Archive for November, 2010

Massad Ayoob considerations in carrying a second firearm

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Dstance Threat – how close can an assailant get before you need to take action?

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Net Centric Warfare Webinar

Coevolution of NCW: Challenges with Cyberspace and Organizational Development

This FREE webinar will be on:
Thursday, December 16, 2010, 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM ET
Presenter: Maj. Trisha Carpenter

The U.S. military is facing an entire new front in warfare, the cyber domain. Controlling and dominating this new technological theater is becoming critically important as U.S. Military leadership relies heavily on computer networks to communicate, gather INTEL, and even launch weapons and coordinated strikes. At the same time the military is striving to perfect the concept of Net Centric Warfare to effectively use technology to gain advantage and superiority over enemy forces. Two main obstacles may stand in the way of a successful transformation from the current haphazard state of cyberspace operations to a more productive future state required of Network Centric Warfare (NCW). The first obstacle is the military’s lack in knowledge of cyberspace operations. The second obstacle is the difficulty in understanding organizational change. This Webinar first presents a working definition of NCW to show how cyberspace and organizational change are related in the form of coevolution. It then discusses the organizational growth challenges faced by any organization operating in this domain, with a focus on the security missions likely to be given to cyber commands.

In this webinar participants will learn:

• An Operational Illustration of NCW

• Key Challenges in Cyberspace:

• Technical Environment: Cyber Triad

• Non-Technical Environment: Organizational Design

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The Swiss vote to deport Criminal Foreigners.

“GENEVA — After heated debate and a campaign utilizing controversial “black sheep” posters, Switzerland’s far-right party won voters’ support in a referendum Sunday that calls for the automatic deportation of foreigners who are convicted of serious crimes.”

What resonated with voters were contentions that foreigners accounted for a disproportionate share of Swiss crime. Christian Blocher, the People’s Party leader, asserted at a debate at Geneva University during the campaign that foreigners make up 22 percent of the resident population but account for 54 percent of convictions for grievous bodily harm and 62 percent of robbery convictions. “Prisons do not stop crimes,” he said. “The only way to go about it is to force them to leave the country.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/29/world/europe/29iht-swiss.html?_r=1

The question I have is, why would this cause heated debate? If you come to our country, then commit a serious crime, you’re out of here.

What’s complicated about that?

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Portland Bomb Plot Thwarted

From OregonLive.com:

Mohamed Osman Mohamud, 19, a Somali-born U.S. citizen, was arrested at 5:42 p.m., 18 minutes before the tree lighting was to occur, on an accusation of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. The felony charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison and a $250,000 fine.

“This defendant’s chilling determination is a stark reminder that there are people — even here in Oregon — who are determined to kill Americans,” said Oregon U.S. Attorney Dwight Holton. “The good work of law enforcement protected Oregonians in this case — and we have no reason to believe there is any continuing threat arising from this case.”

Since the perpetrator was naturalized I would like him stripped of his citizenship.

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Interesting Collection of WWII photos

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Oops – NATO hands big bucks to shopkeeper posing as Taliban commander

“It sounds like the plot from a spy novel or James Bond film.

But NATO chiefs in Afghanistan have been severely embarrassed by a shopkeeper who fooled them into thinking he was a Taliban commander during secret peace negotiations.

Astonishingly, the ruse went on for two months, during which time the ‘contact’ was paid a substantial sum of money.

He was also flown on a British military plane to three meetings designed to end the insurrection.

Despite suspicions about his identity, nobody disputed his claim to be Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour, one of the Taliban’s most senior leaders.

It was only months later — and after the handover of piles of cash to keep him coming back — that an old friend of Mr Mansour said they had the wrong man.

They now believe he was nothing more than a shopkeeper from the Pakistani city of Quetta.”

http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/mehdi-hasan/2010/11/taliban-mansour-leaders

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Military waging war on snakes in Guam – with air drops of poisoned mice

“The United States military is waging war in the Pacific on invading jungle snakes – by dropping dead mice stuffed with household headache remedies on them from helicopters.

Stars and Stripes reports on the airborne murine drug-zombie campaign being waged around US bases on the tropical island of Guam. Guam has been plagued since World War II by an invasion of brown tree snakes, which have swarmed through the local jungles eating everything they can catch and wiping out several kinds of bird.”

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/09/23/pacific_zombie_mouse_paratroops/

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Mexico sending more troops to zone next to Texas

“MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico will send more troops and federal police to try to control drug violence that has spiraled into warfare in parts of the northeast along the U.S. border, the government said Wednesday.

The goal of “Coordinated Operation Northeast” is to reinforce government authority in the two states most heavily affected by a surge in violence following a split between the Gulf and Zetas drug gangs, federal police spokesman Alejandro Poire said.”

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2010-11-25-mexico-troops_N.htm?csp=34

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San Diego: Massive stash of homebrew explosives found in Serbian’s home

25858335_640X480.jpg (Authorities closed off a nearby freeway so hazmat experts could blow up explosives found at the home of suspected bank robber and prolific bomb maker George Djura Jakubec)

“Hazmat teams are very, very carefully clearing the residence of a Serbian national living in the San Diego County town of Escondido— the home was filled with the “the largest” cache of various varieties of homemade explosives ever found in one place in the US.”

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/11/24/massive-stash-of-hom.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+boingboing%2FiBag+%28Boing+Boing%29

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Badass of the Week: Dwight Johnson

Dwight Johnson

“You don’t really think of Vietnam as being a tank warfare kind of affair… mostly because trying to drive a tank through a jungle is a logistical undertaking that borders on being retarded.

Perhaps that’s why Specialist Dwight Johnson of the 1st Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment holds the impressive distinction of being the only tank driver to receive the Medal of Honor for actions in combat during Vietnam.

Although, as you might expect, the actions that led to Spc. Johnson receiving America’s highest award for bravery in combat actually had very little to do with this ultra-over-the-top hardass actually sitting behind at the controls of his M48A3 battle tank, and a lot more with taking on an entire North Vietnamese Army offensive by himself armed with nothing more than a .45-caliber handgun and a complete lack of anything resembling fear or restraint.”

http://www.badassoftheweek.com/dwightjohnson.html

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California man gathering signatures for proposed immigration law similar to Arizona’s

“California voters may get a chance to weigh in on a proposal similar to Arizona’s controversial immigration law, after the secretary of state gave the go-ahead to a Belmont man to collect signatures for a proposed ballot initiative.

The proposal would require state law enforcement officials to investigate a person’s immigration status if they are “reasonably suspicious” the person is in the country illegally, and would make it a state crime for undocumented immigrants to “seek work while concealing their immigration status.” It would also make it a crime, under state law, for employers to hire an illegal immigrant either intentionally or unknowingly.

Erickson said he was careful to tailor the California proposal to address some of the concerns expressed by a federal judge over the Arizona law”

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/11/23/BAPL1GGM7F.DTL#ixzz16EoAzgkt

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Interview: Black Ops Veteran Talks Video Games And The Real World

[Gamasutra’s Leigh Alexander talks to a Black Ops combat veteran about his new book of gunfight tactics, the interest he’s received from gamers — and his thoughts on how games and the real world relate.]

The advertising campaign for Activision’s Call of Duty: Black Ops shows a bunch of everyday folks toting arms around a gray warscape, firing rocket launchers at helicopters and storming blasted edifices, guns in hand. “There’s a soldier in all of us,” it promises.”

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/31439/Interview_Black_Ops_Veteran_Talks_Video_Games_And_The_Real_World.php

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Lt. Keith Gallagher’s Story Irish Luck – Surviving Partial Ejection from A-6 Aircraft

LT Keith Gallagher is seen above the canopy as the A-6 aircraft touches down on the deck of the Lincoln. Note that LT Gallagher's parachute has deployed and is wrapped around the tail of the aircraft. (Navy photo)

http://www.gallagher.com/ejection_seat/index.htm

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“Scratch One Messerschmitt” – World War II Story by Robert F. Gallagher

German Messerschmitt and American P-51 Mustang.

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Robert F. Gallagher served in the United States Army’s 815th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion (Third Army) in the European Theater during WWII. He has posted his memoir online: “Scratch One Messerschmitt,” told from numerous photos he took during the war and the detailed notes he made shortly afterwards.

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