A Test We Mustn’t Fail* The United States is going through one of those periodic crises, testing a complex and often sclerotic constitutional system. An increasingly diminishing presidency has tried to “transform” the society, and particularly its economy, with draconian measures. One at least, Obamacare, rammed through an absent-minded Congress with a temporary majority of […]
http://acdemocracy.org/?utm_source=America%27s+Commercial+Air+FleetNeeds+Protection+from+Shoulder-Fired+Missiles&utm_campaign=America%27s+Commercial+Air+FleetNeeds+Protection+from+Shoulder-Fired+Missiles&utm_medium=email#sthash.Lqhbeqhn.dpbs
A version of this article, titled “Protect Airliners From SAM Threat” was published on February 17, 2014, in Aviation Week & Space Technology’s Viewpoint section (p. 58).
Speaking at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University, former CIA director General David Petraeus issued a serious warning about the international threats posed by shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles (Manpads) in the hands of al Qaeda and other terrorists. Petraeus referred to the January 27th downing of an Egyptian military helicopter by a Russian Strela-2 missile (aka SA-7) by al Qaeda-affiliated Ansar Beit al-Maqdis in the Sinai Peninsula. “Shooting down a helicopter with an apparent shoulder-fired missile is a big deal. … Our worst nightmare [was] that a civilian airliner would be shot down by one,” he said. … “The concern over an attack on civilian aviation flows not only from the loss of passengers’ lives, but also from the likely economic consequences that would follow—a worldwide grounding of air traffic that might bring the global economy to a screeching halt.”
The threat of Manpads in the hands of al Qaeda and terrorist groups has escalated dramatically. After Moammar Gadhafi’s killing by rebels in Libya, on October 20, 2011, some 20,000 Manpads went missing. Months later only 5,000 were reportedly destroyed. Where the remaining 15,000 missiles are is unclear.
While the Obama Administration issued a statement assuring Americans that most of Libya’s weapons, including shoulder-fired Manpads, had been secured, NATO’s then-military committee chairman, Admiral Giampaolo di Paola, was not so sure. His fear that Libyan Manpads could be scattered “from Kenya to Kunduz [Afghanistan]” subsequently materialized.
Libyan, Iranian and possibly Syrian MANPADs found their way to Salafi Bedouins, Hamas and al Qaeda-affiliated terrorist groups in the Sinai, forcing restriction of Israeli military and civilian air traffic in the area. A year after Gadhafi’s fall, Israeli officials reported that an SA-7 had been fired at one of their military aircraft over the Gaza Strip (AW&ST March 12,2012).
Tomorrow is President’s Day honoring both Abraham Lincoln and George Washington- both great and noble men. Washington, born on February 22, 1732 was a great general and commander in our Revolutionary War and a founding father and first President- in office April 30, 1789 – March 4, 1797.
On August 17, 1790, Moses Seixas, the warden of Congregation Kahal Kadosh Yeshuat Israel, wrote an eloquent letter to the President to welcome him to Newport, Rhode Island:
President George Washington responded:
To the Hebrew Congregation in Newport Rhode Island.
Gentlemen,
While I receive, with much satisfaction, your Address replete with expressions of affection and esteem; I rejoice in the opportunity of assuring you, that I shall always retain a grateful remembrance of the cordial welcome I experienced in my visit to Newport, from all classes of Citizens.
The reflection on the days of difficulty and danger which are past is rendered the more sweet, from a consciousness that they are succeeded by days of uncommon prosperity and security. If we have wisdom to make the best use of the advantages with which we are now favored, we cannot fail, under the just administration of a good Government, to become a great and happy people.
The Citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy: a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship. It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people, that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights. For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.
It would be inconsistent with the frankness of my character not to avow that I am pleased with your favorable opinion of my Administration, and fervent wishes for my felicity. May the children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig-tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid. May the father of all mercies scatter light and not darkness in our paths, and make us all in our several vocations useful here, and in his own due time and way everlastingly happy.
G. Washington
http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/
Islam’s Latest Contributions to Peace “Mohammed is God’s apostle. Those who follow him are harsh
to the unbelievers but merciful to one another” Quran 48:29
2014.02.15 (Kunduz, Afghanistan) – Two civilians are shredded by a Fedayeen suicide bomber.
2014.02.14 (Yadouda, Syria) – Dozens are reported dead following a car bomb attack on a rival mosque.
2014.02.13 (Baghdad, Iraq) – Sunni extremists set off two bombs at a historice market which leave seven dead.
2014.02.13 (Mogadishu, Somalia) – An al-Shabaab car bomb takes the lives of fifteen people at an airport.
2014.02.13 (Pattani, Thailand) – A Buddhist monk and a child of 9 are among five people brought down by a Muslim drive-by shooting.
http://washingtonexaminer.com/college-student-thinks-diversity-of-opinion-requires-not-tolerating-conservative-views/article/2544065
A student at Swarthmore College thinks that in order to ensure that students are “hearing a diversity of opinion,” the institution should “not be tolerating” the “conservative views” of a prominent alumnus.
The student made the comment in reference to a recent discussion between two Princeton professors, Robert George and Cornel West.
“The whole idea is that at a liberal arts college, we need to be hearing a diversity of opinion,” the campus newspaper quotes Erin Ching, who graduates in 2016, as saying. “I don’t think we should be tolerating [George’s] conservative views because that dominant culture embeds these deep inequalities in our society.”
West explained why it’s good for students to hear from people with whom they disagree. “I’m engaging in dialogue so that many people who would come to see [George] and come to see me can be exposed to a variety of perspectives on the issue,” he said at Swarthmore.
Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/feb/14/gaski-the-liberals-new-mccarthyism/#ixzz2tUB658VT Of all the crimes against standards of decent discourse that we observe in contemporary politics and media, several are congealing into an ugly mass that stifles free expression and civil interchange. In roughly inverse order of dysfunctional magnitude, they are: the tendency for sophists and demagogues to rely on mere unsupported assertion […]
http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/ A day after Bill de Blasio’s Tale of Two Cities address in which the wealthy Park Slope resident once again made inequality his focus, the radical pol intervened to spring one of his biggest supporters from prison. The New York Post, a tabloid that unlike the Daily News is much less enamored with the […]
http://www.americanthinker.com/printpage/?url=http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/../2014/02/is_cair_a_rico_case.html The Council on American Islamic Relations, CAIR, claims to be an anti-defamation organization. In fact, as we shall see, it is anything but. CAIR was founded in 1994 by Nihad Awad and Omar Ahmed, who had ties with the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP), which was established by the terrorist organization Hamas. Therefore, it is […]
http://pjmedia.com/blog/cooling-kills-governments-must-shift-to-cold-preparation/?print=1
In the past few years we have seen a dramatic demonstration of the deadly effects of prolonged cold weather. From Chicago to China, Egypt to Argentina, India to the Antarctic, new low temperature and snowfall records have been set.
This has led to severe hardship for millions — and increased death rates.
The first half of this year’s Northern Hemisphere (NH) winter season was especially brutal. December 2013 and January 2014 were the third-coldest Decembers and Januaries in the past 30 years averaged over the contiguous 48 United States, with temperatures plummeting to −10°C in Atlanta and −26°C in Chicago. Residents of North East India struggled with unusually severe snow and −10°C temperatures without home heating. Snow and extreme cold also impacted the Kashmir Valley in India, where many elderly and very young people died of hypothermia. At the time of this writing, most of India is two to five degrees C colder than usual, a serious problem when 95% of all Indian homes lack central heating.
In mid-December, Cairo experienced its first snowfall in over a century [1], and Jerusalem was hit by a snowstorm called the “fiercest in 20 years.” On December 17, 59% of the contiguous United States was snow-covered, a level the National Weather Service claims has not been seen on that date in at least a decade.
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Into-the-Fray-Liberman-on-unity-How-betrayed-do-YOU-feel-341429 Recent remarks by FM Liberman reflect the political Right’s tacit deference to views of the political Left and implied acknowledgment of its moral superiority. When there is a dispute between the unity of the nation or the unity of the land, the nation’s unity is more important… I’m willing to give up territory in […]
