Watercooler 10/27/16;Highlights Of The Podesta Email Leaks;So You Thought Our Election Is One For The Books ?; Just How Many Guns Do We Have ?

Some Things Have To Be Seen To Be Believed

Some of the highlights from Hillary’s paid speeches make that buffoon Trump look like Von Clauswitz or Sun Tzu.

First up from a paid speech to Goldman Sachs.

You don’t have a claim to all of it. I said, by that argument, you know, the United States should claim all of the Pacific. We liberated it, we defended it. We have as much claim to all of the Pacific. And we could call it the American Sea, and it could go from the West Coast of California all the way to the Philippines. And, you know, my counterpart sat up very straight and goes, well, you can’t do that. And I said, well, we have as much right to claim that as you do. I mean, you claim it based on pottery shards from, you know, some fishing vessel that ran aground in an atoll somewhere. You know, we had conveys of military strength. We discovered Japan for Heaven sakes. I mean, we did all of these things.” [Goldman Sachs Builders And Innovators Summit, 10/29/13 — Archive.Org Page 9

Uhm no we did not discover Japan, the U.S. does not have 57 states, it would be nice if presidents could get simple things correct. The Philippines are deeply upset with us, because of people like her taking them for granted, in just this manner. The South China Sea has been the South China Sea since before we were a country the same goes for the Pacific.

I don’t Know if the Chinese were upset or laughing at the idiocy. The same goes for this one

Hillary Clinton Said She Warned China That If North Korea Continued Developing Its Missle Program, The US Would “Ring China With Missile Defense.” “You know, we all have told the Chinese if they continue to develop this missile program and they get an ICBM that has the capacity to carry a small nuclear weapon on it, which is what they’re aiming to do, we cannot abide that. Because they could not only do damage to our treaty allies, namely Japan and South Korea, but they could actually reach Hawaii and the west coast theoretically, and we’re going to ring China with missile defense. We’re going to put more of our fleet in the area. So China, come on. You either control them or we’re going to have to defend against them.”

[ Speech to Goldman Sachs, 2013 IBD Ceo Annual Conference, 6/4/13]

Archive.Org Page 9

You can certainly see how the Clinton’s last set of negotiations went south. The Chinese are undoubtedly looking forward to baiting her into continuing on in the ridiculousness. Goldman Sachs were probably also happy to get the tip to increase holdings of Raytheon.

Next up a little snapshot on her relationship with Russia

Hillary Clinton Said One Time She Visited Putin And Bonded With Him Over Protecting The Habitat Of Tigers.

“One time, I was visiting with him in his dacha outside of Moscow, and

he was going on and on, you know, just listing all of the problems that he thinks are caused by the United States. And I said, ‘Well, you know, Mr.’—at that time, he was still prime minister. I said, ‘You know, Mr. Prime Minister, we actually have some things in common. We both want to protect wildlife, and I know how committed you are to protecting the tiger.’ I mean, all of a sudden, he sat up straight and his eyes got big and he goes, ‘You care about the tiger? I said, ‘I care about the tiger, I care about the elephant, I care about the rhinoceros, I care about the whale. I mean, yeah, I think we have a duty. [Jewish United Fund

Of Metropolitan Chicago Vanguard Luncheon, 10/28/13]

Archive.Org Page 60

And after Putin had a great laugh at playing Hillary like a complete chump, in late 2013, he went out and annexed the Crimea in 2014. So much for her bonding with Vlad.

It really comes as no surprise why she didn’t want these speeches out, I know I sure wouldn’t want to be on the record having said or done any of this.

You Thought the U.S. 2016 Election Was Screwed Up ? Iceland Looks Like They Have Us Beat.

More than 22% of Icelanders are ready to pick the anti-establishment Pirate Party, according to a recent poll by the Social Science Research Institute, conducted for the Morgunbladid newspaper. That puts the party just slightly head of its closest rival, the Independent Party, which currently governs in a coalition with the Progressive Party.

A win by the rogue band of radicals would be astonishing, but the young party—which champions direct democracy, transparency, and net neutrality—says it’s ready to take the reins. Its organizers already have created a crowdsourced draft of a new national constitution, which includes stipulations to re-nationalize the country’s natural-resource industries and to create new rules for civic governance.

–Quartz

Going to have to see what Iceland’s naval flags look like if the “Pirate Party” takes over. For those not up on this bit of European insanity, the various “Pirate Parties” are political parties started to defend internet piracy or rather general thievery. At least over here our politicians are still trying to pretend not to be crooks.

Just How Many Guns Does The U.S. Have ?

I had heard the number was 300 million, which I thought was in the ball park if a little on the low side. Turns out that might not even be close.

“We (weaponsmanblog) believe that the correct number is much higher — somewhere between 412 and 660 million,” they write.

Where did they come up with such a big chunk? By looking at what is known about the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ Access 2000 (A2K) system. [ More info on A2K here from a recent government solicitation including a SOW with lots of details and a 99-page GAO report on it and other databases used by ATF here.

“None of the current academic media and academic estimates were developed with A2K data, even though this data has been made publicly available,” points out WeaponsMan. “As of 2 October, 2015, the data in A2K included 252,433,229 records, representing one firearm each. That means that at least those 250 million firearms have been manufactured, or imported, or sold at wholesale in approximately 15 years.”

—Guns.Com

The A2K records are ATF’s database for FFL dealers, and this number is from just 66 of the dealers using the system. I don’t know how good the 600 million plus estimate is for the number if guns in the U.S. but it’s safe to say 300,000 million isn’t even a good estimate for the absolute lowest minimum.

Quote of the Day

There can be no greater error than to expect, or calculate upon real favours from Nation to Nation. ‘Tis an illusion which experience must cure, which a just pride ought to discard.

–George Washington, Farewell Address 1797