Vancouver's port commissioner just said the following:
Well according to the National Rifle Association (NRA), over 50% of firearms sold are semi-automatic. And Clark County has a few 'white guys'. So it appears LaBrant has cast thousands of local citizens as potential terrorists. And just for the record, there are 'white gals' and Americans of other colors who own many more such weapons. So the list of citizens he's insulted is actually considerably larger.
Stunning Poor Judgment
Even if someone had this sort of fringe point of view, how could they have such poor judgment to publically spew this condemnation about salt-of-the-earth regular citizens? Further, why would they do this after just being elected to a position in which public confidence in your judgment is important? Why would someone who will be involved with making decisions related to our port operations make this inflammatory statement in spite of the actual facts? No rational person would have this point of view, much less say it in public.
There was a time when stupid thoughts stayed in people's heads-as there was a price to pay for overt stupidity. If, by chance, such poorly conceived thoughts escaped, there usually enough sensible people around that the thought was quickly squashed, and the person who let it out chastised and reminded that such broken, and inflammatory, thoughts should stay where they formed and not be let free to roam the world. Usually, if this happened several times, the culprit would think twice before popping off with such idiocy as a rational family member or friend would strongly tell them they were wrong, and worse were upsetting others.
Then Facebook and twitter came along, and not only were people free to let out their stupid thoughts, but found kindred spirits who also harbored similar fringe thoughts. In today's world of participation trophies, everyone gets rewarded for thinking. It doesn't matter if you're lazy and think only stupid thoughts, or if you actually take the time to examine facts, quantify trends, identify patterns and analyze risk. Hey, at least you're thinking, right? Gold star for you!
Now back to Mr. LaBrant. It seems pretty conclusive that his verbal flatulence here is bereft of thought, generated more from a meme-driven ideological agenda than any actual consideration or factual basis. It's arrogant, wildly off base and poorly advised (see more in footnote #1). It is in fact, a stupid idea, and should have stayed in his head instead of being presented to the world. Such a public declaration demonstrates a level of incompetence that suggests a difficult time for anyone working with LaBrant in the future. He's a liberal. Nearly all liberals are about ideology first - and facts are only considered if they don't conflict with the ideology. This is a terrible background to have in a role in which complex commerce opportunities need to be carefully vetted, planned, and pursued.
The question we have to ask ourselves is, what is a buffoon like this doing as Port Commissioner, and how did he get there? We at ClarkCounty.info will be watching him closely. Further, after this stunning statement by LaBrant, we're resolved to work toward his early removal from office; not necessarily through a formal recall process, but through highlighting his idiocy and anti-business attitude on a regular basis. Such people hate to have their incompetence and strident ideology exposed, and this pressure can have them resign or decided to not run for office again. ClarkCounty.info will be watching and writing.
Sean Emerson
Writer for ClarkCounty,info
This article is an example of the content that will be available at ClarkCounty.info as we seek to promote wise and ethical local government. This article was sent to about 950 Clark County citizens -- most of which have received similar messaging in the last few years. We will introduce another 3500 contacts we have with local businesses after the formal ClarkCounty.info website is live. Then to increase readers, we plan to advertise through social media, radio, and proactive work-of-mouth campaigns. Mark Engleman - Founding member of ClarkCounty.info.
There was a time when stupid thoughts stayed in people's heads-as there was a price to pay for overt stupidity. If, by chance, such poorly conceived thoughts escaped, there usually enough sensible people around that the thought was quickly squashed, and the person who let it out chastised and reminded that such broken, and inflammatory, thoughts should stay where they formed and not be let free to roam the world. Usually, if this happened several times, the culprit would think twice before popping off with such idiocy as a rational family member or friend would strongly tell them they were wrong, and worse were upsetting others.
Then Facebook and twitter came along, and not only were people free to let out their stupid thoughts, but found kindred spirits who also harbored similar fringe thoughts. In today's world of participation trophies, everyone gets rewarded for thinking. It doesn't matter if you're lazy and think only stupid thoughts, or if you actually take the time to examine facts, quantify trends, identify patterns and analyze risk. Hey, at least you're thinking, right? Gold star for you!
Now back to Mr. LaBrant. It seems pretty conclusive that his verbal flatulence here is bereft of thought, generated more from a meme-driven ideological agenda than any actual consideration or factual basis. It's arrogant, wildly off base and poorly advised (see more in footnote #1). It is in fact, a stupid idea, and should have stayed in his head instead of being presented to the world. Such a public declaration demonstrates a level of incompetence that suggests a difficult time for anyone working with LaBrant in the future. He's a liberal. Nearly all liberals are about ideology first - and facts are only considered if they don't conflict with the ideology. This is a terrible background to have in a role in which complex commerce opportunities need to be carefully vetted, planned, and pursued.
The question we have to ask ourselves is, what is a buffoon like this doing as Port Commissioner, and how did he get there? We at ClarkCounty.info will be watching him closely. Further, after this stunning statement by LaBrant, we're resolved to work toward his early removal from office; not necessarily through a formal recall process, but through highlighting his idiocy and anti-business attitude on a regular basis. Such people hate to have their incompetence and strident ideology exposed, and this pressure can have them resign or decided to not run for office again. ClarkCounty.info will be watching and writing.
Sean Emerson
Writer for ClarkCounty,info
This article is an example of the content that will be available at ClarkCounty.info as we seek to promote wise and ethical local government. This article was sent to about 950 Clark County citizens -- most of which have received similar messaging in the last few years. We will introduce another 3500 contacts we have with local businesses after the formal ClarkCounty.info website is live. Then to increase readers, we plan to advertise through social media, radio, and proactive work-of-mouth campaigns. Mark Engleman - Founding member of ClarkCounty.info.
Coming December 2015
Footnote #1. Reference in second to last paragraph
Background on comparing Islamic and domestic terrorism: The issue of Syrian Muslim refugees is a serious one worthy of examination. We at ClarkCounty.info took the time to consider the facts before weighing on LaBrant's fringe and caustic statement. One wonders why Mr. LaBrant felt it was necessary to come to the defense of Syrians and Muslims, and why he chose to do so in such a way as to incite hostility against his fellow Americans. It seems clear that Mr. LaBrant probably has little or no interest in the plight of the Syrians or the Muslims, but is actually using this as a backdoor way to publicly espouse a liberal anti-gun agenda. Yes, Mr. LaBrant is a typical low-information gun grabber. Let's look at the facts to further establish LaBrant's poor judgment and lack of knowledge about certain history.
So let's see. . . let's start at 1979, when Islamic terrorism actually came home to America with the taking of the Tehran embassy. Concentrating solely on domestic terror incidents, a quick Google search gives me a list of 68 terror attacks that have happened on US soil since then. They break down as follows: 23 attacks were perpetrated by Muslims. Seven were by agents of non-Muslim, foreign origin. Four remain unsolved and unknown. One was committed by a pair of black men. 33 were perpetrated by white Americans. Of the White American attacks, nine were by the Army of God in a violent campaign against abortuaries. Three were by Ted Kaczinski, three by the Earth Liberation front, a group of environmentalist nuts, 4 were by white supremacists, and three were by some folks who were incoherently nuts and belong in an asylum. The rest were crimes committed for a variety of motivations, by lone wolf attackers who had no particular affiliation. Most telling for Mr. LaBrant's point, only 13 of these attacks involved a gun (61% did not involve guns). Bombs and arson seem to be the preferred method for the White American terrorist.
But wait, let's examine this from a probability standpoint. There are about 2.6 million Muslims living in America. There are 245.5 million whites living in America. This means there are 65 times more terror attacks by Muslims per Muslim in America than there are by Whites per White! Let's break this down another way: in a population of 10 million whites, 1.3 people are likely terrorists. In a similar population of 10 million Muslims, 88.4 of them are likely terrorists, based on statistics of terror attacks.
But it doesn't stop there. All terror attacks are ideologically driven, by definition. Of the terror attacks perpetrated by the one in ten million White American nut cases, how many of them are supported in principle by the rest of white America? Does Mr. LaBrant lose sleep at night about me, since I'm White and own a semi-automatic rifle? The answer is that the other 99.99999% of White America don't agree with these nuts and want them behind bars.
This is not true for the Muslim community. For whatever reason, we almost never hear the Muslim community denounce Islamic acts of terror. As we saw at a recent soccer game in Turkey where a moment of silence for the terror attack in Paris was met with boos and jeers by the crowd, and by Palestinians dancing and cheering in the streets at the news of the Paris attacks, the majority of Muslims sympathize with the terrorists. Do we want to be like Israel, which suffered more than a thousand domestic terror attacks in the time frame we examine here?
Muslims don't integrate or assimilate when they immigrate to a new country. The French, Dutch, Germans, Swedes and British have discovered this the hard way, as Muslims form ghetto enclaves and violently reject the host country's laws. Their communities become no-go zones for non-Muslims, including police. Muslims see that their devotion to Islam and Islamic law transcends loyalty to a government, unless that government is Islamic. In a very real sense, the devout Muslim cannot take the US oath of citizenship in good faith. By accepting refugees, we are inviting a population of people into our country who do not share our values, do not love our country, have no intention of becoming Americans like you or me, and in fact would cheer if the US flag was hauled down and the flag of the Islamic Caliphate was hoisted over the White House. Moreover, it's simply impossible to vet these people for infectious diseases and criminal background. The enemy knows this, and will certainly use this population migration to insert agent provocateurs into the country. We are literally inviting trained enemy combatants into our country and encouraging them to do their worst. Would we have offered the Nazis or Japanese the same hospitality in WWII?
