Israeli Army Training (and some desert mysteries)

February 7th, 2011

I saw this dandy Michael Totten piece on Israeli military preparation (including building an entire town for training exercises) a few weeks ago, and meant to write something about it, but got busy with other things.

Being a curious sort, I went searching for that training center on Google maps, and think it might be at 31.163869, 34.532279; you may have to zoom out or scroll south and to the west to see it, since Google Maps centers on the nearest road. (I don’t think anything visible on Google Maps is a military secret, and I doubt anyone in Hamas reads my blog anyway.)

However, even more interesting is the structure due south of it at 31.139718, 34.531937:

There are a lot of structures in the Nagev with a sort of circular berm around them, and I guess those are just oases or something equally benign. But the interesting thing about this one is the big X across the top of it. what is that? Storage facility? Secret silo? For all I know it could be a hazardous waste dump.

But given the Big X, I’m guessing this is the entrance for Professor Charles Francis Xavier’s secret Israeli academy for mutants…

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Texas Democrat (and House Financial Services Committee Member) Ruben Hinojosa Declares Bakruptcy

February 5th, 2011

“Texas Democratic Congressman Ruben Hinojosa – a member of the House Financial Services Committee – filed for personal bankruptcy late last year.”

The eight-term congressman was forced to file for bankruptcy after Wells Fargo Bank won an arbitration hearing that found Hinojosa owed the bank $2.6 million. That left him with $2.9 million in liabilities against less than $1.5 million in assets.

If I put this in a novel, an editor would reject it for heavy-handed symbolism…

(Hat tip: Instapundit)

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Bullettime (Guns Firing in Slow Motion)

February 4th, 2011

With snow and ice here in Austin, it’s been a bit of slow day. And what better for a slow day than some slow-motion gun porn?

I chanced across one of these researching information on the Lugar for a story I’m writing, and thought it provided a nice view of the Lugar’s feed and ejection mechanism, giving viewers a chance to see how it differs from the M1911’s mechanism for accomplishing the same thing. So I concentrated on videos that show mechanism cycling rather than bullet impact.

(None of these are my videos, I collected them off of YouTube, so I can’t take any credit (or any blame for the musical choices).)

The Lugar:

Here’s a M1911 Commander 45:

Here’s a cutaway animation of how an M1911 works:

Sig Sauer 22 and 9mm

Here’s real slow motion of an M16 and an M1911:

A Tanfoglio Gold Team (not sure the caliber, but similar vidoes have been for .38 Super):

Here’s a Thompson submachine gun (one of which I fired once upon a time):

A whole bunch of different guns:

Finally, here’s a dad teaching his son to fire a gun for the first time. His three year old son. On a minigun. BEST DAD EVER!

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When Democrats Refer to “Stakeholders,” They Mean Lobbyists, Not Taxpayers

February 4th, 2011

Terrified of the prospect of congressional Republicans that actually want to cut the budget, Senate Democrats have sent out an emergency distress call to lobbyists:

In an e-mail obtained by ABC News, a top staffer for the key Senate Appropriations subcommittee called for a meeting of lobbyists and interest groups that would be affected by expected cuts to the Labor and Heath and Human Services budget. The Jan. 24 meeting was attended by approximately 400 people, sources told ABC, and served as a “call to arms” for those determined to fight Republican budget cuts.

“One thing everyone should be able to agree on now is that a rising tide lifts all boats, and that a higher [Labor, Health & Human Services] allocation improves the chances for every stakeholder group to receive more funding,” the committee staffer for Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, wrote in an e-mail inviting people to the meeting.

So remember: When Democrats think about “stakeholders,” they mean the lobbyists that wallow up to the trough to feast on giant piles of taxpayer money. Actual taxpayers aren’t their concern…

(Hat tip: Ace of Spades)

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This Week in Jihad for February 3, 2011

February 3rd, 2011

All eyes are still on Egypt, but that’s not the only hotspot for jihad:

  • Suicide bomber prematurely detonates thanks to spam text message. (Via Slashdot)
  • “Barack Obama has endorsed a role for the Muslim Brotherhood in a new, post-Mubarak government for Egypt.”
  • The current unrest in Egypt makes makes things look pretty grim for the Copts: “I’ve pored over every news report I can find, and have seen no sign that local Christians are involved in this uprising against Mubarak. This tells me all I need to know about the calls for ‘democracy’ and ‘reform’ in Egypt. They know that Mubarak’s fall would mean to them what Hussein’s fall meant to Iraqi Christians: the end.”
  • More from JihadWatch’s indefatigable Robert Spencer on the Muslim Brotherhood’s involvement in the unrest in Egypt. The amount of writing and analysis keeps up on the topic of jihad is positively dizzying. It’s hard to keep up just summarizing him…

    Egyptian blogger Sandmonkey (whom I linked to a few days ago), has been arrested and then released by the Egyptian government. “I am ok. I got out. I was ambushed & beaten by the police, my phone confiscated , my car ripped apar& supplies taken”

  • While everyone was paying attention to Egypt, Hamas fires rockets into Egypt.
  • Fifteen-year old Bangladeshi girl whipped to death in Koranic punishment for fornication.
  • Tell a Muslim their food smells bad and lose your house in Canada. This decision was overturned, but it proves Mark Steyn’s point that all Canadian “Human Rights Tribunals” need to be eliminated as threats to free speech…
  • Add New York City building code to the list of rules that are no longer applicable to Muslims.
  • A white Vietnam Veteran jihadi?
  • More reports of an al Qaeda dirty bomb.

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    Tea Party Calls for Obama to be Sent “Back to the Fields,” Tortured, and Lynched Along with his Wife

    February 3rd, 2011

    And by “Tea Party” I mean “liberal protesters,” and by “Obama” I mean Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. But the rest is accurate.

    Sure, these are just random far-left yahoos. But does anyone doubt that if the headline were true, those lone nuts would be cited on national news broadcasts as definitive evidence of “Tea Party’s racism”?

    (Hat tip: Hot Air via Instapundit)

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    Mubarak is Lying. Mubarak is Telling the Truth

    February 3rd, 2011

    The latest from the beleaguered President of Egypt:

    Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has said he would like to resign immediately but fears the country would descend into chaos if he did so.

    In his first interview since anti-government protests began, he told ABC News he was “fed up” with power.

    It came as Cairo saw another day of violence with clashes between the president’s opponents and supporters.

    Mr Mubarak warned that the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood party would fill any power vacuum if he stepped down.

    Mubarak is lying. Dictators almost never want to give up power, except to pass it on to their heirs. (There are exceptions, such as Turkey or Chile, where a military dictator stepped in to prevent a radical regime from inflicting further damage, only to step back and restore control once the danger (and the lives of some political opponents) had passed, but these are the exception rather than the rule.) If Mubarak was really tired of power, he could have stepped down any time in the last 30 years.

    However, his statement that that the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood party would fill the power vacuum are, sadly, probably true.

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    What’s Going On In Egypt?

    February 2nd, 2011

    Good question. Wish I knew. Or, more accurately, wish I knew more than what I can glean from various reports, which is that anti-Mubarak forces are getting a smackdown from pro-Mubarak forces, including (reportedly) police (secret and otherwise) in disguise. Beyond those clashes, its hard to tell what is going on. Maybe Mubarak waited until popular rage had run its course, and delayed the crackdown until fears of disorder and looting drove the majority of non-hardcore protesters off the street before beginning the crackdown.

    The more I’ve read the past few days, the more I think that Mubarak survives until his promised stepping down in the September elections. What I’ve seen is lots of anti-Mubarak forces saying he has to step down now, he can’t survive, etc., as well as similar noises from various international governments, but no reports of Egyptian generals or colonels saying the same thing.

    A few other interesting articles on the situation:

  • First-hand report of The Battle of Tahir Square
  • A summary of events as they have unfolded so far. It talks about Gamal Mubarak’s technocrat friends working economic miracles but their takeover of the ruling ruling NDP party alienated the army, which saw the NDP as a rival power.
  • Michael Totten interviews Abbas Milani on parallels between Egypt today and the fall of the Shah in Iran.
  • The ever readable Christopher Hitchens on Mubarak’s shaming Egyptians. “It’s possible that people will overlook outright brutality sooner than they will forgive undisguised contempt.” (David Pryce-Jones also made much of the Arab shame/honor response in The Closed Circle.)

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    Second Federal Judge Rules Against ObamaCare

    January 31st, 2011

    No, you can’t have a health care mandate. Not yours.

    “Because the individual mandate is unconstitutional, and not severable, the entire Act must be declared void,” Vinson said.

    Unpopular, untenable, and unconstitutional. No wonder Obama wants to declare the health care debate over. He’s losing it. Badly.

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    Egypt: A Fist, Slowly Clenching

    January 31st, 2011

    Hosni Mubarak seems to have adopted an interesting strategy to deal with the unrest gripping his country: Let the worst of it rage with a minimum of reprisals and crackdowns, and then slowly but surely reassert his control using the police and the military. Such a strategy walks the fine line between appearing weak enough to let the revolution push him out of power, and a Tienanmen-type crackdown that leaves thousands dead. So far it seems to be working: Despite some blips and waivers, the army still appears to be following Mubarak’s orders. If they continue to do so, it’s hard to see how the called-for general strike can be total enough to paralyze the nation. And if gas and food continue to make it through, it’s hard to see the general masses being radicalized enough to join the call to oust Mubarak.

    Also, National Review reminds us that the Muslim Brotherhood is bad news.

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