Iowa has had a disproportionate influence, particularly in presidential elections.
Iowa primary results are early, and thus establish a trend which leading candidates can then either preserve, or lose.
BUT !!

This year's large crop of GOP candidates are so risk averse; they've done very little to promote their own agenda / platform, and instead hammered Hillary.
Sensible GOP Iowans decided, the candidates have been so "issue free", campaigned so little*, Iowa straw voters didn't have enough upon which to vote.

It's an interesting turn of events.
Sensibly, GOP candidates are trying to avoid the circular firing-squad formation.

But these candidates have lost a valuable political plum here, possibly advantaging the Democrats in so doing.

So what's next for the GOP candidates?
Will they bite the bullet, and actually honestly state their policy positions? Or will they continue this substanceless fiddling?

NOTE:
iirc Senator Obama won Iowa in 2008, setting him on the path to a two term presidency.

* Jeb hasn't even formally announced yet.

Perhaps Obama means well.
But by spending $Billions the U.S. yet once again finds itself the tip of a non-existent spear.

So how does Obama respond to his critics*?
Obama offers an incremental increase in U.S. troops there, not for combat, but for training.

Problem:
Even those whose own homeland territory is threatened by ISIL, Jordan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia; they're not in the fight.

So what should Obama do?

STOP the U.S. air-war there!
One of two possible things would result:

1) Either it wouldn't make much difference, and we'd save $Billions,
- or -
2) Things would go from bad to worse; FORCING potential ISIL victims in the Middle East to get up off their oil-soaked butts, and actually combat this deadly cult.

THEN!!
Once they've gotten their butts in gear,
then Obama can consider offering U.S. air support.

Right now, however paradoxical it may seem, Obama's air-war against ISIL is making the U.S. lot worse, not better.

* Armed Services committee Chairman Senator McCain wants 10K additional U.S. troops there.

PS s1,

There's a town in NY called "Clinton".
But the prison isn't there.

It's the Clinton prison in the village of Dannemora, NY.

Hello s1,
I think Ithaca is at least 80 miles away from the Clinton prison.
If they're at camp right now, you might want to take them home.

BUT!!

After such escapes, prison security tends to tighten up a little.

As long as their first day at camp begins AFTER the two murderers are caught or killed, they should be as safe at camp this year as they were last.

If you have broadband Internet access, you may be able to get mileage information from a resource like mapquest.

Has human nature fundamentally changed since the U.S. Founding?
Did we have homicidal maniacs shooting up schools back then?

a) In our 3rd Millennium, how many people do this, per capita?

Preparatory to our Revolution:

"Tyranny like hell, is not easily conquered." Common Sense author Thomas Paine NOTE: This publication sold ~500K copies among an ~1.5M population, :. ~33% of population owned a copy, believed influential in persuading colonists to revolt against KG3

b) So how often do such massacres as Columbine, or Sandy Hook happen? One per year, out of a population of ~320,000,000?
We've grown by orders of magnitude since then, hundreds of times bigger.
So if it's the same proclivity then as now within their per capita population, we'd expect it one 212th as often.
Human nature hasn't changed that much Ud. There's probably another explanation.

c) Our Founders were meticulous about avoiding democracy, or what some Founders called "mob rule".
Instead, our Constitutional republic is designed to spare us punishing the many for the sins of the few; which is precisely what "gun control" is all about.




BUT !!!

There has been a paradigm shift.
A punk like Clebold couldn't march into his 1 room schoolhouse, and shoot the place up with a muzzle-loader.
Fire one round, and then a 40 second pause while he:
- measures out the next charge from powder horn
- replaces the charge
- places the patch over the muzzle
- places the next ball on the patch
- extracts the ramrod, and drives patch and ball to the bottom
- replaces the rod
- cocks the hammer
- takes aim, and ... *

By the time he got all that done, the other 7 students would have kicked his @$$ half way to Peoria.

The recessed flange cartridge has automated / revolutionized this.
So instead having a rate of fire of 1.5 rounds per minute, rate of fire with a semi-auto-fire
auto-loader is as fast as the trigger can be pulled; more than one per second.

Bitter history has proved the rate of fire with an AR-15 style weapon is enough to keep a class of kindergarten students at bay as they're massacred.
The Founders COULD NOT POSSIBLY have taken this into account when 2A was drafted.

BUT !!

"... shall not be infringed" is fairly unambiguous.
So it seems to me; rather than pretending the law is one thing (noting the supremacy clause, Art.6 Sect.2), but continuing to compound its infringement:

But in reality, in practice it is not.

* I do not own a muzzle-loader. I've never fired one. I've made an educated guess about what's required, and may have left out a step at the striker / hammer.

At the 6:AM/ET hour today local news reports the hunt continues.

BUT !!

TJ added:

We're surely losing the former.

What's so humiliating is the baubles we've accepted in exchange.

Thank you C7.
It's a sharp point well worth making.

It's a little annoying that so many ostensible 2A defenders turn a blind eye to all the infringements of 2A there are already!

To my knowledge, open carry is not permitted in New York State.
There may be an exception during hunting season.

Concealed carry is virtually prohibited in NYC, a jurisdiction where millions of potential crime victims live.

In the rest of New York State, concealed carry must be applied for; involving government forms, fingerprinting, judicial "permission", etc.

How in the HE11 can we pretend that's not an infringement?!
If applying for a license is a prerequisite, and that license can be denied, then it is an infringement BY DEFINITION!!!

2A is ALREADY infringed !!!
If it's against the law to walk into the local United States Post Office, and mail a letter while carrying my loaded 12 ga. Winchester Pump, then 2A is infringed.

2A is infringed.

Where the heck have you complainers been?

And public safety.

While COPS are beating the bushes 30 miles from where the murderers are, the murderers are on the loose, capable of killing again.

Lookit:
I've seen magic tricks.
I understand that people can think they saw what they didn't.

Earlier this year there was a dress, that caused a big fuss, because persons couldn't even agree on what colors it was.

So human perception is obviously highly flawed.
And even trained observers (a rare breed) have manifold human failings.

But it's one thing to say: "We saw them."
It's another thing to say: "We saw to guys, and we think it was them."
A s a v v y police interrogator should have been able to sort that out, when taking their witness statement.

So far, I'm not sure we can give LEO a grade of C on this.
To call it below average is to flattering to them.

ABC-TV news reports police dogs have picked up strong scent of where the pair may have slept; at a site just a few miles from the prison.

I wonder if those that insisted they saw the escapees ~35 miles from the prison will be prosecuted for a false report to police.
After all, as a result of their report, hundreds of COPs spent way too much time searching where the escapees were not, at the cost of many $tens of $thousands of $dollars.

S2,
Wasn't it Milosovich that lived, "hidden in plain sight" for years, simply by growing a long beard, and otherwise going about his business?

Here's an "urban legend" prank:

Some school students were scheduled to take a test they didn't want to take.
So rather than study for it, the "borrowed" (stole) 3 goats from a local farmer.
On the first goat they painted the number #1.
On the second goat they painted the number #2.
On the third goat they painted the number #4.

Then they released the three goats into the school building.

The principal discovered the problem before the scheduled opening of the school.

It took a while to assemble a team of goat wranglers. But once assembled, it only took them an hour and a half to catch goats #1, #2, & #4.
But the principal kept the school closed for the rest of the day while the goat wranglers searched for goat #3.

7AM/ET
The manhunt continues.

NPR reports NY LEO are authorized to cross into Vermont in pursuit.

In conditions of extreme sleep deprivation, adrenalin can compensate for the deficit for 5, perhaps 10 seconds at a time.
But not for 48 hours.
The police can sleep in shifts.
The escapees can't.

So the escapees have a choice:
- push it to their physical limit, at risk of their rational judgement, or
- try to find some place to get a few hours rest.

BUT !!

When hyper-exhausted as they'd be if they covered the ~35 miles from prison to Willsboro, they'd have had to have expended a lot of energy; an exertion sedentary prisoners would be unprepared for.

Their stamina is failing.
Hunger is taking its toll.
Sleep deprivation is severely clouding their decision making.

Even if it's the Keystone COPs after them, they should be caught in a few days.

If not; something else is wrong.

And despite the fact that I'M the one that cited that specific example as something that doesn't work, you still think it's necessary to state this?

"Miserably"? Alright.

BUT !!

Completely?
Perhaps not.

Simply knowing they're there, may have discouraged 09/11/01 style skyjack terror.

We don't know if the TSA discouraged anyone.

What we DO know is; there has not been any 09/11/01 style skyjackings in TSA's jurisdiction since the TSA took station.

There's clearly room for improvement, and even privatization.
But abandoning airline security would probably be unwise.

I'm a libertarian, not an anarchist.

"those who favor government control" lead

It is axiomatic, if the government doesn't control it, the thugs will.
Prohibition proved this.
Drug War proves it still.
And the 4 skyjackings of 09/11/01 prove it to. We didn't stop the thugs. So they killed ~3,000 of us.

I'm not necessarily advocating for the TSA.
But I think airliner security is a legitimate province. Whether it should be government, or private (such as the individual air carrier).

If security wasn't such a good idea, why do they put locks on doors?

Please pardon me al.
As the time stamps show, I was composing while you were posting. I didn't mean to cyber-ignore you.

I don't interpret satire very well. Please don't be offended.

But the fact is; in the 18th Century when our nation was Founded, there was no concept of:
- speed limits
- lawn mowing ordinances
- EPA
- DMV
- FBI
- IRS
- etc.

If the Founders heard about Drug War, the martial oppression of the People of the United States of America; our government waging bloody War against US, I doubt they'd believe it.
A crime for possessing what the Founders used to cultivate?

Ha Ha
but No!

SS!
Interesting topic.

Thank you for distinguishing freedom and liberty.

It is Liberty that I value.

Liberty means the right and power to think, act, and express ones self in the manner of ones own choosing; provided that Liberty does not infringe or usurp the Liberty of another or others.

In Liberty, your right to flail your fist ends short of where my nose begins.

If you don't mind SS, I'd like to post some of the stump speech from a Libertarian that ran against Bush and Clinton in 1992.

There's more, if anyone's interested.

Thanks again SS.

After noon / ET Northeast Public Radio reports the search continues.

Perhaps, in some cases.

In other cases it may simply be a matter of computer illiteracy. They'd reply to e-mail if they knew they had incoming mail.

- or -

They know they have it, but don't know how to reply.

- or -

Perhaps, like me, they feared malware risk. Here's a useful URL on that:

http://mingle2.com/topic/435311

I got an e-mail from a charming lady, but didn't respond because the above URL explanation hadn't arrived yet.

note:
I am not suggesting cyber-stalking anyone. Don't do that. 15 e-mails a day for a month and a half is WEIGH out of line.

BUT !!

If there's someone you're interested in, and they don't reply, what I'd think would make sense would be to change the subject line, personalize it, and try once more.
- It should indicate you're a real person, and not a scammer.
- It should demonstrate your sincerity, if your subject line personalization is good.
- You may just meet Ms. Wright. It wouldn't be the first time!

Best of luck to all !