Spekalatin

After I signed off last night, it occured to me that the statistical probabilities of a person becoming a crime victim would be the same, for the reason that Uncle Ken gave us.  It later occurred to me that I could salvage my argument by changing a single word in it.  I therefore wish to change the word "you" to the word "somebody".   The more people you have in a given area, the more likely that somebody will become a crime victim in a given period of time.  That's all I was trying to say in the first place, the more people you have the more crime you will have, all other factors being equal.
While it's true that you might also have more economic and social opportunities, that's irrelevant to my earlier assertion that the immigrants, who are fleeing poverty and violence, are bringing poverty and violence right along with them.  I find it hard to believe that the bad guys in Central America are staying home, leaving only the good guys to seek a better life in the US.  What would the bad guys do for a living if they let all their victims escape like that?  I admit that I'm merely speculating at this point, which reminds me of story.

When I was a kid, my friend Glen and I were discussing plans for some project or adventure.  Glen's father, who was in poor health, was sitting in his favorite chair reading his newspaper, which was about all I ever saw him do.  Glen's dad seldom spoke but, when he did, he had some kind of accent, I think it was Slovakian.  All of a sudden, he put down his newspaper and addressed us with the longest vocalization I ever heard him make:  "There you guys go, spekalatin again.  You guys are always spekalatin, spekalatin, spekalatin about all the stuff you're gonna do.  Well you know what you're really gonna do?  I'll tell you what you're really gonna do.  You ain't gonna do nahtin!"

Although Glen's dad was wrong about us, we did lots of things in those days, it has occurred to me that his words of wisdom might well be applied to the politicians of today.  They are spekalatin about impeachment, they are spekalatin about immigration, they are spekalatin about the Middle East, they are spekalatin about the Far East, they are spekalatin about universal health care, and they are spekalatin about Brexit.  But you know what they're really gonna do?  I'll tell you what they're really gonna do. They ain't gonna do nahtin!

Of course the same can be said about us at the Institute, but that's different.  The Institute is a think tank, it's our job to think this stuff up, and it's their job to do it.  We have been doing our job for years, and I think it's about time they started doing theirs.