I am watching this, and I can just imagine a nearly identical conversation involving
Rahm Emanuel and Barack Obama as is going on between Sr. Humphreys and Minister Jim Hacker.
H/t Atrios for the video, but the insight is mine.
We call it diplomacy, Minister.
* British Comedy.
The town of Sidney, New York has earned a special place in the annals of perfidity.
There is a small community of Muslims on a farm in this town of 5,993.
They also have a small cemetary, which was approved by the town council a few years ago, but after what appears to be years of harassment from the authorities, town supervisor Bob McCarthy wants a court order to force the bodies to be exhumed and removed from the property.
It is people like Bob McCarthy who make me despair for the future of America.
That sound you her is Alexis-Charles-Henri Clérel de Tocqueville spinning in his grave.
He is proposing mandating a back door in pretty much every form of communication on the internet:
Federal law enforcement and national security officials are preparing to seek sweeping new regulations for the Internet, arguing that their ability to wiretap criminal and terrorism suspects is “going dark” as people increasingly communicate online instead of by telephone.
Essentially, officials want Congress to require all services that enable communications — including encrypted e-mail transmitters like BlackBerry, social networking Web sites like Facebook and software that allows direct “peer to peer” messaging like Skype — to be technically capable of complying if served with a wiretap order. The mandate would include being able to intercept and unscramble encrypted messages.
The bill, which the Obama administration plans to submit to lawmakers next year, raises fresh questions about how to balance security needs with protecting privacy and fostering innovation. And because security services around the world face the same problem, it could set an example that is copied globally.
This would mean that if you had two people communicating handling their own encryption, which a little program called PGP has been doing for decades, they would have to make it illegal.
Obama, a former lecturer on constitutional law, should know better. He is operating under the assumption that because he’s a good guy,* it’s OK for him to have this power, which is, of course completely antithetical to the most basic foundation of the constitution.
Some pertinent quotes:
But as an example, one official said, an investigation into a drug cartel earlier this year was stymied because smugglers used peer-to-peer software, which is difficult to intercept because it is not routed through a central hub. Agents eventually installed surveillance equipment in a suspect’s office, but that tactic was “risky,” the official said, and the delay “prevented the interception of pertinent communications.”
And, of course, there is nothing to prevent these guys from using similar software, and there is already a work around, as the official have admitted.
Even worse is this argument:
Moreover, according to several other officials, after the failed Times Square bombing in May, investigators discovered that the suspect, Faisal Shahzad, had been communicating with a service that lacked prebuilt interception capacity. If he had aroused suspicion beforehand, there would have been a delay before he could have been wiretapped.
Translation:
There is also the fact that if you create a back door, it becomes a point of vulnerability for every hacker, crook, terrorist, or despot out there:
Steven M. Bellovin, a Columbia University computer science professor, pointed to an episode in Greece: In 2005, it was discovered that hackers had taken advantage of a legally mandated wiretap function to spy on top officials’ phones, including the prime minister’s.
“I think it’s a disaster waiting to happen,” he said. “If they start building in all these back doors, they will be exploited.”
Why there is such a determination by the Obama administration to embrace and extend every wrong-headed and un-American policy thought up by Bushand His Evil Minions™ is beyond me.
Doubling down on failed and expensive polices does not help.
* To the degree that someone who feels that he can be king and order the murder of American citizens for secret reasons can be considered a “good guy”.
Jake Tapper is reporting that Rahm Emanuel will be announcing his departure from the White House in the next week or so:
Although no final decision has been made because of family considerations, ABC News has learned that White House officials are preparing for Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel to announce on Friday — as Congress adjourns for recess — that he is leaving his post to explore a run for mayor of Chicago.
White House officials expect that President Obama will also name an interim chief of staff, perhaps senior adviser Pete Rouse, at the announcement.
My thoughts, speaking from a position of complete ignorance regarding Chicago politics and a distant view of White House Kremlinology:
Still, I won’t miss him, and my condolences to the people of Chicago
This is what Alan Grayson does best: He explains the moral dimensions of Republican beliefs and Republican policy.
As opposed to drinking tea with the pinky extended, and talking about how stupid or lame the voters or your base is, he takes it to them.
If you don’t call out evil and insanity this time around, it becomes normal behavior the next time around.
This is why triangulation is a failure, it serves only to embolden your opponent to move further away from sanity when you extend the boundaries of what is socially acceptable discourse.
It’s why I love* Alan Grayson.
He understands the moral dimension to policy, and he aggressively communicates these dimensions.
Needless to say, the Beltway Kool Kidz club is having the vapors about his ads.
*In a 110% purely heterosexual kind of way, of course, as the General would say.
Quarterback and place kicker George Blanda has died at the age of 83.
He still holds a number of records, though he is best known for his longevity, 26 seasons (!) in pro football.
Barry Ritholtz is reporting that Morgan Stanley has frozen hiring at its investment banking division, because of, “low trading and underwirting volume.”
Additionally, the midsized investment bank Jefferies and Company is reporting that it had its worst quarter since last year.
If Jefferies does not ring a bell, there was a spate of stories about them a few months ago lauding how they avoided any damage from the financial meltdown because of their prudence and probity.
What we are seeing here is the slow unwinding of the Geithner/Obama bank bailout, which basically consists of extend and pretend, with the hope that banks will generate enough profits to eventually fill the holes in the balance sheets.
It’s why Geithner has actively fought against transparency in accounting and limits on executive compensation: He is afraid that someone who knows where the bodies are buried will take the whole rotten system down.
The problem with his solution is two fold:
What is going on now is that banks like Morgan Stanley are running out of suckers, who are increasingly realizing that they are just being taken, and banks like Jefferies are running out legitimate knowledgeable customers, because these customers are coming to realizing that, with the exit of the rubes, cash is going to be in very short supply.
If I am right, and I think that I am, when the sh%$ hits the fan this time, they won’t be able to panic congress into another TARP, and the Fed will be constrained by both its own hawks as well as the lack of buy in from the Congress, which will limit the legitimacy of any actions that they take.
It will be ugly, even if the next collapse is not as bad as Lehman, because there is much less capacity to accommodate such a shock.
Zathras is used to being beast of burden to other people’s needs. Very sad life. Probably have very sad death. But…but I think that God has a sick sense of humor,
and when I die, I expect to find him laughing:
In a bizarre twist, James Heselden, owner of the company that makes the two-wheeled Segway personal transporter, died Sunday morning in a Segway-related mishap — just before the scheduled release of a study suggesting injuries related to the vehicles may be on the rise.
According to a witness report, Heselden, 62, apparently fell off a 30-foot cliff into a river while riding a Segway near his home in West Yorkshire, UK. Police found Heselden’s body and a Segway personal transporter in the river. He was prounced dead at the scene and foul play is not suspected, West Yorkshire Police told reporters.
A short statement posted on the Segway company website noted that Heselden “died in a tragic accident.”
I think that I have commented before on the tremendous suckitude that is the Segway, and I do understand that this is a deep personal life for Heselden’s family, but this is just plain freaky.
President Medvedev has announced that the Sale of S-300 surface to air missiles to Iran.
Russia has always taken a minimalist approach to obeying UN sanctions regarding the Iranian nuclear, so this is a big deal, particularly since these missiles, with their 400+ km detection range, end up as a formidable area defense system against conventional aircraft, and a formidable point defense system against stealthy targets, at least to the degree that my wild assed guess regarding detection range are justified.
Such a tease!
Stephen Trimble gives us a shot of the internal weapons bay of the F-35.
This is intended to be the standard loadout, with one AMRAAM and one 2000 lb JDAM in each bay.
IIRC, with the 250 lb SDB, it can carry 4 per bay.
And yes, this appears to be a pretty small weapons load for an aircraft that has a maximum takeoff weight of 70,000 pounds, nearly that of the F-15 E, which can carry about 5 times the ordinance.
If you squint, you can see the Bobbetized fins
MDBA is looking at clipping the fins of the Meteor, as was done with the AIM-120 AMRAAM, so that it can be properly accommodated in the internal weapons bay of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
It makes sense, since by any reasonable measure, foreign sales of the F-35 will dominate the international sales.
This is not surprising. Among the active radar guided missiles, is the 2nd smallest, after the French MICA, the AIM-120 has the what appears to be the shortest range and end game kinematics, which makes a ready market for an extended range missile, particularly when used in the F-35, which, unlike the F-22, is not expected to be launching the missile at 20,000 m and mach 1.3+, which significantly improves range.
The USAF is aware of this, and is looking to develop a longer ranged, “dual-role air dominance missile,” to replace both the AMRAAM and the HARM missile.
It would probably make more sense for the USAF to go with an existing system like the Meteor under license production, with some modification to the software and seeker to meet their needs, but that would eliminate some 6 figure consulting gigs for the generals once they retire, which mitigates against this sort of solution.
The helicopter has reached speeds in excess of 250 kt (460 km/h) in level flight, besting the official record of 217 kts set by a (then Westland) Lynx, and the unofficial record set by its predecessor, the XH-59A demonstrator, of 236 kts.
It also appears that it could achieve a speed of 265 kts with the addition of a “sail fairing” between the two rotors.
It’s unclear to me, however how this is a helicopter speed record, and not a compound helicopter speed record, since the tail thruster makes a significant difference in just how power is applied at higher speeds.
I was under the impression that either a wing or a horizontal thruster made it a compound helo, but it appears that the definition being used here is that it’s specifically the wing that makes it a compound helicopter.
In a speech, he is suggesting that the extensive use of remotely controlled vehicles in the pursuit of war creates a sanitized war that could become immoral:
Admiral Edouard Guillaud, the French armed forces chief of staff, warned his distinguished audience at the Summer Defense University on September 14 that “there needs to be a fundamental reflection on the idea that there can be zero deaths in war.” Speaking in measured tones Guillaud, who could easily pass for a brilliant university professor, questioned the increasing use of armed unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) in Afghanistan. “War becomes banal when the aggressor runs no risks,” he said adding that “the growth in technology must slow down because man must be able to master it.” He stressed that this issue of man mastering technology or allowing himself to become a slave to it “is a real question.” He said “this is an ethical question which will eventually lead to some form of legislation.”
It does sound a lot like:
“Death… destruction, disease, horror, that’s what war is all about. That’s what makes it a thing to be avoided. You’ve made it neat and painless. So neat and painless, you’ve had no reason to stop it. And you’ve had it for over five hundred years. Since it seems to be the only way I can save my crew, and my ship, I’m going to end it for you. One way, or another.”
Obviously, it’s not immoral to make war in a manner that minimizes casualties, but it’s equally obvious that if the technology results in making war that one would not otherwise make, then there needs to be some real discussion of the what the idea of remote control war, run by remote control, makes war too much of a throw away decision.
Why do I even bother blogging, when all I need to do is point you to Jon Stewart monologues:
Just to get this straight: Two years ago America broke up with you because you had badly mistreated her. And so you disappear, do some soul searching, get your head together. And you come back rapping on our door, hat in hand, and you say: ‘Baby, I know you left me, but if we get back together, I pledge to you, I promise you, I will still try to f%$#k your sister. Every chance I get. It’s who I am.’
This is one of my favorite musical bits from the old Muppet Show:
And here they are, ordered, and numbered for the year so far.
It’s a 2 closure Friday again for banks, which these days qualifies as low key, but the credit union world was far more active, with NCUA taking 3 wholesale credit unions into receivership today, they are not showing up on the full NCUA list, which only covers retail institutions:
Nearly two years after Wall Street’s giants were rescued by the federal government, regulators on Friday took over three financial institutions that provide the underpinning for hundreds of the nation’s credit unions.
The three entities, known as wholesale credit unions and located in Connecticut, Illinois and Texas, were seized by regulators from the National Credit Union Administration, which supervises about 7,500 credit unions that provide basic banking services to millions of Americans. Most of those customers are linked to credit unions through their employers or through membership organizations.
Although the overwhelming majority of those credit unions are financially sound, some of the wholesale entities behind them have been hobbled by losses on subprime mortgage bonds and other complex investments. Of the 27 wholesale credit unions operating in the United States, five have been seized by regulators over the last 18 months.
…………
…Wholesale credit unions provide payment clearing and investment services to retail credit unions. They also give the retail credit unions a place to put their cash.
So there have been 14 retail credit unions closed, and 3, wholesale ones.
It’s going to be a bumpy ride.
So, here is the graph pr0n with trendline (FDIC only):
I would note that are now at the point where the utility of the least squares trendline is diminishing, but I’m keeping it here for historical purposes.
Ewwwww! Both the Pill and the Smile
It appears that members of the Orthodox Jewish community in Williamsburg, New York are using anal caffeine suppositories to deal with withdrawal from go juice:
Jews throughout Williamsburg snapped up caffeine suppositories today, hours before the start of the Yom Kippur fast that would deprive them of the jolt — and hunger suppression — that coffee typically provides.
The day-long fast is the centerpiece of the holiest day on the Jewish calendar — but some religious Jews see a Talmudic loophole that allows them to ingest their daily dose of caffeine, albeit through a different orifice.
“It helps — you know, it’s hard to concentrate when you’re fasting and also addicted to caffeine,” said Baruch Herzfeld, an Orthodox Jew who owns a bike store in Williamsburg. “Some take it before sundown, but most take it throughout their fasting. These guys love a good loophole.”
You know, tapering off over the few weeks before is both more in keeping with the spirit Halacha.*
*Jewish Law.
In circumstances George Stephanopoulos probably never imagined when he gave up a hands-on role in politics to become a broadcaster, two fuzzy, nonhuman members of the “Sesame Street” cast joined him Friday morning on “Good Morning America,” along with that PBS children’s show’s executive producer, Carol-Lynn Parente, to discuss the recent decision at “Sesame Street” to pull a music video featuring the pop singer Katy Perry.
On Thursday, Sesame Workshop, which produces “Sesame Street,” said it would not broadcast a segment planned for the show’s coming season in which Ms. Perry performs a version of her song “Hot ‘N Cold” with Elmo and is seen wearing a low-cut dress.
In her “Good Morning America” interview, Ms. Parente told Mr. Stephanopoulos she was surprised at the volume of disapproving responses the video had generated when it was posted on YouTube earlier in the week.
It appears that some parents are up in arms about Katy Perry’s breasts, because her dress shows a bit of cleavage.
It’s actually fine to my mind, but I’m thinking that if the parents are this freaked out over this, they are going to be raising some sexually repressed kids who will likely be very bad in bed.
Video follows, though the comments at Youtube are prize:
2nd City nails it: