My next "small step"...

My "small step"?  Getting a new phone from the kids on my birthday.  (Yes, I'm a year older... no big deal.)

My "Giant leap"?  It's my first smart phone.

Yesterday I got my first iPhone.  Its an iPhone 4, not the latest and greatest, but a nice phone and my first.  I won't bore you with the experience of getting to know the device... I'm sure all of you have experienced it already (probably years ago).

I wanted to share just one aspect of the experience with you:  podcasts.

I've never owned an iPod, and never utilized the mp3-feature on my past phones.  I've seen a few podcasts online, but most were oriented solely towards fantasy football... very limited, in other words.

Yesterday, I discovered the wealth of material floating around out there as "podcasts" and I wanted to recommend one in particular.

Dan Carlin.

I've gotten a couple of episodes of his "Hardcore History" down already... and it is wildly entertaining!  He does a "Common Sense" theme about American current events, and I'm sure they are just as good.  Please, check him out and see what you think.  I have a sneaking suspicion that his thoughts and comments will spark more than one discussion here at the Bund.

On Obama...

Years ago, when the Bund was still meeting under F Ryan's aluminum carport and Jambo's driveway, we discussed the Watergate timeline in depth.  I hope you guys can recall that discussion, because I don't want to re-hash it all here.

In short, and assuming that we all understand the drama that was the 26 months of '72 -'74...

Had McCord not "blown the whistle" about hush-money and perjury during the initial break-in trial, and had the existence of the "tapes" made by the White House not become public knowledge, and had the Supreme Court not ORDERED the President to turn over all relevant material to the investigators (which led to the "Smoking Gun tape")... then I doubt very much that an impeachment would ever have succeeded, let alone a conviction by the Senate.

Nixon actively and with forethought broke the law, and there was ample proof to convict him.  Thus, he resigned to avoid the conviction and was pardoned by Ford for ANY wrong doing that might have occurred while he was in office... known or unknown.

Obama has managed his White House more than poorly since his election in 2008... but without a whistle-blower of McCord's proportions and without proof of the caliber of the "Smoking Gun", nothing but falling approval ratings and less and less Congressional support will result from the "Obamagate" drama.

The Mime of Pennsylvania Avenue

Let me just get this straight on the trifecta of scandals engulfing the White House...

1.) The people now admitting to knowledge of the three year Inspector General query into the IRS targeting scandal now include the White House General Counsel (the Oval Office lawyer), the Secretary of Treasury, and the director (soon to be former) of the IRS. Yet according to Obama's own words and those of his Press Secretary Jay Carney (from today), the president was never informed and found out about it "in the press" only when the story broke.

2.) Erik Holder, the Attorney General of the United States (and Obama's personal friend), defended his actions - namely intercepting (spying on) the emails, text, and phone calls of 100 AP reporters - because the source they were trying to pin down was responsible for "the third most damaging national security leak  since 1973", yet the AG never informed the president of the situation, and Obama found out about it only when the story broke. (an addendum to that scandal, it has grown to include the targeting of Fox News reporters)

3.) The president (plus the veep and SoS, I might add) claims he never knew of any enhanced security requests for outpost Benghazi. In addition, he last spoke to the Sec Def on 9/11/12 at 4pm, and did not speak to any member of the military apparatus the entire evening and made no decisions to ":stand down" or not, and only learned that such decisions were made the following day. In addition a White House representative, one "Mr. Phifer", went on all 5 Sunday morning talk shows two days ago and was repeatedly asked point blank, "Where was the President during the attack (situation room, oval, etc)?" Mr. Phifer refused to answer. No one knows or is willing say where the Commander-in-Chief was during thBenghazi asault. We can't even pin down the ROOM.

So in each scandal we don't know where the president was, what he was doing, or who he talked to, but what we definitely do know, iron clad, 100% is that he never heard of the scandals, never knew of the scandals, and never saw the scandals. In addition, he doesn't know anything about Fast and Furious, never heard of this Saudi who was swept away after the Boston bombings, and it wasn't him who came up with the "blame it on a video protest" story. He wants you to know he is not a crook because people deserve to know whether their preside .... err, wait, sorry, wrong president.

I want to remind you all that at this point in the Watergate scandal Nixon's approval ratings were still climbing and safely North of 40%. So ... how long before this glass house starts to crack?

Lone Wolf My Ass...

I'm in an odd position...  I have spent my adult life making fun of conspiracy theorists, almost as a sport (as have my cohorts on this site - but hey, everybody is good at something), yet there are alarm bells going off here that I just can't ignore.

"Self-Radicalized", "Lone Wolfs" (I'll resist the urge to explain why making that term plural is asinine), these are terms I keep hearing bandied about in the press. Even Vice President Biden said at the memorial yesterday that, "These two Jihadi-knock offs..." Wherever you turn it would seem that the administration and the press are trying to make a concerted effort to tell the public, "nothing else to see hear, these were idiot kids who read one too many web sites, move along." Don't get me wrong, I 100% believe it was these brothers that bombed the marathon, my "suspicions" lay in it ending with them alone. The following four points represent my case that they did not:

1.) THE SAUDI
Something simply doesn't seem right with this Saudi they had in custody prior to focusing on the two brothers. This man was the origin of John King's (of CNN) infamous "dark skinned man in custody" debacle when he was live with Wolf Blitzer. In fact, it was widely disseminated that there was a Saudi, at General Mass Hospital, under protective custody, being questioned immediately following the bombings. Then all references to that man ceased (in the press) and the Chechnyan man hunt geared up. Homeland Security Director Janet Neapolitano later testified before congress that the Saudi in question was never a person of interest, never a a suspect, and was simply questioned as a material witness to the bombings. The problem is that he was put on a "No Fly" list the day after the questioning. She responded to that by saying this was a simple precaution to ensure that the witness stayed within the United States why they questioned him. However, no other "witness" was barred from flying, and the no-fly lisitng occurred the day after his questioning concluded. In addition, his neighbors were interviewed for five hours, and his home searched for nine hours which led to multiple trash bags of evidence being removed. That's not speculation, that was witnessed. Stranger still, supporting documentation has now arisen that he was put on a "212-3(B)" form.

Understand, this form is the HIGHEST designation for an "armed and dangerous terrorist" that the US government assigns to an individual. All relevant security agencies must each sign off on it and in this case the Watch Commander (his name is on the above form, "W/C Mayfield") of NCT (National Counter Terrorism Center) initiated the document. Stemming from a 1965 immigration law it was enhanced under the Patriot Act, and given strict parameters for its use, namely a panel must consent to a name being added. Neapolitano has yet to explain why this occurred to this Saudi. Even if you believe material witnesses are all put on no-fly lists (which I don't), and that all witnesses have their homes raided (which I don't), or that the feds were simply "profiling" (which I don't), this designation absolutely does not happen on accident or as a matter of course. You can read more about this story HERE and HERE. Both The Blaze and Brett Baier of Fox News are looking into the story, as well as seven different congressman, including Rep Peter King (R) NY, who is chair of the Homeland Security Committee. And you'll note, at the bottom (if you click to enlarge) there is mention of a "prior event." So, a 212-3(B) level individual, with a prior "event file", just happen to be on site at the bombing? As Gotham City's Commissioner Gordon once said to a young Lieutenant, "You're a detective, you're not allowed to believe in coincidences."

2.) THE LEADER
This mother (of the two bombers), is a wholly awful individual whom, among other statements, made it clear that now that her eldest son is dead she doesn't care if here younger son is killed. I heard her say it... can you imagine? I know certain cultures put emphasis on the first born male of the family, but lady, come on. At any rate, she has repeatedly claimed the FBI set her sons up, they didn't do it, the FBI has been tracking the older brother for years, etc, etc. But today I heard something very interesting. She said the FBI interviewed her and warned her that they were "concerned" about her son, that he wasn't just sympathetic to Jihdaists, but quote, "Was becoming a leader." Now you can chalk it up to her being nuts, but certainly all FBI notes on these interviews exist. And if that was their real concern this begs a question, leading who?

3.) THE "TURKS"
During an interview with CNN, which you can watch HERE, Cambridge auto mechanic Gilberto Junior (he lived across the street from the brothers and was repairing one of their vehicles) said that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (the 19 year old brother) was wearing $900 shoes while visiting his repair shop just days after the bombings (note, the mechanic's friend noticed they were Louis Vatton shoes and asked how much he paid, Dzhokhar responded "$900"). Now understand, this interview was intended to get the story on the visit which occurred right after the bombings, and they got that. But what also happened, and what I don't think the CNN interviewer anticipated, was the little nuggets the auto mechanic also imparted, about the "friends" whom drove expensive cars and wore expensive clothing. Both the Boston Globe and the NY Times followed up with Junior (the mechanic), as he described an encounter he had with Dzhokhar regarding his friends once before. Dzhokhar told Junior that his friends (the ones dressed impeccably and driving expensive cars like "Porches and Range Rovers", according to Junior) were Turkish. Junior responded, "They don't look Turkish." Now what do you think of when you think "Turkish?" Perhaps a darker, Eastern looking individual? If they quote, "don't look Turkish", but clearly were foreigners, than - to me anyway - these guys sound like lock, stock and barrel Russians. That's my speculation, however. This is all made more significant when you understand (and this is fact, not speculation) that this family (including the brothers and the mother) were all, at various times over the past several years, on Food Stamps. The father, who moved back to Russia a year ago, has been interviewed (as you can imagine) by multiple sources and he claims he sent money to his sons whenever he could due to their financial difficulties. So how does a 19 year old kid, on welfare, afford $900 shoes? And by the way, the car Dzhokhar was picking up, was a 2007 Mercedes Benz. Something stinks - in terms of financing and aide - to high heaven here. Again I stress, I absolutely believe these two brothers are the bombers. But the idea that they were independent, and radicalized only by You Tube seems almost child like to me.

4.) THE TRIP
The elder brother (Tamerlan) traveled back to Chechnya from January to June of 2012. In national security circles there is a concept known as the "foreign fighter." You can read more about this concept and details of the Chechnya trip HERE. In essence this is when Westerners (natural born or naturalized immigrants) tune into Jihadist media to the point of traveling overseas with the intent of fighting in the active theaters of war there, whether it be the Near East, or North Africa. What tends to happen is they are trained and then convinced they can "serve Allah" better by going back "home" (to the US, Britain, etc) given they can more freely move about in their respective Western countries. In that light the 6 month trip to Russia seems to make more sense. Again, the lone wolf idea has holes - do they think he went to Chechnya to visit no one? To sit in solitude? To do an Australian style walk-about and get in touch with his Zen side? Ya, everybody knows that when you need some down time, some peaceful, quality time with yourself you go to sunny south Chechnya... right? That trip alone indicates outside help. I'd bet next month's rent that it was on this trip where Tamerlan learned to make these bombs. Zen-like peaceful reconnecting with one's self may not be an accurate description of the Russian vacation advertisements, but "bomb-making" IS a stop in the Chechnya tour guide handbook, if I'm not mistaken.

I have to once again stress, these guys, these terrorist Cechnyan brothers, did do the bombing. But in their claims that it was a "lone wolf" attack, and that these guys were "self-radicalized", or as the vice president contended "wannabe Jihadi's", both the press and administration are asking you to believe them, rather than your lying eyes. These aren't conspiracy sites. I'm giving you CNN, The NY Times, the Boston Globe, The Heritage Foundation, the mechanics own words, and yes, Glenn Beck's news orginization, The Blaze. But that site has the primary source documentation on the Saudi and no less than ten seperate, federal, cooberating sources. I loathe conspiracy theories, but boys and girls this lone wolf story just doesn't add up.

I also have to add...

I can't NOT give a nod, a heart-felt "Thank You!" and a huge "Job Well Done!" to the men and women of the Mass. State Police, the Boston Police Depart. and all the agencies that worked with them to investigate and apprehend the suspected bombers yesterday.

These men and women could easily have put their own lives FIRST and simply killed the man hiding in the boat that was KNOWN to have explosives, firearms and a raging ability to use either for his own gains.  Instead, they put themselves at risk AGAIN to ensure the man was captured alive, that no further harm could result from his actions, and that the neighborhoods and cities of the Boston area could sleep easier knowing the "bad guys" were off the streets.

God bless the MSPD, BPD and all the rest!

Hmmm...

I have to admit that, since the capture of the man labeled "terrorist #2", I haven't followed the story as exhaustively as I could have.  I know he was in hospital (Mass General, if I'm not mistaken, the same place his brother was pronounced DOA and the same place the cop he shot is recovering), and I have heard talking heads on the radio say he hasn't heard his Miranda rights.

What I haven't heard is anyone in a position of authority saying what Ryan is saying... that the are taking a gamble and treating the man (or labeling him) an "enemy combatant" so that he won't have the same access to civil and criminal rights as the rest of the nation' citizens.  There is a 48 hour window within the Miranda requirements to ensure that no greater threat or danger exists, just as there is a 24 hour window wherein the authorities can hold a citizen for only 24 hours before charging him/her with a crime or letting them walk away.

Citizen or not (and the irony of the 9-11 oath of citizenship is not beyond me), the man is in a heap of trouble.  Bombing charges aside, the man's capture and the circumstances surrounding it are MORE than enough to charge him with so that he can be held indefinitely.  There should be no NEED to utilize obscure or fringe elements of our justice code to keep him behind bars and answering questions.

The man is a US citizen.  End of story.  He deserves and has a right to expect each and every guaranteed freedom and protection our society promises any one of us.  If we allow ourselves to forget or overlook THAT fact, then I'm afraid the damage is already done and the principles by which this nation exists are no longer there.

Miranda? We don't need no stinking Miranda!

I am aghast at the joint statement released by Lindsey Graham and John McCain:

“Now that the suspect is in custody, the last thing we should want is for him to remain silent. It is absolutely vital the suspect be questioned for intelligence gathering purposes. We need to know about any possible future attacks which could take additional American lives. The least of our worries is a criminal trial which will likely be held years from now,” Graham and McCain said. “Under the Law of War we can hold this suspect as a potential enemy combatant not entitled to Miranda warnings or the appointment of counsel. Our goal at this critical juncture should be to gather intelligence and protect our nation from further attacks.”

You see, they didn't Mirandize him. And technically, they have legal backing at the point of immediate arrest at least. There is what's called a "public safety exception." It's based on a 1980 case in which a police officer subdued a rapist, noticed an empty gun holster on the suspect, and asked him where the gun was prior to Mirandizing. The cop found it in the alley at the direction of the suspect. Lawyers tried to get the gun tossed as evidence, but the SCOTUS ultimately ruled that in the event of an immediate safety threat, the Miranda could be read after the threat was neutralized. In other words, they do eventually have to Miranda this guy, but they're claiming a "threat" still exists in that he may have knowledge of additional sleeper cells, plots, etc, so questioning him pre Miranda after he wakes up in the hospital is legal. They're gambling. They're gambling that enough physical evidence exists to convict even if every self incriminating word he utters is tossed out. They're weighing that against the value of any information he will potentially offer up.

Now, here's my concern. I get, honestly I do, the technical legal gamble they're taking. Essentially it's a basic risk/reward decision. But this guy is a U.S. citizen. He was naturalized on 9/11/12. Ya, on 9/11. My concern is less with this legal "gamble" as I describe it, and more with McCain & Graham's statement. What did I warn about in my last post? Certain linguini-spined GOP'ers on Capital Hill willing to hand the POTUS (and by definition all future presidents) powers that we will not get back. Reread the statement above, that is EXACTLY what they're doing. They want the POTUS to have the authority and political cover to declare a U.S. citizen an enemy combatant, and thrown in GITMO. What's worse, if he is declared an enemy combatant then BY DEFINITION Graham and McCain have ceded that the U.S is a "battlefield", and battlefield rules apply, even to U.S. citizens. Thus the CIC's powers to operate domestically will match those in Iraq or Afghanistan. Is that alone not a "fundamental transformation" of our country? After all, if a U.S. citizen is an enemy combatant conducting operations on the battlefield of U.S. soil, than why would we deny the CIC the ability to conduct drone strikes in Boston, Chicago, L.A., or Austin? Why not military checkpoints? Why not courts martial assembled? Hell, why not turn the drum upside down, read the accusation, then hang em'? For the love of all that's holy, where is the Left on this? They should bare in mind, one day a Republican will reclaim the White House... do they really want the president's domestic powers to be limited only by battlefield rules?