Showing posts with label National Security. Show all posts
Showing posts with label National Security. Show all posts
August 4, 2015
July 25, 2015
July 24, 2015
Actions Speak Louder Than Deals
Similar to the Movie, "The Stoning of Soraya M."--only this is real life footage.
Highly graphic...beware.
A 17-year old girl ambushed by crowd of men, savagely kicked and beaten, and stoned to death with a large cinderblock finally slammed onto her head.
All the while, the men are taking photos and videos with their smartphones.
And playing with her skirt up and down in some perverted way while the blood is gushing out of her skull.
Supposedly for loving the "wrong" boy.
Who does something like this?
Can some people be so religiously brainwashed as to think this can be "right"?
Where are people's inner conscience and moral compass?
As ISIS beheads and burns alive their opponents, Boko Haram hacks off people's limbs and takes young girls as sex slaves, Al Qaeda conducts countless suicide bombings, Syria gases their own people, and Iran outmaneuvers the West toward a nuclear bomb to annihilate their enemies...we had better take very seriously what we are dealing with.
Shouldn't any deal we make seek to genuinely change these behaviors rather than make a deal for deal's sake?
We need to wake up before the warnings that we are witnessing from afar become lessons here at home.
We need a genuine and verifiable peace--oh G-d let it be!
July 19, 2015
Come Back In A Month!
In a nutshell:
"Can I check your suspected site for dangerous nuclear WMD?"
"No!"
"Ok, I'll come back in 24 days."
"Great, thank you--have a nice day."
(Source Photo: here with attribution to Chaim Haberfeld, Facebook)
July 18, 2015
The "Real" Reason Behind The Iran Deal
Why would the United States make a bad deal with Iran?
- Where Iran gets to keep their nuke infrastructure.
- Where they get restrictions for a mere 10-15 years and then presumably get the coveted BOMB.
- Where "managed access" for inspections has a ridiculous 24 days waiting time.
- Where the arms and ballistic missile embargo is lifted.
- Where Iran gets a windfall of $150 billion released to them for which they acknowledge they will tap for use to support terror worldwide.
- Where Iran's leadership continues to chant "Death To America," burn our flag and President in effigy, hold Americans hostage, threaten us, and insist that their hatred and fight against us will go on.
Are we going crazy?
No, there is actually a rational reason for all this.
So what's the reason--let me explain from my simple-minded thinking about all this (follow carefully)?
Iran is a Shiite nation.
Shiite's make up only a small percentage of the Islamic world around 15% (or 200 million).
However, the Sunnis make up the other 1 billion Muslims.
The Sunnis are moving through terrorist movements such as ISIS, Al Qaeda, Boko Haram, Hamas and more to create a Sunni Caliphate throughout the Middle East and North Africa (and maybe beyond).
The Western world fears the terror and destruction that can come about from a Sunni Caliphate.
Also, on 9/11, The U.S. was attacked by Al Qaeda (Sunnis) and where 15 of the 19 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia (a Sunni Country).
The answer is the enemy of my enemy is my friend...Iran.
Iran is the largest Shiite Country with it's own ambitions for a Shiite Caliphate.
Arming and funding Iran is a bulwark against the predominant Sunnis and their ambitions for power and hegemony.
Notably, guess what? Iraq is another country with a large Shiite population, like Iran.
Hence, this is why the U.S. went into Iraq to dethrone Saddam Hussein, a Sunni, who was holding power over the Shiite population--now the Shiites there are in power.
Voila, Shiites in Iran and neighboring Iraq empowered to fight Sunnis.
They mostly terrorize and murder each other instead of seriously battling the West.
Since 9/11, there has not been a major terrorist attack on the U.S.
And if Iran is on the road to the Bomb, and this sparks a nuclear arms race in the Middle East with Saudi Arabia etc., perhaps the thinking...maybe that's not such a bad thing after all.
Unfortunately, Israel who is threatened by a nuclear-armed Iran who explicitly wants to "annihilate" them is caught in the middle of all this.
But the West is more concerned with the Sunnis and Shiites battling it out, then with the fate of Israel, who we figure can be placated with some "compensation" armaments to protect themselves.
But is that enough for a country where one nuclear missile hit can mean a second Holocaust?
I am not a conspiracy theorist and never have been.
But this seems too easy. ;-)
(All Opinions My Own)
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
July 12, 2015
The "Real" OPM Data Breach
Everyone rightly, although somewhat selfishly, is worried about identity theft and the compromised privacy of their information.
The government is worried about hostile nation states using the pilfered information to bribe or coerce military, intelligence, high-level politicals, and others to turn and work for them or otherwise to use against them.
But what is grossly missing in this discussion is not what information presumably the Chinese stole and how they will use it against us, but rather what information they inserted, altered, or otherwise compromised into the OPM personnel and security databases when they got root access to it.
Imagine for a moment what could hostile nations or terrorists can do to this crown jewel database of personnel and security information:
- They could insert phony records for spies, moles, or other dangerous persons into the database--voila, these people are now "federal employees" and perhaps with stellar performance records and high level security clearances able to penetrate the depths of the federal government with impunity or even as superstars!
- They could alter personnel or security records taking prominent or good government employees and sabotaging them to have questionable histories, contacts, financial, drug or criminal problems and thereby frame or take-down key government figures or divert attention from the real bad guys out there and tie our homeland security and law enforcement establishment in knots chasing after phony leads and false wrongdoers and villains.
Given that the timeline of the hack of OPM goes back to March and December 2014, this was more than enough time for our adversary to not only do to our data what they want, but also for the backup tapes to be affected by the corrupt data entering the system.
The damage done to U.S. national security is unimaginable. As is typically the case with these things, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." Instead of investing in security, now we can invest in "credit monitoring and identity theft protection" for a very sparse three years, while federal employees will go a lifetime in information jeopardy, and the federal government will be literally chasing its tail on personnel security for decades to come.
With the price so low to our adversaries in attacking our systems, it truly is like stealing and much more. ;-)
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
July 11, 2015
Dancing With The Devil
- No more answering questions about their past nuclear WMD activities.
- No more gradual sanctions relief.
- No more giving up all their spinning centrifuges.
- No more anywhere, anytime inspections of suspicious military sites.
Actually, this is all quite amazing!
And at the same time as Iran doesn't give a real inch toward what the West wants, their negotiators are now throwing in yet more of what they want and that includes doubling their oil sales immediately and the removal of the arms and ballistic missile embargo.
Hey, if you are the Iranians in the negotiations--ask and ye shall receive.
But what about what we should be asking for, but are not:
1) Iran needs to give up and dismantle their infrastructure for producing nuclear weapons--ALL of it, period. Isn't it obvious that Iran having nukes is inevitable if they are allowed to continue to be permitted to have some nuke capability in plain sight and the rest conducted in hiding out of our limited inspections purview?
2) Iran must cease being the leading state sponsor of terrorism world-wide or for that matter any sponsor of terrorism--that is not how civilized nations behave! How can Iran be trusted on any nuke agreement as long as they continue to murder and terrorize innocents just as part of what they do. Just as an example, does anyone remember the 242 U.S. Marines killed in the Beirut barracks bombing. What happened to "We don't negotiate with terrorists"?
3) Iran cannot continue their overt hatred of the West, while pretending to negotiate an end to sanctions. Chanting "Death to America" (and Israel), burning our flag and our President in effigy, calling us their worst enemy, and threatening to attack and annihilate them is not in spirit of negotiating an agreement, is it? Again, where is foundation for trust here to even make an agreement?
4) Iran can't deny the truth of the Holocaust and the murder of six million innocent Jewish people in the most cruel ways just 70 years ago and simultaneously sit at the table today with world leaders in suits and ties and smiles, pretending to make a verifiable agreement that means anything.
While we all want true world peace, this leopard has not at all changed its stripes.
The words "Never Again" are not just an empty saying, but rather they are a commitment that all good and decent people must take upon themselves to ensure that hatred, terror, and evil are no longer permitted in the league of civilized nations.
The devil always presents himself in an appealing way, but as history has shown over and over again, he never fails to hurt those who try to appease him.
May G-d guide the leaders of this great nation with wisdom and to see those with whom they negotiate for who they really are--and may a true peace reign in our times.
(All opinions my own.)
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
July 7, 2015
A Deal Of Dread
I would imagine that very soon there will be ATA-boys, pats on the back and high-fives, photo ops, more gushing smiles, and of course the coveted Noble Peace Prize.
But as we move ever closer to a deal with Iran on Nuclear Weapons Of Mass Destruction all I feel is complete dread.
I wish I could be happy--really I do--because we had a strong and verifiable deal that protected us all, but instead...
I am afraid for the State of Israel--holy to Jews, Christians, and Muslims around the world--as a nuclear capable Iran and their terrorist proxies renew vows to annihilate Israel--only 70 years after the Holocaust that erased 6 million Jewish lives, their souls rising in the billowing smoke of the furnaces of the Nazi crematoria.
Further, I am afraid for the dimming prospects of true world peace based on the tacit acceptance of an eventual nuclear-armed Iranian regime, still the leading state sponsor of world-wide terrorism.
Every day, we are bombarded by a cacophony of what seems an unending litany of concessions to Iran:
2) Yesterday, it was that Iran wants an immediate doubling of oil exports.
3) Last week, it was that rather than gradual sanctions relief for compliance, instead now Iran would get a $150 billion signing bonus - that is 25 times the annual budget of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard and could be used to finance and carry out yet more global terrorism.
4) And that for vital inspections for nuke compliance, "anytime, anywhere, unimpeded" of suspicious military sites would now only be a highly watered down "managed access" of inspections.
5) Three weeks ago, the U.S. said that Iran no longer needs to account for the past nuclear weapons research that world representatives from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), had been trying to pry out of them for than a decade.
6) In March, as part of the framework deal, we learned that Iran's freeze on sensitive nuclear activities would only be 10 years, and even that Iran was calling "unaceptable."
7) Moreover in March, we learned that despite any agreement, Iran was continuing to pursue banned items for nukes and the missiles to deliver them.
In April, we were reminded of the dangers of failed nuclear agreements when China warned about North Korea's ever expanding nuke arsenal, which critics have pointed out mimics that of the deal with Iran.
Aside from the dangerous weaknesses in the emerging deal, Iran's hatred for the United States is unmitigated as a general in Iran said just last week that the U.S. remains "our worst, most vicious enemy."
Moreover, as Iran's Parlimant bans access to its military sites, they continue unabated their generational old chant of "death to America."
In these fateful times, when our decisions now will affect the lives of untold millions in the future, let us pray for G-d's mercy.
May the L-rd above bestow the strength of good character, wisdom of our ancestors, and the fortitude of our great heros to ensure a good deal--or no deal at all--with our avowed and undetered enemy--and may he bring a true peace to us all.
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
July 3, 2015
Happy 4th From Washington DC
But what does it mean?
We are independent from British rule since 1776.
That made us a free nation.
We are free to be...but be what?
1) Safe and Secure - Have a strong military, intelligence, and homeland security to keep the peace or compromise on national security and make bad deals for political expediency and face the consequences by a host of crazed terrorist threats, a nuclear Iran, a belligerent North Korea, a bellicose Russia, or a rising confrontational China.
2) Prosperous And Self-Sufficient - Strengthen education, encourage innovation, invest in research and development and advanced manufacturing, cultivate a motivated and capable workforce, and manage a fiscally responsible economy or spend recklessly and indiscriminately driven by pork-barrel politics and special interests and eventually bankrupt our richly-endowed nation.
3) Equal And With Fundamental Human Rights - Ensure equality and opportunity for everyone under the law, where everyone has respect and dignity and the protection of basic human rights or discriminate in large and small ways perpetuating the have and have nots in every fiber of our society, where the rich get sickeningly richer and for everyone else you're sh*t out of luck.
4) Socially Just - Provide for a just and fair society ensuring that people are duly protected and crime does not pay or irresponsibly live in managed chaos and let violent criminals back out on the streets in a revolving door of recidivism rather than rehabilitation.
5) Environmentally Responsible - Safeguard our environment and natural resources, invest in renewable energy resources and sustainability, reduce, reuse, and recycle, and give a hoot and don't pollute or just pig out now and leave an inhospitable gutted world for later.
6) Democratically Governed - Rule with righteousness and integrity, give back to the people, be open and honest, listen to all sides and ensure a balanced fair approach or perpetuate lies, deceit, corruption, conspiracy, fraud, waste, and abuse.
Not everyone in the world is so lucky to be free.
Maybe this Independence Day, we think not just about the new Terminator movie, shopping at the mall, and feasting at the BBQ, but also what we want this treasured freedom to mean, what our "leaders" are leading us to, and are we getting the freedom we all, as human beings under G-d, innately deserve.
We can definitely raise the bar and we should. ;-)
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
June 25, 2015
18 Million--Change The SSNs
Now involving over 18 million current and former federal employees, including military and intelligence personnel.
No getting around it, but we are major screwed here--this is a treasure trove of personal and privacy information ready to use for identity theft, blackmail, assassination/decapitation attacks at home and work addresses, kidnapping of family members, and literally attacking our national security apparatus from the very inside out--it's people.
Imagine, if at the time of its choosing, an adversary attacks our nation, but preempts this with sophisticated and coordinated attacks on our critical government personnel--generals, spy masters, political kingpins, and other key decision makers--thereby distracting them from their duties of safeguarding our nation.
This is our new Achilles Heel and overall a security disaster bar none!
Well, we can't go back and put the genie back in the bottle--although wouldn't it be nice if such critical information (if not encrypted--already unforgivable) would have a self-destruct mechanism on it that we could at least zap it dead.
But for the people whose personal identities are at risk--whose social security numbers (SSNs) and dates of birth (DOBs) have been compromised what can we do?
While we can't very well change people DOBs, why not at least issue them new SSNs to help thwart the adversaries peddling in this information in the black markets.
If we can put a man on the moon, surely we can issue some 18 million new SSNs and mandate government and financial institutions to make the necessary updates to the records.
This is not rocket science, and certainly we owe this much to our people to help protect them.
Will our government be there for it's own employees and patriots? ;-)
(Source Photo: here with attribution to Donkey Hotey)
March 24, 2015
Hmm...A Nuke Deal With Iran--Just Ask Why?
HATRED OF AMERICA--THEIR ENEMY #1:
1) Iran, of the Axis Of Evil, considers "The Great Satan" (as they call America) their "number one enemy", they chant "Death to America," and even hang our President in effigy.
MURDERING AND THREATENING TO RAIN DEATH AND DESTRUCTION ON AMERICANS:
2) Iran threatened brutal attacks on America as well as on the President's family, and Iranian military documents endorse a devastating EMP attack on the United States.
3) Iran says it will destroy the U.S. Navy, and destroyed a mock U.S. aircraft carrier in February!
4) Iran held our diplomats hostage for 444 days.
5) Iran through it's proxy Hezbolah killed 241 U.S. Marines in the Lebanon suicide attack.
DENYING THE HOLOCAUST AND THREATENING ANNIHILATION OF ISRAEL:
6) Iran threatens to annihilate Israel.
7) Iran is a leading denier of the Holocaust, where 6 million Jews were murdered just 70 years ago.
THE WORLD'S LEADING SPONSOR OF TERRORISM AND HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES:
8) Iran is the leading state sponsor of terrorism worldwide.
9) Iran is the worst human rights offender in the world today.
ONGOING DEFIANCE OF THE WORLD ON NUCLEAR PROLIFERATION ACTIVITIES:
10) Iran continues to hide their dangerous nuclear activites from International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), even as they profess cooperation, seek a lifting of sanctions and legitimacy for their nuke program.
(All opinions my own)
(Source Photo: here with attribution to MEMRI via Fox News)
March 1, 2015
Please Don't Shoot Our Ally
Get this...
When Israel was ready this past year to take out the Iran Nukes, who stopped them?
No, not the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
No, not any of the other Arab states or terror groups.
No, not Russia.
But rather, our President is reported to have threatened to literally "shoot down Israeli fighter jets" (those of our "Major Strategic Ally") if they attempted to take out Iran's nuclear facilities.
This at the same time that he is desperately seeking an agreement with Axis of Evil, Iran, who continues to threaten Israel and what Iran calls, "The Great Satan," America.
While these "negotiations" are going into the home stretch (with one extension after another)...
- Iran destroyed a mock Nimitz class U.S. aircraft carrier in a missile attack, just last week.
- A senior Iranian cleric threatened our executive branch and vowed to "raise the flag of Islam over the White House."
- In Iran,"Obama is being hung in effigy and the U.S. flag being burnt in Tehran."
Are these the actions of a nation that the U.S. can trust to make an agreement with on nuclear weapons of mass destruction OR is this a deal with the devil?
As one Arab official stated: "We prefer a collapse of the diplomatic process to a bad deal."
Why is this administration turning on Israel and our Arab allies and desperately pursuing a deal, "making ever more concessions" to the ever dangerous Iranian regime.
As Putin is alleged to have had Russian opposition leader, Boris Nemtsov killed last week, one has to wonder what is going on in our own backyard here in America, with worse yet, purported threats to shoot at our ally Israel.
G-d should give our leaders the wisdom to discern our allies from our foes, to treat them accordingly, and to secure a genuine peace with security.
(Source Photo: here with attribution to Mike Licht)
February 26, 2015
Discuss and Work Together, Respectfully
.jpeg)
This after Netanyahu accepted an invitation from the United States Congress to speak about Iranian nukes threatening the State of Israel, the region, and the Western world.
1) Iran, Israel and Arab Allies:
Truly, can anyone blame Israel and our Arab allies of being distressed that we are disavowing our 2011 commitment to them, as President Obama stated:
"You also see our commitment to our shared security in our...there be no doubt: America is determined to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon...My policy is prevention of Iran obtaining nuclear weapons."
Now we have as reported gone from preventing Iran on obtaining nuclear weapons to instead a possible agreement that still leaves thousands of Iran's nuclear centerfuges spinning and "sunsets" as early as 2025!
This is a lopsided turning of the tables on Israel and of our Arab allies for reapproachment with Axis of Evil, Iran.
2) Russia and Ukraine:
But not alone are our Middle East allies in feeling abandoned by us, as we made security guarantees also to Ukraine in the Budapest Memorandum of 1994 that specifically committed the U.S., U.K. and Russia to:
"Respect the independence and sovereignty and existing border of Ukraine [and to] refrain from the threat or use of force."
Well so much for that as Crimea has now been annexed by Russia and battling rages across eastern Ukraine by Russian-supported separatists, despite a blantant violation of a truce recently brokered by France and Germany.
3) Poland and Czech Republic
Yet once again, with Poland and the Czech republic (members of NATA), we commited ourselves to building a missle shield only then to back away and seemingly abandon them:
"In one of the biggest national security reversals of his young presidency, Mr. Obama cancelled...plans to station a radar facility [and]...ground-based interceptors."
Questions:
Why are we continually turning on longtime friends and allies and embracing enemies sworn to our destruction?
What do our commitments mean to anyone anymore and why shouldn't our shunted allies speak out, especially when it is their countries that are being placed in jeopardy?
Disrespect and Freedom of Speech:
What is also amazing is how low we have gone in our interactions such that we no longer discuss and disagree respectfully, but instead resort now to withholding security information, disgraceful name-calling (e.g. "Chickenshit"), discrediting, and even seeking to silence opposing views!
What has happened to our dearly held and constitutional rights and values for democracy, free speech, including openly debating issues and respecting differences of opinion?
Institutional Anti-Semitism:
Interesting also is how big and tough we are being on little Israel (population 8 million and about the size of the 5th smallest U.S. state of New Jersey)...
While simultaneously many seem to be proverbially (excuse the language) peeing their pants in front of the newly aggressive "Big Bear," Russia.
What is more important when it comes to the dangers of a Iran with nuclear WMD--a longtime friend and ally Israel that is facing a potentially existential threat just 70 years after the Holocaust or getting an historical "award" for making an agreement (and a potentially bad one at that) with Iran?
Conclusion:
Behavior unbecoming, includes serially breaking commitments, silencing the opposition (uh, against our Constituion), name-calling and bullying, and endangering longtime allies and friends--this is not leadership and does not leave anyone a desired legacy.
Let's openly and freely discuss and work together respectfully in true friendship and partnership, and get a good deal that safeguards the democracies of the United States and Israel. ;-)
(All Opinions my own.)
(Source Photo: here with attribution to blueforce4116)
February 25, 2015
Is This A Genuine Partner For WMD Peace?
Everyone was speculating why Iran was building a 202 meter long life-size replica of a Nimitz Class U.S. Aircraft Carrier in the Persian Gulf.
Well today (as we are hear of "progress" with Iranian nuclear talks), we got our answer, as the Iranian military took the opportunity and blew the mock U.S. aircraft carrier to smithereens!
The commander of Iran's Navy stated: "The Americans, and the entire world, knows that the American Navy is one of our targets and it will take us 50 seconds to destroy every US warship."
At the same time, Iran is mulling over the purchase of a powerful anti-aircraft missile system from Russia.
So now Iran is going toward an agreement for a possible lifting of western financial sanctions and a 10-year nuke capability, and we are trusting them that it is for peaceful purposes?
Many of our major Middle East allies are concerned including Israel, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey, and more, and so much so that an Iranian nuke capability may "spark a nuclear arms race."
Hmm...why the desperation for a deal with "Axis of Evil," Iran amidst ongoing hostility and threats from Iran towards "The Great Satan," America, and all the express concerns of our longtime friends and allies?
Now we won't just have deadly terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda and ISIS to contend with across the region, but also a nuclear armed Iran--amidst regular threats to sink the U.S. Navy and annihilate Israel (and just 70 years after the Holocaust killed 6 million Jewish men, women, and children!).
What have we learned about appeasement of dangerous foes and the unimaginable risks to millions of innocent lives around the world? ;-)
February 21, 2015
The Monster Under The Bed
A shiksa is a non-Jewish girl and is sometimes used to refer to Jewish women that don't follow the commandments.
A shegetz is a similar term used for a male.
Is it a bad word?
Well, let's just say it's not a term of endearment. :-)
I guess it's funny that everyone has terms for those who are not just like them.
Of course we all don't have to be and aren't the same, cut from the same mold.
But we all have to have respect for each other and get along.
I think the worst part of people being different is not even the overt jokes or off-handed remarks which can certainly be hurtful, but much more the backdoor insinuations and aggressive behaviors.
Lately, to be frank, it seems that ethnic and religious war is brewing big time in the world--anyone else notice?
Not regional, focused on oil and resources, long held dictatorships, human rights, or even "the Palestinian issue."
But rather what no one wants to talk about or confront, a battle of civilizations.
It is so scary, because this is there are big and powerful actors at play whether Russia or China playing for the world's leadership role (one overtly and the other covertly), Iran and North Korea freely wielding nukes and threateningly strutting "their stuff," and ISIS and Al Qaeda looking for the next budding caliphate and imposition of Sharia law as far and as wide as they can take it.
East meets West, democracy vs. dictatorship, religion against religion, this thing is building up steam, pressure is rising, and the question is whether and how big this is about to blow.
Shhh, if we don't say the words or we pretend to "make nice" and give out jobs, dole out handouts, and use our drones, oh so discretely, maybe no one will notice.
Are we being phobic about communism, radical Islam, budding economic and military might, and other differences, or are we pointing out what we are all perceiving, but greatly fear to face.
When I saw recently that some wonderful Muslim people were surrounding synagogues in Europe, not to attack it, but rather to encircle it to defend it, I was not only in complete awe, but also realized how many good and righteous people there are out there.
These people are actually doing something about the injustices and power grabs they are witnessing, and not trying to obfuscate or opiate the masses.
It's not just about being tolerant of others and stripping hatred from our hearts and lives, but about being truthful when others may choose not to be. ;-)
(Source Photo: Facebook)
February 19, 2015
Ever Feel This Way?
I took this photo of an advertisement for the "I'm With Stupid" Minions movie released on February 2.
Sadly, I think this sums up how I am feeling about current world affairs rapidly devolving into chaos, with little to nothing happening to bring it back from the brink:
- China builds four new fortress artificial islands in the South China Sea projecting it's military might in disputed waters.
- Iran threatens gas embargo on U.S., suicide missions on U.S. Navy, missile attack on Israel, and nuclear enrichment expansion while negotiating for a lifting of sanctions.
- Syrian fighting leaves over 250,000 dead and includes their "systematically" using chemical weapons.
- ISIS burns another 45 people alive in Iraq, beheads 21 Coptic Christians abducted from Egypt, and commits mass "brutal and abnormal sex" on female captives.
- Boko Haram attack leaves another 2,000 dead in Nigeria (the world's 4th largest democracy) with "bodies scattered everywhere."
- Radical Islamists conduct terrors attacks in Europe in both France (Charlie Hebdo Magazine and a Jewish grocery store) and Copenhagen (a free speech event and a Synagogue).
- Dangerous terrorists apprehended and put away in the Guantanamo detention facility are then released with about 28% (or more) returning to their chosen terror professions.
Daniel Henninger in the Wall Street Journal points to this sorry state of affairs and our retrenchment in world affairs, as a serious misalignment between the age-old guns and butter debate.
Maybe time for some smart people to get in on things. ;-)
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
February 13, 2015
tURNING yOUR dEVICE aGAINST yOU!
This TV has voice activated controls and they don't just take commands, but...
"If your spoken words include personal or other sensitive information, that information will be among the data captured and transmitted to a third party."
So aside from hackers (and spies) being able to turn your phone and computer mics, cameras, and GPS location data on and off to surveil and eavesdrop on you, now the dumb television set can listen in as well.
You can be heard, seen, and found...whether you know it or not. ;-)
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal with eyes and ears from here and here with attribution to Firas and Simon James)
January 21, 2015
Stop The Nuclear Threat
Before we get too rosy on the State of the Union...
Fascinating article in Forbes on the threat from nuclear armageddon.
- The Russians nuclear missile survivability is improving with missiles "equiped with four warheads that can be independently targeted."
- Typical yield is 500 kilotons--"equivalent to half a million tons of conventional explosives."
- The impact of a single nuclear explosion is that it heats the targeted areas to a "few thousand degrees."
- If/when exploded over a major city, "everything within a one-mile radius is destroyed, heavy damage extends to three miles, and fires will be widespread out to five miles."
- People at ground zero will be annihilated immediately "by the blast effects or a wind-spread firestorm...(initial wind speed 700 mph)"
- Those father from the epicenter will "linger longer before succumbing to the effects of prompt and delayed radiation."
- Due to the magnetic pulse, "electronic devices will be shut down for a hundred miles in every direction."
- How many long range nuclear missiles does Russia have? Over 2,000 (that are known)!
- Just 50, would leave every American city with over half a million people, "uninhabitable."
Now think about the Mullahs of Iran targeting, America, "The Great Satan," should they get this capability.
And do you think a Congressionally, bipartison endorsed, deadline-triggered sanctions on Iran should be vetoed or championed by the administration to stop this threat?
May G-d bless us with the wisdom and strength of character to see through the delay tactics and subterfuge of our enemies and remove this real threat from us.
As to the Russians' strategic nuclear arsenal, we better get moving along on Reagan's Star Wars Strategic Defense Initiative--because 2,000 is a heck of a lot of incoming! ;-)
January 19, 2015
Why Have We Gone Soft On Terror?
Why are people loving this movie?
Because Chris Kyle (played by Bradley Cooper) was a true patriot, and as a Navy Seal sniper fought the war on terror with 4 tours of duty overseas and over 160 confirmed kills.
Chris Kyle loved this country and what it stands for and he loved his fellow warfighters, who gave so much of themselves to protect this nation.
The people of our country are watching the world events unfold with one terrorist attack and atrocity after another...and they are aghast at how we have apparently gone soft when we are still at war!
- Iran misses deadline after deadline for disarming their nuclear WMD program, and rather than leading the charge on sanctions, instead there is a vow to veto both houses of Congress on any legislation that even threatens sanctions that would only take effect if they fail to reach a deal by the July 2015 deadline.
- Al Qaeda conducts series of horrific terrorist attacks in Paris on Charlie Hebdo magazine and a kosher grocery store, and 40 world leaders and millions of citizens come together for a Unity Rally, but our leadership bows out of attending, instead of being arm-in-arm with our allies such as France, Germany, England, and Israel.
- Hamas rains thousands of missiles indiscriminately on Israeli cities and digs terror tunnels to abduct and murder across the country, and in the ultimate hypocrisy of justice, the International Criminal Court protects the terrorists and investigates our ally for defending themselves in a 50-day war against those who vow to destroy them.
- ISIS is capturing huge swaths of Iraq and Syria and is murdering and torturing the populace and beheading our journalists and aid workers and our response is tepid and inadequate.
- The Taliban slaughter 145 mostly schoolchildren in Pakistan and where is our indignation?
- Boko Haram kidnaps hundreds of Nigerian schoolgirls and they threaten to sell them and we hold up signs to "Bring Back Our Girls," but where is the action to actually free them.
- With terrorists hunted down and captured--at great risk to our own military and intelligence men and women--and held at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, instead of locking them up and throwing away the keys, we are releasing them, while many yet return to perform more terrorist activities against us.
These are just a few to mention...yet where is the outrage at all the ongoing terrorism around us? Where is the determined action to protect our people, freedom and democracy?
We need to honor those who fought for this country--like patriot Chris Kyle--and decisively win this war on terror. Anything less is a losing strategy. ;-)
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
January 16, 2015
Where Did I Put That Action Memo?
(Not me though...compulsive neat freak and learned from IBM's "clean desk policy" early on in my career.)
In analyzing our fight against Islamic jihadists and terrorists, Daniel Henninger in the Wall Street Journal writes:
"In all the photos published of al Qaeda, Islamic State or any other terror groups, have you ever seen them sitting at desks?"
Henninger points out the root of "Bureaucracy" is the French word "Bureau," which mean desk.
Hence, we in the West are stuck behind our desks, while the terrorists are actively working to destroy our freedom and way of life--smashing down doors and wielding AK47s and suicide vests!
We've got to stop hiding behind our piled-high desks, analysis-paralysis position papers, endless meetings, and political bickering, and actually do something concrete, meaningful, and strong--to not only deter, but destroy the enemy!
Fear of making a decision or nonsense claims that your still searching for that action memo is something that should get you uprooted from your messy desk with a boot up your a*s!
Wake up, wake up, wake up--enough ho hum, we need some leadership that is bold, patriotic, and heroic to protect what we value so dear.
Don't you think it's time to win this war for real?
(Source Photo: here with attribution to Shawn de Raaf)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
