It was a weird weekend and so far today the situation has not improved.
Saturday, NJ Governor Chris Christie spoke to the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas. He had just been cleared of any wrong doing in the George Washington Bridge scandal by a panel he commissioned. Although those doing the reviewing were members of a law firm he has close connections to, he had to feel the tide had turned and he could finally concentrate fully on his presidential bid. In addition, he was scheduled to have a private conversation with gambling mogul Sheldon Adelson, during which the Governor would presumably kiss Mr. Adelson's ass numerous times while in search of a large campaign contribution.
Then, in a surreal moment of political nihilism, or gross stupidity, he placed his foot squarely into his mouth. During the speech he recalled a helicopter tour he once took in Israel. While he was telling the gathering about it, he referred to Gaza and the West Bank as, "the occupied territories."
Oops.
It isn't clear who wrote the speech, but the author really needs to understand you don't stick your guy in front of a bunch of influential, rich, American Jews, then have him use the term occupied territories while he talks about Israel. NBC reported Christie ended up apologizing personally to Adelson afterward. It is unknown at this time if Sheldon put a stop payment on a check, or simply told the Governor he'd have better luck getting funds from a roulette wheel at the Venetian than he would from anyone in the audience.
Out over the Indian Ocean, the search for Malaysian Airlines flight 370 continues to prove utterly futile. All the promising pieces of flotsam turned out not to be from the missing Boeing 777. The debris was described as discarded, or lost fishing boat gear.
Meanwhile, in their never ending quest to fuel conspiracy theories, the Malaysian authorities are now claiming the final radio broadcast from the aircraft was, "Goodnight: Malaysian flight 370." This is opposed to the, "All right, goodnight," broadcast they previously insisted was the last audio contact from the plane that went missing on March 8th.
The latest revelation moved former head of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, James Hall to say, "This investigation is an example of what not to do. Everything they do, they change."
While the Malaysians maintain the person who spoke the last communication was co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid, there is no telling if tomorrow they'll decide it was pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah, or even Rich Little. It is increasingly clear Malaysian Airlines and the government of Malaysia itself, hired their staffs from the same agency who provided Governor Christie with his invaluable personnel.
Finally, the Russians are conducting military exercises about 150 miles from their border with Finland. They claim the maneuvers were "pre-planned."
That won't ease nerves in Helsinki. The Finns have a long history with Russia. They were occupied by them for a little over 100 years beginning in the early 19th century and fought them in couple of wars during the 1940's.
In addition NBC says a short while ago, former Putin economic advisor, Andrei Illarionov told a Swedish publication his old boss will, "seek historical justice by reclaiming Finland and ex Soviet countries."
It might be time to ask ourselves a dreadful question. Is, Vladimir Putin off his nut? Let's face it, the parallels are becoming a little eerie. The late, unlamented, Herr Hitler hosted an olympics in 1936. In 1938 Germany annexed the Sudetenland in order to protect "ethnic Germans." Sound familiar? Not long afterward he had all of Czechoslovakia, was invading Poland, and a war, which left most of Europe in ruins, was in full swing.
Various experts quoted by NBC, think the risk of the Russian army moving against Finland is low. Of course in 1938, Neville Chamberlain told the population of Great Britain he had achieved, "Peace for our time." Within a year the terrible conflagration began.
Indeed, as the last part of the old saying goes, "...sometimes the bear eats you." It looks like Vlad is going to keep pushing until someone gives him the old, enough is enough talk. We should all hope a reasonable person has the guts to deliver it and Putin has the brains and sanity to believe him when things are explained in full.
3-31-14
Monday, March 31, 2014
Friday, March 28, 2014
Friday Dispatches: Sheldon Goes Shopping, Another Problem for GM, and an Inappropriate Ad in the Tube
Our old pal, Sheldon Adelson is back in the political mix. NBC and the Washington Post are reporting that over the weekend he will be having heart to heart chats with NJ Governor, Chris Christie, WI, Governor Scott Walker, former FL Governor, Jeb Bush, and OH Governor, John Kasich. All of the gentlemen are mulling over presidential runs
They'll be in Adelson's home town of Las Vegas the next couple of days speaking to the Republican Jewish Coalition. Between the VIP dinner held in Adelson's private airplane hanger, a round of golf, a poker tournament, and a scotch tasting, Shelly will be conducting what amounts to job interviews. Neither media outlet was willing to describe the private visits as that, although the Post came close when it referred to the weekend as, "the Sheldon primary."
Well why not? Let's face it, presidential campaigns aren't cheap and when a man is willing to spend millions and millions of dollars on one he should be able to make an informed decision on which middle aged white guy to buy.
NBC noted Rand Paul would not be attending and speculated because of his views on Israel, Adelson is not only uninterested in backing him, but might spend some large chunks of change trying to make sure he is defeated in the primary season. It is unclear if Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and Paul Ryan are also in the Adelson dog house, or if they've been quizzed separately on other occasions.
All of this might make more than a few of us a tad queasy. Especially when we admit to ourselves that a man who could end up President of the United States has, at one point, groveled--tin cup in hand--in front of a guy who made his considerable fortune in the gambling industry. Indeed, in some quarters, the word bribery might even be bandied about. However, one must keep in mind the sheer magnitude of the numbers involved. In 2012 Sheldon Adelson spent $93 million trying to get someone other than Barack Obama into the white house. That sort of largesse will cause even the most seasoned politician to pull on the old knee pads and perform prolonged acts of fellatio whenever and wherever asked.
Meanwhile, General Motors has issued a stop sale order to dealerships involving the 2013 and 2014 editions of the Chevrolet Cruze. True to form, GM has yet to explain why, but NBC reports experts say when something like this happens it usually has to do with a safety issue.
Sound familiar? It should. GM is already in the midst of a massive recall involving a number of models because of ignition switch problems. NBC also says, of the 1.6 million flawed vehicles involved at least 1.4 million are still on the road--1.2 million of them here in the United States. By the corporation's own admission at least 12 people have died in accidents directly related to the defect.
Elsewhere, the hunt for Malaysian Airlines flight 370 continues with spectacular non success. The search has now shifted about 700 miles north east of where authorities had been looking in the southern Indian Ocean. Not one of the tantalizing objects photographed by satellites, or spotted by airplanes has been recovered. So, in truth, there is still no concrete evidence of the missing Boeing 777's location, or fate.
And finally, British Airways has pulled an ad in the London subway system which told riders to, "Escape the commute and discover the Indian Ocean." It featured an undersea photo stretching off into blue infinity. The airline admitted the timing of the advertisement was, "inappropriate."
There we have it. Another week is in the books.
As always, stay low, don't bunch up, and for God's sake keep moving.
3-28-14
They'll be in Adelson's home town of Las Vegas the next couple of days speaking to the Republican Jewish Coalition. Between the VIP dinner held in Adelson's private airplane hanger, a round of golf, a poker tournament, and a scotch tasting, Shelly will be conducting what amounts to job interviews. Neither media outlet was willing to describe the private visits as that, although the Post came close when it referred to the weekend as, "the Sheldon primary."
Well why not? Let's face it, presidential campaigns aren't cheap and when a man is willing to spend millions and millions of dollars on one he should be able to make an informed decision on which middle aged white guy to buy.
NBC noted Rand Paul would not be attending and speculated because of his views on Israel, Adelson is not only uninterested in backing him, but might spend some large chunks of change trying to make sure he is defeated in the primary season. It is unclear if Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and Paul Ryan are also in the Adelson dog house, or if they've been quizzed separately on other occasions.
All of this might make more than a few of us a tad queasy. Especially when we admit to ourselves that a man who could end up President of the United States has, at one point, groveled--tin cup in hand--in front of a guy who made his considerable fortune in the gambling industry. Indeed, in some quarters, the word bribery might even be bandied about. However, one must keep in mind the sheer magnitude of the numbers involved. In 2012 Sheldon Adelson spent $93 million trying to get someone other than Barack Obama into the white house. That sort of largesse will cause even the most seasoned politician to pull on the old knee pads and perform prolonged acts of fellatio whenever and wherever asked.
Meanwhile, General Motors has issued a stop sale order to dealerships involving the 2013 and 2014 editions of the Chevrolet Cruze. True to form, GM has yet to explain why, but NBC reports experts say when something like this happens it usually has to do with a safety issue.
Sound familiar? It should. GM is already in the midst of a massive recall involving a number of models because of ignition switch problems. NBC also says, of the 1.6 million flawed vehicles involved at least 1.4 million are still on the road--1.2 million of them here in the United States. By the corporation's own admission at least 12 people have died in accidents directly related to the defect.
Elsewhere, the hunt for Malaysian Airlines flight 370 continues with spectacular non success. The search has now shifted about 700 miles north east of where authorities had been looking in the southern Indian Ocean. Not one of the tantalizing objects photographed by satellites, or spotted by airplanes has been recovered. So, in truth, there is still no concrete evidence of the missing Boeing 777's location, or fate.
And finally, British Airways has pulled an ad in the London subway system which told riders to, "Escape the commute and discover the Indian Ocean." It featured an undersea photo stretching off into blue infinity. The airline admitted the timing of the advertisement was, "inappropriate."
There we have it. Another week is in the books.
As always, stay low, don't bunch up, and for God's sake keep moving.
3-28-14
Thursday, March 27, 2014
Chris Christie, Innocent For Now
There is finally some good news for New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie. He is currently mired in the middle of a motley pack of GOP presidential hopefuls while being relentlessly hounded by the George Washington Bridge scandal. Today, NBC reports an internal review has cleared him of any and all wrong doing in the lane closing fiasco last fall. In fact the investigators paint Christie in such flattering terms you'd think he appointed them himself.
Well, okay, he actually did, but let's not dwell on details.
The review, commissioned by the Governor was conducted by members of the law firm, Gibson, Dunn, and Crutcher. NBC noted the firm and it's founder have had close ties with Christie for a number of years. So when a sentence, in the final analysis reads, "Governor Christie's account of these events ring true," one might want to keep in mind who wrote it.
While finding Christie innocent of knowing anything about everything, his former Deputy Chief of Staff and a disgraced Port Authority employee he appointed were thrown so far under the bus they were run over by the back tires first. According to the report, David Wildstein, the Port Authority employee, cooked up the scheme and Kelly, the Governor's Deputy Chief of Staff went along with it, but absolutely no one else was involved.The evil intent was to punish Ft. Lee, NJ, Mayor Mark Sokolich for not supporting Christie's re-election bid. It isn't clear why Kelly and Wildstein became so enraged by the democratic Mayor's refusal. According to the investigation, the lane closings, which fouled traffic in Ft. Lee for days, went into effect about 48 hours after Kelly reconfirmed Sokolich was refusing to jump on the Christie bandwagon.
The day before the shit hit the fan, she sent a cold blooded email to Wildstein which read, "Time for some traffic problems in Ft.Lee." His terse response was, "Got it." According to the findings, when Kelly found out Sokolich was complaining about the traffic problems she emailed, "Good."
NBC pointed out critics of the review say, even though responsibility for the thuggery was dropped squarely in their laps, neither Kelly, or Wildstein were interviewed during the probe. The investigators also failed to question Port Authority Chairman, David Samson and Christie's former campaign manager, Bill Stepien.
Stepien and Port Authority honcho Bill Baroni were cleared of any wrong doing, because, even though they knew of the lane closings, they didn't know the real reason behind it.
In addition Kelly was accused of flat out lying to Christie during a December meeting when he questioned staffers about their possible involvement in the act. The report went so far as to say she made a frantic appeal to an aid to delete emails in order to hide her involvement.
In response to Wildstein's accusation he had told Christie of the lane closings at a September 11th memorial event, the panel wrote, "Indeed it seems unlikely such a brief mention, even if made by Wildstein to the Governor, would have registered with the Governor at all." It also said, while Christie recalls speaking to a number of people that day, including Wildstein, he couldn't remember what was said.
Randy Mastro, who is a spokesman for the firm, assured everyone, despite the connections with Christie, his people would have dished dirt on the Governor if they'd found any.
Investigators dismissed a separate scandal involving accusations by Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer. She has claimed Christie tried to force her city to accept a real estate deal which would profit some pals of his by hijacking Hurricane Sandy relief funds. The report basically says Her Honor is full of shit.
NBC finally tells us there are other investigations taking place which are not under the auspices of Gibson, Dunn, and Crutcher. Those results are still pending.
Despite lingering questions of why the Governor would hire cretins such as Kelly and Wildstein, it appears he can head out to Iowa to face the immense and savage ego of Ted Cruz with his head held high--at least for now anyway.
Sometimes, all you can do is take what you can while you can and run with the wind. Hey--you might as well, because there is no telling who is lurking right around the corner with a cocked Louisville Slugger.
That is the state of politics in America and, as we've known for years, the way we deal with those other people .
sic vita est
3-27-14
Well, okay, he actually did, but let's not dwell on details.
The review, commissioned by the Governor was conducted by members of the law firm, Gibson, Dunn, and Crutcher. NBC noted the firm and it's founder have had close ties with Christie for a number of years. So when a sentence, in the final analysis reads, "Governor Christie's account of these events ring true," one might want to keep in mind who wrote it.
While finding Christie innocent of knowing anything about everything, his former Deputy Chief of Staff and a disgraced Port Authority employee he appointed were thrown so far under the bus they were run over by the back tires first. According to the report, David Wildstein, the Port Authority employee, cooked up the scheme and Kelly, the Governor's Deputy Chief of Staff went along with it, but absolutely no one else was involved.The evil intent was to punish Ft. Lee, NJ, Mayor Mark Sokolich for not supporting Christie's re-election bid. It isn't clear why Kelly and Wildstein became so enraged by the democratic Mayor's refusal. According to the investigation, the lane closings, which fouled traffic in Ft. Lee for days, went into effect about 48 hours after Kelly reconfirmed Sokolich was refusing to jump on the Christie bandwagon.
The day before the shit hit the fan, she sent a cold blooded email to Wildstein which read, "Time for some traffic problems in Ft.Lee." His terse response was, "Got it." According to the findings, when Kelly found out Sokolich was complaining about the traffic problems she emailed, "Good."
NBC pointed out critics of the review say, even though responsibility for the thuggery was dropped squarely in their laps, neither Kelly, or Wildstein were interviewed during the probe. The investigators also failed to question Port Authority Chairman, David Samson and Christie's former campaign manager, Bill Stepien.
Stepien and Port Authority honcho Bill Baroni were cleared of any wrong doing, because, even though they knew of the lane closings, they didn't know the real reason behind it.
In addition Kelly was accused of flat out lying to Christie during a December meeting when he questioned staffers about their possible involvement in the act. The report went so far as to say she made a frantic appeal to an aid to delete emails in order to hide her involvement.
In response to Wildstein's accusation he had told Christie of the lane closings at a September 11th memorial event, the panel wrote, "Indeed it seems unlikely such a brief mention, even if made by Wildstein to the Governor, would have registered with the Governor at all." It also said, while Christie recalls speaking to a number of people that day, including Wildstein, he couldn't remember what was said.
Randy Mastro, who is a spokesman for the firm, assured everyone, despite the connections with Christie, his people would have dished dirt on the Governor if they'd found any.
Investigators dismissed a separate scandal involving accusations by Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer. She has claimed Christie tried to force her city to accept a real estate deal which would profit some pals of his by hijacking Hurricane Sandy relief funds. The report basically says Her Honor is full of shit.
NBC finally tells us there are other investigations taking place which are not under the auspices of Gibson, Dunn, and Crutcher. Those results are still pending.
Despite lingering questions of why the Governor would hire cretins such as Kelly and Wildstein, it appears he can head out to Iowa to face the immense and savage ego of Ted Cruz with his head held high--at least for now anyway.
Sometimes, all you can do is take what you can while you can and run with the wind. Hey--you might as well, because there is no telling who is lurking right around the corner with a cocked Louisville Slugger.
That is the state of politics in America and, as we've known for years, the way we deal with those other people .
sic vita est
3-27-14
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Deadly Malfeasance and a Dodged Bullet
Sometimes it hits a little too close to home.
The latest act of deadly corporate malfeasance is brought to us by General Motors. The Detroit giant recently issued a recall of 1.6 million vehicles. The models, which were manufactured between 2003 and 2007, include the Chevrolet Cobalt and HHR, Pontiac G-5s, Solstices, and in Canada, Pursuits. Then finally, Saturn Ions and Skys. It seems the ignition system in these cars are a little quirky and sometimes, out of the blue, the key will flip from the "on" position to "accessory." This causes the engine to die. When it does you lose your power steering, power brakes, and most importantly, it shuts down the air bag system--so if you run into something hard, like another car, or a tree, it won't deploy. By GM's own admission at least 12 people have died in accidents directly related to the engineering flaw. However, the number could be higher.
Well, these things happen. After all, no one is perfect. The real crime is, for at least 12 families, their nightmares were preventable. Now there is hard evidence which shows GM has been aware of the defect since 2004 and possibly as long ago as 2001. Despite the knowledge they did very little to correct the problem.
Reports are that in 2005 a partial fix was made available, but no recall was issued. Instead the corporation told it's dealerships if anyone came in with a problem they were to use the new part to fix it. The piece cost about $1. That is right, a single George Washington.
To illustrate the GM mindset at the time, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration began receiving reports of deaths related to the flawed key system in 2007. According to the corporation itself, the NHTSA didn't force them to issue a recall, so they saw no reason to do it on their own.
During the same period GM's legal department was doing everything in it's considerable power to fight off law suits filed by the families of victims. Today's New York Times ran a grim list of people who lost their lives when the keys in their vehicles switched to the accessory position. The paper also details the actions taken by the corporation to avoid responsibility for the faulty engineering. Included were threats of counter suits and promises of complaints to bar associations about the lawyers representing the families.
But--now that the gruesome skeleton is out of the closet and GM has admitted to their cruel mendacity, as an old pal of mine used to say, "Sue the bastards." You bet, get their asses in front 12 men and women who could have owned one of those cars themselves and wait for the cash to roll in. Well, it isn't that easy. In fact, for many of the families, it could be impossible.
On July 10th, 2009 General Motors declared bankruptcy. In that instant, legally, it became a new company. The pre July 10th GM was suddenly defunct, gone; it no longer existed. That means, if your kid, wife, or husband died before July 10th, 2009 in a faulty GM product, you can't sue now, because--hey--the new GM has nothing to do with the old General Motors.
The Times cited the case of Alan Ray Floyd. Mr. Floyd was killed after he lost control of his vehicle when it shut down on a highway. The tragedy occurred on July, 3rd, 2009, a week before the bankruptcy went into effect. The GM reaction to the family's suit was to claim it was "frivolous" because the new corporation wasn't liable for the old one. The family attorney was told if he pursued the matter the company would go after the plaintiffs for any legal expenses incurred by the company during the proceedings. Floyd's family decided the risk was too high and backed down.
Mary Barra, the current CEO of General Motors, is apologizing profusely to everyone and has promised to, "change the process for handling such situations." Yes, that is all fine and good, but note she didn't say they were going to pay any money to people impacted by the incompetent designing and the ensuing cold blooded cover up.
According to a couple of sources, the size of the recall is so vast it will probably be early fall before all the vehicles are refitted. MSN reports GM has promised loaners which can be used until the tainted cars are repaired. The same story also says many of the dealerships around the country refuse to participate in the deal.
Meanwhile, sitting in my desk drawer is a letter from GM telling me about the recall of my 2006 Chevy Cobalt. It informs me replacement parts won't be available until sometime in April and I'll be receiving a second letter telling me when to call the dealership for an appointment.
Now I know what happened that early Saturday morning several months ago when I made a left turn onto May Avenue here in Oklahoma City. In the middle of it my car's engine died suddenly for no apparent reason. Luckily, no one was barreling down on me from either ahead or behind and as I coasted toward the opposite curb, I was able to shift into neutral and restart it.
It appears I dodged a bullet. I just wish I had known someone was shooting at me.
Happy motoring, America.
3-25-14
The latest act of deadly corporate malfeasance is brought to us by General Motors. The Detroit giant recently issued a recall of 1.6 million vehicles. The models, which were manufactured between 2003 and 2007, include the Chevrolet Cobalt and HHR, Pontiac G-5s, Solstices, and in Canada, Pursuits. Then finally, Saturn Ions and Skys. It seems the ignition system in these cars are a little quirky and sometimes, out of the blue, the key will flip from the "on" position to "accessory." This causes the engine to die. When it does you lose your power steering, power brakes, and most importantly, it shuts down the air bag system--so if you run into something hard, like another car, or a tree, it won't deploy. By GM's own admission at least 12 people have died in accidents directly related to the engineering flaw. However, the number could be higher.
Well, these things happen. After all, no one is perfect. The real crime is, for at least 12 families, their nightmares were preventable. Now there is hard evidence which shows GM has been aware of the defect since 2004 and possibly as long ago as 2001. Despite the knowledge they did very little to correct the problem.
Reports are that in 2005 a partial fix was made available, but no recall was issued. Instead the corporation told it's dealerships if anyone came in with a problem they were to use the new part to fix it. The piece cost about $1. That is right, a single George Washington.
To illustrate the GM mindset at the time, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration began receiving reports of deaths related to the flawed key system in 2007. According to the corporation itself, the NHTSA didn't force them to issue a recall, so they saw no reason to do it on their own.
During the same period GM's legal department was doing everything in it's considerable power to fight off law suits filed by the families of victims. Today's New York Times ran a grim list of people who lost their lives when the keys in their vehicles switched to the accessory position. The paper also details the actions taken by the corporation to avoid responsibility for the faulty engineering. Included were threats of counter suits and promises of complaints to bar associations about the lawyers representing the families.
But--now that the gruesome skeleton is out of the closet and GM has admitted to their cruel mendacity, as an old pal of mine used to say, "Sue the bastards." You bet, get their asses in front 12 men and women who could have owned one of those cars themselves and wait for the cash to roll in. Well, it isn't that easy. In fact, for many of the families, it could be impossible.
On July 10th, 2009 General Motors declared bankruptcy. In that instant, legally, it became a new company. The pre July 10th GM was suddenly defunct, gone; it no longer existed. That means, if your kid, wife, or husband died before July 10th, 2009 in a faulty GM product, you can't sue now, because--hey--the new GM has nothing to do with the old General Motors.
The Times cited the case of Alan Ray Floyd. Mr. Floyd was killed after he lost control of his vehicle when it shut down on a highway. The tragedy occurred on July, 3rd, 2009, a week before the bankruptcy went into effect. The GM reaction to the family's suit was to claim it was "frivolous" because the new corporation wasn't liable for the old one. The family attorney was told if he pursued the matter the company would go after the plaintiffs for any legal expenses incurred by the company during the proceedings. Floyd's family decided the risk was too high and backed down.
Mary Barra, the current CEO of General Motors, is apologizing profusely to everyone and has promised to, "change the process for handling such situations." Yes, that is all fine and good, but note she didn't say they were going to pay any money to people impacted by the incompetent designing and the ensuing cold blooded cover up.
According to a couple of sources, the size of the recall is so vast it will probably be early fall before all the vehicles are refitted. MSN reports GM has promised loaners which can be used until the tainted cars are repaired. The same story also says many of the dealerships around the country refuse to participate in the deal.
Meanwhile, sitting in my desk drawer is a letter from GM telling me about the recall of my 2006 Chevy Cobalt. It informs me replacement parts won't be available until sometime in April and I'll be receiving a second letter telling me when to call the dealership for an appointment.
Now I know what happened that early Saturday morning several months ago when I made a left turn onto May Avenue here in Oklahoma City. In the middle of it my car's engine died suddenly for no apparent reason. Luckily, no one was barreling down on me from either ahead or behind and as I coasted toward the opposite curb, I was able to shift into neutral and restart it.
It appears I dodged a bullet. I just wish I had known someone was shooting at me.
Happy motoring, America.
3-25-14
Monday, March 24, 2014
Trials in Egypt and Wreckage in the Indian Ocean
It appears the people currently running Egypt, or at least the court system, has had enough of the of the Muslim Brotherhood's shenanigans. MSN, via the A.P. is reporting 545 people went on trial in the city of Minya. All of the defendants were either members of the brotherhood, or other supporters of deposed president Mohammed Morsi. The entire group was charged with murdering a cop and attacking a police station in August of last year. The violence occurred after police and the military cracked down on pro-Morsi demonstrations, which of course, had followed the massive anti-Morsi demonstrations that prompted the army to remove him from office. 150 of the accused were present. Everyone else is currently on the lam, so they were tried in absentia.
It didn't take long for a verdict to come down. In fact after only two days, the judge, Saeed Youssef Mohamed ended the trial, saying defense lawyers were disrupting the proceedings and muddying the waters by, "discussing politics." 16 people were acquitted while 529 were found guilty and sentenced to death.
Ouch. Not even Isaac, the hanging judge, Parker went that far when he was running the U.S. federal court in Ft. Smith, Arkansas. He condemned a paltry 160 people to die and that number was spread out over 21 years. Well, as we all know, everything moved slower before there was an internet and cell phones.
Needless to say the defense attorneys took exception to the ruling, most claiming the conduct of the judge was unconstitutional and the sentences overly harsh. One hearty optimist went so far as to say the convictions would be overturned on appeal.
A lot of people should hope so, because tomorrow another 683 souls go into the dock, including Mohammed Badie, the head of the brotherhood.
Morsi, who is a member of Badie's outfit, was the first and so far only freely elected Egyptian president in 5,000 plus years. He is currently sitting in a jail somewhere, proving that in some places you can win the vote, but if you lose the army you're utterly screwed.
The brotherhood has now been labeled a, "terrorist organization" and the government blames it for everything from bombings and suicide attacks to faulty plumbing in public buildings.
Meanwhile, Malaysian Prime Minister, Najib Razak announced to the press missing flight 370's last known position was out in the middle of the definition of nowhere. This being the 21st century, relatives of the victims were texted the news rather than being told in person. The comforting message read, "The plane was lost and none of those aboard survived."
NBC reports, Razak claimed the information came from the U.K. Air Accidents Investigation Branch and a satellite owned by Inmarsat Corporation. In his words, the new and improved knowledge was gleaned by, "...performing further calculations on the data using a type of analysis never before used in an investigation of this sort." The British wouldn't comment, saying the investigation was, "ongoing."
The revelation came on the heels of accusations, leveled by many of those same relatives this weekend, that the Malaysian government had been deceiving them and the world about what it really knew of the details of the disaster.
NBC also said, an Australian aircraft spotted two floating objects, one orange and rectangular and another, either green, or gray and round. Both were approximately 1,550 miles south west of Perth. This news follows the release of Chinese and French satellite photos showing some sort of debris floating in the same general area.
Malaysian Airlines issued a statement which read, "The ongoing multinational search operation will continue as we seek answers to the questions which still remain."
Yes, there are several of those. The first of which is why did your plane end up closer to Antarctica than its original destination, Beijing? The second one being, who was at the controls?
It has been a rough start to the week, especially if you're a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, or related to someone on the doomed flight 370.
Given what else is going on in the world, the prospects of things improving any time soon seem fairly dim.
sic vita est
3-24-14
It didn't take long for a verdict to come down. In fact after only two days, the judge, Saeed Youssef Mohamed ended the trial, saying defense lawyers were disrupting the proceedings and muddying the waters by, "discussing politics." 16 people were acquitted while 529 were found guilty and sentenced to death.
Ouch. Not even Isaac, the hanging judge, Parker went that far when he was running the U.S. federal court in Ft. Smith, Arkansas. He condemned a paltry 160 people to die and that number was spread out over 21 years. Well, as we all know, everything moved slower before there was an internet and cell phones.
Needless to say the defense attorneys took exception to the ruling, most claiming the conduct of the judge was unconstitutional and the sentences overly harsh. One hearty optimist went so far as to say the convictions would be overturned on appeal.
A lot of people should hope so, because tomorrow another 683 souls go into the dock, including Mohammed Badie, the head of the brotherhood.
Morsi, who is a member of Badie's outfit, was the first and so far only freely elected Egyptian president in 5,000 plus years. He is currently sitting in a jail somewhere, proving that in some places you can win the vote, but if you lose the army you're utterly screwed.
The brotherhood has now been labeled a, "terrorist organization" and the government blames it for everything from bombings and suicide attacks to faulty plumbing in public buildings.
Meanwhile, Malaysian Prime Minister, Najib Razak announced to the press missing flight 370's last known position was out in the middle of the definition of nowhere. This being the 21st century, relatives of the victims were texted the news rather than being told in person. The comforting message read, "The plane was lost and none of those aboard survived."
NBC reports, Razak claimed the information came from the U.K. Air Accidents Investigation Branch and a satellite owned by Inmarsat Corporation. In his words, the new and improved knowledge was gleaned by, "...performing further calculations on the data using a type of analysis never before used in an investigation of this sort." The British wouldn't comment, saying the investigation was, "ongoing."
The revelation came on the heels of accusations, leveled by many of those same relatives this weekend, that the Malaysian government had been deceiving them and the world about what it really knew of the details of the disaster.
NBC also said, an Australian aircraft spotted two floating objects, one orange and rectangular and another, either green, or gray and round. Both were approximately 1,550 miles south west of Perth. This news follows the release of Chinese and French satellite photos showing some sort of debris floating in the same general area.
Malaysian Airlines issued a statement which read, "The ongoing multinational search operation will continue as we seek answers to the questions which still remain."
Yes, there are several of those. The first of which is why did your plane end up closer to Antarctica than its original destination, Beijing? The second one being, who was at the controls?
It has been a rough start to the week, especially if you're a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, or related to someone on the doomed flight 370.
Given what else is going on in the world, the prospects of things improving any time soon seem fairly dim.
sic vita est
3-24-14
Friday, March 21, 2014
Friday Dispatches: Duke in the Tank, Teenagers in Duncan, No Tweeting in Turkey, and Vlad Signs the Papers.
Krzyzewski, you rotten sonofabitch!
Who is paying you off, you wretched little squirt? How much did it cost some bookie to get your guys to go into the tank for the second year in a row? I'm starting to think there is a Higher Power at work here. Last March it was Lehigh and now it is Mercer. That's right, Mercer. I didn't even know where the God damned school was until I googled it a few minutes ago. Just be glad I'm a long way from Durham and not a member of the NRA. Hey, if a jury will let George Zimmerman off the hook, they'll never convict me after I tell them what you've done to my brackets over the years. They'll rule it utterly justifiable.
Meanwhile, in less personal matters, The Oklahoman reported today, Michael Jones and Chancey Luna will go to trial in August down in Duncan. They are the two quaint country lads who are charged with the shooting death of Australian, Christopher Lane last year. Both pleaded innocent. Police say the motive for the crime was something along the lines of--well--they wanted to kill someone and Lane was handy. A third person involved, James Edwards, is turning state's evidence and in exchange for his testimony he'll be charged as an accessory. Nolan Clay, who wrote the story, notes the trial date might be significantly delayed because Luna is requesting a change of venue and at some point the young charmers might ask for separate trials. If convicted Luna and Jones are looking at life without the possibility of parole. Duncan authorities still haven't located the weapon used in the attack.
In Turkey, Prime Minister, Tayyif Erdogan has issued an order banning the social media service, Twitter. He did so apparently because people use it to say bad things about him. Several European nations have roundly condemned the move. His response to their objections was, "The international community can say this, can say that. I don't care at all. Everyone will see how powerful the Republic of Turkey is."
Well they might, but at least one expert reveals the average Turk can get around the censorship if they can, "...operate a computer at a minimum level..." In fact instructions on how to dodge the ban are not only showing up on Facebook, but also being spray painted on the walls of buildings in Istanbul. A similar prohibition of Youtube was abandoned by the Turkish government four years ago mainly because it proved so ineffective. Erdogan and his administration are caught up in a massive corruption scandal which he maintains is nothing more than a "plot" to get him out of office.
Over in Moscow, Vladimir Putin signed papers which formally annexed the Crimean Peninsula, officially adding it to the Russian Federation. Everyone in town celebrated and there were fireworks and the like. The U.S refusal to recognize the act hasn't put a dent in Vlad's enthusiasm. He called the annexation a, "remarkable event."
Around the same time NBC reported the Ukrainian government signed a deal with the European Union which creates a, "political association agreement." The Russian Foreign Minister quickly claimed any such agreement was premature. He also said the new Ukrainian leadership lacked popular support, yada, yada, yada. The head of the U.N. then showed up in Kiev and called for cool heads to prevail.
It is estimated a minimum of 20,000 Russian troops, including airborne forces, and special ops units are camped just outside Ukraine's eastern border. They are backed by armor and helicopter gunships. The thinking here is Brother Putin will let the pot cool for a bit. Then, at the suitable moment, his military will respond to the, "overwhelming desire" of Ukraine's eastern provinces to join Crimea in the big happy family of Mother Russia.
The U.S. and Europe will scream bloody murder and there will be further sanctions. However, in the end, none of the noise, or economic consequences will mean squat to ol' Vladimir. When you're busy rebuilding an empire you aren't distracted by the minor things.
Yes, just another Friday in the books. The curse of the Dukies continues, teenagers face life in prison because they're stupid and had their hands on a gun, The Turkish P.M. can't stand Twitter, and the brutal truth is Putin is going to do whatever he wants.
Ladies and gentlemen--the bar is open.
3-21-14
Who is paying you off, you wretched little squirt? How much did it cost some bookie to get your guys to go into the tank for the second year in a row? I'm starting to think there is a Higher Power at work here. Last March it was Lehigh and now it is Mercer. That's right, Mercer. I didn't even know where the God damned school was until I googled it a few minutes ago. Just be glad I'm a long way from Durham and not a member of the NRA. Hey, if a jury will let George Zimmerman off the hook, they'll never convict me after I tell them what you've done to my brackets over the years. They'll rule it utterly justifiable.
Meanwhile, in less personal matters, The Oklahoman reported today, Michael Jones and Chancey Luna will go to trial in August down in Duncan. They are the two quaint country lads who are charged with the shooting death of Australian, Christopher Lane last year. Both pleaded innocent. Police say the motive for the crime was something along the lines of--well--they wanted to kill someone and Lane was handy. A third person involved, James Edwards, is turning state's evidence and in exchange for his testimony he'll be charged as an accessory. Nolan Clay, who wrote the story, notes the trial date might be significantly delayed because Luna is requesting a change of venue and at some point the young charmers might ask for separate trials. If convicted Luna and Jones are looking at life without the possibility of parole. Duncan authorities still haven't located the weapon used in the attack.
In Turkey, Prime Minister, Tayyif Erdogan has issued an order banning the social media service, Twitter. He did so apparently because people use it to say bad things about him. Several European nations have roundly condemned the move. His response to their objections was, "The international community can say this, can say that. I don't care at all. Everyone will see how powerful the Republic of Turkey is."
Well they might, but at least one expert reveals the average Turk can get around the censorship if they can, "...operate a computer at a minimum level..." In fact instructions on how to dodge the ban are not only showing up on Facebook, but also being spray painted on the walls of buildings in Istanbul. A similar prohibition of Youtube was abandoned by the Turkish government four years ago mainly because it proved so ineffective. Erdogan and his administration are caught up in a massive corruption scandal which he maintains is nothing more than a "plot" to get him out of office.
Over in Moscow, Vladimir Putin signed papers which formally annexed the Crimean Peninsula, officially adding it to the Russian Federation. Everyone in town celebrated and there were fireworks and the like. The U.S refusal to recognize the act hasn't put a dent in Vlad's enthusiasm. He called the annexation a, "remarkable event."
Around the same time NBC reported the Ukrainian government signed a deal with the European Union which creates a, "political association agreement." The Russian Foreign Minister quickly claimed any such agreement was premature. He also said the new Ukrainian leadership lacked popular support, yada, yada, yada. The head of the U.N. then showed up in Kiev and called for cool heads to prevail.
It is estimated a minimum of 20,000 Russian troops, including airborne forces, and special ops units are camped just outside Ukraine's eastern border. They are backed by armor and helicopter gunships. The thinking here is Brother Putin will let the pot cool for a bit. Then, at the suitable moment, his military will respond to the, "overwhelming desire" of Ukraine's eastern provinces to join Crimea in the big happy family of Mother Russia.
The U.S. and Europe will scream bloody murder and there will be further sanctions. However, in the end, none of the noise, or economic consequences will mean squat to ol' Vladimir. When you're busy rebuilding an empire you aren't distracted by the minor things.
Yes, just another Friday in the books. The curse of the Dukies continues, teenagers face life in prison because they're stupid and had their hands on a gun, The Turkish P.M. can't stand Twitter, and the brutal truth is Putin is going to do whatever he wants.
Ladies and gentlemen--the bar is open.
3-21-14
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Flight 370: A Lot of Water to Cover
It is a mystery so confounding, so incredibly full of dark possibilities, a huge portion of the human population is fixated on it. No, not even rampaging hordes of Russians in Ukraine are able to tear us away from updates concerning the fate of Malaysian Airlines flight 370.
The conspiracy theorists are already running amok as new details emerge which conflict wildly with previously reported information. In fact the only thing certain at the moment is nothing is certain.
Time lines provided by the Malaysian government and airline management don't agree, fueling the dizzying spin into never never land. No one really knows if the last voice message from the cockpit, the now cryptic, "All right, good night," was uttered before or after the flight navigation equipment was programmed for the mysterious left turn. The moment when the ACARS system and transponder were shut down is also lost in a great fog bank of confusion.
Yesterday CNN reported Thai radar confirmed the left turn which would head the jet back over Malaysia and toward the Straight of Malacca, but even that was old news. The Thai authorities revealed they had let the Malaysians in on the information earlier, but were just now releasing it to the public. There were also reports yesterday that witnesses in the outer Maldives saw a low flying aircraft bearing the red stripe of the Malaysian airliner, but they proved to be untrue.
At the center of it all is the pilot, Zaharie Ahmad Shah and co-pilot, Fariq Abdul Hamid. At first blush it would appear one or both of them would be the only people on board to have the means and capability to change the computerized course and shut off the messaging systems, but again, no one can be sure. Exhaustive searches of both their homes hasn't turned up any hint they might be involved, although there is interest in the information Shah apparently deleted from his in home flight simulator.
Despite the lack of evidence, pilot suicide is high on the list of possibilities given the circumstances. That would mean, unless some outre agreement was reached between them, one of the two flight officers would have had to somehow incapacitate the other.
There has been speculation a fire occurred in the cockpit, or another part of the plane. It would be an event which would cause a sudden change in course, but there was no distress call issued. A catastrophic failure, the plane disintegrating in the air, or the more paranoid notion someone shot the Boeing 777 down would have produced wreckage. A rapid decompression would have triggered the oxygen masks to drop and even then there would have been time for a mayday.
Of course, now that we are painfully aware there are people out there capable of such things, there is wild speculation--and not just from the crazed infowars types--the jet was hijacked, landed somewhere, and is currently being outfitted for a 9-11 style attack. The airline itself is culpable in enabling this line of reasoning. Let's face it, at first anyway, they didn't even know who was really sitting in the passenger section. They were completely unaware of the presence of the two Iranians who were using passports which were stolen months ago in Thailand. The truth is, for all they, or anyone else knew, the ghost of Osama bin Laden could have been in seat 12B ordering Singapore Slings.
One poster on youtube claims the whole disappearance was co-produced by the Israeli Mossad and the CIA via remote control. His belief is a false flag operation is underway which will lead us into another war, profiting the governments of both nations. He was a bit fuzzy on where the aircraft is now, but similar theories have mentioned secret airfields everywhere from Vietnam to Pakistan.
Another claimed, a bit breathlessly, if you call the cell phones of the passengers they will ring, but no one answers. That is, I suppose, morbidly eerie--at least until you realize you can call just about any cell phone in the world and as long as the account is active--to you--it will either sound like it is ringing, or you'll go straight to the user's voice mail. It doesn't matter if he or she has the phone turned off, or is eating cold chicken and drinking chardonnay on top of Mt. Everest.
Finally, there are accusations the United States, through its network of spy satellites and the like, knows exactly what happened and where the plane either landed, or went down. In this scenario American intelligence agencies are withholding the information from Malaysia and the world because releasing it would compromise a myriad of top secret operations which we don't want anyone to know about.
Someone should call Ed Snowden in Moscow and ask him. It is, after all, his area of expertise and he doesn't mind talking.
Well, there we have it--at least for now. Although we might never know the why, the location of flight 370 and it's 239 passengers and crew is probably somewhere on the bottom of the Indian Ocean. The search area now encompasses three million square miles, roughly the size of the continental U.S. The triple seven is a big plane, but that is a lot of water to cover.
The only thing we can be sure of at this point is--even if searchers find the plane tomorrow--because of the way officials in Malaysia botched the aftermath, there will be vast numbers of people who will refuse to believe them when they tell us what really did happen.
Of that we can be assured.
3-19-14
The conspiracy theorists are already running amok as new details emerge which conflict wildly with previously reported information. In fact the only thing certain at the moment is nothing is certain.
Time lines provided by the Malaysian government and airline management don't agree, fueling the dizzying spin into never never land. No one really knows if the last voice message from the cockpit, the now cryptic, "All right, good night," was uttered before or after the flight navigation equipment was programmed for the mysterious left turn. The moment when the ACARS system and transponder were shut down is also lost in a great fog bank of confusion.
Yesterday CNN reported Thai radar confirmed the left turn which would head the jet back over Malaysia and toward the Straight of Malacca, but even that was old news. The Thai authorities revealed they had let the Malaysians in on the information earlier, but were just now releasing it to the public. There were also reports yesterday that witnesses in the outer Maldives saw a low flying aircraft bearing the red stripe of the Malaysian airliner, but they proved to be untrue.
At the center of it all is the pilot, Zaharie Ahmad Shah and co-pilot, Fariq Abdul Hamid. At first blush it would appear one or both of them would be the only people on board to have the means and capability to change the computerized course and shut off the messaging systems, but again, no one can be sure. Exhaustive searches of both their homes hasn't turned up any hint they might be involved, although there is interest in the information Shah apparently deleted from his in home flight simulator.
Despite the lack of evidence, pilot suicide is high on the list of possibilities given the circumstances. That would mean, unless some outre agreement was reached between them, one of the two flight officers would have had to somehow incapacitate the other.
There has been speculation a fire occurred in the cockpit, or another part of the plane. It would be an event which would cause a sudden change in course, but there was no distress call issued. A catastrophic failure, the plane disintegrating in the air, or the more paranoid notion someone shot the Boeing 777 down would have produced wreckage. A rapid decompression would have triggered the oxygen masks to drop and even then there would have been time for a mayday.
Of course, now that we are painfully aware there are people out there capable of such things, there is wild speculation--and not just from the crazed infowars types--the jet was hijacked, landed somewhere, and is currently being outfitted for a 9-11 style attack. The airline itself is culpable in enabling this line of reasoning. Let's face it, at first anyway, they didn't even know who was really sitting in the passenger section. They were completely unaware of the presence of the two Iranians who were using passports which were stolen months ago in Thailand. The truth is, for all they, or anyone else knew, the ghost of Osama bin Laden could have been in seat 12B ordering Singapore Slings.
One poster on youtube claims the whole disappearance was co-produced by the Israeli Mossad and the CIA via remote control. His belief is a false flag operation is underway which will lead us into another war, profiting the governments of both nations. He was a bit fuzzy on where the aircraft is now, but similar theories have mentioned secret airfields everywhere from Vietnam to Pakistan.
Another claimed, a bit breathlessly, if you call the cell phones of the passengers they will ring, but no one answers. That is, I suppose, morbidly eerie--at least until you realize you can call just about any cell phone in the world and as long as the account is active--to you--it will either sound like it is ringing, or you'll go straight to the user's voice mail. It doesn't matter if he or she has the phone turned off, or is eating cold chicken and drinking chardonnay on top of Mt. Everest.
Finally, there are accusations the United States, through its network of spy satellites and the like, knows exactly what happened and where the plane either landed, or went down. In this scenario American intelligence agencies are withholding the information from Malaysia and the world because releasing it would compromise a myriad of top secret operations which we don't want anyone to know about.
Someone should call Ed Snowden in Moscow and ask him. It is, after all, his area of expertise and he doesn't mind talking.
Well, there we have it--at least for now. Although we might never know the why, the location of flight 370 and it's 239 passengers and crew is probably somewhere on the bottom of the Indian Ocean. The search area now encompasses three million square miles, roughly the size of the continental U.S. The triple seven is a big plane, but that is a lot of water to cover.
The only thing we can be sure of at this point is--even if searchers find the plane tomorrow--because of the way officials in Malaysia botched the aftermath, there will be vast numbers of people who will refuse to believe them when they tell us what really did happen.
Of that we can be assured.
3-19-14
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