Update no.725

Update from the Heartland

No.725

2.11.15 – 8.11.15

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

To all,

            Granddaughter Aspen Shae and her Butler Grizzlies fußball team won the Region VI Women’s Soccer championship by defeating Johnson County 5-0.  They are off to the NJCAA championship tournament later next week.  Good luck, Aspen Shae.

            The follow-up news items:

-- We bear witness to yet another demonstration of what happens when investigations leak and politicians speculate.  This week, we have an unnamed ‘official’ publicly claiming he is 99.9% certain an on-board explosive charge brought down Metrojet Flight 9268 [724] over the Sinai Peninsula.  To my knowledge, we have seen no evidence to substantiate such claims.  Is a terrorist bomb a viable hypothesis?  Yes, absolutely.  But, again, to my knowledge, other causes have not been ruled out.  Let the proper investigation play out and the evidence to establish the cause factors be presented, so that all of us can understand the consequences.

-- The Library of Congress caught up with the legislation.  The President signed into law the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 [PL 114-074; H.R.1314; Senate: 78-20-0-2(0); House: 277-151-0-6(1); 129 Stat. xxx] [724].  Title IX of the new law is labeled: Temporary Extension of Public Debt Limit, and suspends 31 USC §3101(b), which effectively suspends the public debt limit entirely until 15.March.2017.  Essentially, Congress punted on their common leverage until a new Congress and a new President are in office – kick the can down the road.

-- After the transit warning to the USS Lassen [724] while passing through a 12-mile radius around Subi Reef, Spratly Islands, South China Sea, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Defense Minister Chang Wanquan warmed the United States of America not to pursue any other dangerous actions that threaten the PRC’s security interests – an interesting approach to squatter’s rights with respect to a disputed coral reef.

            Comments and contributions from Update no.724:

“Yes, the young woman from Spring Valley High School in South Carolina, is likely an example of many in our nation's schools who have chosen to disobey their parents, teachers, principals, and even school resource officers.  Unfortunately, once again, the alphabet news agencies decided to use this event to manipulate the minds especially of those with charged emotions from divisive politics that has used race and law enforcement, in nefarious ways, per my opinion.  And I agree with you, I believe in this subject incident, the deputy (school resource officer) likely used excessive force in controlling the young woman (I did not call her a lady on purpose).  If he had Taser'd her, the outcome for him would likely have been less critical than flipping her little student chair inverted.  The danger we are in is the witch-hunts and conviction by a jury watching CNN, versus actually allowing a full investigation to take place.  Call it trial by TV viewer, viral videos, and social media.

“On the CNBC hosted debates, yes, it was a circus and why not let the moderators ask critical question.  Currently between a Politico piece and CNN, Ben Carson is being called to answer questions about his past, his older book narrative (book published some time prior to his announcement he was running for president).  Interesting one side is saying this questioning of Carson is a witch-hunt, or attempt to sabotage him, while others submit this is investigative journalism.  IF, it can be established that Carson's past is inconsistent with the profile of a stable president, and/or if he has not been truthful in his accounts of the past, I see him crashing and burning quickly which will serve Trump well.   I was impressed with Carson and following him, but as of recent events, I am getting a bit cautious of him.  Whether my perceptions are the result of pure political sabotage by liberal media, we'll see.

“On Metrojet Flight 9268, I am waiting for the next shoe to drop, as to whether the footprint/boot print for Russia will increase in the Middle East, as to fight ISIS/ISIL, and also how global airline security may change since any terrorist group putting bombs on aircraft that could go undetected, is a true game changer should there be any campaign to do this in series.”

An additional comment from a different contributor:

“The former head of security at the Sharm al-Shiek airfield has been quietly arrested. Rumor has it that he’s an ISIS operative. Stay tuned.”

My response:

            Re: Metrojet Flight 9268: I have not been able to independently confirm the arrest of the security chief at Sharm al-Shiek airport.  The TWA 800 experience made me quite cautious with respect to law enforcement superseding rigorous forensic engineering examination of the evidence in aircraft accidents.  The law says public safety, i.e., accident prevention, exceeds the demand for prosecution.  The accident investigator in me wants the evidence to drive the path to the conclusions.  However, national security is a powerful counter-force, as we witnessed with TWA 800.  You raise an additional dimension in the Metrojet incident – how will Russia react?  We shall see.  If the evidence establishes the root cause was a planted explosive device, I suspect there were more involved on the ground than one chief to get the bomb there.  My understanding is, that particular aircraft was on the ground for an hour, not exactly a wide-open window.  Lastly, in war, you probe for your enemy’s weaknesses, and then attack to exploit those weaknesses.  Sharm al-Shiek is hardly Heathrow or O’Hare from a security perspective.  Thus, if [contributor]’s information is correct, I’m not surprised.  Also, in Egypt, arrest is probably less expensive and more certain than surveillance with all its concomitant risks.  Unfortunately, such reactive actions warn the others, enabling escape.

            Re: Carson.  His argument is a classic ‘trust me’ example and an intriguing circular argument, i.e., the only evidence Event ‘A’ occurred is his words, and anonymity (privacy) protects all other evidence including witnesses.  His explanation and attempts to color journalists with a yellow hue have left me very cold.  As in so many of these incidents, there are slivers of credible argument, however, the prodigious smoke makes me highly suspicious of Carson’s formative claims.

            Re: HS student.  I agree; a TASER would not have been a good option.  As I said previously, if Deputy Fields had just dropped her, pushed the chair away, and cuffed her on the spot (rather than tossing her across the room and losing physical control of her), I would be defending his actions.  Unfortunately, he made a serious mistake, and he paid the price in a very unforgiving political environment.  Further, in such instances, I continue to be disappointed that the Press refuses to probe the contributions of the parents.  That student did NOT just spontaneously implode; there were years of preparation that constructed her mindset of anti-social defiance on display that day.

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

Cheers,

Cap                        :-)