October 29, 2023

Musk offers Starlink to accredited aid agencies in GAZA... Israel blows a fuse

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/s1mlma9z6

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/musk-says-starlink-provide-connectivity-gaza-through-aid-organizations-2023-10-28/

Elon Musk announced that he would allow humanitarian organizations in Gaza to use the satellite system - after Israel cut off communications to effectively fight the terrorist organization Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip

Billionaire Elon Musk announced on Saturday that he is willing to operate SpaceX's satellite internet system Starlink in the Gaza Strip area for the benefit of aid organizations. “Starlink will support connectivity to internationally recognized aid organizations in Gaza”, Musk posted on his X (formerly Twitter) account. However, once Starlink is introduced into this area, it may not be possible to deny the terrorist organization Hamas access to the system. This introduction could potentially provide significant assistance to the terrorist organization in its conflict with Israel.
On Friday, in preparation for a major ground incursion into the Gaza Strip, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) launched an operation targeting internet and media infrastructure in the region. The primary objective of this action was to disrupt communication among Hamas operatives, hindering their ability to prepare, coordinate, and respond to Israeli military activities within the Gaza Strip. While this move raises concerns about potential harm to civilians, the military viewpoint justifies it as a strategic blockade aimed at safeguarding the lives of Israeli soldiers and enhancing the effectiveness of the upcoming ground offensive.

October 29, 2023

The Cost of fighting Evil...

This isn't going to be a comparison with Hamas or Israel... just random thoughts about human evil, hatred, vengeance and the plight of the innocent.

It's WW2. Reinhard Heydrich had built a fearsome reputation in the Third Reich by 1941. A committed Nazi, he founded the SD, he organized Kristallnacht, oversaw the Einsatzgruppen and was Himmler's top man in charge of wiping out the Jews. In 1942 he ran the Wansee Conference which plotted out the "Final Solution".

It's difficult to find a worse human being at the time... even when he was surrounded by evil people.

In 1941 the British gov't worked with Czech partisans to plot to kill Heydrich who was the Nazi leader of Prague and surrounding region. He was nicknamed the "Butcher of Prague" because of his crackdown on the Czech resistance.

In May, 1942 Heydrich was attacked in a vehicle by partisans and he was injured. He died several days later in the hospital.

Hitler was furious and ordered 10,000 civilians be executed.

But the leadership never followed that order and instead picked out a Czech village, Lidice to be the epicenter of their vengeance. All men were round up and shot immediately. The women and children were taken and sent to concentration camps. There, some of the children were sent to Germany and most of the rest were gassed to death.

The village was demolished to the ground. All farm animals and pets were killed. To this day, the village stands unchanged, as a memorial to violence.

Around 1400 people were killed in retribution for the killing of Heydrich.

The successor to Heydrich was no better than Heydrich, possibly worse... and the "Final Solution" continued unabated until 1945.

So it brings up the rhetorical question... is there a limit to fighting evil? Should evil be fought at any and all costs? Is there a fine line? Did the British MI5 consider possible repercussions to launching Operation Anthropoid?

IMHO, this is a question that really can't be answered. One can NOT stand still and allow evil to fester but what is the price you're willing to pay?

October 28, 2023

The rapidly expanding definition of a Mass Shooting... Everytown.

https://everytownresearch.org/mass-shootings-in-america/

When Everytown began tracking mass shootings after the killings at Sandy Hook Elementary, there was no common definition of a mass shooting. In earlier versions of this report, Everytown defined a mass shooting as any incident in which four or more people were killed, excluding the shooter.



Since then, research and news coverage of these tragic events has expanded greatly, but the question of how to best define a mass shooting remains unsettled. Different definitions result in different counts of mass shooting incidents—ranging from roughly a dozen per year to nearly two mass shootings every day—and encompass different causes of gun violence.

By US Statute, a mass shooting is 3+ dead victims... initially, Everytown used a definition of 4+ dead victims.

So when we hear 600+ mass shootings a year nowadays... our immediate thought is "Didn't it used to be like 20-30 a year?"

Here are some statistics using the US Statute definition, (Investigative Assistance for Violent Crimes Act of 2012)

https://www.britannica.com/topic/mass-shooting

2023

13 mass shootings.

81 fatalities

96% Male shooters

53% White

67% weapons obtained legally

35% used Rifles


On that Britannica site, they have a great graphic showing locations of mass shootings and a timeline...

Up until the 90's, mass shootings were really rare, 0-1 a year... in 1993 we saw 4 mass shootings. in 1999 it was 5. From 2000-2005 it was back down again, 1-2 a year... then 2006 opened up our current escalating situation.

Since 2006, we've seen 113 mass shootings involving the murder of 3+ individuals.

Some might want to put the finger on Columbine in 1999, killing 13... but the Luby's Cafeteria shooting in 1991 killed 21.

It also wasn't the first school shooting... Lindhurst High School was in 1992 (not the first though)

Of course the assault rifle is the preferred tool of the mass shooter... and it's regulation is agreed upon by most as the natural first response...

But there's something more going on here... and I've never seen a good explanation.

October 27, 2023

War Criminal bounces World Series ceremonial first pitch...

News at 11.

What a world we live in... Dude pulled a Putin-esque WAR and no consequences. Watch this drive!!

OH and GO RANGERS!!!! Fan for almost 50 years...


https://twitter.com/MLBONFOX/status/1718054028230475997

October 27, 2023

The stone wall to Assault Weapon regulation in 2023 is the Courts.

This isn't the 80's or 90's any more...

If anything... Courts are getting MORE defensive of Assault Weapons, not less so.

An example:

https://www.reuters.com/legal/us-judge-declares-californias-assault-weapons-ban-unconstitutional-2023-10-19/

Oct 19 (Reuters) - A federal judge on Thursday declared a California law banning assault weapons unconstitutional, saying the prohibition enacted in 1989 against semi-automatic weapons could not stand under a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year that expanded gun rights.

San Diego-based U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez ruled in a challenge to the law brought by gun rights groups and others that it deprived law-abiding people of semiautomatic firearms like the AR-15 in violation of the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment right to "keep and bear arms."Benitez issued an injunction blocking the law, but put that on hold for 10 days so the state could appeal. California Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat, said in a statement that he would appeal, calling the judge's decision "dangerous and misguided."

THIS is why:

The conservative-majority Supreme Court last year struck down New York state's limits on carrying concealed handguns outside the home. In that decision, called New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v Bruen, the Supreme Court established a new legal test for firearms restrictions, saying they must be "consistent with this nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation" to pass muster.

Bottom line... even IF Congress passed AWB laws... they're probably going to be shot down by the Courts.

October 27, 2023

Prior to the last 24hrs... Bowdoin, ME was best known for...

Civil War HERO, Joshua Chamberlain... Brigadier GENERAL Joshua Chamberlain and the 20th Maine anchored the left flank of the Union Army at Gettysburg at Little Round Top. They held the line like a stone wall as their position was assaulted by Confederate forces several times... when the defenders were mostly out of ammo and still under attack, they attached bayonets and charged DOWN the hill sending the Confederates scattering or surrendering...

Chamberlain attended Bowdoin College, later serving as an instructor and then Professor... and after the war, as the President of Bowdoin College.

October 26, 2023

What it will take to make homes affordable again for millions of Americans

THIS is part of why people are down on the economy.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/25/will-americans-ever-be-able-to-afford-to-buy-a-home-again.html

As mortgage rates reached a 23-year high last week, the cry went off across markets and social media: Is housing affordability dead? Has a version of the American dream — home ownership, kids, backyard barbecues — died with it?

The question is sharp because housing affordability has dropped by nearly half since the ultra-low interest rate days of 2021, according to the National Association of Realtors.

The median family was already $9,000 short in August of the income needed to buy the median existing home, the association says, and the recent surge in rates since has moved another five million U.S. families below the qualification standard for a $400,000 loan, according to John Burns Real Estate Consulting. At 3% mortgage rates, 50 million households could get a loan that size. Now it’s 22 million.

https://fortune.com/2023/10/18/how-bad-housing-market-affordability-redfin-115000-salary/

The housing market is so unaffordable that buyers need to make nearly $115K to afford the average home, Redfin says—that’s $40k more than average earnings

October 25, 2023

For most of humanity, I'd like to apologize...

I'm truly sorry that others hate you for who and what you are... I'm sorry that hatred drives people to gun down families in their homes, I'm sorry that people bomb family neighborhoods into dust, I'm sorry that one group of people wishes another group of people would cease to exist... I'm sorry that people surround the neighborhoods of others with walls and razor wire, I'm sorry that people starve to death while their leaders buy guns and bombs...

I'm also sorry that some people in the world enable the hatred... some people that are always there to give money and weapons to facilitate the terror...

Mankind has not only FAILED to live in harmony with our planet... mankind has FAILED to live together, as human beings in peace.

I'm simply sorry.

October 25, 2023

The 'Devil's Playground' of Urban Combat That Israel Is Preparing to Enter

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/24/world/middleeast/israel-hamas-invasion.html

Heavy fire from rooftops and booby-trapped apartments. Armor-piercing projectiles blowing up troop carriers. Fighters blending in with civilians, launching drone ambushes, or surging from tunnels full of enough ammunition, food and water to sustain a long war.

As the Israeli Army gathers tanks at the Gaza border for a threatened invasion aimed at crushing Hamas, experts are warning that the country’s troops could face some of the fiercest street-to-street combat since World War II in Gaza City and other densely packed areas.

Urban warfare studies and American officials offer dire comparisons to Iraq: Think of Falluja in 2004, the most intense battles that American troops had faced since Vietnam, or the nine-month fight to defeat the Islamic State in Mosul in 2016, which led to 10,000 civilian deaths. Then multiply the destructive toll, possibly exponentially.

I agree with this guy:

“It’s going to be ugly,” said Lt. Col. Thomas Arnold, a U.S. Army strategist who has published studies on urban operations in the Middle East. “Cities are the devil’s playground — they make everything infinitely more difficult.”

October 23, 2023

Judge temporarily lifts Trump gag order in federal 2020 election case

This is for all the people that think Trump violated the gag order last night...


https://www.reuters.com/legal/judge-temporarily-lifts-trump-gag-order-federal-2020-election-case-2023-10-20/