From Denny: So much for the cyberattack no one is talking about - yet. Yesterday all communications were down for several hours: internet, cable, TV, cell and even the old school land line here in Louisiana. Yeah, those all powerful NSA gremlins are ever so good at handling cyberattacks - not.
The past two NSA Directors wasted years of development focused upon Stupid - mainly watching and annoying other Americans and American journalists, instead of preparing to defend against cyberattacks from America's real enemies: Russia, China, North Korea and Iran.
Of course, Russia, China, Iran and North Korea are terribly pleased with themselves, believing they accomplished a great feat. Yet, yesterday's attack that caused parts of the U. S. to just shut down for hours anything not essential (read that as people like me) really didn't do much more than annoy the U. S. like a chomping mosquito on your butt.
The reality is that Russia, China, NK and Iran all taxed their resources to bring about that cyberattack. And for what? To register their usual petulance they are not respected and feared as The Great Leaders of the World? Seriously? These countries' leaders spend far too much time watching porn and reading fantasy comic books that they don't realize just how ridiculous they are perceived by the rest of the world.
What should be our response? Counter cyberattacks? Sure, we can do that too. But the reckless behavior of Russia, China, NK and Iran all point to something deeper and darker that must be addressed. If these countries are this annoying while sanctions exist against them, how much worse are they going to become if we are willing to lift any of those sanctions?...
From Denny:Everyone who is fed up with the Middle East Sunni-Shia 1400 Year Idiot Religious War raise their hands. What? The whole world is disgusted with Iran's current Proxy Wars, spreading terrorism across the globe, destabilizing the Middle East? Imagine that. How about "Imagine Peace" for a change.
Well, this initial framework for a nuclear agreement among the U. S., Germany and other countries with Iran goes a long way toward creating a peaceful relationship for the global neighborhood. As it is, if Iran decides to back up on any part of the agreement, their Sunni nation neighbors will also be procuring nukes to balance Iran's aggressiveness...
Volunteers, who have joined the Iraqi Army to fight against the predominantly Sunni militants from the radical Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), gather with their weapons during a parade on the streets in Basra, southeast of Baghdad, June 16, 2014. REUTERS/Essam Al-Sudani
From Denny: While the U.S. Congress rings its collective hands about how to stem the violenceerupting in Iraq, everyone is missing the point. Too many Republican politicians are trying to force a military return to Iraq in order to please their war profiteering defense contractors that support their campaign war chests.
Everyone is shoving bad advice President Obama's way, mostly to support that idiot Shi'ite puppet government that President Bush 43 installed. This is the same Shi'ite government that aligned itself with Iran to be their puppet instead of the U.S. puppet. This same Shi'ite government shut out the Sunni faction from participating in its own government. Is it any surprise the Sunnis went rogue?...
Insane Putin is back to settle the old score with America in a re-do 60 years later before most of us and him were even born. What a moron. He thinks this time Russia will not back down like Russian history erroneously believes Khruschev did with President Kennedy. Actually, Khrushchev did not back down. What Khruschev got was the U. S. missiles removed from Russia's back yard in Turkey as an exchange. Khruschev and Kennedy came to an agreement. Khruschev removed his missiles from the U. S.'s back yard in Cuba. The U. S. removed their missiles from Russia's back yard in Turkey. No one lost; they both won.
Guess all those American retirees in the area of the Nicaraguan base had better return to the U. S. because this is going to be a very messy war with a rapidly imploding Russia and Iran. Canadian and European business investors had better get out of the area of the Cuban base immediately too...
It's bad enough Israel has its long reach tentacles into ourpoorly managed NSA anda stranglehold on our intelligence community, now it's Congress. Enough. Stay out of interfering in our national politics, Israel, before we all give you the bum's rush out of the room permanently. Or, to quote cheeky Stephen Colbert, "You aren't the boss of me!"
Are there a number of problems wooing this new relationship with a vicious regime after 34 years of throwing feces at each other like a room full of gregarious chattering monkeys? Oh, yeah...
Update 7:43 PM CST: Suspect now in custody, alive and in need of medical attention as police calling for a medic. The situation is over. Suspect captured, alive and in custody. His condition to be confirmed. And all of America wants to interrogate this fool. Police are standing down. Update 7:29 PM CST: Suspect still alive. Police using thermal imaging.A police negotiator has been brought in to coax him out.
Update 7:14 PM CST: There is now a fire on the boat. No confirmation yet as to whether the suspect started the fire or if the police assault caused it by sending in so many flash bangs (about 7 or 8) in order to disorient the suspect.
Update 7:10 PM CST: Police moving in and assaulting the boat. They are concerned to determine if there is a full tank of gas, maybe diesel on the boat. You would think when a boat owner parks their boat for the winter they would get rid of the fuel as it will only age during the winter months. The address is 67 Franklin Street, Watertown, MA.
Update 6:52 PM CST: Police scanner reporting that the suspect is still moving and sitting up after hail of police bullets. Ordering the media to move back.
Update 6:47 PM CST: Suddenly a huge round of gun fire shooting that sounds like they peppered the guy and that boat now looks like Swiss cheese. If he is in that boat then he is most likely bleeding out or just plain dead after that hail of bullets. Since he may have a suicide bomb vest on his body the police will not run up to give medical aid. Police are sending in a robot to view his status. Update 6:31 PM CST: Suspect is now surrounded on Franklin Street area. A boat with a tarp in a yard was spotted by an observant neighbor who took notice of blood on the side of the boat and when a ladder was seen on the side of the boat when it did not exist previously. The neighbor tipped police and police have now shut down the area. Police had a helicopter in the air which observed the suspect is still alive and moving. They don't know yet if he has explosives. Police are in the process of evacuating citizens in the neighborhood. Update 6:06 PM CST: Police lifted the travel ban for the Boston public in the past hour. New development: Reports of shots fired in Watertown and hoards of police cars and SWAT teams responding to the gun fire. Has the suspect come out of hiding or someone seen him and tipped police?
Police have someone cornered in the corner of Birch and Walnut Streets, Watertown, MA where the shots were fired. There are about 12 houses in the area. This suspect is now four miles, 1 mile closer, to my relatives, having worked his way in their direction. Still don't know if this is the bombing suspect or someone else.
Reports now of a body and blood found on a boat. Whether the boat is in the water of the Charles River or just a boat parked in a yard where the suspect may have hidden is still to be determined. Police are suiting up with bulletproof vests and don't appear to be hyped up or anxious but rather patiently waiting for information that the suspect is now dead or captured. Looks like they are staging to take care of explosives in the area in case the suspect booby trapped around him.
Update 5:28 PM CST: Police are now saying at a press conference that the public is allowed to go outside but to do so with great vigilance. Police "have not been fruitful in their house to house search" today. "We can't lock down an entire city (1 million people) or state forever." Were officials getting pressure from the business district?
The police are backing up on the belief these two bombings suspects were involved in the 7-11 robbery last night as reported all day. Apparently, the suspects were in the area at the same time when they took the SUV driver hostage and killed the MIT campus police officer.
All afternoon many an expert has been pontificating as to whether these bombing suspects were lone wolves or organized terrorists from Chechnya. No one really knows for sure yet. No one has claimed responsibility other than the two bombing suspects when they bragged to their hostage last night.
Earlier today police believed the remaining suspect may be wounded. It's possible that he is tired, weak from blood loss and lack of sleep, grieving over the loss of his older brother and holed up somewhere in hiding. As a medical student he has enough knowledge to bandage any wounds. If he does not have access to medical supplies then he is prone to infection and fever which can weaken him further. He may even be passed out in his hiding place. Now is the time for police to press forward in their search to locate him while he is very weak and unable to think clearly.
Is he hiding in an abandoned house, commercial building or apartment? Did he have a "safe house" ready in case he needed it? Have the officials taken a look at who purchased the 110 Norfolk Street house on 18 January 2013 to see if they also purchased any other properties in the area in the past year since the older brother returned from Russia in July 2012? Is there a connection, and, if so, maybe they can locate a property to where this suspect may flee?
Update 12:17 PM CST: One bomb was found this morning in Charles Gate and safely disarmed. No information yet as to whether that bomb was placed some time ago or from last night after the police chase.
Also, the now dead suspect, Tamerlan, was found to have traveled out of the country to Moscow, Russia, last year in January, returning in July 2012. He was out of sight for six months. Was he radicalized on that trip? Or was he already radicalized for some time and finally financed and then activated last year? I'm sure the FBI is looking at the money trail and their financials some time ago to learn more.
Update 11:39 AM CST: News conference about terrorist manhunt - with Gov. Patrick and Mayor Menino still advising residents to remain indoors, sheltering in place. They did not take questions and thanked the public for helping with this manhunt.
Officials say the manhunt is still in process, having already covered about 60 percent of the area in a house to house search. On Norfolk Street they will do a controlled explosion of that house as a precaution for explosives and want residents to be aware of what they are doing.
Update 11:06 AM CST: Media not naming last night's hostage as he was hapless victim and not important to the investigation. Might I add I'm very pleased there is not reckless reporting from many corners? There is no need to name the hostage as all it would do is draw the yellow journalism press to his door. He's been stressed enough from a carjacking and hostage situation.
Oh, by the way, it was reported that police may have blown up that man's Mercedes black SUV used in the robbery getaway as it contained explosives. So, some guy was on his way somewhere last night, gets car jacked, held hostage and now 12 hours later when police finally locate his Mercedes SUV it gets blown up. What an experience to tell the grand kids some day. Can you imagine trying to tell your auto insurance company this fantastic story?
Ruslan Tsarni, uncle to Boston Marathon bomber suspects, interviewed outside his home.
Update 10:27 AM CST: Boston marathon bombers' uncle, Ruslan Tsarni, currently in interview with reporters is agitated, angry, ashamed and frustrated with the situation. Tsarni states he has not spoken to nephews since 2009 and separated his family from the bombers as he considered them "losers" (especially now for choosing such violent acts as terrorist bombings and killings). Tsarni is angry his nephews have brought shame upon his family and the ethnicity of Chechnyans.
He is advising his nephew, "if still alive, to turn himself in and ask forgiveness." Hopefully, his plea will reach the ears of his nephew and it will bring this situation to a peaceful conclusion.
Update 10:17 AM CST: Russia has offered their condolences to America.
Update 10:04 AM CST: The situation looks to reporters like the police may have surrounded the suspect and are in the process of trying to negotiate with him in order to take him alive. He's lucky police are willing to offer him that option and he should take it.
What officials are also concerned about is whether other places in the city may be booby trapped so to cause concern even after his capture. What has this suspect been doing since last night's robbery when he disappeared from view? Was he busy planting bombs across the city or just looking to hide?
Update 9:56 AM CST: Police moving back the media, telling them to crouch down, to an area outside the inner perimeter of a possible weapon range from the suspect. A person was seen by an NBC News reporter, not moving, on the ground, handcuffed by police. No verification as to who that person might be, whether the actual suspect or some fool that blundered into the area.
Snipers have now taken up positions though are not in immediate aiming mode. Update 9:45 AM CST: Uncle's home of the bombing suspects is currently secured. The uncle has been in America for about five to seven years. Did this guy radicalize his nephews or is he clueless as to what set off his nephews for this bombing and killing spree? What would make a medical student suddenly decide to start killing? Update 9:24 AM CST: It's now coming out from the hostage taken last night when his black Mercedes SUV was hijacked by the bombing suspects at the 7-11 robbery, that the suspects clearly identified themselves as the Boston Marathon bombing suspects. They admitted to the terror bombings and killing a police officer. They used the hostage's debit card to withdraw $800 last night and then turned him loose later. Was he released unharmed as a way to get out part of their message that they were bragging they were the marathon bombers?
Police negotiators want to take him alive, offering him a platform to get out his message to the public.
Update 9:01 AM CST: MIT campus police officer killed last night in the 7-11 robbery by the terror suspect last night is identified as Sean Collier, age 26.
Also, police stopped an Amtrak train bound from Boston to New York City and a suspect taken into custody.
Also, the suspects taken at the address of 110 Norfolk St. may not have been arrested but were taken in handcuffs and may only be questioned. Their status not completely clear as police close in while investigating all angles of this case. These new suspects may be family members that were living with the bombing suspects.
Update 8:26 AM CST: Father of the suspects is Anzor Tsarnaev who is now residing in Makhachkala, Russia. He spoke on the phone with the Associated Press today after learning of his older son's death (Tamerlan).
The father advised that his younger son Dzhohkar is "a smart and accomplished young man." The father also added, "My son is a true angel. He is a second-year medical student in the U.S. He is an intelligent boy and we expect him to come home on the holidays here."
Guess that quote answered my question as to who exactly radicalized his own son. What an idiot. He sends his sons to do his dirty work while he stays safe in Russia. Someone get on the phone with Putin to go arrest this creep and give us extradition.
Update 8:20 AM CST: Father of the suspects is purported to be an ex-police officer or judge from Chechnya or Kyrgyzstan. Two brothers believed to be permanent legal residents since 2002 or 2003.
A no-fly zone initiated over entire area of Boston for the past hour.
Update 7:41 AM CST: An uncle of the suspects confirmed the names of the suspects as Tamerlan (Who Is Tamerlan Tsarnaev?), a former boxer who is now dead, and Dzhohkar Tsarnaev, a former wrestler and now at large, armed and dangerous as the entire city of Boston remains on lock down.
Police are reporting they have an accurate location on the second armed suspect. Police have a third and now fourth suspects taken into custody at 110 Norfolk Street where the two brothers lived. What may be of interest is that this house sold quite recently on 18 Jan 2013.
Did a sleeper/active terrorist cell buy this house? This would be an easy way for renting out to people who want to avoid detection from Homeland Security checks if a terrorist cell owns the housing situation in the first place. Possibly something to look into in order to nail down a timeline and others involved. Turns out this terrorist house is just 5 miles from my relatives' house. Creepy. Dzhohkar A. Tsarnaev may be closer or farther away from his home as he tries to evade officials.
Update 7:28 AM CST: If you live in the search areas of Boston - Cambridge and Watertown - be advised to take more precautions than sheltering in place. Stay away from windows. Pull your mattresses off your beds and use them to shield windows near the street in the event of gun fire or bomb blasts. Find a place in your home without windows or doors and is not an outside wall like you do for safety from hurricanes and tornadoes.
Take account of what you can use as makeshift weaponry in your home - like well-sharpened gourmet kitchen knives that you could use to hurl at him if you are the unlucky guy's house he might burst into for shelter. This terrorist may be in possession of more explosives to hurl in a neighborhood. He is on the run and is capable of anything. He might be wounded or out of ammunition for his guns; no one knows that status yet.
Update 6:59 AM CST: Believed these brothers and their parents may have come to the United States as early as 2003. The older brother, now dead, was born in Russia. The younger brother, at large, was born in Kyrgyzstan. There is some confusion on those birth facts as they both may have been born in Kyrgyzstan and were refugees from Chechnya.
One thing is for sure, once this situation is done, here's the real question: Were these two brothers radicalized before or after arriving in America? If after arriving here then there is some serious investigation to be done to find their enabler "friends."
You know their parents and family members recognized them on the FBI video yesterday. Did they call the FBI to identify them? Are the parents responsible for radicalizing their children?
In a tribute to the city of Boston and the resilience of their people after the Boston Marathon terror bombing.
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2 funny video clips, lots of hilarious photo memes and great jokes! From Denny: How the comedy fun just keeps rockin' on! These guys just don't give up. They create the funniest news commentary in America. OK, some of it is borderline tasteful but then you wouldn't be checking out this post if that mattered. These jokes and video clips are just from the month of March 2013. Yes, these comics are prolific and it takes a good week to round up the jokes and a few of the best clips. If you have some additional comedy clips you really enjoyed, and want others to know about, just leave the urls in the comment box, and, thanks! Last month the world viewed the installation of a new Pope after Pope Benedict resigned, the first to give up the job in almost 700 years. This new Pope already did tremendous church reform in Argentina. The entire world is holding their breath to see if Pope Francis, a Jesuit, has the nerve and ability to reform the entire Catholic Church. While he is figuring it out hopefully he will not get poisoned by the infamous Curia Creeps who managed to kill off a number of popes over the centuries. Meanwhile, the polls are in agreement Pope Francis is a pretty cool and humble guy, something the church has needed for a very long time: a breath of fresh air. Of course, the comics had a field day with the awkward situation of a living former Pope and the newly installed Pope in the same timeline. Because there was so much global media coverage about the process to figure out how to elect a new Pope while the other guy was still alive there are a multitude of jokes about that process - true and imaginary. You know how comics roll, they have imaginary friends even as adults, so expect the unexpected. There are a truck load of gay marriage jokes. Every politician is suddenly wanting to get in on the act of agreeing gay marriage is fine to do now after they lost the culture war. They all have an eye on running for President in 2016 and the country has shifted its views on gay marriage. Most people "get it" that you don't deny other Americans their civil rights whether you agree with their lifestyle or not. "Just Chill" is the new word, especially among Millennial Americans who don't see what all the Baby Boomer fuss is about in the first place. If they could they would tell their grandparents two words: Grow Up! And, oh, the hilarious copious political jokes - for which I live to collect. You will never experience a sad day in your life again if you bookmark any of these joke posts on any of my many blogs. In fact, the reason I started collecting so many funny quotes and crazy political jokes highlighting absurd human behavior, was to help de-stress my fellow Americans in a down economy and chaotic job loss environment! I guess this is where I should list the various blogs where I've parked more comedy and funny video clips for the past four years, especially of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert: Dennys Funny Quotes The Social Poets Ouch Outrageous Obnoxious And Odd Dennys News
* * * Please support Warriors Pearl Foundation - contributing to fund efforts to help homeless female military veterans come home. Visit Denny Lyon Gifts @ CafePress.com - see what's new! And a special thanks to those of you supporting this effort! You rock!
From Denny: The Iranian version of Chicken Little is running around screaming that their government systems were targeted again by the West. Read that as "It's America's and Israel's fault. We have been wronged by the Big Bad Bullies of the West."
Iran claims it is the Stars Virus, sent by vicious Western cyberattackers, has infected their computer systems. As usual for this clownish regime, they have not verified any of this to be true - other than the infection.
From Gholam Reza Jalali, who heads the Iranian military unit in charge of combating sabotage: "The Stars virus has been presented to the laboratory but is still being investigated. No definite and final conclusions have been reached."
At present there is no evidence this recent attack on Iran's state systems is on the same level as the Stuxnet worm that compromised their nuclear program within the past eight months. From Orla Cox, who is the security operations manager at a Symantec response center of internet security specialists: "I think it is likely that they were the victim of some sort of infection but it is likely not something special."
Not much is known about the Stars virus in this Iranian situation except that it was trying to disguise itself as legitimate government files.
About the Stars virus from Govind Ramamurthy, MD and CEO, e Scan labs: "We have been recently witnessing a spike in the spread of infection using a new vulnerability in Adobe Acrobat PDF files that has not yet been patched. This scenario combined with reports available on the worm till now makes us think that the Stars Virus uses root-kit techniques and spreads using the vulnerability in files such as PDF via email."
Not familiar with the Stuxnet worm? It's considered one sophisticated cyberweapon that can take over the control systems of industrial sites like power plants. . The word is it was designed by American and Israeli specialists though no one has claimed ownership. The Stuxnet worm infected many systems outside Iran as well. But the real prize is how it infected Iran's uranium enrichment facilities at its Natanz nuclear plant affecting a number of centrifuges - a key component to produce nuclear fuel . Mission accomplished.
Of course, that sent Iran into a lather, spouting off the usual rhetoric about how everything is America's fault in a feeble attempt to play to domestic politics. They still don't get it. The Arab League probably paid for it. No one likes the crazy bully in the neighborhood. The whole world got together over coffee and talked about ways to deal with the fools living nearby who refuse to comply with common sense, sanity and decency.
* * * Please support Warriors Pearl Foundation - helping homeless female military veterans come home. Visit Denny Lyon Gifts @ CafePress.com - - see what's new! (yes, my new charity - why stand on the sidelines when you can actively do something about a problem?)
* Check out Dennys News Politics Comedy Science Arts & Food - a place where all my other 20 blogs link so you can choose from among the latest posts all in one place. A free to read online newspaper from independent journalist blogger Denny Lyon. *
*** THANKS for visiting, feel welcome to drop a comment or opinion, enjoy bookmarking this post on your favorite social site, a big shout out to awesome current subscribers – and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email updates!
*** Come by for a visit and check out my other blogs:
From Denny: America is definitely in the mood to shoot themselves some politicians, figuratively speaking. Voter anger has shut off the drug drip from the lobbyists to long time puppet politicians. Of course, the million dollar question, literally figured in kickbacks and payoffs, is whether the new group of fresh politicians will end up in the wallets of Big Business interests just like the last batch.
One fresh face just elected in his GOP primary in Kentucky is Rand Paul. This guy is already in the pockets of as many Big Business interests as he can find it seems. Already he has spoken against the Civil Rights Act of 1964 - what a piggy racist - because he is crying the blues of all the tough high hurdles Big Business has to do to employ minorities - or women for that matter. You know, that pesky annoying mosquito in the room called ethics in business.
Then Paul goes on to insult everyone on the entire Gulf Coast with crying the blues and pleading the case for BP and how they should not be blamed. This guy would be wise to withdraw from the Senate race before someone takes it into their own hands to tar and feather the guy and run him out of the country. He is truly a case of "Stupid is as Stupid does."
Politics, the Supreme Court, lobbyists and their handlers Big Business - all crazy human behavior and never a dull moment! :)
From Denny: Health care reform passed - but what did we actually get for all the effort? The Republicans demanded everything, gave nothing and none voted for the bill. It isn't until 2014 that everything is phased in like insurance companies cannot deny coverage for pre-existing conditions. So, what are people supposed to do meanwhile for the next four years? There is a lot that stinks about this bill. There will be fines for those refusing to sign up for coverage yet there is no public option cost effective competing plan to hold the line against the insurance industry.
What this is looking like is that the insurance companies have structured the next four years as a way to collect gargantuan amounts of money to pay for the folks with pre-existing conditions when the companies are forced to accept them by 2014.
Fortunately, when next Congress meets they will be merging the House and Senate bills where some magic might happen: there are those proponents who will be pushing to reinstate the public option.
Tiger Woods is still in the news as far as the cartoonists are concerned and the New Year cartoons are beginning to pop up too! :)
