"'What's got through is just the tip of the iceberg,' said Shiraz Maher, deputy director of the International Center for the Study of Radicalization, at King's College London. 'And it's an enormous iceberg'."
The very fact that there is such a thing as the "International Center for the Study of Radicalization" is sobering enough. And their website is very slick.
" ... some contend that the number of radicalized individuals has become increasingly unmanageable ..."
And thus Theresa May's call for changes.
"Two months ago, [ISIS]'s propaganda wing exhorted supporters to use fake bomb vests ..."
These guys decided to try that. They probably think that people won't try to intervene when they see the fake vests. Perhaps in the future, one of their kind will be taken down more quickly. See The Who.
"There are about 500 principal investigations of active plotters, 3,000 further people of interest on the radar and more than 20,000 others with vague links to militancy ..."
IOW, 6 investigators for each bad guy. It is -- the point of the article -- a miracle that more don't slip through the cracks ...
A21 THE LAWLESS PRESIDENCY
Truly terrifying. David Leonhardt nails it all down in the first two+ paragraphs:
"Democracy isn't possible without the rule of law -- the idea that consistent principles, rather than a ruler's whims, govern society.
You can read Aristotle, Montesquieu, John Locke or the Declaration of Independence on this point. You can also look at decades of American history. Even amid bitter fights over what the law should say, both Democrats and Republicans have generally accepted the rule of law.
President Trump does not."
And
"He has flirted with Louis XVI's notion of 'L'etat, c'est moi': The state is me -- and I'll decide which laws to follow."
You remember what happened to Louie, right? Trial and execution.
Leonhardt's five bullet points:
1. LAW ENFORCEMENT, POLITICIZED
"White House officials aren't supposed to pick up the phone and call whomever they want at the Justice Department. There is a careful process.
Trump has erased this distinction."
And of course, our Attorney General "sees little distinction between the enforcement of the law and the interests of the president."
2. COURTS, UNDERMINED
Short list of judge insults:
"this so-called judge"
"a single, unelected district judge""ridiculous"
"so political"
"terrible"
"a hater of Donald Trump"
"essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country"
"THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE!" [his screaming, not mine]
3. TEAM TRUMP, ABOVE THE LAW
"Their attitude is clear: If we're doing it, it's O.K."
4. CITIZENS, UNEQUAL
"Remember when he said, 'I will totally accept the results of this great and historic presidential election -- if I win'?"
5. TRUTH, MONOPOLIZED
"He tells supporters that they can trust only him and his loyal mouthpieces to speak the truth. La vérité, c'est moi."
This all adds up to scary times.
But:
"Judges (largely) have not laid down for Trump; neither have Comey, the F.B.I., the C.B.O., the media or others. As a result, the U.S. remains a long way from authoritarianism."
However:
"Unfortunately, Trump shows no signs of letting up. Don't assume he will fail just because his actions are so far outside the American mainstream. The rule of law depends on a society's willingness to stand up for it when it's under threat. This is our time of testing."
"News of the women-only limitation set off a storm of virtual tantrums among some boys and men. Never mind that 'Wonder Woman' could be seen at about 4,160 other theaters nationwide."
Get a life, guyz.
"Mo Lathrop, 33, a translator who lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn, was glad she didn't have to be concerned 'about 17-year-olds yelling about Gal Gadot's bosoms'."
"Frank Icano, 26, a painter from Park Slope [Brooklyn!], came to see the movie with a group of friends and was aghast [aghast, I tell you!] to learn that not only was it sold out but it had also been restricted to women. Reporters circled him as he vented.
'There are plenty of other female movies that come out, and I'm not able to see this because I have a penis' ..."
OK, somebody cut it off and let him in.
"For years, the tiny, energy-rich country of Qatar has carved out a niche in the Arab world by trying to be everything to everyone. It housed an American military base and flooded the region's airwaves with its influential media, all while keeping close ties to Iran and a wide selection of Islamist movements.
On Monday, five countries in the region announced that they were forcing Qatar to choose: its powerful neighbor Saudi Arabia, Egypt and at least three other Arab nations severed all ties with the country, escalating their accusations that the Qatari monarchy supported Sunni Islamist designs on the region."
"[Qatar] imports 40 percent of its food from the Saudis."
"Trump, by strongly embracing the Saudis, pulled the gloves off a brawl that had long threatened to turn ugly."
"'Neighbors are permanent; geography can't be changed,' [Iranian] Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on his Twitter account."
"[Qatar] has often sought to cast itself as a broker, trying to mediate the region's intractable conflicts. But just as often, it has ended up angering all sides."
" ... contradictions: Qatar has good relations with Iran, but hosts the American air base. It is helping to fight the Iranian-linked Houthi rebels in Yemen, and it is backing insurgents fighting Tehran's ally, President Bashar al-Assad of Syria. Yet is has also established back channels to Iran and brokered deals with it."
"'It is entirely possible that the catalyst to this crisis was the feeling in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi that the U.S. under the Trump administration is aligned with them,' said Emile Hokayem, a Middle East analyst with the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
[Another expert] said the new moves reflected a 'bullishness' prompted by the Trump administration's stances -- on the confrontation with Iran and on a willingness to look the other way on human rights violations."
The thing about geopolitics is that one blind, stumbling, improvised move can have rippling implications far into the future:
"[T]he escalating confrontation between Qatar and other Sunni-led Arab states presents a fresh and unwelcome complication for the United States military, which has made strenuous efforts to forge a broad coalition against the Islamic State."
And once again (nothing to do with the actual article), I need to question the Times' style guidelines:
The term "Islamic State" is used three times in the article before the seventh to the last paragraph, where we get "Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL."
If The Times thinks their readers will not understand the term without the AKA, why do they use plain old "Islamic State" three times before the AKA?
B7 AN UGLY WORD. A CATALYST FOR CHANGE.
In order to make my point, I need to state that I believe the word Pillar used was "faggot."
He yelled it at the Atlanta Braves reliever Jason Motte, who had just struck Pillar out on a "quick pitch."
Although not illegal, most MLB players look at it as sort of a unmanly thing to do; thus the slur ...
A better thing to shout might have been something like, "Man, that was so bush league!"
But that, too, could be misinterpreted. It refers to nothing more or less innocent as playing in the low minor leagues, out in the "sticks" or "bush."
C7 BUTTONS? CUTE. MAGNETS? FASTER.
"William Parry, top hat and whiskers in place, plays a town elder as well as a homeless man whose one line is especially apt: 'Change, mister'?"
D1 ANIMAL FARMS
This article is an extremely difficult read. The details of the bile collection of bears is particularly nauseating.
"The tigers were property of the Kings Romans Group, which operates a casino here (Bokeo Province, Laos), along with hotels, a shooting range, a cockfighting and bullfighting ring, a Chinatown-themed shopping center, and this shabby zoo."
So -- you think to yourself -- all this takes place in Laos, where lawlessness is the law. But keep reading:
"Ten years ago, the Hong Kong-based company signed a lease with the Laotian government ..."
Two tiger farms in China are supported by government investment ...
"There are some countries in Southeast Asia that are equipped to combat criminal networks, and some that are still struggling ... Laos, is in the category of those that are still struggling."
B4 TRIAL TO DECIDE IF ABC NEWS DEFAMED MEAT PROCESSOR WITH REPORT ON "PINK SLIME"
"A defamation trial over an ABC News report about so-called pink slime, a once-common ingredient in ground beef, began Monday. A South Dakota meat processing company says the report wreaked havoc on its business after it aired in 2012."
First of all, yea (to wreaking havoc on their business) ...
Secondly,
" ... the lean meat is then treated with ammonia to remove pathogens."
Ammonia, peoples.
I do not understand how this thing got this far through the courts.
"In its own court filings, ABC argued that the central question in the case was whether its reporters had acted with 'actual malice', which it said they had not."
Hold the ammonia, please.
TIME MACHINE
June 6, 1878
139 years ago
Page 1 GERMANY AND ITS EMPEROR
"At the first discharge of Nobiling's gun the Emperor received seven shots in the right forearm and wrist, and five in the head and face, but the principal portion of the charge was stopped by the helmet, which is completely riddled. By the second discharge he received about 20 shots in the left upper arm and shoulder, and six in the neck. The folds of his thick military cloak deadened the effects of this charge. The size of the shot is Nos. 4 and 5, according to the German standard."
Somebody else had tried a few weeks earlier, and missed. Pretty tough 81-year-old.
[Plummer as Kaiser]
But of course, this all lead to the Anti-Socialist Laws, which (indirectly) led to the resurgence of National Socialism.
Page 1 THE CONGRESS ON THE EAST.
"The pressure applied by the Russians for the surrender of the fortresses excites no apprehension, because their surrender is considered, equally with the Russian withdrawal, purely a matter for arrangement, neither being stipulated for at any definite time in the treaty of San Stefano, and the latter not being regarded as operative until submitted to the congress."
And suddenly modern Bulgaria is created.
Page 5 SHOT HIS BRIDE'S FOOT OFF
"The pressure applied by the Russians for the surrender of the fortresses excites no apprehension, because their surrender is considered, equally with the Russian withdrawal, purely a matter for arrangement, neither being stipulated for at any definite time in the treaty of San Stefano, and the latter not being regarded as operative until submitted to the congress."
And suddenly modern Bulgaria is created.
Page 5 SHOT HIS BRIDE'S FOOT OFF
Yeah, he did.
No comments:
Post a Comment