HAMMERNEWS- Mike Hammerschlag

Current Political Commentary by journalist Michael Hammerschlag; Thoughts on foreign policy, Bush outrages, liberal strategies, by 2 year correspondent in Russia during the empire's collapse and longtime commentator; Website: HAMMERNEWS.com

Friday, April 19, 2013

BOSTON BOMBING, RICIN SENDER CAUGHT IN MISS., WHACKOS in WACO? JUDD OPPO AUDIO, FACEBOOK CHARGING $1/email

--- updated 12pm EDT May 3 NOTE: Many links are to Boston Globe, which JUST returned to restricted viewing;  made exception for a week. I'll find new links
BOSTON BOMBING
Incredible, it was Muslim terrorism after all, contrary to many expectations of neo-Nazi involvement. One, 26yo Tamerlan Tsarnaev (lf), an accomplished boxer and classical pianist who might have made US Olympics, had competed in Golden Gloves, is already dead, shot by gigantic police response in enormous gunfight in Watertown (working-class city just to west of Cambridge), after assassinating an MIT cop in his cruiser after supposedly robbing a 7-11 (proved wrong) and carjacking a Mercedes (bragging "I did that", owner escaped but cops tracked his cell phone in the car). 4 cities were on lockdown with cops doing door to door search for the other shooter: Dzhokhar
A. Tsarnaev, 19 who had gone to Boston's incredibly diverse public Cambridge Rindge + Latin School (83 countries, 45 languages spoken). After a car chase of the stolen SUV, they stopped (one was driving a Honda Civic) and made a stand in a Hollywood shootout in Watertown at 12:50am, where they threw grenades and another pressure cooker bomb at cops; cops sent an empty car idling into them to draw fire. Tamerlan had advanced on cops until he ran out of bullets (200-300 shots), been tackled by cops, but his panicked brother sped away, running him over, dragging and killing him... or maybe deliberately 2nd-person suicided him. Nobody does this to cops since Bonny + Clyde, why the Tsars were relatively effective, but that's what Marines are taught- "bellow and charge enemy" (what to do when attacked by a mob- most run away). An MBTA transit cop was critically wounded. However, a woman resident witness claims (audio) he was run over by a police SUV and then shot multiple times. A gory autopsy photo appeared with a massive gash in his side (appar. resuscitation attempt).

    He abandoned the car quickly, fled on foot, and they found Dzhokhar in a boat by a middle class home when the owner saw the cut cables and blood on the cover, riddled boat with bullets, and finally hauled him out unarmed, seriously wounded in the jaw, neck, legs, and hand- almost dead from blood loss (in pic at rt. he is head down, but still managed to be walked through gauntlet of neighbors- Chechens are tough). Police had shut down Boston- Metro, bus, trains, taxi, telling everyone to stay in their homes! They love the unlimited power that comes with these things- this was only one kid, though as one commenter said, "What if he had seized a school bus of kids" (Chechen tactic that helped start 1st war there). In fact, in the almost hysterical police response, a State cop opened fire on an unmarked police SUV, blowing out the windows, no word on the perp inside. Course in the 4 days of this all-enveloping event, maybe 130 Americans have been killed in gun murders.

Robin Young, the onetime gorgeous EVENING TV star  and host of NPR's Here+Now says remaining suspect- Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, 19 (it is pronounced"Jokhar" with a roll of the K, not "Johar"), was friend of her nephew and was at a Prom party at her house, where they rented a trolley (tram). He was captain of wrestling team and on the volleyball team at Rindge + Latin School- nephew + Young say charismatic, friendly, nicest guy imaginable. A Boston Globe reporter was also his friend. He was a winner, an immigrant success story, not a disaffected loner! Well, extreme religion can be a sickness that can infect anyone- whatever good it does, it is also the basis for maybe most wars and bloodshed throughout history. I feel sorry for American Muslims- they will forever be under suspicion, and the turning of seemingly well-acclimatized immigrants into monsters is deeply disquieting to all Americans. 
     grievously injured Jeff Bauman right next to bomb --
Tamerlan, however, says on his webpage: "I don't have a single American friend. I don't understand them" - he was Islamized first by a neighbor (like that Captain Hassan shooter at Ft Hood by al Allahki)"in 2008 or 2009, Tamerlan met Misha, a slightly older, heavyset bald man with a long reddish beard. Khozhugov  believed they attended a Boston-area mosque together. Misha was an Armenian native and a convert to Islam and quickly began influencing his new friend, family members said." He was further radicalized in his 6 month trip to violent Dagestan in Jan 2012, where 2-3 of his militant friends were killed, he then dragged his popular brother into it- yes apparently. According to a boxing coach, Tamerlan had recently changed, becoming disrespectful and belligerent at a gym, and had twice disrupted conciliatory sermons at a Boston mosque: “You are a Kafir” – a nonbeliever, he yelled, before he was ejected. He had, in the US, turned his mother devout and she him (she started wearing a veil) and given up boxing, infuriating his more worldly boxer father and contributing to their separation 2 years ago and separate return to Dagestan. "Muslims don't punch men in the face," he told his father. He had a wife and child from (now in) N. Kingston, RI (she also adopted hajib), who hasn't talked, except to make an apology. Dzhokhar was an oceanography student at U-Mass Dartmouth, but was flunking; Tamerlan had quit Bunker Hill Community College. 

Cops are now investigating their links to a triple murder where 3 guys inc a "best friend" of Tam had their throats slit, and were left covered in marijuana! (both brothers smoked). When? On Sept 11, 2011. Chechens don't take being cheated well, or maybe the dudes had been disrespectful to Islam, making the irresponsible leap that they were responsible. As usual, the media rushed to judgement- NY Post ran a front page picture of an innocent "suspect", CNN had numerous facts wrong (inc.- an arrest has been made). But the malignant power of Social Media was graphically and tragically displayed in the probable 5th bombing death- that of Indian Philly Brown student Sunil Tripatha, who was falsely identified as the bomber on Reddit and Twitter, and pulled out of the Providence River April 23rd.
 

These guys were ethnic Chechens, but grew up in Kyrgystan, the dirt poor ex-Soviet republic bordering China, moved to Russian Dagestan, bordering Chechnya in 2001 (which has been subject to much war, attacks, and brutality, but not wholesale slaughter of Chechnya), then perhaps to Kazakhstan (where Stalin exiled them all in 1943, killing many)- Dzhokhar came to Boston in 2002; his brother slightly later.  Dzhokar became an American citizen on (get this) Sept 11, 2012, while his brother probably was denied because he had had a domestic abuse charge against him.

Chechens are the fierce proud wild people from the Russian Caucasian mountains that have regularly been slaughtered by Russians for 2 centuries- they fought 2 recent wars 1994-1996, and 1999-2001 after Chechen had declared independence the day I arrived in Nov '91, successfully for 3 years. They were the MOST dangerous Mafiya group in Moscow in the early days, very quick to blow away anyone (when I saw groups on the st. I crossed to the other side), and had a full-scale gang war with the Russian Mob in 1993, with shootouts every 2 days, sometimes near me. Went to a cafe once next to a Chechen group and watched them brutally pour drinks for their beautiful moll, "Here, b-tch." 

Chechens murdered the US manager of the American Radison Slavansky Hotel at the end of their takeover, and the brother of my We/Mui editor  Peter Klebnikov- the Russian Forbes editor Paul (also near Kievskaya Metro) in 2004, several journalists, and probably a Brown U. student at Moscow State U who flew out the window (they rented rooms to thug non-students who robbed neighbors). Turns out the Chechen responsible for Klebnikov, who was found innocent in 2006, then had that innocence decision reversed- is now in prison for 10 years in UAE.    Chechen War ruins

Chechens have been a constituent of every Muslim freedom-fight/jihaddist struggle, inc. Afghanistan + Syria- they are highly prized for their fierceness, dedication, toughness, experience with bombs and heavy arms- and are utterly fearless. But they do have a tendency to be uncontrollable- even during the worst of the Russian Wars, they spent half their time killing each other. Their current leader, semi-loyal to Moscow, Ramzan Kadyrov, is a truly vicious character- he's been tied to many tortures and murders inc. maybe journalist Politkovskaya, and runs his fiefdom like a Mafia Don. They, along with Tamils, more or
less invented suicide bombings and the voluntary use of women in them- many of the explosions in Moscow (inc the horrific Roosya Theater attack+ Beslan school bombings- biggest world terrorism since 9-11) were carried out by Chechens in retaliation for the killing of maybe 20% of their country in 1994-2001 and the reduction of capital Grozny to rubble. They can be fiercely loyal + honorable too, reportedly if you are under someone's  protection, they will shoot their friend to protect you. But Chechen revenge made Sicilians' look like child's play- I have video of them beheading a live Russian soldier- never watched it; ran out of the room screaming. Since I almost went to these  war zones, don't need that in my nightmares.

Chechens were never considered a threat to US, because their terrorism was mostly directed against Russia, despite long leader links with OBL, a fact wilfully ignored by neocons- to tragic effect in 9-11. In fact, had hack FBI supervisors (Maltbie, Rolince, Frasca, who all got promotions) not obstructed the investigation of the 20th hijacker in Mpls., Moussaoui- even  AFTER the first plane hit, the 9-11 attacks could have been stopped, and the Afghanistan War, treasonous Iraq Invasion, and destruction of our liberties wouldn't have happened. Tamerlan went to visit his parents (who had recently returned) in Dagestan in Jan 2012 for 6 months, during which time there were maybe 100 killed in Russian troop or police vs separatist rebel battles. A year before Russia had notified the FBI that  Tsarnaev was a ‘‘follower of radical Islam’’ and was preparing to travel to this foreign country to join unspecified underground groups. The FBI interviewed him then, and found nothing to raise alarms, course they missed 5 reports about hostile arrogant Muslims learning to fly Boeings who didn't want to learn to land (the hard part + quite terrifying cause you go slow, have little + mushy control, and can stall/fall out of sky easily). His Twitter feed links an apparent Jihaddist video. They had a huge cache of weapons and similar bombs in their apartment, so evidently were planning more attacks. Well, what do you expect when you name a child after a genocidal Mongol monster (Tamerlane) who conquered half the known world (w his Khans).

         my articles + talk show:  
CRIME  STORY -(gif) Dec 94 - UNTOLD STORY of REASONS Behind 1st CHECHEN WAR - Exclusive; Hijackings of Buses with Children, Raids + Stripping of Trains, Hundreds of Billions of Counterfeiting, Vicious Chechen Mafia; Historical Genocides and Hatreds; STORY Western Media repeated was simplistic "Soviet Bear Rising" HTML vers 

        DOWNLOAD REALPLAYER (RealOne basic- 8 meg)                          (wait for download box) Some players can do realplayer (try open with..) 
RUSSIAN MAFIA + CHECHEN WAR (realaudio)- KUOW-FM Seattle- NPR- Weekday Talk Show on Chechen War + rise of Russian Mafiya- MH only guest - Dec 94 - 20 min ALT (if doesn't load) REALPLAYER re article CRIME STORY  NPR Comments on Moscow theater hostage storming- slider to 25:30 (realaudio)  

BOSTON GLOBE:  the night’s outbreak of violence began when police received reports of a robbery of a convenience store in Kendall Square near MIT. A few minutes later, an MIT police officer, who has not been identified, was shot multiple times while in his cruiser at Main and Vassar streets, near Building 32, better known as the renowned Stata Center on the MIT campus.


The officer was pronounced dead at Massachusetts General Hospital. A short time later, two men carjacked a Mercedes SUV at gunpoint, and the owner of that car was able to flee at a gas station on Memorial Drive.


The SUV proceeded out Memorial Drive toward Watertown followed by a long train of police vehicles in pursuit. At one point during the pursuit, the two suspects opened fire on Watertown police and a Transit Police officer, who was shot and who remains in stable condition at a Boston-area hospital this morning.
Victims killed --


During the gunfight, Suspect No. 1 was wounded and was taken into custody. This morning, Dr. Richard Wolfe said the man was brought to the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center emergency room about 1:10 a.m. with multiple traumatic injuries and died.


 "Investigators have also recovered a circuit board and components of the bombs, enabling them to determine that they consisted of two six-liter pressure cookers packed with nails, metal and ball bearings...
      The one that exploded first was placed on the ground on Boylston Street, across from finish-line viewing stands where dignitaries, including Governor Deval Patrick, had been sitting earlier. The second was placed on the ground about 75 to 100 yards down the street, outside the Forum restaurant at 755 Boylston, according to the official.The bombs, detonated about 12 seconds apart, killed three people and injured 176 others, including 17 who are still in critical condition."


I really thought it was some neo-Nazi nut who'd seen Blown Away (Jeff Bridges Boston bombing) movie 50 times. Why? Boston- Gov Patrick is black and Obama, gay marriage, et al. have made these people crazy. The date is extremely significant- TAX DAY and PATRIOTS DAY- but this is the witching period for all RW extremist whackos- the anniversary of 10 events.  I covered it all in my sidebar article on a long copycat shooters story- see WACO below. It's possible there is some cross-pollination now between Muslim + domestic terrorists in info + planning- the pressure cooker was on some Al Qaida manual, but the time period is Christmas for right-wing crazies.

NYT story said it was a similar size to 96 Atlanta Olympics bombing, a pipe bomb that killed only 1 (2nd guy had a heart attack). No- this one killed 3, 17 critical, and hurt 176- 14 lost legs. I think gunpowder wasn't powerful enough for these effects- but the pressure cooker is fiendish, masking scent from dogs, resisting explosion to create higher velocity, and providing big slashing shrapnel. Turns out Tam bought $200 of mortar fireworks kits in NH, not enough gunpowder for the 5 or more bombs they had (used 2, threw 1 at cops, and police said they found more "bombs" in aptmt).

His well-spoken lawyer aunt (Toronto) and 1 uncle Ruslan (Md) here have strongly denounced (videos) the brahs (who can resist their 15 minutes- 2nd Md uncle was dubiously stunned), but their separated mother and father ("This was a setup- my sons were innocent"- Zubeidat; "He was an angel"-Ansor), in the convoluted Slavic way, are convinced it was some big conspiracy, and were first returning here from Dagestan. Tam supposedly called his mother, "The police, they have started shooting at us, they are chasing us," Mrs. Tsarnaeva says, though her stories have changed and and beliefs are disjointed. FBI and FSB just interviewed the couple in Russia- there you are ordered to come to headquarters. An estranged sister, Alina, in NJ, was apologetic through a cracked door: "I don't know what got into them."


There is something deeply contemptible about dedicated sportsmen targeting this most universal, conjoining, inspirational, and democratic sports event. I followed the Boston Marathon once halfway, took pics and let leaders pass at the midpoint- I thought I could catch up to them on bike and take pics of winners, but peddling as hard as I could, almost killing myself, could only just keep pace with them for 13 miles or so! These people are supermen+women. And I've been to the burial mound of the real Marathon in Greece in an Olympic year, where 300 Spartans held off 10,000 Persians, or some such unbelievable numbers. [Who know though, considering what the handful of Conquistadors did to the Incans - 156 slaughtered over 5000 in some hideous battle- they had armor, horses, steel swords- all unseen before]. The runner raced back to Athens with the news- 26 miles, told them, "WE WON" and dropped dead- like I almost did on my bike. I despise them not just for mindlessly attacking innocents, but for enabling the ever-encroaching police state created to "prevent" it. I believe I ran into 2 9-11 hijackers at a Ft Lauderdale library in April 2001, and am still haunted by the fact that I might have stopped them (911 Predictions + Dreams). 

They charged Joker at his bedside with federal "weapon of mass destruction" offenses w the death penalty. Of course, the Bobsy twins (McCain + Graham-cracker) and other Repub patriot yahoos were demanding the US CITIZEN be tried as an "enemy combatant", somehow forgetting that our citizenship is not revoked at will. Unlike say Nazi Germany, where being a Jew, gypsy, Catholic, Socialist, Communist, retarded, etc. was sufficient grounds to become a lampshade. Maybe we should waterboard him, hang him by arms and beat his legs till dead (like innocent taxicab drivers at Abu Graib). Actually I wouldn't care too much in his case, but he will sing for candy bars: American terrorists are big talkers. And he will be very popular in prison- lowest on every social rung- a fate worse than death. These chumps were planning to go to the Big Apple and bomb Times Sq.- all they did was earn the lasting enmity of the most powerful country on earth; they already had that of the 2nd most powerful... and the Chechens' cause will be henceforth ignored by the US, which had pressured Russia against their worst depredations.

If you had bet me America would be almost untouched by Islamic terror for 12 years after 9-11, I would have taken 100-1 odds against it (though Ft. Hood attack was terrorism). But perhaps it's better to not think of this as Muslim fanaticism or imported terror... but more as just 2 more disaffected American mass shooters who just reached further afield for their "motivation". After all, the daily news provides endless inspiration (Dexter?- now serial killers are the hero?), and hatred has no nationality. Why didn't they attack Russia, who had, has, and is killing Chechens every week? Simple, they were now Americans; it was easier, the media megaphone is 1000x louder here, and if you are making a statement, you want to make it to your countrymen. Or against them.

RICIN SENDER CAUGHT IN MISS




UPDATE: Curtis, first arrested and charged, was CLEARED and released, but that doesn't mean he isn't nuts (talks with Piers Morgan). An enemy who ran a tae-kwondo school and ran for Miss. legislature,
J. Everett Dutschke, may have framed him- Curtis was bipolar and sent lunatic letters about body part conspiracies, but police found no evidence of ricin or even computer searches. Now Dutschke is under arrest- they say they found traces of ricin on various items at his home.

Ricin is nasty stuff (pinhead is fatal), amazingly comes from castor beans (6 lethal), and was used in the famous London Bulgarian KGB umbrella pellet assassination of dissident broadcaster Georgi Markov. Had the hideous castor oil laxative when I was a kid- wonder how many mothers realize just a little mistake in manufacture and they are sending kid to real never-never land! 
-- Dutschke
Incredibly, Paul Kevin Curtis was a Christian rock + roller who had performed for Sen. Wicker as a pretty good Elvis impersonator. Apparently he was bipolar, with an obsession about government plots- including the body parts business.
   click for video
WACO AMMONIA EXPLOSION

Big question is - is the ammonia gas/nitrate explosion (1-2 kiloton TNT?) by Waco just incredible coincidence day before 20th anniversary of Waco shootout/OKC explosion?????? Also was the anniversary of monster Texas City ship fertilizer (all ammonium nitrate) explosion that was worst industrial accident in US history- it went off like small nuke + killed almost 600. Thing is, stuff explodes with some frequency in Texas with their lax inspections and oversight, usually connected with fertilizer or oil. Video 15 have died so far, a miracle, considering the shredded 50-unit aptmt complex below.

Apparently ammonia gas isn't that explosive:

"The perfect mixture of ammonia vapors and heat in narrow ranges would have been required to cause yesterday’s deadly explosion at a Texas fertilizer plant. 

"Anhydrous ammonia, a nitrogen-hydrogen combination used as a crop nutrient, has a tight explosive window that needs a precise ratio of liquid to vapor, said John Goodpaster, an assistant professor at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis who researches explosives. The “sweet spot” is 16 percent to 25 percent vapor by volume, he said." - Forbes 
 But  it turns out there were huge stores of ammonium nitrate- the cheap solid fertilizer that is converted entirely to gas on explosion- mixed with fuel oil it was used in the OKC bombing and is a favorite of terrorists cause fertilizers are .


Why this week is Christmas for US RW extremists:
http://hammernews.com/cleardangers.htm  2005


=== There are  a couple of urgent risks
looming in the next month, if you spend enough time studying Loren Coleman’s important new book  THE COPYCAT EFFECT  and talking to him. First is the risk of students copying shootings that happened in Red Lake MN. The one month anniversary of that shooting is near the nightmare time for all schools and domestic terrorism personnel.  First is Patriots Day (the start of the American Revolution in the battles of Lexington and Concord- April 19 actually, but now celebrated on the third Monday of April- the 15th in 2013, celebrated only in Mass.), The 19th is the day the Waco Koresh compound burned in 1993 (photo) ---, AND the tenth anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing and CSA right-wing racist Richard Snell’s execution in 1995, AND the day of Federal raid on an earlier extremist murderous Christian Identity group (inc. Snell) The Covenant, Sword, and Arm (CSA) in northern Arkansas in 1985- ten years before OK City.
-- Branch Davidian Fire, Waco 1993
Kerry Noble was the second in command of the CSA in the 4 day standoff, which came a hair from ending in a bloodbath like Waco. He negotiated the surrender of 80 odd people, who had 30 gallon vats of cyanide and plans for putting it in a towns’ water supply, and plans in 1984 for attacking the Murrah Federal Bldg. that Timothy McVeigh destroyed a decade later.*    “It’s not like the (right-wing) movement picked April 19th,” said Noble in an interview w me: “Our siege started on the 19th, the Waco fire started then, then you had Snell’s execution set for April 19th- the (extremist) movement considered that a slap in the face.”   Since imprisoned and reformed, Noble wrote Tabernacle of Hate about his experiences.

The next day, April 20 is worse: it’s the date of the horrific school shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton CO in 1999 (which now closes then) and the date of Hitler’s birthday. Jeff Weise, the hulking 6’ 250 lb. teased Goth shooter in Red Lake, was a Nazi dabbler. The day after that, April 21st, is the one month anniversary of Red Lake.  “Between April 18th and 26th is the window where we could see some school shootings,” warns Coleman.   The extreme importance of dates among troubled individuals and religio-extremists can’t be overemphasized. Noble explains,    “Why is something happening on this day? What is the historical, spiritual, and symbolic significance behind that day. If it’s something you’re initiating, then you want God’s blessing. The number 30 (day interval) has the significance of maturity or responsibility or redemption.”   Often copycat events often happen a week, or a month later; or on the same day of the month, or on the anniversary in a later year. ===

It is long time for a huge prophylactic housecleaning of Neo-Nazi groups, who've been threatening BO left and right (remember  those clowns in FL with heavy weapons who wanted to kill Obama- one flash, then news disappeared). The Secret Service has been inundated with 5 times the previous threats.

JUDD FOR/ON THE DEFENSE


Here's why Ashley Judd pulled out of KY Senate race, perhaps. It is fascinating to listen to the mechanics of an Repub oppo meeting, I've done them for Dems in commercials, and still amazed no one had the fortitude to dig up details of Romney's secret bank accounts. It's not too vicious, but anyone getting into politics has to accept the spectacular levels of Repub smears nowadays, and listening to these clowns chuckle and guffaw at every embarrassing statement she's ever made must be sobbering. Most Hollywood people have too many skeletons, most people do, unless, like GB2 they've spent big money and threats to dissolve them.

Full Transcript and Audio of Mitch McConnell Campaign's Meeting on Ashley Judd
In a private meeting, the Senate GOP leader and campaign aides discussed using the actor/activist's mental health and religious views as political ammo.

FACEBOOK CHARGING $1/email
If you don't already hate FB, here's another good reason- the swine now don't let you send a message to someone unless you're "connected" (Mafia pals, friends, previous messages?) that will actually reach them- unless you pay $1/message it will go to "other" folder (Spam). By this "greed is good" philosophy, you can't send an introduction or greeting in a friends request because that would defeat the purpose of bleeding the billion or so suckers that form their empire.. so also forget reaching many famous or notable people who aren't easily findable by other means. They probably bitched about their Spam level so much that the FB emperors realized "ohhh, big money possible". So when these unknown people make a friends request of me (I wouldn't confirm w/o an intro), I can't even ask them who they are, or if we met... without paying a dollar. FB is so universal that of the 5-6 Michael Hammerschlags I found in the last 4 years, 2-3 of them I've ONLY seen on FB- no trace anywhere else on the Internets (as GB2 said- wonder if the chump uses it now that he's an official non-person), even on the fascist pay info investigative sites.

Saturday, March 30, 2013

STILL THE UN, CYPRUS STEALING, IRAQ TREASON ANNIVERSARY, WORLDWIDE SNOWSTORM, NAT. SECURITY LETTERS OVERTURNED, BEREZOVSKY DEAD, JURASSIC PARK, KILLER SPECIES

STILL THE UN
4/4/13
The latest manufactured crisis by the despicable new pudgemaster on a permanent bad hair day- Kim Jong Un, has the potential to go critical, since South Korea is fed up with their 60 years of brutal terrorist attacks- the latest ones in 2010, sinking a SK ship with some minisub mine and shelling an island on the border, killed 50 people. S. Korea has been constrained from retaliating because of the 30,000 NK artillery pieces within range of 23 million in Seoul, that could unleash a spectacular barrage- they could be destroyed by counterstrikes, but it would take time (although SK did fire back at the artillery attack).
                                   Taepo-dong 1-
 Several factors make this more dangerous than the 20 previous crises:
0. NK has cancelled the 1953 armistice that was a cease-fire in the Korean War, so literally- they are back at war!
1. New Prez Park Geun-Hye had her mother killed in a 2nd NK assassination attempt on her father in  '74
2. NK has nukes, not missile-launchable yet (we think), but they probably still have tunnels into the South (or by minisub) and could easily smuggle them in.
3. Criticism of the lack of SK reaction after the 2010 killings
4. Young, arrogant, and inexperienced Un's need to show toughness to senior military and leaders.
5. Same situation with Park in male-dominated SK
6. NK shutdown of 3 hotlines designed to prevent catastrophic miscalculation
7. They've shut down the Kaesong Complex for S Korean managers -the manufacturing park on the border that produces millions in desperately needed hard currency by making parts for SK. SK workers are evacuating it.
8. NK has warned foreign embassies that they can't "protect" them. They've moved 2 (1800 mi. range) missiles to mobile launchers on the east coast.
9. They've said they would restart a mothballed plutonium factory.
9. America too, is sick of turning the other cheek to the Jongs' infantile jousts, and has responded with B2 + B52 overflights of SK, stationing F-22's in SK, more anti-missile ships and batteries.

It's time for China to put a stop to this nonsense- a complete embargo till he stands down. Or see how well China's economy does if any kind of shooting war starts. This is a nuclear armed country, with maybe 4-8 weapons, and missiles that can reach the US mainland- such crazy talk is just not acceptable.     North Koreans attend a rally against the U.S. and South Korea in Nampo, North Korea, April 3, 2013 

I thought years ago the US should shoot down Kim's plane over the Pacific on his world tour- the Kim Jongs have been the scourge of their country, refusing aid while 2 million of their 22 million people starved to death 10-13 years ago, banned even from foraging for food. List of NK terrorist attacks
My nuclear articles

CYPRUS STEALING
The 30-60% confiscation of big depositors assets (+100,000 Eu - 37% converted to shares, up to 22% appropriated!) seems to move the bank fraud/theft/gambling epic into totally new territory- now the unsecured depositors (which all regular depositors are) may be raided to pay for the malfeasance, mismanagement, recklesness of their banks or country. Cyprus is a special case, the EU didn't want to spend EU money to save the vast stores of hot Russian money-laundered cash, while Russians didn't want to pay to save the banks of an alien alliance. It seems obvious, though, that this HAS to provoke massive capital flight from banks in troubled countries like Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Italy by big investors- the RUN that all regulators have been dedicated to preventing since the 30's, especially since the Dutch architect says, "this will be the pattern for the future"! That in turn could cause the collapse of these banks and thus the whole EU monetary zone- it may be that this was the domino of allowing Lehman Bros. to fail and people will look back at the stupidity of it.

Worse, the US is also talking about it, somehow shifting the responsibility for criminal or bad bank decisions to the hapless depositor (middle class) by, of all parties, the FDIC, the people who insure our money!!!! Apparently regular depositors are unsecured, whereas the wildly speculative gambles of credit default swaps ARE secured- they get their money first- like all the gamblers did in the 2008 bailout. The cornerstone of the world monetary system has been that your money is SAFE and SECURE in banks- they have now pried that rock out of the ground and empires could fall because of it.

 Few know or understand the mega-lie at the heart of the US bank bailout. These big bank imbeciles actually kept 30% of the garbage mortgage bonds they hawked around the world, now worthless since they were leveraged 30x (only had 3% of real cash in them). In the monstrous secret bailout by 7 new Fed agencies in Sept-Mar 2008-9, a breathtaking 7.7 trillion of guarantees, loans, and grants were secretly funneled to the bleeding big boys, essentially unknown for 3 years (except by the inimitable Matt Taibbi). They agreed to let them carry trillions of dollars of their worthless Mortgage Backed Securities on their books at 100% value, allowing the illusion of liquidity. But technically, in reality, most big banks in America are bankrupt, and if they ever tried to cash in these guarantees, the system would probably blow up!!

LETS HAVE A TRIAL  FOR THE IRAQ ANNIVERSARY


I think the invasion of Iraq was treason pure and simple- there wasn't a single thing (even oil) the US got or could get (when the inevitable insurrection started) from it. Every reason was a bald-faced lie or corrupt profiteering or Oedipal delusion: 25 year drunk Bush wanted to show up his father for a lifetime of disrespect, Cheney wanted to enrich/save Halliburton and himself, Rummy wanted to test his faster lighter invasion theories, the neocons thought they would demonstrate US hegemony, secure a Middle East base and supply of oil, intimidate the terrorists, and create a Garden of Eden that all Middle Eastern countries would want to emulate. Rather than cause the 2011 Arab Spring, they probably delayed it by 5 years because of the burst of patriotism a 21st century superpower invasion engendered. Sadly the 5 yr statue of limitations for many of Bush's crimes (5500 buggings, which I bring thought would finally bring them down) is running out Jan 2014- Liz Holtzman begs for a Special Prosecutor now (fat chance):


Mother Jones has the absolute blizzard of lies the Bushman told to start, and excuse their foul project in Iraq organized- month by month, day by day. IRAQ LIES TIMELINE
The traitor Dick actually has the gaul to say he would do it again  on TV, would that some vet would debate him with a rifle butt. ("Hit it again, the same way!!" - which movie?) The Hell that Iraq still is is graphically explained here.
- looter breaking into arms depot w live artil-tank shells

I argued against the monstrous stupidity of the invasion 6 months before, on the eve of Invasion (thrashed Patrick Kennedy in 15 min debate), after the insurgency started suggested partition to prevent the civil war - 3 years later, the Senate voted about 90% for that, after Abu Graib, after the Plame affair (questioned Joe Wilson), about "We are fighting them there so they don't come here" reasoning, about the unbelievable incompetence and stupidity of our military allowing the insurgents to loot 250,000 tons of heavy weapons and bombs, etc, etc.

The primary one on the Invasion eve, where I had everything right but the worldwide attacks on US tourists:
FIRM of MIND, SOFT on FACTS - 3-18-03 Bush has, with a steady stream of lies, deceptions, and propaganda, has managed to convince half the country that Saddam supports Al Qaida or even was behind 9-11. Iraq invasion historic blunder that may echo through the decades- Liberal Slant, Bartcop

WORLDWIDE SNOWSTORM      Mar 24

Europe is getting hammered by 3 day blizzard that's probably the worst I've ever seen- constant 25-35mh (35-50kph) winds, unbelievable cold for end of March 10F (-12C and that bad till next Fri!!) and maybe 2 ft of snow so far. With the winds the windchill is -5 to -10F (-22C), and I got frostbit on one finger shovelling out the garage and entrance twice. I've lived in Mpls, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Madison, Boston during '78, been to Murmansk twice, Siberia, and never seen such a nasty storm
80 car pile-up in Hungary

It seems it is blizzard snowing across the world: Britain, Scotland, Ireland 6-12", US- Maine to Boston 6-12"; in the last 1-3 weeks: Japan (2M!), Hungary, Siberia in what may be some totally new weather phenomenon, linked to AGW (lot more moisture in air now- see below). This has been the 4th bitter miserable winter in a row, -31C last winter, Russia is having coldest winter in 75 years. NPR just said (Tues) there was snow on the ground in 32 states- a record for this late.

NYT:   From Ireland to Romania, unseasonable snowfalls have caused travel chaos, power outages and serious losses to livestock farmers during the coldest March in almost half a century.
Sun-starved Germans have endured their gloomiest winter in at least 43 years, while northern France is shivering.... 

Scientists have explained that the loss of Arctic sea ice as a result of global warming is disrupting the course and strength of the westerly jet stream, resulting in longer winters in some years. 
It seems the JetStream has been shifted 400 hundred miles northward since 1979, sometimes dragging polar air south. 

NATIONAL SECURITY LETTERS OVERTURNED
The evil secret demands for all info that carried Felony penalties for telling anyone (inc. libraries), stemming from the Patriot Act... have been overturned! This is good news, and the Supreme Repubs may even uphold it.


BEREZOVSKY
DEAD IN HIS HOME
I'm speculating, but Boris was perhaps #1 on Putin's hit list for his promotion of the DELETED DUE TO FACT THAT EVERYONE WHO HAS TOUCHED THIS STORY HAS BEEN KILLED. Rivals tried to kill Boris twice in 93-94 while I was there first, beheading his chauffeur with a bomb. Brits first didn't give a cause, but I've long expected his demise- the polonium they used to kill Litvinenko costs $9 million- the stuff is apparently the most valuable and most lethal substance known to man (50 nanograms is lethal)! He was a lowly brilliant mathematician who became a billionaire King in the Wild East. Brits now say it was hanging, with the bathroom door locked from within, but haven't ruled out foul play.

 Boris reelected Yeltsin in '96, and maybe “found” and promoted Putin, who then decided to crush all the oligarchs after DELETED. Berezovsky supposedly was depressed about losing a 6 billion suit against another tycoon Abramovich, paying $100 mil in divorce (welcome to "civilization"), and maybe had money problems. He was pining for Russia and wanted to return, supposedly asking Vlad, giving the Kremlin an opportunity to get close. He was a tough survivor - suicide is difficult to believe, but Russia is a bizarre brutal intoxicating place that some can't live without, yet if a dictator of an empire is sworn to destroy you, one must remain sceptical. His story is amazing.
 War of the Vladimirs.. Return to the Bad Old Days?- Putin Has Taken Control of 2 Other Networks; Strengthened Press Ministry; Prosecuted and Persecuted Gusinsky's (+ Berezovsky's) Media Empire- mediachannel.org

JURASSIC PARK
As we advance mindlessly to a mass human die-off from AGW, scientists have actually genetically sequenced the Neanderthal!!! Far out, except they were adapted for the Ice Ages. We need a Warming Man, who can take 50C heat, live on 30% of current food and water, breed slowly, endure hideous smog, etc.

KILLER SPECIES
Whether humans deserve to survive is another question: huge bands of poachers- 100 at a time with AK47s and RPGs, have slaughtered 62% of all African forest elephants in the last decade. Who is buying- all China, with the aid of their Embassy smuggling the tusks. They will be extinct in 10 years at this rate. Had a ballet GF who identified with them- dancers have poor body images.
As well, 5 Sharks have been listed as endangered, due to the filthy 100 million a year slaughter just to slice off their fins for Japaneses' soup. Humans killed by sharks: 10/year, so don't worry- I've swam with them, petted them, rapped them on the snout- we aren't fatty enough- they spit us out.

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

WHEREGO HUGO, SEND IN THE DRONES, US #3 BIGGEST + #1 HOTTEST, UNTOUCHABLES, BENGHAZI CONSULATE BURNED (in 1967); ASHLEY SIMPSON FOR SENATE, NEW DNA IN 15 Mil YR OLD LAKE, NEW POPE



WHEREGO HUGO

Hugo finally was dispatched by the Grim Reaper, after surviving coup/assassination attempts; the rage of Oil Cos, Heinz Ketchup, the powerful Venezuelan 1%, George Bush, et. al. His crime, according to Greggy Palast, was

---"Just after Bush's inauguration in 2001, Chavez' congress voted in a new "Law of Hydrocarbons." Henceforth, Exxon, BP, Shell, and Chevron would get to keep only 70 percent of the sales revenues from the crude they sucked out of Venezuela, from 84%. Not bad, considering the price of oil was rising towards $100 a barrel... Worse, Venezuela had been charging a joke of a royalty - just one percent - on "heavy" crude from the Orinoco Basin. Chavez told Exxon and friends they'd now have to pay 16.6 percent.

On April 11, 2002, President Chavez was kidnapped at gunpoint and flown to an island prison in the Caribbean Sea. On April 12, Pedro Carmona, a business partner of the US oil companies and president of the nation's Chamber of Commerce, declared himself President of Venezuela"---

Greggy is offering his 2008 BBC doc on Chavez for free download on his site. He can be a little sloppy in his journalism- I've caught mistakes- but this is interesting.    pic- Acting Prez Maduro

The extremely strange restoration of Hugo in 2002 came because he had been forewarned a coup was in the works, and had secreted units of commandos in the Prez Palace, who came out and demanded his return at gunpoint. Iran + Libya had then embargoed oil to America and supposedly, GB2 was terrified Venezuela would too. Venez has 5x more oil reserves than Saudi Arabia, though it's heavy tarry oil, expensive to get.

Gotta wonder, though, doesn't the CIA have drugs that can give one.... cancer?? Sadly, leftist populist former Veep replacement Maduro has accused America of just that- poisoning Chavez, not out of the realm of possibility, considering the neocon killers Bush surrounded himself with, but still very stupid, when he should be turning over a new leaf w Obama/Kerry. Probably plays well w his base.
                 Chavez on USS Yorktown --
He has been sworn in as Prez and expected to win the election in a month. Wonder how Kerry (w Heinz wife, whose unused plantations were appropriated by Chavez for the poor) is gonna handle this- he's off to a good start, I think alot better than Rice would have been. Chavez was an important and semi-noble leader, he had some totalitarian impulses, but shattering the dominance of the tiny white "Spanish" overlords who brutally suppressed the Indians and blacks for a half millennium is gonna take some breaking of eggs. Caracas has massive favelas; Venez was perhaps the most unequal country in South America; now there are schools and health clinics in the favelas. He reduced the massive 58% poverty by half and malnutrition by 3/4 by Soviet style food price controls and a chain of highly (up to 50%) discounted supermarkets. He created several S.Am. international agencies (ALBA) like OAS or IMF to lend money. Incredibly, he doled out maybe $15 bil to other newly leftist SA governments (inspired by him, perhaps his lasting legacy) in aid, beating IMF, MF, US significantly; and more in cheap oil (26 cents/gal in Venez). He didn't really turn against the US until after the 2002 coup, likely sponsored by US (the Ambassador rushed to the palace to have pic taken with new Prez), but he said stupid things after 9-11 that earned US ire.

 He first tried a failed military coup in 1992 after creating a secret Army socialist org. as a military instructor, was allowed to go on TV to stop it, and used that to become a hero- served only 2 years in jail. He won his 4 elections 1998, 2000, 2007, 2012 by a massive 60%, so his autocracy was democratically approved all the way. The new 1999 Constitution he pushed through was hailed by international orgs as much better and fairer, though he ignored it at will and ruled by decree.

On flip side, Chavez became a huge friend of Fidel from the beginning, worse a big buddy of Ahmadinejad and every anti-American dictator, and worst directly supported the murderous kidnapping drug-running FARC rebels in Columbia (though the Gov, Army, and Cartels were all murderous vermin there). The only reason US didn't depose him was our distraction with Iraqistan and the WOT, also why the "pink wave" in SA flourished. In his growing autocracy, he crushed much of the free press, jailed opponents, and seized any business he wanted. The economy went downhill under his command- even more dependent (70 to 86%) on oil exports, and crime exploded (murder tripled-quadrupled in Caracas- had most murders in world in 2009). Caracas sits at about 2400-2900ft, so has maybe the most mild temps in the world- they range from 60-80F; record low + high are only 50 and 90F. By his last election, he'd lost most of the middle class, but still got 55%. Course being on USA's sh*t list has a negative affect on all indicators. He was deathly ill for the last 6 months, riddled with cancer, but kept it secret, having treatment in Cuba.  Sorry I didn't interview him- I had a oil rich Venez friend in Maracaibo from college, and friends were encouraging me to check him out.

SEND IN THE DRONES

US marches blithely into a scary non-brave new world with our aerial robot spies/killers. According to this amazing story, 10,000's are already here. On Point radio show

This is terrifying business: Every bit of privacy anywhere, except in off-line phone-less window-less underground rooms... will soon disappear. Wait till LA cops get their hands on these.

Never thought I'd honor anything a Tea Party nut does, but Rand Paul's 13 hour real filibuster against US-citizen-killer drones (+Brennen's nomination) had elements of nobility. I had some Libertarian beliefs, esp about drugs, the War on which is our original sin that has done more to pervert and destroy America than anything else. Someone must question this pushbutton killing of Americans (Anwar AA sure deserved it, but his 16 yo son?)- I more or less trust Obama with it, but another Cheney??!@#$ I actually support drones- I think the collateral deaths are "only" 30-40% of the actual targets- far lower than any method of war ever. Would people really prefer bombing strikes, artillery, naval shelling? These historically killed 2-10 times more innocents. Yes, drones are cowardly and far too easy and enrage tribal people more than anything else, and soon, others will have them... but we still have mortal enemies (shouldn't vermin like the schoolgirl Malala's attempted assassins be exterminated?), and would you rather have US soldiers on the ground?    Amy Goodman's Democracy Now bravo:

WE'RE #3

Quick, what # is US in nation size? I learned #4 in school, after USSR/Russia, Canada, and China, but weany geo-revisionists apparently downgraded China in 1986, lopping off enough territory that every list now has US as #3. In fact Canada, also in a dead heat with US, has 3 times more inland water (lakes)- without them, US is #2!!!!!!!!!! 70% of Canada is uninhabitable arctic wasteland anyway- let's get them "downgraded"- we're number 2!!!! Actually I hate this tinkering with stats- give me back my Pluto as the 9th planet... but it is kinda cool. The main difference (researched it) was removing the Bohai Sea, an enclosed Chesapeake-like bay west of N. Korea that is the monster port of Beijing. And the highest and biggest mtn on Earth is really the Big Island of Hawaii (31,300ft from ocean bottom, 1000 mi. diameter at base, 100 mi at surface). Pics

And in another amazing revision, they downgraded the 90 yr old record high world temp from Libya- 136F, so NOW, America is officially the hottest place in the world - 134F (57C) in Death Valley 100 years ago, which I've seen from the top of Mt. Whitney, but never reached.

 Temps are all taken in the shade- ever wonder what a high sunny temp was? 201F in 1972 in Death Valley's Furnace Creek! Think that would be fatal pretty quickly. The high temps are because of the low altitude (-282 Ft) and  so higher pressure, denser air can transmit temp better by the speedy bouncing gas molecules.

While we play Guiness (beer) stats, which is bigger- Antarctica, Australia, Brazil, or Greenland?  How about Russia and South America*

Biggest Cities in metro pop are 1. Tokyo 36 mil, 2. Jakarta 26 m, 3. Seoul 23m, 4. Delhi 21-2m, 5. tie: NYC, Mexico City, Shanghai, Manila, Sao Paolo, Karachi all ~20 m.    NOTE: big disparities exit in lists, depending on where they end metro area

UNTOUCHABLES

The FRONTLINE doc Jan 22, The Untouchables, that investigated TBTP (to big to prosecute) and had Justice's Lanny Breuer explain how they had to take collateral damage in account, went off like a mortar round- Breuer quit the next day! Taibbi investigates another whistleblower thrown under the bus by Bush judges. Speak of which 4 of 11 slots on the crucial #2 court DC Court of Appeals are empty for years now- the result of Reid's cowardice in not Killing Phil... waiting for a Repub restoration.
Liz Warren, bless her, has been screeching about the HSBC Mafia/terrorist/cartel agent scumbags getting off with a fine (now they do criminal prosecutions of corps and just FINE THEM? - guess they are people).

REPEATING HISTORY

US diplomats under siege by a crazed violent mob, Benghazi Consulate sacked + burned, employees desperately burning classified docs, rescue APC immolated by gasoline. 2012?, no, 1967. The provocation was the start of the 6 Day War, and some BS story that the US was bombing Cairo. Incredibly, despite being on fire, the Embassy peeps held out in what was a bank bldg (w giant vault doors) till rescued by a Brit column without major injuries, but a 5 man Brit APC crew were burned alive first trying.

ASHLEY JUDD FOR KY SENATE
While seriously beautiful, we never were a giant fan of Ashley Judd- there was something creepily Southern controlling in her movie performances (though “Ruby” was good); however, we are wholesale cheering her on in her anticipated run against the detestable mush-mouth Slug of the Senate- Mitch McConnell, who has left a corrupt corporate trail of slime wherever he goes. “He's never done one good thing,” according to my pathologically self-inflating Ky pal Harvey. It would take some star power to dislodge the venal Slug, engorged by decades of suckling on the big tobacco, oil, pharma, et al, tits. UPDATE: Sadly, Ashley has decided not to run, no doubt due to some Rovian reminder of her risque photos and videos- few actresses don't have some of that in their career.

MARS ON EARTH

Russians who have drilled 2 1/2 miles through the Antarctic ice cap at the coldest place on Earth (Vostok- at top of ice plateau -125F) to the geothermally melted L.Ontario-size LakeVostok, sealed off for at least 15 million years!!!! say they have discovered NEW LIFE, bacteria whose DNA is only 86% correspondent to anything known- a huge difference in DNA (over 90% means unknown). Utterly amazing, all life from the simplest virus, to 500 mil old horseshoe crabs, to the billion year old nucleus-less nori seaweed, to the dinosaurs, to blind sulfur-eating thermophilic tube worms, to us, functions with this one miraculous molecule. Wonder how many other living molecules there are splayed across the infinite trillions of planets- now they think most stars have solid planets (they are finding them daily, even Earth-like Goldilocks planets). Maybe 60% of the billions of visible lights in the heavens are galaxies with billions of stars each! We are but a mote in the grand design, and there are endless wonders ahead... but an advanced species, confronted with people like Stalin or Inhofe or Scalia ... might think it better to sterilize the planet, lest the infection spread. No worries- we are on track to catastrophically reducing man's footprint on Earth.

 *  Actually Antarctica is huge, 1/6 smaller than Russia and twice the size of Australia- Greenland is small, smaller than the Congo, Australia is 3.6x bigger- it's the horrible distortion in polar zone maps that makes it look the size of S. America, but Brazil (or US) is bigger than the Australian continent. South America is just a little bigger than Russia, significantly smaller than the old SU.

POPE OF GREENWICH VILLAGE?

The new Argentinian Pope is about as good as we can hope from the conservative cardinals- a pastoral (grazes on grass?) humble guy concerned with the poor, brutal inequality, and charitable works (the best thing about Catholicism); but he is also pretty conservative, rejecting any liberalization in priestly marriage, sex, or female members; abortion, even contraception (which +90 of all Catholics support and necessary to save the planet). With the exception of Poland + Ireland, Catholicism has become irrelevant in the 1st world because of their intransigence on these issues.. and the enormously evil sex abuse scandals that are a direct result of their antiquated and perverse strictures. He rides buses and lives in a normal aptmt in BA, a good sign, but he is, at 76, an interim Pope and sop to the Americas, who have the majority of Catholics now. Actually though, he looks in very good shape, maybe he'll last a while.

The harsh New World inequality has been a boon to the Church, though, and the almost perverse obsession with the Crucification in Mexico and Central/South America disquieting. From growing up in the most Catholic US state, I've long thought they have a certain vested interest in keeping the masses poor + ignorant - and they were of course, a huge part of the obscenely brutal Spanish colonial power structure that created that condition [When Columbus landed in Haiti/DR, there were maybe 500K Taino Indians (1st "Indians"), after only 14 years of disease, murder, enslavement, torture, there were only 60,000; after another 20 years, they were eradicated.]

There are lingering questions about  Francis's actions during the 1976-83 Dirty War by the Juntu Generals, who murdered thousands of "Leftists", including 2 Bishops + many priests. It was high time to bring the Church into the 20th Century, but maybe he will at least inveigh against the evil bankers that have been looting the world.