Category Archives: Current News

This is about stuff in the mass media that generally has a short interest life span. Speculation about an election outcome a few days before the election is an example.

Another Normal Day in Israel

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From my friend in Israel this morning:

Friends:

Breaking news is that in the morning’s barrage of Kassam rockets on the northern Negev towns (it is a regular going-to-school-time event) there were killed and wounded. So far the count is 3 rockets overnight and 8 rockets this morning .

Today is, “What you may not have heard on CNN or FOX News.”

Today’s word is “Insanity.”

Three separate parts of the same terrorist organization, Fatah, declared open season on anything and everything American because the USA vetoed the “UN resolution condemning Israel for the Massacre in Beit Hanun.” If they were not firing rockets into Israel there would be no fire returned from Israel. Fatah is the PLO Chairman’s group. They are the ones being armed and trained at breakneck pace by the USA as well as being armed and supplied with ammo for the AKs and M16 they are receiving from Egypt, Jordan and even Israel (Israel’s leadership is no better than anyone else’s) with America’s blessing, if not at America’s behest.

The Iranian President just announced he is willing to talk to the USA (if the USA behaves correctly), but in the “fine print” of his speech Ahmadinejad proudly proclaimed he will have his nuclear fuel production ready by Spring. Someone in the West better start a countdown that ends before Iran’s countdown ends.

Enormous amounts of arms (more advanced and of enhanced ability) are pouring into the Gaza Strip. That what happens when you let the “policing” to someone other than yourself, in this case the Egyptians. Now our leaders are taking it one step further. There are discussions to further open (full-time) the Rafah Crossing (Egypt-Gaza). This continuing US State Department brainchild would have the PLO Presidential Guard (you may know them as Force 17, exceptionally good at conducting terrorist operation) deployed to secure the border crossing. That is like putting the drug deal[er]s in charge of the security at the border crossing between Mexico and San Diego.

I worry about my kids getting hurt on the way to school– from traffic, fights, strangers, and such.  I have a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that some people worry about getting hit by rockets every single day.  I wonder what happens to the American intellectuals (the Leftists and journalists who want us to believe they have a monopoly on compassion, and another on understanding) when they hear about these things.  No, they can’t mention it, can’t even think about it, if it doesn’t further their political goals.

The Fruits of “Peace Talks”

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While we’re making plans for the holidays, and while we’re listening to political ads about which party will fight the most politically-correct war against the Jihad (no, wait, no one is saying anything about Jihad in Washington.  Its “terror”– they’re fighting a war against an emotion) the missiles are landing regularly in Israel, and the Israelis are bracing for more violent attacks.

 

Decades of “peace talks” and “summits” and trading “land for peace” have led us to this point.  They’ve led to an enemy that has increased confidence and increased capabilities.  For this I place the blame squarely on the Left.  I also blame the “Conservatives”, for being too much like the Left.

 

What we need are warriors, not politicians.  When are we going to learn that our enemies must be defeated before we can “negotiate” peace with them?  They must be thoroughly convinced, beyond all hope, of their total defeat.  Only then will we have any hope of peace.

 

This is from my friend (I call him a friend, though we’ve never met) a marksmanship instructor in Israel:

Friends:

 

Basically this entire week is considered the Id al-Fitr Moslem Holiday.  Wonderful for those of us living in northern Jerusalem because it would appear that through this morning, there is virtually no rush hour traffic.  Hard for me to believe, but if the horrendous rush-hour traffic jams renew once the holiday is over, then one can conclude the congestion is caused by an unreal number of vehicles coming from the villages and towns north of Jerusalem.

 

The signs of impending conflict are growing.  Everyone is waiting the holiday’s end as if it signals the start of the terrorism season – a new, improved terrorist violence with the terrorists possessing new, advanced weapons, huge stockpiles of ammunition and munitions and a year’s preparation time well spent.

 

Hamas and the other terror groups want to “Lebanonize” the Gaza Strip.  They are well on their way.  During the last few days Israel has certainly “upgraded” its operations against the terrorists in the Gaza Strip.  There have been some successes, either the terrorists were preoccupied and got sloppy or the IDF got lucky.  Or there is simply so much terrorist preparation and activity going on that it was inevitable an IDF patrol would bump into a terrorist force.

 

It may all be brinkmanship.  There is a lot of talk of a Hamas “preemptive” strike across a wide front, employing everything from West Bank based cells, to barrages of missiles and commando style raids with terrorists emerging “behind the lines” from underground tunnels.  Who knows.

 

Avigdor is now a government minister and deputy prime minister.  The government is going from left to right faster than the Labor party can make excuses for why it remains in the government.   The Chief-of-Staff made a surprise visit at 07:00 yesterday morning to a base on the Golan Heights to “check alertness.”  Syrian positions all along the Golan Heights are preparing for an Israeli attack.

 

I probably should start figuring out where I would like to be (and cover as a reporter) if violence renews.  Interesting thought. One which I shall ponder.

 

Have a good day and stay safe,

 

Howard

Equal Time for the Uninteresting

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Fox News did a report a few days ago about Jay Leno having Kah-Lee-Foe-un-yuh Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appear on his show.  It was all about the “equal time clause” and whether Leno should be forced to have Arnold’s opponents on for some “equal time”.

Maybe Hollywood should be forced to cast Arnold’s political opponents as the stars in several hit movies, too.  It makes every bit as much sense, what with all the pre-election exposure all those movies are giving to Arnold.  Alternatively, We could force Blockbuster to quietly pull all of Arnold movies until after the election.  Its sickening to think about it, but I’m sure there are more than a few U.S. Congresswhores in both parties who would be willing to consider doing just that.

Update:  I though I was making a joke, but alas, no.  This has already been done by some broadcast stations.

Television stations also stopped airing Schwarzenegger’s movies after he declared his candidacy to avoid violating the equal time provision.

I found it striking that at no point in the fox broadcast, or in several others I found, did anyone ever mention any possibility that Leno might have a right to invite anyone on his show anytime he feels like it.  Freedom, I guess, isn’t worth discussing anymore.  Instead, we’re to argue in detail only about how and when we are going to exercise coercion and how thoroughly justified we are in doing so.  Apparently, fairness demands more Stalinism.

Germans Retreat in Fear of Islamo-Nazis

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A mere 70 some years after many Jews no doubt told each other, “Careful not to piss off the Nazis.  It might antagonize them” we see the German government ceding to the Jihadis’ wishes.  No doubt this will be a big help in bringing “Peace In Our Time”.

Mozart’s Idomeneo, re di Creta (K. 366) was written in 1780, and premiered in Munich in 1781.  225 years later, it has become politically incorrect– apparently banned in Germany until further notice.  My! How we have progressed.

LONDON (Reuters)
Berlin security officials had warned that staging the opera “Idomeneo” would pose an “incalculable security risk.”

The controversy centered on a scene in which King Idomeneo is shown on stage with the severed heads of Buddha, Jesus, Mohammad and the sea god Poseidon.

This Mozart was an unusual fellow.  Here’s a background of the offending opera.  You can see it performed for yourself, or arrange a community showing.

On a slightly interesting side note;  Mozart died in December of 1791– the same month in which our United States Bill of Rights was ratified.  Both, it seems, are unpopular today among idiots.

How can anyone not “get it”

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The Muslim extremist culture must be destroyed. The apologists in the west think we need to get out of the Mideast, or stop supporting Israel, or “something”. In other words we did something wrong.

So tell me what Thailand has done to deserve this:

Two bombs exploded in front of a pub and parking lot at the mall. The third was set off at a massage parlour. The other two bombs exploded at departments stores, including one in a restroom.

Authorities quickly blamed separatist insurgents for the attack. Since 2004, they have waged a bloody campaign that has left at least 1,700 dead, mostly civilians.

“We do believe that the insurgents are responsible for the bombs attack,” said military spokesman Lt.-Gen. Palangoon Klaharn. “Their intention is to spread fear in the region.”

The Thai army warned military personnel in the deep south to be on high alert from Saturday through Wednesday, after reports of possible attacks by the Gerakan Mujahidin Islam Pattani to mark an anniversary.

Last month, Thai militants launched a series of daylight attacks against banks in Yala province, killing one, injuring nearly 30 and forcing the temporary closure of financial institutions.

Even the Thai military is trying to do the “peace thing.”

The attacks, in Songkhla province’s commercial centre of Hat Yai, came hours after the military staged a peace rally in the south, site of a Muslim insurgency, where it expressed hope people would work with authorities to end the violence.

The only peace the Muslim extremists want is the peace of submission. The only peace they deserve is that of death or a prison cell.

Utah Supreme Court Justices Domonstrate Ability to Read

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Here’s something you don’t see– a gun ban struck down on constitutional grounds, thoughbeit a state constitution:

“The Utah Supreme Court on Friday struck down a ban on guns at the University of Utah, saying campus officials cannot adopt a policy that runs counter to state law.”

Did I read that right?  State institutions cannot enact policies in violation of the constitution?  This is groundbreaking stuff (well, outside the issue of public funding for Maplethorpe or Piss Christ exhibits, et al, being claimed as “free speech” elsewhere).

Here is the pertinent language out of Utah, courtesy of the Second Amendment Foundation:

Utah Constitution Article I, Section 6

The individual right of the people to keep and bear arms for security and defense of self, family, others, property, or the state, as well as for other lawful purposes shall not be infringed; but nothing herein shall prevent the Legislature from defining the lawful use of arms.

Take note that security and defense of self, family, others, property, or the state are mentioned as the primary reason why the right to keep and bear arms should be protected.  That blows the whole “Sporting Purposes” test concept all to hell, doesn’t it?  But Utah reserves the right to define “lawful use”, like, I guess, not allowing shooting at your local community range at 03:00 for instance, without an effective sound suppressor.  That makes sense.

And “…defense of…property”?  There’s an obscure concept.

Now, if we could only get the several states to recognize the U.S. Constitution, it wouldn’t matter what any state constitution says about the keeping and bearing of arms (unless I am mistaken, the U.S. Constitution prevents, ostensibly, your home state legislature from banning newspapers, forcing Catholics to wear crucifix arm bands, for example, or reinstating slavery, but maybe someone could correct me on that).

The NRA linked to the story also, but had little to say about it as of this writing.

Rescue a woman from slavery

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Alright guys. This has to rank near the top of the list of the most despicable crimes. Keep your eyes open as you go about your business and report anything suspicious.

Neighbours who believe they live next to property being used for sex slaves are being urged to help the fight against human trafficking.

A drive will also appeal for men who frequent brothels to contact the police anonymously and without fear of prosecution with concerns about women who appear to be working there against their will.

Senior officers want people to look out for women who cannot speak English, seem reticent or afraid and are not allowed out without being accompanied by a man.

The next time Barb takes me to a brothel you can be sure I’ll be on the lookout.

The future of air travel

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I don’t have a problem with being interviewed before flying commercially. I do have a problem with searching through my stuff, especially when it including the clothes I’m wearing. That’s why I think it’s possible, but not likely, for these efforts to bear palatable fruit:

In the U.S., small teams of TSA screeners walk around Logan and Dulles, among others, trying to find people who look nervous. The program — dubbed Screening Passengers by Observation Technique, or SPOT — was first used by state police at Logan.

They consulted with psychiatrists to develop a behavioral profile. In addition to obvious things like someone sweating excessively on a cool day, the teams look for people whose facial expressions are deemed to be hiding an emotion. The teams haven’t caught any terrorists though they have detained several people with outstanding criminal warrants, TSA spokeswoman Peppin says.

The agency wants to expand the program and replace contractors who collect identification at airport checkpoints with staff trained in interrogation and behavior identification, Peppin says.

`Conversation With Congress’

“It may be something that we roll out initially in small airports,” she says. “Any kind of total transition would require a larger conversation with Congress and our airline partners.”

The reason I think it’s unlikely to be acceptable is because of their underlying attitude:

There may be no better time to push for tougher measures, Loy says. He contrasted today’s climate with a 1759 comment by Benjamin Franklin, who said those who would give up liberty for “a little temporary safety” deserve neither.

“He wasn’t getting on airplanes,” Loy says.

That statement hightlights they don’t fully understand the problem. The problem isn’t just that existing airport/airplane security is a joke, the problem includes that there are certain inalienable rights being infringed.

Talking to the barking moonbats

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I can’t imagine who would believe this:

Vice President Gholamreza Aghazadeh, head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, said Saturday that the heavy-water plant will also be used to treat and diagnose AIDS and cancer, and for other medicinal and agricultural purposes.

Well, there are the barking moonbats I guess. They probably will believe it.

I just read Scott Adams thought experiment about dealing with Iran. Scott’s hypothesis is it’s mostly about pride. But I think he is ignoring the Islam component and nearly a 1000 years of history. But while I regard it as a worthwhile thought experiment I don’t see any reason to revise my inclinations on what to do about Iran.

Just in case you had some doubts

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Airport security is a joke. It only exists to make some people feel better. Case in point:

HOUSTON – A college student’s checked luggage on a Continental Airlines flight to Houston from Argentina on Friday contained dynamite, and federal authorities are investigating why he had it and what he intended to do with it, an FBI spokeswoman said.

“Certainly we are doing a thorough investigation and trying to find out what this individual’s intention was in trying to bring dynamite here,” FBI spokeswoman Shauna Dunlap said Friday.

The dynamite was found during a luggage search in a federal inspection station at Bush Intercontinental Airport shortly after Continental Flight 52 landed about 6 a.m. Friday. Marlene McClinton, spokeswoman for the Houston Airport System, said a bomb-sniffing dog “had a hit” on explosive residue during a further search.

Read that closely. They found the dynamite AFTER the plane landed.

This has to be one the easiest to detect cases. One of the problems with explosives sniffers is that someone can custom make an explosive that isn’t detected by existing detection devices. The problem is similar to the computer anti-virus vendors. They have databases of “virus signatures” they compare suspect attachments and files to. If it matches something they have in their database they flag it as a virus and handle it appropriately. If a new virus shows up they have to update their database with the new signature. Commercially available explosives, such as dynamite, should be within the capabilities of the explosives sniffer.

Even in this easy case the system failed. We don’t yet know why it failed this time but in general it’s an exceedingly tough problem because of what is called the “attack surface”. There are many hundreds of airport, thousands of sensors, doors, gates, fences, and walls defining the “secure” areas, and tens of thousands of people with privileged access to the “secure” areas. Each of these airports, each of these secure areas, and each of these people is a potential point of attack. Together they form the “attack surface”.  Because the attack surface is so large the probability of their being a weak spot someplace is very high. Hence the problem is very difficult to solve.

IMHO the problem is so difficult to solve using the existing paradigm we should divert all the existing resources to a different paradigm. That new paradigm is being on the offense rather than being entirely defensive/reactive. First (back in the 70’s) we defended against guns, then box-cutters and knives, then cigarette lighters, and most recently liquids and gels. We are always defending against the most recent attack. We need to make them be defending against our attacks. This paradigm change would also stop the infringment of some of our rights.

But, as you know, airport “security” isn’t about actual security. It’s about making some people feel better.

Update: I forgot to mention that Sean gave me the link to the article.

Terrorist Check-In Policy

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I watched a lengthy segment on the news the other day about the recent liquid explosives issue.  We were told that airline passengers could no longer bring liquids, gels, etc. onto a plane as carry-on luggage, but rather should take such items on as checked-in baggage.  Translation:  Muslim terrorists are now required to load their liquid explosives onto your plane as check-in baggage.  I guess that means they’ll need delayed or remote controlled detonators rather than manually operated ones.  That’ll show ’em.

Effective August 10, 2006, the TSA has advised that travelers are not allowed to transport any liquids, gels, lotions, aerosols or similar items on their person or in their carry-on luggage. This includes items such as beverages, hairspray, toothpaste and shampoo. Customers are advised to transport these items in their checked luggage or discard them before entering the security checkpoints.

Emphasis mine.  Seriously, am I missing something important here or is that insane?  None of the news anchors appeared to think anything was odd about the story.

Ignoring the obvious

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Despite standing right beside the Muslim extremist who shot her and listening while he “ranted on the phone about Jews, Israel and the U.S. role in the war in Iraq and the Middle East” Ms Klein is concerned about all the wrong things:

Klein said she hopes the shooting will serve to renew local and national efforts to draft gun control legislation.

How and why Haq “was able to legally acquire two semi-automatic weapons in our state is still a very disturbing mystery to me,” she said.

…

“Naveed Haq has wasted enough of my time,” she said.

Huh? Haq is the reason she may not regain the use of her hand. His extremist religious beliefs are the reason he and millions of others want her dead. And she is distrubed because it’s legal to purchase firearms? Had she purchased and carried a similar firearm she and others might not have been shot. She should exercise her rights, her brain, and before pushing for more useless gun control legislation answer Just One Question.

For reference see:

It’s not surprising

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I don’t probably don’t blame Reuters as much as a lot of others do. People have a very strong tendency to hear what they want to hear and disregard the rest. Reuters got caught and is apparently taking the appropriate action.

Someone from the culture in a war zone is going to find it much easier to get pictures and stories that a less biased outsider would be. But then they are going to have their own biases, because of their culture, in that war. If the people at Reuters biases tend to align with the incoming pictures and stories it would be easy to look at pictures and stories less critically as those that did not.

That doesn’t mean I don’t think we should look the other way when it happens. Just don’t try and arrange a lynching because of it. A light flogging should be sufficient.

Here’s the story for those that haven’t been reading the big name bloggers:

 

Conversion units

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From the UK Times:

Since Israel started to bomb Hezbollah targets in Lebanon last month, it has asked for faster delivery of JP8 jet fuel and guided bomb units (GBU28s). The jet fuel order could be worth up to $210 million and the 100 GBU28s, which are better-known as bunker busters, could cost $30 million. Other outstanding deliveries include F16 fighter jets and armoured troop carriers.

Just as computer programmers turn caffeine into code Israel converts jet fuel and bombs into dead terrorists.

Interesting times in Cuba too

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Castro is getting old and feeble. Some are even saying he is already dead. There could be fighting break out there too. A Cuba without Castro could be very interesting. It would be hard to imagine it being any worse than it is under the thumb of Castro.

Don’t be timid

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One of the things we teach in self-defense classes is to not be timid. If you take an aggressive stance, preferably with a loaded large caliber firearm, your attacker is far more likely to rearrange their to-do list such that causing you harm is placed at a much lower priority than previously. On the other hand if your voice quivers and you look like you are about to break and run that increases the odds of violence being committed against you. Apparently Israel understands this:

The Israeli cabinet has agreed to widen the country’s ground offensive against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

The decision, made at a closed door session, received unanimous approval, a senior political source said.

Earlier Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ruled out an immediate truce, saying Israel would continue its offensive as long as its security was threatened.

Good for them. I hope we are giving them satellite images and/or whatever else help we can without being too overt about it. Some good deals on bombs for their warplanes wouldn’t hurt my feelings either.

America’s OTHER Department of Homeland Security

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I would like to think that with last Friday’s tragic event we can wake the Jews up in this country to the benefits of sensible gun control (trigger prep, sight alignment, squeeze). Israpundit gives them a good shake here:

Now we remember why we have such little use for the Anti-Defense League: this is the same batch of Kumbaya-singers that supports gun laws like those enacted to disarm Jews in Nazi Germany and thus facilitates exactly the same kind of terroristic violence that took place last Friday.

I rather like this cartoon too:

Quote of the day–Jeff Cooper

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Remember when Kennesaw, Georgia, made it mandatory for all households to be armed, and the media viewed this with dismay?  Well note further that in Kennesaw, Georgia, where there used to be very little armed violence, there now seems to be none.

What was it that Heinlein said about an armed society?

Jeff Cooper
From Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries
Vol. 3, No. 1
13 January 1995
[Barb, James, and I spent the evening last night with some Jewish friends that are loosely associated with the Jewish center that was shot up on Friday. More Jews need to be armed in this country when (not if) they are attacked again the response needs to be immediate and decisive. This will reduce future attacks. Taking a 13 year old girl hostage and shooting a pregnant women is a cowardly thing to do. It wouldn’t take much display of force to convince cowards such as these to reconsider their actions. I also give my endorsement of some Muslims condemning the attack and expressing sympathy for the victims.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Ehod Danoch

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We will win because we are good and they are evil. We will win because we always came in peace and they came with a call for the destruction of the state of Israel.

…

If the international community will not make an end to the Hezbollah, we will make an end to the Hezbollah. We are after the terrorists and we will be after them until Israel will be 100 percent, from all the world, secure.

 

Ehod Danoch
Israel’s general consul to the Southwest United States
July 19, 2006
Las Vegas Jewish community told Israel to prevail in current war
[Like no other country on this planet, Israel knows what we are dealing with in this world war. Just as Hitler wanted to kill all the Jews so do the Islamic extremists. Israel, you’ve got the ball, now run with it and don’t stop until you’ve won.–Joe]