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

Author: Hondo

  • “What Did the President Know, and When Did He Know It?”

    Regarding the attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi, thanks to Reuters and CBS we now know.

    The President knew – or should have known – that it wasn’t mob violence inspired by a film roughly 2 hours and 32 minutes after the attack had begun.  That’s when the Executive Office of the President was notified that an Islamic fundamentalist group had claimed responsibility.

    And he also knew – or should have known – about 30 minutes after the beginning of the attack that US personnel were under fire and might need help.  It was another 6 1/2 hours before the two US personnel killed defending the “safe house” in Benghazi were killed.

    Officials in the Executive Office of the President were advised at 4:05PM  EDT on 11 September 2012 that the US mission in Benghazi was under attack.  That was 20-30 minutes after the attack had begun.  And the EOP was advised 2 hours and 2 minutes later – at 6:07PM – that Ansar al-Sharia had claimed responsibility.

    One of the addresses at the EOP to which these alerts were sent was reportedly the one for the White House Situation Room.

    By the next morning, per Reuters there were also indications that al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb was involved as well.  And the next morning, the CIA station chief in Libya  reported that the attacks appeared to have been deliberate and carried out by Islamic militants vice a spontaneous mob action.

    CBS News had made copies of redacted e-mails documenting the initial reports referenced above.  They can be viewed here.

    “What did the President know, and when did he know it?”  Regarding the Benghazi attack, he knew – or should have known – everything of significance by the next morning.  Yet for over a week his Administration flat-out lied to the American public about what had happened and why.

    My leg’s wet.  And it isn’t raining today.

  • 400 Years Later, Another Italian Galileo Trial

    A court in Italy has convicted six Italian scientists and a government official of manslaughter in conjunction with the 2009 L’Acquila earthquake that killed 300.

    Their crime?  Failing to predict the earthquake.  

    I wish I was joking.

    I’m not.

  • Looks Like It Wasn’t Just the US Consulate in Benghazi That Got Hit

    Fox News is reporting that the “safe house” attacked in Benghazi, Libya, was a little bit more than just a safe place to live.

    The Sept. 11 attack in Benghazi targeted more than just a State Department consulate. One of the buildings hit was a covert CIA installation, U.S. officials told Fox News.

    The article goes on to say that two of the US dead died defending that “safe house” vice the consulate.  And it adds that evidence suggests they were wounded by indirect fire (mortar round) some 7 hours after the beginning of trouble in Benghazi.

    Seven hours.  And we reputedly had a UAV over Benghazi watching events as they happened.

    Maybe I’m on the wrong frequency, and like Kenneth I “just don’t understand”.  But it seems like 7 hours is damn well long enough to do decide to do something to support guys on the ground taking fire.

     

  • More Stupidity from Chrissy-Poo

    Chrissy-Poo strikes again!  This time, he’s playing the race card:

    “I think they hate Obama. They want him out of the White House more than they want to destroy Al Qaeda. Their No. 1 enemy in the world right now, on the right, is their hatred, hatred for Obama. And we can go into that about the white working class in the South and looking at these numbers we’re getting the last couple days about racial hatred in many cases … this isn’t about being a better president, they want to get rid of this president,’ he (Matthews)  said.”

    Yep.  According to Matthews, people who don’t support Obama are against him because they’re racists.

    But Matthews doesn’t stop there.  According to Chrissy-Poo, people who don’t support Obama hate him so badly that they’d rather see Obama lose the election than see al Qaeda destroyed.

    That opposition can’t possibly be because they think the current POTUS is incompetent, inept, and unable to lead.  Or the fact that they disagree with his policies, finding those polices misguided, counterproductive, and destructive.

    No, anyone who doesn’t support Obama must be a racist.  There’s no other reason not to support Obama.  No less an authority than Chris “Tingly-Leg” Matthews says so!

    Teh stoopid is strong in Chris.  But we already knew that.  This is just more proof.

  • Are You Surprised?

    In news from Egypt:

    1. The leader of Egypt’s largest political party – the Muslim Brotherhood’s “Freedom and Justice” Party – has indicated that the party’s goal is to “institute Islamic Sharia law.”
    2. The current Egyptian President, Mohammed Morsi, was recently seen mouthing the word Amen after a prayer that featured the line, “Allah, destroy the Jews and their supporters”.
    3. The Egyptian government has just confiscated the assets of the secular candidate who lost to Morsi in the last election, Ahmed Shafiq – as well as assets belonging to his daughters.

    Someone please refresh my memory.  Tell me again why was it such a good idea for us to stand back and do nothing while Mubarek was overthrown?

  • Guess Who Didn’t Pay Attention in Junior High Civics

    It looks like everyone’s favorite MSNBC liberal, Chris “Tingly-Leg” Matthews, is pissed.  It seems as if he doesn’t think the current POTUS is getting proper respect.

    And maybe he’s right.  After all, the Constitution does say that you can’t challenge the President – right?

    Matthews:  “I don’t think he understands the Constitution of the United States…He’s the President of the United States. You don’t say, ‘you’ll get your chance . . . .’”

    Um, no.  That’s not what the Constitution says at all.  I’m thinking you’re the one who doesn’t understand the Constitution.

    He’s the US President, Chrissy-Poo.  He’s not royalty ruling by Divine Right or some absolute dictator whose whose words are beyond question or challenge.

    The Constitution gives the POTUS no special pass on following the law, or on being challenged.  If someone thinks  he is wrong, the POTUS can indeed be challenged – publicly, and directly.

    Further:  other than selected members of the military, no one is legally obligated to treat the  POTUS with any more or less respect than they treat any other person.  Only commissioned officers of the US military are bound by law (the UCMJ) to treat selected Federal and State officials with a degree of respect in their public statements and actions.  That’s it.

    So long as they don’t otherwise violate the law, everyone else can say what they wish about the POTUS – or to him, if they have the opportunity.  They’re not legally bound to give the POTUS any more respect than anyone else they know.  If they want to publicly challenge the POTUS – or call him a liar to his face – that’s perfectly legal.

    It’s called “Freedom of Speech”, Chrissy-Poo.    Perhaps you’ve heard of it?

    You can get remedial civics education from any number of sources, Matthews.  You might want to check into it.

  • Why Looking at the “Official” Unemployment Rate Is a Waste of Time

    By now, everyone should have seen the latest (September 2012) “official” unemployment figures – 7.8%.  That’s the same as the unemployment rate was in January 2009.

    Hallelujah!  The economy has recovered!  That means good times are at hand, right?

    Not so fast, Buckey.  By itself, the “official” unemployment rate tells you very little.  It’s one of the least understood – and, frankly, least useful – measures of how well the US economy is actually performing.  Even though it’s one of the most widely quoted.

    What follows is an explanation of what the “official” unemployment rate is, how it’s calculated, and what it means.  I’ll also explain why it’s not a particularly good indicator of the economy’s overall performance  – and I’ll suggest a couple of better ones.

    Here, I’m defining overall economic performance as good based on the number of people voluntarily working full-time.  That is, more people working full-time means that the economy is doing well overall, while fewer persons working full-time mean that the economy is doing poorly.  If you’re defining good economic performance differently, this article isn’t for you.

    (more…)

  • I’d Guess This Could Get Pretty Ugly

    We all know that the rules for military personnel, government civilians, and contractors vary – with contractors having perhaps the most leeway regarding personal conduct.  But it appears that things may have gotten just a little bit out of hand at one of our security contractors in Afghanistan.

    Full-blown batshit crazy of out of hand, to be precise.

    One of the US security contractors in Afghanistan – Jorge Scientific – is alleged to have really paid attention to employee morale.  As in drunken parties, open drug use, sophomoric stupidity, and other absolutely unprofessional and asinine behavior. There are also insinuations of either lack of supervision (or turning a blind eye) and/or similar bad behavior on the part of some in uniform having the responsibility to supervise this contractor’s work or while visiting the contractor’s facilities.

    It got so bad that two former employees quit in disgust, went home from Afghanistan early – and filed a lawsuit.  And it turns out they took a little cellphone video supporting their claims before they left.

    Oh, and did I mention that one of those captured on that video has admitted repeatedly using illicit drugs, corroborating at least part of the two former employees’ story?

    The contract under which this “wonderful” behavior occurred appears to have been W911QX-1O-C-0096, let on 4 October 2010.  The value of the contract appears to be a bit over $47M.  Unfortunately, if the contract is structured in the typical base-plus-option-years form they’ve likely just started an option year – and are thus probably on-board for the next 12 months, like it or not.

    ABC News now has the video, and reputedly was planning to air the story on “World News Tonight” and “Nightline” yesterday.  I didn’t watch either program, so I don’t know if they did or not.

    Looks like somebody’s got some ‘splainin’ to do.