Of the 535 members of the House and Senate, only 4 are even briefed on what the intelligence agencies are up to, and since those briefings are classified, they can’t tell the other members what is going on. How can there be any meaningful oversight in a situation like that?

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? is attributed to Juvenal in his Satires. It is translated variously as: Who watches the watchmen?; Who polices the police?; etc. When Congress doesn’t know what is going on, when the Federal courts don’t know what’s going on, when the people don’t know what is going on – how can anyone know if what the intelligence agencies are doing is legal or even effective. We know they lie, so we can’t take their word for anything.

Mr. Fish shows us what we are left with.

We created a government with checks and balances and it is about time the legislative and judicial branches started earning their paychecks.

Back when the NRA first advocated arming teachers in March of 2005, I felt certain the insurance costs of the schools would leap.

David Atkins found a piece in the New York Times indicates that insurance for schools who are arming teachers isn’t more expensive – it’s priceless, because insurance companies won’t sell them policies.

If insurance companies think it is too risky to take your money, maybe you should re-think your plan and consider a few counseling sessions.

Position: 12.4N 56.1W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: West-Northwest [285°] near 26 mph [43 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 50 mph [ 80 kph].
Wind Gusts: 60 mph [ 95 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 90 miles [150 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1010 mb.

Currently about 235 miles [ 380 km] East-Southeast of Barbados.

An aircraft will investigate the storm this afternoon. The current forecast indicates that Barbados, St Lucia, Hispaniola, Guantanamo, and the Bahamas are in for some nasty weather this week.

The aircraft is now in the storm.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for Barbados, St Lucia, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Dominica, Puerto Rico and the southern coast of the Dominican Republic from Cabo Engano to the border with Haiti

A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for St Vincent, Vieques, Culebra, and the northern coast of the Dominican Republic from North of Cabo Engano to Cabo Frances Viejo.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]