- From the “Magic Missile” Department – The EU decided to take a more assertive role in suppression of piracy in the sea near Somalia recently when it conducted air strikes against targets on the coast of Somalia. I can find no reports on the success of the air strikes, but there are reports that there were no casualties. I tip my hat to the pilots and gunners in these airstrikes. To conduct an air raid and not kill anyone is quite an accomplishment. Either the EU has Robin Hood manning the guns on its helicopters and airplanes, the reports are erroneous, or someone warned the target to get their people clear before their base was bombarded. It’s probably just a case of bad reporting, and there actually were some casualties. But the cynic in me believes that it’s quite possible that someone didn’t want pictures of dead bodies on CNN and put out a warning.
- From the “No Kidding?” Department – Human Rights Watch is accusing the Iraqi government of running at least one off-the-books prison. They assert that Iraqi citizens are taken off the streets without judicial overview, thrown into this prison, and tortured. This is my shocked face. Is anyone else surprised that about 15 minutes after the last American truck crossed the Kuwaiti frontier the Iraqis started returning to the tried and true methods used by 3rd world dictators to keep power? Did these naive individuals actually think that once what little influence we had on the day-to-day running of Iraq was over that the government, its rivals, and the Iraqi people would make nice and it would rain rose petals and free soup? Of course the Iraqi government is going to throw people they don’t like into prison and violate their human rights, you dolts. It’s Iraq,not Switzerland. Want western style democracy in a country without the prerequisites for Western style democracy? Then quit whining when Western democracies use their armed forces to force the local fuzzywuzzies into line until they learn how to act like a democracy.
- From the “WTF?” Department – A Panamanian fisherman is suing a cruiseline because, he claims, the crew of one of its ships failed to provide aid to him and his shipmates when they were adrift on the Pacific Ocean. Passengers on the cruiseship maintain that they saw the fishing boat signalling the larger ship and told crewmembers. Several people on the smaller boat subsequently died before the rest of the crew were rescued by Peruvian authorities after several weeks adrift at sea. If the allegations are true, I hope this young man and the rest of the surviving crew take the cruiseline to the financial woodshed over this. Failing to give aid to the stricken is one of those things that just makes my teeth itch.
- From the “This Can’t End Well” Department – Officials in Mississippi are telling drivers to be on the alert after two shootings on the state’s roadways. There are unconfirmed reports that the shooter is posing as a police officer, complete with flashing blue lights, to get people to pull over. The district attorney is advising drivers to turn on their flashers and go to a safe place if pulled over. If you’ve ever been in rural Mississippi, it can be a long way between ‘safe places’. I hope this doesn’t turn into either an excuse to not stop for the police for 30 miles or that a real policeman is hurt because someone he or she stops thinks they’re the imposter.
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News Roundup
Posted by daddybear71 on May 15, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/05/15/news-roundup-116/
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1 Comment
DaddyBear
DaddyBear’s Den 
Old NFO
/ May 15, 2012Yeah, those last two are sad… And I hope that guy ends up OWNING that cruise ship!
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