AN AWFUL LOT OF SENIOR MILITARY GUYS SEEM TO BE GETTING SACKED LATELY: Second-in-command of the country’s nuclear arsenal is suspended as he is investigated for gambling. The story calls this “highly unusual,” but as I say, an awful lot of senior military guys seem to be getting axed all of a sudden.
Meanwhile, from the comments: “Did he bet against the US attacking Syria?” Heh.
COLD OPEN: Last night’s Saturday Night Live mocks ObamaCare. Video at the link.
INFLATION WARNING: America’s dominance of the global helium market is ending. “Relief for the helium market seems destined to come from Russia, long a minor producer. The country has the wherewithal to create a reserve of its own. Gazprom appears to be gearing up to become a big supplier by 2018, just as America’s reserve is set to run dry (if it secures the cash to continue past October). Not everyone will be pleased that an arm of the Russian state may in future hold sway over their medical treatment and their children’s parties.”
SO A FRIEND ON FACEBOOK IS TALKING ABOUT WHETHER THE CURRENT FIREWORKS MEAN AMERICA IS “UNGOVERNABLE.” I was on this back in 2009.
AT AMAZON, hot new releases in Computers & Accessories.
Also, 25% or more off on Home Generators. Or there’s always an inverter.
And, today only: 45% Off ASICS GT-1000 Running Shoes. For men and women.
GREEN ENERGY IS HAZARDOUS TO BIRDS: Should we care?
THE LATEST IMMIGRATION NEWS, FROM MICKEY KAUS: “Without immigration reform to provide labor from abroad, things are so bad in the agriculture sector that some farmers are even training new workers.”
SPYING BLOWBACK: NSA Internet Spying Sparks Race to Create Offshore Havens for Data Privacy: Firms Tout ‘Email Made in Germany’ as More Secure; Brazil Wants Its Own Servers. “Fueled by the controversy, countries are seeking to use data-privacy laws as a competitive advantage—a way to boost domestic companies that long have sought an edge over Google, Microsoft Corp. and other U.S. tech giants.”
All is proceeding as Glenn Derene foresaw.
I LIKE THE PEOPLE WHO CHARACTERIZE IT AS “AMERICAN:” The map that shows where America came from: Fascinating illustration shows the ancestry of EVERY county in the US.
But this ties in nicely with Michael Barone’s new book.
STACY MCCAIN REPORTS A James Fallows/John C. Calhoun Convergence.
DESPITE ALL THE TALK ABOUT CONGRESS, THIS MIGHT BE THE BIG NEWS OF THE WEEK: HIV in cells eradicated with antifungal drug.
K-12 IMPLOSION UPDATE: School district accountant accused of stealing $3 million in school lunch money by stuffing it in her bra. Not all at once, which would be difficult even for Dolly Parton. “Oakes earned a $60,000-a-year salary at her job, and has worked for the district for 25 years.”
IT’S STARTING TO LOOK THAT WAY: Dan Mitchell: Are Government Schools A Form Of Child Abuse?
THE GENE POOL SELF-CLEANSES: Weatherman brought to tears over climate change, considers vasectomy.
WHY PEOPLE CAN OUTRUN HORSES, but can’t outjump cats. Talk about how inferior people are to various animals in various ways, however, obscures our greatest strength: Adaptability. Humans can dive over 500 feet deep on a single breath, climb trees, run down horses, and survive desert temperatures. Very few animals can adapt to so many different conditions.
IGNORING VETO THREAT, HOUSE VOTES TO AVERT GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN AND DELAY OBAMACARE A YEAR: The House sent the legislation to the Democrat-run Senate early Sunday by 231-192, AP reports.
UPDATE: More from Bridget Johnson at PJM.
COULD COME IN HANDY IF YOU WANTED TO WIN AN ELECTION OR SOMETHING: N.S.A. Gathers Data on Social Connections of U.S. Citizens. “Since 2010, the National Security Agency has been exploiting its huge collections of data to create sophisticated graphs of some Americans’ social connections that can identify their associates, their locations at certain times, their traveling companions and other personal information, according to newly disclosed documents and interviews with officials.”
ROGER SIMON: Ignore Glenn’s Advice On IOS7 Upgrade: “Don’t listen to him. Go for it. He’s probably one of those guys who didn’t buy the White Album until six weeks after it came out.” Heh. Well, actually, my mom bought it for my dad as soon as it came out in Germany. I was eight.
WHAT CAN ONE MAN WITH A PISTOL DO? SAVE A LOT OF LIVES. Kenyan Hero’s Harrowing Tale of Rescues in Mall Massacre. “In one of the most memorable images to emerge from inside the Nairobi mall attacked last weekend by Islamic extremists, a 4-year-old girl is seen running toward a man who is reaching out a hand to pull her to safety. The man was Abdul Haji, a 39-year-old real estate executive who rushed to the mall as the attack got underway. He managed to evacuate scores of people to safety, including that young American girl, Portia Walker, and is being hailed in Kenya as a hero. . . . Haji says he grew up around guns and lately had been carrying his pistol with him. ‘I left where I was and I headed straight to the Westgate,’ Haji told ABC News. ‘Luckily on that particular day I had actually carried my licensed gun with me so I didn’t have to go back home to waste time and pick up a gun, I went straight to the mall.’ . . . Haji dismisses all the talk of him being a hero, saying he was just going to the mall to save his brother. ‘I think anybody in the situation would have probably done the same thing,’ he said. ‘[If] he was armed and thinking the worst about his family he would have probably done the same thing.'”
Too bad more people weren’t armed: Nairobi Mall Victims Were Tortured. “The al-Shabab militants who attacked a mall in Nairobi last weekend didn’t just kill their victims, they tortured them and mutilated their bodies, according to accounts in Kenya’s media rounded up by USA Today. It makes for rough reading. The stories quote doctors and investigators who describe gouged eyes and dismembered bodies hanging from hooks.”
You know, if this kind of thing keeps happening, people are going to start thinking less of Islam.
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