• From the “Automatic Overreaction” Department – A young boy in California was suspended and was threatened with expulsion from school after he committed the mortal sin of taking a small pocketknife camping.  Apparently an inch and an half of semi-sharpened steel is enough to cause the high pitched keening and shrieking to reach deadly levels in today’s educational system.  Am I the only one who has had a teacher ask to use his knife during class?  Where exactly did we go from days where I could take a .22 rifle to school for show-and-tell to this?  Heck, once I was in Cub Scouts, it was pretty much required that I carry my pocketknife to school on days that I was wearing my uniform.  Am I the only parent who would object if my child was taken to the woods for several days without a pocket knife in case of need or emergency?
• From the “Mayhem in the Mountains” Department – Climbers and sherpas are pointing fingers at each other after a fight broke out between the two groups on the slopes of Mount Everest.  Knowing nothing about the details of this, I will tend to side with the sherpas.  I cannot imagine spending weeks on end with people who are trying to find themselves, talk endlessly about their preparations for the trip, and complain even more about the cold, the air, the food, the tent, and the isolation of climbing the world’s tallest mountain.  “If this yuppie says one more word about how hard he’s worked to get ready for this trip, I’m going to remind him that this is my 15th trip up this year, right before I stuff his North Face parka down his throat.  Wait, did that son of a gun just compare my sister to the family yak?”
• From the “Bolshevik Booze” Department – A distillery in the Czech Republic is selling off its stock of Communist era whisky.  It appears that high-level communist officials wanted something nice and peaty to go with their perogi and paprikash, so they imported Scottish peat and figured out a way to make decent hooch.  The stuff has been sitting in barrels since 1990 and seems to have aged to quite a nice tipple.  Prices are about $60 a bottle, which isn’t bad for a decent bottle of whisky.  I will have to keep my eyes open.
• From the “Thank You Captain Obvious” Department – Gun-control advocates are playing the insensitivity card when decrying a gun giveaway in Nashville.  It appears that they have found a correlation between the contest and the date of gun-control legislation in the Senate.  And people say that the public school system doesn’t produce results.  Listen up, you dolts:  Of course the giveaway was timed to coincide with Senate debate and votes on gun control.  That’s kind of the point, to get people to think about guns when their rights to own guns without further government interference are being bargained over.  Here’s an idea:  Instead of whining to the papers about ‘insensitivity’, why not have a competing event that brings attention to your side of the debate.  Maybe you could raffle off an autographed portrait of Michael Bloomberg.  Or maybe you could have a sock-puppet talent contest.  Hey, how about an anti-gun costume ball, where you can dress up as famous useful idiots in history?  Ask your professors what that term means.  I believe one of your idols came up with it.
• From the “Bring It On” Department – In related news, Michael Bloomberg, mayor of that hive of scum and villainy on the Hudson and noted expert on nutrition, epidemiology, and fascism, has declared that he will be dipping into his own fortune to fund efforts to oust Senators who voted to quash anti-gun legislation.  He claims to want to be a counter to the NRA.  You know what, I wish him luck, but I caution him to bring a lunch to this particular fight so that we’ll have something to eat after we whip his ass.  Here’s an idea for Little Mikey: Why don’t you concentrate on doing your own job instead of trying to impose your will on the rest of us?  I’m sure that New York is a paradise, what with people being pushed onto the subway rails for fun and profit, nightly games of “Let’s outrun the roving gangs of muggers and rapists”, and bi-weekly matches of “Search you, search me” between the NYPD and anyone who isn’t as pale as the driven snow and walks down the sidewalk, but I’m sure that the ‘honorable’ Mayor Bloomberg can find something better to do with his time.  Hey, maybe he can have the laws of his city folded, spindled, and mutiliated so that he can run for office yet again?

I haven’t talked much about the bombing at the Boston marathon and its aftermath.  Honestly, it’s because just about anything I could say would have been a “Me too!” post after better minds and writers took a whack at the subject. But there are a couple of things that I think I can add to the conversation.

I am sickened that refugee immigrants to our nation would do this.   The animals who perpetrated this atrocity were admitted to our country not because we thought they would be a good addition to our culture, but because we took pity upon them and let them come here for their own safety.  Instead of recognizing what a chance they had been given and making the most of it, as the rest of their family did, the two bombers and their parents spat in our faces.  I hope that when the inevitable trial of the surviving bastard happens, the jury hears about the financial, social, and educational assistance he enjoyed and still decided that blowing the limbs off of innocent people was a good thing.

As for what Alan calls the “non-martial martial law” that happened last week in Boston, it looked eerily like what happened in California when the LAPD was looking for a cop killer earlier this year.  I won’t get into the “Would you let the police onto your property to search for someone you know isn’t there?” question, because, again, others have said done a better job than I could in discussing the slippery slope and constitutional issues.  But the repetition of the tactics to catch a killer, tactics which failed  in both cases, was almost eery.  In both situations, it wasn’t the police that discovered the miscreant, rather it was a private citizen who reported the presence of the fugitive to police.

My question about the house-to-house searches, armored vehicles and men with guns in the street, and everything else that happened last Friday is this:  Would the police have done it if it had been one of us who was gunned down or wounded by those two jerks?  The scenario in Boston was that a police officer was killed and others were hurt during what amounted to a meeting engagement with the bombers, and the police pulled out all the stops to find, fix, and… apprehend them.  This parallels Los Angeles again where a madman killed policemen and members of their families, and the police lost their collective minds for a few days.

If, instead of killing an MIT police officer, those bozos had shot and killed an armed citizen who recognized them and tried to stop them, would the city of Boston have been on lock down and an entire district searched?  Would what amounted to a running gun battle have occurred?  Would we even be discussing police tactics at all if police personnel hadn’t been killed or wounded?

As for the bombers’ family, I suggest you listen to Bryan Suits’ latest podcast, where he plays and discusses the ‘news conference’ their mother held the other day.  In it, she decries the United States, cries on cue, and demands to know why the police had to kill her son.  Mr. Suits’ comments about her are spot-on, and I agree with just about everything he says.

There has been some furor over Miranda rights and enemy combatant status for the surviving bomber, and I think I look at it in a different way.  As for interrogation by the police for a small period of time before being read his Miranda rights, so long as the courts do not allow whatever he said to be used as evidence against him, I don’t have a problem with it.  My caveats are that the questioning has to be for a very limited time, has to do with finding out things that will stop further harm to innocents, and should not include ‘enhanced interrogation’ techniques.  You get the guy talking for a few hours to make sure there aren’t other conspirators or bombs scattered around Boston, then you read him is rights and call his lawyer.  I would certainly prefer that video of the interrogation be made available to the public once any prosecution has made its way through the courts, because I think it is vital that the populace knows what is being done in their name.

As for whether or not he should be considered an ‘enemy combatant’, for once I agree with the government on this one.  The guy they caught was an American citizen, albeit an alleged murdering coward child killer of an American citizen.  Even the British soldiers who perpetrated the Boston Massacre got a lawyer and a trial.  I’m not trying to defend what was done, because there is no moral way to defend it, but if we disregard the rights of the most heinous individuals in our midst, it becomes easy for the rights of the law-abiding to be disregarded.  Was what he is accused of doing an act of war?  Possibly, if he received help from outside enemies of the country.  But making an American citizen disappear into the legal limbo of “enemy combatant” status is wrong, no matter who the president happens to be.  Citizens who are accused of crimes committed here and are caught on our soil should be tried in an open court.  My feeling on this may be different for someone who was caught overseas or has proven aid from a foreign enemy.

So there you have it.  While  we work our way through investigations and trials, we must remember those who lost loved ones and were wounded in this attack, as well as those who ran toward the carnage to help.  I refuse to linger on the filth that did this to our people, and I hope that when they are convicted that they rot in obscurity instead of being made into media darlings.

• From the “Can’t Drive 55” Department – Los Angeles has regained the honor of being of the most congested city in the United States, beating out Honolulu.   Los Angeles has been in a rebuilding state since the 2010 driving season, when their star lane blocker, Maria Conchita Neveah Shania Nguyen-Limpopo-Rosenblatt-Al Rashid, was taken out of competition after she lost the wind-up key to her Prius.  It’s good to see that the people of Los Angeles can come together to make their city one of the biggest inconveniences in the country.  Los Angeles, I salute you by staying the heck away from you!
• From the “SkyNet” Department – The Israeli Air Force shot down a drone aircraft of unknown origins today.  Hezbollah, the peaceful organization that represents those who wish to peacefully kill Israelis using peaceful suicide vests, has denied any involvement with the aircraft.  However, the Lebanese terrorist organization has put out a notice on Twitter advising anyone that they will gladly trade one “Get Out Of A Suicide Mission Free” card for knowledge of the whereabouts of their glorious leader’s model airplane.
• From the “Like A Boss” Department – A female U.S. sailor is being hailed after she beat the bejeezus out of a would-be rapist in Dubai.  It seems that the young lady got on a bus while on liberty, the bus driver took her to somewhere secluded, and tried to have his way with her.  Instead of meekly submitting to his demands, she knocked the knife out of his hand, bit him, and crushed the breath out of him using her thighs.  Here’s hoping the miscreant isn’t executed, because it would be more fitting if he were to spend the rest of his life in a Dubai prison with the label of being the guy who got beat up by a woman.
• From the “Not Our Fight” Department – The U.S. Secretary of Defense revealed today that American intelligence agencies believe that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons against Islamic factions in the ongoing Syrian civil war.  Senators McCain (R for Redundant, Arizona) and Feinstein (D for Decrepit, California) have called this a “red-line” event, meaning that the Assad regime has gone too far and that the U.S. and its allies should intervene.  I must point out here that we don’t really have any allies in Syria, we have no real interests in who wins and who loses here, and that we just don’t have a dog in this particular fight.  Now, I’m disgusted by the use of chemical weapons against anyone, and I hope that their use has not included civilian targets, ala Halabja in 1988.  But this isn’t our war, and if anyone should be policing what Arab Muslims do to each other, it should be other Arab Muslims.  Let Saudi Arabia and Egypt get a little skin in the game for once.
• From the “Bondo and Ballpeen” Department – A recent hail storm has damaged 50 helicopters in Afghanistan, which will cause supply issues for units there.  Army aviation officials say that repairs are being given top priority, although they expect that a few of the helicopters will be totalled out by insurance adjusters who have been deployed to assess the damage.  In that event, they hope to be able to take what they get in a settlement and use it to buy some old UH-1  helicopters on the used aviation market until they save up enough to get a newer model.
• From the “Tough Mother” Department – A Pennsylvania woman has gained renown after travelling to Egypt and bringing back her son, who was abducted by her ex-husband several years ago.  The woman dressed up in a scalp-to-ankles covering,  found her ex-husband and son, and waited until an opportunity arose to whisk him away to a safehouse.  The mother reports continued fear that the boy’s father will re-appear and try to take the boy away, but since Pennsylvania is a free state, I hope that she has taken the step of acquiring adequate tools to protect herself and her boy.  She and her son are now adjusting to life back in the United States, and there are reports that her ex has taken a job as a bus driver in Dubai.