Note: Each block of text actually is a link to a story or a web page that I am commenting on. Click on that text and it will take you to the page being referred to.
It seems that most of the world took a break today … but then I still found a number of pieces that piqued my interest and I hope you find them thought provoking as well. Other than that, I will add my usual news editor’s view of the world today with my usual pithy comments, to which you are most certainly entitled to respond with whatever commentary you wish.
Like David Letterman, we will kick off with the Hillary's top 10 excuses to avoid jail.
And then there is this story on Hillary's latest attempt to blame something, someone, anyone but her, for the e-mail fiasco
Keeping in the political vein. what do Trump and Sanders have in common (along with pretty much the rest of us): Frustration with the politicians and bureaucrats associated with the federal government ... or as the saying goes - in Washington, although many are not there. Our reasons for being frustrated may vary but the frustration is the same: Our government is not being responsive to what "the people" want. Of course, our definitions of who "the people" are may differ and exactly what it is they want, but the fact that the establishment in DC seems to be hewing the lines laid down by the permanent Capitol Hill staffs and the permanent executive agencies' bureaucracies tends to frustrate a people who seem to want instantaneous change. Well, guess what folks, that ain't gonna happen. You see, the permanent institutional memories inside the Beltway hold the keys to the kingdom and they know it. I haven't a clue how to correct this, given civil service laws, but the best solution would be to fire all however many million of them they are and start all over again. Not going to happen, but it is nice to dream about.
More politics: Hey, Hillary, college ain't free. It costs. Granted educational institutions have been milking the federal teat for all it is worth, but educations still come at a price. So, while I know it will get you votes from millennials up to their tonsils in debt from pursuing their degrees that they were promised were the tickets to Easy Street and forever wealth and prosperity (regardless of major or degree), “education” is not always the panacea … sometimes what people study and get their education in matters.
The case of ending "birthright" citizenships. Food for thought, but I am not sure I buy into the argument that it will take a constitutional amendment.
And this article takes the opposite tack on anchor births. Heck, I don't know which one to believe ... but I will keep thinking on it.
I love it when the broadcast news airheads (note I include the cable news outlets in that definition of "broadcast") just seem to plow ahead without listening to the responses their subject is giving. Nope, just plow right on as if they said nothing, until you get the soundbyte you are looking for. I think Dr. Carson shows incredible patience with this guy from CNN
Sometimes, I think the Freedom From Religion people are just silly ... other times I can't get over how stupid they are to make the linkages that they do. This is one of those cases.
First in several articles on the Middle East. I disagree with some of the assumptions of this author: Mainly that all the problems in the Middle East are due to American and Zionist influence.
This article is in contrast to the previous one ... and discussed the impending failure of Iran's imperial hopes
And this one discusses the changing alliances in the Middle East (which is sort of Middle Eastern/Arab tradition) and how it is seen by a former Saudi general officer.
This story about Chinese efforts to steal the latest in US agricultural advances (GMO stuff and other chemical tricks) reads almost like a story out of bad spy novel. Warning: Long article.
I have to admit, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is pretty special. I am just not convinced its model easily translates into the civilian marketplace ... unless, of course, you want the heavy hand of the federal government involved in all research and development. Warning: Long article.
It was just a case of robbery ... by a poor, misunderstood man ... eh-yup ... and I have some oceanfront property in Arizona I want to sell you. It was a jihadi bent on causing mischief … despite his attorney’s protestations.
Let's hope this doesn't portend more silliness out of the North Koreans ... if people start shooting torpedoes over there, I suspect that things are going to get ugly really quick
More talk on North Korean troop movements ... one wonders just how far Mr. Kim intends to push this.
I don't know this is intended to be an attempt to defuse the crisis, or a step back to get ready for worse things ... in either case, I suspect it is sending the wrong signal to Mr. Kim.
What is with all the crashes at airshows this year ... I think I have lost count but I can think of about four, if I remember correctly
It seems that something blew up at a US Army Depot in Japan ... will be interesting to see what did
I am not sure I agree with this headline about anti-Planned Parenthood protests held this weekend. Massive is not the word I would use. Widespread, which is different than massive, would be more appropriate. The protests occurred in many different cities and communities, but were not necessarily large or "massive"
This is an interesting approach to the illegal immigration situation ... not that it has a chance in Hades of happening.
Leave it to some Aussie researcher to make the case for large families. What ever happened to Zero Population Growth and replacement families (no more than 2 kids per family)
Ok, I buy that these are all the reasons the Mars 1 mission isn't quite ready for prime time, but I don't buy the idea of backing off trying. If you want a zero-risk solution, with no cost, then try a different universe.
A couple things about this story: 1. How do they know that a single little bone that looks like it came from a primate some million years ago, actually came from a primate that dwelled on the ground and looked humoid. 2. There are a lot of assumptions here that I am not ready to accept. I am not saying it is not true, but they are assumptions and those have to be taken on faith.
And if there was no other reason, this is the big one why the US needs to get on the stick and get its own space taxis up and going.
There are a host of lessons here (for both the good guys and the bad guys) but I think the biggest one for me is the demonstration that bullets are not always people stoppers. Note: The store owner was shot at least once, if not more, and kept going. The perp he took the gun away from was shot at least once, if not more, before the gun jammed and the owner couldn't clear the malfunction so he took to using it as a hammer on the perp. Also, walls do not protect you from bullets ... check the three holes that appear in the wall in front of the owner before he starts using the pistol he has as a hammer. Each of those holes represents a bullet. Just something to think about.
This is a lesson I relentlessly tried to teach people and my troopers when working around armored vehicles (especially tanks). They are designed to destroy things and hurt people and they are not particular about who those people are. You can hurt yourself badly on your own vehicle just as badly as getting shot by an enemy if you don't keep your head in the game.
Ahhhhh ... the National Zoo has Panda twins ... I hope they both survive and thrive ... although I know the odds are long on that.
And this is funny, to an old gunner's mate/armorer. What the video doesn't explain is what the 3,300 rounds per minute really means. It is what is known as a weapon's cyclic rate of fire - or the the number of bullets a weapon's mechanism can fire if it has an inexhaustible supply of ammunition. Unfortunately, there is no fighter jet today that can carry 3 thousand bullets to feed such a gun. It usually carries about 200 to 300 if it is lucky ... and at that rate, you are talking a couple of seconds before the magazine is empty. And even if it had more capacity, at full tilt it would quickly melt the barrels and they would warp, thus jamming and basically ruining the weapon. This is true for all fully automatic weapons from an Uzi machine pistol, to automatic rifles (as opposed to semi-automatics where it fires one bullet every trigger pull) to machine guns to Gatling-style guns.
And if you needed another reason to resist ISIS with everything you have ... here is one. But then again, I suppose all those progressives and liberals in the US who want to destroy all the monuments and memorials to the Confederacy would feel right at home alongside ISIS about this.
No comments:
Post a Comment