Is the FBI lying about the Boston bomber, or is US-VISIT a $2 billion fraud?

American citizens may not know this, but since 9/11, every non-citizen, even green-card-holding Canadians like my parents, must have their fingerprints and photographs taken by U.S. Customs every time they enter the U.S. from abroad. There is NO WAY the FBI missed the Boston bomber's trip to Russia because of a simple spelling mistake. Either the FBI is lying, or our entire system is a fraud and the U.S. government completely wasted over $2 billion (and countless visitor headaches) on the US-VISIT program.

Gun ownership is 4 times safer than car ownership in America

In 2009, there was 1 person killed by a gun for every 31,000 guns owned by Americans. In that same year, there were 4 people killed by cars for every 31,000 cars owned by Americans.  Car ownership is 4 times more deadly than gun ownership in America.

You are unlikely to hear this comparison from Democrat politicians and the mainstream media as they push for more gun control and bans, of course.

Here's how I arrived at these numbers.  According to CNN, Americans owned 310,000,000 guns in 2009.  That same year there were 9,146 gun homicides and 789 accidental deaths, for a gun fatality rate of 0.0032%.  By comparison, in 2009 Americans owned 254,000,000 cars and there were 33,808 traffic fatalities, for a car fatality rate of 0.013%.  These numbers exclude suicides, which I believe makes for a more relevant comparison.  If suicides are included, the gun fatality rate is 0.0087%, still 35% lower than the car fatality rate.

Lawyers in Space

Trial lawyers are trying to kill the private space industry by blocking liability protection legislation.  As if we needed another reason to hate trial lawyers (and my apologies to all my lawyer friends).


The fact is, rocket failures are going to happen. People riding rockets into space are going to die. This is inevitable, it's the price human kind has always paid for our spirit of exploration and adventure. Trial lawyers want to make sure that when the inevitable happens, they will be able to sue the space industry out of existence. 

I'm sorry, that's not the way this stuff should work. Shackleton would never have mounted an expedition to the South Pole if his crew could sue him if disaster struck. Trial lawyers and the legal system that supports them are forcing modern society to become unreasonably risk-averse. This is very harmful to our well-being and prosperity as a nation. Without risk, there is no progress.