Archive for August, 2011

US soldiers from Bravo and Delta Company transport suspected Taliban insurgents

US soldiers from Bravo and Delta Company transport suspected Taliban insurgents to the Forward Operating Base Pasab in Zahri district, Kandahar, on Aug. 15 following an overnight raid. According to Major Kirby Dennis, operations officer, the operation will reduce the insurgents' offensive capability. (Romeo Gacad/AFP/Getty Images)

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Israel sends two warships to Egyptian border

“Military sources tell AP Israeli Navy sent additional warships to maritime border with Egypt following intelligence indicating viable terror threat.

Military intelligence suggests that an Islamic Jihad terror cell has left the Gaza Strip and intends to infiltrate Israel through Sinai. Minister for Home Front Defense Matan Vilnai has been quoted as saying that the cell may number as many as 10 terrorists.

Meanwhile, Iran set to send 15th fleet to area as well as ‘to thwart pirate activity’

Iran’s Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari:

“The presence of Iran’s army in the high seas will convey the message of peace and friendship to all countries.”

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4115781,00.html

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Staff Sergeant Adam Hendrickson: heading home with his unit of the 101st Airborne Division

Staff Sergeant Adam Hendrickson (left), 29, of Winter Park, Fla., tries to fit his assault rifle into the overhead compartment upon boarding a flight at Manas, Kyrgyzstan. He is heading home with his unit of the 101st Airborne Division after completing its deployment in Afghanistan on Aug. 11. President Obama plans to withdraw 10,000 troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year. (David Goldman/Associated Press)

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US soldiers from Bravo Company and Afghan security forces prepare their weapons

US soldiers from Bravo Company and Afghan security forces prepare their weapons before boarding a Chinook helicopter in Kandahar province on Aug. 14. (Romeo Gacad/AFP/Getty Images)

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When Heroes Become Bureaucrats

Why cops and firefighters stood by as a man drowned in San Francisco Bay

by Steven Greenhut

“On Memorial Day, a suicidal man waded into San Francisco Bay outside the city of Alameda and stood there for about an hour, neck-deep in chilly water, as about 75 bystanders watched. Local police and firefighters were called to the scene, but they refused to help. After the man drowned, the assembled “first responders” also refused to wade into the water to retrieve his body; they left that job for a bystander.

The incident sparked widespread outrage in northern California, and the response by the fire department and police only intensified the anger. The firefighters blamed local budget cuts for denying them the training and equipment necessary for cold-water rescues. The police said that they didn’t know if the man was dangerous and therefore couldn’t risk the safety of their officers.

After a local TV news crew asked him whether he would save a drowning child in the bay, Alameda fire chief Ricci Zombeck gave an answer that made him the butt of local talk-show mockery: “Well, if I was off duty, I would know what I would do, but I think you’re asking me my on-duty response, and I would have to stay within our policies and procedures, because that’s what’s required by our department to do.”
Read the rest of this entry »

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Why hasn’t crime increased in the current depression?

Bruce Graybill responds to this article, which discusses the question of, “Since the economy has gotten worse, why has the crime rate not increased?”:

Crime and the Great Recession

Jobs have fled, lawbreaking hasn’t risen—and criminologists are scratching their heads.

http://www.city-journal.org/2011/21_3_crime-decline.html#.Tlo5zStMrj8.facebook

Graybill says,

“It’s interesting that the author notes the predicted increase in property crime (citing auto thefts, robbery, burglary, etc.), in a recession like today’s, would be worse because the families are weaker and children more independent. But seemed a little puzzled as to why it wasn’t the case.

40 states now have ‘shall issue’ right to carry (concealed) laws, 8 have ‘may issue’ laws, and 2 deny a private citizen’s right to carry a firearm (Illinois and Wisconsin). FBI Uniform Crime Reports verify the states with ‘shall issue’ laws had demonstratively less crime that states that do not have shall issue laws, over the same time periods.

Add to this the 30 or so states that have passed various forms of castle doctrine laws, and you have a pretty simple logical basis for why crime has not increased in this depression.”

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Tomb of the Unknown Soldier Guarded Despite Hurricane

 

“A lone Tomb Sentinel, 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard), walks his tour in humble reverence during Hurricane Irene in Arlington National Cemetery, Va., Aug 27. Members of The Old Guard have guarded the Tomb every second, of every day regardless of weather or holidays since April 6, 1948.”

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/elisabethmeinecke/2011/08/28/tomb_of_the_unknown_soldier_guarded_despite_hurricane

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Soldiers with the 506th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, begin the first leg of return home

Soldiers with the 506th Infantry Regiment, a unit of the 101st Airborne Division, begin the first leg of their return home, boarding a plane at a forward base in Paktika province. (David Goldman/Associated Press)

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Prosthetics of the future: The Eyeborg Documentary

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Al Qaeda’s No. 2 Killed in Pakistan, U.S. Official Says

By MARK MAZZETTI
WASHINGTON — “A drone operated by the Central Intelligence Agency killed al Qaeda’s second-ranking figure in the mountains of Pakistan earlier this month, American and Pakistani officials said on Saturday, further damaging a terror network that appears significantly weakened since the death of Osama bin Laden in May.

An American official said that a drone strike on Aug. 22 killed Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, a Libyan who in the last year had taken over as al Qaeda’s top operational planner. Mr. Rahman was in frequent contact with Bin Laden in the months before the terror leader was killed on May 2 by a team of Navy Seals, intelligence officials have said.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/28/world/asia/28qaeda.html?_r=1

 

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US soldier from the Third Brigade on joint security patrol with Afghan National Army soldiers

A US soldier from the Third Brigade passes an Afghan family outside their mudhouse during a joint security patrol with Afghan National Army soldiers in Kandalay village on Aug. 4. (Romeo Gacad/AFP/Getty Images)

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Slain Navy SEAL Jon Tumilson: his dog refused to leave his side during the funeral

The dog of slain Marine Jon Tumilson refused to leave his side during the Navy SEAL’s funeral earlier this week in Rockford, Iowa. The heartbreaking photo taken by his cousin, Lisa Pembleton, shows Tumilson’s dog Hawkeye lying by the casket. (via The Daily Treat: Animal Planet)

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US soldiers keep guard near a canal in Kandahar province

US soldiers keep guard near a canal running thru Highway 1 on the outskirts of Kandalay village in Kandahar province on August 6, as part of a mission to secure southern Afghanistan's strategic roadway against Taliban insurgents' placements of improvised explosive devices (IED). According to Captain Max Ferguson commander of Charlie Co., a Taliban was killed while trying to place IED some 800 meters from the area where soldiers were sealing off the road culvert with iron grids and barb wires. (Romeo Gacad/AFP/Getty Images)

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Libyan Rebels Flying Their Own Minidrone, supplied by Canadian company

Aeryon Labs, a Canadian defense firm, revealed on Tuesday that it had quietly provided the rebel forces with a teeny, tiny surveillance drone, called the Aeryon Scout. Small enough to fit into a backpack, the 3-pound, four-rotor robot gave Libyan forces eyes in the sky independent of the Predators, Fire Scout surveillance copters and manned spy planes that NATO flew overhead.

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GLOCK 17 Technical Review

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