Of 1,265 people killed in St. Louis between 2003 and 2012, 1,138 (89.9%) were black.  90% of them were killed by other blacks. Thirty two of them were killed by police officers; 22 of those 32 (1.93% of 1,138) by white cops. To assert - as the Obama administration and so many in the news media have - that racially motivated shootings by police are commonplace, and this was one of them - is vile. Even more despicable are those who've made excuses for what took place after the grand jury refused to indict Officer Wilson for a crime it was clear he hadn't committed.  Rioters and looters - who destroyed mostly black businesses and burned down a black church - aren't "protesters" who are "trying to make their voices heard."  They're criminals. And they are Obama's legacy.

Would you make an effort to find additional ways to reduce your tax burden if your tax rate was suddenly raised 50 percent? The higher one's income, the more incentive a person has to find ways to minimize his tax burden -- which is why very high tax rates on the rich always fail to produce the projected revenue. Republican congressional leaders have pledged to undertake tax and spending reform. To do so, they need accurate projections of the impact on tax revenues, job creation and economic growth resulting from their possible alternative reforms. This requires realistic models of what is likely to happen, so they need to find the best possible experts to manage the Joint Committee on Taxation and the Congressional Budget Office. These are two key questions I would pose to the candidates for these positions:

It's a tyrannical theocracy, crucifixions and decapitations are routine, women are shrouded and intimidated, the grim religious police are all over the place.  It's your Islamic State, aka ISIS. How do we know?  Basically from defectors, now as during the Cold War the most valuable sources for Western intelligence services.  Some of these ex-ISIS followers are free in the West, others are standing trial, as in the case of the 46 Belgians who returned from the IS and are accused of crimes ranging from torture and murder to extortion and terrorism.  One of these confessed upon discovering that Belgian authorities had some incriminating telephone intercepts, as when he told his girlfriend: "Today I killed a man.  An infidel...his family had collected only thirty thousand euros for him, but the price was seventy thousand.  I killed him with a shot in the head.  Bang!  I wanted to make a video but my camera didn't work right..." Young men are excited by the chance to murder, but when you sign up with ISIS, you have an excellent chance to lose your own life, and this is often an eye-opener for some of the bourgeois European believers.  After seeing their comrades drive off in suicide vehicles, they sagely reconsider.

It's so obvious who the HFR Heroes of the Week are that we need to dispense the suspense and laud them right out front.  They are the six white men, three white women, two black women, and one black man who comprised the Saint Louis County Grand Jury that refused to indict Police Officer Darren Wilson.  We must add to them the St. Louis County prosecutor Bob McCulloch, whose statement announcing the grand jury decision on Monday (11/24) is here. They all knew their lives could be at stake with the murderous anger and multitude of death threats against them, yet they opted for the truth straight in the face of it.  That's flat out American heroism.  We owe them a grave debt of gratitude... There are good lessons to be learned from this Ferguson Lunacy, and benefits to be gained.  Here's the most important... There was another major event that rivaled the Ferguson grand jury decision in importance this week.  For background, who is the GOP Congressional Establishment leader you most love to hate?

Whom do you work for? Such a simple question should not require a government agency to give an answer. However, the Obama administration, in its never-ending quest for power over individuals and businesses, has decided that it -- rather than you or your employer -- should determine whom you work for. Last Thursday (11/20), the Senate held a hearing for President Obama's nominee for the National Labor Relations Board, Lauren McFerran, after the administration abruptly withdrew the nomination of the tainted Sharon Block for the same post. The National Labor Relations Board has the responsibility to be an unbiased referee in disputes between labor unions and management and to make sure that U.S. labor regulations are followed. As union membership has fallen from more than a third of the labor force in the 1950s to a 97-year low of 6.7 percent of the private labor force this year, the NLRB is not as relevant as it was in decades past. However, like most government bureaucracies, the people at the board are looking for ways to expand their mission -- and their budget and power. The Obama administration, rather than seeking out people who would be impartial to serve on the board, has selected people with strong ties to unions.  There is no doubt whatever that Lauren McFerran is one of them.