This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Author: Hondo

  • About Those Online VA Systems

    We’ve all heard about the troubles the VA has been having lately. But give them credit where credit is due.

    Take their new online system, MyHealtheVet. It’s a way you can sign up to do a load of stuff online related to VA healthcare. You can check appointments, access medical records, renew prescriptions, and stuff like that.

    Or so I’m told. I don’t have an account.

    And given what is says in this little GAO report – and the multiple VA data breaches that seem to happen periodically – maybe not having an account is a good thing. Seems like the VA’s IT security still kinda, well . . . sucks.

    Yeah, take MyHealtheVet. Please. And secure the damn thing – along with the rest of the VA’s IT systems.

    Because until then, getting on-line access to your electronic information at the VA certainly sounds like a case of caveat emptor.

  • So . . . Ebola Quarantines Are an “Overreaction”, Eh?

    Well then, I guess authorities in India are just “overreacting” too:

    India isolates man with Ebola-infected semen

    The unfortunate fellow contracted Ebola in Liberia.  He was lucky – he was treated there, and survived.

    That was nearly 2 months ago.  He was released from the hospital in Liberia on 30 September.  He returned to New Delhi from Liberia on 10 November.

    On arrival, body fluids were tested.  His semen still contained measurable Ebola virus.

    Yes, that’s post-recovery.  And we already knew some people carried the virus for a substantial amount of time after recovery, and could still be infectious for months.

    But don’t forget, my “liberal brethren” – early tests fairly often provide false negatives, too.  That’s why advanced treatment for latest guy to die in this nation from Ebola was delayed.

    Quarantines exist – and are used – for a reason.  They freaking work.

  • Well, Well, Well . . .

    The irony here is indeed delicious.

    US group CAIR named terrorist organization by United Arab Emirates

    The linked story is worth reading.

    This shouldn’t really be a surprise, though.  In 2007, CAIR was named (along with a sh!tload of others) as an unindicted co-conspirator in a plot to funnel money to Hamas.  They’ve also long been accused of having ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.

    Maybe one day our government will one day wake up and treat them accordingly. To paraphrase the little kid from Angels in the Outfield: “Hey – it could happen!”

    Unfortunately, that day won’t be today.  The US Department of State reportedly had “no comment” when queried about the matter.

  • Yet Another “Global Warming” Update

    Well, let’s take a look at our latest news stories about that “global warming”, shall we?

    But global warming is “settled science,” remember.  “Pay no attention to data saying otherwise.”

    Or maybe it was, “Pay no attention to the man behind the screen.”  I forget.

  • Well, There He Goes Again . . . .

    Remember the POTUS Twitter account scandal? You know, where nearly 53% of the followers of the Twitter account belonging to the POTUS were determined to be something other than real people – e.g., artificial entities there for no other reason than to puff up the numbers and create an “echo chamber” to make it appear the account was more popular than it really was?

    To borrow a famous phrase: “There he goes again”.

    It seems there is an ObamaCare Facebook page. And, yeah – you guessed it. Just like the POTUS’s Twitter account, it’s also little more than an echo chamber driven by deception.

    The ObamaCare Facebook page has somewhere around 227k comments since September 2012. Sounds good, right? Well, yeah, it does.

    It does until you check into what’s actually going on a little more closely.  When you do that, you find that about 60% of those comments originated from a set of no more than 100 distinct Facebook profiles.

    Yep: 100 Facebook profiles made about 136,000 of the roughly 237,000 comments on to the ObamaCare Facebook site.  That’s certainly a “broad cross-section” of public opinion, isn’t it?

    But wait, it gets even better when you dig a bit deeper.  That’s the upper estimate for the number of actual people making those 136,000 comments. Multiple Facebook profiles appear to be in use. Indications are that many (if not most or all) human owning one of those 100 Facebook profiles has multiple Facebook profiles – 3 or 4 profiles seems to be common.

    They’ve already found one such frequent commenter who admits to having 4 Facebook profiles in order to “make her voice heard better” (or words to that effect). I’m sure she’s not the only one – even Lone Ranger had Tonto, Silver, and Scout with him.

    Another high-volume commenter isn’t even American; she’s from Canada.  Several seem to comment only during working hours – but not on weekends.  Hmm.

    And since word got out that people were watching this, some formerly high-activity Facebook profiles commenting on the ObamaCare Facebook site have “magically” disappeared. So we may be talking about a small group of 25 and 40 actual people making 60% of those roughly 227,000 comments.

    Oh, and that ObamaCare Facebook page?  It’s also done by Organizing for Action – the same folks that did the POTUS’s Twitter account.  Really makes you go, “Hmm” – doesn’t it?

    The Washington Times has a decent article on this little issue. It’s a bit long, but it’s IMO well worth a read.

     

    Yeah, your leg’s getting wet again. And I don’t think it’s rain this time, either.

  • John Paul Jones, Meet “Star Wars”

    Apparently the Navy has deployed a new, high-tech weapon system in the Persian Gulf. It’s an operational prototype of a 30-killowat laser weapon system.

    This one is more than simply a “dazzeler”, too. Though it has non-lethal modes of operation (including “dazzling” an opponent’s eyes), it’s also reportedly capable of destroying small targets.

    Bloomberg.com has a decent article on the subject. If you’re interested in either new weapons or Naval matters, IMO it’s worth a look.

  • About That New ObamaCare “Open Season” . . . .

    Well, it’s ObamaCare sign-up season again. By all accounts, things are going better than last year – though that wouldn’t take much, given last year’s fiasco.

    So, that means all the problems are fixed, and everything is just “hunky-dory”, right? Um, well . . .

    I swear, you just couldn’t make this sh!t up if you tried. No one would buy it as fiction.

  • Oh, Fer Christsakes – Not Again?!

    Geez. Will someone PLEASE give the     clueless fools in charge in DC      current Administration a quarter and tell them where they can buy a clue?

    Title of the article says it all:

    U.S. weighs expanded CIA training, arming of Syrian allies struggling against Assad

    “Bad idea, sir. Very bad idea.”