Source: U.S. Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center Report: Mass Attacks in Public Spaces 2018 (15-pg PDF)
Showing posts with label Excess. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Excess. Show all posts
Sunday, August 11, 2019
Thursday, August 8, 2019
Turkmenistan's travails - redux
In September 2002 I penned an OPED bemoaning the unfortunate fact that the antics of 'Turkmenbashi' ("Head of all Turkmen," the then "Perpetual President of Turkmenistan," Sapamurat Niyazov) obscured the miserable lot of the ordinary folk of Turkmenistan...
I said: "... The total and utter ridiculousness of this situation makes an observer
want to smile. But that is an unfortunate reaction. The buffoonery masks
repression and misrule, under which the vast majority of Turkmenistan's
citizens live a life of grinding poverty, while the country has vast
reserves of natural gas and is the world's tenth largest producer of
cotton. While the masses are hungry, Turkmenbashi spends money on
grandiose projects (a 10 meter high gold-plated statue of Turkmenbashi
atop a 72 meter tall tower surrounded by fountains, ornate palaces,
Berzengi - a hotel and business center in the desert outside Ashkhabad
that has 22 empty 5-star hotels built completely from imported
materials), jails any opposition (some in psychiatric wards), has a tame
and muzzled press, etc. As there are shortages of staples and hunger
increases, Turkmenbashi has said, "Anyone who complains about going
without sausage or bread for a day is not a Turkmen."
When he passed away in 2006 his Vice President, Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, took over in his stead, and a May 2008 blog entry noted that he had rolled back a couple of Turkmenbashi's actions. However, as time passed it became clear that not much was changed, as reflected in this November 2009 blog update entry.
We are now mid-way through 2019 and apparently not much has improved, see: Crazy-Ass President Of Turkmenistan Proves He's Not Dead By Doing Donuts Around 'Gateway To Hell.'
Also view the video on YouTube: Watan Habarlary 04.08.2019
Sunday, October 14, 2018
Saturday, October 25, 2014
Rinse and repeat
Act V of 'Anatomy of an Incident' - Hero First-Year Teacher Facing School Shooter Acted 'Instinctively.' How many times can we get to Act XIV - The Next Horror.
Friday, October 10, 2014
Sunday, September 14, 2014
Friday, August 1, 2014
Thursday, January 23, 2014
Random chart - WEF, Davos
A small portion of the Economist's infographic on attendees at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. One data point: "... after all the inflated expenses and egos, what has been the fate of the companies that sent delegates at least three times in the past five years? Those 104 firms underperformed both the S&P 500 and MSCI World Index."
Friday, December 14, 2012
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Bush, Obama, Islam, and Vlad the Impaler
After the bombing in Oslo and the mass murder at the Youth Camp on Utøya Island in Norway, folks are studying up on the perp, one Anders Behring Breivik (a.k.a Andrew Berwick). Apparently he posted a 12-minute video manifesto to the Web, in addition to a 1,500 plus page written manifesto. Although YouTube yanked the video, it is available in a number of locations, including here. The following are some screen captures from his video:
Here are some of his enemies and what he is fighting against... Apparently the Marxists actually won (although the U.S.S.R succumbed to the cold war); the multiculturalists assisting Islam's takeover of Europe include both U.S. Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama; and he has a grudge against the media, most especially the BBC!
Here are some of his enemies and what he is fighting against... Apparently the Marxists actually won (although the U.S.S.R succumbed to the cold war); the multiculturalists assisting Islam's takeover of Europe include both U.S. Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama; and he has a grudge against the media, most especially the BBC!
His heroes apparently include Vlad "The Impaler"...
Were it not for the actions and resulting bloodshed that all this lead to, it could easily have been dismissed as the overwrought ramblings of an immature, fevered mind... No longer.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Friday, November 5, 2010
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Random charts
Source: Questions and Answers about the Financial Crisis. Prepared for the U.S. Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. Quote: "...In this note, I pose and try to answer what I think are the most relevant questions about the crisis. I focus on the systemic crisis, not other attendant issues. I do not have all the answers by any means. But, I know enough to see that the level of public discourse is politically motivated and based on a lack of understanding, as it has been in the past, as the opening quotations indicate. The goal of this note is to help raise the level of discourse..."Sunday, November 8, 2009
Quick update...
The July 15th, 2008 blog entry, 'La nouvelle union,' commented on the inaugural meeting of the new UPM (Union Pour la Mediterranée), or Mediterranean Union. At the time this blogger wondered why the French felt that they would be able to 'run' the 43-member organization, and if the bizarre hand-shake between Sarkozy and Mubarak (see above) would end up being more of a 'bras de fer' between the two...
Fast forward approximately sixteen months and all is not so well... Egypt has caused the cancellation of next month's meeting in Istanbul of the Foreign Ministers from the 43 members, and an European Union diplomat has said, "We are risking the death of the Mediterranean Union just after being born. The Union is in complete shambles and no progress has been made since its launch, both on the structure of the organisation and its seat." Quelle surprise (not)!
Fast forward approximately sixteen months and all is not so well... Egypt has caused the cancellation of next month's meeting in Istanbul of the Foreign Ministers from the 43 members, and an European Union diplomat has said, "We are risking the death of the Mediterranean Union just after being born. The Union is in complete shambles and no progress has been made since its launch, both on the structure of the organisation and its seat." Quelle surprise (not)!
Palestine Causes Mediterranean Disunion
Sarkozy Seething - Mediterranean Union Barely Breathing
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Random picture
In Belgium, milk producers protest and dump three million liters (over 792,000 US gallons) of milk in the fields...L'épandage frappe les esprits: « Le lait est pur et sacré »
« Il a fallu attendre de voir l'épandage en Belgique pour que le journal télévisé parle de nous, ils veulent des images, ils vont en avoir », prévient le président de l'APLI, l'Association des producteurs de lait indépendants. Des images qui frappent les esprits, car le lait a « quelque chose de virginal dans sa blancheur, il est pur et sacré », explique le psychanalyste Serge Hefez. Et d'ajouter :
« Les urbains se disent que ces paysans doivent être au bout du désespoir pour jeter ce qui les fait vivre. Le rapport à l'animal lors de la traite est très affectif. C'est comme si ce lait faisait partie d'eux, jaillissait du corps-même de l'agriculteur ou de l'agricultrice. »
Il y a bien quelque chose de plus lorsque l'on voit un agriculteur jeter son lait que quand ils jetaient des tomates. Et ils en ont conscience. Mais pour Pascal Massol, président de l'APLI :
« C'est plus dangereux de livrer le lait que de le jeter : si je le livre il est séché pour faire de la poudre, il part sous le prix de revient (32 centimes le litre). On veut bien être garant de la ruralité, mais ça va finir en jacquerie. Il y a déjà eu quatre suicides la semaine dernière dans le Finistère, il faut le faire savoir. »
« Le lait vous nourrit mais plus nous »
Pour Pascal Massol : « C'est simple : si on ne jette pas on est mort, le lait vous nourrit mais plus nous ! » Comme le montre ce reportage sur un producteur de Maine-et-Loire :
"It needed the in Belgium for the TV news to speak about us, they want pictures..." says the President of APLI, the Association of Independent Milk Producers. Images that strike the mind, because milk has "something virginal in its whiteness, it is pure and sacred," explains psychoanalyst Serge Hefez. And he adds:
"City dwellers say that these peasants must be at the end of despair to throw away what makes them live. The rapport with the animal during milking is very emotional. It is as if the milk was among them, sprang from the body itself of the farmer."
There is a bigger impact when we see a farmer dumping her milk as opposed to when they dump tomatoes. And they know it. Pascal Massol, president of APLI says:
"It's more dangerous to deliver the milk than to throw it away. If I deliver it, it is dried to make milk powder, and is sold under the cost price (32 cents a liter). Ww want to guarantee rural life, but it will end in jacquerie. There were four suicides last week in Brittany, you need to know. "
"Milk nourishes you but us no longer"
"City dwellers say that these peasants must be at the end of despair to throw away what makes them live. The rapport with the animal during milking is very emotional. It is as if the milk was among them, sprang from the body itself of the farmer."
There is a bigger impact when we see a farmer dumping her milk as opposed to when they dump tomatoes. And they know it. Pascal Massol, president of APLI says:
"It's more dangerous to deliver the milk than to throw it away. If I deliver it, it is dried to make milk powder, and is sold under the cost price (32 cents a liter). Ww want to guarantee rural life, but it will end in jacquerie. There were four suicides last week in Brittany, you need to know. "
"Milk nourishes you but us no longer"
Read the rest here...
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Illustrative...
The No Happy Ending entry on the Slope of Hope blog is a good illustration of two things:
- The point of the blog entry i.e. evidence that the market and economy were at a frothy "top" was well evident in advance of the collpase (the accompanying chart of GOOG prices in great...)
- Then, if you move to the comments, you get a perfect illustration of a point made in the 'All atwitter about something' entry i.e. "... Many of the new communication technology improvements that have come along have 'democratized' communication and made it much easier to do. Unfortunately, as it becomes easier for everyone to use the latest technology to communicate, it becomes harder to separate the wheat from the chaff! ... It just seems to this blogger that the percentage of chaff that one has to dig through to get to the few scattered wheat grains is now up to over 99% plus ..."
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Fingers crossed!
The MOAB (mother of all bailouts) passed the House yesterday on its second go around, by a vote of 263 to 171. The previous (original) version had failed by a vote of 228 to 205.
Fed Chairman Bernanke said "I applaud the action taken by the Congress. It demonstrates the government's commitment to do what it takes to support and strengthen our economy. The legislation is a critical step toward stabilizing our financial markets and ensuring an uninterrupted flow of credit to households and businesses. The Federal Reserve will continue to work closely with the Treasury as it undertakes these new initiatives. We will continue to use all of the powers at our disposal to mitigate credit market disruptions and to foster a strong, vibrant economy."
Treasury Secretary Paulson said "By acting this week, Congress has proven that our Nation’s leaders are capable of coming together at a time of crisis, even at a critical stage of the political calendar, to do what is necessary to stabilize our financial system and protect the economic security of all Americans. The American people will appreciate the leadership of their elected representatives and senators who took bold action to help stem a severe credit crunch that threatens to cost many jobs and undermine access to credit for working Americans. This bill contains a broad set of tools that can be deployed to strengthen financial institutions, large and small, that serve businesses and families. Our financial institutions are varied – from large banks headquartered in New York, to regional banks that serve multi-state areas, to community banks and credit unions that are vital to the lives of our citizens and their towns and communities. Each institution has its own unique benefits, and their collective strength makes our financial system more resilient, and more innovative. The challenges our institutions face are just as varied – from holding illiquid mortgage backed securities, to illiquid whole loans, to raising needed capital, to simply facing a crisis of confidence. This diversity of institutions and challenges requires that we deploy the tools in this rescue package, in combination with the tools the Fed, the Treasury, the FDIC and other bank regulators already have, in a variety of ways that addresses each of these needs and restores the ability of our financial system to fuel our broader economy. There is no one-size-fits-all solution to alleviating the stress in our financial system. Each situation will be different and we must implement these new programs with a strategy that allows us to adapt to changing circumstances and conditions, and attract private capital. The broad authorities in this legislation, when combined with existing regulatory authorities and resources, gives us the ability to protect and recapitalize our financial system as we work through the stresses in our credit markets. We will move rapidly to implement the new authorities, but we will also move methodically. In the coming days we will work with the Federal Reserve and the FDIC to develop strategies that deploy these tools in an expedited and methodical way to maximize effectiveness in strengthening the financial system, so it can continue to play its necessary and vital role supporting the U.S. economy and American jobs. Transparency throughout this process will be important, and I look forward to providing regular updates as we move ahead to implement this strategy."
Various politicians claimed victory...
OK, they've better get cracking, and the rest of the country can keep their fingers crossed! It doesn't seem to this blogger that they have done anything about the root cause of the problem i.e. falling home prices. But then again, this blogger isn't sure that anything really can be done about this - prices were too high and so should (and did) fall; the concern is that they go too far the other way. Some have suggested that the government help home owners directly. For example, Glenn Hubbard has suggested that "... the Bush administration and Congress allow all residential mortgages on primary residences to be refinanced into 30-year fixed-rate mortgages at 5.25% (matching the lowest mortgage rate in the past 30 years), and place those mortgages with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac...." He estimates that price tag at much less than the MOAB's cost.
This blogger isn't all that sympathetic to those who bought houses they couldn't afford while gambling that higher home prices would save their skins, but could go along with something like this in the name of the greater good and to save the economy. Unfortunately, it is not at all clear that this would save house prices, given that this plan would be aimed (correctly!) only at homeowners' principal residences, while excluding vacation homes and homes bought for speculation.... Given that these represent a significant part of the problem (this blogger doesn't know exactly how big a piece, but saw somewhere that in recent years approximately 40% of house sales fell into these two categories!) even a 'Hubbard plan' might not stop the fall...
So, back to the crossed fingers :)
Fed Chairman Bernanke said "I applaud the action taken by the Congress. It demonstrates the government's commitment to do what it takes to support and strengthen our economy. The legislation is a critical step toward stabilizing our financial markets and ensuring an uninterrupted flow of credit to households and businesses. The Federal Reserve will continue to work closely with the Treasury as it undertakes these new initiatives. We will continue to use all of the powers at our disposal to mitigate credit market disruptions and to foster a strong, vibrant economy."
Treasury Secretary Paulson said "By acting this week, Congress has proven that our Nation’s leaders are capable of coming together at a time of crisis, even at a critical stage of the political calendar, to do what is necessary to stabilize our financial system and protect the economic security of all Americans. The American people will appreciate the leadership of their elected representatives and senators who took bold action to help stem a severe credit crunch that threatens to cost many jobs and undermine access to credit for working Americans. This bill contains a broad set of tools that can be deployed to strengthen financial institutions, large and small, that serve businesses and families. Our financial institutions are varied – from large banks headquartered in New York, to regional banks that serve multi-state areas, to community banks and credit unions that are vital to the lives of our citizens and their towns and communities. Each institution has its own unique benefits, and their collective strength makes our financial system more resilient, and more innovative. The challenges our institutions face are just as varied – from holding illiquid mortgage backed securities, to illiquid whole loans, to raising needed capital, to simply facing a crisis of confidence. This diversity of institutions and challenges requires that we deploy the tools in this rescue package, in combination with the tools the Fed, the Treasury, the FDIC and other bank regulators already have, in a variety of ways that addresses each of these needs and restores the ability of our financial system to fuel our broader economy. There is no one-size-fits-all solution to alleviating the stress in our financial system. Each situation will be different and we must implement these new programs with a strategy that allows us to adapt to changing circumstances and conditions, and attract private capital. The broad authorities in this legislation, when combined with existing regulatory authorities and resources, gives us the ability to protect and recapitalize our financial system as we work through the stresses in our credit markets. We will move rapidly to implement the new authorities, but we will also move methodically. In the coming days we will work with the Federal Reserve and the FDIC to develop strategies that deploy these tools in an expedited and methodical way to maximize effectiveness in strengthening the financial system, so it can continue to play its necessary and vital role supporting the U.S. economy and American jobs. Transparency throughout this process will be important, and I look forward to providing regular updates as we move ahead to implement this strategy."
Various politicians claimed victory...
OK, they've better get cracking, and the rest of the country can keep their fingers crossed! It doesn't seem to this blogger that they have done anything about the root cause of the problem i.e. falling home prices. But then again, this blogger isn't sure that anything really can be done about this - prices were too high and so should (and did) fall; the concern is that they go too far the other way. Some have suggested that the government help home owners directly. For example, Glenn Hubbard has suggested that "... the Bush administration and Congress allow all residential mortgages on primary residences to be refinanced into 30-year fixed-rate mortgages at 5.25% (matching the lowest mortgage rate in the past 30 years), and place those mortgages with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac...." He estimates that price tag at much less than the MOAB's cost.
This blogger isn't all that sympathetic to those who bought houses they couldn't afford while gambling that higher home prices would save their skins, but could go along with something like this in the name of the greater good and to save the economy. Unfortunately, it is not at all clear that this would save house prices, given that this plan would be aimed (correctly!) only at homeowners' principal residences, while excluding vacation homes and homes bought for speculation.... Given that these represent a significant part of the problem (this blogger doesn't know exactly how big a piece, but saw somewhere that in recent years approximately 40% of house sales fell into these two categories!) even a 'Hubbard plan' might not stop the fall...
So, back to the crossed fingers :)
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