Category Archives: View

Chaos Manor View, Tuesday, November 24, 2015

We are now on the brink of war with Russia.

<http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/russian-rescue-helicopter-shot-down-6891003

Roland Dobbins

Turkey has called for an emergency meeting of NATO.

The Russian warplane was over an area of Syria inhabited largely by Turkmen, ethnic Turk Syrian citizens who are in rebellion against Bashar Assad. Turkey has supported this rebellion. There are political factions in Turkey who support the annexation by Turkey of Syrian Turkmen areas of Syria, although I know of no formal claim by Turkey.

Firing on the Russian warplane by a Turkish Air Force F-16 is reported as authorized by the highest levels of the Turkish government. It was claimed that the Russian warplane was in Turkish airspace, but apparently that is not the case – unless Turkey is laying claim to the northern area of Syria inhabited by Turkmen.

Two Russian pilots ejected from the Russian plane. They were reportedly killed by Turkmen rebels, and a Russian rescue helicopter was grounded by ground fire and then destroyed by heavy weapons. There is no news of the crew.

1130: It is time for a walk. More when there is something to know. I cannot guess what President Obama will do, except to note that he took weeks to months to authorize the strike against Bin Laden; he is not likely to act in haste. This morning he said that ISIS must not be tolerated, it must be destroyed; but he said much the same thing before, and there is little indication of how he expects to accomplish this.

1310: Turkey is adamantly claiming that the Russian airplane was in Turkish airspace, and they were justified in shooting the Russians down.

Russia continues to deny that their aircraft ever crossed into Turkish airspace.

The President of the US has said there are no plans to send US divisions to fight ISIS, but emphasized that the Caliphate cannot be tolerated and must go, but if he knows how to do this he is keeping it confidential: so far as we can tell, he is staying with his strategy he formed last summer. Oil is up a dollar a barrel.

No one seems eager to go to war, but President Putin has yet to announce his plans. It is futile to speculate. He has announced that he will attend the climate conference in Paris, and that this is a major rebuke to the terrorists.  He did not say why.

Meanwhile the world goes on.

Some good news from my son Richard:

A perfect landing

Your grandson watches this over and over. I told him the landing might make his Grandpa in California cry for joy just a little bit.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9pillaOxGCo&feature=youtu.be

Apparently a reusable first stage. The rocket has no reentry vehicle, but a reusable first stage is one key to cheaper access to orbit.

Blue Origin sticks rocket landing, a major step toward reusable spaceflight | Ars Technica

This is too cool for words.

http://arstechnica.com/science/2015/11/blue-origin-sticks-rocket-landing-a-major-step-toward-reusable-spaceflight/

John Harlow

Bezos did it.

https://youtu.be/9pillaOxGCo

Dan

The Case of the Disappearing Quasars.

<http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-case-of-the-disappearing-quasars/>

—————————————

Roland Dobbins

I wish I had known this when – but maybe not.  it sure happens fast!

“No one needs to learn cursive.”

So say today’s K-12 “educators”. Accordingly it is being eliminated from many schools’ curriculum.

I was doing some genealogical research and realized that much original source historical data, such as census reports, was created in cursive. Some may have been scanned and converted or keyed as computer searchable data but much has not.

Will the American people, in a generation or so, have to rely on government gatekeepers to interpret these source documents? Will the nation be as functionally illiterate in cursive English as it is in historical Latin or Greek or Hebrew or Aramaic (or any number of other languages both historical and current)?

Why do some in positions of authority consider this a “good thing”?

Charles Brumbelow=

Is this the end of cursive writing? We can hope that we always have electric power.

FROM DELL

Response to Concerns Regarding eDellroot Certificate

Today we became aware that a certificate (eDellRoot), installed by our Dell Foundation Services application on our PCs, unintentionally introduced a security vulnerability. The certificate was implemented as part of a support tool and intended to make it faster and easier for our customers to service their system. Customer security and privacy is a top concern and priority for Dell; we deeply regret that this has happened and are taking steps to address it.

The certificate is not malware or adware. Rather, it was intended to provide the system service tag to Dell online support allowing us to quickly identify the computer model, making it easier and faster to service our customers. This certificate is not being used to collect personal customer information. It’s also important to note that the certificate will not reinstall itself once it is properly removed using the recommended Dell process.

We have posted instructions to permanently remove the certificate from your system here. We will also push a software update starting on November 24 that will check for the certificate, and if detected remove it. Commercial customers who reimaged their systems without Dell Foundation Services are not affected by this issue. Additionally, the certificate will be removed from all Dell systems moving forward.

A little arithmetic

It seems we have let in some 785000 Muslim refugees from the Middle East etc.

But, we are told we are safe because the overwhelming majority do not support ISIS or terrorism. In context it turns out that “overwhelming” part is a “huge”

87% or so. But, if you think about it that amounts to about 13% who DO support ISIS or terrorism (or both, of course.) That’s about 100,000 enemy personnel (of all ages, of course) who are our enemies.

To put that in perspective Wikipiddle claims a typical US Army division is 17000 to 21000 people, not all out there pounding mud, of course. That means we have a count of 5 divisions of enemy personnel in our country, perhaps half as many front line troops as our Army maintains. Does having 5 divisions of worth of enemies in our country make YOU feel safe?

I don’t feel safe at all. Dig into the facts and pry out the numbers that are being obscured by “vast majority” type words. We are in deep doo-doo with the enemy count behind our lines in our homeland. Europe is likely toast. Their numbers are MUCH worse than ours. Obama is doing everything he can to “correct”

that error.

This is the article that led me to pry out some real numbers of significance.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/11/24/fact-check-claims-no-refugees-since-11-took-part-in-terror-plots-ring-false/?intcmp=hplnws

O’Reilly failed us by not going the next numerical step.

{^_^}

Freedom is not free. Free men are not equal. Equal men are not free.

Chaos Manor View, Monday, November 23, 2015

We had a panel Saturday for the Greater Los Angeles Writers Association. Larry, John DeChancie, Barbara Hambly, and I, pretty well free form writer’s class. I said that Niven having got 2/3 of the way through the mail-order – this was before anyone ever thought of the Internet or “on-line – Famous Author’s School for Writers, which got a laugh, but in fact John and Barbara actually teach writing. I was the only one there who never taught writing or took any kind of writing class. I even got excused from freshman comp and bonehead English – the Christian Brothers were really thorough in my high school – so I had no idea of what they taught in those classes.

I really didn’t have a lot to say, and since I hadn’t brought the Surface Pro 3 (with Pro 4 keyboard) I couldn’t read them my decades old essay How To Get My Job which tells all the secrets I know about being a professional writer. They still bought me dinner and gave me a badge that says I am a lifetime member of GLAWA, and a ribbon that proclaims me an AUTHOR, so I guess now I am one.

The news continues. The President insists he has a winning strategy in the war on terror. We will cut off all the money and destroy the Caliphate without sending any – well not many – troops, mostly by air bombardment and encouraging other people to fight and die for the United States. We will also accept refugees, and no, there won’t be any terrorists lurking among them; and the Governors who reject having them settle in their states are just mean spirited and don’t know who the true Americans are, and I have a pen and a phone and I don’t need to pay attention to Congress. And if Congress tries to shut down the funds for importing refugees, they are just being mean and as President I’ll just spend it anyway, because I won, and if Congress tries to cut my funds I have a veto, and if they have the votes from traitor Democrats to pass it over my veto I’ll shut down the government. That will defeat ISIS or Daesh or The Caliphate or whoever they are.

That is a parody of his position, of course, but it actually sounds like he thinks it is a policy.

It isn’t a policy, and many of his advisors know it; as do some of the Democrats in Congress. The Caliphate can be destroyed, but only by taking away its claim to govern by the Will of Allah; and that can be done by owning the land they claim to govern.

“You may fly over a land forever; you may bomb it, atomize it, and wipe it clean of life -but if you desire to defend it, protect it, and keep it for civilization, you must do this on the ground, the way the Roman Legions did – by putting your soldiers in the mud.”

T.R. Fehrenbach. “This Kind of War” .

Mr. Obama has never learned that lesson, and I think he has no advisors with the courage to tell him – if they know it, as increasingly few of them do.

The Senate grinds on; and the President has made it clear that he rules, with or without the consent of the governed.

Intelligence and the Paris attacks

Dear Dr. Pournelle,

John Dvorak observes that there was a complete absence of chatter before the latest round of attacks.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2495289,00.asp

This implies, perhaps, that our intelligence agencies are looking in the wrong places for terrorists and are not successfully detecting the most sinister groups via electronic surveillance; it appears we are going to need old-fashioned HUMINT infiltration. Perhaps the refugees may be of use?  They speak the language, have friends and cousins in the area, and moreover have a deep and abiding grudge against ISIS.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

But can we assume the refugees are genuine refugees?  Deception and false flags are allowed under the Koran

Jerry Pournelle

Intelligence and the Paris attacks

Dear Dr. Pournelle, 
I would be surprised if ISIS *wasn’t* attempting to infiltrate terrorists through that vector. Surely they  wouldn’t waste the opportunity? 
Be that as it may, I doubt they are all that big a percentage of the overall refugee flow.  ISIS is fighting a conventional war to establish a nation-state, after all. So I suspect they are already using the bulk of their riflemen types as precisely that; riflemen.   The pool of candidates who can successfully infiltrate the west and carry out a terror action must be much smaller. 

It also is in their interest to push out other brands of Muslims, such as Kurds, as well as Yazidis and Christians.  So I suspect most of the refugees are exactly what they appear to be; frightened people with no special hatred of the west and a great deal of hatred for the people who drove them out. 

Also, while refugees are a potential vector for terrorism, it is by no means the only one nor, perhaps, the most likely.  Of the attackers in Paris, just as with the 9/11 attackers, none appear to be refugees. Rather, they appear to be raised in the west, and perhaps became bored. 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/11996120/Paris-attack-what-we-know-about-the-suspects.html

The most dangerous threat, I suspect, is not from first-generation refugees but from second- and third- generation descendants who grow up in the west and become radicalized by Saudi propaganda, or perhaps by social media. 

Not to mention, the people who have done the gravest damage to American national security in this decade — Edward Snowden and Manning — are neither Islamic nor refugees. 

So I think the refugees as they exist offer a potential pool of recruits, much as refugees from Castro’s Cuba or Czarist refugees from the old USSR did.  I suggest we make use of that. Surely, of the 278 million or so American citizens, there is at least one person like Horace Hussein Al-Shamlan Bury from your Gripping  Hand novel?   Find that person, put him in charge of vetting. We don’t need very many, just one. And then that one recruits two or three, and those two recruit two or three, and eventually snowball to the point where they can act as an expeditionary force or as an intelligence group. 

Of course vetting will fail and the bad guys will slip in one or two ringers; they’ve done that to us since Turing and his Cambridge associates spied for the Russians.   But I’m given to understand that this is precisely why intelligence agencies use cells and need-to-know; so that a single turned operative does not compromise the entire network. 

Looking at it from the other side, I’m sure ISIS has the same problem; no doubt the Russians , the Iranians, and everyone else are trying desperately to penetrate their organization, yet somehow they are able to maintain a credible threat despite potential infiltration. 

That reminds me … The Russians DID manage to pacify Chechnya , didn’t they?  

So the problems we face are not unsolvable; they merely require a determination to do what is necessary, and a willingness to see through the solution across multiple administrations. That’s why doomed Bush’s efforts; I think. The Awakening was a success before the Democrats pulled the plug on the whole thing, For this to work, it has to be something both parties will stick to beyond the election cycle. 

*Thinks* Or perhaps done by career people outside of the election cycle altogether.

*Shrug* that’s my opinion anyway.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

While I agree that the first requirement is the will to win and we don’t have that, the fact remains that the refugees are migrants who have not any intention of assimilating; an indigestible lump most of whom will require considerable public assistance for food, shelter, health care, and education; all of which would cost us less if it were delivered in the Middle East, not Iowa or Louisiana. And if we conquer oil producing lands we have land to settle them on. If they then want to come to the United States, they can go apply for visas like anyone else.

We are going to have to defeat the Caliphate, and having done that we will have considerable land we do not want – and refugees who want land. We will have oil that we do not need (after we have sold some to pay for our having to conquer the land). Sometimes problems solve themselves.

We tried nation building. We are no good at it. But we can apply other philosophies. Protectorates are cheaper than assimilating vast hordes who do not want to be assimilated, and have no claims upon us other than pity. Alas we have not time to train the refugees into a fighting force – assuming they would actually want that.

Stretched FBI braces for Islamic State holiday terror attacks

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/nov/17/fbi-braces-for-isis-holiday-terror-attacks/

I think we need not add to their burden. This is war.

Muslims Take Over US City

It seems we have our very own Hamburg, Germany:

<.>

It’s traumatic for them,” said Majewski, a dignified-looking woman in a brown velvet dress, her long, silvery hair wound in a loose bun.

Around her at the Tekla Vintage store, mannequins showcased dresses, hats and jewelry from the mid-20th century, and customers fingered handbags and gawked at the antique dolls that line the store, which sits across the street from Srodek’s Quality Sausage and the Polish Art Center on Joseph Campau Avenue, the town’s main drag.

Majewski, whose family emigrated from Poland in the early 20th century, admitted to a few concerns of her own. Business owners within

500 feet of one of Hamtramck’s four mosques can’t obtain a liquor license, she complained, a notable development in a place that flouted Prohibition-era laws by openly operating bars. The restrictions could thwart efforts to create an entertainment hub downtown, said the pro-commerce mayor.

And while Majewski advocated to allow mosques to issue calls to prayer, she understands why some longtime residents are struggling to adjust to the sound that echos through the city’s streets five times each day.

“There’s definitely a strong feeling that Muslims are the other,” she said. “It’s about culture, what kind of place Hamtramck will become.

There’s definitely a fear, and to some degree, I share it.”

</>

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/for-the-first-majority-muslim-us-city-residents-tense-about-its-future/2015/11/21/45d0ea96-8a24-11e5-be39-0034bb576eee_story.html

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Most Respectfully,

Joshua Jordan, KSC

Percussa Resurgo

The joys of diversity?

Government As the Enemy

This is interesting:

<.>

Pew Research Center found that 27 percent of registered voters say they think of government as an enemy, up 8 points since 1996. The latest poll looked at general public opinion regarding the federal government.

The findings suggests that 57 percent of voters feel frustrated with the government, while 22 percent feel angry and 18 percent feel “basically content.”

The majority of Americans feel the federal government has room for serious improvement, with 59 percent saying the government needs “very major reform.” Only 37 percent of voters felt that way in 1997.

When asked what particularly makes the government problematic, congress and politics were cited most often. Thirteen percent mentioned Congress, while 11 percent named politics.

More than a third (35 percent) of Republicans believe the federal government is the enemy, while 34 percent of Independents believe the same. The poll found that half of all Democrats (50 percent) view the government as a friend and only 12 percent see it as the enemy.

</>

http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/11/23/report-more-than-1-in-4-americans-believe-government-is-the-enemy/

What surprises me is that independents and republicans are close on this matter.

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Most Respectfully,

Joshua Jordan, KSC

Percussa Resurgo

When I was young, no one would have said the government is the enemy.

Gingrich on Obama

In pleasant surprise, I find myself agreeing with Gingrich:

<.>

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Saturday that President Barack Obama is heading “the most dangerous national security administration in American history.”

“They’re totally wrong about the war on terror and they lie about what is going on,” he told Uma Pemmaraju on Fox News. “Secretary [John] Kerry suggested that there was justification for the attack on Charlie Hebdo. He said al-Qaida has been degraded, which is not true.

“The president has called ISIS the junior varsity,” Gingrich added, referring to the Islamic State. “He said just last week that they have been contained. This administration is out of touch with reality.”

</>

https://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/gingrich-obama-worse-national/2015/11/21/id/703118/

He goes on to speak about a young woman being radicalized in France and blowing herself up; he says this Administration doesn’t understand what we face.

Gingrich did not get into details,but he’s referring to a girl who posted pictures of herself wearing cowboy hats and making suggestive faces. Then, you see pictures of her dressed with a hijab and making hand signs. She sounds like an impressionable girl who got the wrong impression and we know the rest.

Gingrich has a rational position in that we need to consider this, calmly, and cope with it.

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Most Respectfully,

Joshua Jordan, KSC

Percussa Resurgo

Newt and I are no longer close, largely because I seldom get to Washington any more; but he remains a good friend. Given time to consider he often has excellent reasons for what he says. Do not forget that he led in restoring the House to the Republicans when everyone thought it was irretrievably lost.

Propaganda

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/inside-the-islamic-states-propaganda-machine/2015/11/20/051e997a-8ce6-11e5-acff-673ae92ddd2b_story.html

David Couvillon
Colonel, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, Retired.; 
Former Governor of Wasit Province, Iraq; 
Righter of Wrongs; Wrong most of the time; 
Distinguished Expert, TV remote control; 
Chef de Hot Dog Excellence;  Avoider of Yard Work

Mafia Against Daesh

You may have read that Anonymous declared war on Daesh, even releasing a hacking for “noobs” (novices) tutorial. Now the Mafia is after

Daesh:

<.>

The son of a New York mob boss has given Islamic State a stark warning, saying if they are planning any attacks in New York, they will have to contend with the Sicilian mafia. The notorious crime syndicate say they want to do their bit to protect locals.

TrendsIslamic State

Giovanni Gambino, the son of a key figure in the Gambino mob organization, says the mafia is in a much better position than security bodies, such as the FBI or Homeland Security, to give New Yorkers the protection they need.

“They often act too late, or fail to see a complete picture of what’s happening due to a lack of ‘human intelligence,’” he said in an interview with NBC News, as cited by Reuters, adding that the mafia’s knowledge of individual movements and interaction with locals gives it the upper hand, even compared to the latest surveillance technologies.

</>

https://www.rt.com/usa/323032-mafia-isis-warning-gambino/

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Most Respectfully,

Joshua Jordan, KSC

Percussa Resurgo

Cosa Nostra has the Constitution to protect its soldier against the American forces of law. They can provide preventative protection; but at what costs? A Sicilian Committee of Vigilance?

Cushy, well-paid government jobs
Government employment isn’t just a “sweet gig” in the USA; it is also very much so in the UK – maybe even more so.
If I had kids and/or grandkids, which incidentally isn’t the case and isn’t going to be, I would strongly suggest a career in government as being better paid, far less stressful and more secure (and with far better pension arrangements) than private industry. I would be gritting my teeth while saying it, but I’d still say it.
But this only really applies to government paper-shufflers; when the occasional crackdown on expenditure happens it ALWAYS hits services and people who actually do useful jobs (which do exist in government service) first. This is, of course, because it’s the paper-shufflers who make the decisions, as you have repeatedly pointed out.
Also incidentally, all this applies to some of the more monopolist and cartel-oriented industries as well. Banking, for sure.
I don’t think it’s ever going to happen, but I think this is only going to change when someone like Thatcher or Reagan gets into power and that is highly unlikely in the near future. (Maggie Thatcher’s granddaughter is natural-born Texan, so there might be a chance in maybe 2030…) Someone who is going to respond to disdainful masters in the way Reagan responded to the air traffic controllers. (“You’re on strike? Very well, you’re fired.”)

Ian

short video interview about Paris attacks Sender Name : Kerry Liles
Sender Email : kerry.liles@gmail.com
Sender Message
Jerry, have seen this interview with a young boy in the aftermath of the Paris attack? I urge you to watch it (less than 90 sec) – it is perhaps small proof there is some hope for humanity… Out of the mouth of babes…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkM-SDNoI_8
Kerry

‘They have guns, but we have flowers. So all will be well.”

I think I’d rather have the guns.

TROY

‘If true, this would date the fall of Troy itself to precisely 1188 BC.’

<http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/the-end-of-an-odyssey-homers-epic-is-finally-pinned-down-852850.html>

—————————————

Roland Dobbins

There was a time when this would have been enough to go over there and look. I have a number of theories about the Bronze Age at the dawn of history. This fits them rather well.

Lost Island of Ancient Greece Discovered in Aegean Sea.

<http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/11/151119-lost-island-aegean-kane-sparta-athens-archaeology/>

—————————————

Roland Dobbins

Freedom is not free. Free men are not equal. Equal men are not free.

Chaos Manor View, Friday, November 20, 2015

Boko Haram has pledged allegiance to the Caliphate. The Caliphate – ISIS, Daesh – is growing, and each addition strengthens its claim to be the legitimate ruler of the world, and the only true adherents to the Prophet. More than a year ago I said that it would take no more than a division – the 82^nd airborne would do – and some of the A-10’s to eradicate the Caliphate. In fact, a regiment would do, but it if you need a regiment to do a job, it will be done quicker and more thoroughly and with fewer casualties with a division. We had divisions that could be deployed in weeks; the campaign would be over in a year. Daesh would cease to exist.

Last summer I said it would take two divisions, and all the A-10’s. We are now up to three divisions – a corps — all the A-10 Thunderbolts, and a respectable number of air superiority assets to protect the Warthogs from SAMs. It could be done with less, but the costs would be higher, the casualties greater, and the success of the operation (including pursuit) much lower. Since ISIS is at war with us – on their own declaration – it must sooner or later be engaged. No one else is going to destroy them for us.

Every operation they undertake adds to the strength of their claim of legitimacy and the will of Allah. Defeat is the only remedy.

Today’s attack was in Mali; that is because there were Americans there, and Daesh can get to Mali. It was not in the United States because it is harder to get their assets here. It is not for want of trying, and a glance at the news will tell you. Bringing in Syrian refugees will remedy that. If we want to help refugees, give them new homes in territories taken from Daesh. That is not Obama’s plan, as he ignores the Congress and the Governors of more than half the states. He does not need the consent of the governed for his actions.

There were two editorial columns, not formally linked, in today’s Wall Street Journal that, taken together, make a fairly profound story. The first

http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-sweet-gig-of-being-a-bureaucrat-1447978181?alg=y

The Sweet Gig of Being a Bureaucrat

The average federal worker’s compensation is worth $119,934, nearly 80% higher than the average in the private economy.

By

Mac Zimmerman

Nov. 19, 2015 7:09 p.m. ET

318 COMMENTS

Here’s a story that is emblematic of life in Washington, D.C.: The Department of Veterans Affairs—a well-known sinkhole of mismanagement—handed out more than $142 million in bonuses last year. Taxpayers stumbling across this news might have been surprised by these rewards for bureaucratic incompetence, and perhaps they also got the sense that working for the federal government is a sweet gig. They’re right.

A review of the nation’s capital turns up ample evidence: In a report released last month, Cato Institute budget analyst Chris Edwards calculated that the average federal employee earned $84,153 in 2014—roughly 50% more than the average worker in the private economy. When you include benefits like health care and pensions, the average federal worker’s compensation rises to $119,934—nearly 80% higher than everyone else. “The federal government has become an elite island of secure and high-paid employment,” Mr. Edwards wrote, “separated from the ocean of average Americans competing in the economy.”

Pay for federal employees has grown significantly faster than for private employees. The percentage difference between the two has doubled in the past 25 years. Federal work is more lucrative than the average jobs in finance, information and professional fields.

Moreover, the number of federal employees salaried at more than $100,000 has grown by nearly 10% in the past five years, to more than 300,000. The 1,000 best-paid federal workers make a minimum of $216,000, with most of the highest echelon working at Veterans Affairs. Employees of little-known agencies such as the National Credit Union Administration and the Farm Credit Administration also top the list. [clip]

There is a great deal more. The United States has made getting a job on the civil service payroll the best career path for Americans. Of course civil servants are paid by money earned by those not in the civil service. The purpose of government is in part to collect that money, and of course employs highly paid civil servants to do that. Their taxes also go to bonuses for civil servants.

Salve, sclave.

The other article today goes with it.

Hounded Out of Business by Regulators

The company LabMD finally won its six-year battle with the FTC, but vindication came too late.

By

Dan Epstein

Nov. 19, 2015 7:11 p.m. ET

56 COMMENTS

Sometimes winning is still losing. That is certainly true for companies that find themselves caught in the cross hairs of the federal government. Since 2013, my organization has defended one such company, the cancer-screening LabMD, against meritless allegations from the Federal Trade Commission. Last Friday, the FTC’s chief administrative-law judge dismissed the agency’s complaint. But it was too late. The reputational damage and expense of a six-year federal investigation forced LabMD to close last year. [clip]

We are now ruled; India is hampered by its “permit raj”; the United states ids developing one which is more effective.

Total War Against ISIS! (Well, sorta)

I heard today that U.S. warplanes had, until very recently, been forbidden to hit ISIS tanker trucks because the civilian drivers might be killed.

That Rule of Engagement has apparently been changed and we now can bomb them — after 45 minutes warning.

Is this any way to fight a war???

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/2015/11/18/isis-oil-tankers-hit-for-first-time-with-45-minute-warning

https://pjmedia.com/blog/frustrated-pilots-vent-about-obamas-ineffective-air-war-against-isis-video

Lee

Hi Jerry –

A great post by Larry Correia about Paris, etc.:

• http://monsterhunternation.com/2015/11/16/thoughts-on-paris/

George

: ISIS and the end of the Schism

Jerry,

I wonder how long it will take for the Sunni and Shia Sects as well as all of the rest of Islam to realize that ISIS is an enemy to them all?

If the World is lucky ISIS may be the catalyst that unites all the rest of Islam into a religion of peace and tranquility after ISIS is wiped from the face of the Earth.

Perhaps Obama’s grand strategy to allow ISIS to grow large enough and powerful enough to force the rest of Islam to unite and assist in the extermination. If it is, it would be the first time Obama had a real strategy that might actually work.

I don’t think that it would be prudent to allow ISIS to grow large enough for such a strategy to bear fruit. My personal call would be to use whatever methods are required to completely eliminate the threat ASAP.

Bob Holmes

The Caliphate proclaims that it is the only legitimate ruler of the world, and as proof offers its success at ruling under strict Muslim law. That success in conquest is its validation. The various Muslim kingdoms and republics know this, but they are not strong enough to accomplish it; if they were strong enough they would be subject to the question: why don’t you impose the law of the Koran?

Why call it Daesh rather than ISIS or ISIL?

https://www.freewordcentre.com/blog/2015/02/daesh-isis-media-alice-guthrie/

[quote]

And so if the word is basically ‘ISIS’, but in Arabic, why are the people it describes in such a fury about it? Because they hear it, quite rightly, as a challenge to their legitimacy: a dismissal of their aspirations to define Islamic practice, to be ‘a state for all Muslims’

and – crucially – as a refusal to acknowledge and address them as such.

They want to be addressed as exactly what they claim to be, by people so in awe of them that they use the pompous, long and delusional name created by the group, not some funny-sounding made-up word. And here is the very simple key point that has been overlooked in all the anglophone press coverage I’ve seen: in Arabic, acronyms are not anything like as widely used as they are in English, and so arabophones are not as used to hearing them as anglophones are. Thus, the creation and use of a title that stands out as a nonsense neologism for an organisation like this one is inherently funny, disrespectful, and ultimately threatening of the organisation’s status. Khaled al-Haj Salih, the Syrian activist who coined the term back in 2013, says that initially even many of his fellow activists, resisting Daesh alongside him, were shocked by the idea of an Arabic acronym, and he had to justify it to them by referencing the tradition of acronyms being used as names by Palestinian organisations (such as Fatah). So saturated in acronyms are we in English that we struggle to imagine this, but it’s true.

All of this means that the name lends itself well to satire, and for the arabophones trying to resist Daesh, humour and satire are essential weapons in their nightmarish struggle. But the satirical weight of the word as a weapon, in the hands of the Syrian activists who have hewn it from the rock of their nightmare reality, does not just consist of the weirdness of acronyms. As well as being an acronym, it is also only one letter different from the word ‘daes داعس’ , meaning someone or something that crushes or tramples. Of course that doesn’t mean, as many articles have claimed, that ‘daesh’ is ‘another conjugation’ of the verb ‘to crush or trample’, nor that that is ‘a rough translation of one of the words in the acronym’ – it’s simply one letter different from this other word. Imagine if the acronym of ‘Islamic State in Iraq and Syria’

spelt out ‘S.H.I.D’ in English: activists and critics would certainly seize the opportunity to refer to the organisation as ‘shit’ – but I think it’s safe to say that no serious foreign media outlet would claim that ‘shit’ was another conjugation of the verb ‘shid’, nor a rough translation of it. Of course, that analogy is an unfair one, given the hegemonic global linguistic position of English, not to mention the heightened currency of scatological words; but there is a serious point to be made here about the anglophone media’s tendency to give up before it’s begun understanding non-European languages.

[end quote]

Rod Montgomery==monty@starfief.com

http://theoatmeal.stfi.re/comics/plane?sf=wvoywx

I do not disrespect the Caliphate; they are an enemy, but they have been honest from the beginning. They do not wage undeclared war.  They are open enemies; but enemies they are.

How cracking explains underwater volcanoes and the Hawaiian bend

“There has been speculation among geoscientists for decades that some underwater volcanoes form because of fracturing,” said Professor Dietmar Muller, from the University of Sydney’s School of Geosciences and an author on the research findings published in Nature Geoscience today.

“But this is the first comprehensive analysis of the rocks that form in this setting that confirms their origins.”

http://www.geologyin.com/2015/04/how-cracking-explains-underwater.html
Makes sense.
Stephanie Osborn

“The Interstellar Woman of Mystery”

Christmas Bells

I came across this the other day. It seems appropriate somehow.

This is the backstory –

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJQ2ajszyhU

and this is the music –

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1erCcsT5mc

I sent this to some friends. One asked, “Am I missing something? What does Christmas have to do with the suicidal self denial of secular humanism and Isis (Isil, et al.)?”

I replied, “Christmas doesn’t, as such, but the last, seldom sung verses do. It was a rough time, for the nation and for Longfellow personally, and it was easy to fall into despair. To most Christians despair is a sin. 2,000 years ago John wrote that the essence of Christianity is faith, hope (optimism) and love, and the greatest of these is love. He could well have added joy, happiness and appreciation for life and what it offers and it is these characteristics that most often appear in Christian song, story and poetry.

Longfellow pulled himself out of despair when he realized that it accomplished nothing and, in fact, it kept him from accomplishing anything. That simple little song says a lot.

These are “interesting times” – again. We’ve been there before, and ultimately emerged the stronger. And we will again unless we allow ourselves to sink into despair. That is what history tells me. And that is why I thought the story and song was appropriate.”

Whatever our enemies think they are doing they are really worshipping death, for every disagreement, for every problem the response is to kill and ultimately to die themselves. I can see why considering that they set themselves up to live pretty miserable lives. That is, I think, the root cause of the conflict, we cannot co-exist with such people, not because of what we want, but because of what they want.

Ralph DeCamp

I find the backstory inspiring, and the performance spectacular

The Right To Milk Bears

Dear Jerry:

Vermont’s foremost Ice Cream Collective seems to be sending mixed messages about the California drought

So much for  Senator Sanders constituency- I am surprised California is is not retaliating against ISIS with a pistachio embargo.

Russell  Seitz

Freedom is not free. Free men are not equal. Equal men are not free.

Chaos Manor View, Wednesday, November 18, 2015

It’s Wednesday, and Niven, Barnes, and I had our book conference. The Avalon novel is progressing nicely, and it is interesting to see how many problems are inherent in populating a slower than light universe. They make for good stories.

immigrants and refugees
Dr. Pournelle,
You asked:
“Is there much point in analyzing the folly of admitting migrants, refugees, immigrants at this time? We have no way at all of vetting applicants.”
Actually, I do not think such an analysis would be a waste of time.
Just for the sake of argument, can we draw any analogies or come to any conclusions based on the admittance of refugees from e.g. Germany and Eastern Europe prior to and during WWII? Seems if Franklin Roosevelt’s administration had tightened up immigration quotas and turned people away, we might have been missing some keen minds and willing labor (and some fierce fighters) when we needed them most. (Not to mention that the movie Casablanca wouldn’t have had a good dramatic hook.) Why might such a line of reasoning, applied to the current situation, be invalid?
Looking forward to hearing of your Thanksgiving endeavors with gluten-free gravy,

-d

The refugees from Germany and Italy during the ‘30’s had many things in common, the most important of which was a general familiarity with and adherence to Western Civilization and its values. They did not espouse honor killings, female vaginal mutilation, Sharia Law, and other values quite at odds with the norm in America. They were apt candidates for the melting pot to become Americans; as Bill Buckley once observed, you could study to learn how to become an American in ways you could never study to learn to be a Swiss. They could be assimilated without great stress.

Good government is a blessing; or, if you don’t accept that, you must at least admit that it is rare, difficult to achieve, and even more difficult to keep. “A Republic, if you can keep it,” as Franklin put it. That has not changed since 1787, nor is it likely to. Diversity may be theoretically desirable, but the evidence that it leads to stability is thin. E Pluribus Unum used to be the National Motto; changing it to “In God we trust” may have been a mistake. Of course the goal is not one of forging a nation of identical believers, nor was it ever thought it would be; but seeking “diversity” – that is deliberately adding stress to the national unity – has always been a chancy enterprise. Republics degenerate as do other forms of government; one reason Jefferson thought that government which governs best governs least.

The 30’s refugees included a number of persons who were or became Communists; the result was a great deal of stress on the Republic. Could we tolerate an implacable enemy whose self-proclaimed goal was the destruction of our society in favor of one which, marched instead to the scientific end of history? An end which the Party knew only dimly, but since it was guided by the scientifically true principles of Marxism, it knew best. The dictatorship of the proletariat guided by the Party was inevitable; march with the flywheel of history, not against it. The way will be hard, and many will fall by the wayside, but the end of history is known; do not make yourself an enemy of the people. Join us.

It was decided that we could tolerate them, and we did; but that was government by an elite group, not of the people. The Enlightened knew best; and the Benighted masses had better learn that fast. The victim was self government, but after all, the people didn’t really know how to govern themselves, and had to be led, whether they liked it or not. It is always a temptation for the intelligent to use force to require the uninformed masses to follow where they lead; another reason why big government is dangerous. And so we accepted some immigrants; others like Karl Popper went to England.

But those emigrants were part of Western Civilization, and not all advocated that we join their version of the inevitable end of history; and opposed to them was another implacable enemy, equally dedicated to overthrow of “the rule of the classes” in favor of the masses led by the Enlightened, and which had even less adherence to principles we held dear. The Nazi’s were not, by pour standards, rational.

It happened that we were able to attract Einstein, Fermi, and many other refugees and immigrants who collectively added to our strength among others who added to stress; and of course a resilient Republic needs a certain degree of stress, if only to avoid stasis.

The question is one of transforming the values of the nation, abandoning the principle of E Pluribus Unum for one of perpetual diversity; and to do so under pressure without debate; and to do so against the will of the people: without the consent of the governed. Without debate or discussion.

: Refugee Terrorists in US

Well, they’ve arrested refugees who turned out to be terrorists; it looks like the FBI director was correct and we can’t properly vet these people. That being the case, I see no reason to take anyone that we can’t vet and I see no reason to make exceptions.

34 governors are refusing to take refugees with at least two threatening to use the National Guard.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3322649/The-enemy-Nearly-SEVENTY-arrested-America-ISIS-plots-include-refugees-given-safe-haven-turned-terror.html

And while this president used argumentum ad hominem in a pathetic attempt to attack the GOP position on pausing the refugee program by saying they’re afraid of widows and orphans, a female suicide bomber detonated her bombs in Paris:

http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/620250/Paris-terror-attacks-raid-dog-Diesel-killed-Islamic-State-ISIS

◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊

Most Respectfully,

Joshua Jordan, KSC

Percussa Resurgo

The President clearly is acting against the consent of the governed; his the office, his the power. That is not quite how the American government is supposed to work even in wartime. A better alternative would be for the US to take territory from ISIS and give it to the migrants to settle in.

A Foreign Legion in the Middle East, and Imperium

Dr. Pournelle,

You say:

“We also need what amounts to a Foreign Legion: an armed force that is permanently deployed overseas. Its job is to enforce the terms…”

If you have come to that conclusion, then it seems to me that we are merely discussing what sort of Empire we shall have, and the Republic is no longer an option.  A Republic may make war, and destroy its foes and even rebuild them as allies.  A Republic does not establish a permanent foreign constabulary.

Thanks,

Neil

France had their Foreign Legion from its creation by king Louis Philippe, through the Second Republic, Napoleon III, the Third Republic, Vichy, The Fourth Republic, to this day. It is true that a Foreign Legion is not a normal accoutrement of a Republic, and is more suitable to Empire; but it is possible, and at this point may be necessary for a rational foreign policy in the Near East. We cannot establish a protectorate without troops ready to defend them; such troops must not be citizen soldiers. The cost of that is too high. We cannot send our citizens overseas for most of their lives; yet we need forces ready to act in that foreign land.

Citizen soldiers can conquer territory from ISIS; we can give it to refugees and migrants and local authorities; but we cannot assure their stability without local forces. We cannot provide those local forces using citizen soldiers.

Creation of a Legion to serve US interests is a large topic, and we haven’t room for it here; but history shows that republics can have such military forces and remain a republic subject to consent of the governed.

Anonymous vs. ISIS?

Kevin D. Williamson is one of my favorite writers.

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/427237/anonymous-declares-war-isis

[quote]

Compare Anonymous’s cocky declaration of war with the efforts of Senator Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) and CIA Director John Brennan, who after the Paris attacks resumed their sad little campaign to convince Silicon Valley technology firms — sometimes bullying, sometimes wheedling — to simply design software and devices in such a way as to give government intelligence and law-enforcement operatives an easy “back door” into secure communication.

…

Can Uncle Stupid be trusted with a universal back door? There’s reason to think otherwise.

[end quote]

Anyone remember the late, un-lamented “Clipper Chip”?

The piece also reminded me — although it’s something of a stretch — of Dr. Pournelle’s story “Enforcer” in his book _High Justice_.

And of Vernor Vinge’s story, “True Names”.

Rod Montgomery

Exercise before Paris Attack

If you look into certain terrorist attacks, you’ll see an exercise occurred before the event, simulating the event. According to insurance company actuary tables, the odds of this happening are somewhere around 23 tetragillion to one. That’s a number with 42 zeros after it. Well, it happened again:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-17/hours-before-the-terror-attacks-paris-practiced-for-a-mass-shooting

◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊

Most Respectfully,

Joshua Jordan, KSC

Percussa Resurgo

Parisian Preference Cascade?

Jerry,

Apropos the ISIL regime in western Mesopotamia, Winston Churchill famously said “You can always count on Americans to do the right thing – after they’ve tried everything else.”

Over the last few days, I’ve seen signs of a building US public consensus that our leadership, and troops, are needed to resolve the matter after all. What some of us have been saying since it happened, that failing to ramrod a status-of-forces deal and pulling all the troops out of Iraq was a disastrous error, seems suddenly to be the common wisdom.

This morning’s C-Span Washington Journal call-ins are one indication.

In recent years when people don’t care that much about an issue, thinly-disguised Dem partisan operatives tend to dominate the phone lines. This morning, they were crowded out on all three lines, Dem, Rep, and Independent, by people saying “leaving was a mistake – we need to go back.” (There were even multiple callers with African-American accents saying this President is in error on the point – something I’ve never heard before.)

Many of the callers (as well as, so far, half the governors in the

country) also said they don’t want refugees from the region brought here, given the obvious danger of ISIL operatives in the mix.

Over the past couple of days we’ve also begun hearing all this from media types who, pre-Paris, were reliably in the President’s pocket.

Mainstream reporters were suddenly aggressively questioning the President on the matter yesterday, forcing the President to spend most of an hour peevishly denying he ever made a mistake and refusing to consider any change of course.

Whether or not he admits error, the pressure on him to do more is suddenly huge. His history says he’ll resist as long as he can, and then do the minimum he thinks he can get away with – badly. I suspect we’re due for a rough next 14 months, with the problem more likely further enlarged by half-measures than solved.

The President who had Churchill’s bust removed from his office will probably continue proving Sir Winston right by trying everything else.

The wildcard in all this is the refugees. One of the points the President dug his heels in on yesterday was his plan to bring in thousands from the region with no realistic possibility of effective screening against ISIL operatives. If he doubles down on this one (he’s hinting at it and I wouldn’t bet against it) rather than backing down, he may finally discover an issue close enough to home for average Americans to generate a 67-Senator coalition against him.

Mind, I wouldn’t count on such a coalition holding together any longer than it takes to force him to back down on that one point. Unless, of course, he refuses to back down. Just how firmly divorced from reality is he on these issues? So far, pretty firmly.

interesting times

Porkypine

There is no indication that the President has the slightest intention of revising his policy of receiving refugee immigrants; he believes he has a moral obligation to do so, and anyone opposed to that is in error.

Islamic State plans deadly cyber attacks, says Britain – but how real is the threat? (ZD)

The UK today warned of terrorists targeting hospitals, power stations and air-traffic control systems. But for the moment a number of factors may stand in the way of those deadly ambitions.

By Steve Ranger | November 17, 2015 — 12:48 GMT (04:48 PST) |

Terrorists from the so-called Islamic State want to launch deadly cyber attacks against targets such as power stations, hospitals and air-traffic control systems in the UK, Chancellor George Osborne has said.

“The stakes could hardly be higher — if our electricity supply, or our air-traffic control, or our hospitals were successfully attacked online, the impact could be measured not just in terms of economic damage but of lives lost,” the Chancellor said in a speech at the headquarters of surveillance agency GCHQ.

Osborne said IS does not yet have the capability to kill by attacking the UK’s critical infrastructure but added: “We know they want it and are doing their best to build it. So when we talk about tackling ISIL, that means tackling their cyberthreat as well as the threat of their guns, bombs and knives.”

As a result of this danger and other threats, Osborne said the UK is almost doubling its cybersecurity spending to £1.9bn over five years.

But how likely is it that IS — or any terrorist group — could launch a deadly cyber attack?

Breaking into the industrial-control systems of a power station or chemical factory to cause damage is theoretically possible, especially because these systems are now being connected to the internet to help with, for example, remote monitoring.

And because these industrial-control systems were often built decades ago, they lack the security of more modern systems, making them potentially vulnerable to hackers. However, they also tend to be bespoke, so that attacking any system is likely to take significant reconnaissance, research and hard-to-find technical skills.

Those factors help explain why such attacks have until now only been thought of as an option for the largest nation states with significant resources and long-term planning. And so far no digital attack of this kind has lead to loss of life. [snip]

Macro viruses

Jerry,

     Interesting to note in light of your email about macro virus resurgence that the financial institution I’m on the security staff for has had a steep increase in that type of attack.  SANS described exactly the macro virus style we have been receiving.  The name of the file was different in each of the received emails of which there have been several dozen.

https://isc.sans.edu/forums/diary/Analyze+of+a+malicious+Word+document+with+an+embedded+payload/20377/

Please delete my signature information, I’d rather the senders of the virus didn’t decide to hit us harder.

Thanks,

It’s getting dangerous out there…

Important information

What should you do in an [terrorist] attack?

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34844518?utm_content=buffera243f&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

This article is very well written and the info is good — speaking as someone who has been a duly certified, sworn reserve police officer.

Of course, it is also written from a European standpoint, and so it does not assume that anyone in the victim group is armed. At least here in the US Southeast, that is an additional action to factor in. An option there is to take substantial cover, wait until gunfire has stopped or until the gunman is facing away from you, then take the shot(s), immediately ducking back under cover once you’ve popped as many as you can. Be aware that if there is more than one gunman, and you do not take all gunmen out, more than likely the others WILL return your fire. Hence the need for SUBSTANTIAL cover. Obviously as a police officer I would not have recommended this, but I’m not one anymore, and it’s what I’d do.

Be patient waiting for the gunman/men to give you an opening. This could take a bit, but wait for a GOOD opportunity. Otherwise you are wasting the chance and most likely your life.

NEVER come fully out from cover if you can avoid it, unless it is to take a high-probability chance to get to safety. Especially do not come fully out to take a shot. You will not have time to resume cover before the other perps fire at you. Expose only enough of yourself to take the shot, and minimize your profile as much as possible. Don’t know how? Go to the range and ask the rangemaster to show you, then practice taking those kinds of shots. Often.

Also be aware that, even for trained personnel like police, adrenaline will be very high, and consequently your hands will not be steady. Don’t try for a fancy shot — you will almost certainly miss. Don’t shoot to disarm; that’s a fancy shot and it’s next to impossible. Besides, if s/he has another gun, you’re toast. Police are often taught to fire in groups of 3, with the first two being center of mass shots, and the third being a groin shot. This targets:

• center of mass — spleen, liver, descending aorta, and to a lesser extent the spinal cord for incapacitation
• groin — junction of descending aorta and femoral arteries

Both target areas are rapid bleed-out sites. Shoot to take out the perp, whatever that ends up meaning. Chances are, it means the perp will be dead. I was taught that, if I had to draw my weapon, I should expect to use it; if I had to use it, I should expect the perp to be dead at the end of the encounter. This may sound cold, especially from me: Don’t worry about it. A terrorist doesn’t intend to leave the site alive anyway. Better you finish him before he can finish you.

Optimally, of course, you want to be so observant and cognizant of activity around you that you see something unusual shaping up and clear the area before it occurs.

I make no claim to being an expert; I am not. I merely offer what knowledge I possess for your consideration.

Stephanie Osborn

“The Interstellar Woman of Mystery”
http://www.Stephanie-Osborn.com

One caveat. The terrorists in Paris were wearing suicide vests with TATP. This almost certainly will detonate from a large caliber impact. I don’t think that changes tactics – they still must be stopped to limit further casualties. All you can do is pray that nobody else is nearby and consider the blast protection of your cover point. Conversely, the one center of mass shot should suffice to neutralize the threat, though don’t let that stop your double tap.

Jim

Actually, an explosive vest will NOT necessarily detonate, Jim. The concept of a bullet impact detonating all explosives is a Hollywood image, not reality; otherwise mortar fireworks would all detonate on the ground. It very much depends on the type of explosive and the nature of the initiator.

Yes, I know you specified a particular explosive. But TATP (aka triacetone peroxide) is unstable, which is well known, and is also well known for detonating before it’s supposed to do. (It’s the child’s adage, “Fall down, go boom” — literally.) So while it is still used by terrorists, those who have a particular “mission” in mind will tend NOT to use it.

But that is one reason why I specified NOT to come completely out of your cover to take the shot, and to have substantial cover — one option that any other terrorists you don’t kill will have is to detonate their suicide vests. It definitely falls under the heading of enemy fire.
Stephanie Osborn

“The Interstellar Woman of Mystery”
http://www.Stephanie-Osborn.com

The Quantum Source of Space-Time.

<http://www.nature.com/news/the-quantum-source-of-space-time-1.18797>

—————————————

Roland Dobbins

You will see this again, with comments.

Freedom is not free. Free men are not equal. Equal men are not free.