2 cents:
The ineptitude of Obama paved the way for Putin to act in the Ukraine.
This will be interesting to watch as it unfolds.
Eatinger identified as CIA top lawyer central to Feinstein’s statement
The top CIA lawyer mentioned and central to the comments Feinstein made about the ongoing unethical and illegal actions of the CIA is Robert Eatinger.
The Guardian has an article following the comments and what has transpired since.
From the Guardian article:
“Eatinger, a longtime agency lawyer with counter-terrorism experience, was cited on Monday by the panel’s chairwoman, Dianne Feinstein of California, in her seminal speech lashing out at the CIA. Without naming him, Feinstein indicated he was instrumental in the agency’s now-abandoned torture practices, and had been cited over 1,600 times in the classified Senate torture investigation.
Feinstein said Eatinger, whom senators have taken care not to name, had alerted the Justice Department to her staff’s removal of a CIA document from a classified facility – which both Feinstein and Udall cite as a conflict of interest.
Ahead of Krass’s arrival at the CIA, Udall called on Eatinger to immediately recuse himself from any internal matters related to either the torture inquiry or the Senate panel generally. “We need to correct the record on the CIA’s coercive detention and interrogation program and declassify the Senate intelligence committee’s exhaustive study of it. I released my hold on Caroline Krass’s nomination today and voted for her to help change the direction of the agency,” Udall said in a statement on Thursday.
In a statement, CIA director John Brennan said was “extremely pleased” that the Senate had confirmed Krass, and praised Eatinger as “an exemplary public servant who has demonstrated throughout his career exceptional competence and integrity”.”
2 cents:
Considering what has come to light publicly I wonder just how long Brennan will remain as the CIA Director. I suggest within the next year he will make a statement he wants to now spend more time with family and friends and pursue some new interests. Which is all good because he is corrupt as well.
36.8% – the real unemployment number of 2013
Ukraine: word of warning – focus on allies in Europe not the USA
Ukraine’s interim prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk needs to speak with eastern European countries such as Poland about the willingness and integrity of Obama and his administration. Ukraine needs to use EU allies such as Merkel to broker a draw down of escalation and the actual removal of troops from Crimea. Putin is a chess player and I am certain that his posturing with Crimea is to get the Ukrainian government to keep the ties with Russia and be part of the bloc as the previous Russian crony had decided. Yatsenyuk needs to be cautious with his words and urgent admonition that Ukraine is looking westward and that is where it will go. He needs to focus on the matter about his country and Russia and put that matter to the side. It may be quite possible once he talks with Putin to identify a third option that will allow both sides to get what they want.
But still — bottom-line —- For the sake of the Ukrainians, Yatsenyuk do not rely on Obama.
GM and the lack of CSR in the ignition issue on the Saturn ION
My wife and I can report from first hand experience the danger this issue caused.
We own a 2007 Saturn ION3. I was the primary driver of the car the first couple years then she took it over when we purchased a Highlander. In the first couple years I experienced three times when the ignition decided to turn itself off while I was driving. Two on a winding road in our subdivision and once on the highway. The first two times I figured I somehow bumped the key but the third time while driving on the highway I was certain I hadn’t and lets just say for a minute their things were REALLY freaking interesting. I took the car to the Saturn dealer and they looked at it and said nothing was wrong with it and that they were unable to duplicate the error. They suggested I check the weight of my keys which was not the issue for it contained the fob, ignition key and one house key. When wifey became the primary driver of the car she was aware of the matter and had changed her key ring to only have the fob and the ignition key. Guess what happened? Driving down a busy road the ignition turned off. We took the car back to the dealer and requested they change out the ignition tumbler and they said they did. Since we had the tumbler replaced we have not had an issue with ignition. Do you consider that coincidence? (please refer to Gibbs’ Rule #39 – There is no such thing as a coincidence)
If memory serves me correctly the CEO in 2001 was Wagoner. Seems like someone needs to talk to him and review files pertaining to him.
Electric grid and its security in question
I have been concerned about terrorism attacks on our water supplies and the electric grid for a long time. Actually shortly after the 9/11/01 events I expected as the government (state and federal) reviewed and made plans to protect the citizens that we were going to see these two areas mentioned and focused on. To the best of my knowledge that has not happened. I remember watching a documentary (don’t remember the name or producer) that revealed that the electric grid in the USA is actually antiquated and for lack of proper terms being held together by band-aids and duct tape.
I am running behind (big time) on my reading of THE WEEK magazine (best weekly publication IMO); now within 5 weeks of current date (it was as bad as 10 weeks behind). (Life sure can interrupt your plans.) In the Jan 28 issue the focus was the dangers that squirrels post to the grid (Scratching my head about the use of precious paper space for this article). The Feb 6 article reports the attempt of sabotage/terrorism that occurred in the Silicone Valley power plant in April 2013 and the spin is maybe the grid is more secure than we thought. (Again IMO – The method was the weakness not the strength of security.)
Something must be in the air. I know some people would consider the what appears as sudden mentioning of the electric grid in the news as preparing the way for something that is going to happen. Some would say it will be a false flag operation used to galvanize public opinion for some stricter legislation, say more use of CCTV in neighborhoods across the country.
Today – without looking for it – two more articles came across” the bow” about the matter: March 11 Washinton Free Beacon article: Report – US electric grid inherently vulnerable to sabotage and Fox News article via a different source reporting about the FERC study.
Takeaway from the four mentions I have come across this week? Time to the pull the trigger on the purchase of a generator for the home
Hope, Levity and Wonder 