9/29/2022

Goofy Tucker

"American television host Tucker Carlson blamed the US administration for trying to sabotage the pipelines, an act of environmental terrorism. He alleged that by blowing up the Nord Stream pipelines, the US is directly at war with a country with the world’s largest nuclear power plant. He further warned that there might be a counterattack by Russia."

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2022/09/28/tucker_carlson_the_the_us_blow_up_the_nord_stream_pipelines.html

______

What a Clown!  And we all know people who actually believe his malarkey.

Think about this for a minute.  For the USA to sabotage an underwater pipeline would require a nuclear submarine. The crew would know what is going on. Some of them would talk.

Should you not have a little proof before you make wild accusations?  Apparently not this guy.

______________

Russia, of course, loves this:

https://sputniknews.com/

http://rt.com/

________________

Some people think Tucker is paid by the Rooskies. I don't think so - he is much more likely to be what the Russians call a "Useful Idiot", which is someone who believes their propoganda and promotes it.




9/23/2022

Giant Solar Trees

 


The trees generate electricity, provide shade, and let plenty of sunshine in for vegetation.


Click for more information

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20220105-why-is-this-country-so-resilient

9/22/2022

Ukrainian Gains

 


"Breakthrough

Russia is searching for a defensive position it can hold. So far, it’s tough going. The NYT has a fantastic map / explainer:


Russia has fallen back into a defensive position, trying to use the Oskil River as a defensive barrier. But Ukrainians have already breached a few points along the river, and the area is “ripe for exploitation,” said George Barros, an analyst for the Institute for the Study of War.

That’s a problem. And the defensive line is long enough that Russia is going to be hard pressed to cover it all. Meaning that the Ukrainian intelligence advantage could, once again, be determinative.

Here is a thing you do not see in successful war efforts: The supreme leader announces a “partial mobilization.” And immediately, his subjects start trying to flee the country:"


Click to read the full article:

https://thetriad.thebulwark.com/p/bad-gets-worse



Navy Seals at Coronado

 



















NAB Coronado at Night


















Click for more photos

https://photos.app.goo.gl/VrQzoMUKcbRrqfrRA



9/21/2022

The Rule of Law - Attorney General Merrick Garland

 “The protection of law – the Rule of Law – is the foundation of our system of government,” Garland said. And he went on to emphasize that no one — no one — is above that law.

The Rule of Law means that the same laws apply to all of us, regardless of whether we are this country’s newest citizens or whether our [families] have been here for generations.

The Rule of Law means that the law treats each of us alike: there is not one rule for friends, another for foes; one rule for the powerful, another for the powerless; a rule for the rich, another for the poor; or different rules, depending upon one’s race or ethnicity or country of origin.

Garland acknowledged that all of that was under threat. “The Rule of Law is not assured,” he said. “It is fragile. It demands constant effort and vigilance.”

And then he invoked our — and his — duty to uphold it, especially at this fraught moment in history.

The responsibility to ensure the Rule of Law is and has been the duty of every generation in our country’s history. It is now your duty as well. And it is one that is especially urgent today at a time of intense polarization in America.

Garland placed “our intense polarization,” in historical context. The country, he explained to a group of new citizens, was “no stranger to what our Founders called the risk of faction. Alexander Hamilton and James Madison wrote about it in the Federalist Papers. George Washington warned against it in his Farewell Address.”

Then he laid out the challenge.

Overcoming the current polarization in our public life is, and will continue to be, a difficult task.

But we cannot overcome it by ignoring it. We must address the fractures in our society with honesty, with humility, and with respect for the Rule of Law.

That meant tolerating peaceful disagreement and “demands that we listen to each other, even when we disagree.”

But, Garland emphasized, it also “it demands that we reject violence and threats of violence that endanger each other and endanger our democracy.”

“We are all in this together,” the attorney general said. “We are all Americans.” 

And then, Merrick Garland drew his red line:

On this historic day and in this historic place, let us make a promise that each of us will protect each other and our democracy.

That we will honor and defend our Constitution.

That we will recognize and respect the dignity of our fellow Americans.

That we will uphold the Rule of Law and seek to make real the promise of equal justice under law.

That we will do what is right, even if that means doing what is difficult.

 Click to read the full article:

https://morningshots.thebulwark.com/p/merrick-garlands-red-line



9/14/2022

Classified National Security Information

 



Affidavit Reveals National Defense Information Was in Documents at Mar-a-Lago


A heavily redacted affidavit released by the Justice Department Friday says boxes retrieved from Mar-a-Lago early this year contained over 184 classified documents and there was “probable cause to believe that additional documents” containing classified national defense information remained. Photo: Jim Bourg/Reuters

9/11/2022

Laws Prohibiting Leaking Classified Information

There are several federal laws prohibiting the leaking of classified information. Under Title 18 of the U.S. Code, Section 798, the law prohibits the knowing and willful transmittal of specified classified information to an unauthorized person. This section pertains only to information relating to the communications intelligence systems and activities of the United States.

A person is in violation of the law if they knowingly and willfully perform any of the following acts involving confidential information:

  • Communicate, furnish, transmit, or otherwise make it available to an unauthorized person
  • Publish it
  • Use it in a way that is either prejudicial to the safety or interest of the U.S., or for the benefit of any foreign government to the detriment of the U.S.

The penalty for a conviction of unauthorized disclosure includes up to 10 years in prison, a large fine, or both.


Proper Handling of Classified Information

Wikdapedia has an excellent article about the proper handling of Classified information.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classified_information_in_the_United_States


This is a deadly serious business. 

Top Secret
    Information is classified as Top Secret if it "reasonably could be expected to cause exceptionally grave damage to the national security," 


    Protecting classified information

    A GSA-approved security container

    Facilities and handling

    One of the reasons for classifying state secrets into sensitivity levels is to tailor the risk to the level of protection. The U.S. government specifies in some detail the procedures for protecting classified information. The rooms or buildings for holding and handling classified material must have a facility clearance at the same level as the most sensitive material to be handled.


    Good quality commercial physical security standards generally suffice for lower levels of classification. At the highest levels, people sometimes must work in rooms designed like bank vaults (see Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility – SCIF). The U.S. Congress has such facilities inside the Capitol Building, among other Congressional handling procedures for protecting confidentiality.[58]


    The U.S. General Services Administration sets standards for locks and containers used to store classified material. The most commonly-approved security containers resemble heavy-duty file cabinets with a combination lock in the middle of one drawer. In response to advances in methods to defeat mechanical combination locks, the U.S. government switched to electromechanical locks that limit the rate of attempts to unlock them. After a specific number of failed attempts, they will permanently lock, requiring a locksmith to reset them.


    The most sensitive material requires two-person integrity, where two cleared individuals are responsible for the material at all times. Approved containers for such material have two separate combination locks, both of which must be opened to access the contents.[citation needed]

    Marking

    Classified U.S. government documents typically must be stamped with their classification on the cover and at the top and bottom of each page. Authors must mark each paragraph, title and caption in a document with the highest level of information it contains, usually by placing appropriate initials in parentheses at the beginning of the paragraph, title, or caption, for example (C), (S), (TS), (TS-SCI), etc., or (U) for unclassified.


    Cover sheets

    Classified documents with and without cover sheets

    Commonly, one must affix a brightly colored cover sheet to the cover of each classified document to prevent unauthorized observation of classified material (shoulder surfing) and to remind users to lock up unattended documents. The cover sheets warn viewers of the sensitive nature of the enclosed material, but are themselves are unclassified. Typical colors are blue for confidential, red for secret and orange for top secret. [59]


    Transmission

    Restrictions dictate shipment methods for classified documents. Top Secret material must go by special courier, Secret material within the U.S. via registered mail, and Confidential material by certified mail. Electronic transmission of classified information largely requires the use of National Security Agency approved/certified "Type 1" cryptosystems using NSA's unpublished and classified Suite A algorithms. The classification of the Suite A algorithms categorizes the hardware that store them as a Controlled Cryptographic Item (CCI) under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, or ITAR.[60]


    CCI equipment and keying material must be controlled and stored with heightened physical security, even when the device is not processing classified information or contains no cryptographic key. NSA is currently implementing what it calls Suite B, a group of commercial algorithms such as Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA)Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) and Elliptic curve Diffie–Hellman (ECDH). Suite B provides protection for data up to Top Secret on non-CCI devices, which is especially useful in high-risk environments or operations needed to prevent Suite A compromise. These less stringent hardware requirements stem from the device not having to "protect" classified Suite A algorithms.[61]


    Specialized computer operating systems known as trusted operating systems are available for processing classified information. These systems enforce the classification and labeling rules described above in software. Since 2005 they are not considered secure enough to allow uncleared users to share computers with classified activities. Thus, if one creates an unclassified document on a secret device, the resultant data is classified secret until it can be manually reviewed. Computer networks for sharing classified information are segregated by the highest sensitivity level they are allowed to transmit, for example, SIPRNet (Secret) and JWICS (Top Secret-SCI).

     

    9/05/2022

    Remember Brave Troops On Working Parties

    Military Satire

     https://www.duffelblog.com/



    The Serenity Prayer

    The Serenity Prayer

    God grant me the serenity
    to accept the things I cannot change;
    courage to change the things I can;
    and wisdom to know the difference.

    Living one day at a time;
    Enjoying one moment at a time;
    Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
    Taking, as He did, this sinful world
    as it is, not as I would have it;

    Trusting that He will make all things right
    if I surrender to His Will;

    That I may be reasonably happy in this life
    and supremely happy with Him
    Forever in the next.

    Amen.

    9/04/2022

    Dumber Than A Grapefruit

    Don't Be 

    Dumber Than a Grapefruit!

    Don't Lose Friends Over Politics

    D

    If you are like me you sometimes find yourself in a social media or email argument with a friend or aquaintance who has different and therefor incorrect views about politics. They hold a number of provocative and politically incorrect opinions. Something like Archie Bunker without the pleasant personality.  We are talking about friends here, of course, not ourselves.

    I argue with my friends, providing them numerous quotes of experts that support my correct opinion and refute their incorrect ideasIt is hopeless to change their minds and the discussion rapidly turns into a rancorous argument with no winner, only losers. They are clearly dumber than a grapefruit.

    I then have to remember that I am arguing with a person who knows what he knows and cannot conceive that there is another legitimate viewpoint. I have no chance of influencing my friend's opinion. And to argue with him also reflects badly on me - Only a fool would argue with someone dumber than a  grapefruit. If you argue with someone dumber than a grapefruit, well, then, it follows that you are also dumber than a grapefruit.

    So when the argument starts I just remember the term grapefruit. This makes me laugh and I see the futility of the conflict. Smooths things over and we avoid having a tedious and disruptive hassle.

    A grapefruit does not have to be stupid. In fact there are a number of very smart folks who are so angry and obsessed about someone or something they don't like that they become grapefruits, albeit smart ones. They know what they know, they cannot accept anyone who has a different opinion, and often become hostile and abusive. This often manifests itself in hatred of political figures, for example hatred of Presidents Carter, Reagan, Bush 41, Clinton, Bush 43, Obama, Trump and Biden.

    It is not a particular vice of either liberals or conservatives. Grapefruititis can strike anyone of any age and any political persuasion. It perhaps gets worse with age with hardening of the arteries.

    It is easy to see others who are grapefruits. It is hard to see ourselves.

    Now everyone should want to avoid being a grapefruit. And it is hard to see if you are becoming a grapefruit. Like alcoholism, many people gradually slip into grapefruititis without realizing.

    Some danger signs that you might becoming a grapefruit:

    • You are sure you know all the answers.
    • You insult people frequently..
    • You often call other people stupid or liars.
    • You are often outraged when you read things you don't agree with.
    • You constantly demean elected officials, not with well reasoned arguments, but with name calling.
    • You read only attack dog websites
    • You forward attack articles from marginal hate websites
    • You attack the man, and not the argument. 
    • You throw out strong opinions without facts.


    Best antidote to becoming a Grapefruit:

    • Be tolerant of the view point of others. 
    • Think before you write or speak. 
    • Practice the golden rule. 
    • Use logic, not rants. 
    • Eat and drink sensibly
    • Avoid drugs and alchohol. 
    • Get enough sleep. 
    • Love often.
    • Don't eat grapefruit.


    We are, of course, talking about other people, and not ourselves.