Update no.593

Update from the Heartland

No.593

22.4.13 – 28.4.13

Blog version:  http://heartlandupdate.blogspot.com/

To all,

The follow-up news items:

-- The U.S. Justice Department charged 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev [592] with one count of “Use of a Weapon of Mass Destruction” [18 U.S.C. §2332a(a)], and one count of “Malicious Destruction of Property Resulting in Death” [18 U.S.C. §844(i)], for his part in the Boston Marathon bombing [591, 592].  The charges carry the death penalty under federal law.  Gut-check-wise, I tend to agree with Senator Lindsay Graham of South Carolina in that Tsarnaev should be designated an enemy battlefield combatant and subjected to Enhanced Interrogation Techniques [386].  Yet, at the end of the day, I support the administration’s decision to charge him as a common criminal who did an extraordinarily bad thing.  Any links to Islamo-fascists groups appears to be very thin and through his deceased older brother.  Regardless, he deserves to meet the same fate as Timothy McViegh [302].

            Then, we are informed by the amorphous, anonymous, “U.S. officials” that the CIA sought to place Tamerlan Tsarnaev on the terrorism watch list based upon information from the Federal'naya Sluzhba Bezopasnosti Rossiyskoy Federatsii (FSB) more than a year ago.  The FSB had reason to believe Tamerlan Tsarnaev was becoming or already was a radicalized Muslim jihadist, and they appropriately alerted “U.S. officials.”  The FBI investigated and apparently found insufficient evidence to substantiate the warning.  I know we must go through these painful convulsions, but they are never pleasant or rewarding.  For all the successes the FBI, DHS, CIA, and local law enforcement have had in the last decade, it only takes one success like the Boston attack to fire up the blame-game, again.  And so it goes.

            According to the Wall Street Journal, a federal judge (as yet unidentified) made the call to advise Dzhokhar of his Miranda rights, even though investigators apparently still wanted to question him further under a public-safety exception.  The so-called public-safety exception was articulated and defined by the Supreme Court in New York v. Quarles [467 U.S. 649 (1984); 12.June.1984] [440] and has been generally interpreted as lasting nominally for 48 hours, which is what apparently triggered the judge to invoke Miranda.  I was not there, but it seems to me the time should have been extended since his ability to communicate was affected by his wounds and medical treatment.  Regardless, what is done is done.  And so it goes.

-- The disaster in West, Texas [592], has been largely overshadowed by the Boston attack.

“The Texas fertilizer plant explosion cannot be forgotten”

by Mike Elk -- OPINION

Washington Post

Published: Tuesday, April 23, 11:40 AM; on-line: Apr 23, 2013 04:40 PM EDT

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/mike-elk-the-texas-fertilizer-plant-explosion-cannot-be-forgotten/2013/04/23/48eb770c-ac26-11e2-b6fd-ba6f5f26d70e_story.html?tid=pm_opinions_pop

Elk noted, “The plant had 1,350 times the legally allowed amount of highly explosive ammonium nitrate, yet hadn’t informed the Department of Homeland Security of the danger.  Likewise, the fertilizer plant did not have sprinklers, shut-off valves, fire alarms or legally required blast walls, all of which could have prevented the catastrophic damage done.”  He went on to ask the salient question, “So why did the media choose to cover around the clock a terrorist bombing that killed fewer people and is extremely rare while all but ignoring an industrial explosion that killed more people, is far more common and is far easier to prevent?”  He concluded, “As Ken Ward Jr. of the Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette, who has covered the Upper Big Branch mine explosion more than any other reporter, tweeted, ‘Terrorists want media attention, so we give it to them.  Unsafe industries don’t want media attention — so we give that to them.’”  The West, Texas, disaster may be a simple workplace accident; if so, then I laud Elk’s illumination of the lax safety precautions at such a dangerous plant.  However, I am not yet convinced this was a simple workplace accident.  Ammonium nitrate [NH₄NO₃] is not intended as an explosive agent, and it does not spontaneously combust; however, as we have seen with the Texas City disaster and the Oklahoma City bombing, it is a readily available material that has explosive properties in a conducive circumstance.  I suspect there is much more to this event than we have been told so far.

-- The charges were dropped against Paul Kevin Curtis of Mississippi, the man arrested last week for the ricin letters [592].  He was released.   Four days later, James Everett Dutschke, 41, of Tupelo, Mississippi, was arrested at his home in connection with the ricin letters, and is expected to be charged and arraigned next week. 

-- The U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) has apparently concluded the Syrian government likely used chemical weapons (sarin) during the ongoing civil war.  In Abu Dhabi, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel told reporters, “The U.S. intelligence community assesses with varying degrees of confidence that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons on a small scale.”  No public reconciliation with the British and French intelligence findings [592] was offered, and frankly, we are not likely to gain access to those connections.  Various administration officials have loosely hinted the evidence is not conclusive, thus I suspect we are not likely to see any overt response.

While my opinion regarding the Tsarnaev charging has not yet changed, I do have a few relevant questions for this forum.

            What would our ancestors have done in this situation?  What if an American of German descent carried out an act of sabotage or assassination inside the United States in 1942, on behalf of the German government?  For the lawyers among us, how would that relate to Ex Parte Quirin [317 U.S. 1 (1942); 31.July.1942] [170]?

            The Press has uncovered what appears to be more definitive self-radicalization and jihadist inspiration by Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who in turn apparently convinced his younger brother to participate in their terrible act – “in defense of Islam.”  There is no doubt Dzhokhar was a willing and engaged participant.  The fragmentary information making it to the public domain verges very close to the threshold of being an enemy battlefield combatant.  The FSB alerted the FBI in 2011 that Tamerlan may have been radicalized while on his visit to Dagestan and Chechyna.  The FBI investigated Tamerlan, but found insufficient evidence to warrant further investigation or surveillance.

            As a point of comparison, Herbert Hans Haupt was one of eight defendants in Quirin, and they were German saboteurs in Operation PASTORIUS.  Haupt claimed American citizenship, in that he is similar to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.  The Haupt timeline is perhaps useful and instructive.

17.Jun.1942            Haupt & three PASTORIUS colleagues disembarked Kriegsmarine submarine U-584 and landed Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida

27.Jun.1942            Haupt and his parents arrested in Chicago

2.Jul.1942            all eight PASTORIUS saboteurs tried and convicted before secret military tribunal; 6 of 8 including Haupt sentenced to death

29.Jul 1942            Quirin appeal argued before SCOTUS

31.Jul.1942            SCOTUS rejected appeal and confirmed conviction

8.Aug.1942            Haupt & five colleagues executed in Washington, D.C.

In Quirin, the Supremes rejected Haupt’s claim of citizenship in that “. . . by his conduct (he) renounced or abandoned his United States citizenship.”  During World War II, we fought the Wehrmacht, a national military force that was uniformed and identified per the Geneva Convention standards.  The PASTORIOUS agents including self-professed American citizen Herbert Haupt, we neither uniformed nor identified, thus they were consider by law to be spies.  Today’s enemy is neither uniformed nor identified.  How is Dzhokhar Tsarnaev different from Herbert Haupt?  All opinions welcome.

            We are not and never have been at war with Islam.  Likewise, I cannot deny the existence of Islamophobic elements within the citizenry of this Grand Republic.  The Tsarnaev brothers succumbed to the political rhetoric of al-Qa’ida, apparently without questioning the validity of its premise, and they shall realize the consequences of being an enemy of the State. 

Letter to the editor, Wichita Eagle [sent Saturday, 27.April.2013]:

            Driving on the highways and byways of this Grand Republic should be fairly easy and stress free.  We have wide lanes, gentle curves, good signage, long merge lanes, and the majority of surfaces are well maintained.  Unfortunately, it only takes one discourteous, oblivious driver to ruin the daily commute for the rest of us.

            If you have several cars stacked up behind you and a quarter of a mile of open lane ahead of you, move over.

            If other cars are passing you on the right, move over.

            Be aware of what is going on around you.  Check your mirrors!  That is what they are for.

            Kansas State law [KSA §8-1514(b)] states, “. . . any vehicle proceeding at less than the normal speed of traffic . . . shall be driven in the right-hand lane then available for traffic . . . .”  If the above applies to you, you are the slower traffic.  MOVE OVER!

            Good citizenship includes respecting your fellow citizens.  It is not that hard.

            FYI: “keep right” laws apply in most states; see URL:http://www.mit.edu/~jfc/right.html.  If you encounter disrespectful drivers, write to your local newspaper, and if your state does not have a “keep right” law, write to your state legislators.

            Duplication, use and modification of any of the above are encouraged.

The legislative situation regarding the furloughed air traffic controller remains confusing, as we are relegated to information in the public domain only.  I believe Congress passed H.R.1765 to allow the Secretary of Transportation to reallocate funds within the department to maintain the pre-sequester personnel funding for air traffic controllers.  The House passed the bill by a vote of 341-41-0-30(23), and the Senate previously and unanimously passed the bill.  Sequestration began on 28.February.2013, with the mandated US$85B in spending reductions for FY2013 [585].  While Congress apparently did not add more spending, this action sets extraordinarily bad precedent as Congress once again abdicated its responsibility to unilateral Executive action.  I am losing hope that Congress might actually regain its footing and do the job they are constitutionally required to do.

News from the economic front:

-- The EU Commissioner for Internal Market and Services Michel Barnier has demanded that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke rethink the Feds requirement for banks such as Deutsche Bank and Barclays to hold extra capital in their U.S. operations.  The transatlantic kerfuffle highlights the growing discord between global regulators, whose efforts to protect local taxpayers are raising fears that international finance will be forced to retreat behind national borders.

-- Seven large U.S. financial-services firms said they are scaling back the maximum bonuses awarded to executives who beat their performance targets, implicitly in concession to regulators’ concerns about the size of executive pay and its role in financial industry risk-taking.  The seduction of monstrous, personal, financial gain has been suspected as one of several mechanisms inducing banking executives to take inordinate risk, and collaterally jeopardize the stability of the entire banking system.

-- The Wall Street Journal reported, “GE Capital is cutting off lending to gun shops, as the company rethinks its relationship to firearms amid the fallout from the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.”  This is a double-edged sword, and it cuts quite well both ways.  I do NOT see this little news bit in a positive light.

-- The U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rose at an annualized rate of 2.5% in 1Q2013, stronger than the 0.4% rate in 4Q2012, but less than the 3.2% growth rate expected by economists.

Comments and contributions from Update no.592:

“Yes indeedy, quite a week as you say. Please add to that the funeral of our own Margaret Thatcher, probably the most influential British politician since Winston. Certainly the most aggressively determined. She made many enemies but got the job done taking on the miners and newspaper moguls not to mention the land grabbing regime in Argentina and other European leaders.  You may or may not have liked her politics but she was a 'leader'. And leaders we need Cap.”

My response:

            In American vernacular terms, Margaret Thatcher had balls – big brass ones.  She did what had to be done with Argentina in the Falklands.  She was not afraid of controversy and seemed to relish the opportunity.  I did not always agree with her, and I always admired her chutzpah.  Yes, Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven was an extraordinary woman and an exemplary leader.  May God rest her immortal soul.

Another contribution:

“Comment on the timing of the Boston Marathon bombing and the chem plant explosion in West, TX:

‘Once is happenstance,

Twice is coincidence,

Thrice is enemy action.’

“I was inclined to put the West plant explosion to the weakness of the EPA and the extremely lax regulatory and zoning structured in TX.  Having a school that close to a plant?  Then I learned that fire, by itself, should not cause ammonium nitrate to explode. Am interested in the forensics.”

My reply:

            Good point; thus, my inclination in writing.  I am still absorbing as much as I can on all four.  It just struck me in a very odd way that four major events happened in THAT particular week.

            Another good point.  As I recall the history of the Grandcamp disaster, the hold fire had been burning for hours.  The crew was afraid to get down there to fight the fire.  They wanted to flood the hold to extinguish the fire and the captain refused as that would destroy his cargo.  It was a combination of heat, pressure and initiation on pure ammonium nitrate, as I recall.  I suspect the same mechanism in the West explosion; I just don’t know how as yet.  That event remains on my curious list.

            I must add that I thought the assassinations of the Texas DA & DDA were related to the warden assassination – prison white supremacists.  Turns out to be a homicidal malcontent and his accomplice wife.

            Yep, we need to pay attention to these events.

Comment to the Blog:

“The more things change, the more they stay the same. Congress has yet to either effectively regulate guns or competently address mental health issues. There is some possibility we have seen genuine unplanned emotion from Obama, but other than that nothing new. While all that drew attention, the CISPA bill to take away our freedom on the Internet passed the House quietly.

“I am relieved, grateful, and a little surprised that the Kansas Supreme Court saw fit to guard the interests of the children in the same-sex parenting case. At least in this, Kansas is a role model.

“The world economy continues to confuse any and all observers. Transparency and simplicity are appropriate but not likely to occur.”

My response to the Blog:

            Re: gun violence.  Someday Congress and our state legislators will get the message that if they really wish to intercede before Newtown-type tragedies happen, then we must find the means to treat the root cause of these events.

            Re: CISPA.  First, CISPA = Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act [H.R.624] was passed by the House [288-127-0-17(3)], and was sent the Senate and referred to the Intelligence Committee.  There are good and necessary provisions in the bill; however, as with many of these well-intentioned bills, the real threat to our freedom lays in the interpretation by law enforcement and especially by prosecutors.  Nonetheless, the bill has a long way to go, and will be subjected to considerable amendment, most likely.

            Re: Kansas.  We do see glimmers of hope and enlightenment on occasion, here on the Great Plains.

            Re: world economy.  We need a lot more than transparency and simplicity to get us back to stability and growth.  We need banking reform to reduce the likelihood of repeating the collapse of 2008.  Progress by jerks . . . as they say.

My very best wishes to all.  Take care of yourselves and each other.

Cheers,

Cap                        :-)