Another criminal mastermind

Stand back, folks. Genius at work.

Pluto mission update

Wow I did not know this. The Pluto mission has a passenger.

New Horizons also contained some of the ashes of Clyde Tombaugh, the astronomer
who discovered Pluto in 1930. His widow, Patricia Tombaugh, was in tears as she
watched the launch from four mile away.

That is very fitting.

NSA ruckus

I have had several run-ins in comment sections about the whole NSA flap. For some reason, just because I won’t take the word of a discredited source like the NYT, they assume I am a right-winger.

Frankly, the media is absurd lately, as I have pointed out in several entries on this still new blog. They are more and more obvious cheerleaders and shills for the Democrats. This is not to say I am enamored of the Republican party, either. That should be clear by now.

That said, here is the rather large Department of Justice legal justification given to congress. So far I have only skimmed it, but one thing jumps out at me. They continually mention foreign intelligence intercepts. They seem to be drawing a very strict line by saying ones originating from known or suspected terrorists to the US or contacts from the US to those same people.

IF this is a true statement, there would appear to be absolutely no harm whatsoever to the average American and I would not object. This is not unreasonable in time of war. Actually, it’s never unreasonable. If you are plotting attacks or even if you know people who are plotting attacks you do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy (my opinion).

At this point, for all the screaming, pimping, posturing and foolishness out there, there appears to be no evidence this program was in any way directed strictly in an internal manner targeting US citizens. None at all. Unless and until there is, then, can we all take a deep breath? The matter is in the courts now. Let’s see what comes out.

Good

It looks like some people will be going to jail over this fiasco.

Good.

Having worked in this field, I deplore any falsification of records. I have even fired someone for doing so on a much less critical thing.

I don’t think most people realize that personnel in the nuclear industry are specifically criminally liable for negligence. There’s a special section in 10CFR50 covering it.

This explains quite a bit

I have noticed a marked decline in the number of people able to read critically and comprehend complex thinking. You can see it every day in comment sections of various blogs. There are a lot of people who appear to be unable to tell when media stories are obviously slanted by using loaded terminology or when opinion pieces are presented as news.

This study goes a long way toward explaining why this is happening.

We really need to do something about the school systems. This is unforgivable.

Hmmm

Ok, So there was a whale story yesterday, another one today. Seems to be a big week for whales.

I’m just guessing here

But it seems this woman just doesn’t grasp the concept of restitution…

One does not steal to repay stolen money. Unless you’re a politician, of course.