Another roundup of news, a disproportionate amount from the Middle East, disproportionately bad.
LinkSwarm for August 8, 2014
August 8th, 2014Inside Hamas’ Tunnels
August 7th, 2014A few notes on those Hamas tunnels, the destruction of which drove the latter half of Operation Protective Edge
Israeli military, intelligence, and political officials have known for years that Hamas fighters were burrowing into their country from Gaza through underground tunnels. An Israeli army spokesman said this month that the military had discovered four tunnels just in the past 18 months, well before Israel’s current ground offensive began. But in interviews, current and former Israeli officials said the military and intelligence services didn’t realize the extent of Hamas’s subterranean operations, nor did political leaders act to counter a threat that has become the central focus of Israel’s Gaza campaign and stands as potentially the biggest Israeli intelligence failure in years.
A senior Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the military has so far discovered far more tunnels — 40 and counting — than Israel had previously thought existed. The number came as a surprise, as did the sophistication of the tunnel network. Current and former officials said that Israeli intelligence and political leaders knew that the tunnels were fortified with concrete and had space to store weapons and food. But Israeli intelligence analysts and political leaders didn’t comprehend that the tunnels were wide enough to move several Hamas fighters into the country at a time, and they didn’t realize how many of the tunnels ended up in Israel, particularly near civilians. (A Hamas video that shows fighters emerging from a tunnel and attacking an Israeli military installation provides a vivid example of why Israelis have so come to fear the clandestine attacks.)
How big are these tunnels?
Israel understood that tunnels from Gaza posed a “huge risk” as early as October 2013, when the IDF discovered a long tunnel underneath the kibbutz Ein Hashlosha, just east of the border with Gaza, Col. Grisha Yakubovich, the head of the civil department in the IDF’s Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories, said in an interview.
The tunnel was enormous: It ran 1.5 miles, 66 feet below the ground. Authorities estimated that some 350 tons of concrete were used to build it, enough to build a small hospital three floors high, Yakubovich said. “We were amazed by the size of it.”
Which points out a tough dilemma for Hamas: Building hospitals to hide the rockets you attack Israel with, or build tunnels to conduct kidnapping of Israelis? Decisions, decisions…
Here’s Wolf Blitzer touring one of the tunnels:
Here’s Hamas’ own propaganda video on their tunnels:
And what were they planning to use them for?
“Hamas is said to have planned a huge terrorist attack that would taken place on September 24, 2014, which is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.”
Ridiculous Bureaucratic Compensation in the UK
August 6th, 2014It’s not just California. The bureaucratic apparatus has a way of feathering its own nests across the globe.
Take the “town hall tycoons” in the UK, for example:
There were at least 2,181 council employees who received total remuneration in excess of £100,000 in 2012-13, a fall of 5 per cent on the previous year’s 2,295. Despite this, 93 councils increased the number of staff who received remuneration in excess of £100,000 in 2012-13.
Keep in mind that at current exchange rates, £100,000 is somewhere north of $180,000.
Pat Condell: Why I Support Israel
August 5th, 2014My favorite British atheist comedian discuses why he supports Israel against the Islamic death cult of Hamas:
Israel/Gaza LinkSwarm for August 4, 2014
August 4th, 2014Another roundup of news on Operation Protective Edge:
On Nina Burleigh’s Irrational Perceptions
August 1st, 2014Robert Stacy McCain first alerted me to Nina Burleigh’s amazingly irrational screed on the “Women Against Feminism” movement. Which, in turn, linked to this women against feminism tmblr, which Burleigh describes as “selfies of young women, dressed and posed like ads for DIY escort services.”
Later on she says that “Everything about Women Against Feminism suggests it’s a sock puppet for the aggrieved misogynists and pedophiles of the anti-feminist men’s rights crowd. The main clue is that almost all the women on the site are nubile and posed in ways that fulfill dirty old men’s wildest dreams about pliant young things.”
Set aside the fact that Burleigh’s sole claim to fame is offering to give Bill Cinton a blowjob. Go look at that tmblr she links to. Really, go look at it.
So where are all those women “dressed and posed like ads for DIY escort services?” Not only do I not see any, I don’t see any pics that any remotely rational viewer could construe as such.
In fact, let me post the very most salacious pic I could find on that entire tmblr. Ready? (“Don’t look, Ethel!”)
That’s it. That’s the closest I could find to Burleigh’s “escort” poses.
That tmblr consists of perfectly normal, non-slutty women holding up signs she disagrees with, none of whom remotely look like they’re “dressed and posed like ads for DIY escort services.”
So, in summary: #WomenAgainstFeminism supporters are pedophiles because its women are younger and prettier than @ninaburleigh. @rsmccain
— BattleSwarm (@BattleSwarmBlog) July 31, 2014
Instapundit weighs in as well:
To a certain class of women in the media, it’s always about them, and their various mucous membranes.
Which, speaking of psychosexual theories, may explain Burleigh’s reaction to Women Against Feminism. Just check out the pictures; I’m sure these young women need to check their “prettiness privilege” or something. And I think that’s what’s going on with Nina Burleigh. When she, and her generation of feminists, could exercise sexual power directly (see above) it was all “you go, girl!” Now that they’re getting past that age, they’re falling back on the standard refuge of older women: Slut-shaming younger women who try to do the same. Older women have, of course, always tried to limit the sexual power of younger women, for fairly obvious reasons. This is just more of the same.
Plus this: “From the comments: “For Burleigh and her crowd I propose a new hashtag: #shrewculture. You know what to do, Internet.”
Nina Burleigh’s feminist politics seem to have so warped her worldview that she can’t even perceive reality clearly anymore. Perhaps she should consider seeking professional help…
Gun and Crime Roundup for July 31, 2014
July 31st, 2014Time for another gun and crime roundup, and oh boy, is there a lot of stupid to go around this week:
(Hat tip: Ace of Spades.)
(Hat tip: Sipsy Street.)
Texas vs. California Roundup for July 30, 2014
July 30th, 2014Another Texas vs. California roundup:
#Texas dominates @Forbes' Best Cities for Jobs in 2014 list! @GregAbbott_TX will continue pro-job policies as TX Gov pic.twitter.com/rL81Uz9yAR
— Red State Women (@RedStateWomen) July 23, 2014
Salon Writer Complains That Democrats Are Corporate Whores
July 29th, 2014Well well well, what have we here?
It’s a jeremiad by Democrat Bill Curry about how his party has abandoned its soul for the sweet smell of Wall Street crony capitalist dollars.
Democrats hooked on corporate cash and consultants with long lists of corporate clients were less attuned to Nader’s issues.
Democrats today defend the triage liberalism of social service spending but limit their populism to hollow phrase mongering (fighting for working families, Main Street not Wall Street). The rank and file seem oblivious to the party’s long Wall Street tryst. Obama’s economic appointees are the most conservative of any Democratic president since Grover Cleveland but few Democrats seem to notice, or if they notice, to care.
These days, says Curry, Democrats “don’t believe in ideas because they don’t believe in people” and calls for a Nader-esque populism. (Indeed, Nader’s latest book seems to provide the spine for his piece.)
Curry actually sees the populist Tea Party energy on the right and laments its absence on his side of the aisle. “If there’s a true populist revolt on the left it is as yet invisible to the naked eye.” (Though I note one very hot populist issue, widespread opposition to the Democratic Party’s push for illegal alien amnesty, is conspicuous by its absence from his piece.)
“Democratic elites are always up for compromise, but on the wrong issues. Rather than back GOP culture wars, as some do, or foreign wars, as many do, or big business, as nearly all do, they should back libertarians on privacy, small business on credit and middle-class families on taxes.”
This advice is far from the worst Democrats have received, but they are congenitally unable to follow it for numerous reasons:
There are also numerous areas where Curry appears unable to shed his blue-colored glasses:
Of course, since it’s Salon, the piece has more than one inside-the-blue-bubble howler:
Indeed, when you get right down to it, Curry’s piece could be boiled down to “Talk vaguely about populism while pushing the same Big Government, redistributionist schemes liberals always push.” Maybe the Nader book itself is bolder (and if someone wants to pay me to review it, I’d happily give it a go), but Curry’s piece is very old and undistinguished wine decanted into a slightly shinier bottle.
No matter how many times liberals declare “This is it! I’m finally fed up with the Democratic Party!”, the party’s fat cats know the truth. Come November 8, 2016, they’ll remember they loathe Republicans far more than they love reform, and pull the (D) lever no matter how many jeremiads Bill Curry and his ilk pen.
We’ve seen this movie before, and we know exactly how it ends.
DC Handgun Ban Struck Down; DC Police Chief Capitulates?
July 27th, 2014DC gun ban struck down in federal court:
Judge Frederick Scullin concluded that current prohibitions are an unconstitutional violation of the Second Amendment right to bear arms, in a win for gun rights advocates.
Based on previous court rulings striking down gun laws in D.C., Chicago and elsewhere, “there is no longer any basis on which this Court can conclude that the District of Columbia’s total ban on the public carrying of ready-to-use handguns outside the home is constitutional under any level of scrutiny,” Scullin wrote in his 19-page decision, which was unsealed on Saturday.
Now, via Ted Cruz staffer Josh Perry, comes two tweets that, if true, smell a whole lot like “Total Victory.”
More — DC police chief using guidance from AG — grants full reciprocity for all open and concealed carry from others states.
— Emily Miller (@EmilyMiller) July 28, 2014
STUNNING DEVELOPMENT: DC Police Chief Lanier just told force not to arrest a person who can legally carry a gun in DC or any state.
— Emily Miller (@EmilyMiller) July 28, 2014
Now, via Josh Perry, come two tweets that, if true, small a whole lot like “Total Victory.”
More — DC police chief using guidance from AG — grants full reciprocity for all open and concealed carry from others states.
— Emily Miller (@EmilyMiller) July 28, 2014
STUNNING DEVELOPMENT: DC Police Chief Lanier just told force not to arrest a person who can legally carry a gun in DC or any state.
— Emily Miller (@EmilyMiller) July 28, 2014
Still waiting for SMSM confirmation that D.C. Chief of Police Cathy Lanier has issued this order, but if true, this is the final culmination of the second amendment rights that DC vs. Heller confirmed finally being actually fulfilled.