Posts from — November 2015

I was attempting to figure out what was going on in France and was reminded why the American media is worthless as a source of information.

The people that the US media uses to “analyze” security issues are political crackpots. Having been in the military or in the intel community doesn’t make their political posturing any less absurd. To posit that the US is in danger because the concepts of ‘innocent until proven guilty’, habeas corpus, and the Bill of Rights are preventing security forces from working effectively to protect the homeland, is to advocate the policies of the KGB and/or the Gestapo.

Other analysts are claiming that Edward Snowden is to blame for disclosing that the government was violating the law and the Constitution, forcing security agencies to comply.

These people don’t seem to understand that real terrorists already assume that governments are violating their own laws and wiretapping everyone, so they don’t use telecommunications.

Since it’s the weekend, watch this cat treat commercial: “Say sorry for the holidays”

Friday the 13^th in Paris: “Three teams of assailants launched the co-ordinated deadly attacks in Paris that left 129 people dead another 352 injured, 99 of them in critical condition, Paris prosecutor François Molins said Saturday.”

The most important target would have been the football match between the international sides of France and Germany at Stade de France, north of Paris. Not only were there tens of thousands of people at the stadium, there were a number of high ranking political figures from both countries, including French President François Hollande. Because of the presence of these VIPs, there was tight security and screening of people attempting to enter the stadium which detected the threat. No one inside the stadium was injured, but there were casualties outside.

The rock concert at the Bataclan hall with an audience of 1,500 was the site of the majority of deaths and injuries.

The third team attacked restaurants and bars on the Right Bank.

The dispersed attacks were designed make the terror widespread and divide first responders.

The weapons and explosives were apparently smuggled into Belgium and then moved into position. The Belgians have made additional arrests today. They had already uncovered a weapons’ cache earlier this year.

France is a member of NATO. President Hollande has classified this as an act of war. Other members of NATO have treaty obligations to assist any member who has been attacked. ISIS just bought into a whole lot of trouble.

Yes, it’s Friday the 13^th again. The 13^th falls on a Friday more than any other day of the week, so get over it. It’s only valid in in English and Portuguese speaking countries, so go visit a Spanish-speaking neighborhood for the day.

If you want to blame someone, it’s the calendar of Pope Gregory XIII that created this imbalance. [He obviously didn’t have a problem with the number on any day.]

Intervention

Just one more game!

[Editor: Property is helping Excise with his Mahjong addiction.]

Friday Ark

Atrios was correct in the reaction to the situation in Missouri. Protests and hunger strikes were going nowhere, but a strike by the football team got action: President Tim Wolfe resigned, and Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin will be leaving in January.

What Trump and the other politicians obviously don’t understand is that Wolfe was a CEO appointed to run the University of Missouri system “like a business”. He had been cutting costs by transferring them to the faculty, staff, and students while “investing in a profit center” by building a new sports facility at a cost of approximately $78 million.

Like most CEOs, he ignored his customers [students], and his employees [faculty and staff], but he couldn’t ignore his main profit center – an NCAA Division I football team in the Southeastern Conference. If that team didn’t play a scheduled game the University lost a million dollars.

Trump is arrogant enough that he probably wouldn’t have resigned and would have had to be fired after costing the University a few million dollars.

Position: 40.1N 52.3W [ 9PM CST 0300 UTC].
Movement: East-Northeast [065°] near 41 mph [67 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 70 mph [110 kph].
Wind Gusts: 90 mph [145 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 240 miles [390 km].
Minimum central pressure: 983 mb ↓.

Currently about 455 miles [ 735 km] South of Cape Race, Newfoundland.

Kate has topped out and will probably become Post-Tropical tomorrow.

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.]

At the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918 the guns fell silent. The Great War, The War to End All Wars, was over…for a couple of decades.

The red poppies of Flanders fields became a symbol of that war and the veterans that returned from it. Known as Remembrance Day in much of the world, the poppies will be in evidence. Remembrance Day observances have more in common with the American Memorial Day as a day to honor those who have died in war.

First called Armistice Day in the United States, the name was changed to Veterans Day, and its purpose changed to honoring those who are serving, or have served in the military. The change was made to avoid a conflict with the existing Memorial Day observance that goes back to the Civil War era.

A heart felt salute to everyone who managed to survive basic training. We can hope that sooner, rather than later, there will be no need for another generation to put on uniforms.

Position: 33.9N 69.5W [ 9PM CST 0300 UTC].
Movement: Northeast [055°] near 35 mph [56 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 70 mph [110 kph].
Wind Gusts: 90 mph [145 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 80 miles [130 km].
Minimum central pressure: 998 mb ↓.

Currently about 355 miles [ 570 km] East-Southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.

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.]

Position: 27.2N 76.0W [ 9PM CST 0300 UTC].
Movement: North [360°] near 15 mph [24 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 60 mph [ 95 kph].
Wind Gusts: 75 mph [120 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 80 miles [130 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1005 mb ↓.

Currently about 175 miles [ 280 km] North-Northeast of the Northeastern Bahamas.

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.]

If you use deadly physical force that results in the actual death of someone who did not pose a deadly threat to you or another, you are a murderer. It is irrelevant whether or not you are wearing a uniform.

Badtux notes that the head of the Fraternal Order of Police is making threats against Quentin Tarantino for acknowledging that some police officers have murdered unarmed civilians.

The BBC reports on a recent case: Louisiana marshals face murder charge over boy’s gun death. The officers were charged with murder based on the video from their body cameras.

Law enforcement officers would be better served by getting rid of the ‘bad apples’, not attacking the people who notice they exist.

Verifying claims made in Ben Carson’s biography 😈

Apparently in Ben’s world employers should never check the resumes of job applicants. If you run for office, especially an office that requires access to classified material, your life is going to be examined under a microscope.

Just as a point of clarity for people: there is no such thing as a scholarship to a US military academy. The majority students accepted apply to their Congresscritter for an appointment. If appointed, you agree to a period of military service in exchange for the education. You are in the military and receive pay while at the academy.

With ‘friends’ like this…

Ran Baratz: Israel ‘to review’ appointment over Facebook row

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu will “review” the appointment of his new communications director over comments he made criticising US President Barack Obama and others, the US says.

On Facebook, Ran Baratz accused Mr Obama of anti-Semitism and described US Secretary of State John Kerry as having a “mental age” of no more than 12.

Mr Netanyahu has described the comments as totally unacceptable.

He is due to visit the White House next week for a US-Israeli summit.

I’m still waiting for someone to explain why the US puts up with this. The Likudniks keep insulting the government of the United States and still expect to receive US aid.

The BBC said US rejects Keystone XL pipeline from Canada, although it was technically Obama doing the rejecting.

The CBC reports on reaction in stories like: (Alberta Premier Rachel) Notley disappointed Obama called Alberta oil ‘dirty’ while rejecting Keystone pipeline.

The CBC’s senior correspondent, Neil Macdonald, is a bit more realistic: The dead parrot that was the Keystone XL pipeline and why Obama killed it.

From the beginning this was about making money for a Canadian company by selling the refined products from Alberta tar sands to Asia. The US would be taking the risks by transporting this toxic sludge through pipes across major water sheds and refining it to load on to ships for the trip to Asia. There would be a minimal increase in permanent jobs and no affect on US oil prices. The US takes the risks and Canada takes the money?

Oh, I’m sorry, these are Republican political stories.

Ben Carson believes that Joseph built the pyramids to store grain – stone silos. People are upset, but, come on, all Republicans make up their version of history.

George HW Bush slams Rumsfeld and Cheney in new biography. Well, it certainly took him long enough to figure that out.

In Louisiana politics: “On Thursday, Louisiana Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne, a Republican who was eliminated from the state’s gubernatorial race in the jungle primary last month, endorsed Democrat John Bel Edwards over [former Republican Senator David] Vitter for governor.”

The last time this happened the Republicans backed another Democrat named Edwards, Edwin Edwards. The Republican candidate was David Duke. The slogan was ‘The Lizard not the Wizard’. Vitter is just a pervert.