Two Maldives Ministers Arrested For Attempted Sorcery on President Muizzu

 

I take no position on the guilt or innocence of the two sorcery suspects, although one of them is a woman and therefore perhaps the more likely to be in touch with the forces of the netherworld. 

We outsiders must let the Maldivian justice system run its course, while we respect the cultural differences involved here. Should the two suspects be adjudicated and found guilty, then let justice be done. If the Maldives is anything like Saudi Arabia when it comes to witchcraft trials, the guilty parties will not get the chance to clog up the courts with endless frivolous appeals.    

As a minor functionary of [the foreign affairs department of the Washington DC area's largest employer], my main concern with the Maldives - my only concern, really - is how to get a U.S. diplomatic presence set up there as quickly as possible in compliance with the wishes of Congress. 

Frankly, if sorcery can offer any help with that goal, I am willing to suspend my disbelief and give witchcraft a try. 

   

Fuhgeddaboudit! Trump One Point Up Over Biden in New Jersey Poll

There's a new Coefficient Poll of New Jersey voters that has Trump favored over Biden 41% to 40%, with RFK Jr at 7% and the rest undecideds. 

Well, considering that NJ has a large Democrat advantage in voter registrations, that result is likely either a fluke or the reaction of voters still stunned by that CNN debate performance. 

Either way, the link above includes many, many, crosstabs with in-depth opinion results. Please peruse for your use and enjoyment. 

----------------------------------

A robotic-sounding voice does a good breakdown of that expression for the benefit of the New Jerseyisms-impaired. 

RIP Kinky Friedman

Kinky Friedman stepped on a rainbow at his beloved Echo Hill surrounded by family & friends. Kinkster endured tremendous pain & unthinkable loss in recent years but he never lost his fighting spirit and quick wit. Kinky will live on as his books are read and his songs are sung. pic.twitter.com/sIXnoglSby

— Kinky Friedman (@FriedmanKinky) June 27, 2024

Nice Presentation on New London Embassy, Where Physical Security is Achieved By "Sleight of Hand"

 

Ah, the Crystal Fortress! 

Was a glass cube on a small site located in a former industrial zone worth a billion dollars? I'd say that it was, at least for those who appreciate architectural understatement in their diplomatic premises. 

Please enjoy this quick program about "how the US built its most hi-tech and controversial embassy," and join me in my high regard for OBO.

Assange Flies, Stella Cries, Bitcoin Buys Fancy Rides

 

Well, it was a sudden ending to Assange's long and mostly self-imposed incarceration in the UK, but at last he has flown the coop. 

His fans will be happy to know that an anonymous donor has paid $500,000 in Bitcoin for his exec jet ride from prison to the Land Down Under. I'm still unclear about who chartered the jet and why the trip would cost so much, but c'est la vie, which is French for "forget it Jake, it's Chinatown." 

Once back home Assange was joyously reunited with his lawyer, prison squeeze, and now wife, Stella, and their two little kids. Frankly, she bothers me. 

At age 41 she's spent the last 13 years working for Assange and carrying on a forlorn prison romance. That would be okay in the plot of a Hallmark Channel movie, but with the two kids she'll have to be a lot more hardnosed with Assange now that he's free. 

First of all, he does not strike me as the family man type who likes to stay at home at night, will get a steady job and help with the kids. Far from it. 

Not to mention that the two rape accusations against him which the Swedish government dropped a few years ago could, possibly, be brought back now that Assange would lack the excuse that he feared extradition to the U.S. if he were to surrender himself to Sweden.   

She, on the other hand, does strike me as the 'waiting outside the prison gates' type that is so familiar to correctional institutions the world over. Those romances typically don't survive freedom, or not for very long.   

  

Good luck to you, Mrs. Assange, but I hope you'll have something to fall back on if it turns out that marriage isn't really his bag.

 

First Contingent of Kenya Police Arrive in Haiti, Just 2,100 Troops Short of a Full Deployment

It's not exactly The 300 Spartans at Thermopylae, but perhaps an almost equally epic 400 Kenyans at Haiti. 

At least it is if you listen to Kenya's President Ruto at his sending-off ceremony for The 400.

"This mission is one of the most urgent, important and historic in the history of global solidarity. It is a mission to affirm the universal values of the community of nations, a mission to take a stand for humanity," [Kenyan President William] Ruto said.

Wow. The most urgent, important and historic in the history of global solidarity?? That is a whole lot to live up to, especially when all that responsibility is placed on a small force of police. 

Read the whole Reuters report here. 

The key points from Reuters:

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) -The first planeload of Kenyan police arrived in the Haitian capital on Tuesday to launch a peacekeeping mission in the Caribbean country that has been ravaged by gang violence- just as deadly protests overwhelmed security forces at home ... while in Nairobi police opened fire on demonstrators trying to storm the parliament, with at least five protesters killed, dozens wounded and sections of the building set ablaze.

That attack on Nairobi's parliament was not related to the Haitian deployment but was instead over new taxes.

As a line of Kenyan police streamed out of the plane on Tuesday morning, a small crowd, mostly airport personnel, greeted them on the tarmac. Some of the helmet-wearing officers unfurled a Kenyan flag and danced in a group.

The Kenyan police are expected to be joined by officers from Jamaica, the Bahamas, Barbados, Chad and Bangladesh, which together are slated to form a 2,500-strong peacekeeping mission funded primarily by the United States.

They danced? U.S. forces don't dance much on deployments, so maybe that's a cultural exchange we might look into. 

I can see the wisdom of that. Could be it's just a good idea to celebrate hopeless missions up front, considering that no one will feel like dancing once they are over and the cost has been paid. 

What costs are they? The ancient Greek poets knew. 

Go, tell the Spartans, thou who passest by, 

That here obedient to their laws we lie.

U.S. Consular Officer In El Salvador Not a Big Fan of Tattoos

Consular nonreviewability was upheld. https://t.co/xHb0UsadZ5

— TSB (@TweetingTSB) June 21, 2024

So there is a limit to a U.S. citizen's rights, and the Supreme Court just found it. 

Please be advised that there is no right to bring foreign national spouses into the country, and no, the USG does not need to go into a lot of detail about it when they cite concerns about the criminality of said spouse. 

The adjudication of Department of State v. Muñoz turned on the matter of tattoos, specifically, those tats on the Salvadoran husband of the respondent, an LA civil rights lawyer. 

The tattoos actually sound pretty modest from the details given in the opinion, but still, our consular staff in Salvador must be experts on tat interpretation, and I will back their judgement as to the undesirability of admitting someone with those inkings into the USA.