Government

Secret Police

Marsalee (Marsy) Ann Nicholas was stalked and killed by her ex-boyfriend in 1983. Only one week after her murder and on the way home from the funeral service, Marsy’s family was confronted by her daughter’s murderer. Having received no notification from the judicial system, the family had no idea he had been released on bail mere days after Marsy’s murder. Marsy’s family was not informed because the courts and law enforcement had no obligation to keep them informed.

As a result, voters in seventeen states have passed Marsy’s law, with Florida voters passing its version of the law in 2018. The law was sold as a victims’ rights bill, but it wasn’t long before the law of unintended consequences showed itself.

Since police who use force against someone are only doing so because they claim themselves to be victims of a crime, they can refuse to allow their names to be released. A cop can claim that someone threatened them, use force against that person, and then demand that their names be withheld because they are a victim.

That is exactly what happened here when a police officer shot and killed a man on the campus of a Melbourne college. The odd part here is that the same law doesn’t appear to apply when a private citizen does the exact same thing.

When the voters of this state voted on the amendment, it was intended to give victims of crimes a bit of privacy. It wasn’t intended to give police a means of becoming secret death squads with no public accountability.

By Divemedic, ago

Iranian Situation

Israel today warned that Tehran is not being very cooperative in diplomatic talks about its nuclear program. Israel’s lead diplomat on Iran, Joshua Zarka, said that they “have reached the last stretch of diplomacy.” Even the UN says that:

There’s no other country other than those making nuclear weapons reaching those high levels” of uranium enrichment

That is because Iran now has a large stockpile of 60% enriched uranium, and is just a short step away from having enough 90% enriched uranium for several nuclear weapons.

Iran has never really hidden the fact that they want nuclear weapons, and will not hesitate to use them on Israel as soon as they acquire them. It is my belief that Iran is merely stalling with all of the talk, talk, talk so that the US won’t do anything until it is too late and Iran has a couple of deliverable weapons.

Proving me to be correct, that potato that we have sitting in the Oval Office reportedly received a briefing by Pentagon leaders on a full set of military options available to ensure that Iran would not be able to produce a nuclear weapon. Of course, they decided to talk instead.

Not only talk, but take steps to ensure that Israel won’t have a way to strike the weapons plant by depriving Israel of the refueling tankers they need to carry out the long range strike.

This, in my opinion, is a short sighted and stupid move. If Iran winds up with nuclear weapons, which seems more and more likely each day, they WILL use them. Whether it is against the US or Israel is yet to be seen, but the smart money is on Israel.

Tel Aviv is preoccupied by the fear that an adversary might one day attempt a first strike to destroy its nuclear missiles and strike planes on the ground before they can retaliate. So preoccupied, that they have developed a second strike capability.

Israel does not have a choice but to destroy Iran’s nuclear program, because she cannot live with it. The suggestion that Israel could simply outsource her deterrence to the US, even if the US were led by someone more dependable than the man who called the rout of American forces from Afghanistan “an extraordinary success,” is more than stupid – it is suicidal. This is one of the reasons why countries all over the region are watching the situation with the Ukraine so closely.

It is known that Israel’s 3 Dolphin and 3 Dolphin 2 class submarines are armed with long range cruise missiles that are each capable of delivering a 200 kiloton warhead to targets at least 950 miles away. In fact, Israel has already carried out strikes using submarine launched cruise missiles armed with conventional warheads.

The land based missile is the Jericho, which Israel has a few of. The Jericho 2 and 3 are each capable of striking any target in Iran.

Israel is believed to have somewhere between 65 to 200 or even as many as 400 nuclear warheads. No one really knows for sure. I think Israel likes it that way- they want everyone to know that they HAVE some, but not necessarily how many, what sizes, or what delivery method.

A nuclear armed Iran will almost certainly end in a nuclear exchange. I don’t think that Iran will get a nuke any time soon. Israel has a long history of finding unexpected solutions to problems, and this is a big one.

By Divemedic, ago

War Warning

There is a high probability that Russia will conduct open combat operations against Ukraine within the next 30 days, and possibly much sooner. The likelihood that the United States will be involved in hostilities is slim, but

If that occurs, widespread cyber attacks may take place against NATO countries to disrupt C3 networks. This will likely involve internet and telecommunications networks worldwide, as well as potential power grid attacks in Europe.

The American Redoubt Radio Operators Network is reporting:

In Donetsk region, the SMM recorded 1,463 ceasefire violations, including 142 explosions. In the previous reporting period, it recorded 815 ceasefire violations in the region.

In Luhansk region, the Mission recorded 161 ceasefire violations, including 97 explosions. In the previous reporting period, it recorded 32 ceasefire violations in the region.

Members of the armed formations denied the SMM passage near Zolote and Molodizhne, Luhansk region, and delayed its passage for more than two hours near Olenivka, Donetsk region.*

The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske.

The SMM facilitated and monitored the operation of and repairs to critical civilian infrastructure.

The Mission continued following up on the situation of civilians, including at three entry-exit checkpoints and the corresponding checkpoints of the armed formations in Luhansk region.

The Mission’s freedom of movement continued to be restricted, including at two checkpoints of the armed formations in Donetsk region. Its unmanned aerial vehicles encountered instances of GPS signal interference, assessed as caused by probable jamming.

Make sure that you have alternate means of communications with friends and family. Understand that credit cards, banking, and ATMs may not function without communications networks.

By Divemedic, ago

Water Gun= Deadly Weapon

A water gun is a deadly weapon, according to the Volusia County Sheriff’s Department, who arrested a 14 year old boy for shooting a 12 year old girl with one. He is facing a felony charge of “shooting a weapon/missile in a public or private building that could cause death or great bodily harm.”

So now the boy’s family will have legal bills in the $100,000 range, or they will be forced to take a plea deal. This is ridiculous.

By Divemedic, ago

Threatening to nuke Russia?

Headlines today are being made by a US Senator who, they claim, threatened to nuke Russia over a theoretical invasion of the Ukraine. I don’t have a problem with the statement. Let me explain by starting with what the Senator said:

When asked to clarify what he meant by “military action,” Wicker recounted measures ranging from the American “ships in the Black Sea” to “first-use nuclear action.”

“We don’t rule out first-use nuclear action, we don’t think it will happen but there are certain things in negotiations, if you are going to be tough, that you don’t take off the table,” the Mississippi senator added.

If the United States (or any nation) is attempting to influence another nation, that other nation doesn’t need to know what the limits of the US response are going to be. This keeps the other side from doing a cost benefit analysis and deciding that it’s worth it. If you are threatening a military response, but then go ahead and outline the limits of that response, you are weakening your own position.

It’s like dealing with an armed robber. Let’s say that the robber is in the middle of robbing a store that you are standing in. You point a gun at him and tell him to stop robbing the store, or else. He replies, “Or else what?” and then you tell him, “Or else I will send you a strongly worded letter, or perhaps I will report you to the cops, but what I won’t do is shoot you.” How do you think that will work out?

What if instead, you tell him, “If you rob this store, I will turn your head into a canoe” What would happen then?

You want the enemy to know there will be a response, you want them to know it will be painful, but you don’t want them to know that all you have in your hand is a pair of fives.

By Divemedic, ago

Air Security Failure

A man flew from Barbados to Miami International with a loaded .32 revolver in his carry on. They claim that he was arrested after TSA agents found a handgun in his belongings.

I don’t buy it. Since when does the TSA screen people who are getting off of a plane? One of two things happened here: Either he brought it to their attention himself, or he was caught because he had to exit and reenter security for some reason.

The article reads like the TSA is so much better at security than other agencies. This summer, it was announced that TSA agents missed 95% of weapons that were placed in luggage by inspectors. In 17 out of 18 tries by the undercover federal agents saw explosive materials, fake weapons, or drugs pass through TSA screening undetected.

The problem that I have here, all incompetence aside, is that TSA is wasting time and effort looking for drugs. Their main and only purpose is supposed to be safety. in fact, the only reason that SCOTUS even allowed this violation of the Fourth Amendment was that the TSA was for safety and not law enforcement purposes, but that is not the point of this post.

The 2021 failure rate is not anything new. In 2017, they missed 70% of weapons. In 2015, they failed 95% of the time. Congress has been briefed that the TSA is a colossal waste of money.

I can believe it. I have had two incidents where I accidentally flew with weapons.

  • I once flew from Fairbanks to Los Angeles with a large container of bear mace in my carry on bag.
  • I once flew from Orlando to Nashville, including a layover in Atlanta, with a Glock 9mm in my carry on. I had simply forgotten that it was in my bag. I went to the airport, passed through security, and boarded the plane. When I put my bag in the overhead compartment, I heard a loud thump. I wondered what I had in there that was so heavy, and it dawned on me in an instant. I flew the entire way to Atlanta in a cold sweat. I was worried that I would have to pass through security again to change gates at my layover. It turns out that I didn’t. Once I was on the second flight, I realized that most security is theater. The TSA is staffed with a bunch of minimum wage high school dropouts. The only reason that 911 hasn’t happened again is that no one has tried.

The TSA catches 4,500 or so firearms at checkpoints per year. Assuming that they catch as many as 30% of them, as they did in the best year they ever had, this means that 15,000 or more firearms per year wind up on America’s aircraft. If they only catch 5%, as they did in the most recent test, as many as 90,000 firearms per year wind up flying the friendly skies.

The TSA costs us taxpayers $8.24 billion per year. That is over $1.8 million for each detected firearm, while they miss 95% of the firearms in passenger luggage. Who knows how much extra the TSA agents steal on top of that? The TSA has fired nearly 400 employees for stealing from travelers’ luggage.

The Miami Airport is #1 in TSA agent thefts, which ranks twelfth in passengers, with 29 employees terminated for theft from 2002 through December 2011.

This is one of the marks of third world shithole countries: the police are often on the take. If they are willing to steal, how willing are they to take bribes? Officers in Palm Beach, New Haven, Newark, and Westchester have all been caught accepting bribes from people for circumventing security. In fact, 20,000 of the TSA’s 55,000 agents have had complaints of misconduct against them, but 95% of the time, no discipline is administered.

The TSA, like most of the government, is a jobs program that is nothing more than a waste of taxpayer money that doesn’t accomplish the mission that it has been assigned.

Disclaimer: The stories above are for illustrative and artistic purposes only. They may or may not have happened. The posts on this site should not be construed as a confession or admission of guilt. So if any Federal, State, or Local law enforcement are reading this page, you should keep in mind that I probably never did any of the things I claim to have done. So there.

By Divemedic, ago

End of Greatness

The last of World War Two’s 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment has passed away at the age of 99. The regiment was the subject of an HBO series “Band of Brothers” and some of the things that they did became textbook examples of how to carry out various infantry actions.

With the loss of the last survivor of the regiment, an era of history has ended. Where they have gone, the reunions will be epic. Enjoy Valhalla, sir.

By Divemedic, ago