Riehl World View

LA Times: Somalis Are The New Mexicans

The AP and now the media, including the LA Times, don't miss a beat. Lest Americans start demonizing Somalis after the attempted bombing of an airliner over Detroit, it's time for us to feel their pain. Oh, and I'm sure it'll help in what appears to be the coming immigration debate to find that many are now taking their lead from Mexicans and sneaking in via our Southern border.

I can't wait for Obama, Napolitano and crew to tell us how illegal immigration is not a national security issue. The American media operates as little more than a giant propaganda mill anymore.

LANCASTER, Calif. (AP) — The asylum seeker from Somalia hung his head as an immigration judge grilled him about his treacherous journey from the Horn of Africa. By air, sea and land he finally made it to Mexico, and then a taxi delivered him into the arms of U.S. border agents at San Diego.

Islamic militants had killed his brother, Mohamed Ahmed Kheire testified, and majority clan members had beaten his sister. He had to flee Mogadishu to live.

Kheire is one of hundreds of desperate Somalis in the last two years to have staked everything on a wild asylum gamble by following immigration routes to the United States traditionally traveled by Latinos.

With the suspension of a U.S. refugee program and stepped-up security in the Gulf of Aden and along Mediterranean smuggling routes, more overseas migrants from Somalia are pursuing asylum through what one expert calls the "back door."

"The U.S. has closed most of the doors for Somalis to come in through the refugee program so they've found alternative ways to get in," said Mark Hetfield, senior vice president for policy and programs at the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. "This is their new route."

Noted Lizard Fister Chuckles Johnson Defends Kevin Jennings

Via Gateway Pundit. Could your child be next?

Bank Bust: Discovery's Deadliest Catch Caught

Talk about stupid. I recently remarked to someone about the show Deadliest Catch, even remember this dude being on.

It's always a bad idea to do a string of bank robberies basically at the same time a national cable series with you in it is airing. Video below via Breitbart. lol h/t BJ in email.

A man who appeared on Discovery Channel's Deadliest Catch is wanted for three bank robberies in Oregon and has been arrested, according to The Associated Press.

Police in East Peoria, Ill., arrested 23-year-old Joshua Tel Warner early Thursday on the Oregon bank robbery warrant after he was pulled over for a routine traffic stop. He was being held on $30,000 bail.

When Presidents Anger The CIA

Obama dumped on the CIA early after the attempt to bomb an airliner headed into Detroit. He also recently brought them unwanted and unnecessary attention when addressing the recent suicide bombing in Afghanistan.

When Presidents make the CIA angry, the CIA has a way of letting them know it.

White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan was briefed in October on an assassination attempt by Al Qaeda that investigators now believe used the same underwear bombing technique as the Nigerian suspect who tried to blow up Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on Christmas Day, U.S. intelligence and administration officials tell NEWSWEEK.

The briefing to Brennan was delivered at the White House by Muhammad bin Nayef, Saudi Arabia’s chief counterterrorism official. In late August, Nayef had survived an assassination attempt by an operative dispatched by the Yemeni branch of Al Qaeda who was pretending to turn himself in. The operative had tried to kill the Saudi prince by detonating a bomb on his body, but stumbled on his way into the prince's palace and blew himself up.

What To Make Of The Obama Was Briefed Story

There are a few different approaches people on the Right seem to be taking to this, Obama was briefed, story.

Some, but not many, are going down the Obama Knew! path. James Joyner and most others are treating it for what it is. The argument that the Left took the more extreme approach in criticizing Bush for a pre-9/11 briefing doesn't really track. It was only the wacko fringe that did it. And I don't think it hurt Bush all that much. Iraq did.

The terrorism issue works for the Right, national security is still their strong suit, as opposed to the Democrats. As the Politico points out, the subject is the Democrat's worst nightmare. There's no need for the Right or the GOP to overplay it, which doesn't mean not capitalizing on it as a strength in political terms. What the briefing shows is how difficult it is to combat terrorism. And how even the supposedly best efforts we can put forward have problems. That all accrues to the benefit of the Right, who takes the problem far more seriously. Let it work for us. But don't overplay a winning hand.

This naturally brings to mind the report President Bush got a few days before the 9/11 attacks warning that al Qaeda was hoping to strike the U.S. As with that briefing, the fact that the president failed to stop the attack from occurring looks bad.   After all, he had warning!  But it’s not at all clear what, precisely, either man should or could have done differently.  These briefings, while seemingly detailed in hindsight, are incredibly vague.

Beyond that, even if Obama had been told that they’re received information that an al Qaeda operative was flying into the country from overseas during the holidays with a bomb in his under drawers — which, again, is massively more information than we had available — it’s not obvious what he could have done about it.   We’re already complaining about the new security procedures that got put into place post-attempt — rightly so, since they wouldn’t have helped.  It would have been difficult to justify them beforehand.

There’s room to criticize the administration’s response to the crisis, most notably DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano’s idiotic insistence that “the system worked.”  But the idea that the president was somehow supposed to stop the underwear bomber based on vague intelligence of an increased terrorism risk over the holidays is unreasonable.

Plane Remnants From 1912 Discovered In Antarctica

The most interesting part of this story for me was that they have a blog. You can check that out here. See third entrydown and below that for even more, including pics of various items and the plane remnants found.

ADELAIDE, Australia (AP) -- Remains of the first airplane ever taken to Antarctica, in 1912, have been found by Australian researchers, the team announced Saturday.

The Mawson's Huts Foundation had been searching for the plane for three summers before stumbling upon metal pieces of it on New Year's Day.

"The biggest news of the day is that we've found the air tractor, or at least parts of it!" team member Tony Stewart wrote on the team's blog from Cape Denison in Antarctica's Commonwealth Bay.

2009 Donors To Clinton Foundation

In case you're interested.

Westergaard Attacker Linked To Radical Islamists

This news hardly comes as a surprise. But the article is still a gem. They don't identify Abdulmutallab by name and in court his face has to be concealed thanks to Danish law. Of course, Westergaard has no such protections. His name and photo are now, once again, spalshed all over the story. Why don't they just draw a map to him for the radicals next time?

The suspect, who denies the charge, was remanded in custody. Police say he has links with Somali Islamist militants.

The radical al-Shabab group in Somalia hailed the attack.

Al-Shabab spokesman Sheikh Ali Muhamud Rage told AFP news agency: "We appreciate the incident in which a Muslim Somali boy attacked the devil who abused our prophet Mohammed and we call upon all Muslims around the world to target the people like" him.

The suspect, who cannot be named for Danish legal reasons, was charged with attempted manslaughter.

The BBC's Julian Isherwood in Copenhagen says he was wearing bandages on his arm and leg and a cloth over his head to conceal his identity as he was carried into court for a remand hearing in Aarhus.

Feds Admit To 2nd Detroit Airliner Arrest

Turns out the Haskell's and the Internet were correct. Of course, if this news were only being confirmed now by the Feds under Bush, Andrew would swear Cheney has him locked up in his basement close to the sink down there. One other question below.

Detroit -- A federal customs and border protection official reversed himself today, admitting a passenger from Northwest Flight 253 was placed in handcuffs, searched and released after a canine alerted officers to his carry-on luggage.

Ronald G. Smith, chief U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer in the Detroit area, sent an email to The Detroit News late Thursday apologizing that the information on the passenger -- which was reported to federal investigators by a pair of Taylor attorneys who were passengers on the flight -- was not made available earlier.

Federal officials had denied the details of the incident despite repeated accounts by attorneys Kurt and Lori Haskell of Taylor who say they saw a man get questioned by federal officials and be led away from the airport baggage area in handcuffs after a sniffer dog reacted to something in the man's carry-on luggage.

Given that Obama has now played judge, jury and executioner for Abdulmutallab in his national radio address, how is it we are supposed to walk him into Federal Court and give him a fair trial? If we stand our justice system on its head to nail this guy, something is bound to fall out.

“We know that [Abdulmutallab] travelled to Yemen, a country grappling with crushing poverty and deadly insurgencies,” Obama says. “It appears that he joined an affiliate of al-Qaeda, and that this group, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, trained him, equipped him with those explosives and directed him to attack that plane headed for America.”

Updated: Ack! It's The "Snowbama"

Update: I wanted to add, on its face it isn't that bad, really. If the guy was cruising along getting the job done, who would care? It would be kind of funny. But he's turning into such a screw up, he really ought to at least try to act like a grown up more often. Eric at RedState posts that he has now apparently blown it with the intelligence community, said to be up in arms over his most recent misstep. The snow job item is below the Redstate quote.

I missed the implications of this up front and I bet you all did too, but I am hearing from members of the American intelligence community and some on the outside closely connected to those on the inside who are raising a huge red flag right now.

It appears Barack Obama inexperience and amateurishness has just started bonfires on the bridges connecting him to the American intelligence community and delivered a huge, HUGE psychological win to Al Qaeda.

People tell me the President’s rush to acknowledge the attack on the CIA in Afghanistan and mourn the deaths openly, publicly, and via press release is a huge no no. The CIA and greater intelligence community would prefer not to have the attention put on them. Additionally, because the President took the time to draft a blanket statement focused on the CIA in general instead of individually and more privately focusing on the families of the victims, it acknowledges the CIA’s work in Afghanistan, acknowledges that the attack has an impact on the CIA, and gives the terrorists a new recruiting tool — “you too can cause America to publicly mourn the loss of their spies.”

Leave it to the AP to not miss an important bit of hard breaking news. As for Obama, tell me the dude doesn't still buy into his own hype. Snow job is more like it.

Obama takes daughters for shave ice treat

"It's the Snowbama," Obama said, noting that the store lists the combination on its menu.

KAILUA, Hawaii (AP) -- President Barack Obama took his daughters and friends Friday to sample a Hawaiian delicacy of ice shavings and flavored syrup, joshing with his group about winning college football teams on New Year's Day.

Obama and about 20 people drove to a shave ice store the president has visited during past trips to Hawaii. He ordered a flavor combination of lemon-lime, cherry and passion-guava syrups.

Sullivan And Demagogy

G. B. Shaw on Demagogy:

But though there is no difference in this respect between the best demagogue and the worst, both of them having to present their cases equally in terms of melodrama, there is all the difference in the world between the statesman who is humbugging the people into allowing him to do the will of God, in whatever disguise it may come to him, and one who is humbugging them into furthering his personal ambition and the commercial interests of the plutocrats who own the newspapers and support him on reciprocal terms.

Perusing the pertinent links via Instapundit and giving the issue some actual thought, one should see that Sullivan has nothing to offer but some of the worst demagogy. He rejects points not to his liking, facts, and anything else if it suits his argument, or cause, to do so. So, he'll take a broad concept like torture and aim it at, say Cheney, without any genuine substance behind his argument. And if you challenge, or disagree with him in the least, he simply hurls the same insult at you.

He does the same thing with religion because he sees it as the primary opponent and critic of his lifestyle choices, including marriage. He might just as easily label an atheist, or agnostic, a Christiani-ist in his vernacular, because it serves his purpose. Words and concepts have no more actual meaning to him. There's simply no substance left to the man.

That makes it all the more puzzling how so many seem capable of lapping up his poison and poisoned mind on an apparently daily basis. And that some of them, like a Friedersdorf, for instance, hold themselves up as enlightened half-intellectuals in doing it. It's now nothing more than a joke. Sullivan is more likely to demonstrate in his own behavior the various criticisms he tosses at whomever his target ends up being on any given day, than he is of making a valid argument against an opponent.

Chuckles Johnson Must Voice His Outrage

Link to Patterico, not Chuckie Cheesey.

When in doubt, blame the Right. Everything is their fault, anyway. So what if he's wrong!! He's on a new crusade, dammit!!!

Knife, Ax Wielding Somali Attacked Danish Cartoonist

With additional links first spotted at Instapundit and in email. The Times On Line has the fullest report for now. Police were reported searching for explosives, as well.

Danish police last night shot and wounded a 27-year-old man trying to enter the home of Kurt Westergaard, whose controversial cartoons of Islam’s prophet sparked riots across the Muslim world five years ago .

Police confirmed an “incident” at the house in Viby, near the city of Aarhus. Danish media expressed fears that it might have been an attempt on the life of the cartoonist.

Ten police cars attended the scene and the road was blocked. Police said that the intruder was armed with an axe and a knife. Bomb disposal experts were said to be searching the house for an explosive device.

The intruder, said to of Somali origin, was taken to a hospital in the city under police custody and was being operated on, police said.

Update: Also a BCC report up now with more.

Racial Double-Standard Persists

Anyone can edit a Tweet when they re-tweet it based on many Twitter applications. So, what Republican Mike Parry actually tweeted, or didn't, is an open question. That issue doesn't interest me as much as the double-standard employed by Progressives here.

You can call the GOP the party of old white men, Obama can call his grandmother a typical white woman - but how dare anyone call Obama a black man. Obviously, then it's raaacist!!

Putting this here, in case he deletes it. RT @mikeparry read the exclusive on Mr O in Newsweek. He is a Power Hungry Arrogant Black Man

So much for the whole equal treatment thing. It's about what the Left determines is politically correct, not what's, in fact, actually equal treatment in the end.

Dems Join Call To Oust Napolitano

She's the one who's ultimately going to fall on her sword, I believe. Her Sunday appearances were simply too poor a reflection on Obama. And Obama's rhetoric has been too harsh for everyone to survive.

It isn't as if she has that much pertinent experience, she was a manager and a political hack, at best. She'll no doubt get some other plumb somehow in the deal. Her going will be as corrupted by politics as was her coming.

All of Obama's decisions seem political. This one won't be much different. But I doubt he'll do it until he's back in DC so he can milk it, well after they put the fine points on whatever it'll take to get her to go without a fuss.

Cross-posted at Right Wing News.

Prez Pal Ayers Inciting Protests In Egypt, Hard Left Abandons Obama

The media is beginning and ending a year as shamefully in the bag for Obama as they've ever been. Meanwhile, Obama pal Ayers is in Egypt with Code Pink and the hard Left that raised him up has abandoned Obama.

One report via RBO and WND, with additional info at Big Government. And the group once known as Progressives for Obama is now attacking Obama with some harsh rhetoric. Code Pink seems to be leading the effort. I doubt Obama minds too much, as the press won't use them to attack him as they did with Bush. Now, they'll label them as nuts and radicals. But it does shed even more light on the types of people with whom Obama long associated himself. Don't look for the media to play up that angle.

Weatherman terrorists Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn – close associates for years of President Obama – were involved in provoking chaos on the streets of Egypt the past few days in an attempt to enter the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip to join in solidarity with the territory’s population and leadership.

Also prior to New Year's Eve, the reporting on Obama's TSA nominee was DeMint's opposition. It wasn't until 11 PM on New Year's Eve that they began reporting on the nominee's troubling past. The timing on that one was disgraceful and, no doubt, by design.

Cross-posted at RightWingNews.

Farming To Save Detroit?

Something sort of cuts across the grain for me when thinking of this as progress. Throwing large amounts of subsidies into farming in the heart of Detroit doesn't strike me as progress. And I'm thinking that's got to be part of the angle here. Making the land arguably productive because the people have fled might be worthwhile. But people still have to work to buy food, ... today, anyway.

Then one day about a year and a half ago, Hantz had a revelation. "We need scarcity," he thought to himself as he drove past block after unoccupied block. "We can't create opportunities, but we can create scarcity." And that, he says one afternoon in his living room between puffs on an expensive cigar, "is how I got onto this idea of the farm."

Yes, a farm. A large-scale, for-profit agricultural enterprise, wholly contained within the city limits of Detroit. Hantz thinks farming could do his city a lot of good: restore big chunks of tax-delinquent, resource-draining urban blight to pastoral productivity; provide decent jobs with benefits; supply local markets and restaurants with fresh produce; attract tourists from all over the world; and -- most important of all -- stimulate development around the edges as the local land market tilts from stultifying abundance to something more like scarcity and investors move in. Hantz is willing to commit $30 million to the project. He'll start with a pilot program this spring involving up to 50 acres on Detroit's east side. "Out of the gates," he says, "it'll be the largest urban farm in the world."

Broder Begins Year With A Bang: Napolitano

Jaysus. If Broder is one of those kinky DC types who likes to wear women's underwear and crawl around the floor on his knees wearing a dog collar, at least now we know who's holding the leash. Pitiful stuff from Broder.

I would not have thought there was enough botox in the world for Broder to write this with a straight face. This plug in her time of need ought to earn him exclusives for the rest of life.

Mummers Still Marching In Philadelphia

I doubt my Father ever missed watching one back in the day. Here's a quick interesting interview with an 84 year-old Mummer, a tailor and musician who's lived quite an interesting life filled with Americana - from MacArthur to Durante, to Saget, as in Bob.

The historical background of the parade goes back centuries, linked to various Christmas customs, including those adhered to by George Washington. Interesting stuff. An image and a more local story here.

Nice to know some things evolve but don't really change all that much, no matter what.

Dems Stick It To Poor: Kill DC Voucher Program

The voucher story via Big Government.

This is big government at its finest hour. The Democrats have officially killed a successful private school voucher program banishing more than 3,300 low-income children back to the DC schools they so desperately wanted to escape.

It was two days ago when I linked the WaPo item pointing out Duncan's actual record in Chicago not adding up as claimed. What should people expect from this crew but more failing schools and more failure all around? Change!

Obama TSA Nominee Censured For "Grave Errors In Judgment"

Yeah, that's what we want. Someone running the TSA who was only censured once by the FBI and now admitting to having run only a few unethical, if not illegal, record checks on his ex-wife's boyfriend. Why is this coming out on New Year's Eve? LMAO That Obama, ... he sure does know how to pick 'em.

And Obama is standing behind him, well, okay, body surfing maybe? It's daytime in Hawaii, right? Good grief. Can he get anything right?

HONOLULU (AP) -- President Barack Obama's pick to lead the Transportation Security Administration has provided Congress inconsistent reports about - and regrets for - running background checks on his then-estranged wife's boyfriend two decades ago.

Erroll Southers, a former FBI agent whose nomination has been delayed by Republicans for unrelated concerns, wrote to senators in November to correct what he called a distortion of his record.

"I am distressed by the inconsistencies between my recollection and the contemporaneous documents, but I assure you that the mistake was inadvertent, and that I have at all times taken full responsibility for what I know to have been a grave error in judgment," he wrote in a letter to Sens. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., and Susan Collins, R-Maine.

"This incident was over 20 years ago, I was distraught and concerned about my young son, and never in my career since has there been any recurrence of this sort of conduct."

In an October affidavit for the Senate committee, he initially said he asked a San Diego police employee to run a background check on his then-estranged wife's boyfriend and was censured by his FBI superiors 20 years ago for what he said was an isolated instance.

But a day after the committee approved his nomination and sent it to the full Senate, he wrote to the senators and told them that he was incorrect; he said he twice ran background checks himself.

In the letter correcting the record, Southers also said he downloaded law enforcement records and shared them. He said he forgot the incident in 1987 or 1988.

TSA Backdown?

It would make sense. They have other issues they should be concerned with right now. Looked like an internal issue, anyway. If someone inside is leaking stuff, they've a right to go after them. But trying to hammer bloggers over something they'd give the larger media a pass on is dumb in this day and age.

Media: The Year In Mediocre

One could go on just about forever citing media lapses this year. And let's not forget their largest failure of the year, Obama. Two-thousand and nine was the first year of a so far less than stellar presidency the media all but guided him into while constantly touting tremendous expectations that haven't panned out. As is usually the case with their increasingly poor performance, it just leaves the American people to deal with the consequences in its wake.

Their end of year priorities via Ed Driscoll.

And nine major stories they missed via Instapundit.

Oops - an addition. Michelle is doing several best, or worst of posts today. You'll find them here on the right.

To Fox, citizen journalism and more effective blogging and new media holding their feet even closer to the fire and more to account in the coming New Year!

Happy New Year, folks! Let's not spend too much of 2010 looking back as we work toward a better future for both ourselves and America as a whole.

More Drastic Cuts At Washington Times

Funny, they are starting to look more like a model akin to Politco, perhaps?

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Washington Times slashed its staff by more than 40 percent and will eliminate its sports section and most local coverage in 2010, shifting its focus to politics, business and investigative reporting.

The 27-year-old newspaper announced the latest round of layoffs in its Thursday edition and said the last sports section would appear Friday. Among those let go was the newsroom leader, Managing Editor David Jones. Another round of cuts was made earlier in December, and the newspaper published its last Sunday edition last weekend.

Terrorist's Last Phone Call Should Have Sounded Alarm

A would be airline bomber's last phone call set off alarms, but not within the CIA, apparently. Alarm seems to be the wrong word in that regard.

Abdulmutallab's final call alarmed the Father enough for him to go directly to Nigerian authorities. They took him directly to the CIA. And then, .... I guess his underwear caught on fire over Detroit.

The accused "underwear bomber" made a dramatic final call to his father that he found so alarming, the father approached Nigerian officials who took him directly to the CIA's station chief in the Nigerian capital, sources told ABC News.

ABC News' sources said that during Abdulmutallab's final call, he told his father the call would be his last contact with the family. He said that the people he was with in Yemen were about to destroy his SIM card, rendering his phone unusable.

FBI Reports: Guns Sales Way Up, Crime Way Down

Via Mellissa Clouthier on Twitter. Link via the NRA's Institute for Legislative Action.

Last week, the FBI issued its preliminary 2009 crime report, showing that the number of murders in the first half of 2009 decreased 10 percent compared to the first half of 2008. If the trend holds for the remainder of 2009, it will be the single greatest one-year decrease in the number of murders since at least 1960, the earliest year for which national data are available through the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Also, the per capita murder rate for 2009 will be 51 percent lower than the all-time high recorded in 1991, and it will be the lowest rate since 1963—a 46-year low. Final figures for 2009 will be released by the FBI next year.

According to gun control supporter dogma—“more guns means more crime”—the number of privately owned firearms must have decreased 10 percent in 2009. To the contrary, however, the number rose between 1.5 and 2 percent, to an all-time high. For the better part of the last 15 months, firearms, ammunition, and “large” ammunition magazines have been sold in what appear to be record quantities. And, the firearms that were most commonly purchased in 2009 are those that gun control supporters most want to be banned—AR-15s, similar semi-automatic rifles, and handguns designed for defense. The National Shooting Sports Foundation already estimates record ammunition sales in 2009, dominated by .223 Remington, 7.62x39mm, 9mm and other calibers widely favored for defensive purposes.

CNN's Sanchez Ambushes Ensign: Forget Terror, Let's Talk Sex

How special. Video below via Teagan Goddard. The network that unceasingly told us sex was a personal issue during the Clinton years has suddenly discovered the error of its ways after inviting John Ensign on to talk about the recent attempted terror attack. Ensign's issues aside, are we supposed to believe this is simply good journalism from CNN? They aren't even capable of it anymore.

Cross-posted at RightWingNews.

Quick End Of Year Look Back

Not some schmaltzy round-up. Just via a recent referral to a Dec 2004 photoshopped post of mine. The things I once got away with out here! ; )

Judge Dismisses All Blackwater Shooting Charges

No doubt this is good news for Blackwater fans. But the grounds may prove to have troubling implications, perhaps? After the shooting the guards gave statements to the State Department. Prosecutors were forbidden from using those statements.

Okay. But once we start walking terrorists into Federal Court, I'm left wondering what statements of theirs might be throw out, as well. Perhaps American citizenship is seen as the key to this. But is that really a settled point of law? Personally, I'm not certain. But then, I'm not a lawyer.

WASHINGTON - A federal judge has dismissed all charges against five Blackwater Worldwide security guards charged in a deadly Baghdad shooting.

U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina said today the Justice Department overstepped its bounds and wrongly used evidence it was not allowed to see. He said the government's explanations have been contradictory, unbelievable and not credible.

Blackwater contractors were hired to guard State Department diplomats in Iraq. Prosecutors say the guards fired on unarmed civilians in a busy intersection in 2007, killing innocent people.

After the shooting, the guards gave statements to State Department investigators. Prosecutors were not allowed to use those statements in the case.

iPhone App, Or Terror Threat?

Quite a wonderful bit of ingenuity here. Though I can't say it doesn't cause me to wonder about what the future holds with regard to the possibilities in even more sophisticated, less purely industrious hands.

In past, we have seen iPhone being made to use in situations such as driving vehicles, controlling robots and so much more, but none a special than launching a missile! Yes, a small group of students have managed to control a missile through their iPhone that commands and controls a small rocket launcher in pre and post firing conditions. They designed an app for iPhone and created a system for the launcher by running customized version of Windows CE 6 on eBox 2300, on which the orientation, deviation and firing control of missile was possible using the iPhone. The project that successfully performed all these claimed functions was realized by David Attias, Jeff Lumish, Andrew Thoni, Greg Watkins and James Hamblen where as Nate Klein supervised it.

Houston: Rocket Launcher Linked To Islamist

Well, isn't this special. Looking to do a little urban renewal for Allah, perhaps? But police found no link to a terror group, of course. Good Lord. As if they'd even know how to discover one given their primary job. 

The woman did tell police that the rocket launcher belonged to Nabilaye I. Yansane, someone whom she allowed to store items at her apartment.

Police records show that she didn't want Yansane at her apartment, so she called them.

According to court documents, officers also found Jihadist writings that allegedly belonged to Yansane. The woman didn't want to talk to KPRC Local 2 about that, either.

Houston police said they did a thorough investigation and did not find any ties to terrorists or a terrorist network.

Terrorism: Will America Ever Connect The Dots?

As opposed to some of the more hateful and unhelpful rhetoric occasionally directed at Obama from some on the Right's fringe, an exclusive via The Jawa Report speaks to the genuine danger America faces from an overly progressive, politically correct administration. But that would be true under any liberal administration.

Yesterday at Wizbang, Kim Priestap pointed out news that Obama's more PC-minded approach to pursuing terror links may have heightened the risk we faced prior to the recent failed airliner attack. There are genuine concerns as to whether or not we can be overly PC and still connect the dots we need to connect in protecting ourselves effectively.

And as Jawa points out up at the first link, see excerpted text below, the dots are there to be observed and acted upon. But will the government do that? For all the rhetoric, I'm honestly not sure given where things stand today. Even Bush was arguably too careful in this regard.

But we can report exclusively at the Jawa Report that Qadhi's Houston-based Ilmquest was selling more than a dozen different CD sets by none other than Al-Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaki as recently as last month. Ilmquest continued to hawk Awlaki's wares even after the Ft. Hood massacre, but scrubbed any mention of Awlaki from their site as soon as he was connected to the Ft. Hood incident. Ah, but thanks to Google cache, they couldn't hide all the evidence. A screenshot of Ilmquest's Awlaki offerings is below the fold.

Yes, these fine moderate Muslims just happen to be selling CD sets of an Al-Qaeda cleric, and a would-be terrorist attends their events on two different continents and just happens to end up meeting that same Al-Qaeda cleric in Yemen. Will these random occurrences never stop!!!!????

Gal "Re-Gifts" 9mm: Would Be Robber Flees

Now here's a gal you have to admire. At top below from an even better version. Sunshine Espresso owner "even felt sorry for him"! heh!

When a 17-year-old boy strolled up at 6:20 a.m., he pulled out a gun and said: "I'm sorry, I need you to put all your money in a bag."

But Cornelsen was confident and even felt sorry for him.

When another customer came up, the teen put the gun on the counter and covered it with his hand. That's when Cornelsen grabbed her gun, put it in his face and told him to leave.

He calmly walked away and minutes later, an off-duty Kootenai County sheriff's deputy and customer of Cornelsen's caught him and held him at gunpoint until other deputies arrived to take him into custody.

COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho (AP) -- A teen trying to rob an espresso stand in northern Idaho met his match in a gun toting barista.

Police say the 17-year-old confronted Sunshine Espresso owner Michelle Cornelson with a gun Wednesday morning, demanding all her money.

Cornelson has been hunting since she was a girl and says she remained calm as a customer pulled up to the other side of her kiosk in Coeur d'Alene (kohr duh-LAYN'), distracting the teen.

Cornelson quickly whipped out her 9 mm Kel-Tec pistol, which was a Christmas present from her husband. That scared off the teen so Cornelson could call police.

Dems Lose Another Top Recruit: Kansas

Talk about the worm turning. News of this type has completely reversed itself over the past four years. And it's partly linked to this move to show Super Delegates the door. Whatever new ruling paradigm Democrats may have thought they were going to build on Obama's shoulders after 2008 has collapsed. But it was bound to happen. Obama is way to the Left and the party was recruiting centrists.

If Hillary had gotten the nod and stayed closer to the center, we might have been looking at another forty year run for Democrats. But they blew it when they went with Obama. I wonder if they'll get around to realizing they have the late Ted Kennedy, John Kerry and others to thank for it, too? It also puts Obama on the spot. He either shifts to the center, or the party is going to have to leave him behind.

Democrats have lost yet another touted recruit, this time in Kansas.

State Sen. Laura Kelly (D) just announced her withdrawal from the race to face Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R-Kan.). She becomes the fifth formidable recruit to bow out in recent weeks.

Kelly joins several recent dropouts, including businessman Jack McDonald, a well-funded challenger to Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) who announced last week that he wouldn't run. The others are Ohio state Rep. Todd Book, who was running against Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Ohio); former Tennessee Commerce and Insurance Commissioner Paula Flowers, who was running for Rep. Zach Wamp's (R-Tenn.) seat; and Solana Beach City Councilman Dave Roberts, who was running against Rep. Brian Bilbray (R-Calif.).

Both McDonald and Kelly were cited in a late October memo from DCCC Chairman Chris Van Hollen (Md.) that touted the committee's recruiting successes.

Fighters Force Down Small Plane In Florida

I don't get this. The pilot is French and doesn't speak English. He was told to not fly. He does anyway and we scramble fighters to force him down. But no criminal charges? Can we at least give the idiot a bill?

John Cornelio, a spokesman for North American Aerospace Defense Command, said two fighter jets were dispatched to turn around the pilot, who landed at a South Florida airfield.

The sheriff's office says the pilot won't face criminal charges.

Feds Target Bloggers, Not Big Media?

The most troubling part of this TSA going after bloggers deal is that it wouldn't be happening had it been the New York Times that broke the story. They can write an entire series, bring down a classified, covert prison system with implications around the world and win a Pulitzer.

But if a blogger did that, Uncle Sam would be kicking down their door. This is going after the little guy because they can get away with it, or think they can. And if Big Media had any principles, they'd side with the bloggers down the line.

TheConservative Dot Com - Gone

That was fast. Can't say I'm surprised, unfortunately. Too many people think they can invent something successful out here by throwing a little money at it. But they never seriously ask people who know how to survive and grow a site out here how they did it. They don't understand the environment, not really. That's my opinion, anyway.

It takes insight and knowledge, more than money. Instead, they come with this build it and they will come mentality and end up playing with themselves in a field alone. Whether that's true here, or not, hard to say. It could just be part of their larger money problems. But even that suggests it would have failed.

TheConservatives.com, the Washington Times Web project that was billed as an ambitious "multiplatform" venture to allow "the Joe the Plumbers of the world to speak up to major thinkers, like Newt Gingrich," has gone silent.

Brian Faughnan, editor of the site, tells us the Times has officially canceled the project.

Tweeting Bleeping Liberals

As The Politico points out, I was simply having some fun at the expense of some rather annoying liberals wishing the worst for Rush Limbaugh. But that didn't stop some from taking, or pretending to take it seriously to attack me on Twitter.

But, turning the tables, some conservatives had fun with the idea that if only it were a liberal in the hospital...

"I'd donate a heart to keep Rush alive," wrote blogger Dan Riehl. "Just need a knife and a liberal close by. ; )"

As if I would dream of practicing medicine without a license. Everyone knows I'm a law and order guy.

Yemenis Raid Al Qaeda Hideout Linked To Airliner Attack

I'd imagine we'd have some Special Ops types providing support, if not taking part. Let's hope they kill the bastards. Credit to Obama is he was involved in giving a green light to this.

Yemeni forces raided an al-Qaida hideout and set off a gunbattle Wednesday as the government vowed to eliminate the group that claimed it was behind the Christmas bombing attempt on a U.S. airliner.

The fighting took place in an al-Qaida stronghold in western Yemen, haven for a group that attacked the U.S. Embassy here in 2008, killing 10 Yemeni guards and four civilians. A government statement said at least one suspected militant was arrested during the clashes.

Update 2: Stable Condition? Rush Limbaugh Rushed To Hospital With Chest Pains

Via Twitter , saw reports ABC claims Rush is in stable condition.

Also here via station that broke the news:

HONOLULU -- Conservative radio talk host Rush Limbaugh was rushed to a Honolulu hospital on Wednesday afternoon with chest pains, sources told KITV.

Paramedics responded to the call at 2:41 p.m. at the Kahala Hotel and Resort.

Update via this report:

A local media report out of Hawaii indicated that conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh was hospitalized in serious condition after suffering chest pains.

An ambulance reportedly rushed Limbaugh from the Kahala Hotel and Resort to Queen's Medical Center in Honolulu about 2:40 p.m. island time.

CBS News could not immediately confirm the report.

via an email from Pundita who heard it on ABC News radio.

War On Terror: 2 New Troubling Bits Of News For Obama

Two pieces of potentially troubling news for Obama and even Napolitano coming out tonight. Sources are suggesting that the high level of concern over being politically correct Obama employs is officially increasing America's risk of being successfully attacked by Muslim terrorists.

This employee says that despite statements from the Obama Administration, such information was flagged and given higher priority during the Bush Administration, but that since the changeover “we are encouraged to not create the appearance that we are profiling or targeting Muslims. I think career employees were uncomfortable with the Bush procedures and policies and were relieved to not have to live under them any longer.”

Then there's this I just happened across. If Napolitano announced this comprehensive review back in July, what's the deal with Obama having to do one now? Was this a lot of hype and nothing was done? Hellooo? Or, worse, did bad decisions flow from it? It reads like just the type of thing that should have picked-up on some of these new issues we're learning about. I reformatted this to raise the last graph and make a point on the rest below.

Release Date: July 14, 2009

Over the past five months, Secretary Napolitano has embarked on new security agreements with international partners, bolstered intelligence information sharing with domestic law enforcement partners, announced $1.7 billion in Homeland Security grants to strengthen risk-based preparedness activities across the nation for all disasters and implemented programs and directed funding for infrastructure protection, transportation and air travel security and cybersecurity efforts, among other efforts to protect the nation from threats of terrorism.

Or did she only focus on the more superficial warning system and not the actual detection capabilities driving it? That seems a bit superficial given her slot. What is she actually focused on?

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today announced the formation of a task force to conduct a 60-day review of the Homeland Security Advisory System (HSAS). The mission of the task force is to assess the effectiveness of the system in informing the public about terrorist threats and communicating protective measures within government and throughout the private sector.

Secretary Napolitano appointed Fran Townsend, former Assistant to President George W. Bush for Homeland Security, and Judge William Webster, former director of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), to co-chair the task force and lead the review.

“I have assembled a task force, made up of Democrats and Republicans, elected officials at the state and local level, security experts, law enforcement officials and other professionals to assess our current threat level system and provide options for any improvements that are needed,” said Secretary Napolitano, “My goal is simple: to have the most effective system in place to inform the American people about threats to our country.”

The review will include broad consideration of HSAS and the system’s impact on state, local, tribal, territorial and international law enforcement partners, the private sector and the American people. The task force will consult with the Department of Justice—under which HSAS was originally created—and provide opportunities for public input. In addition, DHS will take public comment directly via email.

Following the 60-day review period, the task force will present its findings to Secretary Napolitano, who will, in turn, discuss the findings with other Cabinet officials before making a recommendation about the future of the system to the White House.

This review is one of a number of steps Secretary Napolitano has taken to bolster the Department’s counterterrorism efforts. She recently completed a weeklong trip to Europe and the Middle East where she signed agreements with Spain and Portugal to allow for the exchange of biometric and biographic data to bolster counterterrorism and law enforcement efforts while emphasizing privacy protections. She also visited Ireland, England, Kuwait and Pakistan, where she met with top security officials to increase coordination against transnational terrorism.

 

Obama Flirts With A Catastrophic End To His Presidency

Putting aside all the political posturing, the factual back-story of Obama's plans to release, or prosecute terrorist detainees compels the calculation that his final decisions could end any effectiveness for his administration in, quite literally, a flash. Dukasis' Willie Horton problem comes to mind. The details actually point to an increased risk for Obama.

My column today spotlights Yemen’s dangerous catch-and-release program for terrorists — and ours.

There have already been far too many news stories of former Guantanamo inmates having been re-captured, or killed on the battlefield. Yet, while so many have already been released, it was always stated, and logical, that as the number of inmates came down, we were increasingly talking about the worst of the worst. That, or the seemingly least able to be rehabilitated.

Forget the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, if just one single inmate released under Obama's watch is found at a future point to have played a role in a domestic act of terrorism here resulting in American deaths at home, Obama will not survive. I doubt any sitting President could effectively weather a determination by the American people that he was either unable, or unwilling to protect them from such an event.

Would you bet your career and your legacy on such an event taking place, especially given recent and past so-called systemic failures of our intel community and DHS, whatever the reasons why? I wouldn't. But like it or not, Obama is. With terrorist recidivism being what we've already observed, I'm not convinced it's a very safe gamble for anyone given the facts and realities involved.

CA: Armed Robbers Flee 81 Year-Old Victim With Gun

Looked for another source on this. If you were to check an AP related site, it would be under off-beat, or comical news. Howard Buckner opened up pretty good inside his home, though he didn't hurt anyone. However, had he not been armed, this would likely have ended much worse for him.

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) ―  An 81-year-old man proved to be anything but an easy target when two armed men tried robbing his home.

Howard Buckner, an army veteran who saw combat in the Korean War, opened his front door Saturday night when two men in their 20s said their car broke down and asked to use his phone.

"They pulled a pistol right out," Howard said. "I knew I was in trouble."

The suspects searched Buckner's home, grabbing his wallet and other valuables, such as the wedding ring he hasn't worn since his wife Betsy died three months ago. As they ransacked the South Sacramento home, they left Buckner alone in his bedroom.

"The deer rifle was hidden in the bedroom, and they left me in the bedroom for just a few seconds," he said. "In about five seconds, it was firing."

Howard said he hasn't fired the weapon since 1960 and bought the bullets for it about 50 years ago, but he squeezed off several shots into his home. One broke his bedroom window, another through his door, a third through his bathroom wall and a fourth ended up in his furnace halfway across his house.

"Yeah, the furnace will work, but I don't think it's safe," Buckner said.

The intruders immediately fled the house, taking some of what was in their hands but dropping some of the rest, including Howard's wedding ring.

NY and CA Govs Attack ObamaCare

We already know ObamaCare doesn't have many friends in the South, or the Heartland. Chicago's Daley already told Obama to back off in more general terms. With both coasts coming out and attacking it, it doesn't seem to have many friends left, geographically speaking. No wonder Obama wants to stay in Hawaii.

Paterson said the expansion would leave New York $1 billion in the lurch. The state faces a $6.8 billion budget shortfall heading into the 2010 fiscal year.

... In a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Schwarzenegger wrote that the legislation would create a “crushing new burden” for a state with a whopping $20.7 billion budget deficit.

If Obama's approach to governing doesn't change, it'll be Obama who soon doesn't have any friends. Just as he distanced himself from so many during the campaign, politicians will turn on anyone to save their skin. And the various colors it comes in won't matter to them at all.

Obama: Health Care, Gitmo And Narrative Control

They number 95 and Yemenis represent one of, if not the, largest group, of detainees still at Gitmo. But Obama has a real problem now, assuming none were to be charged. The original plan was to release as many as possible back to Yemen. Given the rapidly evaporating chance of that, see below, he'd be smart to shelf the closing if he wants to salvage his domestic health care agenda. I suspect that was a big part of why he was hoping the airliner incident didn't explode in his face. But it seems to be doing just that, especially now given Cheney's challenging words.

Politico provides some early details we'll see discussed by Obama going forward, none of them have to do with selling the nation on his health care plan. He has to have been banking on that happening with help from DC Dems and it isn't. He's now stuck talking about the last thing the Democrats want to talk about. Obama especially has already disappointed his base far too much. Tough talk on defense and security now likely won't help him there. But the country will demand it of him no matter what.

Just as Bush's domestic agenda was completely sidetracked by 9/11, Obama is learning that for all his presumed power, no sitting president can control the agenda the way one might prefer. Welcome to the real world, Barry. It's time to put the clubs away and get to work. You've already lost control of the narrative around your presidency. Now, you're going to have to play out of the rough and attempt to get it back on course.

Al Qaeda didn't succeed in killing 300 Americans by taking down Flight 253. But they may still have crashed Obama's agenda, leaving ObamaCare in critical condition.

5) The transfers of the 198 inmates left in the Guantanamo Bay detention facility will be slowed, and no more will go to Yemen in the foreseeable future.

Today's Left: Heart Bombers, Hate Cheney For Throwing Words

Funny that some on the Left have such concern for people who bomb and kill innocents, but hate Americans who speak their minds in opposition. How far from being actual terrorists are they, really? Jules' spell check works as insufficiently as mine too often does, I see. ha!

Cheney whacks Obama for being insufficently at war. A “senior Democrat” whacks Cheney for being insufficently condemnatory of al-Qaeda, which is kind of a weird angle. The oddly unnamed “senior Democrat” goes on to demonstrate, in criticizing the Bush admin of being at war with a “tactic,” that the Obama admin is at war with the very language itself.

Update 4: All Clear? Live Video - Times Square Report: Bogus Police ID On Van

Barricades going up around van, FBI involved. Probably precautionary. But they aren't done investigating who would be stupid enough to leave the van in Times Square given the timing, I imagine.

Via Gothamist

Update 12:58 p.m.: As readers have noted, a few buildings around Times Square, such as 4TS and 7TS were evacuated. But now we hear that occupants can head back, because police found no explosives or threat. Police are still examining the van; we image the owner will at least get a ticket.

Via Fox News - and viewable in video below - doors open, police approaching in Bomb Squad gear. Looks like it will be cleared given signal from bomb squad personnel.

Video available via Fox NASDQ evacuated for precaution, safety reasons.

 Saw this tidbit: It has no license plates.

Breaking now, or so I hear. Here's a fairly thorough report as of 12:03 PM. Could be a parking scam but it sat for days. Hmm.

Police officers surrounded and began examining a suspicious-looking panel truck parked and apparently abandoned in Times Square on Wednesday morning. The truck, a 1992 Dodge with tinted windows covered by a tarpaulin, was discovered at Broadway and 42nd Street, near where the annual Times Square New Year’s Eve celebration is set to take place under heavy security provisions.

Officials said the van had apparently not been moved for some days.

It had a “bogus” placard in its windshield for a non-existent New York/New Jersey police entity, said Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s chief spokesman.

Cheney Sparks Debate, Obama's Shorts Explode

My thinking on this is that Cheney, along with just being himself, may be looking to accomplish a few things. He's always been a big defense guy and he doesn't want to see the threat of international terrorism fall completely off the American agenda. It shouldn't. But it would if Obama and the Democrats get their way.

As a Conservative, he also quite obviously resents the Hell out of an upstart like Obama believing he has the right to totally re-make America into a progressive-leftist state. At the same time, he saw what harsh, head-on criticism can do to your agenda when you're in the White House.

In essence, he's committed to fighting the good fight for the Right as hard and for as long as he can. God bless his allegedly black little heart for that! heh!

“[W]e are at war and when President Obama pretends we aren’t, it makes us less safe,” Cheney said in a statement to POLITICO. “Why doesn’t he want to admit we’re at war? It doesn’t fit with the view of the world he brought with him to the Oval Office. It doesn’t fit with what seems to be the goal of his presidency — social transformation — the restructuring of American society.”

Cheney was joining a chorus of Republicans who have criticized Obama following the Christmas Day attack, in which a Nigerian suspect is accused of trying to blow up a loaded airliner with a bomb stitched into his underwear.

Political Fighters

Stacy McCain picked up on the same item I did via Redstate. Smitty updated and addressed my item. But I think he misses it.

I'm not sure, Dan. Didn't BHO win by saying he would not be Bush?

That's a gross over-simplification. Obama promised all sorts of things during the campaign, chief among them, changing Washington, as Dems seem to always do despite the largest part of it being them. At the same time, not being Bush wouldn't mean anything if they hadn't spent the better part of eight years trying to destroy him by running him down at every turn.

One shouldn't confuse a campaign strategy with a political strategy over the longer term. The former is often higher-ground stuff, while the latter is usually about attacking your opponent to weaken him when you're out of power.

John Hawkins 2009 Political Quote Collection

John at Right Wing News has rounded-up some political quotes from 2009. None are mine. Oh well, guess I'll have to be content with a small handful of Malkin Wards from my buddy Andy Sullivan. heh!

I really think my crack about Obama potentially suffocating his grandmother during the campaign Andy jumped on was at least worthy of an honorable mention from John. She's since passed and is no longer available to get him out of a jam. But I can assure Andy, as if I should have to, it was only a joke and I never had anything but regard for her life, just as I would any other. 

Update: Well, due to the extreme criticism from the "Laura killed her high school sweetheart, Cheney shot his friend, Bushitler" Left - I felt I should update and bump this post. I'm sorry if my sarcasm regarding the pillow reference came across as too unkind. I am certain Obama is a kind man. Consequently, I don't actually believe he would "smother" his Grandma with a pillow.

I imagine his compassion would compel him to use a plastic bag. But as that is so environmentally unsound, I didn't want to even suggest it in case it might damage his reputation among the faithful, so many of them being Green and all.

Never surrender! Never quit!