Free Republic

Link to video This video of an attempted armed robbery in Houston, Texas, illustrates the fact that most armed robbers are reluctant to shoot, and reluctant to kill their victims.   I am not saying that they have high moral standards.  I am saying that robbers respond to incentives; they know that a killing of an innocent brings down unwanted attention; and a shooting brings quicker response and often, greater investigation.  In this case the robber grabs the store owner through a small opening in a bullet proof enclosure and points a gun at him while demanding money.   The wife...

While the Washington Post reports this afternoon that Congress is considering pushing off all cuts under a new deal to avert the fiscal cliff, top Republicans say that is absolutely false. The sequester cuts will either go through now, as written, or they will be replaced for no more than two to three months to be more specifically calibrated to avoid the blunderbuss across-the-board cuts largely affecting defense. During that delay time, cuts equivalent to the cuts that would have happened under the sequester will take place. In short, the same amount will be cut under either deal; the only...

Defence Minister John McCallum had said Canadian officers were not invited to the at U.S. Central Command strategy sessions until Ottawa committed its soldiers to the use of force to remove the Iraqi dictator if necessary. McCallum also said Canada would consider joining an international military coalition without UN backing. The defence minister was publicly chided a week later by Prime Minister Jean Chretien, who said Canada had made no such commitment.