The arrogance is unbelievable

 

By now I'm sure most readers have seen, or read about, former FBI Director James Comey's social media post that appears to call for the assassination of President Trump.

He later pulled the post, writing:

The expression "to 86 someone" is a well-known reference to killing them;  and President Trump is the 47th President of the United States.  The message was instantly understandable to anyone who knows modern slang and "street talk".  For Mr. Comey to deny that he was aware of that hidden message is so ridiculous as to defy belief.  As a prison chaplain, I heard similar expressions almost every day from gang-bangers intent on murdering a rival, or a snitch, or anyone they regarded as a threat.  Street cops heard it far more than I did.

Sorry, Mr. Comey, but I simply don't believe you.  Your excuse doesn't pass the "smell test".

So . . . what does one do with a former Director of the FBI who has publicized a message that calls for the murder of our President?  If he denies in court that he meant, or understood, any such thing, how can we prove he's lying?  The fact that any law enforcement professional or associate knows exactly what that message means can't be used to call him a liar - to do that, one has to be able to prove that he knows/knew that he was lying.  Implication or "common knowledge" is not evidence admissible in court.

This is what the progressive left does all the time.  They call for crime and violence, while "disguising" - sometimes very thinly - the reality of their message.  Criminals do it all the time, too.

I hope someone's keeping a list of all the threats, explicit or implicit, directed against President Trump and his executives, complete with the names of everyone who makes them.  If anything should happen to those who've been threatened, we'll have some idea where to start looking for those responsible.

Peter

About those fires in garbage dumps...

 

On Wednesday I linked to a post at Commander Zero's place, discussing the safe disposal of used bear spray canisters.  In my own post, I said:

According to one garbage disposal company in Tennessee whom I had dealings with over another matter, one of the biggest problems is that fires sometimes start in garbage dumps - quite spontaneously, due to sunlight reflected and concentrated through a piece of broken glass, or chemicals mixing and combusting, or old ashes that were not completely extinguished causing a delayed fire reaction.  If a partially filled spray can of almost anything is too near those fires, it can (and occasionally does) explode.  Complications ensue, particularly if that makes the fire worse.

As if to echo my words, I came across this article at Ars Technica.

2024 was "a year of growth," according to fire-suppression company Fire Rover, but that's not an entirely good thing.

The company ... releases annual reports on waste and recycling facility fires in the US and Canada to select industry and media. In 2024, Fire Rover, based on its fire identifications, saw 2,910 incidents, a 60 percent increase from the 1,809 in 2023, and more than double the 1,409 fires confirmed in 2022.

Publicly reported fire incidents at waste and recycling facilities also hit 398, a new high since Fire Rover began compiling its report eight years ago, when that number was closer to 275.

Lots of things could cause fires in the waste stream, long before lithium-ion batteries became common: "Fireworks, pool chemicals, hot (barbecue) briquettes," writes Ryan Fogelman, partner and vice president of early fire protection in Fire Rover, in an email to Ars. But lithium-ion batteries pose a growing problem, as the number of devices with batteries increases, consumer education and disposal choices remain limited, and batteries remain a very easy-to-miss, troublesome occupant of the waste stream.

All batteries that make it into waste streams are potentially hazardous, as they have so many ways of being set off: puncturing, vibration, overheating, short-circuiting, crushing, internal cell failure, overcharging, or inherent manufacturing flaws, among others. Fire Rover's report notes that the media often portrays batteries as "spontaneously" catching fire. In reality, the very nature of waste handling makes it almost impossible to ensure that no battery will face hazards in handling, the report notes. Tiny batteries can be packed into the most disposable of items—even paper marketing materials handed out at conferences.

Fogelman estimates, based on his experience and some assumptions, that about half of the fires he's tracking originate with batteries. Roughly $2.5 billion of loss to facilities and infrastructure came from fires last year, divided between traditional hazards and batteries, he writes.

There's more at the link.

Two and a half billion dollars of loss incurred in just one year due to fires at waste disposal and reprocessing facilities?  That's a very big expense to bear . . . and is undoubtedly one of the reasons waste disposal fees are getting steadily higher.

Intrigued, I called our local garbage dump, which caters for waste from several nearby towns and cities in addition to our own.  The person on the other end sighed a long-suffering sigh, and said that they expect at least one fire every week at the dump, and frequently get two, three or more over the same period.  He agreed with Ars Technica's thesis that lithium batteries probably cause a good half of those fires, with the rest caused by other dangerous waste.  He was a little heated when discussing people who throw away half-filled paint cans, bottles of chemical solvents, etc. inside garbage bags containing standard household waste, where they can't be easily identified before being crushed or otherwise damaged during the handling process.  They burn very well, apparently!  The company has to provide special training (and ongoing refresher training) to its staff to help them cope with the problem, because unexpected combustion can present a serious hazard to their health.

Perhaps we (including me!) should think more about what we're throwing away before we casually toss such garbage into our bins.  I know I've been guilty of some of the things he complained about.  I'll try to do better in future.

Peter

Sounds about right...

 

Circulating on social media yesterday, following the progressive left's outrage over Qatar's gift of a tricked-out Boeing 747 to President Trump (well, actually to the nation, but he's the one who'll use it):

Peter

A potentially scary security threat

 

How about a laser device that can read text from more than three-quarters of a mile away?

One of astronomers’ tricks for observing distant objects is intensity interferometry, which involves comparing the intensity fluctuations recorded at two separate telescopes. Researchers [from the University of Science and Technology of China] have now applied this technique to the imaging of remote objects on Earth. They developed a system that uses multiple laser beams to illuminate a distant target and uses a pair of small telescopes to collect the reflected light. The team demonstrated that this intensity interferometer can image millimeter-wide letters at a distance of 1.36 km [0.845 miles], a 14-fold improvement in spatial resolution compared with a single telescope.

(Original letters and their laser interferometry images)

Zhang and his colleagues plan to develop this technology further by improving their control over the laser light. They also plan to incorporate deep learning into the image reconstruction software. Zhang says that a potential application might be space debris detection—the laser light could be shone on nearby orbiting objects.

“The new work represents a significant technical advancement in imaging distant objects that do not emit their own light,” says Shaurya Aarav, a quantum optics researcher from the Sorbonne University in France. He imagines that the remote-imaging system could have several applications, including monitoring insect populations across agricultural land. Optics expert Ilya Starshynov from the University of Glasgow, UK, is impressed with the “clever” system to deliver incoherent light to a distant target. “The fact that they can image millimeter-sized objects at over-kilometer distances is genuinely impressive,” he says.

There's more at the link.

There are obvious scientific and industrial applications for this technology, some of which are mentioned in the article.  However, what about its military and security implications?  For example:

• Huge strides have been made in the ability to "see" and identify small objects on the battlefield, such as small drones;  but this might provide a quantum leap in capability.  Tiny handheld drones such as those used by special forces (e.g. the well-known Black Hornet) have until now been almost immune to detection, and hence unlikely to betray the presence of the forces using them.  This new technology might change that.
• Also, think of the intelligence implications.  If I understand the article correctly, and if the technology can be miniaturized and made more mobile, one could use it to read blueprints, secret documents, etc. through an office window from hundreds of yards away, without anyone ever being aware of it.

Those are scary thoughts . . .

Peter

When you discard old cans of bear spray...

 

... make sure they're fully discharged before you drop them in the bin.  That, at least, is the message from a Montana garbage disposal company, as reported by Commander Zero.

I agree with his assumption that some poor garbage man got a snootful of the good bear stuff as he hoisted up a garbage can to dump it into his truck.  It must have made for a more interesting circuit than usual!

I've encountered a few similar things with other potentially dangerous substances.  People seem to throw them out without any thought for possible consequences.  According to one garbage disposal company in Tennessee whom I had dealings with over another matter, one of the biggest problems is that fires sometimes start in garbage dumps - quite spontaneously, due to sunlight reflected and concentrated through a piece of broken glass, or chemicals mixing and combusting, or old ashes that were not completely extinguished causing a delayed fire reaction.  If a partially filled spray can of almost anything is too near those fires, it can (and occasionally does) explode.  Complications ensue, particularly if that makes the fire worse.

Also, speaking of bear spray reminds me of that good old personal defense standby, pepper spray/gel.  It can be very useful stuff.  Too many people think that household products can substitute for it.  They're wrong.  Lawdog shares his thoughts on wasp spray and oven cleaner for defensive use.  Go read.  (If you're interested, I use and recommend Sabre Red pepper gel.  It sticks to your target and doesn't fog the room with pepper spray that will affect you just as much!)

Food for thought.

Peter

Echoes of "Skippy's List"

 

I'm sure many readers (particularly military veterans) are familiar with Skippy's List, better known as "The 213 things Skippy is no longer allowed to do in the U.S. Army".  Examples include:

7. Not allowed to add “In accordance with the prophesy” to the end of answers I give to a question an officer asks me.

18. May no longer perform my now (in)famous “Barbie Girl Dance” while on duty.

33. Not allowed to chew gum at formation, unless I brought enough for everybody.

34. (Next day) Not allowed to chew gum at formation even if I *did* bring enough for everybody.

57. The proper response to a lawful order is not “Why?”

Those pearls of wisdom (?) have delighted generations of service personnel.

Now, courtesy of Marc A. on MeWe, we learn that there are similar rules for budding archaeologists on a dig.  Click the image for a larger view.

I'd love to be a fly on the wall on that dig, just to see what he tries next!

Peter

Some good news from the recent India-Pakistan clash

 

Readers will recall that last week, India launched air strikes against places in Pakistan that it claimed were terrorist bases or support areas.  It seems that at least once, they got their target identification right.

India’s governing BJP party said on Thursday that its “Operation Sindhoor” counter-terrorist airstrikes on Pakistan “eliminated” Abdul Rauf Azhar, the operational commander of the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist group and the mastermind behind American journalist Daniel Pearl’s kidnapping and beheading in 2002.

Rauf Azhar was the younger brother of JeM founder Masood Azhar, who was also targeted by India on Tuesday night. Masood Azhar survived the airstrikes, but said ten members of his family were killed.

. . .

The kidnapping and murder of Daniel Pearl is one of many heinous acts JeM has been linked to. Pearl, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), was abducted by terrorists from a hotel in Karachi, Pakistan, in January 2002. He had moved to Pakistan from India to investigate Islamic terrorism after the 9/11 attack on America.

Abdul Rauf Azhar was one of the kidnappers, working with a group that called itself “The National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistani Sovereignty.” They claimed Pearl was an Israeli spy and send the United States a long list of demands for his freedom. When those demands were not met, they forced Pearl to film a video in which he identified himself as a “Jewish American,” and then chopped his head off. 

The terrorists released the video to the public under the title “The Slaughter of the Spy-Journalist, the Jew Daniel Pearl.” His body was dumped in a shallow grave near Karachi.

There's more at the link.

JeM has long been regarded as a state-sponsored terrorist organization, backed by Pakistan.  Wikipedia reports:

JeM was allegedly created with the support of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), which is using it to carry out terrorist attacks in Kashmir and [the] rest of India. Due to sustained international pressure against Pakistan sponsored terrorism, JeM was banned in Pakistan in 2002 as a formality. However, the organization was never seriously disrupted or dismantled. Its arrested leaders were subsequently released without any charges and permitted to re-form under new names. Its variants openly continue operations under different names or charities in several facilities in Pakistan.

Thanks to India for delivering a good shellacking to JeM.  I daresay that somewhere, the ghost of Daniel Pearl is feeling a little better today . . .

Peter

So much for "tariffs being a disaster"!

 

I've been highly amused by all the brouhaha over President Trump's tariffs.  To hear the mainstream media and the progressive left, you'd think that the United States' economy was about to slide down the slippery slope to perpetual ruin, taking our prosperity and future prospects along with it.  The reality has proved to be rather different.

Therefore, I was happy to read in the Bahnsen Group's daily Dividend Cafe newsletter yesterday:

China Trade Deal

What we know:

The 125% reciprocal tariffs are off the table for ninety days, coming back down to 10%.

On an annualized basis, this is $300 billion of tariff cost to the economy that now won’t happen.

What we don’t know:

Currency was either not discussed or has not been floated publicly in terms of where things are headed.  I have no doubt some discussion of currency will be a part of any final, successful deal.

What needs to be said:

Maybe things fall apart in the next 90 days.  Maybe they don’t.  Maybe it gets better.  Maybe it gets worse.  BUT, if you were a U.S. importer or domestic manufacturer heavily reliant on Chinese imports for your production, and your costs were up 145%, shutting down your supply chain entirely, and now you had what might only be 90 days to order parts/goods/materials before seeing skyrocketing prices, what would you do?  Expect an ordering bonanza in the next ninety days that defies human imagination.

There's more at the link.

Nobody expected so quick - or so favorable - a deal . . . except President Trump, I suspect.  He's played his cards masterfully.  If things continue to go this well, a whole new international economic order will open up.

Makes a pleasant change from Bidenomics, doesn't it?

Peter

Alarming rumors about South Korea's forthcoming election

 

Retired Colonel John Mills, widely published on national security and strategic issues, warns that the imminent election in South Korea may result in that country becoming aligned with Communist China.

Many Americans, even those with South Korean heritage and/or experience, are very muddled and confused about what is going on in South Korea.  Some who think they have knowledge are under the impression that the trouble in South Korea is being fomented by North Koreans.  This frame of reference is considerably out of date and in need of updating.  Our U.S. Military, Intelligence, and Diplomatic leaders in Korea have been oblivious at best, complicit at worst on this Communist take over.  Brazil 2.0 is in progress with the apparent wink and nod of the acting U.S. Ambassador.

The South Korean Democrat Party (KDP) created a partnership with Communist China years ago to topple South Korean society, absorb North Korea, and become the chief Asian ally of Communist China.  The leader of the KDP is Lee Jae-myung.  Lee is a hardened, left-leaning politician who describes America as an occupying force and the Chinese and Russians as liberating forces.

This might seem like routine and meaningless hyperbole for an American leftist. In South Korea, use of such terms is incendiary and are fighting words.  These are matters the bought-off, corrupt, mainstream media in South Korea and America routinely fail to report.

Since 2017, the KDP has grown in strength and continued to win elections despite what the public sentiment appeared to be.  It started with the May 2017 elections in the wake of the impeachment and removal of a previous President, Park Geun-hye, of the Grand National Party, the pre-existing conservative Party.  There were valid issues about Park, but her circumstances were also leveraged to call for Presidential Elections, which the KDP won after the episode with Park.

The KDP has grown in strength in the National Assembly and a corrupt leftist, Moon Jae-in won the 2017 Presidential election and soon eliminated 100s of Military and Intelligence officials and dismantled the Intelligence Agency’s ability to defend against North Korea and China to consolidate his power and strengthen his ties with China.  The elections in 2017 and 2020 were replete with fraud issues.  The Korean National Election Commission (NEC) and the Association of World Election Bureaus (A-Web) have the USAID Logo on their websites which now explains much of what the NEC and A-Web were really up to and who has been paying them.

The situation is ominous in South Korea.  There has now been a call up of 160,000 special police on June 3 to maintain national order – which is starting to look like the official closing of the Iron Curtain around South Korea, while America slept.  Many Koreans are fearful of being arrested by Lee after the June 3 Election – they have no island to go to like the Chinese Nationalists, only to America.

Hopefully we will not be debating, “Who lost South Korea?” on June 4th.

There's more at the link.

I have no idea whether or not the rumors reported by Col. Mills are true, but the recent conflict between the (now-deposed) President and elected representatives seems to have undermined a great deal of trust between politicians, people, and the armed forces.  I won't be at all surprised if China is seeking to capitalize on that, and perhaps even foment and aggravate it.  (The USA has done the same thing in other nations, particularly in South America, in the past.  It's not as if we have clean hands, but then, no major power does:  Britain, France, the former USSR, and others have all done likewise.)

Can anyone with inside knowledge of the situation in South Korea tell us more?  If so, please leave a comment with whatever information you can provide.  Thanks!

Peter

Memes that made me laugh 261

 

Gathered from around the Internet over the past week.  Click any image for a larger view.