COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Thursday, January 01, 2015

Capital in the 21st Century



French star economist Piketty turns down award

Star French economist and author Thomas Piketty has turned down France's highest award in protest at President Francois Hollande's policies. Piketty's "Capital in the 21st Century" is a global best-seller.
Thomas Piketty
Piketty, who was once close to France's Socialist Party, on Thursday rejected the inclusion of his name among 691 nominees for France's prestigious Legion of Honor.
Instead, he told Hollande to "concentrate on reviving growth in France and Europe," adding to his criticism of the president's backtracking on fiscal reform promises.
Piketty had previously called for a widespread reform of tax laws and not just Hollande's 2012 election vow to target the super rich.
France's January 1 list of nominees for the prestigious award also includes Jean Tirole, another economist who won the Nobel Prize in economics in October for his theory that a "market needs a strong state to function normally."
Choice 'not government's role 
Piketty told the French news agency AFP that he "refused this nomination because I do not think it is the government's role to decide who is honorable."
"They would do better to concentrate on reviving economic growth in France and Europe," said Piketty referring to Hollande's Socialist government.
Last June, he told the newspaper Le Monde: "There is a degree of improvization in Francois Hollande's economic policy that is appalling."
Growing inequality
In his best selling book, Piketty used 300 years of data, also compiled by co-researcher Emmanuel Saez, to document a widening gap between rich and poor in a world of growing inequality.
Worldwide, 1.5 million copies of "Capital in the 21st Century" have been sold.
The English-language version caused a furor in the United States. New York Times columnist Paul Krugman said it demolishes the myth that "great wealth is earned and deserved".
Its recommendations were not accepted by all. In his home country France, Piketty's work drew mixed reactions. In Germany, Piketty's work is currently ranked the 9th most popular factual book on the list compiled weekly by the magazine Der Spiegel.
Backing for his inequality verdict came in December in a report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The OECD told member nations that reducing inequality, for example, by diverting more tax revenues into education, would help to lift economic growth
France's highest award
The Legion of Honor is France's highest award for civilian and military service.
Also among Thursday's list of 691 nominees is Patrick Modiano, the French winner of the latest Nobel prize for literature.
France's economy is stagnant, joblessness has mounted and its deficit has risen despite repeated pledges to bring it within an EU-imposed threshold.
ipj/rc (AFP, dpa, Reuters)

DW RECOMMENDS

89 comments:

  1. The Evolution of Top Incomes in the United States

    (Updated with 2012 preliminary estimates)
    Emmanuel Saez, UC Berkeley• September 3, 2013

    What’s new for recent years?

    2009-2012: Uneven recovery from the Great Recession

    From 2009 to 2012, average real income per family grew modestly by 6.0%. Most of the gains happened in the last year when average incomes grew by 4.6% from 2011 to 2012.

    However, the gains were very uneven. Top 1% incomes grew by 31.4% while bottom 99% incomes grew only by 0.4% from 2009 to 2012.

    Hence, the top 1% captured 95% of the income gains in the first three years of the recovery. From 2009 to 2010, top 1% grew fast and then stagnated from 2010 to 2011. Bottom 99% stagnated both from 2009 to 2010 and from 2010 to 2011. In 2012, top 1% incomes increased sharply by 19.6% while bottom 99% incomes grew only by 1.0%. In sum, top 1% incomes are close to full recovery while bottom 99% incomes have hardly started to recover.

    ReplyDelete
  2. MFN Trade Status for China is probably the worst thing to ever happen to the American "Working Man" (and Woman.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Just like the VAT Tax is the worst thing to ever happen to the European worker.

      Delete
  3. No democracy can stand for that continued disparity. There are two choices. Come up with a reform or wait till a reform arises from below and they are usually not pretty.

    There is no economic justification for this continued disparity and you have to be an historical illiterate to be unaware of events in the past when similar disparities existed.

    I do know this. No reform will come willingly and radical violent reforms make things worse.

    Privatization of social security would be helpful as accumulated benefits could be passed onto heirs.

    Real estate taxes should be based on equity in the property and not appraised value.

    All tax exempt everything should be changed to ratable taxable entities. All of them.

    Social security taxes should have no upper limit cutoff.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Privatization of social security would be helpful as accumulated benefits could be passed onto heirs.

      There is nothing to privatize.
      Taxes were paid to the government, benefits were dispersed by the government.

      That is the "Deal" with Social Security.
      Always has been.

      Delete
  4. "Social security taxes should have no upper limit cutoff."

    This puts you on the right track.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
  5. There is no free lunch. You can't just send all the jobs to China, and then expect the workers to slowly, and peacefully, watch their families starve.

    It ain't gonna happen.

    Eventually, you have to start doing some redistributing.

    ReplyDelete
  6. There's no Wild West to head out to anymore.

    God made a mistake when He curved the Earth.

    ReplyDelete

  7. Recent History in One Chart



    January 1, 2015 12:33 pm January 1, 2015 12:33 pm Comment

    A number of people have been putting up candidates for chart of the year. For me, the big chart of 2014 wasn’t actually from 2014 — it was from earlier work (pdf) by Branko Milanovic, which I somehow didn’t see until a few months ago. It shows income growth since 1988 by percentiles of the world income distribution (as opposed to national distributions):


    A most excellent chart

    What you see is the surge by the global elite (the top 0.1, 0.01, etc. would be doing even better than his top 1), plus the dramatic rise of many but not all people in emerging markets. In between is what Branko suggests corresponds to the US lower-middle class, but what I’d say corresponds to advanced-country working classes in general, at least if you add post-2008 data with the effects of austerity. I’d call it the valley of despond, and I think it’s going to be a crucial factor in developments over the next few years. More eventually.

    article

    ReplyDelete
  8. There must be some educational input that is ideal, but I do not pretend to know what it is. If education were a panacea, the U.S. would not be in its current state. The fact of the matter is that education has not made those so credentialed immune from the ravages of income disparity.

    Quirk put up an excellent link a couple days ago that would put all this into perspective.

    ... found it ... Thank you, Quirk.

    Why America’s Workers Need Faster Wage Growth—And What We Can Do About It

    ReplyDelete
  9. .

    Education is merely one more excuse used by the 1% to justify their actions. When questioned about why they are not hiring when they are sitting on piles of cash, the handy excuse is 'we can't find enough qualified candidates.' More pablum for the masses.

    You know where your priorities as a nation lay when your best and brightest opt to go into finance rather than engineering or research. In a world with a limitless supply of labor, when your leaders' priority is building wealth rather than things, you know the little guy will suffer.

    As a country, we don't suffer from a lack of skills, we suffer from an under-utilization of the skills that are available.

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Quirk, I take issue with the term the "1%"

      The richest percentile of Americans makes many hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. So how could a $135,000 salary make you a one-percenter? If you're 31 or younger, that figure puts you ahead of 99 percent of your age group.

      To determine what salary you'd have to earn at every age to stay in the top percentile—or even in the top 0.1 percent—here's your at-a-glance chart, from data shared by Fatih Guvenen and Greg Kaplan with The Atlantic. (The median age of both 1 percenters and 0.1 percenters is in the upper 40s.)

      Delete
    2. It's more accurate to say the top .1% is sitting on cash.

      But MOST small businesses qualify as part of the top 1% and are NOT sitting on piles of cash.

      Delete
    3. .

      I won't argue with you WiO. I was speaking in general terms about the people at the top making the decisions that affect the vast majority of US workers today. However, a quick check of GOOGLE provided the follwoing,

      WHAT THE TOP 1%, 5%, 10%, 25% and 50% MAKE IN AMERICA

      Based on the Internal Revenue Service’s 2010 database below, here’s how much the top Americans make:

      Top 1%: $380,354

      Top 5%: $159,619

      Top 10%: $113,799

      Top 25%: $67,280

      Top 50%: >$33,048


      - See more at: http://www.financialsamurai.com/how-much-money-do-the-top-income-earners-make-percent/#sthash.IGvv4gji.dpuf

      .

      Delete
    4. No, most 'Small Businessmen are not in the top 1%, but that just is another example of "O"rdure's ignorance.

      Delete
    5. Jack if you have something to say, rather than cast bullshit, show some proof..

      But I think you are not capable.

      Delete
    6. Based on the Internal Revenue Service’s 2010 database below, here’s how much the top Americans make:

      Top 1%: $380,354

      Quirk, most small businesses gross more than that.

      That was my point.

      Delete
    7. .

      I would assume they are talking income rather than revenues but I don't know.

      .

      Delete
    8. .

      It's not how much you make but how much you can keep.

      .

      Delete
    9. .

      I rechecked. The chart reflects AGI.

      .

      Delete
  10. There is no free lunch. You can't just send all the jobs to China, and then expect the workers to slowly, and peacefully, watch their families starve.

    It ain't gonna happen.

    Eventually, you have to start doing some redistributing.



    So says Rufus.

    But if you are the ONE being stolen from to give to those the "FREE LUNCH" you get a different perspective.

    ReplyDelete
  11. January 1, 2015
    The Democrats' War on the Middle Class
    By Andrew Thomas

    The title of this piece should be the mantra on the lips of every Republican. What has been the Democrat war plan?

    Raise the cost of health insurance dramatically.
    Make it mandatory.
    Enforce it using the IRS.
    Give subsidies to the poor.
    Put the entire burden on the middle class........

    .............In a communist system, and theoretically in any socialist system, there is only room for two classes, the ruling class and the proletariat, i.e., the struggling poor. The capitalistic-created American middle class is somewhat unique in a world historically composed of the oppressed and the oppressors. It is a fragile and newly-formed group that can easily be crushed. Democrats have history and politically evil intent on their side.“The Democrat war on the middle class” needs to be shouted from every rooftop and blog site from now until 2017.

    Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2015/01/the_democrats_war_on_the_middle_class.html#ixzz3NbWk4NMa
    Follow us: @AmericanThinker on Twitter | AmericanThinker on Facebook


    Don't look to me for economic answers.

    What I do know though is that everybody lives a lot better (in material ways) than in grandpa's day.


    ReplyDelete
  12. Biological bad luck blamed in two-thirds of cancer cases

    ReutersBy By Will Dunham | Reuters – 1 hour 48 minutes ago

    Print

    Science News »

    Ancient Coyotes Had Larger Jaws, Sharper Teeth
    US Cancer Death Rates Fall, Saving 1.5 Million Lives
    5 Ways Your Tech Will Go Green in 2015
    Biological bad luck blamed in two-thirds of cancer cases

    More Science news »

    By Will Dunham

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Plain old bad luck plays a major role in determining who gets cancer and who does not, according to researchers who found that two-thirds of cancer incidence of various types can be blamed on random mutations and not heredity or risky habits like smoking.

    The researchers said on Thursday random DNA mutations accumulating in various parts of the body during ordinary cell division are the prime culprits behind many cancer types.

    They looked at 31 cancer types and found that 22 of them, including leukemia and pancreatic, bone, testicular, ovarian and brain cancer, could be explained largely by these random mutations - essentially biological bad luck.

    The other nine types, including colorectal cancer, skin cancer known as basal cell carcinoma and smoking-related lung cancer, were more heavily influenced by heredity and environmental factors like risky behavior or exposure to carcinogens.

    Overall, they attributed 65 percent of cancer incidence to random mutations in genes that can drive cancer growth.

    "When someone gets cancer, immediately people want to know why," said oncologist Dr. Bert Vogelstein of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, who conducted the study published in the journal Science with Johns Hopkins biomathematician Cristian Tomasetti.

    "They like to believe there's a reason. And the real reason in many cases is not because you didn't behave well or were exposed to some bad environmental influence, it's just because that person was unlucky. It's losing the lottery"..............

    https://ca.news.yahoo.com/biological-bad-luck-blamed-two-thirds-cancer-cases-190103087.html

    ReplyDelete
  13. Great minds think/read alike.

    :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. We all knew deep down that Michelle was a damned bitch, didn't we? -

    January 1, 2015
    National Enquirer reports famed White House chef quit over abusive behavior of Michelle O
    By Thomas Lifson

    Say what you will about super market tabloids, but the National Enquirer was the only media outlet to expose John Edwards’ lying and cheating about fathering an out-of-wedlock child. Because it pays news sources, the Enquirer often gets stories that other media miss entirely. So it brings some credibility to its reporting that White House chef Sam Kass quit his job in protest over his treatment at the hands of Michelle Obama, dubbed the “Queen of Mean “ in the report.

    Kitchen magician Sam Kass got fed up with Michelle’s snippy comments and told the Obamas to take his apron and shove it, insiders told The 
National ENQUIRER.

    “He just couldn’t take it – the relentless nitpicking, over petty little details that drove him insane. She thinks she’s Marie Antoinette!” a White House insider told The ENQUIRER.

    “It has nothing to do with Sam’s cooking, which is superb. But you could be Wolfgang Puck and Michelle wouldn’t be happy. She’ll find some reason to turn up her nose, no matter how good a job you’ve done!”

    Michelle habitually sends food back after serving, often with snide remarks, our well-placed source said.

    “These are some of the world’s best chefs,” the source huffed. “It gets to be too much to bear.”

    Sam, 34, cooked dinner for the Obamas five nights a week and has served as their personal chef since 2005. He also headed Michelle’s “Let’s Move!” fitness campaign to end childhood obesity.


    Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2015/01/national_enquirer_reports_famed_white_house_chef_quit_over_abusive_behavior_of_michelle_o.html#ixzz3Nbd8CLUi
    Follow us: @AmericanThinker on Twitter | AmericanThinker on Facebook

    ReplyDelete
  15. Why don’t they cook their own meals?

    ReplyDelete
  16. Bottom line: You can pay them a living wage, or

    you can subsidize their income - but,

    you must do one, or the other.

    Otherwise, they come and cut your head off, and Take what they need.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I hope the Republicans get stuck with him or Romney

    JEB BUSH, the brother of former US President George W Bush, has taken a decisive step towards starting a campaign for the presidency by shedding all his corporate and non-profit board memberships.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Either one would be an improvement over O'bozo.

    Either one would be better than Hillary.


    Palin/Carson 2016

    ReplyDelete
  19. Here's a guy that's got half of it right, the Carson half -


    January 1, 2015
    Run, Mitt, Run
    By Gene Schwimmer


    ..........Or perhaps we should add a third item to the “Cons” list: Jeb’s surname. Some, perhaps many Republicans who would have no problem voting for “Jeb Smith” or “Jeb Jones” would find it hard to vote for a Jeb Bush. Those with a strong aversion to another Bush candidacy, who prefer their politics served hot à la Cruz or Paul, ought to Get Ready for Hillary, because no conservative firebrand is going to defeat the potential First Woman President. Not gonna happen.

    Oh, and one more thing: Ben Carson for VP, regardless of whom we choose for the top slot in the ticket. A Bush-Carson ticket would, in this writer’s view, be a formidable ticket for the GOP to send into battle against presumed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.

    But a Romney-Carson ticket would be even better. Romney, the guy who was proven right on every point of disagreement with Obama in the presidential debates. Romney with a House and a Senate controlled by Republicans. Romney without the persecution of conservative 501(c)s. Romney with an election apparatus that, as we just saw in November, has erased Democrats’ ground game advantage, specifically to include the new techniques of data mining and micro-targeting.

    And Romney with conservatives who learned the lessons of 2012 and show up at the polls, this time?

    Run, Mitt, run!

    Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/01/run_mitt_run.html#ixzz3NbuwfY9T
    Follow us: @AmericanThinker on Twitter | AmericanThinker on Facebook

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Romney who cannot win a National Election.
      Religious animosity towards his cult, by Christians, it takes him right out of the running.

      Delete
    2. The writer of the article recognizes that problem and warns conservatives about it.

      >>>And Romney with conservatives who learned the lessons of 2012 and show up at the polls, this time?<<<


      Not that I expect a cogent answer, but what makes Mormonism a cult, and the Christians not?

      Naw, I take the question back. Don't attempt an answer.

      Delete
  20. A cult is normally thought to concentrate on an individual. Thus, the Muslim cult, the Christian cult, the Charley Manson cult

    Mormonism though concentrates on all humans.

    'What we are, God once was, what God is we may become'

    From this point of view, Mormonism is much less a cult than the others.

    ReplyDelete
  21. .

    "...if you believe in it, it is a religion or perhaps 'the' religion;
    and if you do not care one way or another about it, it is a sect;
    but if you fear and hate it, it is a cult."

    Leo Pfeffer

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Leo has his own way of looking at things.

      I don't fear or hate The Cargo Cult, for instance.

      But everybody calls it a cult.

      Delete
  22. Top 1% of income earners ...

    Top 1% = $369,691+

    Now, "O"rdure would tell you that 'most' of the folk that make over $369,691 per year are 'Small Businessmen', that is a lie.

    We find that executives, managers, supervisors, and financial professionals account for about 60 percent of the top 0.1 percent of income earners in recent years, and can account for 70 percent of the increase in the share of national income going to the top 0.1 percent of the income distribution between 1979 and 2005.

    http://web.williams.edu/Economics/wp/BakijaColeHeimJobsIncomeGrowthTopEarners.pdf

    Not a 'Small Businessman' on the list.

    “Think before you speak.
    Read before you think.”

    ― Fran Lebowitz,

    ReplyDelete
  23. Re: Now, "O"rdure would tell you that 'most' of the folk that make over $369,691 per year are 'Small Businessmen', that is a lie.

    WiO neither said nor implied anything of the sort. The year is less than a day old and you interject your...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Really, allen, you should read before you type.

      What is "Occupation"Thu Jan 01, 03:43:00 PM EST

      It's more accurate to say the top .1% is sitting on cash.

      But MOST small businesses qualify as part of the top 1% and are NOT sitting on piles of cash.


      Now, that is just not true.
      As posted and referenced, above.

      Delete
    2. The auto worker and pastry cook are confusing gross revenues and net income.
      In the least that is where they are confused.

      In any case MOST of the 1% are not mall business people, neither men or women.

      Delete
    3. Once again, Jack, you lie.

      You attribute words and meanings to words not said.

      You just create them as you go...


      and for your feeble attempts to out me, after stalking the WRONG jew for years, or was an Israeli that you claimed for years...

      "The auto worker and pastry cook are confusing gross revenues and net income.
      In the least that is where they are confused.

      In any case MOST of the 1% are not mall business people, neither men or women."


      LOL

      You are a fool..

      as usual.

      a stupid fool.



      Delete
    4. .

      The rat does seem confused.

      Evidently its that whole English as a second language thing.

      .

      Delete
    5. What is "Occupation"Thu Jan 01, 03:43:00 PM EST

      It's more accurate to say the top .1% is sitting on cash.

      But MOST small businesses qualify as part of the top 1% and are NOT sitting on piles of cash.


      No, "O"rdure, MOST small businesses DO NOT qualify as part of the 1%.

      Only 1% qualify as being part of the 1%.
      1% is not MOST, it is one percent, one in one hundred.

      Words have meaning, Humpty Dumpty you are not.

      Delete
    6. Once again you talk above your pay grade.

      LOL

      The horse shit scooper rides again...

      A guy, who stalked the WRONG Jew for years!

      When you were not calling me an Israeli...

      LOSER....

      Hark, is that a stall I hear call you?

      Jack, where art thou? Thy shovel and bucket calls...

      Delete
  24. Whether McCain and company like it or not, the Republican party has a large conservative block. If either Bush or Romney run they will not win. Conservatives will not vote. The days are long gone when conservatives can be swayed by the "devil you know" argument for participation.

    ReplyDelete
  25. ... off to watch "Borgias"... I love political science.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Jack HawkinsThu Jan 01, 06:30:00 PM EST
    The auto worker and pastry cook are confusing gross revenues and net income.
    In the least that is where they are confused.



    Where did I say or where was it said anything about "gross revenues" or net income?

    Jack HawkinsThu Jan 01, 04:33:00 PM EST
    No, most 'Small Businessmen are not in the top 1%, but that just is another example of "O"rdure's ignorance.

    Once again, the horse shit scooper from AZ know NOT of what he speaks.

    I guess sniffing that crap for decades has given Jack dementia.

    A horrible but well deserved way for the crapper to exit the planet...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "O"rdure, you should read what the previous shift wrote ...

      What is "Occupation"Thu Jan 01, 05:20:00 PM EST

      Based on the Internal Revenue Service’s 2010 database below, here’s how much the top Americans make:

      Top 1%: $380,354

      Quirk, most small businesses gross more than that.

      That was my point.


      You spoke of gross revenue, as if it were the same as net income.
      As Legionnaire Q mentioned ...

      Delete
    2. Really, "O"rdure, read what you have posted, know what you have written, they same day you wrote it, will you please?

      Delete
    3. I have read what I wrote. You seem to miss the obvious.

      Once again, EVERYONE sees your error but you...

      You have a history of misspeaking and not seeing the obvious.

      Delete
    4. Blind as a bat is the crapper rat
      Blind as a bat is he....
      Can't see inches before his face
      Blind as a bat is he.....

      Delete
  27. The woman from Blackfoot, Idaho that got shot by the 2 year was a highly educated engineer. She had a purse with a special zipped pocket for a concealed weapon. Many purses have these now. The gun was in this special pocket.

    The kid must have had 'fine motor skills' according to my wife.

    She also says this poor kid is going to take hell from the older sibs later in life.

    It's a sad story.

    ReplyDelete


  28. QuirkThu Jan 01, 07:08:00 PM EST

    The rat does seem confused
    ....................


    We can certainly all agree with that.

    I would add the word 'continually' though.

    ReplyDelete


  29. University of Oregon is clobbering Florida State 45 - 20...........

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. An extremely rare event, I can tell ya...........

      Delete
    2. A little like rat winning an argument.......

      Delete
  30. Mario M. Cuomo, the three-term governor of New York who commanded the attention of the country with a compelling public presence, a forceful defense of liberalism and his exhaustive ruminations about whether to run for president, died on Thursday at his home in Manhattan. He was 82.

    ...

    Mario Matthew Cuomo was born in Queens on June 15, 1932, the fourth child of Andrea and Immaculata Cuomo. His parents, penniless and unable to speak English, had come to the United States from the province of Salerno, south of Naples, settling at first in Jersey City.

    ...

    His successes impressed state Democratic leaders, and in 1974 Mr. Cuomo, at 42, entered elective politics as the party’s choice for lieutenant governor. He was challenged in a primary, however, by Mary Anne Krupsak, a state senator from upstate, who defeated him and was elected as the running mate of Hugh L. Carey, a Democratic congressman from Brooklyn.

    ReplyDelete
  31. University of Oregon 59
    Florida State 20

    Ohio State 42
    Alabama 37

    Ohio State v Oregon for champs

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ohio State using its third string quarterback.

      Delete
    2. .

      The Big 10 had a good day. Michigan State beat Baylor in the Cotton Bowl 42-41. Cotton and Sugar Bowls were very competitive, the Rose Bowl not so much.

      .

      Delete
  32. 2-year-old boy in Idaho Wal-Mart shooting 'unzipped' special purse gun pocket

    By Nicholas K. Geranios

    Associated Press

    Published: Wednesday, Dec. 31 2014 5:56 p.m. MST

    Updated: yesterday
    Share6 Share5 Tweet1 0 0

    View 3 photos »

    This photo shows Wal-Mart with a shopping cart in the foreground in Hayden, Idaho, Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2014. A 2-year-old boy accidentally shot and killed his mother after he reached into her purse at the northern Idaho Wal-Mart and her concealed gun fired, authorities said Tuesday.

    The Spokesman-Review, Kathy Plonka
    Summary

    Concealed weapons are part of everyday life in Idaho, and that's unlikely to change in the Mountain West state despite a shocking accident in which a 2-year-old boy reached into his mother's purse, got ahold of her gun and shot her in the head inside a Wal-Mart.

    SPOKANE, Wash. — Concealed weapons are part of everyday life in Idaho, and that's unlikely to change in the Mountain West state despite a shocking accident in which a 2-year-old boy reached into his mother's purse, got ahold of her gun and shot her in the head inside a Wal-Mart.

    Veronica J. Rutledge, 29, was shopping Tuesday morning with her son and three nieces in Hayden, Idaho, when the small-caliber handgun discharged one time, killing her.

    Terry Rutledge, Veronica's father-in-law, told The Spokesman-Review that the boy unzipped the special gun compartment in the woman's purse where the weapon was kept while she was looking at clothing.

    Terry Rutledge said his daughter-in-law did not put the weapon "loosely into her purse."

    Victoria Rutledge had a concealed weapons permit, and guns were a big part of Rutledge's life, her father-in-law said.

    "She was not the least bit irresponsible," Terry Rutledge said in a brief interview with The Associated Press. He complained about people using the incident to attack his daughter-in-law.

    Meanwhile, the Kootenai County Sheriff's Office on Wednesday afternoon released a few more details about the incident. The boy removed the 9mm semi-automatic handgun from his mother's purse and shot her once in the head, killing her instantly, the sheriff's office said.

    The manager of the store, who was nearby when the shot was fired, stepped in and took the firearm from the child, the sheriff's office said. The manager and other employees secured the scene and evacuated customers.

    The woman's purse was new and was designed to carry a concealed firearm, the sheriff's office said. Detectives continue to analyze video from the store, examine the weapon and interview witnesses, the sheriff's office added.

    Terry Rutledge told The Washington Post that Veronica Rutledge and her husband practiced at shooting ranges and each had a concealed weapons permit. He said for Christmas this year, her husband gave her the purse with a special zippered pocket for a concealed weapon.

    About 7 percent of adults in Idaho had concealed weapons permits at the end of 2012, according to the Crime Prevention Research Center in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. That ranked Idaho among the top third of states.

    Kootenai County, which has about 140,000 residents, has issued close to 16,000 concealed weapons permits, Kootenai County sheriff's spokesman Stu Miller said Wednesday.

    "It's very commonplace in northern Idaho for folks to have a concealed weapons permit," Miller said, and most businesses do not prohibit firearms.

    Veronica Rutledge lived in Blackfoot, in southeastern Idaho, and her family had come to the Hayden area to visit relatives for Christmas.

    She was an employee of the Idaho National Laboratory near Idaho Falls, Idaho, where she was a nuclear scientist......

    http://www.deseretnews.com/article/765665303/Idaho-shooting-victim-supported-gun-rights.html

    ReplyDelete
  33. >>>According to the anti-racism magazine Expo, there have been at least a dozen confirmed attacks on mosques in Sweden in the last year and a far larger number are believed to have gone unreported.<<<


    Sweden hit by third mosque arson attack in a week
    AFP
    By Tom Sullivan

    http://news.yahoo.com/sweden-hit-third-mosque-arson-attack-week-145914459.html


    Ole and Sven are getting ticked. Tired of having their women raped.

    ReplyDelete

  34. Muslim Rape Wave in Sweden

    By Fjordman

    Swedish girls Malin and Amanda were on their way to a party on New Year’s Eve when they were assaulted, raped and beaten half to death by four Somali immigrants. Sweden’s largest newspaper has presented the perpetrators as “two men from Sweden, one from Finland and one from Somalia”, a testimony as to how bad the informal censorship is in stories related to immigration in Sweden. Similar incidents are reported with shocking frequency, to the point where some observers fear that law and order is completely breaking down in the country. The number of rape charges in Sweden has tripled in just above twenty years. Rape cases involving children under the age of 15 are six - 6 - times as common today as they were a generation ago. Most other kinds of violent crime have rapidly increased, too. Instability is spreading to most urban and suburban areas.

    According to a new study from the Crime Prevention Council, BrÃ¥, it is four times more likely that a known rapist is born abroad, compared to persons born in Sweden. Resident aliens from Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia dominate the group of rape suspects. According to these statistics, almost half of all perpetrators are immigrants. In Norway and Denmark, we know that non-Western immigrants, which frequently means Muslims, are grossly overrepresented on rape statistics. In Oslo, Norway, immigrants were involved in two out of three rape charges in 2001. The numbers in Denmark were the same, and even higher in the city of Copenhagen with three out of four rape charges. Sweden has a larger immigrant, including Muslim, population than any other country in northern Europe. The numbers there are likely to be at least as bad as with its Scandinavian neighbors. The actual number is thus probably even higher than what the authorities are reporting now, as it doesn’t include second generation immigrants. Lawyer Ann Christine Hjelm, who has investigated violent crimes in Svea high court, found that 85 per cent of the convicted rapists were born on foreign soil or by foreign parents.......

    http://majorityrights.com/weblog/comments/muslim_rape_wave_in_sweden/

    ReplyDelete
  35. Jihad Watch
    Exposing the role that Islamic jihad theology and ideology play in the modern global conflicts
    Survey finds one in three Germans supports anti-Islamization PEGIDA marches

    January 1, 2015 6:25 pm By Robert Spencer 40 Comments

    pegidalargeIt is extremely foolish and short-sighted of Angela Merkel to dismiss this movement as “racist” and “xenophobic.” The refusal to acknowledge legitimate concerns cannot end well. At very least, it should lead to the end of Merkel’s political career, and her retirement to private life.

    “Survey finds one in three Germans supports ‘anti-Islamization’ PEGIDA marches,” DW, January 1, 2015:

    An opinion poll has found that one in eight Germans would join a march against ‘Islamization’ if one were held in their home town. A series of rallies in the city of Dresden have drawn growing numbers, with more planned.

    The poll of 1,006 people by German news magazine Stern found that 13 percent would attend an “anti-Islamization” march if it were held near to their home.

    The survey, while small, does show a residual level of support for the weekly rallies being held in the eastern city of Dresden, one of which attracted more than 17,000 people in the days before Christmas.......

    http://www.jihadwatch.org/2015/01/survey-finds-one-in-three-germans-supports-anti-islamization-pegida-marches

    Hans and Heidi and Viktor and Amelia are all getting ticked, too.

    ReplyDelete
  36. There is no error, there is no mistake.
    The words have meaning, "O"rdure.

    If I was not correct, you would not be going on about it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Like a thief in the night, the narcissist Jack/rat, cannot admit he's mistaken about ANYTHING.

      A self professed expert of all things and yet? The horse shit scooper has been exposed to be a fraud.

      From Stalking the WRONG Jew, to Stolen Valor, the man behind Jack Hawkins? A nobody.

      Delete
  37. Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson thinks it is incredibly sad that a stupid woman did not practice the basics of gun safety.

    Training is everything, the woman was not qualified to carry a weapon.
    If she had been, she would not be dead now.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Once again, Jack "I KNOW EVERYTHING" Hawkins shows the readers he KNOWS nothing.

      Delete
    2. "Whoever walks a furlong without sympathy walks to his own funeral drest in his shroud."

      Walt Whitman

      Delete
  38. .

    I agree, Obumble, this is sad, sad for everyone involved.

    The kid will carry this with him throughout his life.

    .

    ReplyDelete

  39. The Blog
    Obamas Dine at Restaurant Charging $500,000 for Membership
    $295 prix fixe menu.
    7:01 AM, Jan 2, 2015 • By DANIEL HALPER

    President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama, spent the first night of the new year at Vintage Cave, an upscale restaurant in Hawaii.

    "At Vintage Cave Honolulu, one can enjoy exceptional food and wine at the hands of gifted masters of the culinary arts. ‘Chef’s recommendation’ commands a gravitas guaranteed to satisfy the most discerning palate. Seasoned sommelier’s conduct the process of pairing wine and food with true finesse and style. Secure in the natural embrace of the cave-like environment, guests are encouraged to relax, ‘hit reset’ and escape the ordinary," Vintage Cave's description reads on its website.

    As Time's Zeke Miller pointed out, membership at the restaurant can set you back $500,000.

    The half million dollars is to become a "Charter Member." A cheaper membership option the restaurant offers is "Special Member," which costs only $50,000.

    The restaurant's prix fixe menu is reportedly $295, with a 13-15 course meal. One local magazine estimates "total bill for two, with wine, will approach $1,000."

    http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/obamas-dine-restaurant-charging-500000-membership_822640.html

    ReplyDelete
  40. A man takes his wife out to a nice dinner (on his own dime,) and the stupid among us find fault.

    jesus

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. :)
      Heh

      He's just rubbing elbows with his real constituents.

      Delete
    2. Besides, the chefs are much better than at The White House.

      Delete
    3. >>>The restaurant's prix fixe menu is reportedly $295, with a 13-15 course meal. One local magazine estimates "total bill for two, with wine, will approach $1,000."<<<

      "A nice dinner" to be sure........a 13-15 course "nice dinner".

      :)

      And are you absolutely certain who's paying the bill?

      Delete
    4. Bob, in a strange sick way America is GETTING what they deserve.

      Roll with it...

      Delete
  41. The woman was a stone cold idiot.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So says the blog's nuclear engineer.

      Delete
    2. Rufus IIFri Jan 02, 10:27:00 AM EST
      The woman was a stone cold idiot.


      you are one cold motherfucker this year.

      Delete
    3. That could have been one of My children, or grandchildren that she killed. She was a fucking moron.

      Delete
    4. .

      Her being stupid has little to do with the empathy one would expect for all those involved.

      .

      Delete
  42. >>>This will be a street fighting campaign in which house-to-house clearing operations will need to be conducted by the ill-trained Iraqi Army, a fighting force of dubious loyalty and efficacy. In October, the Pentagon said that it would be unlikely that Iraqi troops would be capable of even mounting an operation to retake the city of Mosul for at least a year. If that timetable is accelerating, U.S. troops will no doubt have to play more than an advisory role...........<<<

    Will U.S. advisors in Iraq become combat troops in 2015?
    posted at 9:31 am on January 2, 2015 by Noah Rothman

    http://hotair.com/archives/2015/01/02/will-u-s-advisors-in-iraq-become-combat-troops-in-2015/


    It seems to me that 'retaking Mosul' isn't going to be easy.......... ISIS has had a long time to prepare.

    ReplyDelete
  43. >>>In October, the Pentagon said that it would be unlikely that Iraqi troops would be capable of even mounting an operation to retake the city of Mosul for at least a year.<<<

    The Pentagon seems to have a timetable more realistic than yours, Rufus.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Obama's success is driving you crazy, isn't it?

      Delete
    2. :)

      I guess that must be it.

      Or, I might be jealous about a 15 course $1,000 dinner.

      Delete