Weekend Data Dump

Jihadis are really a bunch of sick f**ks, aren't they? Boko Haram kidnapped 1,000 Nigerian girls since 2013, and 100 are still in captivity.

Do we have to go back to paper for really sensitive material? Or would computers operated on batteries prevent hacking of via power lines of even computers not linked to Internet?

Palestinians continue to cast votes at the Gaza-Israel border in a vain attempt to be re-crowned Queen of the Victim Prom. If you wonder why Palestinians won't get any vote from Egypt. Jihadis in Sinai draw support from Gaza. And the Gaza border campaign is financed by Iran. So don't expect a lot of love from the Arab world east of Egypt, either.

I didn't realize we didn't have drill sergeants in AIT. But since the Army is restoring them, that must be so. In 1989, we had drill sergeants at Fort Gordon. That was new then, to address the problem of the place being nicknamed "Fort Resort."

If Sweden is serious about defending their coast and holding Gotland Island--the latter the only real objective for a Russian attack with ground forces--building up their navy is surely important.

I honestly don't know how the Army can say its operational tempo is "very high" when the Army is well past rotating 160,000 troops through Iraq and tens of thousands through Afghanistan on top of other global deployments. We're not in peacetime so peacetime standards aren't applicable, no?

Good. I've long been an advocate for Taiwanese submarines. Although by building their own, I fear the boats won't be ready before Taiwan needs to repel an invasion.

This seems like overkill on the part of Saudi Arabia over the Saudi-Qatar diplomatic dispute over Qatar's relations with Iran and Islamists in the Arab world. Saudi Arabia has reason to pressure Qatar into better policies, but really? A canal and nuclear dump to cut off land routes into and out of Qatar?

This is an interesting level of open source intelligence on the strike mission in Syria on April 13th. I shudder to think what defenders who could use and integrate such data into their air defenses might do.

Is peak oil theory dead? Don't be silly. Zombie peak oil will be back again. It is too convenient to argue for government control of every facet of our lives. One day oil won't be needed for energy. We are not at that day yet and trying to artificially reach it prematurely is too expensive.

Spain's Catalan region still has people upset with the national government.

Refusing to punish criminal students in Broward County, Florida led to--wait for it!--criminal students to lose their fear of punishment and commit more crimes in and out of school. Allegedly sentient humans put these stupid policies under the name PROMISE, which stands for Preventing Recidivism through Opportunities, Mentoring, Interventions, Supports & Education, in place. I prefer Preventing Recidivism through Overwhelming Discipline. And tar and feathers for the adults responsible for abandoning kids under their temporary care to such conditions. Honestly, this type of stupidity is what turned me off to the show Black Lightning. The hero confronts an angry student with a gun and the hero's concern is that the kid would get caught if seen with it. He let the kid walk away with the gun. Hero indeed. Tip to Instapundit.

Note that in the Syria strikes we did not use any of our four cruise missile submarines based on converted Trident ballistic missile submarines that can carry 154 Tomahawks. I imagine those at sea remain in the Pacific region tethered to a potential North Korea mission.

People really don't get the idea of "proportionality" in warfare. Once restricted to the Left, the misconception has seeped into the wider discussions. "Proportionality" doesn't mean that if an enemy hits you with X weapons of Y size, the legal response has to be roughly X weapons of Y size. That is completely wrong. Proportionality applies to the means used compared to the objective. It was proportional to use 100+ missiles to destroy 3 chemical weapons sites in Syria. It would violate proportionality if we had used nukes to destroy them. Or if we had used way more than the number of missiles reasonably expected to accomplish the mission, needlessly risking civilian lives to accomplish the mission. As long as civilians aren't needlessly risked, my view is that if an enemy still resists, you haven't exceeded proportionality.

Remainers hope for a do-over on Brexit by having a new referendum on the finalized deal that will peel away some Brexit voters unhappy about the details while all Remainers stay in lockstep. Don't fall for it, Britain. Get out while you can!

Wow! Trump continues to pass the global test with flying colors! "France's Macron says Trump, France agree on Syria objectives".

All things considered, this is good news about Turkey.

Arguing that the Supreme Court must overturn past rulings allowing by-mail sales that don't require companies to levy a customer's sales tax because Congress has had 25 years to correct the problem and hasn't, is just plain wrong. The sole authority of Congress to enact laws is not a requirement to enact a law on something you think is important. If the statutes don't require companies to levy sales taxes for the most part, by not acting Congress has actually made a decision--it's fine with the current law notwithstanding the rise of Internet-based commerce. Don't like it? Change the statutes.

I'm not sure why Russia is acting so outraged over sanctions imposed since 2014 over Ukraine, propping up Assad and his gas use, and interference in Western elections. They've been saying for years that America is out to get them. Shouldn't the Russians finally be relieved to find their paranoia is actually based on reality?

Japan has discovered a huge rare-earth deposit southeast of Japan. This will eventually break China's stranglehold on the elements. But it will take a long time to figure out how to mine it. Long enough for the sea area to become Chinese "sacred territory," I imagine.

The American destroyer in the Mediterranean Sea was clearly a red herring to distract Russia. I suspected that the talk of a carrier battle group heading to the region was a red herring designed to gain tactical surprise by attacking before the carrier reached the area.

Once again, a lesson of my oft-repeated lament that the idea that "liberal minded" is a synonym for "open minded" is an assault on the English language.

Venezuela's desperate refugees increase in number and desperation. This could become a flood as Venezuelans realize they have more hope as refugees than as residents of socialism-wracked Venezuela.

Good Lord, does nobody have any worry about creating enzymes produced by microorganisms that eat plastic? Are we sure we can keep the microorganisms under control? And who weaponizes it first? This has bad idea written all over it.

Strategypage takes a tour of Afghanistan. Of note, the Taliban are noticing that the Afghan government didn't collapse when American and other allied forces ended their direct ground combat missions and scaled back support in 2014.

In case you missed the James Comey televised infomercial book tour, this is pretty much it:


Oil-rich socialist Venezuela has to import oil now. What really puzzles me is how American liberals have loved Venezuela so much the last couple decades given that Venezuela virtually gives away evil planet-killing gasoline to buyers.

America uses 5,500 contractors in Iraq and Syria, mostly for logistics although 400+ are "security" personnel. I assume that means the outer perimeter guards at bases. If America really does pull most or even all troops out of Syria, we'll need more contractors in a more kinetic role to back local allies and call in fire support from US and coalition forces. And I always assume special forces are not counted in any kind of tally of US forces abroad.

Well, yes, of course we are supposed to ignore that. Tip to Instapundit.

Strategypage takes a tour of Algeria, which is problematic on a number of issues (I did not know they are pro-Assad). But this explains why America sold Abrams tanks to Morocco. Exit question: Why did Palestinian rather than Polisario refugees get named Queen of the Victim Prom by the international community?

A judge notes what I've mentioned before: If you are upset that money flows into national politics, why can't you understand that a more powerful national government naturally attracts the money? I've said it again and again. But those campaign finance fanatics tend to be big government backers, too. Tip to Instapundit. And let me add that tighter campaign finance laws don't stop the money--it just tilts the field in favor of the wealthy who have the lawyers to figure out how to legally send money to politics despite the new rules. Only ordinary people get punished for violating those laws. But I've mentioned that, too.

Why yes, a troublesome journalist falling to his death from a balcony in Russia is rather suspicious.

Collusion. Does rule of law apply here, or not? I have a question: Did President Obama let Secretary of State Hillary Clinton get away with using a private email server in order to sabotage Clinton's presidential ambitions? Or to have something to hold over Hillary's head during her presidency? There was no love lost between the Obama and Clinton families, it seems. How far did the game of thrones go?

I suspect the worries about "latent" racism in the aftermath of the Starbucks kerfuffle is really about "liberal" racism. Not that there aren't racists in America--although we have made great progress and it racist attitudes are hardly unique, or even worse, in America--but I do get tired of the Left acting like their loud claims of purity mean they are actually pure. The should health themselves before they lecture the rest of us. I don't even like Starbucks coffee. And the only time I regularly went to an upscale coffee place was because a woman I really, really liked went there. I spent a lot of money for nothing despite being told she obviously returned the interest. Oh well. But perhaps I've shared too much.

The right stuff.

I'm not speculating on recent North Korea diplomacy because I have no idea what can happen. We have no interest in conquering North Korea. So North Korea has no need to deter invasion with nuclear weapons. Do they finally realize that? Does China realize that the usefulness of North Korea pursuing nuclear weapons status is reversed by North Korea achieving nuclear weapons status (because it prompts proliferation and missile defenses around China)? I believe America will attack North Korea's missile and nuclear infrastructure before it is a nuclear threat to America and that we are on a countdown. I believe we won't let up on pressure until we either strike or get a deal that China guarantees. Things stay the same until they don't. Have enough factors changed to lead North Korea to seriously abandon nuclear weapons and their programs rather than pretend to do so? We should know pretty soon whether things have changed, and other things. We'd have to know quickly because I think we're on deadline.

Would a bargain in Syria involve Israel wrecking Hezbollah in Lebanon; Russia eliminating Iranian influence in Syria via a US-Russian deal that decentralizes Syrian administration and thus eliminaes Assad's need to rely on Iran; the Syrian Kurds getting substantial autonomy in the northeast; and America withdrawing from Syria, all because we no longer need to protect Kurds (and whatever Arabs move to that zone if unwilling to live in even a decentralized Syria within reach of Assad), oppose Iran, or support Israel in regard to Iranian influence and fear of a rise of Sunni jihadis in the east? A stronger Iraq able to reject Iranian influence and keep Sunni Arabs happy enough to refuse to join jihadis would really help, as well. But that's separate from a deal--if related. Ukraine should not be thrown under the bus for this, of course.

When "science" ruined lives. When liberals accuse conservatives of being "anti-science" it always seems like the cry of "Heretic!" to me. These types of liberals seem as if they treat scientists as priests revealing the Truth from the Lord, which cannot be questioned in practice or application. John Plunkett was a brave man to defy the inquisition he endured in the name of actual science. RIP.

Australia is sending more ships forward where the Chinese, who claim almost all of the South China Sea as territorial water in defiance of international law, have "challenged" Australian warships--whatever "challenge" means--for sailing through those international waters. More here. Ir remains unclear what happened.

I'm not sure who is talking about the failure of the allied strikes on Assad's chemical warfare infrastructure to end the war there. The strike was very narrowly intended to impose the Western norm against chemical weapons on the world to spare people the horrors of that type of warfare.

Anti-Semitism has set up shop in the Left, despite American Jewish tendency to bizarrely focus on and blame a marginalized and small extreme Right. This has long been clear to me, living in a college city.  Instapundit commented that American liberal Jews define themselves as leftists first. Sadly, the anti-Semites of the Left will always define American liberal Jews as Jews first. Being considered "goodlife" never lasts long.

I've always been suspicious of Bitcoin. Maybe it isn't just my age talking. Actually, I'm a bit surprised that it is worth anything. But Tulip bulbs had a worth, too, of course.

More Syrian rebels in the west surrender the territory they hold. Assad is clearly winning his war. American intervention in 2014 to defeat ISIL, which was the most potent anti-Assad force; and Russian intervention in 2015 to help Assad defeat the other rebels, has worked well for Assad. The most effective rebels remaining are basically jihadis. Things could change, as they have in the past, but that's the trajectory now. It's even possible that Assad will survive the war but not the post-war as his backers assess the massive price they paid to keep Assad in power.

Reuters reports that more Palestinians were killed by Israeli troops during "border protest" at Gaza. A more accurate headline would convey that Palestinian terrorist continue to attack Israeli border defenses using children as cannon fodder.

I don't know about all that, but he's an idiot, for sure.

Yeah, this refusal to act when the stars are aligned has mystified me.

Iraqi warplanes struck jihadi targets in Syria. Iraq can get away with that. During the Iraq War America would have been vilified for targeting the same vile people in Syria who flowed through Assad's al Qaeda pipeline to become suicide bombers in Iraq.

"The Chinese Communist Party Is Setting Up Cells at Universities Across America." That must be mistaken. Our colleges already have those. We call them "faculty."

Excuse me? We missed what, where?