Category Archives: View

View 771 Friday, April 26, 2013

Apologies for not being very active this week. I am still catching up, and apparently have a spring cold slowing me down agan.

Reflections on the Boston Marathon Bombing

The major lesson I would draw from the Marathon bombing case is that it would be very wise for us to reexamine the ‘refugee status’ immigration visas. When Tamarlan Tsarnaev voluntarily returned to his country of origin, surely it then became obvious that there was no emergency need of refugee status? But earlier than that his parents returned to Russia. Why were they not required to take their children with them? I know, I know, there were incidents during the Cold War involving minors attempting to escape from the USSR in which we granted emergency refugee status visas to escapees, but that was a different world. The Soviet Union had 25,000 nuclear tipped missiles aimed at the United States, the Cold War Games were in earnest, the Red Army was poised just east of the Fulda Gap, and chiliastic Communism had a powerful minority position within the governing Politburo of the USSR. The world was a different place in those days.

Even then there were distinct signs that the Melting Pot, in which legal immigrants became Americans in spirit and their children became Citizens, was being overflooded. Of course the notion of the Melting Pot making Americans of those from all nations – one from many – was discarded by the American Left in favor of Diversity. That was a bit strange since the Communist system remedy for the “nationalism problem” and the “racial problem” was the Leninist process—everyone becomes a communist, the most enthusiastic get to join the Party, and that Party rules. What Stalin created out o that probably wasn’t quite what Lenin envisioned, but officially it was, and official meant the Party Line, and in American academia e pluribus unum was replaced by hymns to Diversity.

Of course American academia no longer studies history, and thus can prove anything it likes by making up historical theories that replace what actually happened without much fear of contradiction.

A second lesson from the Marathon bombings was confirmation of something long known: the Miranda Rights Experience ends all cooperation with intelligence gathering. The Constitution required assistance of counsel in a trial, and by extension insists that evidence obtained without the advice of counsel cannot be used in obtaining a conviction. Since no evidence is needed to make the case that the Brothers Tsarnaev were in fact guilty, and they had voluntarily told at least one victim of their rampage that they were the ones who done it, why is a constitutional protection against self-incrimination and a constitution right to counsel before and during trial translated into a prohibition against being interrogated? It is likely to be an unpleasant experience to have intelligence officers questioning you, but then it is an unpleasant experience to be blown up just as you are finishing a Marathon race; it is unpleasant to have your legs blown off; it is unpleasant to have your car hijacked; and one presumes it is unpleasant to be shot dead because your uniform shows you have a gun, and one of the brothers wants it to arm the other. In an age of terror.

The drums are beating for American involvement in the Syrian Civil War. The end of that game will be no better than Libya and probably worse; how can we know? We have no plan and no objective. Meanwhile there are demonstrations against American intervention in Syria. Meanwhile it is hard to see an American interest in killing more Middle Eastern people, given the success of our efforts in Libya, Afghanistan, and Iraq.

It took me an hour to get from Wilshire Blvd to Inglewood and three hours to get from Inglewood to the Valley.  I was more than thirty minutes late getting to Inglewood; I missed my appointment in the Valley by about two hours.  I did not need the LA Times to tell me:

<.>

Los Angeles has reclaimed the dubious honor of having the worst traffic in the United States, according to an annual congestion scorecard.

</>

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-la-traffic-20130423,0,7346891.story

It’s not only time you lose; you lose money in gas.  And — God forbid — if you have a business, do you know how unprofessional it makes you look when you don’t have a crystal ball telling you how traffic will flow?  How many people lose how many clients over this? 

Four hours on the road is half the working day, which leaves most people with another four hours of productive time at best.  I spent a total of six hours on the road that day.  I got an hour of face time and an hour of office time.  And they want to increase taxes to improve the eternally worsening roads and the ever increasing congestion..

—–

Most Respectfully,

Joshua Jordan, KSC

Percussa Resurgo

I understand that Elon Musk has contributed a fair amount to a foundation trying to solve the 405 problem. Most of the mess is bureaucratic of course. There are employment rules, and those employed have to show that they do something, so everyone reads each others’ minutes and comments before anything gets done. Meanwhile some Caltrans officials have other jobs or own Internet companies on which they spend time so they don’t have time to read the memos that have to be initialed before another memo can be issued for circulation.

California provides an important example for the rest of the nation.  And the California government is so busy looking for ways to keep the ridiculous “High Speed Rail” scam going.  We have spent a billion dollars on that! It isn’t enough!  We need the full $150 billion before it becomes obvious that’s it’s a scam. And look how many people are getting rich off it.  California has much to teach the nation about the future.

The attorney general says that the way we treat our friends and neighbors who are undocumented is key to who we are. There are those who say that friends and neighbors obey the laws including immigration laws.

View 771 Monday, April 22, 2013

Air Traffic Controllers have been furloughed, and flights are delayed, but be calm. The Bunny Inspectors are still on the job, so all is well.

Chechnya and Czechoslovakia

Dear Dr. Pournelle,

Greetings! Writing to you from my new email address.

Perhaps nothing more illustrates the woeful state of American education than this statement made by the Czech ambassador :

http://www.mzv.cz/washington/en/czech_u_s_relations/news/statement_of_the_ambassador_of_the_czech.html

Which was necessitated by this tweet:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151336710287161&set=a.252358827160.146546.575862160&type=1&ref=nf

Evidently the author, one Michael Matthews, leaped to the conclusion that the bombers were from Czechoslovakia and called for its nuking despite the fact that the two countries are a thousand miles apart.

Somewhere a geography teacher is crying him/herself to sleep while hitting the bottle hard.

I believe this animated gif best sums up my reaction:

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m31xm3BR1v1rtcfaqo1_500.gif

Respectfully,

Brian P.

EARTH DAY ABOUNDS.

Never fear, the icebergs will not be here next year.

I am using inspiration from Fallen Angels to celebrate Earth Day.

"Throw another log on the fire…"

Government Budgets vs. Private Industry

"Air Traffic Controllers have been furloughed, and flights are delayed, but be calm. The Bunny Inspectors are still on the job, so all is well."

As one recent letter to the editor in the Washington Post suggested, isn’t it interesting that mandating a 25% (or more) increase in the minimum wage (no small part of a company’s operating expenses) will supposedly not negatively impact a business’s operation, but a smaller cut in virtually any federal agency’s budget will apparently bring about significant downgrading in that agency’s ability to function.

Karl

Karl Fritz

Coincidences

Jerry,

This one is a bit of a stretch but once upon a time I attended a 1960 New Years party on Marlborough Street about a five minute walk from where the baloon went up. The folks I was with lived in Watertown about two and a half blocks from where the two firefights brought it down. I bet the two morons never even had a clue about how good facial ID technology has become. Considering the lousy tradecraft the FBI displayed in their first encounter with the older guy, it must have come as a hell of a shock to find that the non-Bunny Inspector side of the organization can be quite good.

Val Augstkalns

Fascinating

‘So big business and big government are uniting to pursue their mutual interest in sticking it to the little guy.’

<http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424127887324493704578432961601644942-lMyQjAxMTAzMDIwMTEyNDEyWj.html>

Roland Dobbins

Every time Congress has taken a serious look at proposals to boost Internet sales taxes, it has rejected them. That’s probably why pro-tax Senators are trying to rush through an online tax hike with as little consideration as possible.

As early as Monday, the Senate will vote on a bill that was introduced only last Tuesday. The text of this legislation, which would fundamentally change interstate commerce, only became available on the Library of Congress website over the weekend. And you thought ObamaCare was jammed through Nancy Pelosi‘s Democratic House in a hurry.

This thing is on rails, speeding for passage.

Mr. Enzi’s Marketplace Fairness Act discriminates against Internet-based businesses by imposing burdens that it does not apply to brick-and-mortar companies. For the first time, online merchants would be forced to collect sales taxes for all of America’s estimated 9,600 state and local taxing authorities.

New Hampshire, for example, has no sales tax, but a Granite State Web merchant would be forced to collect and remit sales taxes to all the governments that do. Small online sellers will therefore have to comply with tax laws created by distant governments in which they have no representation, and in places where they consume no local services.

It is in a way the end of the Nation of States, and a very strong move toward abolishing the notion of state sovereignty.

subject: EARTH DAY

Hi, Doc.

If one thing is trying to kill you, it’s called an enemy.

If everything is trying to kill you, it’s called Nature.

Earth Day is the result of a mass outbreak of Stockholm Syndrome.

Matthew Joseph Harrington

e pur si muove (the motto of consensus deniers since 1633)

View 771 Sunday, April 21, 2013

"Agents think the sleeper cell has up to a dozen members and has been waiting several years for their day to come.”

<http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/boston-bombers-fbi-hunting-12-strong-1844844#.UXM54Yqm6hA.twitter>

Roland Dobbins

I have heard this from other sources as well. The Brothers Tsarnaev expected to get away with it, melting back into the woodwork and never being suspected. In that scenario, in due time some organization not associated with the Tsarnaev family would step forward and take credit for the Marathon Bombing. We have little experience with such long term activities of this sort. Communist and anarchist organizations more or less gave up “propaganda of the deed”, preferring other means for undermining confidence in the legitimacy of the government. Perhaps that is coming back?

Those who advocate suicidal jihad (generally for execution by someone else) find that the period in which the prospective jihadist is ready and willing does not last long: it is very difficult to plan long term events which require suicide for their culmination.  Obviously there are some operatives willing to spend a long time planning to die for their cause, but there is never a surplus of them. There is speculation that at least some of those involved in the 911 hijackings did not know that the end of the affair would be using the airplanes as cruise missiles. Obviously the pilots knew the mission and did not expect to survive.

In the Boston Marathon case it is pretty clear that both participants expected to get away with it. When they found that they had been discovered they had a sudden need for the means and wherewithal to flee, and it’s pretty clear that they had given that matter no thought; the most likely reason for that was they didn’t expect to have to do it.

If there is evidence of long term sleeper cells but no file on the Brothers Tsarnaev, can we draw any conclusions on how well the security organizations are working now?

View 770 Saturday, April 20, 2013

The bomb went off near the Boston Marathon finish line. Across the street from one of the bombs is Lords and Taylor, a department store. The mother of the bombers is now reported to have been arrested for shoplifting at Lords and Taylors some months ago. I have also heard it reported that the surveillance photographs that identified the bombers was from Lords and Taylors. This is probably all gubbish, but it is a bit peculiar.