This is the website of Abulsme Noibatno Itramne (also known as Sam Minter).
Posts here are rare these days. For current stuff, follow me on Mastodon
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A few minutes ago there were two huge booms loud enough to shake the house, about a second apart. Nothing visible looking around outside the house, but sirens in the distance and one firetruck raced down our street on the way to somewhere else. Still no idea what it was. Am scouring local news sites, twitter, etc, but nothing yet. But it was enough to end quiet time in bed reading, and I’m getting up.
Anderson in the midst of looting chaos
(Anderson Cooper, CNN, 18 Jan 2009)
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As things got really out of control, I saw a looter on the roof of the store they’d broken into throw what I think was part of a concrete block into the crowd. It hit a small boy in the head. I saw him collapse. More chunks of concrete were being thrown at the looters on the roof. The injured boy couldn’t get up. He’d try and then collapse again. Blood was pouring from his head. He was conscious but had no control over his body. I was afraid someone on the roof would see him lying there and throw another cinderblock piece onto him. I was afraid he’d get killed. No one seemed to be helping him. I ran to where he was struggling, and picked him up off the ground. I brought him to a spot about a hundred feet away. I could feel his warm blood on my arms. I stood him up, but he was clearly unable to walk. He wiped his bloody face, and I tried to reassure him. He had no idea where he was, and he clearly couldn’t walk, so I picked him up again and handed him over to someone behind that makeshift barricade. Tony, the American businessman, gave the boy a wet towel. He was then taken away by someone else. We don’t know what happened to him.
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(via Huffington Post)
A bit on Obama counterterrorism from cousin Heather (who also happens to be a foreign policy expert).
In Fact, We do Have A Counter-Terrorism Strategy — And Experts Say It’s Producing Results
(Heather Hurlburt, Huffington Post, 30 Dec 2009)
Today John Boehner made the nonsensical claim that the Administration doesn’t actually have a strategy for combating terrorism. Since one of the core elements of the Administration’s strategy has been to go about the business of blocking violent extremists without giving them the gratification of talking about them in public all the time, perhaps it’s understandable that a few of his colleagues could use a little primer as well.
The good news: the US does have a counter-terrorism strategy, and some experts believe its first year has shown results in dismantling terrorist leadership in Indonesia, the Philippines and Pakistan; pushing Al Qaeda into a funding crisis; and helping lower Muslim public support for extremists while improving support for the US.
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I haven’t even bothered trying to check TV news for this stuff. From what I hear, they once again aren’t paying attention, but there is plenty online.
Informed Comment: Iran Roiled, Crowds Burn Banks, Police Station; Chanting against Theocrat Khamenei; But No Revolutionary Alternative Yet.
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The chanting on Sunday turned against Ayatollah Ali Khamenei himself, not just against President Ahmadinejad. He was castigated as the Dictator and as worse than the old shah, and the very ideological basis of the regime, the doctrine of clerical rule, was chanted against in the streets. The legitimacy of the regime, profoundly shaken by the events since early June’s presidential election, is now being shredded further.
Another remarkable dimension of Sunday’s events was the sheer number of cities where significant rallies and clashes occurred. Some of those allegedly killed are said to have fallen in Tabriz, a northwestern metropolis near Turkey. Even conservative cities such as Isfahan and Mashhad joined in. Shiraz, Ardabil, the list goes on. The attempt of some analysts to paint the disturbances as a shi-shi North Tehran thing has clearly foundered.
The most ominous sign of all for the regime is the reports of security men refusing orders to fire into the crowd.
But for the movement to go further and become truly revolutionary, it would have to have a leader who wanted to overthrow the old regime and who could attract the loyalty of both the people and elements of the armed forces. So far this key revolutionary element, of dual sovereignty, has been lacking, insofar as opposition leaders Mir Hosain Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi have tried to stay inside the Khomeinist framework while arguing that it is Khamenei who violated it by making it too authoritarian.
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Gizmodo has a leak of the new rules, and if it is real, they are complete bull. I am not allowed to know where I am? The captain can’t even point out “those of you on the left will can look out and see a great view of Mount Rainier!”. Inflight wifi and live tv and even those overpriced in seat phones all not allowed… Etc.
Idiots. This does ZERO to enhance security, and just makes is a pain in the ass to legitimate travelers.
Are they ever going to stop being assclowns about this stuff?
http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/0Uubq0yVKLQ/leaked-post+detroit-bomb-airplane-security-rules
You saw our unofficial advice guide to fly after the crotchbomb. Here’s are the TSA’s official security rules, as of Christmas. Read on, because it has all the hairy details:
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2. IN FLIGHT
1. During flight, the aircraft operator must ensure that the following procedures are followed:
1. Passengers must remain in seats beginning 1 hour prior to arrival at destination.
2. Passenger access to carry-on baggage is prohibited beginning 1 hour prior to arrival at destination.
3. Disable aircraft-integrated passenger communications systems and services (phone, internet access services, live television programming, global positioning systems) prior to boarding and during all phases of flight.
4. While over U.S. airspace, flight crew may not make any announcement to passengers concerning flight path or position over cities or landmarks.
5. Passengers may not have any blankets, pillows, or personal belongings on the lap beginning 1 hour prior to arrival at destination.
… ![]()
Sent from Newsie on iPhone
They really are going to do idiotic additional checks and restrictions because of Friday’s incident, aren’t they? Such a complete waste.
http://jeffreygoldberg.theatlantic.com/archives/2009/12/more_magical_thinking_from_the.php
… So since the TSA will be prohibited, by law and custom, from actually searching passengers thoroughly (unless a pat-down includes the nether-regions, it’s utterly useless), why bother with the rest of the security-checkpoint nonsense? As Bruce Schneier has pointed out, the only two innovations since 9/11 that seem to work against terrorists on planes are hardened cockpit doors (which are irrelevant if the terrorist is simply trying to blow up the plane) and the willingness of passengers to fight back, which is what worked in this most recent case. The rest is silliness that serves only to torture passengers with bladder issues and make air travel even more unpleasant than it already is.
Sent from Newsie on iPhone
Over the last week or so things have been building up again. Time to once again turn eyes in that direction.
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