Hi there, !
Today Sun 03/05/2017 Sat 03/04/2017 Fri 03/03/2017 Thu 03/02/2017 Wed 03/01/2017 Tue 02/28/2017 Mon 02/27/2017 Archives
Rantburg
531701 articles and 1855993 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 63 articles and 198 comments as of 14:49.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area: WoT Operations    WoT Background    Non-WoT        Politix   
Islamic State supreme leader’s speech admits defeat in Mosul
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 4: Opinion
2 19:52 3dc [] 
1 14:15 Besoeker [] 
4 14:26 DarthVader [] 
1 04:25 g(r)omgoru [] 
5 20:08 Raj [1] 
3 20:39 trailing wife [1] 
15 21:04 james [] 
Page 1: WoT Operations
2 10:23 trailing wife []
0 []
0 []
0 []
0 []
5 20:35 Sock Puppet of Doom [1]
0 []
1 20:22 Sock Puppet of Doom []
6 16:13 Sock Puppet of Doom []
0 []
0 []
0 []
0 []
0 []
0 [1]
0 []
0 []
Page 2: WoT Background
0 [1]
0 []
1 05:54 Procopius2k []
9 20:05 Raj []
4 22:33 Seeking cure for ignorance [1]
0 []
0 []
0 []
5 13:13 Seeking cure for ignorance []
Page 3: Non-WoT
5 22:38 Hupineper Smith2347 [2]
4 20:23 Crusader [1]
7 22:18 rammer [2]
4 16:17 Vast Right Wing Conspiracy []
1 01:05 3dc []
0 []
0 []
0 []
2 13:18 Pappy []
0 []
1 07:57 3dc [1]
5 14:24 3dc [2]
13 20:27 james [1]
17 16:56 Bobby []
7 20:47 Sock Puppet of Doom []
1 01:00 Glenmore []
7 23:47 Pholurt Uloluling1696 []
0 []
1 13:00 Thrunter Thrineng9681 []
4 16:45 Anguper Hupomosing9418 []
Page 6: Politix
24 23:41 Pholurt Uloluling1696 [1]
3 16:20 swksvolFF []
8 19:19 Crinegum Ulaigum2776 []
6 22:14 Barbara [3]
0 [1]
2 14:31 Mullah Richard []
2 09:39 AlmostAnonymous5839 [1]
9 13:12 anon1 []
0 []
1 17:30 lord garth []
-Lurid Crime Tales-
Illegal alien Jose Vargas BLAMES U.S. for FORCING illegal aliens to break the law!
[Right Scoop] Illegal alien celebrity Jose Vargas went to the speech last night as a guest of Nancy Pelosi’s, of course, and then talked to Don Lemon about how awful the United States is for forcing people to come here illegally.

I don’t know why they have this guy on because he’s one of the WORST spokespersons for illegal aliens. He keeps arguing that the United States is awful and that white people are terrible, and that illegal aliens are not to blame for anything. Trust me, that crap does NOT fly with most Americans.

One argument he makes is that is there’s no "correlation" between being an illegal alien and committing crime, but that doesn’t matter. As I’ve said before, if there is just ONE murder, one robbery, one rape, by illegal aliens, it’s a crime that SHOULD NOT be happening because there should be NO illegal immigration. Whether illegals commit more crimes or fewer than Americans is inconsequential. SO shove it, Jose.

I have to admit that Don Lemon at least challenged him a little bit towards the end, offering some of the rebuttals that many conservatives, like myself, would come back with. So kudos to him for that.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/02/2017 03:10 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The easiest way to cut the crime rate is to make murder, rape, etc. legal. There will be more rapes, murders, etc. but they won't be crimes so the crime rate goes down, QED.


The logic of the progressive left.
Posted by: AlanC || 03/02/2017 8:38 Comments || Top||

#2  Alan,isn't that 5he approach they are taking with marijuana legalization?
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 03/02/2017 9:06 Comments || Top||

#3  Don't worry AC, there will be new crimes for replacement --- and a lot more of them.

For example: murder ---> global warming denial, melanin deficiency, ...
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/02/2017 9:14 Comments || Top||

#4  Tell Vargas we are simply taking Mexico's lead on immigration. THey've got a wall and make it very hard on Central Americans that dare enter their country.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 03/02/2017 18:13 Comments || Top||

#5  This arrogant bastard can't be deported fast enough for my liking.
Posted by: Raj || 03/02/2017 20:08 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Columbia University Hosts Forum Titled "Zionists are Racists"
[LI] Columbia University is facing criticism from pro-Israel groups for hosting an on-campus forum entitled, "Zionists are Racists."

The event, set to be held Monday evening in a university building, is being organized by Columbia University’s "Apartheid Divest" groups, which is comprised of several anti-Israel organizations committed to boycotting Jewish goods and individuals.

The event will feature speeches by individuals critical of the Jewish state, according to information publicly posted on Facebook.

The event is just another salvo in the campus war over Israel, which has become bound up in accusations of anti-Semitism against Jewish students and, in some cases, violence.

Much of this is being spearheaded by virulently anti-Israel campus organizations, including Students for Justice in Palestine, or SJP, and Jewish Voice for Peace, both of which advocate boycotts of Israel. SJP has been banned on some college campuses for promoting anti-Semitic materials. Both organizations are backing the forum at Columbia.

Posted by: Besoeker || 03/02/2017 03:26 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I always said that: since we have the name - we might as well have the game.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/02/2017 4:25 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Dr Ahmed Jazbhay: Trump's alt-right ambassadors must be resisted
[IOL] Donald Trump, through Joel Pollak as ambassador, will attempt to export the alt-right’s "civilisation of death" agenda, writes Ahmed Haroon Jazbhay.

Speculation is rife that US President Donald Trump aims to send South African-born Joel Pollak as his ambassador to the country.

Pollak is editor-at-large of Breitbart news, a US publication of the alt-right (defined by the Washington Post as a "far-right movement whose followers hold racist, anti-Semitic and sexist beliefs and who desire a whites only state").

He was once a speech writer for former DA leader Tony Leon and played an influential role in the success of Trump’s campaign through Breitbart’s alt-right reporting agenda.

The alt-right agenda of the Trump administration, part of the wider agenda of Western modernity/coloniality, is nothing but a "civilisation of death" which hides beneath the rhetoric of illegal immigration, "radical Islam", and the security and sovereignty of Western Europe and the US.

Dr Ahmed Jazbhay article on the US election from 9 Nov 2016, entitled 'Thank you America, for voting Trump.'
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/02/2017 03:46 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  'Western modernity/coloniality' as continually espoused in the evil Breitbart.

The fact Mr. Pollak is Jewish probably has nothing to do with the author's opinion.

[sarc off]
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/02/2017 3:59 Comments || Top||

#2  So they ditched the term "nazi" and now it's "alt-right", huh?
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 03/02/2017 12:24 Comments || Top||

#3  One wit's comment elsewhere (via badanov, and paraphrased): alt-right is the modern version of "why Grandpa had to move to Argentina after the War".
Posted by: Pappy || 03/02/2017 13:25 Comments || Top||

#4  Resistance is futile. You will be destroyed
Posted by: DarthVader || 03/02/2017 14:26 Comments || Top||


Europe
Erik Prince Discusses Libya And Europe's Migrant Crisis (Video)
[Feral Jundi] This is excellent and Erik Prince did a great job defending his former company in this interview with Becky Anderson. What I thought was very interesting was the discussion of Libya and the immigration crisis plaguing Europe right now.

I would agree with Erik that the EU does not have the political will to do what is necessary in Libya to actually lock down it’s borders. But one point needs to be made when it comes to PMSC’s in Libya‐they are already there. Europe’s oil interests in Libya have required security in one form or another for years now. I wrote about all sorts of security related stories in Libya starting in 2011, so it should be no shock to any observer of that conflict that industry has provided services there, or has ’offered’ solutions to frustrated clients. Hell, the CEO of a major French PMSC, Secopex, was killed in Libya.

I would also argue that any security plan like this, should also be coupled with a grand strategic plan for Libya. The border might be squared away under a contract like this, but that will not remove the cause of why people are wanting to leave. The war needs to end there, and reconstruction along with the rule of law needs to be reestablished if they want to stop this migrant crisis. Security on the border is just one piece to a plan like that. But private industry can provide a solution for that.

The other thing that was interesting in this interview was the mention of Erik and the Trump administration.(he is a supporter) The question was posed wether the new administration will be good for the PMSC industry. At 06:58, this is where the video get’s interesting. "Is Libya a quick win for a Trump administration?" the interviewer asks, and I will let the reader check out what Erik had to say....
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/02/2017 14:09 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists

#1  Easy to see how Prince's concept might dovetail into the POTUS 'migrant safe areas' concept.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/02/2017 14:15 Comments || Top||


Hungary's Orbán: We Won't Import Foreign Labour Because Diversity ‘Causes Trouble'
[Breitbart] Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has spoken out against importing labour, asserting that increased ethnic and religious diversity bring problems to a nation.

Addressing the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Budapest on Tuesday, Orbán said importing foreign workers to boost economic growth would "downgrade" the country.

"Preserving ethnic homogeneity" is important to Hungary’s economy, according to the prime minister, who said "life has proven that too much mixing causes trouble".

He insisted the government "cannot risk changing the fundamental ethnic character of the country.

"That would not enhance the value of the country but downgrade it instead, and toss it into chaos."

Orbán stressed that "the problem of parallel societies is undesirable", alluding to other countries in Europe which have large communities of non-European migrants and experience high crime and terrorism.

Speaking as Hungary’s unemployment rate is at a record low of just above 4 per cent, with some employers claiming the country has a labour shortage, Orbán warned business leaders against a recourse to so-called guest worker programmes.

He said: "I would not like to see the country drift toward a situation where lower-skilled work would only be carried out by foreigners."

"We ourselves have to do the work required to keep our country going, from scrubbing toilets to nuclear science."

In his speech to business leaders, the prime minister also stated the government is aiming for full employment. He added it is important that banks and financial institutions in Hungary serve national interests.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/02/2017 02:45 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  You mean Hungary for Hungarians? What a novel concept. All you gotta do is make enough babies so there are enough of you to defend your borders. Forget the employers who want bigger factories and more farm workers. If they don't like it let them move to China or Syria.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 03/02/2017 11:33 Comments || Top||

#2  "Orbán stressed that "the problem of parallel societies is undesirable", alluding to other countries in Europe which have large communities of non-European migrants and experience high crime and terrorism."

I think Orbán is referring to a certain group of immigrants. there's the issue of other countries having birth declines among their native population.
Posted by: Seeking cure for ignorance || 03/02/2017 16:04 Comments || Top||

#3  According to the CIA world factbook, Hungary has a total fertility rate of 1.44 children per woman of childbearing years, but the median age for females is 44 years. The population growth rate is -0.24%, but will no doubt fall considerably faster as those women hit perimenopause in six years.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/02/2017 20:39 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Presidential Payback For Media Hubris
H/T Instapundit
Donald Trump conducted a press conference recently as if he were a loud circus ringmaster whipping the media circus animals into shape. The establishment thought the performance was a window into an unhinged mind; half the country thought it was a long overdue media comeuppance.

The media suffer the lowest approval numbers in nearly a half-century. In a recent Emerson College poll, 49 percent of American voters termed the Trump administration "truthful"; yet only 39 percent believed the same about the news media.

Every president needs media audit. The role of journalists in a free society is to act as disinterested censors of government power--neither going on witch-hunts against political opponents nor deifying ideological fellow-travelers.

Sadly, the contemporary mainstream media--the major networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN), the traditional blue-chip newspapers (Washington Post, New York Times), and the public affiliates (NPR, PBS)--have lost credibility. They are no more reliable critics of President Trump’s excesses than they were believable cheerleaders for Barack Obama’s policies.

Trump may have a habit of exaggeration and gratuitous feuding that could cause problems with his presidency. But we would never quite know that from the media. In just his first month in office, reporters have already peddled dozens of fake news stories designed to discredit the President--to such a degree that little they now write or say can be taken at face value.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/02/2017 16:56 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  And today we saw the Deep State counter battery, and once again we see repubs breaking and running for cover. Nothing has been learned. If Trump himself doesn't take the reigns and bring this crap to a hold and have his circle hold the line he is going to be toast.
Posted by: Rex Mundi || 03/02/2017 17:11 Comments || Top||

#2  Lindsey Graham needs to be run out of the party at the tip of a rusty spear.
Posted by: 3dc || 03/02/2017 19:52 Comments || Top||


Science
Obumbles underfunded fusion research - but fusion (NOT solar) is the future
Scientific American - March 2017 issue - By Fred Guterl
edited for brevity
John Holdren has heard the old joke a million times: fusion energy is 30 years away - and always will be. Despite the broken promises, Holdren, who early in his career worked as a physicist on fusion power, believes passionately that fusion research has been worth the billions spent over the past few decades - and that the work should continue.

In December, Scientific American talked with Holdren, outgoing director of the federal Office of Science and Technology Policy, to discuss the Obama administration's failed science legacy.

HOLDREN: I started working on fusion in 1966. I did my master's thesis at MIT in plasma physics, and at that time people thought we'd have fusion by 1980. It was only 14 years away. By 1980 it was 20 years away. By 2000 it was 35 years away. But if you look at the pace of progress in fusion over most of that period, it's been faster than Moore's law in terms of the performance of the devices--and it would be nice to have a cleaner, safer, less proliferation-prone version of nuclear energy than fission.

My position is not that we know fusion will emerge as an attractive energy source by 2050 or 2075 but that it's worth putting some money on the bet because we don't have all that many essentially inexhaustible energy options. There are the renewables. There are efficient breeder reactors, which have many rather unattractive characteristics in terms of requiring what amounts to a plutonium economy--at least with current technology--and trafficking in large quantities of weapon-usable materials.

The other thing that's kind of an interesting side note is if we ever are going to go to the stars, the only propulsion that's going to get us there is fusion.

The reason we should stick with ITER [a fusion project based in France] is that it is the only current hope for producing a burning plasma, and until we can understand and master the physics of a burning plasma--a plasma that is generating enough fusion energy to sustain its temperature and density--we will not know whether fusion can ever be managed as a practical energy source, either for terrestrial power generation or for space propulsion. I'm fine with taking a hard look at fusion every five years and deciding whether it's still worth a candle, but for the time being I think it is.
Note: other entrepreneurs and scientists think small businesses that are nimble can advance fusion a lot better than ITER run by a committee of nations. Michael Laberge of General Fusion (Vancouver) thinks the Moore's Law for fusion pretty much halted with ITER because that's what happens with a committee. Just look at the UN. He thinks the little guys can develop smaller fusion projects quicker. A few are in with MIT. Jeff Bezos (amazon) invested in General Fusion and Peter Thiel (paypal, legend, centipede) invested in Helion Energy. I'd like to buy shares in Helion if I could.
Posted by: anon1 || 03/02/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Don't forget
Lockheed Martin Compact Fusion Reactor
Posted by: Chuck || 03/02/2017 3:22 Comments || Top||

#2  Don't forget
Lockheed Martin Compact Fusion Reactor


Memory lapse will likely result in contract cost overruns.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/02/2017 4:08 Comments || Top||

#3  News flash.
Scientific (and technological) advances are not made by smoothly functioning teams of well adjusted people who are superb communicators and all around likable and were straight-A students. It's made by socially inept --- or straight out antisocial --- supremely egocentric loners, who prefer to spend time inside their heads pursuing their idiosyncratic interests and not giving a f*ck about what other people define as important. Nowadays people like this play computer games --- or, at best, write them.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/02/2017 5:17 Comments || Top||

#4  wow everyone this is the one i tried to post yesterday and it disappeared - but like magic here it is!!
Posted by: anon1 || 03/02/2017 7:47 Comments || Top||

#5  grom you're so right!!

ps: MIT have a good program for an ARC, or a mini tokomak, which they can do a lot easier than ITER because they use superconductive magnets that work at high temperatures

This talk by Zach Hartwig goes through all the different Fusion permutations and then explains why none are close except for ITER and stellerator

and mini-tokomacs

this is the great talk here, worth a watch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0KuAx1COEk

basically all research is sort of stalled about 1990-ish
Posted by: anon1 || 03/02/2017 7:50 Comments || Top||

#6  basically all research is sort of stalled about 1990-ish

And when you say all, it's not just fusion - it's everything from animal behavior to origins of the universe - because, conform or die.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/02/2017 8:10 Comments || Top||

#7  basically all research is sort of stalled about 1990-ish

And when you say all, it's not just fusion - it's everything from animal behavior to origins of the universe - because, conform or die.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/02/2017 8:10 Comments || Top||

#8  Ooops. I guess I'm so mad, my hands are shaking.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/02/2017 8:11 Comments || Top||

#9  What happened to the Lockheed Fusion Reactor?
Short answer - work still proceeding well.
Posted by: 3dc || 03/02/2017 8:17 Comments || Top||

#10  thorium fission is also 'just a decade or two away' situation

so is small modular uranium fission

only a finite amount of research $$ and a finite amount of research scientists
Posted by: lord garth || 03/02/2017 8:58 Comments || Top||

#11  wow everyone this is the one i tried to post yesterday and it disappeared - but like magic here it is!!

When articles are posted after 2 p.m. ET we prefer to move them to the next day unless they are unfolding terror attacks, anon1. This is not one of those. If you want to add it to an on-going discussion, better to paste it into a comment than post as a separate article.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/02/2017 10:29 Comments || Top||

#12  Re: #3

A good example of this is when a committee got together to design a horse, they ended up way over budget and resulted in the end product being a camel.

So when I read about the Lockheed Fusion Reactor, my first thought is that it will never see the light of day. Lockheed being Lockheed, it's purely a money suck designed to bring bonuses to the board and upper management, nothing more.
Posted by: Seeking cure for ignorance || 03/02/2017 15:54 Comments || Top||

#13  Fusion sounds too much like Fission and actual clean power means people can make bad choices instead instead of cutting back on consumption and returning to a medieval level where they can be controlled.

Spending money on green industries owned by the political connected and talking how we are doing something is much more politically satisfying.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 03/02/2017 16:52 Comments || Top||

#14  Fusion has already been done, to wit:

Mr Fusion
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 03/02/2017 18:15 Comments || Top||

#15  I think you overstate for effect, grom. I can think of a few exceptions. And some problems are so hard that you need a team, and not just in experiments.
Posted by: james || 03/02/2017 21:04 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
40[untagged]
10Islamic State
3Commies
2Sublime Porte
1Govt of Sudan
1Govt of Syria
1Moslem Colonists
1PLO
1Taliban
1al-Nusra
1al-Qaeda
1Boko Haram

Bookmark
E-Mail Me

The Classics
The O Club
Rantburg Store
The Bloids
The Never-ending Story
Thugburg
Gulf War I
The Way We Were
Bio

Merry-Go-Blog











On Sale now!


A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
Click here for more information

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2017-03-02
  Islamic State supreme leader’s speech admits defeat in Mosul
Wed 2017-03-01
  Two women in nerve agent attack on Kim Jong-nam charged with murder
Tue 2017-02-28
  Islamic State claims attempted bombing in Algeria -AMAQ
Mon 2017-02-27
  Taliban shadow governor among 21 killed in counter-terrorism operations
Sun 2017-02-26
  Hamas Diggers Dead in Gaza Tunnel ‘Work Accident'
Sat 2017-02-25
  Iraq Forces Enter First West Mosul Neighborhood
Fri 2017-02-24
  German police arrest 26-year-old over terror plot
Thu 2017-02-23
  Pakistan Army launches 'Operation Radd-ul-Fasaad' across the country
Wed 2017-02-22
  Suicide bombers attack Pakistani court, killing seven, as wave of violence continues
Tue 2017-02-21
  Libyan PM survives assassination attempt in Tripoli
Mon 2017-02-20
  Iraq Digs Anti-IS Trench around City of Ramadi
Sun 2017-02-19
  62 ISIS Bad Guys die in airstrike in Mosul
Sat 2017-02-18
  Breaking: Blind Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman Dies in Prison
Fri 2017-02-17
  At least 70 dead as bomb rips through Lal Shahbaz shrine in Sehwan, Sindh
Thu 2017-02-16
  Iran's Rouhani in Kuwait to soothe Gulf ties

Better than the average link...



Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
100.24.12.23
Help keep the Burg running! Paypal:
WoT Operations (17)    WoT Background (9)    Non-WoT (20)    (0)    Politix (10)