[Barely a Blog] In Washington State, all I ever hear is that practically all our devastating fires are "caused by lightening." I seldom see lightening here. I know what it looks like (thunder follows, so if you hear it, you know lightening preceded it).
I saw plenty lightening in my native South Africa, especially on the highveld. I’ve seldom seen lightening in my state. Says Ken Pimlott, director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection:
"These are all fires that were in areas that are populated, and 95% of the fires in our state are started by people" in some way, he said, downplaying the chances that lightning may have played a role.
Are the Powers looking the other way? Investigate. If these fires are intentional; this is mass murder.
#1
If started by a cigarette butt tossed out a car window by one of those "immigrants who make us all stronger by coming here," it's all harm, no foul in a Sanctuary State™
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
10/14/2017 10:23 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Japanese had a goofy plan or two during WW2 to do this sot of thing. I'm amazed Al Qaeda and like thinkers never made the attempt.
#3
The Japanese ballon bombs occurred to me as well. This is what they hoped to achieve. BTW, we were evac'd @ 2:00 am,fire was so close LE didnt gave time to go door to door but were driving through on bullhorns telling us to get out now. We were already up monitoring situation and still just managed to get out with the dogs and some important papers. Today is looking dodgy too. There will be some tough questions when the smoke clears
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
10/14/2017 12:37 Comments ||
Top||
#4
There were several calls about power outages at the time the fires started. Smart money is on power lines and blown transformers failing and sparking in the 70 mph wind gusts.
#5
Can confirm on the power. We lost it at 11:15 pm and evac'd in total darkness. Given wind gusts up to 70 mph, downed wires and exploding propane tanks will do it
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
10/14/2017 14:21 Comments ||
Top||
#6
1. Some parts of the USA regularly have storms with wind gusts to 70 mph, other parts very rarely so. Severe wind storms have a way of pruning or killing overgrown vegetation, and when this happens every few years the result is less damage per storm. If an area goes 200 years without bad winds, a lot more trees will grow up to become vulnerable. Don't know if this is the case for this fire area.
2. Electrical utilities are responsible for whatever tree trimming is necessary to keep their lines up during wind storms. The NIMBYs are responsible for the opposition to this necessary safety measure.
3. Homeowners & builders are responsible for considering protective measures against wildfires, such as roofing and exterior materials that don't burn easily. As far as I'm concerned, homes costing over $750,000 should have their own exterior and interior fire suppression systems already installed. A fine home should be more than gingerbread, granite countertops and stainless steel appliances. Classic mediterranean buildings with their masonry exteriors and terra cotta roof tiles should be extremely resistant to wildfires.
#7
I have a friend in Estes Park CO who installed a water tank filled with fire suppressant material and a system of fire hose / sprinkler hoses that can be deployed in a few minutes to cover the entire exterior. She did use it at least once to save her home from a wildfire. I am surprised the neighbors don't object to that unsightly water tank. Eeeew.
[HotAir] Go figure that talent and content producers might not want to work with the entertainment industry equivalent of The Pit of Despair. A revolt from agencies and financiers has put the Weinstein Company “near the brink” of extinction, Deadline Hollywood reported last night. Whatever remaining benefit of doubt has evaporated as more details of the Harvey Weinstein “dumpster fire” emerges — and that was before details of his contract with the board emerged:
Late last week, the town seemed willing to hang in with the production company if Weinstein was fired, giving co-chairman Bob Weinstein and COO David Glasser the chance to keep the company moving forward on its TV and movie projects, and keep the 190 staffers from heading to the exits. This was after the first New York Timesarticle. But there has been one devastating blow after the other in the days following that have eroded much of that good will for a post-Weinstein rebound. The first serious wound came with Ronan Farrow’s The New Yorker article, with descriptions of rapes that were more than sickening; they were terrifying. Two days after the board of directors issued a statement that its members had no idea of the allegations of abuse by Weinstein, TNY today quoted board member Lance Maerov admitting he had heard of multiple settlements. Even though he added he believed they were for consensual affairs and the desire to eliminate legal liability (and some believe his admission got mangled in translation, because at least two of the matters were investigated by TWC’s HR department, several major agents today said they had lost faith in the company’s mixed messaging).
Agents did not want to be on record, but reactions ranged from not wanting to risk the wrath of clients in the event of more fallout by putting them into TWC projects, and others said that if there was evidence of Weinstein benefiting directly or indirectly in projects, the agencies wanted no part of it. They felt even a re-branded company will carry a tarnish, and hoped that projects would be sold off. This wasn’t unanimous; at least one said that if Bob Weinstein and Glasser could change the messaging, and make it clear that Harvey Weinstein’s indiscretions were not in fact covered up, forgiveness could come over time.
#2
Well, it's said politics is Hollywood for ugly people. In politics, a phone call gets made and someone gets rubbed out and the wrongdoers party on. In Hollywood (and Silly-con Valley) not so much. And the new obsession with virtue signaling means that someone like ol' Harve gets hung out to dry by all his friends. In politics, some contributions are "returned" or "donated to charity" and that makes it all better. Hollywood and Silly-Con Valley should take note of how the game is played and how they are the minor leagues compared to the Washington crowd.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
10/14/2017 0:28 Comments ||
Top||
#3
No intention of defending the offender, but lost in the shuffle is the inconvenient fact that for every few dozen casts or so, Harvey's efforts must have been rewarded by a willing masseuse or two. Well it must be so, his hobby would have been a pointless embarrassment otherwise.
I don't suppose we should be looking for any of the willing and rewarded to come forward however. How boring, to only have available the spurning accusers.
#4
I wonder if Weinstein will exercise the Samson option if he's pushed too far by his shocked, shocked former friends.
If he tells the public what he knows he'll be one of many, many pariahs, and perhaps not even the worst of the lot.
Weinstein's perversion apparently isn't pedophilia but there are credible allegations of organized pedophilia in Hollywood. Compared to that the Weinstein revelations are pretty harmless.
#7
I hope the Samson option does come up. Let the ceiling fall on them all.
Posted by: Charles ||
10/14/2017 15:56 Comments ||
Top||
#8
"had no idea of the allegations of abuse"
Yeah, that's why his contract had a clause allowing him to pay a penalty as a 'cure' for an allegation.
They knew he was dirty and would do it again, otherwise they wouldn't have allowed for an exit.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
10/14/2017 20:53 Comments ||
Top||
#9
BTW, Ronan Farrow's turning out to be a actual freakin' journalist.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
10/14/2017 20:55 Comments ||
Top||
#10
So is Weinstein finally getting dumped because he no longer has enough power to matter? Or perhaps because he is not perverted enough (pedo?) for others to hold as a threat over him?
THE Onion put it best: “‘No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens.” An accurate summary of gun-control opponents’ response to America’s periodic gun massacres, the headline was also familiar. The satirical website has run it, with few alterations to an accompanying spoof article, five times: after six people were murdered in California in 2014; after nine were murdered in South Carolina, nine in Oregon and 14 in California in 2015; and after the killing of 58 and maiming of 489 people by a lone gunman in Las Vegas on October 1st.
Satire thrives where the usual checks on human folly fail. In this case it points to the fact that America, despite having a gun-murder rate 25 times higher than that of other developed countries, has no serious debate on how to reduce the killing, because Republican lawmakers refuse to countenance the only thing that easily would. By making it even a bit harder for killers to get guns—as action taken in Australia, Britain and Canada shows—America would have fewer gun deaths. Yet only a quarter of Republican voters accept that demonstrable truth. Most say America would have less crime if only more Americans were armed. "Most say?" Where are you getting your data? I haven't said that, and no one I know has sad it. Maybe you are talking to the people who think that theft and murder are the acceptable part of the drive to disarm civilians in America,
The usual explanation for this delusion is brilliantly effective lobbying by gun clubs. Since the 1970s the National Rifle Association, supported by gun makers, has recast what was once a public- safety issue into an argument about liberty: if you believe gun ownership is a thin red line against government tyranny, as the NRA claims, it scarcely matters whether it also leads to more killing. At the same time, the lobbyists have bullied Republican lawmakers so thoroughly that none dares speak against them. Asked for his position on gun control this week, Paul Ryan said he’d rather talk about cutting taxes. The Onion could not improve on that.
Yet though Republican voters have moved markedly against gun control over the course of the NRA’s lobbying, it alone cannot explain that shift. Many Republican voters are more selective in their support for guns than the ideologues; they tend to be momentarily keener on gun controls after a massacre, for example. It also seems notable that the same people who believe guns make America safer are also likely to hold a number of other irrational views. Around half of Republicans do not believe in evolution or anthropogenic climate change. They have also just elected as president a man who has suggested vaccines cause autism. Donald Trump’s insurgency in itself suggests that any explanation of Republican attitudes rooted in conservative ideology should be treated with caution. The 2nd Amendment is about Liberty, and always has been about Liberty. That the NRA has been pressing this view, all the while helping to reduce that Liberty, says more about them than it does about the idea of the Blessing of Liberty. Also, the idea that guns make us safer is a dodge written into the currrent climate by lawyers who neither appreciate Liberty, nor do they appreciate what their rulemaking, either in federal regulation or in lawmaking, does to the concept. It eventually will destroy the legal community's very credibility.
A forthcoming book by the political scientists Eric Oliver and Thomas Wood, “Enchanted America”, offers an alternative explanation. It argues that people who believe guns make America safer, among other fallacies, display a strain of superstition that has always existed in American politics, on the right and the left, but which in recent decades has concentrated on the right, and now threatens to subsume it. Its proponents, who the authors call “intuitionists”, understand the world on the basis of feelings and gut instinct, not doctrine or empirical facts, even when confronted with them. “Much of what looks like an ideological gap in this country”, the authors write, “is due more to the power of these innate intuitions than abstract principles or values.” The problem with doctrine and empirical facts is that they are tools, used by other "institutionalists" including government officials, to destroy Liberty, and not just in the right to keep and bear arms. Don't think empirical data can't be manipulated? Try having a conversation about Liberty with an individual who refuses to accept the base concept of Liberty, but who would rather sacrifice their political opponents' rights using the legislative process, all on the alter of Public Safety. The Economist, in this entire missive, fails to address how, whenever government takes away rights from a selected group, its own power increases over other groups as well. And it never returns those rights, and never will without armed insurrection or by regime change.
Understand that, they argue, and it becomes easier to comprehend that the judgments such voters reach in times of economic and cultural change, like the present, will be governed by fear. This is both an instinctive response to uncertainty and a self-validating one, as Mr Oliver illustrates by quoting his five-year-old son: “If there’s no monster in the closet, then why am I scared?” The refusal of millions of people to accept some limits on gun ownership, even though this would make their families safer, reflects the same white-knuckled logic. The only way civilians can be disarmed is through institutionalized and legalized theft and murder, all through the power of government. If the government was moving to take away your right to assemble peaceably, you'd be "white knuckled" too.
How has such a rich, well-governed place come to this? Richard Hofstadter’s classic essay, “The Paranoid Style in America Politics”, offers another clue. Written in 1964, it locates the anger and paranoia that had characterised the Goldwater insurgency—in effect, an extreme case of intuitionism—in a long history of populist resentment and apocalyptic rhetoric. For Hofstadter, the paranoid style was a persistent but marginal “psychic phenomenon”, with a potential to take off in certain circumstances. The most propitious, he mused, would be “a confrontation of opposed interests which are (or are felt to be) totally irreconcilable”. It is possible to read America’s subsequent political history, dominated by the civil-rights struggle, the culture wars and the intractable partisanship they spawned, as proof of that conjecture.
Freefalling
There has since been plenty of irrational behaviour on the left, too, including hostility to genetically modified food and the current tendency of left-wing bloggers to see a Russian under every rock. Yet the fact that the losers in America’s cultural struggles—including fundamentalist Christians, rural whites and other traditional folk—were on the right has made it the domain of unreason. The election of Mr Trump sealed that. As an irreligious sometime pro-choice proponent of gun control, he was an implausible Republican champion. Still, his supporters backed him because, in their guts, where intuitive choices are made, they felt he was on their side, so none of that mattered.
On guns and much else, this suggests, Republican leaders have been directing the views of their supporters much less than they thought. They, and their NRA auxiliaries, could not have turned Republican voters on to gun ownership so dramatically had the issue not spoken to their pre-existing fears and fantasies. And much good has such pandering done the leaders. It has given them Mr Trump for a boss and a civil war, between populists and true conservatives, upon which their party could founder. It has also left them, in the wake of America’s worst civilian massacre in a century, with nothing to say. One important point: Republican leaders and not leaders; they are public servants and representatives, duly elected. Another point: A civil war has been brewing ever since the first of the modern gun control acts was passed and signed into law in 1968. I am not impressed by elections, but I do vote to keep the fascist left at bay, and to help preserve, as much as humanly possible, the Blessings of Liberty. That idea is lost on the editors at The Economist. More's the pity. This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline "The power of magical thinking"
#1
that America, despite having a gun-murder rate 25 times higher than that of other developed countries
That would be certain 'communities' of America. Drop out those numbers from the overall count, and, golly gee wiz, the numbers start to align with other developed countries. However, pointing that out, makes this a racist but factual comment.
#2
NRA lobbying is only successful because they have so many members giving them marching orders. That is the way a democracy works, remind the politicians who put them in power and what is important.
#3
I'd be curious to see what happened to gun crime numbers if you went to prison for life if found with an unregistered or stolen gun. I bet they'd drop pretty quick after a short while.
#4
..just another form of welfare, three hots and a cot, that's before the aristocracy starts piling on perks because....cruel and unusual (which really meant things like drawing and quartering not deprivation of TV).
Steven Paddock fired a total of 1,000 rounds, all presumably of 5.56mm. Another 1,000 rounds were found in his hotel room.
Between 159 (the number I first heard) and 195 individuals were struck by gunfire.
I know people who say that taking 1,000 rounds of 5.56/.223 for a semiautomatic makes for a nice few hours at the gun range. It is not unusual for one shooter to have that much ammunition. ARs and AKs are hungry. In terms of the amount of ammunition Paddock had in the room, versus his expectations, it seems to me he didn't expect to be there long.
One thousand rounds were fired in 10 minutes, which to me sounds about right. Assuming an optimum fire rate of 600 rounds per minute, that is about all one shooter can do when firing pseudo automatic rifle fire: 100 rounds a minute. So that rate (600 RPM) has to be reduced for changing magazines, changing firearms, and other matters that can grab a shooter's time and attention.
Paddock killed a total of 59 individuals, so he wounded a total of (assuming an average of 177 gunshot victims) 118 people. You would almost have to assume, given the intensity of the rifle fire, that some people were struck two times or more and some were struck with a pass-through shot (one slug hitting two or more people).
Given the set of 177 people average struck by slugs, Paddock's hit ratio was about 17.5 percent (15.9 to 19.5 percent). His kill ratio was a little less than 5 percent. If you want to add in the rest of the crowd, his hit ratio was terrible, but then he was firing at a range and under environmental conditions not completely optimal for what Paddock wanted to do.
At the moment in firearms and Patriot blogs, and on YouTube, some people (mostly prior service military trading on their combat experience) are claiming that there was a second shooter. The sounds alone prove it, they say. Some have been saying a second shooter was in the Mandalay Hotel on the 4th floor. But after almost two weeks of investigation, federal, county and local law enforcement have yet to provide a chronology for the incident, let alone determine a conspiracy.
A second shooter assumes a conspiracy. A second shooter would have begun firing after Paddock began, but unlike Paddock the second shooter seems to have escaped attention of investigators. There is no indication anywhere in Las Vegas that a second shooter existed: no spent cartridges, no witnesses, no soot, no nothing.
All that to say this: This is a complex crime scene with so many rounds fired and so many killed and wounded. It may be months before anyone can say with any assurance exactly what happened, if there were a second shooter, or even Paddock's motivation.
I have that last part nailed down tight: He was a murdering bastard who wanted to go out in a blaze of glory.
Loads.
Rantburg's summary for arms and ammunition:
Pistol ammunition prices were mostly steady. Rifle ammunition prices were mixed.
Prices for used pistols were mixed. Prices for used rifles were higher across the board.
New Lows:
Arizona: .308 NATO (AR-10 Pattern Semiautomatic): DPMS Panther: $500
Pistol Ammunition
.45 Caliber, 230 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (3 Weeks)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Highland Lakes Ammo, Own Brand, RNL, Brass Casing, Reloads .21 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: Highland Lakes Ammo, Own Brand, RNL, Brass Casing, Reloads, .21 per round (From Last Week: -.01 Each)
.40 Caliber Smith & Wesson, 180 Grain, From Last Week: -.03 each After Unchanged (3 Weeks)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Bang it Ammo, FMJ, CCL Blazer, Brass Casing, .18 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: Ammo Valley, Own Brand, RNFP, Brass Casing, Reloads, .18 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (4 Weeks))
9mm Parabellum, 115 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (7 Weeks)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Extreme Reloading, Own Brand, RN, Brass Casing, Reloads, .14 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: Fedarm, Own brand, RN, Brass Casing, Reloads .13 per round (From Last Week: -.01 Each After Unchanged (6 Weeks))
.357 Magnum, 158 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (3 Weeks)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Outdoor Limited, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel Casing, .23 per round
Cheapest Bulk: 1,000 rounds: Outdoor Limited, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel Casing, .23 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (3Q, 2017))
.38 Special, 158 Grain, From Last Week: -.02 Each After Unchanged (2 Weeks)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Outdoor Limited, Ten Ring, FMJ, Brass Casing .23 per round
Cheapest Bulk: 500 rounds: Ammo Valley, Own brand, FP, Brass Casing, Reloads, .24 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (9 Weeks))
Rifle Ammunition
.223 Caliber/5.56mm 55 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (2 Weeks)
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Ammo Liquidator, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel Casing, .21 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 1,000 rounds: Ammo Liquidator, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel Casing, .21 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (2 Weeks))
.308 NATO 150 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (3Q, 2017)
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Outdoor Unlimited, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel Casing, .32 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: Outdoor Unlimited, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel Casing, .32 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (3Q, 2017))
7.62x39mm AK 123 Grain, From Last Week: +.03 Each After Unchanged (3Q, 2017)
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Target Sports USA, Wolf WPA, FMJ, Steel Casing, .21 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 1,000 rounds: True Caliber, Wolf WPA, Steel Casing, FMJ, .19 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (3Q, 2017))
.30-06 Springfield 145 Grain. From Last Week: Unchanged (2 Weeks)
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Target Sports USA, Wolf WPA, Steel Casing, FMJ, .60 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: United Nations Ammo, Wolf WPA, Steel Casing, FMJ, .54 per round (From Last week: Unchanged (1Q, 2017))
.300 Winchester Magnum 150 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (2 Weeks)
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Ammo Liquidator, Winchester, Brass Casing, SP, .84 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 1,000 rounds: Ammo Liquidator, Winchester, Brass Casing, SP, .82 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (6 Weeks))
.338 Lapua Magnum 250 Grain, From Last Week: +.04 Each
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Red River Reloading, Federal Eagle, Brass Casing, JSP, 2.41 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 200 rounds : Wholesale Hunter, Federal, Brass Casing, JSP, 2.51 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (2 Weeks)
.22 LR 40 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (2Q, 2017)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Ammo King, Aguila, RNL, .04 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: Ammo King, Aguila, RNL, .04 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (2Q, 2017))
Moved to Page 4 [Listverse.com] Back in the early 1980s, when Robert Mugabe took over, some people disagreed with the new regime. After all, the country had recently passed through a brutal struggle against white rule; dissent was easily found. There is a well-trod path to curing dissent in a brave new world, and it involves bullets. And rape.The crack Fifth Brigade of the new Zimbabwean army (trained by North Korean commandos) raped, tortured, and murdered up to 20,000 civilians in 1983.
The British ambassador at the time said, "Zimbabwe is important to us primarily because of major British and western economic and strategic interests in southern Africa, and Zimbabwe’s pivotal position there. Other important interests are investment and trade [ . . . ] and the need to avoid a mass white exodus. Zimbabwe [ . . . ] [also] is a bulwark against Soviet inroads."[2]So that’s okay then.
[JoanneNova] "We are the people who will be swimming," he said. "The question will be ‐ will those people on the lifeboats bother to pull us in or push us away because we would be too problematic?"
Kiribati’s highest point is 13m above water, and is sinking at a rate of 1mm a year (see the updated graph below by Eyes On Browne). To rephrase Euan Mearns, at this rate, complete inundation of it will take 13,000 years.
The Titanic’s elevation (waterline to the deck) was 18m, so it was 50% higher, yet it sank in 2 hours 40 minutes. That’s one ninth of a day, or one 3,285th of a year. Conservatively, the comparative speed works out to be 42.7 million times faster. Allowing for the higher elevation (but discounting funnels and/or palms) that would be 59.1 million times faster.
For some reason the ABC was unable to do an internet search on the words "Kiribati, Tide Gauges, Sea Level". With a billion dollars to spend, apparently they can only afford a one way internet cable. Just enough to upload news stories like this which are essentially a repeat of a press release, unchecked from President Tong:
Kiribati...is already suffering from the effects of climate change.
Rising sea levels are causing land to be engulfed by tidal waters, driving people away from their homes and leaving them displaced.
"What I have seen in my lifetime over the years has been villages, communities, who have had to leave ... because it is no longer viable," he said.
"The sea is there and there is nothing. Everything has been taken away so they have had to relocate."
No matter how melodramatic the claim, there are no hard questions from journalist Sarah Hancock.
Good luck to Mr Tong. He is just playing the cards he is offered.
Pity the ABC though. I wouldn’t want to be them when Australian’s realize that they are paying for an internet rerouting service from socialist troughers, freeloading gravy hunters and pagan czars.
[Breitbart] West Virginia Attorney General and U.S. Senate candidate Patrick Morrisey spoke with Breitbart News Daily SiriusXM host Alex Marlow on Friday regarding his campaign, including his recent endorsement by pro-President Trump Super PAC Great America Alliance.
Morrisey also discussed his tenure as attorney general, saying, "The reason I want to run for Senate is Washington is utterly broken." He also talked about his record of going after the Obama administration for what he called "stupid regulations."
"We can start to clean up these terribly burdensome regulations. We can make the tax code much simpler, much flatter, so that it works for everyday people, so we’re incentivizing work. And I want to go down there and actually get things done," said Morrisey.
He also blasted Washington for not following through on its many promises to repeal and replace Obamacare.
[Ynet] Israel cannot accept the agreement between Fatah and Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,, as it would force it to stop treating the West Bank and Gazoo as two separate entities. Regardless, Israeli officials believe the agreement would collapse within 3-4 months, so there is no reason to try and sabotage it.
During reconciliation talks in Cairo, Hamas was asked to present the Paleostinian Authority security services with a map of the tunnels in the Gazoo Strip, as part of their agreement to coordinate security activity vis-à-vis Israel. Hamas's representatives didn't even bother responding to the request.
The Cairo talks left Hamas with its tunnels, labs, weapons factories, drones and with the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades and their naval commandos. In fact, Hamas's military wing remains as it were‐under the direct and exclusive command of Hamas.
This is why Israel views the agreement signed on Thursday as one that has no chance of being realized, so there's no reason to even waste energy on trying to sabotage it. Especially as both the American administration and the Egyptians have asked Israel not to interfere.
Nevertheless, the agreement does indicate some change in Hamas's willingness to give up its monopoly over arms in the strip. For example, the responsibility over border crossings will gradually be transferred to the Paleostinian Authority. Some 3,000 coppers are set to be transferred from the West Bank to Gazoo and join the 12,000 existing Gazook coppers, who will also go under the PA's purview.
The manner in which these moves and others will be carried out will be determined in discussions of joint Fatah-Hamas committees. In general, most of the articles of the agreement signed on Thursday are dependant on the work of these committees, and there are no deadlines for most of the planned changes. For example, the future of the Gazook government babus bureaucrats will be discussed in a committee due to issue its recommendations in four months‐an eternity in the Middle East.
Another committee is supposed to present a plan to put an end to persecution and arrests of Hamas members in the West Bank, which will theoretically require Hamas to announce a halt to terror activity. But there is no mention of such a provision in any joint Hamas-Fatah document, and the information the Shin Bet currently has does not indicate a decline in the activity of Hamas's West Bank holy warrior cells, quite the opposite.
Israeli officials believe the fact Abbas acquiesced to the Egyptians, and his willingness to accept an agreement that does not give him control of the weapons in the strip, only perpetuates his position as a lame duck.
Furthermore, his need to present himself to the Americans as a leader who has the mandate to act on behalf of the entire Paleostinian people is more important to him than short-term concessions. The US is about to present a diplomatic plan for an agreement in the Middle East, and presenting himself as a legitimate partner is of utmost importance to Abbas.
Either way, Israeli officials don't believe Hamas would take on the commitments the PA has towards Israel. Their assessment is that the agreement would collapse within three or four months.
In any case, the Israeli government would not be able to live with this agreement, even if it includes a Hamas commitment to the PA to lower tensions in Gazoo. Such an agreement would require Israel to drop its policy of treating the Gazoo Strip and the West Bank as two separate entities, which has so far allowed it to avoid going into diplomatic talks, claiming Abbas does not represent the entire Paleostinian people. This is something Israel would not be willing to give up so fast.
Furthermore, Israel would not receive any guaranteed achievement in return for such a concession, such as Hamas recognizing Israel or a commitment from the Paleostinians to stop the acts of violence.
[Patriot Post] Two weeks ago, I wrote about a West Point 2016 graduate, now-2LT Spenser Rapone, who, despite his brash history displaying contempt for our nation, and his advocacy for communism, was allowed to graduate. As I noted, now-retired Army Lieutenant Colonel Robert Heffington, an Academy history professor in 2015, had issued a sworn affidavit alerting senior USMA command about Rapone.
LTC Heffington was an infantry officer before completing graduate work and accepting a post at the USMA. He was known by those under his command, and by his USMA students, to be a tough and uncompromising man of superior integrity. In his complaint he concluded, "I cannot reconcile the image of a first class cadet at West Point with the things he has posted online for the world to see. To me, these are red flags that cannot be ignored, and I fail to see how this individual can possibly graduate and become a commissioned officer in six months."
But they did ignore it.
More recently, Rapone, now assigned to the 10th Mountain Division in Fort Drum, has boldly posted his hatred for his commander in chief, SecDef James Mattis, and other senior military leadership on public social media accounts. That constitutes a clear and overt UCMJ Article 88 violation: "Any commissioned officer who uses contemptuous words against the President, the Vice President, Congress, the Secretary of Defense ... shall be punished as a court-martial may direct."
West Point command responded to the exposure of Rapone’s insubordination and UCMJ violations with an official statement asserting, "Rapone’s actions in no way reflect the values of the U.S. Military Academy or the U.S. Army," and that "Rapone’s chain of command is aware of his actions and is looking into the matter."
We have seen this before. MAJ Nidal Hasan MD and his "Soldier of Allah" business cards and his Islamist lectures on Army time. There were plenty of people who knew about his Islamist radical leanings, but he was not only retained in the service, but was promoted. Apparently no one learned anything from the Ft. Hood "workplace violence" incident.
Except for LTC Heffington.
He paid attention to Rapone's social media crap and discovered a full blown Marxist in the ranks. When he brought it to the attention of senior members of the faculty and staff of the Academy, he was promptly ignored.
When I was in the advanced course at the Ft. Benning School For Boys, we had one very outspoken instructor whose guidance generally consisted of the phrase "Bayonet Da Commie ****suckers In Da Troat!!!" He was a man of few words, but immense wisdom.
So, in the case of 2LT Rapone, I suggest interrogating everyone close to him, room mates etc, and every instructor he had as well as the senior staff at the Academy and find out who knew about Rapone and who did nothing about it. And they should all be cashiered. Pour Encourager Les Autres.
Then give LTC Heffington a promotion to Major General and his choice of Division to command.
#2
Apparently, they also need to clear out the contract instructors who peddle the left crap pushed on America's campuses. Then go to the Army retired files and find some instructors with the background to be new faculty. They're out there.
#3
#2 Apparently, they also need to clear out the contract instructors who peddle the left crap pushed on America's campuses. Then go to the Army retired files and find some instructors with the background to be new faculty. They're out there.
Posted by Procopius2k
Over the Obama years the unsupervised hiring of the contractor instructors allowed the liberals in the tent...time to throw their sandals outta the tent.
#4
I blame Obama and his cronies for all this; Rapone, the sad state of the Navy, the Shaw AFB thing. It just goes on and on. Willful acts of subversion and infiltration. There must be a crushing response.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
10/14/2017 12:55 Comments ||
Top||
#5
There must be crushing response. Shut down the USMA for 10 years or so, to get rid of the dead wood & to encourage les autres. Then re-found the academy under all new staffing. Rely on Army ROTC in the meantime.
[USA Today] LOS ANGELES ‐ Gwyneth Paltrow, Octavia Spencer and other Hollywood stars called for solidarity at Variety's Power of Women luncheon in Los Angeles on Friday, an event coming in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal rocking Hollywood.
Honoree Octavia Spencer made note of the timing from the stage of the Beverly Wilshire Hotel during her speech, which touched on the spate of bad news in the media. Weinstein, who was fired from The Weinstein Company following reports chronicling decades of sexual harassment towards women, was front and center in this bad news.
"This past week, the film industry awoke to a scandal that rocked us to our core. Scores of brave women came forward and recounted stories of sexual harassment perpetrated by a producer who had abused his power for nearly three decades," Spencer said, her voice shaking with emotion.
#2
Yep, not to mention glad handing and hi-fives for sticking it to the 'Man'. Never a problem when in the pursuit of power till they can't suffocate all the hypocrisy involved. Then its like a pack of hyenas on a fallen lion to display their 'virtue'.
In their little minds, they have to think those on the 'right' have to be even worse animals (deplorable, unredeemable) in order for their consciousness to hold together, otherwise the knowledge that they are the damned would drive them over the cliff.
#5
The theory that this is a message in large capital letters to Hillary that her friends are vulnerable and so is she begins to more and more likely.
'Screw up just once more and the mess will be epic.'
Posted by: ed in texas ||
10/14/2017 20:48 Comments ||
Top||
#6
#5 The theory that this is a message in large capital letters to Hillary that her friends are vulnerable and so is she begins to more and more likely.
'Screw up just once more and the mess will be epic.'
Posted by: ed in texas 2017-10-14 20:48
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.
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.
[Ynet] Israel cannot accept the agreement between Fatah and 
[USA Today] LOS ANGELES ‐ Gwyneth Paltrow, Octavia Spencer and other Hollywood stars called for solidarity at Variety's Power of Women luncheon in Los Angeles on Friday, an event coming in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal rocking Hollywood.
