were going to come into the Republican primary," McLaughlin said. "That's really the difference here. The reason the poll was wrong is no one anticipated Democrats were going to come in and play and they did, and that was the surge in turnout. That's why the poll was wrong, we were polling off the Republican sample." . . .

My newest piece in the Philadelphia Inquirer: Killers seek gun-free zones for attacks

The newest piece in the Philadelphia Inquirer:

The shootings last week at Seattle Pacific University and on Tuesday at a high school near Portland, Ore., both occurred at places that banned guns — gun-free zones. The shooting last Wednesday in Canada also took place where citizens were not allowed to carry guns. 

Time after time these killers pick places where civilian guns are banned. Around the world, virtually all the attacks where at least four people have been shot to death occurred where civilians were not able to use guns to defend themselves. 

Gun-control advocates claim that would-be killers don’t care about whether victims can defend themselves with a gun. After all, they reason, these killers are irrational and want to die anyway. 

Elliot Rodger, who shot to death three people in Santa Barbara a couple of weeks ago, explained why he picked his target. His 141-page “Manifesto” makes it clear that he feared someone with a gun would stop him before he was able to kill enough people. He wrote: 

“Another option was Deltopia, a day in which many young people pour in from all over the state to have a spring break party on Del Playa Street. I figured this would be the perfect day to attack Isla Vista, but after watching Youtube videos of previous Deltopia parties, I saw that there were way too many cops walking around on such an event. It would be impossible to kill enough of my enemies before being dispatched by those damnable cops.” 

The Canadian mass shooter, Justin Bourque, also understood the importance of gun-free zones. On his Facebook page, Bourque posted comics poking fun at how gun-free zones make these crimes possible. One depicted a completely defenseless victim pleading with a man pointing a gun at him: “But wait ... there’s a GUN BAN in this city ... you can’t do this, we passed a law!” The gunman is shown thinking to himself: “Great, another one of these fruit loops.” 

Bourque knew that no civilians would be able to legally carry a gun to stop him (since the 1970s, Canada has banned permitted concealed handguns). 

The contrast on Sunday in Las Vegas couldn’t have been starker. Two killers shot two police officers to death. After they stole the officers’ guns and ammo, they proceeded to a nearby crowded Walmart. However, one customer, a concealed-carry permit holder, confronted the attackers and delayed them, giving other customers a chance to escape. Although the permit holder was killed, shortly after that the killers committed suicide.
All too frequently, mass killers can choose between many similar movie theaters or malls to attack. But they pick the one where victims can’t defend themselves. 

The killer at the Aurora, Colo., movie theater shooting in July 2012 lived within a 20-minute drive of seven movie theaters that were showing the premier of the Batman movie. He could have simply chosen the theater that was closest to his apartment or the one with the largest auditoriums in the state. Instead, he picked the single theater where guns were banned and the victims would be defenseless. 

And take Dylan Klebold, one of the two Columbine killers. He had been closely following and strongly opposed Colorado legislation that would have let citizens carry a concealed handgun. In fact, the Columbine attack occurred on the very day the bill was scheduled for final passage. Presumably, Klebold feared being stopped during his attack by someone with a weapon. 

Unfortunately, gun-control advocates refuse to admit how effective concealed carry can be in defending against mass slaughter. This past Saturday, Shannon Watts, the president of Michael Bloomberg’s anti-gun group Moms Demand Action, was asked on CNN if there was even one time “where a bad guy with a gun has been stopped in any other way or by a person other than a law enforcement officer with a gun or by killing himself?” Watts replied: “This has never happened.” 

She is simply wrong. 

Attacks have been stopped at schools before police arrived. That includes shootings at Pearl, Miss., and Edinboro, Pa., and colleges like the Appalachian Law School in Virginia. It has happened in busy downtowns such as Memphis; in churches such as the New Life Church in Colorado Springs; in malls in Portland, Ore., and Salt Lake City; and outside an apartment building in Oklahoma. 

Deterrence matters. Letting people defend themselves prevents attacks, and it also limits the harm should the attack occur. It might be one of the reasons that Michael Bloomberg and Shannon Watts both have armed bodyguards. 

*John Lott is the president of the Crime Prevention Research Center and the author of “More Guns, Less Crime.”

"Gutfeld: 74 school shootings since Sandy Hook? Not so fast"

Greg sets the record straight on Bloomberg's false claims about 74 school shootings since Columbine (see here).

Fox News is far more trusted than other TV news: The Public Religion Research Institute and The Brookings Institution poll

Via Erik Wemple's blog at the Washington Post with the title "Ouch: MSNBC barely registers in media study":

The failure of any outlet to reap a wider Democratic/liberal audience, suggests the report, could stem from ideological diversity within the Democratic Party (46% liberal, 31% moderate and 20% conservative). . . .

An alternative explanation is that there is relatively little difference between Broadcast News, CNN, and Public Television.  Possibly MSNBC's and the Daily Show with Jon Stewart's performances is so small because there are relatively few hard leftists.

Washington Post: "ABC News’s Diane Sawyer destroys Hillary Rodham Clinton on Benghazi"

ABC US News | ABC Celebrity News

Erik Wemple at the Washington Post has this analysis of Clinton's interview last night on ABC News:

A standard defense for Hillary Rodham Clinton when facing questions about Benghazi, Libya, has been to cite her commissioning of a report from the State Department’s Accountability Review Board (ARB), which took a deep look at the attacks that claimed the lives of four U.S. personnel on Sept. 11, 2012. In testimony before Congress in January 2013, Clinton said: “I hurried to appoint the Accountability Review Board led by Ambassador Pickering and Admiral Mullen so we could more fully understand from objective, independent examination, what went wrong and how to fix it. I have accepted every one of their recommendations.” 

In an interview with Clinton that aired last night on ABC News, anchor Diane Sawyer threw the ARB right back in the face of the former secretary of state. The two tangled over the preparedness of the U.S. diplomatic installation in Benghazi for a terrorist attack. In defending her work on this front, Clinton stressed that she had delegated the particulars of security to the experts in the field. “I’m not equipped to sit and look at blueprints to determine where the blast walls need to be, where the reinforcements need to be. That’s why we hire people who have that expertise,” said Clinton . . . 

Sensing an opening, Sawyer cited the document that Clinton herself has so often cited: “This is the ARB: the mission was far short of standards; weak perimeter; incomplete fence; video surveillance needed repair. They said it’s a systemic failure.”
Clinton replied, “Well, it was with respect to that compound.” . . .  

Sawyer’s slow and steady line of questioning on Benghazi security prompted Clinton to utter this self-contradictory and sure-to-be-repeated statement: “I take responsibility, but I was not making security decisions.”

St. Louis: Husband and wife use guns to stop two armed men from entering their home

From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

A husband and wife armed with guns were able to stave off an apparent home invasion Monday night, police said.
One man was killed and a second taken to a hospital in the incident, which happened about 11 p.m. . . .
According to police, a 17-year-old girl who lived at the home was outside retrieving something from her car when she was approached by two armed men who demanded she return to her residence.
The teen's father, 34, saw the men walking with his daughter, got his firearm and fired several shots at them, striking both of the men as they entered his home. The teen's mother, 34, also retrieved a gun and fired once at the men, but did not hit them, police said.
One of the men, Terrell Johnson, 31 . . . collapsed on the living room floor and was pronounced deceased at the scene.
The second man . . . was treated for gunshot wounds to the chest and both thighs. . . .

Thanks to Tony Troglio for the link.

More Obama lawlessness: using executive action to unilaterally rewrite student loan legislation

Who needs congress when the president can just rewrite the laws himself?  From the Boston Globe:

. . . The dual strategy — taking executive action while urging Congress to finish the job — has become Obama’s signature playbook this year. Stymied by gridlock as Congress marches toward the midterm elections, he has repeatedly sought ways to go around Congress with modest steps.
Under an income-based repayment plan created by Congress, the maximum monthly payment is already set to drop from 15 percent of income to 10 percent in July 2014. But that plan only affects new borrowers. Obama’s ‘‘Pay as You Earn’’ plan uses another part of existing law to offer similar benefits to people who already borrowed to finance their education.
In previous Obama budgets, the White House has predicted that making the plan retroactive would cost the federal government billions of dollars in the early years. Asked about the costs Monday, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said the administration won’t know how much it will cost until they go through the rule-making process to put the expansion in place.
‘‘We actually don’t know the costs yet,’’ Duncan said. ‘‘We'll figure that out on the back end.’’
Republican leaders in Congress have faulted Obama’s steps on loan repayments for failing to address the root cause: college costs that are too high. . . .

Sen. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) upset about Bergdahl dad's tweet: “I am still working to free all Guantanamo prisoners. God will repay the death of every Afghan child.”

Machin might be wanting to separate himself from Obama because he is toxic in West Virginia, but this is still strong language.  Whether it means anything in practice is debatable.  From The Hill newspaper:

Did Bergdahl or his father attempt to make inappropriate contact with the Taliban?Some lawmakers are demanding answers about what efforts Bergdahl or his father, Robert, made to contact the Taliban.
Bergdahl’s team leader told CNN that radio and cellphone intercepts revealed chatter about an American looking to speak to the Taliban.
Time magazine reported that Robert Bergdahl was in contact with the Taliban and commissioned an Afghan tailor to make the traditional outfit his son wore when he was handed over to American special forces.
Days before Bergdahl was released, his father posted a note on Twitter addressed to a Taliban spokesman claiming, “I am still working to free all Guantanamo prisoners. God will repay the death of every Afghan child.”
The tweet was later deleted.
“We’re dealing with a soldier that should be looked in[to] more extensively,” said Sen. Joe Manchin (W.Va.), a Democrat on the Armed Services Committee. “There’s a lot to be answered here and there’s a lot of peculiar behavior that has gone on between the family, this soldier and his actions.”
Manchin cited Robert Bergdahl’s tweet.
“When his father puts out a statement on Twitter four days before he was released, it was very disturbing,” he said. . . .

WH withholds information on IRS turning over a database of tax-exempt organizations to the FBI

Obama administration claims that release of confidential IRS tax information that was turned over to FBI wasn't political, but why won't the Obama administration unwilling to tell congress about what information released?  From Politico:

Republicans charged the IRS on Monday with potentially violating federal tax privacy laws by turning over a database of tax-exempt organizations to the FBI, the latest salvo in their ongoing probe of the IRS’s scrutiny of tea party groups. 

The IRS acknowledged that some non-public taxpayer information was shared in the documents but said a tiny fraction of the data at issue was “inadvertently” shared. 

During the course of its probe into the IRS tea party targeting scandal, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee said it learned the tax agency sent 1.1 million pages of tax return data about 501(c)(4) organizations to the FBI just before the 2010 midterms, Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) wrote in a letter to IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. . . . 

the IRS said, the data on such disks “can sometimes inadvertently include material that should have been redacted.” 

Oversight contends that the IRS — as well as Lerner — potentially broke the law by releasing taxpayer data, protected under parts of the tax code known as 6103, the lawmakers told Koskinen. . . .

Public schools ban sunscreen, willing to let students get serious sunburn rather than risk "allergic reactions," worried kids will eat it

Are these public school teachers parents?  Are they really more worried about allergic reactions to sunscreen than they are to kids getting serious sunburn?  From Fox News:

A Texas mom is angry over a school ban on sunscreen that she says led to her daughter getting a severe sunburn during a field trip.
The North East Independent School District has the restriction because it considers sunscreen toxic, and fears kids will eat it, parent Christy Riggs, of San Antonio, told Fox News.
“The reality is: Children don’t eat sunscreen and they’re not going to,” Riggs said.
School district spokeswoman Aubrey Chancellor told ABC News that allergic reactions to sunscreen are one of the numerous reasons the district does not allow sunblock in its 72 schools. . . . .

Concealed Carry Permit Holder may have stopped North Las Vegas shooting that left three people dead

UPDATE: The Las Vegas Review Journal has this:

After the shooting, the couple headed toward a nearby Wal-Mart, where Jerad Miller was confronted by Joseph Robert Wilcox, 31, of Las Vegas. Wilcox was legally carrying a concealed pistol. Wilcox was unaware that Amanda Miller, who was pushing a shopping cart, was involved in the incident and “lying in wait,” the official said.

She slipped behind Wilcox and shot him at close range.
“He had no idea the wife was walking behind him,” the police official said of the murdered man. “This guy (Wilcox) was not some idiot with a gun. To me, he was a hero. He was trying to stop an active shooter.”
It wasn’t immediately clear if Wilcox fired a shot, or if he hit Jerad Miller before he died. . . .

Even though Wilcox failed to shot these killers, he appears to have delayed them and given others a chance to escape.

ORIGINAL POST: It appears as if two people killed two police officers and then a concealed carry permit holder who tried to stop the two killers as they went to a nearby Walmart.  Immediately after the exchange of fire with the permit holder the killers committed suicide.  Waiting for more information.

From the UK Daily Mail:

The two suspects shot then shot dead a a civilian who is believed to have been carrying a concealed firearm and had opened fire on them as they ran into the Walmart, Deputy Sheriff Kevin McMahill said during an afternoon press conference. . . .

From the Australian Yahoo News:

The attackers then headed to a nearby Walmart store, exchanging gunfire with and ultimately killing a civilian who was carrying a concealed weapon. . . . 

The Las Vegas Review Journal reports:

One unconfirmed report is that the two exchanged gunfire with a citizen who was carrying a concealed weapon, and that one of the shooters was injured. . . .

Obama story on Bergdahl unraveling: questions on Obama's claims about Bergdahl's health and threats to his life

CNN: Taliban Told Special Ops Bergdahl Doesn't Have Any Serious Health Issues, Medical Officials in Germany confirm that his condition is certainly not one of life or death, questions raised about Obama administration's initial explanation for not telling Congress about trade with Taliban.


Of course, the Obama administration seems to realize that their initial story isn't working out too well so now they are claiming that they had to make the deal quickly because "the Taliban threatened to kill Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl if the pending deal to free him was made public."  From Fox News:

. . . But one senior source told Fox News that this claim is "ridiculous," since "notifying Congress does not make it public."  A member of the Senate Intelligence Committee added: "This is BS." Congressional sources argue that leaders of the congressional intelligence committees -- who were kept in the dark here -- were able to keep the secret when they were told "months in advance" about plans to go after Usama bin Laden. Sources tell Fox News such lawmakers are "regularly trusted with sensitive information that is not made public." Fox News is also told that these notifications can be classified -- further ensuring such information would remain private. Asked about the notion that a threat on Bergdahl's life was the reason for not notifying Congress, one House Republican aide said, "That's a flimsy, and frankly offensive, argument." . . . .

NBC has a devastating news story about the Obama administration claims available here.

Some other information
Bergdahl Squad Leader: After He Deserted, the Accuracy of IED Attacks Against Us Improved

Bergdahl Squad Leader: If 'Bergdahl Hadn't Deserted Us,' Six Americans Might Still Be Alive


Hillary Clinton defends the trade.  Even Diane Sawyer seems surprised when Hillary says it "doesn't matter" how Bergdahl ended up in the situation that he did

Finally, a real solution to hangovers

From the New York Post:

. . . It could be in a drug called ampelopsin, aka dihydromyricetin, found in oriental raisin trees. It’s a traditional Chinese cure that may actually work, and is now being sold over the counter as BluCetin.
UCLA researcher Richard Olsen, who has been studying the effects of low to moderate drinking, thinks the drug may bind to an ethanol receptor called delta-GABA-R — and deflect booze.
Then again, do we really want a society in which heavy drinking occurred without automatic retribution? College students might binge-drink themselves into a collective stupor. Drunk driving could see an uptick. And, alarming as it is to think about, “The Hangover, Part IV” could be even more boring than III. . . .

"Mississippi sails through voter ID test"

It is hard to think of a more flawless experience with any voting experience.  From the Clarion-Ledger:

Mississippi’s new voter ID law caused few problems in the first election since its controversial passage, with only one report of a voter turned away for lack of identification.

A Pike County poll worker mistakenly told a person he couldn’t cast a ballot without an ID, said county Election Commissioner Trudy Berger.

“It was a misunderstanding,” Berger said. “We trained on it that nobody is ever told they can’t vote, period. As soon as we heard that had happened, we sent an election commissioner down there to solve the problem.”

According to the new law, voters must present a driver’s license or other government-issued ID to cast a ballot through the normal process. Those without ID can vote by affidavit ballot, after which they have five business days to show an acceptable form of photo ID, or apply for a Mississippi voter ID card, at the circuit clerk’s office.

The Secretary of State’s Office was notified of the incident, Berger said. But beyond that, the agency had few calls about voter ID issues. . . . 

Voters expressed little, if any, inconvenience at the polls due to the new law.

Madison County resident Meme Wittmayer said it was hassle-free. . . .

Some types of IDs are interesting:

Mississippi’s law says voters can show one of 10 types of government-issued photo identification, including a driver’s license, passport, gun license or student ID from any accredited public or private college. For the past several months, people who lack an acceptable form of ID have been able to go to an election clerk’s office to get a free, state-issued voter ID card with name, address and photo. . . .

Student IDs seem a little suspect and easy to forge.

Before the vote the Washington Post noted that not everyone was thinking that it would go smoothly.

Mississippi NAACP President Derrick Johnson said the civil rights group will pay attention Tuesday to ensure that no one is prevented from voting.
“We do understand that the state of the law has changed because of the Supreme Court decision, but the rights of voters have not changed,” Johnson said. . . .

New advance let's us determine age of fingerprint within one or two days

This advance will be important against people who can claim that their fingerprints were left at another date.  From CBS News:

. . . A team of Dutch forensic scientists has discovered how to accurately date fingerprints to within one or two days of when they were left on an object, as long as they're no more than 15 days old, according to reports.
"Being able to date the prints means you can determine when a potential suspect was at the crime scene or which fingerprints are relevant for the investigation," Marcel de Puit, fingerprint researcher at the Dutch Forensic Institute (NFI), told French news agency AFP.
Fingerprint analysis has played a huge role in solving crimes for more than a century. It was first used in an American court to convict a killer in 1911.
Fingerprint ridges are believed to be unique to each person. Not even identical twins have the same patterns.
The prints left behind when a person's fingertips touch an object are composed of a complex mixture of bodily chemicals, and that apparently holds the key to the Dutch scientists' discovery.
"Some (chemicals) disappear over time and it's the relative proportions of these chemicals that allow us to date a fingerprint," said de Puit to AFP.
This may have huge implications for future criminal prosecutions.
Steve Tillmann is a retired deputy sheriff with more than 30 years of experience based in Covina, California. He is also an expert witness in forensic investigations.
He told CBS News he has faced questions about the freshness of fingerprints at least a dozen times. . . .

Bill Clinton didn't defend Hillary from narrative that "ultraliberal wife" responsible for debacle of his health care plan

Bill Clinton was urged to fight against against this narrative, but he decline to do so.  From Bloomberg.com:

President Bill Clinton was coached to combat the narrative that his “health-care debacle” was the result of influence from his “ultraliberal wife” and “wonky” elites, according to the fifth batch of Clinton administration documents released by his presidential library. 

White House health adviser Ira Magaziner delivered that advice before Clinton sat down with authors and journalists David Broder and Haynes Johnson on July 17, 1995, to discuss the failure of his health-care plan, which had been championed by then-first lady Hillary Clinton, now a leading prospect for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016. 

“Right now, as you know, the First Lady and I and to some extent you, are blamed for the so-called ‘health-care debacle’ by the Washington conventional wisdom,” Magaziner wrote in a memo. 

“You were influenced by your ultraliberal wife and ‘wonky’ old college friend to accept this unwise venture over the objections of most of your advisors,” he wrote of the perceptions about the bill’s demise. “Your presidency, the Democratic Party and any chance of reasonable health reform went down the drain due to this grave error.” 

Magaziner urged Clinton to fight that image in his interview with Broder and Johnson . . .