tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58033850709227974512024-03-17T20:04:05.410-07:00The Skeptical BureaucratFrom deep inside the foundations of our Republic's capital cityTSBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02790614121966204073noreply@blogger.comBlogger2050125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5803385070922797451.post-28176925263004941762024-03-14T14:40:00.000-07:002024-03-14T14:40:39.653-07:00First Saudi Male AI Robot Gets Handsy With Female Reporter <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">All too humanoid. First Saudi AI robot cops a feel at a press conference. <a href="https://t.co/RizqleDFDV">https://t.co/RizqleDFDV</a></p>— TSB (@TweetingTSB) <a href="https://twitter.com/TweetingTSB/status/1768388977810137571?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 14, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><div><br /></div>
Just too funny. <div><br /></div><div>Is it something in the sand, or the silicon, over there?
</div><div><br /></div>TSBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02790614121966204073noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5803385070922797451.post-17005981594498841912024-03-11T12:35:00.000-07:002024-03-11T12:38:49.573-07:00Latest Update From Embassy Haiti: Still Evacuating Non-Essential Staff
At 3PM Eastern time the embassy website posted this update: <a href="https://ht.usembassy.gov/u-s-military-conducts-operation-to-augment-security-of-the-u-s-embassy-in-haiti/" target="_blank">U.S. military conducts operation to augment security of the U.S. Embassy in Haiti </a>
<blockquote>At the request of the Department of State, the U.S. military conducted an operation to augment the security of the U.S. Embassy at Port-au-Prince, allow our Embassy mission operations to continue, and enable non-essential personnel to depart.
</blockquote><blockquote>This airlift of personnel into and out of the Embassy is consistent with our standard practice for Embassy security augmentation worldwide, and no Haitians were on board the military aircraft. </blockquote><blockquote>Our Embassy remains focused on advancing U.S. government efforts to support the Haitian people, including mobilizing support for the Haitian National Police, expediting the deployment of the United Nations-authorized Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission, and accelerating a peaceful transition of power via free and fair elections.
</blockquote><blockquote>As announced in September 2023, the Department of Defense is postured to provide robust enabling support for the MSS, including planning assistance, information sharing, airlift, communications, and medical support.</blockquote>
Haitians please note that "no Haitians were on board," meaning, we are not taking sides in your local conflict. <div><br /></div><div>U.S. voters please note that "our Embassy remains focused on a laundry list of highly unlikely, not to say laughable, ways to fix Haiti." Anyway, that's my free interpretation of the third para in that update. </div><div><br /></div><div>Meanwhile, I'm sticking with my favorable impression of Jimmy 'Barbecue' Chérizier. Cometh the hour, cometh the man.</div><div> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">'Barbecue' and his gang are showing impressive muzzle discipline in that photo, and I even see some of them with fingers straight and off the trigger. They have my vote for next government leaders. <a href="https://t.co/KWUal8mz91">https://t.co/KWUal8mz91</a></p>— TSB (@TweetingTSB) <a href="https://twitter.com/TweetingTSB/status/1766894134885765256?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 10, 2024</a></blockquote><p> </p> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></div>TSBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02790614121966204073noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5803385070922797451.post-40528107510694660502024-03-07T12:30:00.000-08:002024-03-07T12:30:23.343-08:00"The Washington Elite" Benefit From DOD-Run VIP Medical CareIn case you have every wondered why there might be a strong appeal of populism in contemporary American politics, look no further than this story: <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/03/06/pentagon-healthcare-prioritized-top-us-officials-over-rank-and-file/72856461007/" target="_blank">VIP health system for top US officials risked jeopardizing care for rank-and-file soldiers</a>. <div><br /></div><div>Yes, an OIG investigation found that this VIP practice resulted in your government "prioritizing medical care by seniority rather than medical need." I don't suppose that should raise any ruckus among the hoi polloi, do you? <div><br /></div><div>A few key quotes:
<blockquote>Through a unit at the White House, government personnel were routinely allowed to receive treatment under aliases, providing no home address or insurance information. <u>For some of them, the care was free, as Walter Reed had no way to bill for it or waived charges</u>.
</blockquote><blockquote>White House officials, senior military and other national security leaders, retired military officers, and family members have all benefited. <u>The Washington elite could jump the line when filling prescriptions, book appointments through special call centers, and receive choice parking spots and escorts at military hospitals and other facilities</u>, including Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, according to the Pentagon’s inspector general.
</blockquote><blockquote>At Walter Reed, the program is available to Cabinet members; members of Congress; Supreme Court justices [think RBG]; active-duty and retired generals and flag officers and their beneficiaries; members of the Senior Executive Service who retired from the military; secretaries, deputy secretaries, and assistant secretaries of the Department of Defense and military departments; certain foreign military officers; <u>and Medal of Honor recipients</u>.</blockquote>
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I agree with giving special privileges for that last category, incidentally. As for "the Washington elite," I'd prefer that they use the ordinary federal group health insurance plans - which are excellent, by the way - that all the feds have.<div><br /></div><div>That ought to be elite enough for anyone. </div><div> <div><div><br /></div></div></div>TSBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02790614121966204073noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5803385070922797451.post-37608763409724945172024-02-24T12:12:00.000-08:002024-02-24T12:12:50.172-08:00Carter-Baker Commission: "Absentee Ballots Remain the Largest Source of Potential Voter Fraud.”
Here's a political Blast From the Past that might just become popular again in the current election year, a high-level bipartisan commission that called for tightening up ballot integrity, with a particular warning about absentee ballots. <div><br /></div><div>The Democrat half of the commission was chaired by Jimmy Carter, so you might think its report should have credibility with the left today, and that report warned: “Absentee ballots remain the largest source of potential voter fraud.”
<blockquote>In response to these concerns [of photo identification, new voting technology, and growing numbers of absentee and mail ballots], former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James A. Baker, III, agreed to co-chair a bipartisan commission, housed at Washington D.C.’s American University, to examine these and other outstanding election reform issues. The final report, titled “Building Confidence in U.S. Elections,” stressed the important role of elections in the nation’s democracy and made a series of recommendations, including: </blockquote><blockquote>
* A national system to connect state and local voter registration lists </blockquote><blockquote>
* Voter identification based on a universally available REAL ID card </blockquote><blockquote>
* Policies to improve voter access for all communities, as well as innovations like vote centers and voter information lookup sites </blockquote><blockquote>
* Stronger efforts to combat fraud, especially in absentee voting </blockquote><blockquote>
* Auditable paper backups for all voting technology</blockquote>
The Carter-Baker Commission
<a href="https://www.bakerinstitute.org/sites/default/files/2022-05/bi-pub-carterbakerconfreport-102821.pdf">report is downloadable here</a>.</div><div><br /></div>TSBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02790614121966204073noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5803385070922797451.post-84193856357245681472024-02-24T11:59:00.000-08:002024-02-24T12:15:49.056-08:00Ukraine Encounters Unforeseen Problem - Rodent Damage to Weapon Systems <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Rodents incapacitate millions in eco-friendly military equipment in Ukraine: the unforeseen problem <a href="https://t.co/8JaPBQ4Mek">https://t.co/8JaPBQ4Mek</a></p>— TSB (@TweetingTSB) <a href="https://twitter.com/TweetingTSB/status/1761477003104969194?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><div><br /></div>
This had been reported on previously by UK press (<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/19/rats-on-the-frontline-in-the-fight-against-putin" target="_blank">here</a>), but I hadn't noticed it until now.
<blockquote>Weaponry systems in Ukraine, many of which were supplied by European countries, have been <u>rendered unworkable, not due to Russian interference, but because of damage caused by mice and other rodents</u>. Seemingly, these creatures have developed a preference for cable insulation made of corn fiber over synthetic materials. This predilection leads to malfunctioning electrical installations, rendering the expensive equipment essentially worthless, and requiring rapid overhauling. </blockquote><blockquote>
-- snip -- </blockquote><blockquote>
Several European countries have supplied a wide range of weapon systems. However, the dilemma of ensuring electrical insulation durability has become a sticking point for newer equipment. <u>This issue affects a multitude of nations where ESG (Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance) guidelines are making their way into the arms industry</u>.</blockquote>
Something will have to give. Either tear out the eco-friendly wiring, or consider all those lovely weapon systems to be expendable.
<div><br /></div><div>Presumably both sides will dispense with the environmental justice stuff and get on with the business of killing their fellow man. </div><div><br /></div>TSBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02790614121966204073noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5803385070922797451.post-57717924640791231362024-02-23T12:31:00.000-08:002024-02-23T12:32:20.175-08:00Give That Prime Minister a MAGA Hat <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Albanian PM goes MAGA in front of Blinken: “And despite the rhetoric, despite the colorful way to confront adversaries, I don’t see that NATO was weakened … Every country continued to put more money and to put more effort in increasing the NATO budget.” <a href="https://t.co/ReBLBWRptP">https://t.co/ReBLBWRptP</a></p>— TSB (@TweetingTSB) <a href="https://twitter.com/TweetingTSB/status/1761050536671846433?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 23, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><div><br /></div>
I'll bet A. Blinken didn't see that coming. There he was, having a pleasantly innocuous 'press availability' with his host, the Big Guy in Albania, when that guy peeled out of formation and gave a shout out to Donald Trump and his successful effort to make NATO grow a spine.
<blockquote>But one thing I can say,<u> I had the privilege to be prime minister for Albania in NATO when the former president was there</u>. And despite the rhetoric, despite the colorful way to confront adversaries, I don’t see that NATO was weakened. On the contrary, what was decided before continued to be the case. <u>Every country continued to put more money and to put more effort in increasing the NATO budget</u>. So now, elections are elections, Trump is Trump. American politics is American politics. But I think United States is something more than that. And what makes United States one of a kind in the – in our community of countries and of people all around the world is that United States cannot and will never, in my view, shy away from what are the principles and the values to be protected, whatever it takes. And so I’m not afraid of anything, but of stopping or wavering to continue and protect ourselves through protecting the right of Ukrainians to live in their country, to have their own house intact, to have their children grow there, and to have a common future with everyone else, without being threatened to be wiped out from maps based on ninth, thirteenth, fifteenth, whatever century. Because if this Pandora box opens then I can tell you we have a lot of maps in this region, but we have to see the future, and it’s only the future that will unite us.
</blockquote><blockquote>So no, I don’t think that NATO will be weakened. I don’t think the United States will shy away from their role and from their leadership. I then that when elections will be over, American business is American business.</blockquote><div><br /></div>The PM is distinctly not concerned about our upcoming national election. <div><br /></div><div>Well, after all, Trump was the first POTUS to give weapons (the Javelin, our most advanced anti-tank rocket) to Ukraine. Obama never did. And he also blocked completion of Russia's Nord Stream II pipeline. So, he kinda does deserve some credit here.<div><br /></div><div>It wouldn't be going too far to expect to see that impromptu endorsement appear on Trump campaign material soon. And if that ad can focus on A. Blinken's face when the PM said all that, it would be extra great.</div></div><div><br /></div>TSBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02790614121966204073noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5803385070922797451.post-3069903941575645692024-02-23T12:05:00.000-08:002024-02-23T12:06:56.632-08:00Red State Tom Joad and the Gripes of Wealth<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4pu0hMs4unk?si=Tge7f2BEjt7bn3qp" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe> <div><br /></div><div>Today's sad economic news of <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/mass-exodus-blue-states-lose-5-million-people-in-largest-u-s-migration-wave/ss-BB1hm2Fu?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531&cvid=30eae15f4c8c4a9494c3979d0d081f3a&ei=66#image=3" target="_blank">the new dustbowl migrants</a>, five million strong, who are pouring out of high tax Blue states and heading for a better life in the southeast, moves me to freely translate Tom Joad's speech at the end of GOW.
<blockquote><br />“Well, maybe like Biden says, a fella ain’t got no income of his own, but on’y a piece of what he leaves you have — an’ then—“
</blockquote><blockquote>“Then what, Tom?”
</blockquote><blockquote>“Then it don’ matter. Then I’ll be all aroun’ in Texas or mebe Florida. I’ll be everywhere a fella can keep some-ah his money. Wherever they’s a fight to lower tax rates, I’ll be there. Wherever they’s a cop beatin’ up a robber, I’ll be cheerin’ him on. If Biden knowed, why, I’ll be in the way guys yell when they’re mad at guv-a-mint — I’ll be in the way kids laugh when they’re goin’ to school with no loans an’ they know a job’l be ready. An’ when our folks keep the stuff they earn an’ live in the houses they bought–why, I’ll be there. See?”</blockquote><p> That's even more touching than the original text, I think. </p><p><br /></p></div>TSBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02790614121966204073noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5803385070922797451.post-52495621820707379362024-02-11T10:29:00.000-08:002024-02-11T13:34:29.864-08:00FBI Agents Abroad "Spendin' Gs, Glocks Poppin' Like Ozone" <iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="391" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Cgoqrgc_0cM" title="JAY-Z - Big Pimpin' ft. UGK" width="521"></iframe> <div><br /></div><div>I was remiss in my post yesterday about <a href="https://skepticalbureaucrat.blogspot.com/2024/02/fbi-agents-abroad-find-commercial-sex.html" target="_blank">traveling FBI officials, commercial sex, and karaoke bars</a> not to post this video. </div><div><br /></div><div>I'm reliably informed it was the Number 1 most popular tune those drunken agents were belting out at every foreign karaoke joint they hit, big cigars in hand. </div><div><br /></div><div>You can imagine it:</div><div><br /></div><div><i>Uhh, uh uh uh </i></div><div><i>It's big pimpin' baby </i></div><div><i>It's big pimpin', spendin' G's </i></div><div><br /></div><div>[Note: Remaining Lyrics <b>REDACTED</b> for a dozen different reasons] </div><div><br /></div><div><i>Glocks popping like ozone
</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>They love it. </div>TSBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02790614121966204073noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5803385070922797451.post-59272453016704384352024-02-11T10:01:00.000-08:002024-02-11T10:01:14.932-08:00A Bit Strong, IMHO, Protestor Tells HRC "You Will Burn!" <iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wyZ2GK8nGfo?si=s9UM-DHFSUREFXZy" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe><div><br /></div><div>They were escorted out. Proving once again the '60s wisdom, "step out of line, the Man come and take you away" (Buffalo Springfield, <i>For What It's Worth</i>, 1967). </div><div><br /></div>TSBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02790614121966204073noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5803385070922797451.post-78719922817253708772024-02-10T13:56:00.000-08:002024-02-10T14:12:47.904-08:00FBI Agents Abroad Find Commercial Sex An Unfortunate "Cultural Thing," End Up Resigned Or Retired Kudos to National Public Radio, our government-supported media, for reporting on a FOIA disclosure that details the sexual hijinks of FBI officials "on assignment overseas." <div><br /></div><div>Does that mean <i>posted</i> overseas, and therefore under the authority of a Chief of Mission, AKA The Ambassador, or just traveling overseas TDY? From the NPR report, I'm not sure. </div><div><br /></div><div>Here it is: <a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/02/09/1230395361/doj-watchdog-report-fbi" target="_blank">New DOJ watchdog report details FBI officials' misconduct with foreign prostitutes</a>.
<blockquote>Six FBI officials <u>working on assignment overseas solicited or had sex with prostitutes</u>, including at a karaoke bar, a massage parlor, and a gentlemen's club, and then were not forthcoming when questioned by investigators, according to a document released by the Justice Department's internal watchdog.
</blockquote><blockquote>The DOJ's Inspector General's Office made public in 2021 a barebones, one-page summary of its findings that <u>FBI officials had accepted "commercial sex" while on duty abroad</u>, but it did not disclose any details on the misconduct itself.
</blockquote><blockquote>Now, in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, the Inspector General's office has released what's known as a Report of Investigation that dates to Oct. 20, 2021. The 37-page document is heavily redacted, including all references to the identities of the FBI officials as well as the country or countries where the misconduct took place, but it provides a wealth of new details about the six officials' actions.</blockquote>
It seems that our heroes, the traveling FBI agents, frequently accepted opportunities for commercial sex offered to them by their overseas law enforcement counterparts. </div><div><br /></div><div>Thinking of this from the government point of view, I wonder if those offers created a protocol problem in that they put our officials in the position of having to accept a gift in order to avoid embarrassment to the host government? Could be.</div><div><br /></div><div>One of the offenders quoted in the OIG report seems to be making that sort of excuse.
<blockquote>In that same section of the report, an FBI official whose name is blacked out told investigators that he has paid for commercial sex but there have been "zero occasions" where a foreign country has "tried to leverage him as <u>a result of their providing him with a prostitute, adding this is a 'cultural thing unfortunately</u>.'"</blockquote>
I can see how that might happen. It's after work, the locals take our FBI agent out to a cop bar for drinks, then show him the local sights, and end the night with a freebie sent up to his hotel room compliments of his new buddies. </div><div><br /></div><div>That's been known to happen even within CONUS, "unfortunately." How much more likely that it will happen among benighted foreigners? </div><div><br /></div><div>Once back home, however, there were consequences imposed for that misguided cultural exchange.
<blockquote>The officials' actions <u>violated multiple FBI policies</u>, including failing to report contacts with foreign nationals, and failing to report their own misconduct as well as their colleagues' misconduct.
</blockquote><blockquote>The report says three of the officials implicated in the report resigned, two retired and one was removed from his position.</blockquote>
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Let that be a lesson to federal law enforcement officers in general. From now on, leave the tricky overseas cross-cultural stuff to intelligence community people who have the aptitude and training for it. <div> </div>TSBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02790614121966204073noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5803385070922797451.post-85348552367720559262024-02-10T11:25:00.000-08:002024-02-10T16:28:44.155-08:00Lots of Old-Man-Yelling-At-A-Cloud Energy But No Rebuttal of Special Counsel's Report<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PCT-i-S_I98?si=63ZjySXl4Bi1h5JV" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe> <div>There have been only 21,000 views of Joe Biden's most ill-advised press conference, despite 2 million White House YouTube subscribers? </div><div><br /></div><div>Are internet surfers having trouble locating it, or something? </div><div><br /></div><div>Well, at least CNN has seen it, and CNN actually posted this response: <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/09/politics/fact-check-biden-makes-three-false-claims-about-his-handling-of-classified-information/index.html" target="_blank">Fact check: Biden makes three false claims about his handling of classified information</a>:
<blockquote>Biden was combative, forcefully rejecting Hur’s claims that he has a poor memory. But the president was also repeatedly inaccurate, making three claims that were clearly contradicted by [Department of Justice special counsel] Hur’s report.</blockquote>
Specifically, CNN notes three times POTUS made what can only be characterized as false claims concerning where his "willfully retained" and shared classified documents have been all these years, how they were stored, and what level of sensitivity they had. </div><div><br /></div><div>This is black-and-white stuff. POTUS was not exonerated by the report - quite the opposite - and his emphatic denials at that presser did not rebut anything in the report. </div><div><br /></div><div>Hur decided not to prosecute for the embarrassing reason that a jury might take pity on forgetful and belligerent Grandpa Biden and overlook his culpability. That's a great legal dodge, but a strong political hit since that old man yelling at a cloud is the Chief Executive of the USA. </div><div><br /></div><div>That press conference will leave a big mark.
</div><div><br /></div>TSBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02790614121966204073noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5803385070922797451.post-65681055040434800512024-02-03T12:12:00.000-08:002024-02-03T15:27:58.817-08:00"Wake Up, Mister Jalamneh, it's Time For Your Shot"<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VLWRGWuWnxM?si=OVfdBDRz80_oMaxV" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>
<blockquote><u>"Hamas confirmed that Jalamneh was one of its members</u>. The Jenin Brigade, which includes a number of Palestinian armed resistance groups, said in a statement that two of the three men were members of Islamic Jihad" (it says <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/30/israel-troops-kill-three-palestinians-in-west-bank-hospital-ministry" target="_blank">right here</a>). </blockquote><div>
This week's killing of a Hamas leader inside a West Bank hospital generated a lot of amateur commentary of the Geneva Convention-sort. Do the laws of war really prohibit troops from posing as doctors to attack an enemy in a hospital? </div><div><br /></div><div>Put precisely, the question is: was the Israeli action a "ruse of war" - and perfectly legitimate - or a "perfidy" of the sort the Convention <a href="https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/ihl-treaties/api-1977/article-37/commentary/1987" target="_blank">prohibits</a>?</div><div><br /></div><div>Frankly, who cares? Modern conflict against sub-state adversaries inside dense urban terrain renders quaint any of the notions that govern war between nation states. </div><div><br /></div><div>Israeli troops (or maybe they were civilian agents) entered a hospital posing as medical staff or patients to carry out the highly targeted assassination of a Hamas leader and two associates who were themselves posing as patients. Was that ruse or perfidy?</div><div><br /></div><div>It doesn't matter. Whichever, it was occurring on both sides. Hospitals lose their protected status under the laws of war when they are used for military purposes. Any surviving Hamas leaders ought to be on notice that they need to avoid hiding in hospitals - or using hospitals as arms depots, or hostage prisons, etc., etc. - if they want to stay on the good side of the Geneva Convention. </div><div><br /></div><div> </div>TSBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02790614121966204073noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5803385070922797451.post-68677344874331126942024-01-21T07:52:00.000-08:002024-01-21T14:35:56.864-08:00Socializing Costs to Maximize Private Profit (In the Name of Compassion, Of Course)
UK news media has observed <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12953637/Outrage-Democrat-run-Maine-towns-luxury-digs-migrants-Asylum-seekers-live-rent-free-palace-apartments-balconies-hundreds-born-homeless-sleep-rough.html" target="_blank">outrage over Democrat-run Maine town's luxury digs for migrants</a>, which is more than most of our domestic news media have done.
The key quotes, from my main point of interest:
<blockquote>Maine State Housing Authority budgeted nearly $3.5 million to cover the rents of 60 migrant families in five buildings in Brunswick for two years. </blockquote><blockquote>
They are expected to eventually get permission to work and start earning to pay their own way. </blockquote><blockquote>
The state is also allocating $100,000 to help dozens of Brunswick migrants process their asylum applications and secure work permits. </blockquote><blockquote>
A bus service is in the works to help the migrants get into town.</blockquote>
In other words, the Maine State Housing Authority and other official bodies are providing a bald-faced example of government picking up the social costs of that cheap labor some businesses love so much, especially those in the construction, agriculture, retail, and hospitality industries. <div><br /></div><div>California has gone a giant step further and, starting last week, will enroll all undocumented immigrants in Medi-Cal, California's version of the federal Medicaid program for people with low incomes. Even states that haven't taken that step are nevertheless <a href="https://wpde.com/news/nation-world/denver-hospital-system-may-collapse-due-to-migrant-crisis-we-are-turning-down-patients-southern-border-trump-biden-colorado-denver-health-post-donna-lynne-immigrants-illegal-migrants-asylum-seekers-resources" target="_blank">facing financial collapse</a> due to their own mandates to provide emergency room treatment, primary care, dental care, and childbirth to illegal migrants. </div><div><br /></div><div>Some state hospital systems, such as Denver's, are now asking for federal government bailouts to rescue them from their own decisions. Or, phrasing it more generously, to share their compassion with taxpayers in all 50 states. </div><div><br /></div><div>I suspect that the 22,000 illegal migrants whom Denver reports used its hospital system without charge in the past year just might be employed somewhere or other. Perhaps we might ask those employers to share a bit of that compassion before passing the bill along to the rest of us? </div><div><br /></div><div>Say, wasn't there once a great ruckus raised by the populist left over businesses that dumped the social costs of low-wage jobs on to the taxpayer? I believe there was.
Socializing costs to maximize private profit was once an issue. For example, this:
<blockquote>
“When big companies use the Walmart loophole to force workers on to Medi-Cal, taxpayers pick up the tab,” said California Labor Federation head Art Pulaski. Medi-Cal is the state’s health care program for the poor, elderly and disabled. </blockquote><blockquote>
“Today we are putting legislators on notice that it’s time to hold big corporations accountable to pay their fair share for health care like the rest of us.” </blockquote>
That fine statement was issued <a href="https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/california-labor-moves-to-halt-walmart-abuse/" target="_blank">back in 2013</a>. You could say the same thing today only now the problem is coming from our elected officials instead of Wal-Mart.</div><div> </div>TSBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02790614121966204073noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5803385070922797451.post-45953239343051388242024-01-12T14:43:00.000-08:002024-02-10T16:33:46.903-08:00Sadder But (Maybe) Wiser, HRC's Seminar Students Give Her a Poor Review <br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNvLRe031kQNREAIo1Hcrnxoak9iGUfTvh1nmF_ls3pZJsTQkNjGv5qfzGvcnBNBWEwKygHhpjl0kzQ789gmNDnhdkLakFco3j5nZUNdvTGlVh0QIaO4uPkFrMzupTc7odERPVjEkkRyKnWXTMyq3oCwvokr4vboUGZqEFVURfmqWDUi9h2yF1o9XlHmA/s503/hrc%20word%20cloud.png" style="clear: left; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="409" data-original-width="503" height="325" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNvLRe031kQNREAIo1Hcrnxoak9iGUfTvh1nmF_ls3pZJsTQkNjGv5qfzGvcnBNBWEwKygHhpjl0kzQ789gmNDnhdkLakFco3j5nZUNdvTGlVh0QIaO4uPkFrMzupTc7odERPVjEkkRyKnWXTMyq3oCwvokr4vboUGZqEFVURfmqWDUi9h2yF1o9XlHmA/w400-h325/hrc%20word%20cloud.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">HRC <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2015/12/01/hillary-clinton-is-getting-crushed-on-social-media-captured-in-one-word-cloud/" target="_blank">word cloud - WaPo (2015)</a><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>What's with kids today? Some disappointed students took to the news media this week to criticize Hillary Clinton for putting on an "uninspiring class" at Columbia University, and also "failing to loosen up" (sic, really? Loosen up? Hillary?). </div><div><br /></div><div>You can read about it <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/hillary-clinton-blasted-for-uninspiring-class-at-columbia-university-failing-to-loosen-up/ar-AA1mPsGc?ocid=entnewsntp&cvid=0efc1ee2a0dd4e7da3d5456da7ef97bb&ei=144" target="_blank">here</a>.
Some choice quotes:
<blockquote>The student said it felt like Clinton became less relatable as the semester continued.
</blockquote><blockquote>-- snip --
</blockquote><blockquote>The student said she believed Clinton could have "been more honest" with the students.</blockquote><blockquote>"Usually whenever you start to… get to know [politicians] more on a personal basis, you start to like them a little bit more because they become more humanized. Over the course of the semester, though, I feel like Hillary Clinton became more of a politician than she was at the end."</blockquote>
I'm shaking my head ruefully. She thought Hillary would be relatable and honest? Has it been her experience that politicians become humanized when you sit in a chair and listen to them? </div><div><br /></div><div>Those students could have saved themselves whatever money Colombia charged them for that seminar if they had just done a careful read of the word cloud above. You see how the words UNETHICAL and LIES stand out? That's how WaPo readers saw HRC when she was running for President. </div><div><br /></div><div>She hasn't gotten any better behaved or more honest since then. Today you'd probably find BITTER in the center of that cloud, but no other changes.</div><div><br /></div><div>Write it off, you naïve college kids. Consider yourselves lucky to have learned a big life lesson early. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>TSBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02790614121966204073noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5803385070922797451.post-42943357745300030002023-12-31T11:54:00.000-08:002023-12-31T12:13:29.536-08:00No Kidding, AMCITs Often Engage in 'Client Aggression' At Consular Hardline Windows <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Why the ACS section also has hardened glass: Entitled AMCITs <a href="https://t.co/quNkpIkwWF">pic.twitter.com/quNkpIkwWF</a></p>— diplomattitude (@diplomattitude) <a href="https://twitter.com/diplomattitude/status/1741523798766080182?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 31, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><div><br /></div>
In the halcyon pre-Inman days of embassy security there were no physical barriers at all between Consular Officers and their clients, whether foreign or domestic. "Hardline" walls, doors, and especially windows started to be introduced around 1985-ish, often to furious opposition. <div><br /></div><div>Those of us who implemented the new requirements had only one reliable ally, and that was the low-level officer who had to sit behind the new windows. The bosses often railed against those windows - which, in fairness, had problems that were yet to be solved, such as poor sound transmission* - but I noticed that the poor officers who had to sit behind them were silently grateful. </div><div><br /></div><div>Now, as to AMCITs versus foreigners, any experienced Consular guy that you asked back then told you that the worse threat came from AMCITs. That was so true that when we didn't have the security money to install hardline glass at every consular window at a given post, we prioritized installing it in ACS sections, because those were often the only places the staff had been physical threatened and/or assaulted. </div><div><br /></div><div>Being a numbers guy, I researched this phenomenon with CA/EX in order to document the incidence of assaults on Consular Officers - "client aggression" was the term back then - and justify prioritizing security resources on ACS sections. It was counterintuitive maybe, but easily provable, that THAT was where the threat was.
</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>* About that poor sound transmission, consider that office equipment located behind the hardline in those days, especially printers, was incredibly loud. Consider also that there were no privacy booths for most interviews. Add just the slightest touch of deafness on the part of the officer conducting an interview, and you got this kind of thing: "<i>What? Eh? Tell me again, only louder, about all the personal stuff that compels you to come here today, and please disregard the rows and rows of your fellow foreigners who are sitting just feet away from you on that side of the hardline. Now proceed</i>."</div><div> </div>TSBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02790614121966204073noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5803385070922797451.post-55789222250243094882023-12-31T10:22:00.000-08:002023-12-31T10:23:43.804-08:00Are Self-Interested Domestic and Foreign Parties Spreading Dis-Info About You? That's A Job For Miss Dismal!<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Update?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Update</a><br />Minister of Defense Ministry and Security Head and clearance Affairs Commission Mawlawi Mohammad Yaqoob says; Efforts are being made by self-interested domestic and foreign parties to produce wrong information and send it to different directions through different channels <a href="https://t.co/2lPkLK5ZBh">pic.twitter.com/2lPkLK5ZBh</a></p>— Afghanistan 24/7 (@AfghanUpdates) <a href="https://twitter.com/AfghanUpdates/status/1741472527686480114?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 31, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><div><br /></div>
This whole mis, dis, and mal information problem just keeps spreading. Now it's the Taliban who are suffering from malicious parties spreading 'wrong' information about them. <div><br /></div><div>"<i>Welcome to the party, pal</i>," as they say in my favorite New Years Eve movie. [As a public service, please be aware that if you start that movie at exactly 9:58:13 tonight, you'll see Hand Gruber drop off Nakatomi Plaza and hit the ground at midnight. Better than the Times Square ball drop!]</div><div><br /></div><div>Someone should let the Taliban know that we in the USA have developed <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/news/2022/05/02/fact-sheet-dhs-internal-working-group-protects-free-speech-other-fundamental-rights" target="_blank">robust countermeasures</a> against just such wrong information. I confess to being a little unclear as to exactly who it is who defines 'wrong' from 'right' (and patriotic!) information, but once that wrong stuff is identified we have no end of mysterious and inextricable official justice that we can sic on those malicious parties, be they foreign or domestic. </div><div><br /></div><div>Click on the Miss Dismal link to learn more.</div><div>TSBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02790614121966204073noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5803385070922797451.post-19719563759997316052023-12-28T14:57:00.000-08:002023-12-28T15:00:34.204-08:00The Harry Dunn Case Sequel Gets Off To a Slow Start But Shows PromiseIt isn't the biggest international extradition case, but it's the only one we have right now, and it might yet offer a few tricky plot twists. <div><br /></div><div>Today a <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/fbi-contacts-us-driver-about-extradition-after-crash-left-nurse-unable-to-walk/ar-AA1m9fsU" target="_blank">little bit of news</a> came out on the matter of that American driver who left the UK before he could be charged in a traffic accident, all of it attributed to an interview with the driver's father.</div><div><br /></div><div>Firstly, no one should ever talk to a hostile news media, any more than he should (voluntarily) talk to the authorities. I hope the father in the case will get that message. But, from what he said today we can confirm a few facts that were only hinted at weeks ago when this first became news.</div><div><br /></div><div>The driver, Issac Calderon, is a private citizen who was working on a contract job in the UK - not further identified - which he obtained due to the security clearance he had been granted as a member of the Texas National Guard. He was released from that job after the traffic accident, leaving him unemployed in the UK. </div><div><br /></div><div>His former employer provided him a ticket home, possibly in accordance with whatever terms of employment he had with them.
That employer is potentially a major party of interest in this case, if the accident occurred while Calderon was driving on company business, and especially if the employer owned the vehicle he was driving. If that is so, then there must be a UK insurance company involved, you might assume. </div><div><br /></div><div>Moreover, the driver was left indigent in the UK, having been released from his job by the time he got out of medical treatment for a concussion and other injuries. That puts a new spin on his decision to leave for home on 25 November rather than wait for a court appearance on 1 December. With no job and no money, was he supposed to live on the street while going through the UK's legal process? </div><div><br /></div><div>Here's the gist of the story:
<blockquote>The father of a US citizen who left the UK after being charged with causing a mental health nurse serious injury by dangerous driving has pleaded for donations after the FBI contacted the family about “extraditing him”.
</blockquote><blockquote>Issac Calderon, 22, is accused of being responsible for a car crash in July which left 56-year-old Elizabeth Donowho unable to walk for six weeks.
</blockquote><blockquote>Calderon was due to appear at Kidderminster Magistrates’ Court on December 1 following the incident on the A4103 near Shucknall in Herefordshire.
</blockquote><blockquote>He was labelled a potential “flight risk” by police, but was able to leave the UK on a commercial flight to Texas on November 25.
</blockquote><blockquote>A fundraiser has since been set up on the crowdfunding site GoFundMe by the suspect’s father, Manuel Calderon, in which the family are asking for 15,000 US dollars (£11,760) to help with legal fees.
</blockquote><blockquote>Calderon’s father said the suspect was able to return to the US because “the company that contracted him purchased him a ticket”.
</blockquote><blockquote>Manuel Calderon said his son, whom he called “Isac”, had been offered a contract job in the UK “due to his security clearance with the Texas National Guard”.
</blockquote><blockquote>-- snip --
</blockquote><blockquote>Calderon’s father said his son still has problems with concussion and a fractured humerus following the collision.
</blockquote><blockquote>In his plea for donations on the crowdfunding page, he said: “My son was released from the contract job shortly after and could no longer support himself in the UK.
</blockquote><blockquote>“He reported this to the court but they were not concerned with his financial problems.
“My son was able to return home because the company that contracted him purchased him a ticket.”
</blockquote><blockquote>-- snip --
</blockquote><blockquote>Mr Calderon continued: “My concern for my son was for his wellbeing since at that time he had no funds and still needed his injuries to be looked at.”</blockquote>
Here are some <a href="https://www.justice.gov/criminal/criminal-oia/frequently-asked-questions-regarding-extradition" target="_blank">FAQs regarding extradition</a> courtesy of the U.S. Justice Department. It sounds like the process can get very prolonged, what with separate judicial and executive phases to be completed before the final decision is made by the SecState. </div><div><br /></div><div>And that SecState has quite a bit of latitude since, according to <a href="https://www.state.gov/extraditions" target="_blank">this publicly available source of information</a>, he "may consider issues properly raised before the extradition court or a habeas court as well as any humanitarian or other considerations for or against surrender ... [and] also will consider any written materials submitted by the fugitive, his or her counsel, or other interested parties." </div><div><br /></div><div>Hum. Assume for a moment that all the UK tabloid gossip about 'activities coming under the Official Secrets Act' isn't complete nonsense after all. Were the SecState to find that some U.S. national security interest would be implicated by a trial of Calderon, he would then have to weight that in the balance against the non-fatal injuries done to the British motorist, which hardly rise to the level of serious international crime, after all. </div><div><br /></div><div>Throw in some humanitarian concern for our unemployed and convalescing Texas National Guardsman, plus practical consideration of the UK insurance settlement that we may presume to have been made to the victim, and who knows if he might not decline extradition?</div><div><br /></div><div>Anyway, there would be enough of an argument there to fuel a good old rousing social media circus. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>TSBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02790614121966204073noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5803385070922797451.post-13329479907337532552023-12-23T16:02:00.000-08:002023-12-23T16:10:13.628-08:00A. Blinken's Surprisingly Direct Statement: Why Does Virtually No One Demand Hamas Surrender? <iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="330" src="https://www.c-span.org/video/standalone/?c5099230/user-clip-blinken-asks-world-pressure-hamas-surrender" width="512"></iframe>
<blockquote><br />Everyone would like to see this conflict end as quickly as possible. <u>But if it ends with Hamas remaining in place, and having the capacity and the stated intent to repeat October 7th again and again and again, that’s not in the interests of Israel, it’s not in the interests of the region, it’s not in the interests of the world</u>. And what is striking to me is that even as, again, we hear many countries urging to end this conflict, which we would all like to see, <u>I hear virtually no one saying, demanding, of Hamas, that it stop hiding behind civilians, that it lay down its arms, that it surrender</u>. This is over tomorrow, if Hamas does that. This would have been over a month ago, six weeks ago, if Hamas had done that. And <u>how can it be that there are no demands made of the aggressor, and only demands made of the victim</u>? So it would be good if there was a strong international voice pressing Hamas to do what is necessary to end this. And, again — that could be tomorrow.</blockquote><p>I have to say that I have strange new respect for our SecState after hearing <a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?c5099230/user-clip-blinken-asks-world-pressure-hamas-surrender" target="_blank">that short statement</a>. No equivocating there, no hedging, no 'constructive ambiguity' about his meaning. </p><p>There's probably a story there about how that text got drafted and cleared before he delivered it. What parties in State and the White House agreed with it? Who tried to water it down? Who thought it didn't go far enough? </p><p>That will all have to wait for his memoirs, I suppose.</p><p> </p>
TSBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02790614121966204073noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5803385070922797451.post-10914983211034141752023-12-16T08:49:00.000-08:002023-12-17T10:51:59.051-08:00The Remake Is Never As Good As The Original (Disappointing Review For Harry Dunn Case Sequel)You may have seen the news about another car crash in England in which an American driver injured a local citizen. Despite the UK news media's best efforts to make some drama out of it - as in, the driver is 'associated with secret services,' was on his way to visit the SAS base at Hereford, and doing work that might be covered by the Official Secrets Act - all of that is complete bollocks. There's nothing to see here, folks. It's a bland traffic accident.<div><br /></div><div>The only interesting thing about the case is that the driver returned to the U.S. after he was released from hospital, resulting in an arrest warrant being issued for him when he failed to show up at his court date.
</div><div><br /></div><div>This isn't a case of Harry Dunn redux, with all sorts of interesting matters involving diplomatic immunity, international politics, Britain's Small Man Syndrome, and the ability of social media to make people lose their minds. No, this one is just about a 22-year old private citizen in the UK on a work visa for a job of some kind (TBD) on a U.S. base of some kind (also TBD), who will in due course be rendered back to England to face criminal and civil penalties for injuring, seriously but non-fatally, a fellow motorist. </div><div><br /></div><div>Here's <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/us-man-associated-with-secret-service-leaves-uk-after-nurse-injured-in-crash/ar-AA1lkoXr?ocid=entnewsntp&cvid=a23c7ecc1de04cb89d62f2a7831b04d2&ei=226" target="_blank">as good a news article as any</a> with the few details that are known with any reliability, plus all the baseless speculation and heavy-breathing insinuations of deep, dark, U.S. government skullduggery that the tabloid media, aided by the Dunn family's buffoon of a spokesman, can invent. </div><div><br /></div><div>The latest twist in this unremarkable tale is that the UK media have <a href="https://guernseypress.com/news/uk-news/2023/12/13/us-man-who-left-uk-after-nurse-injured-in-crash-reportedly-now-in-texas/" target="_blank">tracked the driver down</a> to the wonderfully named town of Humble, Texas. </div><div><br /></div><div>By the way, the original cast of the Harry Dunn Story will get together one more time for the curiously late inquest into his death, which seems to be lightly penciled in for next June. See more on that <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-67291330" target="_blank">here</a>. I'll be there with bells on.
</div><div><br /></div>TSBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02790614121966204073noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5803385070922797451.post-15318038018231881762023-12-01T14:48:00.000-08:002023-12-01T14:50:38.022-08:00"Secretary Anthony Lincoln" Visits Jerusalem, According to U.S. Embassy Jerusalem's Facebook<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwkrFKZIVBhHSb8IGM5BA5IWSbVLqI8C3OngMYeVSyTcij0vFo18Q03Hes0c7DT0pJK9Z0JUf7i8lrFmAMQdw5K3RscV6FSucAnvVM9e16hzR9zZHYDz7YuH-UbmGOgk50VPB1wzVV1eh04SaFJhXcKUrUhegah5cXSaxZR4R3YsGZUkczBo4mrgFghs0/s1080/Lincoln.png" style="clear: left; display: block; float: left; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="499" height="846" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwkrFKZIVBhHSb8IGM5BA5IWSbVLqI8C3OngMYeVSyTcij0vFo18Q03Hes0c7DT0pJK9Z0JUf7i8lrFmAMQdw5K3RscV6FSucAnvVM9e16hzR9zZHYDz7YuH-UbmGOgk50VPB1wzVV1eh04SaFJhXcKUrUhegah5cXSaxZR4R3YsGZUkczBo4mrgFghs0/w390-h846/Lincoln.png" width="390" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwkrFKZIVBhHSb8IGM5BA5IWSbVLqI8C3OngMYeVSyTcij0vFo18Q03Hes0c7DT0pJK9Z0JUf7i8lrFmAMQdw5K3RscV6FSucAnvVM9e16hzR9zZHYDz7YuH-UbmGOgk50VPB1wzVV1eh04SaFJhXcKUrUhegah5cXSaxZR4R3YsGZUkczBo4mrgFghs0/s1080/Lincoln.png" style="clear: left; display: block; float: left; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><br /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwkrFKZIVBhHSb8IGM5BA5IWSbVLqI8C3OngMYeVSyTcij0vFo18Q03Hes0c7DT0pJK9Z0JUf7i8lrFmAMQdw5K3RscV6FSucAnvVM9e16hzR9zZHYDz7YuH-UbmGOgk50VPB1wzVV1eh04SaFJhXcKUrUhegah5cXSaxZR4R3YsGZUkczBo4mrgFghs0/s1080/Lincoln.png" style="clear: left; display: block; float: left; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><br /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwkrFKZIVBhHSb8IGM5BA5IWSbVLqI8C3OngMYeVSyTcij0vFo18Q03Hes0c7DT0pJK9Z0JUf7i8lrFmAMQdw5K3RscV6FSucAnvVM9e16hzR9zZHYDz7YuH-UbmGOgk50VPB1wzVV1eh04SaFJhXcKUrUhegah5cXSaxZR4R3YsGZUkczBo4mrgFghs0/s1080/Lincoln.png" style="clear: left; display: block; float: left; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><br /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>
Okay, his name is "A. Blinken," and I suppose that does present opportunities for screw-ups, but that one screw-up is particularly choice. <div><br /></div><div><i>Abe Blinken? </i>
</div><div><i><br /></i></div></div>TSBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02790614121966204073noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5803385070922797451.post-28160368753265146062023-12-01T14:36:00.000-08:002023-12-01T15:10:43.357-08:00'Gold Bar Bob' Menendez Switches Lawyers, Plus a Co-Defendant Eats Some CheeseSenator Robert Menendez's <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/sen-bob-menendez-splits-from-super-lawyer-and-his-gold-bar-case-could-have-a-rat/ar-AA1kQ5CI?ocid=entnewsntp&cvid=967aeca033e3498aa4543281c7c6a154&ei=93" target="_blank">legal troubles increase</a>. From the WaPo:
<blockquote>Now The Post can disclose that one of Daibes’ former business partners, who was also a Menendez donor, has been cooperating with Manhattan prosecutors since February 2022, four months before the raid.</blockquote>
Please read the whole article, since it describes a New Jersey nest of organized crime that rivals <i>The Sopranos</i>. <div><br /></div><div>Given today's news about a rat, my least favorite corrupt public official might well be channeling Paulie Walnuts: <b>“How much more betrayal can I take?”</b><div><br /><div>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/efm56xgyyyE?si=S-UYPHTvIrRV0LbI" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></div></div></div>TSBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02790614121966204073noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5803385070922797451.post-52052349724682839932023-11-10T05:45:00.005-08:002023-11-10T13:39:42.574-08:00From Kindergarten Plays to GoPros on Home Invaders, It's All a Performance to HAMAS
Hamas has many fewer allies these days, but at least it can still count on the western news media to play the sympathy card for them. Of course, that focuses almost exclusively on the children in Gaza. A smart decision, considering how often the adults of Gaza cannot resist the urge to be openly monstrous in front of a camera or microphone.<div><br /></div><div>See, for example, these recent stories about Gaza's children by <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/10/19/1206479861/israel-gaza-hamas-children-population-war-palestinians" target="_blank">NPR</a>, the
<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/video/world/middleeast/100000009149198/gaza-children-war-israel.html" target="_blank">NYT</a>, and the
<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-middle-east-67211248">BBC</a>. </div><div><br /></div><div>But here's a question you don't hear much about those kids. Where does Hamas get adult men who will commit the most horrible atrocities imaginable against defenseless victims and even live-stream themselves in the act? A large part of the answer must be that they are the product of a society that raised them from childhood to do just that. </div><div><br /></div><div>Take the <a href="https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2021/07/hamas-launches-military-summer-camps-gaza-youth">military summer camps</a>, for instance. When they aren’t getting anti-Semitic classroom material in UNWRA schools, they can take in some fresh air along with instruction in small arms. </div><div><br /></div><div>It's never too early to start tomorrow's monsters out on the right course. Here's a video of a Gaza Kindergarten graduation skit from May, 2018, one apparently posted to the internet by a proud parent, in which those adorable tykes enact invading Israel. Note that at the end they take a hostage back to Gaza - that's a very important element of the drama. </div><div><br /></div><div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="true" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="500" mozallowfullscreen="true" scrolling="NO" src="https://www.memri.org/player/clip/39754/1/1" webkitallowfullscreen="true" width="550"></iframe> </div><div> </div><div>Those little cuties will be around ten years old now, and so – probably – are still too young to have participated in the pogrom of four weeks ago. Give it time. They are the future. </div><div><br /></div><div>We’re constantly told that Hamas does not represent Palestinians, despite it having gotten most of the vote in the only election Palestinians ever held, and contrary to all the data gathered by opinion polling. </div><div><br /></div><div>Frankly – and I say this after reflection – even the worst of Hamas' troops seem to represent its population quite well. The abominable monsters who committed those atrocities four weeks ago did not rise up out of nothing. They were the kindergarten kommandos of 10 or 15 or 20 years ago, now live-streaming it and still making their parents proud.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>TSBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02790614121966204073noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5803385070922797451.post-63964943750318306022023-11-10T05:31:00.001-08:002023-11-10T05:34:31.233-08:00Maryland Wins the Race For FBI HQ, But FBI Director Calls a Foul <div><br /></div>Director Wray is blowing his whistle for all he's worth, even sending a
<a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24149680-message-from-the-director-to-all-fbi-employees-on-gsa-site-selection-announcement?responsive=1&title=1" target="_blank">message to FBI employees</a> yesterday.
<div><br /></div><div>He's presenting his objection to the Greenbelt site as one to the process and transparency of GSA's decision, and, for the moment at least, not raising the practical objections to locating a new HQ some distance away from the places the FBI needs to visit daily in order to do its business.
<blockquote>Throughout the selection process, the FBI coordinated closely with GSA with a clear focus on what’s best for our workforce, the mission, and the American people. Paramount for us were fairness and transparency in the process. In the course of our work with GSA, however, we identified <u>concerns about a potential conflict of interest involving the site selection authority</u> <u>and whether changes that individual made in the final stage of the process adhered to the site selection criteria.</u> Despite our engagement with GSA over the last two months on these issues, our concerns about the process remain unresolved. </blockquote><blockquote>
-- snip -- </blockquote><blockquote>
Congress initiated the site selection process, so, moving forward, <u>it will control the next steps</u>. For our part, we will continue to be clear about our process concerns, even as we work with GSA toward the design and construction of a facility.</blockquote><p>Note the reference to "changes that individual made" to the site selection criteria. According to news reports yesterday, the individual is a former Metro employee who is now a political appointee at GSA, and that may implicate a conflict of interest because Metro owns the Greenbelt site that GSA will now purchase. </p><p>Or anyway, they'll now purchase it if Congress appropriates the very considerable funds necessary. Wray's veiled reference to Congress tells us where this conflict is headed next. </p><p>Putting the new FBI HQ in Greenbelt makes no sense at all - I mean, not unless you own the site, or would collect revenue from land development there. The FBI officials who'll work at that HQ need to be close to the DOJ, relevant U.S. Courts, Congress, and the existing FBI and assorted other USG facilities they need to visit, all of which are in DC and Virginia.</p><p>And then there are the political realities, starting with the fact that the House of Representatives is normally where appropriations must begin, and the House right now is, ah, not favorably inclined toward the FBI or its Director. Furthermore, Washington is now entering an election year, and that destabilizes everything on the legislative agenda.</p><p>At best, Congress will table the FBI HQ project for another year. Or maybe the Republican majority will start another oversight investigation, this time partnering with Director Wray to tag-team the GSA and Biden Administration. It looks like they could find plenty of red meat there for a good old election year scandal, and one with the strategic advantage of turning the FBI against the White House.</p><p>Or even, <i>and it takes an effort to control myself as I imagine this option,</i> that Republican majority could go ahead and appropriate the millions to buy the Greenbelt site just to screw over the FBI for decades to come by saddling them with the worst site option that's on the table. </p><p>As Robert E. Lee once said of war, it is well that partisan politics is so terrible, otherwise we should grow too fond of it. </p><p><br /></p>
</div>TSBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02790614121966204073noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5803385070922797451.post-3157672910054238742023-10-31T17:44:00.002-07:002023-10-31T17:51:35.073-07:00Kinky Friedman and One Of His Best Problematic Song Titles The first time I heard a song by Kinky Friedman and his country band, The Texas Jewboys, it was on a college radio station. Those were the only stations that would play <i>They Ain't Making Jews Like Jesus Anymore</i> because it contains language the FCC does not approve for airplay. In fact, it probably includes almost <i>all</i> the language the FCC does not approve for airplay. Look it up, if you dare. <div><br /></div><div>But the Friedman song I like most, and the one most appropriate to this occasion, is <i>Ride 'Em Jewboy</i>.</div><div><br /></div><div>Talk about haunting images! "Now the smokes from camps are rising, see the helpless creatures on their way" ... "dead limbs play with ringless fingers" ... "How long will you be driven relentless around the world" ... "rounded out and made to move along." You get the point.</div><div><br /></div><div>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iTZZke4L4S8?si=NHcZ2EHVPkiHH_Zy" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe> </div><div>There is a lot more energy in his 1970s' Austin City Limits performances, which are easily found on YouTube, but that slower 2020 performance at Echo Hill really suits this song.</div><div><br /></div>TSBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02790614121966204073noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5803385070922797451.post-29467844212848495722023-10-21T13:03:00.002-07:002023-10-21T13:03:56.560-07:00Force, the Last Resort of Nations (Mitigated By Good Manners If You're Lucky)<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">A convoy carrying much-needed humanitarian assistance crossed the Rafah border this morning into Gaza to address the growing humanitarian crisis. We thank our partners in Egypt and Israel, and the United Nations, for facilitating the safe passage of these life-saving shipments.</p>— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) <a href="https://twitter.com/SecBlinken/status/1715720843081163241?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 21, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><div><br /></div>"Life-saving shipments." Okay, but let us be clear that what is coming to HAMAS in Gaza is about life <i>taking</i>, fundamentally, and there will be little scope for humanitarian considerations until that war is concluded.<div><br /></div><div>Don't take it from me, take it from one of the finest judicial minds this country has ever produced. <blockquote>"I believe that force, mitigated as may be by good manners, is the <i>ultima ratio</i>, and <u>between two groups of people who want to make inconsistent kinds of world I see no remedy except force</u>." - Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.</blockquote>
Holmes knew about force and irreconcilable conflict, having served as an infantryman in the Civil War where he was wounded three times. At Antietam he was shot through the neck and left for dead on the field, one of 23,000 casualties in that single battle.
</div><div><br /></div><div>Be prepared to see Civil War-size casualty numbers once the Israeli Armed Forces really tear into HAMAS. Let the IDF mitigate that reality by abiding with the laws of war, to whatever extent those good manners may apply to a sub-state adversary, but realists should expect to see a nearly-Carthaginian peace imposed on HAMAS in Gaza.</div><div> </div>TSBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02790614121966204073noreply@blogger.com8