Shark Attack

Via Ninety Miles From Tyranny

Never, ever dive without a bang stick. Don't keep your fish in a bag on your belt, but either trail it of take them immediately to the top and leave them on a float.

Did Malaysian Airlines 370 disappear using SIA68/SQ68 (another 777)?

Via The Feral Irishman

As the search for missing flight Malaysian Airlines flight 370 drags on into the 10^th day, so many questions continue to remain unanswered about how and why the airliner could have disappeared while seemingly under the control of a skilled pilot intent on making it invisible. With satellite pings showing where the plane could be after more than seven hours of flight, speculation has arisen that the plane could be on the ground anywhere along a path from northern Thailand to the border of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.
 
The major roadblock to this theory has been the insistence from India and Pakistan that their radar network showed no such unidentified aircraft entering or traversing their airspace.  It would seem highly unlikely given such information that a Boeing 777 could indeed slip through undetected.

As a hobby pilot and aviation enthusiast, a theory began to form in my own mind on this 10^th day as all of the latest information began to trickle in slowly through media outlets globally.  After being unable to escape the idea that it may have happened, I began to do some analysis and research and what I discovered was very troubling to me!

Starting with a set of facts that have been made available publically and verified over the past few days, I first plotted MH370’s course onto an aviation IFR map which shows the airways and waypoints used to navigate the skies.  I plotted the point where it stopped transmitting ADS-B information at 1721UTC.  I then plotted the Malaysian military radar track from that point towards “VAMPI”, “GIVAL”, and then onward toward “IGREX” on P628 ending with where the plane should be at 1815UTC when military radar lost contact.

More @ Keith Ledgerwood

NC: Build Your Own AK In Jacksonville

Via Michael  via Bearing Arms

Auction: Maryland's Uncivil War

General Pender  - "Dixieland"   First Confederate Soldier Killed In The WBTS

******************************

Civil wars aren't very civil. In fact, they're downright uncivil. During the American Civil War, brother sometimes fought against brother, yes, but in Maryland, state legislator fought against state legislator.

This actually happened in all border states, but the outcome in Maryland was perhaps more important than the others because of its proximity to Washington, D.C. — the District of Columbia is bordered on three sides by the Old Line State. What played out among Maryland's legislative body during the early months of 1861 was high drama.


A quick summary of what happened: At the beginning of 1861, secessionist-leaning Democrats controlled the state legislature. Their plans were foiled until April 19, 1861, when trouble came a' marchin' in. Literally. On that date, the 6th Massachusetts Regiment passed through the state on their way south to protect Washington from rebels. The regiment had little trouble until they tried to march through Baltimore, where a mob met them, resulting in the first combat deaths of the Civil War. This empowered the secessionist legislators to successfully open an extra session of the state legislature in the town of Frederick, where they were able to pass pro-Southern legislation, angering much of the union-leaning citizenry.

After the first major battle of the war, a Confederate victory just 75 miles south of Baltimore at Bull Run in July 1861, emboldened Maryland secessionist legislators renounced President Lincoln, who responded by ordering them arrested, an order carried out by Colonel Thomas Ruger on September 17, 1861. This put Maryland unionists in control of the state for good.

The drama of this uncivil episode between Maryland state legislators can be explored in five lots in our upcoming April Historical Manuscript Signature auction.


Lot 34069. A petition dated May 4, 1861, signed by twenty-nine citizens from union-leaning Frederick County, Maryland, against an act "for the Peace and Safety" of Maryland.

Lot 34068. Another petition dated May 6, 1861, with 38 signatures of citizens from St. Mary's County, Maryland, demanding that the state remain neutral during the Civil War.

Lot 34070. Four more petitions dated May 6, 1861, containing over 200 signatures of union-leaning Washington County, Maryland, citizens protesting directly against the secret sessions of the Maryland General Assembly being held in Frederick.

Lot 34071. These two petitions dated May 4, 1861, contain over 210 signatures of union-leaning Maryland citizens protesting the state legislature's creation of a Board of Public Safety.They believed such a bill "if passed would prove a Military Despotism."

Lot 34077. The order to arrest Maryland's secessionist legislators originated with President Lincoln. Union officers such as Nathaniel Banks then ordered Col. Ruger—the man on the spot—to take his men to Frederick, where the legislature was scheduled to meet in mid-September 1861. This is an archive of military letters written to Col. Thomas Ruger during those momentous days as the fate of Maryland stood in the balance.


All of these lots will be offered on April 3, 2014, at our April Manuscripts Auction #6113 to be held on the 15^th floor of 445 Park Avenue, New York City. A full preview will be available from April 1-3. If you can't make it to New York, you can still watch the auction live and bid using Heritage Live!

NSA surveillance program reaches ‘into the past’ to retrieve, replay phone calls

Via LH

The National Security Agency has built a surveillance system capable of recording “100 percent” of a foreign country’s telephone calls, enabling the agency to rewind and review conversations as long as a month after they take place, according to people with direct knowledge of the effort and documents supplied by former contractor Edward Snowden.

A senior manager for the program compares it to a time machine — one that can replay the voices from any call without requiring that a person be identified in advance for surveillance.

More with video @ The Washington Post

Freedom Watch sues Karzai over killing of Navy SEALs and other special ops

Via LH

Charge RICO Conspiracy to Kill Heroes of Navy SEALs and Other Special Ops In Retaliation For Killing of Bin Laden

 Today, Larry Klayman, a former federal Justice Department prosecutor and founder of Judicial Watch and now Freedom Watch (www.freedomwatchusa.org), announced the filing of a lawsuit (1:14-cv-00435) before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, charging Afghan President Hamid Karzai, his Afghan government, in concert with the terrorist group the Taliban and the terrorist designated country the Islamic Republic of Iran, with conspiring to shoot down a Chinook helicopter that carried 17 Navy SEALs, 5 special ops servicemen, 5 National Guardsmen and 3 Air Force members, on a mission code named Extortion 17. The deaths of members of Navy SEAL Team VI were quite a trophy given their heroic actions in killing master Al Qaeda terrorist and the man behind 9/11, Osama Bin Laden.

Klayman and Freedom Watch, who are representing some of the families of the fallen heroes aboard Extortion 17, issued the following statement upon filing suit:

More @ Freedom Watch

NC: 150th Battle of Bentonville Anniversary Reenactment

Via Timothy

More @ FOBB

NC: Duplin Roads Interview

 Gabriel Boney 

The following is an interview with North Carolina War Between the States Sesquicentennial Chair Bernhard Thuersam on the upcoming “General Hoke at Duplin Roads, 1865: A Living History” program. It will be held at 6:30PM Tuesday, March 25, at the Wallace Women’s Club, 216 NE Railroad Street in Wallace, NC.  The public is invited and admission is free.

What was the impetus behind this unusual living history presentation – why this format?

BT:  “The Commission was looking for a unique and informative way to observe the Sesquicentennial beyond the usual reenactments, static displays and lecture formats.  Several of us had viewed the Williamsburg-style living histories with Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry and John Adams in-character, and we decided upon this as a most interesting direction.

General Robert F. Hoke

 

  Mrs. Eliza Parsley

The possibilities are only restricted by the historical characters we can portray; the Duplin Roads event has General Robert F. Hoke and Gabriel Boney discussing the important military events from Fort Fisher to Duplin Roads as if they had just occurred, plus a refugeeing Wilmington lady (Mrs. Eliza Parsley) who adds a first-person account of the plight of women and children on the home front.  As in the great Williamsburg programs, our audience will feel as if they are watching history unfold before their very eyes.”

How do you see this conversation format being more effective than a lecture format?

BT: “I think lecture formats are certainly effective and we use them in many instances, but as one who participates in living histories and reenactments around the State I do often witness the positive effect of uniformed interpreters interacting with the public.  That public is usually very much interested and more engaged. 

This is what the Commission wanted to pursue -- to bring North Carolina history closer to the public to learn, understand, and think about these events that shaped history.  This is what history education is all about, engaging the observer, helping them see through the eyes of someone at an earlier time, and bringing them to better understand how events of 150 years ago may still affect us today. It may also challenge them to learn more about a topic, ask probing questions and further research them.” 

Why focus on a little-known general, and who is Gabriel Boney?  Why is he important?

BT: “Robert F. Hoke is for some reason little-known though he was one of Lee’s most trusted division commanders and an accomplished North Carolina general officer.  It was Hoke who liberated Plymouth from Northern occupation, nearly liberated New Bern shortly after, and who steadfastly resisted enemy attacks at Forks Road below Wilmington in early 1865 and forced them to go around him.  Hoke’s entrenchments at Rockfish Creek were also a serious impediment to the enemy – they were reluctant to engage him again after being repulsed repeatedly at Forks Road. 

Gabriel Boney was selected as he was a prominent Duplin Roads (now Wallace) merchant and planter, and his son was serving in the Fortieth North Carolina Regiment under Hoke’s command.  It is plausible that Boney would have met Hoke during the two-week encampment, and also desired to see his son.  Modern-day Wallace is built upon what was Boney land, and I am privileged to portray Mr. Boney.” 

You are doing two performances on March 25? How did you train for this?

BT: “Yes, a midday program to 100-or so high school history students, and an evening program at 6:30PM at the Women’s Club in Wallace. 

We are not professional or trained actors – we rely upon our knowledge of the events and study of our characters to be convincing to the audiences.  The most important thing is that we present this North Carolina history in an honest manner, and encourage the audience to think and understand this history more deeply than before – and why it is important today. If we are training for anything, it is to be honest and in-character.” 

Who are your fellow characters in the Duplin Roads program?

BT: “I have been very fortunate to meet two very well-versed and knowledgeable people who help make this possible – Wayne Newnam of Beaufort and Kelly Hinson of Jackson Springs.  Clearly, without them the programs would be impossible.  Wayne performs as General Robert F. Hoke annually at the Plymouth battle reenactment and often presents a realistic Gen. Joseph E. Johnston character complete with impeccably-tailored and authentic uniforms and headquarters camp display.

He does an excellent job and has taught me so much.  

Kelly regularly portrays the grieving widow of Gen. Stonewall Jackson, Anna Morrison Jackson, who was a Charlotte lady.  Kelly will be depicting Eliza Nutt Parsley in our Duplin Roads program, a Wilmington lady whose husband is a field officer with Lee in Virginia and she and her two children are refugeeing in Robeson County with friends. I am confident Kelly will bring the audience to tears telling a riveting story of life as a refugee, the same as she does as Mrs. Jackson reading her loving husband’s last letters to her.  I am very, very lucky to have these two friends to work with.”

Are you offering this same program elsewhere in North Carolina?

BT:  “We may schedule a few more in the Wilmington and Pender County area this year, and certainly more in Duplin County early next year as we approach the 150-year observance of this historic event in Duplin. Certainly public interest will guide this.” 

Are you planning other living history events of this type?

BT: “Yes we are.  Given the interest and success of the Duplin Roads program, another will feature Gen. Joseph E. Johnston and Gen. William J. Hardee in a headquarters camp dialogue which gives the audience a view of the events those commanders faced, their view of the enemy’s movements and strategies, and how the final campaign in North Carolina unfolded.  I see this program being popular toward the end of the year and into the Bentonville battle time next March, perhaps performing this in Averasboro, Dunn, Bentonville, Goldsboro, Smithfield and Raleigh.  We have the Johnston/Hardee characters lined up, there may be others.”

Will you perform the Johnston/Hardee program at the Bentonville historic site?

BT:  “We have not spoken with them as yet, but are discussing this with a private historical organization with a large nearby site.  It will take place at the time of the battle, mid-March, and it would certainly be correct to have Generals Johnston and Hardee there, as well as others who participated. We are looking for more officers to help us better present these living history conversations.”

Thank you for your time and sharing this with us.

BT:  Many thanks to you, we appreciate the public being made aware of the programs. 

Federal Firearms License required for “a business premises at which, for a fee, it makes available a computer numeric control (CNC) machine, tools, equipment, and instructions to persons who bring in castings or raw materials for the purpose of creating firearms.”

Southern California gun parts and accessory dealer Ares Armor continues to inform customers and supporters as to the status of its operations following yesterday’s raid by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Ares Chief Operations Officer Jeremy Tuma posted an update Saturday evening to his Instagram account where he first posted the news yesterday afternoon that “ATF is currently executing search warrants on all of our locations.”

“We will be burning the midnight oil to assure we are fully operational by morning and that business goes on as uninterrupted as possible,” Tuma stated in last night’s message.

Per Dave Workman, who conducted a telephone interview last night with Ares CEO Dimitrios Karras for The Gun Mag, “federal agents ‘took almost 6,000 lowers’ [and] no arrests of any Ares Armor employees were made.” Supplementing that is a Facebook alert from the CalGuns Foundation advising “We have confirmed that the ATF has searched multiple properties in the Ares Armor/EP Lowers matter and have seized customer lists,” and reminding people approached by law enforcement to “Exercise your right to remain silent; Never consent to a search; Demand an attorney; [and] Contact The Calguns Foundation’s Help Hotline.”

More @ Examiner

Why I'm burning my last bridge with Obama

Oliver Stone Confronted Over Bromance with Bloodthirsty Dictators

Russian businesses won't repay loans to U.S. banks

 

Russia can circumvent the economic sanctions being applied by the United States and Europe through the use of other currencies and the creation of its own payment system, Sergei Glazyev, an economic adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin, said Tuesday, according to The Voice of Russia.

To be sure, a senior Kremlin official said Glazyev was merely voicing his "personal opinion" rather than government policy, the news service reported.

In any case, he said, "we have wonderful economic and trade relations with our southern and eastern partners. We will find a way not just to eliminate our dependence on the U.S., but also profit from these sanctions."

The penalties would also mean that Russian businesses won't repay loans to U.S. banks, Glazyev said. "If the U.S. chooses to freeze our assets, then our equities and liabilities in dollars will also be frozen," he said.

More @ Money News

Crimean photos

 

More @ U 96

US Army to proceed with planned exercise in Ukraine

Via LH 

 

Atlas Vision is canceled. But Rapid Trident is still a go.

The status of two annual U.S. Army Europe military exercises that were scheduled for July — one in Russia, one in western Ukraine — is being affected differently by the situation in Ukraine, which has been described as the worst crisis since the end of the Cold War. The fact that the U.S. and its allies chose to go ahead with an exercise in Ukraine while canceling the one in Russia demonstrates Western support for Kiev in its confrontation with Moscow.

On March 3, the Pentagon announced that all exercises, bilateral meetings, port visits and planning conferences with Russia were off.

More @ S&S

US Closes Syrian Embassy & Consular offices in response to Syria's suspension of consular services for Syrians living in the U.S.

 

The Obama administration ordered the Syrian government on Tuesday to suspend its diplomatic and consular missions in the United States, requiring all personnel who are not legal U.S residents to leave the country.

The order, three years after the start of Syria's bloody civil war, essentially shutters the Syrian embassy in Washington and its honorary consulates in Troy, Mich., and Houston, Texas. It comes in response to a decision by President Bashar Assad's government to suspend consular services for Syrians living in the U.S.

More @ ABC

ATF requiring license for renting out tooling, offering instruction?

Via avordvet

 

 Oleg Volk

Last Monday, we looked at the previous Friday's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives raid on EP Armory, in Bakersfield, California. EP Armory is best known for the "80%" AR-15 lower receivers it sells, especially (and most directly related to the current situation) their Kevlar-reinforced polymer models, that by virtue of using differently colored material to distinguish what needs to be removed by drilling and/or milling from that which is to be left behind, makes the operation pretty straightforward, even without using jigs to guide the process.

More @ Examiner

28-Year Old Former JPMorgan Banker Jumps To His Death, Latest In Series Of 11 Recent Suicides

Via Michael 

 

Not a week seems to pass without some banker or trader committing suicide. Today we get news of the latest such tragic event with news that 28-year old Kenneth Bellando, a former JPMorgan banker, current employee of Levy Capital, and brother of a top chief investment officer of JPM, jumped to his death from his 6th floor East Side apartment on March 12.

More @ Zero Hedge

Video: Crazy Russian FSB Shooting Drills

Any shooting drills involving the shooter taking multiple 9mm FMJ shots to his body armor, or returning fire with other humans downrange, or having another shooter fire over his shoulder, or being pushed, bumped, or otherwise physically jostled while shooting is extremely dangerous.

Larry Vickers visited with the Russian FSB (Federal Security Service, a KGB successor tasked with internal and border security and counter-terrorism) to watch them go through some of their advanced drills which combine all of these elements, in what most Americans would consider borderline insane.

The first drill they run assumes that the “bad guy” has “made” the FSB officer and manages to draw and fire first, scoring hits. This involves the primary shooter taking three shots to the chest. Yes, these are full-power FMJ rounds being caught by body armor.

More @ Bearing Arms

Is Putin the Irrational One?

 

Now that Putin has taken Crimea without firing a shot, and 95 percent of a Crimean electorate voted Sunday to reunite with Russia, do his decisions still appear irrational?

Was it not predictable that Russia, a great power that had just seen its neighbor yanked out of Russia's orbit by a U.S.-backed coup in Kiev, would move to protect a strategic position on the Black Sea she has held for two centuries?

More @ Townhall

"We have a solemn commitment to our collective defense and we will uphold this commitment"

Just like we held up ours with SEATO, right.......?

“Comrade Obama, what should those who have neither accounts nor property abroad do? Have you not thought about it? I think the decree of the President of the United States was written by some joker.” — Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin in a tweet.

Comrade Rogozin is not alone in his assessment of Comrade Obama.

Even as Russia’s parliament prepares to vote today to graciously accede to the wishes of the people of Crimea and welcome that region of Ukraine back into the arms of Mother Russia, our president is once again ineffectually wagging his finger and this time naming names of the 11 Russian and Ukrainian officials who will face sanctions under his executive order. Rogozin, among those on the list, apparently has no immediate plans to vacation at Disney World.

“If Russia continues to interfere in Ukraine, we stand ready to impose further sanctions,” Obama said yesterday.

And if that doesn’t scare the bejeesus out of Vladimir Putin, well, he’s sending Vice President Joe Biden to consult with our allies in the region — Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

More @ Boston Herald

Ron Paul: Crimea secedes. So what?

 

Why does the U.S. care which flag will be hoisted on a small piece of land thousands of miles away?

Critics point to the Russian "occupation" of Crimea as evidence that no fair vote could have taken place. Where were these people when an election held in an Iraq occupied by U.S. troops was called a "triumph of democracy"?

Perhaps the U.S. officials who supported the unconstitutional overthrow of Ukraine's government should refocus their energies on learning our own Constitution, which does not allow the U.S. government to overthrow governments overseas or send a billion dollars to bail out Ukraine and its international creditors.

More @ USA Today

Convention of States: Michael Farris and the John Birch Society Square off in Oklahoma

 

If you’re interested in the Convention of States Project and enjoy a good,  old-fashioned debate,  you’re in for a treat.

Convention of States Project director Michael Farris will join Oklahoma State Senator Rob Standridge on March 19 and 20 to debate leaders of the Oklahoma John Birch Society on the efficacy of calling a Convention of States to stop the abuses of Washington,  D.C.

More @ Convention of States

North Dakota tries to woo workers for 25,000 empty jobs

 

North Dakota officials are sending a plea to people across the country: We need you.

The state's unprecedented oil bonanza has made it the economic darling of the nation — boasting a sturdy economy, a state government budget surplus, and its highest population ever, as swarms of people have migrated to North Dakota. But it hasn't been enough, officials say, citing some 25,000 more jobs than takers in all industries in the state.

Hoping to woo workers to fill those jobs, Lt. Gov. Drew Wrigley and the North Dakota Economic Development Foundation on Monday unveiled a "Find the Good Life in North Dakota" campaign at the state Capitol in Bismarck.

"These are exciting times in our state," said Wrigley, who called the lack of an adequate workforce one of "the challenges of prosperity."

More @ MSN

Pro-Russian forces take complete control of Ukraine's Simferopol base

Roundabout via Billy

Ukraine said one of its soldiers was killed in Crimea Tuesday in the first case of bloodshed since Russian troops and pro-Kremlin militia seized the rebel peninsula almost three weeks ago.

"The conflict is shifting from a political to a military stage," Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk told an emergency government meeting.

"Russian soldiers have started shooting at Ukrainian military servicemen, and that is a war crime," he said at the nationally televised session.

He was speaking after President Vladimir Putin signed a treaty claiming Crimea as Russian territory following the Black Sea region's overwhelming vote on Sunday in favour of switching from Ukrainian to Kremlin rule.

Regional defence ministry spokesman Vladislav Seleznyov told AFP the soldier had died after being shot in the neck when a group of gunmen stormed a Ukrainian military base in the northeast of Crimea's main city of Simferopol.

More @ Yahoo

My skin is black. But apparently black skin isn’t black enough.

Via WiscoDave

 

"My skin is black. But apparently black skin isn’t black enough. My jet-black hair is fashioned in locks, but I guess natural black hair is not enough. My lips are full, my nose is wide, my mouth protrudes, and my dress size? Full. But, for some reason, that is not enough! My mother? Black. My father? Black. My children? Black. My husband? Black . . and fine! So, why is my blackness in question?

I will give you a clue. During all the years I voted as a Democrat, I was considered blacker than black. I had been considered a “sista,” down for the struggle. My skin, my hair, my lips . . . black, black, black! My blackness was undeniable!

But, after I realized that I preferred a Republican and Conservative form of government, and began voting as a Republican (denouncing my allegiance to the Democratic Party, the party of the KKK, Jim Crow, and segregation), my blackness came under attack."

 

More @ Minority Reporter