Hopefully in six weeks I will be able to claim that they worked well. With so many good new players studying standard strategy and counterstrategy, I’m thinking that the best way to thwart them is to make some plays that, while theoretically a little suboptimum, are so different from what they are used to that they won’t adjust properly. We shall see.

Now we all know that one of the main reasons the authorities quickly identified them is that they reacted abnormally to the blast. I guess they wanted to show how smart they are. Even if it meant that future terrorists will now certainly not make that same mistake.

Why do people make a big deal about any of it? It’s totally insignificant to any president or ex president. Money will never be an issue in any way shape or form.

Now he can conceivably be found Not Guilty by reason of insanity and after years in a mental hospital, get out and possibly kill again. And this risk was taken to achieve what.? To try for a punishment that is illegal in most countries and many states? The only good justification for the death penalty is as a deterrent. People who commit crimes like Holmes aren’t thinking about the punishment.

I think it is sort of unfortunate that the capture of Christopher Dorner can be traced back to a phone call from one of the two people he tied up. It is true that if she had not made that phone call many more might have died. Then again one fewer might have. In any case thats not my issue. My issue is that I hate the fact that criminals may have noticed that Dorner might have paid a price for sparing his victims.

I have twice written about my idea that there should be a significant reduction in punishment for those criminals who choose not to kill their victims when committing crimes that usually come with very long prison sentences whether they kill or not. The first time I wrote about it I referred to the kidnapping of Steve Wynnn’s daughter (who was spared). The second time it was about my own home invasion.

I wasn’t suggesting this punishment reduction because I felt sympathy for the criminals. Rather I suggested it as a way to save the lives of future victims of such crimes. I wanted to change their risk versus reward equation. I hope the Dorner outcome isn’t changing it back.

They have some things in common. The public is upset that they cheat to help them succeed. And that they portray themselves as somebody they are not. But because the public also gets some upsides from them (entertainment, cheap labor) they are often willing to be lenient. Except that these cheaters are not actually as benign as they appear. They might not hurt the public that much but there are some victims much more seriously hurt. I speak of those who lost out big time because they wouldn’t cheat. The player who gets his name wiped out of the record book. The player who doesn’t quite make the big leagues because his place is taken by a cheater. The Mexican citizen who has to wait longer than he would have normally to work in the US. Plus all these honest citizens have to figure out a way to tell their children honesty is still the best policy in spite of the obvious evidence that it isn’t.

1. Have easily accessible alarm buttons in every classroom. If they are pushed all hell breaks loose inside and outside the school. Sirens, lights, whatever. Plus they are connected to police.

2. Since some with murderous fantasies have moments of lucidy and might seek help if they could do so without repercussion, that type of help should be available. By phone or in person. Similar to the way young mothers can anonomously abandon their babies to authorities with no questions asked. That’s the general idea . The details would have to be worked out.

Machine guns can kill lots of people but not if those peole are riding around in Abrams tanks. Yet that is the excuse some people use to justify these weapons being allowed in private hands. They are supposed to protect us from a tyrannical government that has the army on their side. What morons.

Shouldt hisguy be treated like a regular criminal? He commited murders knowing he would be caught and he was diagnosed as a schizophrenic. I’m not saying he shouldn’t be locked up or even executed. I just think it is ridiculous that a separate category exists for delusional people who don’t know right from wrong but no separate category for those as obviously mentally ill as Loughner.

I think Repubublicans are barking up the wrong tree when they get so upset about the word “redistribute”. The fact is that they are almost as much in favor of redistribution as Democrats are. They only difference of opinion between the two parties is how much to redistribute and from whom to whom.

Obviously the graduated income tax redistributes. But so does a flat tax. Because even under a flat percentage tax very rich people would usually pay in much more money than they get back in goverment services.

There are people who think the best system would entail absolutely no redistribution. But those people don’t include your typical Republican.