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

Author: Hondo

  • So, How Is Europe Handling “Refugees” These Days?

    Short answer:  in many locations they’re sending them back.  The days of “open doors to all” appear to have ended.

    While Germany still accepts large numbers of refugees, Denmark is taking a rather hard line – to the point of prosecuting their own citizens for “immigrant smuggling” if they assist illicit new arrivals.  Sweden, formerly world-renowned as a refugee haven, has substantially closed its doors as well.  Hungary has closed its borders; Macedonia has followed suit.  Greece is now sending new arrivals from Turkey back vice allowing them to stay.  And even Germany appears to be rethinking its “let-em-all-come” stance.

    The Washington Post recently had a longish article on the matter, focusing on Denmark.  Predictably, that article takes the hand-wringing, “Oh, the humanity!” point of view.

    But what the WaPo doesn’t address is why Europe’s practices and attitudes towards refugees have changed – IMO, probably intentionally.

    If you need to ask why, take a look at recent incidents in Europe.  Like Charlie Hebdo.  Like the e2015 Paris massacres.  The train attack.  The repeated assaults on women by “refugees”.  The demands for European nations to change longstanding cultural events and norms to “accommodate the sensitivities of refugee newcomers”.

    One has to be a moron not to realize why Europe made this change.

    Europe is closing its borders because many of those “refugees” . . . simply aren’t really refugees.  Rather, many are instead Da’esh operatives – or are otherwise Jihadis/Jihadi sympathizers intent on colonization.

    It appears Europeans’ eyes are finally opening.  And it also looks like they’ve decided they really don’t like the concept described by the term “dhimmi”.

    Maybe our government’s eyes will open one day soon as well.  But if San Bernardino didn’t already do that, forgive me if I don’t hold my breath while I’m waiting.

  • Trouble In (“Workers”) Paradise?

    It appears not everyone is happy in that “workers’ paradise” called North Korea.  Nor it seems is everyone there enamored with ND:tBF, AKA the Dork of NorK AKA Ementaller-boi AKA Fatboy Kim.

    In fact, some in NorkLand even seem to be voting with their feet.  As in “departing for other countries” posthaste.

    Oh, did I mention that the latter group now apparently includes a group of 13 North Koreans working at a restaurant in another country who defected en masse to South Korea recently?  Or that a number of other lower-level North Korean officials have also recently defected to avoid “’Lil Kim’s” purges?  Or that the defector list now appears to include a Colonel who formerly worked for North Korean military intelligence?

    Fox News has a story giving a few more details about the above.  IMO it’s worth the time to read.

    No word yet on who Fatboy Kim will have executed soon.  But you know it’s going to happen.  He has to soothe his massive bulk’s irritated nerves somehow, and that seems to be his method of choice.

  • “. . . . individuals are just not being held accountable for gun crimes”

    Jonn published an article yesterday based on this story.  But there are a couple of points here I thought warranted further emphasis, so I’m doing a follow-up.

    First point:  IMO significantly, Chicago police are decidedly not blaming this uptick in violent crime on fallout from the SCOTUS’s decision in McDonald v. Chicago (2010).  Rather, here they’re pointing the finger squarely at the courts – who in the opinion of Chicago’s police effectively are running a “revolving-door” prison system through excessive use of probation, short sentences for violent crimes, and early release of violent felons.

    Gee.  Not holding violent felons accountable for their crimes – specifically, by letting them out of prison after only a short incarceration, or by not incarcerating them at all – leads to more violent crime from the same violent felons.  Who’d a thunk that? Well, judges (and prosecutors; more about them below), lemme tell you: anyone with even a single iota of common sense could have told you that.  And now, the police have just told you exactly the same damn thing.

    It’s not that hard of a concept to grasp.  Bad actions that have few meaningful negative consequences simply are not deterred.  Instead, they’re repeated.  And running a “revolving-door prison system” through extensive use of short sentences, probation, and early release is a classic example of “bad actions having few meaningful negative consequences.”

    Second point: what’s just as significant here IMO is what the police are not requesting be done.  Remember:  this is “we love gun control by law” Chicago.  But here, the police are not calling for new gun control laws to fix a “gun violence” problem.  Instead, here they fairly clearly say that existing laws are sufficient; it is instead enforcement of these laws that is lacking – specifically, the post-conviction consequences part of enforcement.  They’ve therefore called for sentencing that takes violent felons “off the street” for protracted periods – mandated by changes to those portions of law involving sentencing as necessary.

    Based on this last point, anyone with common sense can see that new gun laws simply aren’t necessary to fix the problem; effectively enforcing those laws already “on the books”  is what’s needed.  It’s a point Jonn’s made repeatedly here at TAH, but it’s worth repeating here again.

    I’d like to think that judges (and prosecutors:  as commenter 2/17 Air Cav observed in comments to Jonn’s article yesterday, near-universal prosecutor willingness to “plea bargain” indiscriminately in order to keep conviction rates up is a second, big part of the problem) in Illinois and elsewhere will “get with the program” here and actually start taking dangerous, violent felons off the street for long stretches of time; it’s within their power now to do exactly that at sentencing.  But I’m not holding my breath – especially since there are now proposals in Congress to reduce or do away with mandatory minimum sentences for many Federal felonies. See the Fox News link (second link above, or in Jonn’s article) for details.

  • Sailor Reported Missing Off NC Coast

    Search and rescue operations have been initiated by the Navy and Coast Guard after a junior sailor (PO3) assigned to the USS Carter Hall was reported missing. At this point, the individual is presumed to have fallen overboard.

    The name of the missing sailor has not been released. Per DoD policy, it will not be released until 24 hours after notification of next-of-kin.

    The USS Carter Hall was operating off the coast of North Carolina on a training mission when the sailor was discovered missing. The ship is based at JEB Story/Little Creek.

    Fox News currently has an article on the developing situation. It might be worth checking periodically for updates.

    Let’s hope (and, if so inclined, pray) that this incident turns out differently than most such do. Unfortunately, based on what’s been released so far, I have to say I’m not too optimistic. But you never know.

  • Yer Sunday Funny: “Donna the Deer Lady”

    This happened at KOYY-FM, 93.7, in Fargo/Moorehead, ND, in either Sep or Oct 2012. It happened on their “Morning Playhouse” show.

    The incident was reported by numerous news outlets (Fox, Huffington, Daily Caller, and others). The caller later followed-up with the station, taking ownership of the original call and acknowledging that she’d been in error.

    So, there you go. Yes, we can easily greatly reduce or eliminate deer strikes by autos. All we have to do is move the deer crossings to safer locations. (smile)

  • A Little Light Music

     

     

    The song dates to 1991; the author is deceased. Given the author’s history it’s most likely somewhat autobiographical.

    Any resemblance to anyone living today is due solely to coincidence.

  • Yer Friday Funny: No Sh!t??! No. Sh!t.

    There are museums for damn near everything.  Hell, we’ve probably all been to or heard of a museum or two that we thought was pretty bizarre.

    But in England, there’s a new museum that’s really “out there”.

    The National Poo Museum opened recently in the UK.  It’s located on the Isle of Wight.

    No, I’m not joking.  They exist, and they have a website.

    Turns out this isn’t the first such museum in the world, either.  A similar museum apparently opened in Italy some time ago.  It’s located in Castelbosco, and calls itself “Mueso della Merda“.

    It’s not just a European “thing”, either.  It also appears that there is has been a similar museum in Japan since at least 2012.  There’s also a toilet museum in South Korea.

    No word on when the corresponding US version will open, or even if one is planned.  However, I’ve got the perfect location for it if and when it does.  IMO it should be located riverside, just downstream of that beltway-encircled Brothel on the Potomac.  (smile)

    —–

    (Note: no, I don’t have a dung fixation.  I saw an article about the UK museum’s opening, thought it was funny – then lost the link.  I found the info about the other similar museums while searching for the original link.  I got a good chuckle out of them and thought others might as well, so I decided to write an article about the group.)

  • Another Two Return from World War II

    DPAA has identified and accounted for the following formerly-missing members of the US military.

    From World War II

    • Pfc. John F. Prince, Company F, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, USMC, was lost on 20 November 1943 on Tarawa. He was accounted for on 2 April 2016.

    • Pfc. Anthony Brozyna, Company G, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, USMC, was lost on 20 November 1943 on Tarawa. He was accounted for on 6 April 2016.

    Welcome home, elder brothers-in-arms. Rest in peace now. You’re home.
    . . .

    Over 73,000 US personnel remain unaccounted for from World War II; over 7,800 US personnel remain unaccounted for from the Korean War; and over 1,600 remain unaccounted for in Southeast Asia (SEA). Comparison of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from recovered remains against mtDNA from a matrilineal descendant can assist in making a positive ID for unidentified remains that have already been recovered, or which may be recovered in the future.

    DPAA’s web site now has what appears to be a decent “Contact Us” page. The page doesn’t have instructions concerning who can and cannot submit a mtDNA sample or how to submit one, but the POCs listed there may be able to refer you to someone who can answer that question – or may be able to answer the question themselves. If you think you might possibly qualify, please contact one of those POCs for further information.

    If your family lost someone in one of these conflicts and you qualify to submit a mtDNA sample, please arrange to submit one. By doing that you just might help identify the remains of a US service member who’s been repatriated but not yet been identified – as well as a relative of yours, however distant. Or you may help to identify remains to be recovered in the future.

    Everybody deserves a proper burial. That’s especially true for those who gave their all while serving this nation.