Here is an interesting piece and background report on the current situation in Yemen. As usual there are several points of view and some radical differences. Two of the commentators claim there are less than 400 al Quaeda in Yemen and a new massive US footprint will be counterproductive. That seems to be par for the course.
One of the claims is that Saudi Arabia has far more al Qaeda members than Yemen. Shocked and dismayed are you at that stunning revelation?
Bill Roggio thinks that the problem in Yemen is almost too complicated to do anything and admits he has no answer. That would be interesting to hear from Obama.
Michael Griffin, an expert on al Qaeda reccommends to find the money trail that funds al Qaeda, which in his words clearly leads back to Saudi Arabia. See a trend developing since almost all the 911 attackers were Saudis?
Roggio, discussing the existing Guantanamo detainees, thinks that the Obama Administration will regret their widely publicised policy of closing Guantanmo and will have to reconsider and back down.
Oh dear.
Pure Genius:
ReplyDelete146. Fletcher Christian:
There seems to me to be a good opportunity, right now, for a very expensive (to the enemy) gesture. Dubai is rather proud of having the tallest building in the world by a considerable margin. (Of course, they would have more reason for such pride if the designers and just about all the workers on it weren’t foreign.)
Just finished and inaugurated with a fireworks party, and the entire world has its eyes on it. What a good time to take it away from them. A couple of submarine-launched conventional Tomahawks should be enough. And the accompanying message? “We in the West are sick of your violence and your intolerance. You took two of our buildings off us and we have now taken one of yours. Start growing up, and stop acting like spoilt brats with guns, or the next target is the Kaabah.” And if they don’t take the hint? Then the next Tomahawk is a TLAM-N.
Terrorism by Snail Mail
ReplyDelete[Shannen Coffin]
The president issued an Executive Order last week detailing how the government will distribute "countermeasures" (such as antibiotics) to affected citizens in the event of a wide-scale biological attack.
His answer to the difficult problem of broadly disbursing these countermeasures seems to be: "The check is in the mail."
That's right — your U.S. postal service, the very model of quasi-government efficiency, will be tasked with distributing medical countermeasures to the public.
"The U.S. Postal Service has the capacity for rapid residential delivery of medical countermeasures for self administration across all communities in the United States. The Federal Government shall pursue a national U.S. Postal Service medical countermeasures dispensing model to respond to a large-scale biological attack."
It may be true that the post office has the "capacity," but are we really all that comfortable with conscripting our local mailman to assist in the performance of a critical national-security function?
As Stewart Baker asks, "When was the last time you gave the US Postal Service responsibility for delivering a package that absolutely had to get to the recipient as fast as possible?" Baker's solution to the problem is to keep an emergency supply of antibiotics in your home while you're waiting for the mailman to show up at your door.
Some cynical voices are saying that the western pols are using the al-Qaeda bug-a-boo for political purposes. To distract their electorates. The cynics are saying there's nothing like war to unite a people around their warriors/leaders.
ReplyDeleteI know I am being cynical by pointing this out.
As for airline, bus and public safety...
ReplyDeleteIt's time, as passengers, to look at everyone in the surrounding seats and eyeball everyone..
Engage EVERYONE....
If someone is odd, weird or out of place, the GROUP should know this...
Everyone MUST make eye contact.
Remember Jihadists sometimes wear western garb...
WiO said...
ReplyDelete"Remember Jihadists sometimes wear western garb..."
link
146. Fletcher Christian: A couple of submarine-launched conventional Tomahawks should be enough. And the accompanying message? “We in the West are sick of your violence and your intolerance. You took two of our buildings off us and we have now taken one of yours. Start growing up, and stop acting like spoilt brats with guns, or the next target is the Kaabah.” And if they don’t take the hint? Then the next Tomahawk is a TLAM-N.
ReplyDeleteThat's the stupidest post I have ever seen on the Belmont Club, and I've seen a lot of Habu posts. The message is "grow up" and "we're sick of violence" and you take down a building in the most Westernized, decadent emirate in the Gulf?
Obama fights wars by "sending messages". Clinton thought he won in Serbia by breaking a lot of Milosumbitches' stuff. Al Qaeda lives in caves and go around dressed as women to avoid Predator drones, they don't have a lot of "stuff" to break, and the skyscraper in Dubai isn't on the list of Al Qaeda stuff.
This is how you win the war: Pull all our bases back from overseas and set them in a belt between San Diego and El Paso with a mile between each one. Every night, the troops patrol that mile between the bases for anyone coming north and incarcerate them, no "catch and release". You blacklist Yemen, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, putting their whole countries on "No Fly" lists. Exceptions to be granted on a case-by-case basis. Then Al-Qaeda can knock themselves out building training camps for suicide bombers.
Taken from Drudge web page:
ReplyDeleteWinter Could Be Worst in 25 Years for USA...
CHILL MAP...
3 Deaths Due To Cold in Memphis...
PAPER: GAS SUPPLIES RUNNING OUT IN UK...
Elderly burn books for warmth?
Vermont sets 'all-time record for one snowstorm'...
Iowa temps 'a solid 30 degrees below normal'...
Seoul buried in heaviest snowfall in 70 years...
Historic ice build-up shuts down NJ nuclear power plant...
Midwest Sees Near-Record Lows, Snow By The Foot...
Miami shivers from coldest weather in decade...
Global warming's a bitch!
It was 11 degrees here this morning. Probably below zero considering "wind chill." Colder'n a well digger's ass.
ReplyDeleteThank God we're having that "El Nino-induced" mild winter.
Of course, Doug probably overlooked the fact that some old, consistently bolloxed up Mississippian said a couple of months ago that a "weak to moderate" (such as we are having) El Nino can lead to a colder than hell winter.
ReplyDeleteUnless something is done immediately, middle Georgia could have a foot of snow by week's end.
ReplyDeleteStop the glacial warming, already!
It's cold here in the deep south. Abt 38 degs as I write.
ReplyDeleteDitto Teresita on Dubai, withdrawal, the border and no-fly countries.
It seems to me that Dubai is a place that the Islamists will go after. We certainly don't need to.
ReplyDelete23 degrees here in Sunny North Texas. High Thurday 31 and WINDY. Algore should be stripped and made to run thru all this until his little winkie falls off.
ReplyDeleteWeather Channel on Yahoo says it's currently 32 degrees here in North Florida.
ReplyDeleteyou guys are just too funny - ah gee, it is winter and it is cold outside that must mean...
ReplyDelete...and if it is warmer than to be expected in the arctic we can conclude...
I've arrived at the conclusion that local weather in North America depends heavily on where the jet stream is flowing. If it flows to the south of you the cold arctic air gets sucked down. After reading your complaints about the coooolllld weather I poked about the net to see if I could find out wear the jet stream was today. The jet stream is so far south today it didn't even show on the Canadian service. The weather underground has a map and you can even animate it if you like:
http://www.wunderground.com/US/Region/US/2xpxJetStream.html
Don't be such a troll.
ReplyDeleteIt's not only NA that is cold. Britain weather reports say that the UK is feeling Siberian air and some in the UK are saying that this is the coldest winter in 100 years.
We're only talking about the weather. Not discoursing on climate change.
I remember when anyone who pointed to solar activity as a cause for temperature changes was pooh-poohed by the AGW crowd.
ReplyDeleteNot discoursing, jes saying.
Have a nice day! :)
Maybe you aren't reading all the comments then whit if you think Climate change isn't the underlying issue for most of the posts:
ReplyDelete"Global warming's a bitch!"
"Stop the glacial warming, already!"
"Algore should be stripped and made to run thru all this until his little winkie falls off."
OK, I stand corrected.
ReplyDeleteI love how AGW proponents bristle at those sort of references.
Al Gore Sucks!
I'm no "AGW proponent" but I do find it funny when the deniers parade out a cold day or two as proof that all is fine and dandy with the world. gee no terrorist attacks today, the war must be over.
ReplyDeleteBBC had a former CIA man who says that CIA is blind in Khost. No experience, do not speak the languages, avg about 3 or 4 years of experience. Do not go outside the wire. Al-Qaeda and the Taliban target and kill our Pashtun speakers. CIA has to rely on Jordan for help.
ReplyDeleteFUBAR
One last parting piece of snark:
ReplyDeleteThank God for global warming. Imagine how cold it would be today without it... ;)
ash: parade out a cold day or two as proof
ReplyDeletenotice ash is all about extremes..
from the idea of profiling to global warming there is no grey...
can't just do behavior profiling, to ash it's ONLY moslems...
As for the cold day issue, ash says, "day or two" and yet, china is hit with historic cold spells and blizzards, NJ shuts down NUKE power plant due to ICE FLOWS, Peru is reporting major deaths in the Andes due to historic cold waves...
Ash is HaSatan....
I want global warming...
ReplyDeleteI want Ohio to be warmer in the winter and more tropic in the summer...
and yes I want the world's deserts to get hotter and hotter and for those that live there that cannot adapt?
die...
being a golfer and all I was happy to be able to play right up until the end of November up here in Canada. I tried to play a round the first week of December but all the courses had closed even though the weather was reasonable. Mind you the whole damn summer was quite cool I used my air-conditioner just one week.
ReplyDelete1998 had a positive anomoly of 0.52. No year since has come close.
ReplyDelete2009 had a positive anomoly of 0.26.
Satellite Record Meanwhile, CO2 has steadily increased.
Wake me when we have an annual anomoly higher than 0.52.
…both quotes from the same article, same author…
ReplyDeleteThe number of buyers who agreed to purchase previously occupied homes fell sharply in November, a sign sales will fall this winter, undermining last summer's recovery.
Sales of existing homes surged in November to the highest level in nearly three years, but analysts expect December sales to show a big drop.
Pending home sales fall 16 percent in Nov.
I imagine "Sales" are "Closings."
ReplyDelete"Pending" is just that. A signed contract, but not a "closed" sale.
"I've arrived at the conclusion that local weather in North America depends heavily on where the jet stream is flowing. If it flows to the south of you the cold arctic air gets sucked down."
ReplyDeleteThe jet stream moves along the boundaries of cold and warm air. When cold air pushes down from the Arctic, the jet stream is pushed further south cooling more of North America, as it's doing this winter. It's damn cold here in the people's republic of Massachusetts, but that's not too abnormal.
New person says: people's republic of Massachusetts
ReplyDeletePerfect....
Galt's Gulch HERE I come...
"Galt's Gulch HERE I come..."
ReplyDeletewish I could go with you. I'm trapped in a progressive's Wonderland.
rufus,
ReplyDeleteIndeed, "pending" and "closing" are two entirely different animals. The writer does not make this clear, or much else for that matter.
What was startling was the huge discrepancy in "expert" projections for November and the reality (2% v 16%). "'This was bound to happen at some point, although not by this much,' wrote a startled Jennifer Lee, senior economist with BMO Capital Markets. 'Gulp,' she added."
The reason I made the link is to draw attention to the attention deficit of many of today's reporters. This deficit is not isolated to those reporting on real estate.
We should all take care when we see things that conflict with our own experience or just don't have the right feel, say, "glacial warming" and "Yemen".
"Security for the federal trial of self-proclaimed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four accused cohorts will run $200 million a year, sources told the Daily News.
ReplyDeleteThe NYPD's newly revised projection is almost triple the estimate of $75 million in November, after Attorney General Eric Holder announced he would move the prisoners from Guantanamo to Manhattan for trial.
The legal process is expected to play out over more than a year."
Big Bucks for Terror Trial Security
And the Terrorists Win Again?
.
Ash: the bastion of all things Socialist, Liberal, and blind follower of the Left.
ReplyDeleteHates the US but visits at every opportunity.
Oh, and is also a Sarahphobe.
Given the way Obama's popularity is going Palin actually appears to have a chance of getting herself elected - wouldn't that be something!?
ReplyDeleteIt would be something alright. Something scary!!
ReplyDeleteFrom a Brooks op/ed today:
ReplyDelete" The public is not only shifting from left to right. Every single idea associated with the educated class has grown more unpopular over the past year.
The educated class believes in global warming, so public skepticism about global warming is on the rise. The educated class supports abortion rights, so public opinion is shifting against them. The educated class supports gun control, so opposition to gun control is mounting.
The story is the same in foreign affairs. The educated class is internationalist, so isolationist sentiment is now at an all-time high, according to a Pew Research Center survey. The educated class believes in multilateral action, so the number of Americans who believe we should “go our own way” has risen sharply.
A year ago, the Obama supporters were the passionate ones. Now the tea party brigades have all the intensity.
The tea party movement is a large, fractious confederation of Americans who are defined by what they are against. They are against the concentrated power of the educated class. They believe big government, big business, big media and the affluent professionals are merging to form self-serving oligarchy — with bloated government, unsustainable deficits, high taxes and intrusive regulation.
The tea party movement is mostly famous for its flamboyant fringe. But it is now more popular than either major party. According to the NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, 41 percent of Americans have a positive view of the tea party movement. Only 35 percent of Americans have a positive view of the Democrats and only 28 percent have a positive view of the Republican Party.
The movement is especially popular among independents. The Rasmussen organization asked independent voters whom they would support in a generic election between a Democrat, a Republican and a tea party candidate. The tea party candidate won, with 33 percent of independents. Undecided came in second with 30 percent. The Democrats came in third with 25 percent and the Republicans fourth with 12 percent.
Over the course of this year, the tea party movement will probably be transformed. Right now, it is an amateurish movement with mediocre leadership. But several bright and polished politicians, like Marco Rubio of Florida and Gary Johnson of New Mexico, are unofficially competing to become its de facto leader. If they succeed, their movement is likely to outgrow its crude beginnings and become a major force in American politics. After all, it represents arguments that are deeply rooted in American history."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/05/opinion/05brooks.html?hp
allen, are you one of dem dare persons of the "educated class"?
All right, let's have it out now.
ReplyDeleteWhat is heaven?
That's what I wish to know.
What is it we're trying to acheive?
It's got to have music, the very best.
This I know.
I start from there.
It's a transformation, I know we cross the river there.
But that's just a beginning.
But what is on the other side?
We are all beginners here, I start with that.
Beginners, is what we are.
It's it's Christ it's everything.
Christ it's excitement, and dear dear love, unending, it's acheivement, knowing, power and most of all, o dear love.
It's all that and o everything more.
All the hell, all the disappointment, all the nonsensical, killing unending, the not knowing, the nonsense beyond all belief.
We accept that, for now.
But, it's not that.
Heaven might be a woman that makes up her sovereign mind, for starters.
That's my first quess.
Bob,
ReplyDeleteDo you remember what it was like before you were born? I'd imagine that is what it is like after you die.
HABU: That shut down gave rise to The Elephant Bar Blog where perhaps 70% of the BC contributors migrated. It enjoyed a good following for many years but in the last three of four years has been reduced to perhaps five or six regular contributors.
ReplyDeleteAbout twice that, Habu, and about ten others who weigh in from time to time. It turned out Wretchard was just having temporary technical difficulties, but the folks who treated his blog like a chatroom wanted somewhere to land, and Deuce came through with the EB.
DOUG: The former official said that the fact that militants could carry out a successful attack using a double agent showed their strength even after a steady barrage of missile strikes fired by C.I.A. drone aircraft.
Thought experiment:
Replace the War on Terror with the War on Drugs. Replace the CIA with the DEA. Replace Afghanistan with Mexico. Replace the "militants" with drug cartels. Suppose a drug cartel "informant" manages to kill eight DEA agents after he promises to bring in a drug lord's little black book of contacts.
Both the so-called "war on drugs" and the "war on terror" are billed as existential challenges, two wars where America's very existence hangs in the balance. But that is just the rhetoric they use to keep funding both of them. In reality, both are the result of a political failure to seal the border with a patrolled fence. If the fate of American civilization really depended on keeping marijuana and Yemeni terrorists out of the country, then the first thing you do is supplement America's natural defence of two wide oceans with a controlled land border. But no, "Don't go there Teresita, we don't ask people if they are citizens, it's racist."
Slowing Pace of Home Sales Raises Fears of New Retreat
ReplyDeleteThe number of houses placed under contract fell sharply in November in the first drop in nearly a year, new figures show.
The data indicate that the weakest parts of the country are the Northwest and Midwest, both of which fell 26 percent in November after adjusting for seasonal variations. The South dropped 15 percent while the West was off 3 percent.
(Temperatures cooled in the East in November due to "Global Climate Change")
---
So now Ash in fact, or is acting like, he does not comprehend sarcasm?
I've thought of the term for the pink matter inside his skull.
(not grey, partially red)
"Selectively Mature Brain Syndrome"
"Don't go there Teresita, we don't ask people if they are citizens, it's racist."
ReplyDeleteRight On!
Signed,
Desert Rodent
What if we give contributions to the EB Fund to send al-Bob to live in area 51 in his senescent, declining years?
ReplyDeleteHis obsession with MLD has left him more locked into his fantasy afterlife than our brothers striving for the 72 year old virgin.
Brooks is FOS, Ash.
ReplyDeleteEven you should be able to see that.
.
So the tea-baggers aren't a movement worth considering Linear? Palin's got no chance being POTUS in the good ole USA? I hope you are right!
ReplyDeleteWhen was Habu's statement, T?
ReplyDeleteI read a quote here that he'd quit blogging, having found there's life elsewhere in the universe.
.
I have to correct earlier conjecture.
ReplyDeleteStella B. is not a Habu sock puppet.
She's too restrained. Polished comes to mind.
.
Heaven might be a woman that makes up her sovereign mind, for starters.
ReplyDeleteHeaven might be
A woman who
Makes her soverign mind
Past my understanding.
There, that's got it.
...then she votes for Bill Clinton, Barbara Pelosi, and BHO!
ReplyDeleteSkull full of mush about covers it.
ReplyDeleteCome on, Ash. You can't be that dense.
ReplyDeleteBrooks attributes all the dissatisfaction with leftist positions to the simplistic notion that it's because the great sea of the unwashed among the electorate have taken on a resentment of the "educated class." He's FOS.
People aren't as stupid as he'd like to think. Correlation don't prove causation.
.
I find it very self serving for Brooks to define the left as the educated ones. That's funny. All those new labels: haters, baggers, defiers, deniers, birthers, etc.
ReplyDeleteMore Alinsky BS.
I agree, Linear, with the FOS bit about rebelling against the wonderful educated class bit but the trends he notes in American society are what I find interesting. Do they exist as he suggests - moving ever more right, tea baggers on the rise...
ReplyDeleterings true from my little perch.
Gag, I thought there were many on the 'right' who thought that academia is dominated by liberals.
ReplyDeleteAsh, the right KNOWS Academia is dominated by liberals. It's a fact.
ReplyDeleteBrooks makes the assumption all liberals are educated, and all who oppose are not. That's BS.
Large numbers of educated people think GW is hogwash, think abortion is wrong, own firearms and enjoy the shooting sports.
They do not believe in big government, big media and do believe the affluent professionals are merging to form self-serving oligarchy — with bloated government, unsustainable deficits, high taxes and intrusive regulation.
They are not internationalists (whatever that means) and don't really care what other countries think of the US, particularly those countries the US continues to bail out year after year with its money and protect with its soldiers.
Ash said...
ReplyDelete"allen, are you one of dem dare persons of the "educated class"?"
I fired a Tomahawk in the air
It landed on ash
I do not care...
from doug's 3:28pm...
ReplyDelete“We expect another surge in the spring as more home buyers take advantage of affordable housing conditions before the tax credit expires,”
___Lawrence Yun, NAR
It’s going to be a much abbreviated, albeit tumescent, spring then. The Federal credit ends with contracts dated 30 April.
Sayonara Spring
ReplyDeleteAs the Marxist and his corrupt minions doggedly mimick the Japanese Malaise, while paying off their crony capitalist cohorts in crime.
As Rufus Applauds their magnificent performance!
IOW
ReplyDelete"They do not believe in big government, big media and do believe the affluent professionals are merging to form self-serving oligarchy — with bloated government, unsustainable deficits, high taxes and intrusive regulation.
They are not internationalists... "
...but the trends he notes in American society are what I find interesting. Do they exist as he suggests - moving ever more right, tea baggers on the rise...
ReplyDeleterings true from my little perch.
Yes.
And it's a frightening experience for me to realize you and I approach agreement on anything.
.
Does anyone know why Deuce's picture disappeared from his comments beginning yesterday a.m.?
ReplyDeleteHope it's not my fault.
.
My picture?
ReplyDeleteGotta go, but when I come back you can put your CV up again for 15 min so I can get up to speed with Ash and the boys.
ReplyDeleteMy picture?
ReplyDeleteAye. The distinguished gent with his back to the camera looking at the moon. It doesn't appear by your comments, or at your profile.
I can see it just fine on my machine...
ReplyDeleteHmmm. I get everyone elses' photo except Deuce's, which just shows a rectangular box. I'm using Firefox, btw.
ReplyDeleteThe missing photo began with the next post/thread after Deuce excused himself and I got drunk and disorderly in the bar.
Maybe it's bad karma.
.
I've got firefox running as well. Odd it is only Deuce avatar. Is your firefox the most recent version?
ReplyDeleteYeah.
ReplyDeleteIt's karma.
Or I'm bewitched.
.
Firefox 3.0 running on Linux Mint, I see Deuce.
ReplyDeleteBob, I am a woman-centered person of course, you know the deal with that, but lately you're taking it to a level that approaches worship, and that's the sort of adoration that should be reserved for the Creator alone. It's got everyone scratching their head, even MeLoDy, the object of your current fandom, and your drinking buds think you need to spend less time standing outside the ladies' can quoting the Bard and more time with them eating nachos, washing it down with some Animal Beer and watching the NFL playoffs.