IRAN: STOP TALKING AND WE'll GO BACK TO SMOOTH-BORE MUSKETS; KERRY REFUSES-BBC

April Fools! Ha-ha. Did I get ya? Ha? No? frowny face.

Nigeria.

Hey. Sincere, really, tip of the hat to President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria for conceding defeat today and congratulating president-elect Muhammadu Buhari. This is a first...Yes, the first peaceful, uncontested transition in Nigeria's short independent life, yada, yada...No, I meant the first sincere thing written about Goodluck here.

You're welcome.

"Iran nuclear talks deadline extended."-BBC

The US state department said that "enough progress" had been made to merit working through a midnight (22:00 GMT) deadline.


Lolol.


Public Occurrences has been able to obtain an **EXCLUSIVE** copy of the draft agreement for this "political framework" and reprint the entirety of it immediately below:

The two National Security Agency employees suspected of being out of uniform earlier this week have been identified as Special Agent Ricky Shawatza Hall, here wearing Rebecca Minkoff's trademark orange,

and Special Agent Kevin Lamont Fleming. Special Agent Hall died in the line of duty.

Badluck Goodluck.

Goodluck Jonathan, president of Nigeria, proud home of Boko Haram, has lost his bid for reelection. :( Unless Florida election officials are doing the counting. The new president will, should, be Muhammadu Buhari, the former military dictator who Jonathan had the good luck to defeat in 2011. 

"Toughest Issues in Iran Nuclear Talks May Be Deferred."-New York Times.

Lol.

Folks, this is just the "political framework" they are talking about now. The full deal deadline isn't until June. The political framework was carved off to make it easier to reach agreement on something; they can't even agree on that! The Obamas are determined to get something out of this, they are not going to let 18 months of negotiating go by and come away empty handed. That is a WRONG reason to agree, it is a wrong way to negotiate.This political framework was only expected to be 2-3 pages long! If they defer issues, it may be a sentence.

"Pair who tried to ram NSA gate may have been partying earlier, under influence of drugs."-Fox News.

Howja like to be the family of those guys? "How'd your son die?" "He went to a party, got wasted, put on a dress, drove through a gate at National Security Agency headquarters and got shot." "Mine too!"

Been a lot of very inn-teresting people making headlines this week.

"Don't know nothin' 'bout history."

You're ignorant, boy. Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

NO!

Then why study history? Ignorance is bliss. You're ignorant, boy.

We can learn something from history. We don't have to be ignorant determinists--You are DOOMED to repeat.--to learn from history. Wouldn't we be equally likely to repeat history's successes if we were ignorant?

No, there is some value to learning. Our forefathers were quite as stupid and as intelligent as are we, we can study their lives and times and try not to repeat their mistakes, and to profit from their successes.

But isn't the state of the art that the universe is random, that there is no master watchmaker who wound the whole thing up and let it run, much less a Director? Isn't the teaching of Darwin that our, homo sapiens, triumph was a close thing that could have gone either way for a little while early on?

Yes to those questions.

If it was all random then why would we study history?

It was not all random.

It was contingent. Meteors hit, stuff like that. If the Big Meteor hadn't hit the dinosaurs would have survived. We survived because we had brains of sufficient power to recognize, "Hey, it's getting cold isn't it? Time to move to Florida."

Our brains were a random evolutionary endowment BUT THAT IS THE REASON WE TRIUMPHED. Nested within randomness and contingency is determinism. It is not randomness and contingency all the way down, or UP. So that is why we study history. Our brains permit us to; they also permit us to learn from history, including from Darwin.

"Most attempts to explain southern defeat or northern victory lack the dimension of contingency--the recognition that at numerous critical points during the war things might have gone together differently."
-James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom (1988).

State of the art! No. That is "Darwinian determinism." Obviously, things "might" have gone differently in McPherson's "four major turning points." Things "might" have gone differently if that meteor hadn't hit; if homo sapiens hadn't had the biggest brains; if Hitler hadn't opened an Eastern front. Why did things go as they did? Of course it is too simplistic to say this factor determined the outcome of the war: the bigger brains (higher literacy) of the U.S. population or greater U.S. resources, or greater manpower, or, or, or. Nobody with a brain argues that. But neither is it contingency all the way down. The war lasted four years for reasons, it ended in U.S. triumph for reasons, among them the aforementioned, it didn't last four years randomly, just a roll of the dice, and it didn't end with U.S. victory randomly. McPherson's four major turning points turned for reasons, not randomly.

Sheesh. Professor McPherson spent 857 pages for that, for contingency? No. That's a waste of timber. He has been studying and teaching history for fifty-two years for that, for "it's contingency all the way down." No sir, that is an insult to brains.

For Google search term "NSA crossdresser," the first 11 images of real people:

You're telling me that's a crossdresser.

How do guys get...those?

NSA, that is pathetic. C'mon.

Omg. What do you guys do right?

Better. Advice: don't use actual paint on the hair.

Umm...No.

Mama Cass? Chris Christie?

She'll do. How much?

The 133rd Pennsylvania Volunteers Regiment at Fredericksburg.

Company F of the 133rd Regiment is formed - Daniel L Klennelsee

https://familysearch.org/photos/stories/12545958
Two weeks ago a meeting was held in Ebensburg, to raise a company to go forth in defence of the rights most dear to Northern freemen. You recollect the proceedings of that meeting - thirteen men then and there signed the muster-roll of Capt. John M. Jones' company. Well, patriotic young men flocked to the standard of the Union, and in one week a full company was ready to enter the service of Uncle Sam. On last Tuesday, we organized, were sworn into the service of the Federal Government, and elected our commissioned officers. The next morning, at half past five o'clock, amid the adieux and God-speeds of friends, we left the Mountain Village for the term of nine months.

At every station along our journey, we were welcomed with hearty hurrahs by the men and the waving of handkerchiefs by the ladies. At one of the stations, a beautiful bouquet was thrown in at the car window, which your correspondent had the good fortune to secure. Thanks to the fair donor, and may her pathway thro' life be sweet and pleasant as the fragrance of her floral offering!

On entering the station of Mexico, such an assemblage of bright eyes, fair cheeks and rosy lips greeted us that many of the boys imagined they had, by some mistake, taken the back-track and were again in Ebensburg!

At two o'clock, we arrived at Harrisburg depot. From thence we marched to the Pennsylvania House, where we partook of dinner; after which we marched to camp. The same evening we received our tents and one day's rations, but nothing else, so the first nights sleep in camp for the greater portion of us was upon the hard ground. Ground, I say, and not soft green grass, for recollect, there is very little in this camp except soldiers, tents and - dust. This latter article, moreover, is a friend that sticketh considerably closer than a poor relation! Let us all petition for a rain - a great, rousing rain - which shall settle the dust of Camp Curtin, and thereby cause the hearts of the soldiers to rejoice.

The rations we receive are excellent, and it is only a want of proper knowledge to prepare them that would render them unpalatable to any one. The boys are anxious to receive their clothing and arms, and learn what it is to be a real soldier. Thus far we have received by way of clothing only overcoats and blankets, but will get the remainder ere long.

The following is the muster-roll of the company - to which no name has yet been given, although we generally go by the title of "Cambria Guards No. 2"

Captain: John M Jones

Lieutenants:

1st, Wm A Scott

2d, F M Flanagan


Sergeants:

1st, James J Will

2d, J O Brookbank

3d, Nathan Bracken

4th, John N Evans

5th, John O Evans


Corporals:

1st, Samuel W Davis

2d, Nathan Sanders

3d, Meshac Thomas

4th, J M Thompson

5th, V S Barker

6th, H J Humphreys

7th, J F Stearls

8th, Peter Urban


Musician: Andrew J Litzinger

Teamster: John J Griffith


Privates:

Aerhart Peter

Bennet Richard J

Berkey George W

Broombaugh John

Burns Patrick A

Blanchard Melville G

Burns Patrick

Conrad Stephen

Carland Henry

Davis William A

Devcraux Thomas T

Deveraux Robert

Evans Hosea J

Evans William M

Evans Andrew E

Evans Thomas J

Evans Hugh E

Evans Elbridge G

Evans David I

Edwards Lewis R

Edelblute James M

Fronk Cyrus H

Fox John

Gibson Wm D

Gallagher Wilson

Hughes John W

Howell Wm W

Horn Henry P

Humphreys Edward J

Jones Richard M

Jones Alexander

Jones Edward Jr

Jones John M

Jones Wm W

Jones Milton

Jones Evan E

Keith Levi

Keith Peter

Kinsel Joseph

Krize Valentine W

Kimball John

Klennelsee Daniel L

Long Daniel

Lewis David D

Longwell James M

Lamer Samual

M'Closkey Ben T G

M'Munnigle Lawrence

M'Dowell Richard B

Mack Joseph

Makin Wm

Michael Evan J

Morgan David

Moore Levi

Melhorn Peter

Miller Joseph

Pryee David D

Powell Daniel

Parker Joseph W

Patterson Edward

Roberts Edwin E

Singer Robert H

Severance Levi

Severance Albion A

Snyder Tobias

Snyder Lewis

Shinefelt Christian

Shoffner Martin

Sutton Francis A

Stiles Elbridge

Thomas David

Thompson John A

Tibbot Wm R

Whitehead James W

Weakland Demetrius

Wiggins John F

Waugeman Robt E B




Yours, &c, CAMBRIAN
"From Our Volunteers", The Alleghanian. (Ebensburg, Pa.), 21 Aug. 1862. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.

-Updated March 30, 2015.

On September 22, 1862 Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.

At the beginning of the Civil War Lincoln had cast the cause as one for Union, not for abolition. Famously he had written that he would free none, some, or all of the slaves, whichever would best keep the United States intact. His thinking had evolved and in the summer of 1862 he had made up his mind to abolish slavery entirely.* All he had been waiting for, he told his cabinet, was a victory that would drive C.S.A. troops out of Maryland. That was Antietam.

Lincoln’s decision was unpopular in virtually all corners.

In the week after the announcement there were more desertions from the Unites States army than there were new enlistments. In the Confederate States of America enlistment increased.

Outside some units from New England, freeing the slaves was a rare motivation for a young man to volunteer his service to the U.S. during the Civil War. "John Brown’s Body" was motivational but John Brown’s body was not. Money, glamour, and nationalism were far greater spurs.

Like others, the men of the 133^rd Pennsylvania got offered a “bounty” to join up, a one-time lump sum payment that took the full meaning of “volunteer” out of volunteer. The excitement of the soldier’s life wore off quickly with the rigors of march, the ennui of camp, the rampant disease, and the submission to authority. The men of the 133rd were farmers for the most part. Self-reliance has always been an American trait; it was more so for the citizens of the United States who never had slaves to serve them. They weren't easily to be made servile to others, either.

Contact with white residents in the C.S.A. generally increased the U.S. soldier’s loathing of their enemy, but contact with the slaves evoked a mixed bag of feelings. Some thought slavery not the unmitigated evil they had imagined when they saw the slaves in person. Others were deeply moved by the acts of cruelty that they observed and their effects, for example the backs of slaves criss-crossed with the scars and keloids from prior lashings. Still others engaged in like acts of cruelty against the slaves. The racism that was at the root of slavery was largely seconded by the feelings of U.S. soldiers, if they still thought the peculiar institution unsavory.

Nathan, and Richard** had probably never heard a southern accent before the war; they almost certainly had never seen a black person. The Confederate States of America were in every way another country to them.

The climate and vegetation of northern Virginia, the 133^rd’s first stop in the C.S.A. at Manassas, was not much different from what the men were used to. The people though were very different. Repeatedly in letters home U.S. soldiers commented on the state of things in the Confederacy. And they were shocked: The people were coarse, poor, and uneducated and the contrast with the more prosperous, more literate people of the U.S.A. was stark, as in this letter from a U.S. private:

The Cuntry hear is the hardest plase that I ever Sea Wea Do Not Sea a Scool house near in one hundred Mills and you ask a man if they Go to Meaten they Say they Don’t know What It is there aint one in 20 that Can tell one Leter from a Nother and every thing els in CordenCee with thear Lurnen.

Like sophistication in the 133rd’s case was a product of self-education in the lessons of life. They were the “Mountain Guards,” educated in and graduated cum laude from the elite incubus of western Pennsylvania. Any corner roughness missed by this finishing school was smoothed away by the U.S. army.

It will be recalled that the Mountain Guards came to penetrate deepest darkest northern Virginia from Paris-on-the-Potomac. Washington acquainted the boys with another form of human existence as alien to them as the Confederacy: a city. This was more to their liking.

“Oil of Gladness.”

“Nockum stiff.”

“How come you so.”

Alcohol had replaced water in Washington.

*This is an abridged version of the E.P. The September 22 order freed the slaves then being held in C.S.A. states if those states did not return to the union by January 1, 1863. On January 1, Lincoln signed a second order freeing slaves held in ten C.S.A. states, but not border states like Maryland.

**I exclude Francis here on the assumption that he was an Irish immigrant and would have been exposed to a more heterogeneous body of humanity.

to be continued.

Transvestites at the Gate Try to Penetrate.

Two men dressed as women attempted to “penetrate” the entry point with their vehicle when a shootout occurred, officials said. (Quotation marks in original.)

http://abcnews.go.com/US/injured-nsa-headquarters-fort-meade/story?id=30006657

-ABC News.

Infamous Forces: Transvestites Invade NSA...Unsuccessfully.

Hi.

Two cross-dressed men who tried to ram the main gate Monday morning to enter the National Security Agency headquarters at Fort Meade were shot by NSA police, authorities told ABC7 News.

Officials said one of the men was killed and the other seriously wounded with life-threatening injuries in the gate-crashing at the facility.

http://www.wjla.com/articles/2015/03/police-investigating-reports-of-a-shooting-at-nsa-112743.html

One Dead at NSA Gate.

A car with two people in it crashed a gate at NSA headquarters, Fort Meade, Maryland. The gate keepers opened fire and killed one. 

Andreas Gunter Lubitz

“A few years ago, the co-pilot had been in psychotherapeutic treatment with noted suicide risk over a long period of time before he gained his pilot license,” Düsseldorf prosecutor Ralf Herrenbrück said in a statement. “In the ensuing period and up until now, further visits to the doctors that resulted in excuses from work took place without suicide risk or aggression against third parties.”

...

The medical documents seized in the course of the investigation showed no evidence that Mr. Lubitz was suffering from any physical ailments.

     -Wall Street Journal.

No Iran Nukes Deal.

That is both a statement of fact, it didn't get done today, and a preference that it doesn't. This is just the "political" framework, the 2-3 page thing, not the deal-deal, they have until June on the deal-deal. Iran took one step back today. It had agreed previously to ship its existing enriched uranium to Russia. Today it said its enriched uranium isn't leaving Iran. The New York Times then said this:

"The disclosure also adds a new element to the growing debate over whether the proposed agreement would meet President Obama’s oft-stated assurance that the world would have at least a year’s warning if Iran raced for a bomb — what experts call “breakout time.”

That has been Obama's oft-stated position, to which I say: that is a pretty generous red line to throw before Iran. Remember when Obama gave that UN speech, that was the most forceful foreign policy speech I had ever heard him give. I'd a been scared if I was an Iranian listening to that. "Make no mistake, a nuclear Iran could not be contained." "Red line!" Iran must not acquire nuclear weapons, remember that? And that was after we and the Israelis had used stuxnet to rattle their accelerator or whatever its called, the thing that spins the centrifuges, and damaged some of their centrifuges. That was brilliant!

Anyway, Obama has gone from that to assuring us, the world, that with this deal we, the world, will have "at least a year" to re-stuxnet them or something before they get a bomb. That's a fer piece of walking back from his anger ledge Obama has done! It really is; now our bottom line for an agreement, you can't call it a red line, it's yellow-green, it's a chartreuse line, is a whole long way from Obama's UN speech.

Stuff happened, Obama says. Iran elected a moderate. Obama sent a hand-written letter to the Ayatollah. They swapped letters, I think, maybe they swapped bodily fluids I don't know but there was personal contact, maybe some warm personal contact, I doubt it but maybe but Obama saw the new moderate leader as significant, very significant and he immediately reached out. PAUSE: He reached out to IRAN. Maybe has a personal relationship there. With Iran. The guy doesn't have a personal relationship with Mitch McConnell, he reached out to establish one with IRAN. UNPAUSE. Are these 18 months he's had Kerry talking a sign that Obama's out-reach worked? Ooh.

The other thing that happened was that Obama got elected again. He's on the clock. Only two years left. F.p. accomplishments for his "legacy:" the climate deal with China? Sure hasn't established a personal relationship with Putin, hoo-doggie. Nor with Merkel, Rousseff. Nor with Harper. Of CANADA. Ouch. Maybe he's got a love thing going on with Raul Castro. That's about it.

Obama knows this. Legacy's a little LIGHT in f.p. Gotta have a legacy in f.p. Don't have a relationship with Netanyahu, can't get Israel-Palestine settled. What to do, what to do.

Obama is also fighting aganst a legacy. His father went back to Kenya all broke out with idealism and failed, stymied by the bureaucracy. He died frustrated and embittered. His father's son didn't want that to happen to him, thus pragmatism.

I hope this Iran deal doesn't get done, if necessary, I hope Iran sticks to its guns and torpedos it. A legacy, fighting for one or against your father's, are not good reasons to do this nuclear deal with IRAN.

"We have a certain number of elements which allow us to make progress on this lead, which is a serious lead but which can't be the only one," police chief Jean-Pierre Michel told AFP in the western German city of Duesseldorf.

The investigation so far has not turned up a "particular element" in the life of co-pilot Andreas Lubitz which could explain his alleged action in the ill-fated Airbus plane, he added.

-Agence France Presse.

Yeah. I can see Jean-Pierre's point. Wouldn't want to "rush to judgment" with a lunatic. Can't be the only lead, huh Jean-Pierre? 

Have you talked to "Maria," peut etre? No "particular element" about Tomato that really grabs Jean-Pierre. Okay, buddy, well you keep pluggin' away while you begin your new assignment writing parking tickets in Martinique.

Man, I feel bad for the Tomato's parents. I looked up his father, Gunter Lubitz, he's an executive with a manufacturing firm. There was a photo. He looks like the nicest man. Now he has to live the rest of his life as Lubitz, the father of Andreas Lubitz, Mass Murderer. 

The nuclear agreement with Iran may get done by Sunday. It has been 18 months in negotiation. Know how long it is? 2-3 pages.

At 500 words per single-spaced page, 2 1/2 pages=1250 words. 18 months=540 days=12,960 hours.

That's 10.3 hours per word.

Randy Andy.

The Tomato was seeing doctors for a "vision problem" that may have been "psychosomatic." Speaking for Lufthansa Hans Schultz told the media, "I know nothink. NOTHINK!"

"Tomato Andi."

Wearing a trendy striped scarf, bronzed and posing nonchalantly in front of the Golden Gate Bridge, Andreas Lubitz looks more like a male model in a Lufthansa “Fly with us to San Francisco” advert than the aviation company’s mass-murdering co-pilot.
...

When Lubitz applied to Lufthansa in 2007, he first worked as a cabin steward, a highly unusual choice for a would-be pilot. His time in that role was to earn him the bizarre nickname “Tomato Andi” from pilot colleagues.
...
It was suggested to The Independent that “Tomato Andi” was a joke gay term used to describe someone who repressed their homosexuality, a tomato being commonly referred to as a vegetable despite being a fruit.
-The Independent.

If you don't swing, don't ring.

Airbus crash pilot Andreas Lubitz had been planning a spectacular gesture ["Spectacular gesture," that's a lead! GOOD lead, "spectacular gesture."] to make everyone "remember" [WELL! WELL! WELL!] who he was, it was claimed on Friday night.

An ex-girlfriend of the Germanwings pilot who crashed his plane in the French Alps, killing all 149 others on board, described him as "tormented" and able to hide secrets.

Maria, 26 (not her real name), told Bild newspaper that when she heard about the crash she remembered that he had said he was going do something "that would change the system" and "make everyone remember" him.

She added: "It didn't make sense at the time but now it all does."

Maria, who is thought to have met Lubitz at work, said he would wake up at night screaming in terror: "We're going down."

-Telegraph.

STOP. Thank you, Maria! Enough. I'm "READY TO RULE!" Lufty, come here. Lufty, that deep search for legal meaning in "unfit to work," yada yada, that's all bullshit now. Lufty, this is the situation, you have the following situation on your hands: You had a guy with tweety birds flying around in his head flying an Airbus, okay? You are FUCK-ED.

Excus-ed.

Mr. Lubitz had been excused from work by his treating psychiatrist for a period that included the day of the crash, this person told The Wall Street Journal, but decided to ignore the advice and reported to work.
-Wall Street Journal

SEE! SEE! That is how a doctor's note is understood in America. You're "excused" from work or school, you're not deemed "unfit" and fired or expelled, it's an excuse, you can ignore it.

I have no idea what the standard is in German, in Germany and how that would be translated as a legal--And, make no mistake, this is a legal matter now.--term into English so that at least American lawyers understood. This has got to be understood precisely and American reporters are not doing a good job here. 

If unfit don't fit you must acquit.

“In practice, if you are sick and your doctor finds you unfit for work, he gives you an illness-based work exemption,” says Christian Runte, a German lawyer and expert on data protection. “It doesn’t say what the illness is. It just says you are unfit for work. And it is up to the patient whether they want to tell that to the employer or not.”-Time.

Maybe something is being lost in translation here. In English, in America, "unfit for work" means...Help me out here, my fellow Americans, how do we explain this? Examples:

-"Unfit for office," political office, like if you are impeached, there's a moral component to the meaning of unfit there, like SUPREME disqualification, disqualification with extreme prejudice, it is BAD to be "unfit."

-If you apply for a job and are rejected you may be said to be unqualified but you are not labeled "unfit."

-When Johnny misses school his doctor's note doesn't say "Johnny is unfit for school today," it says "Johnny wasn't feeling well today."

-In American sports guys who are injured are on the "physically unable to perform" list.

"Unfit" is a close synonym of all of those but it carries a far worse connotation as it is commonly used in America.

-Like, if you are deemed by a court "unfit to be a parent," there is a sense of almost permanent disqualification.

-If you are deemed "unfit for work" in America that means you're fired, you have done something so bad or your work is so poor that you can't work there anymore.

So, "unfit for work," if that is translated with precisely the same meaning as in America would mean Lubitz was fired or at least prohibited from flying. And that is not how I read how that German lawyer is using the phrase. I could be wrong. I often am.

"Unfit." Unfit?

(CNN)Germanwings co-pilot Andreas Lubitz was hiding an illness from his employers and had been declared "unfit to work" by a doctor, according to German authorities investigating what could have prompted the seemingly competent and stable pilot to steer his jetliner into a French mountain.

Investigators found a letter in the waste bin of his Dusseldorf, Germany, apartment saying that Lubitz, 27, wasn't fit to do his job, city prosecutor Christoph Kumpa said Friday. The note, Kumpa said, had been "slashed."

Lufthansa, you have a situation here.

Lubitz, Andreas Gunter ("Gunter," lol.)

Co-Pilot in Germanwings Crash Hid Mental Illness From Employer, Authorities Say

-New York Times.

Well, cut me down and call me shorty. That's what the Times says. That's what the Times says the authorities say. Okay. Boy, that just does not sound reasonably likely to me, but okay.

Andy Lube.

Investigators found a discarded, "slashed," doctor's note in a waste basket in Andreas Lubitz' apartment excusing Lubitz from flying the day he crashed 4U9525. A prosecutor said he "hid" this information from Germanwings/Lufthansa. No medical diagnosis, if any was on the note, has been made publicly available. It has been reported that Lubitz was "depressed" and today that he had recently broken up with his girlfriend. All of this by way of providing partial explanation for him killing himself and 149 others.

It's a lead! Are those doctor's notes compulsory, that is, do they prohibit a person from going to work? Or are they an "excuse" if the patient doesn't want to work but really can, like those we used to get for the teacher when we didn't want to go to school, to be used at our option? Don't know. In only the former case however could it fairly be said that the patient had "hid" the note from his employer. The investigators go farther than that: they say. or posit, that Lubitz was hiding an illness from his employer by hiding the note. THAT reasoning does not hold up. Lufthansa KNOWS what "illness" Lubitz had, they just won't say. Patient confidentiality. 

So let us assume that the reports are accurate that Lubitz was depressed and that depression was the reason for the doctor's note on the date of the crash and the reason why he missed months of flight training before becoming a pilot. LUFTHANSA KNOWS THAT and gave him a clean bill of health, he was "flight worthy." Depression is usually symptomatic, not causal: something bad happens to you--like breaking up with your girlfriend--and boom, you go into a funk, you're depressed. In that case I don't think the employer would know from the medical people what the cause of the depression was. The medical diagnosis is depression, the guy is excused from work today, end of doctor's note! If the medical diagnosis was flu, the doctor wouldn't note or tell the employer what made the guy get the flu. If the condition was recurring, as this hypothetical depression was, then the employer would have reason to want to know what the cause was. The guy just can't keep on missing days of work. 

So let us assume that that was the case: Lubitz' depression was recurring, the cause went unreported to Lufthansa, who didn't even ask until it became recurring, but now, on the date of the crash, or recently, Lufthansa became concerned. "Andreas, what up?" What if Andreas didn't want to say? What if he didn't want to tell Lufthansa the cause of his depression? Then Andreas would have a reason for hiding the doctor's note! "If I put this in one more time...Oh screw it, I'm just going to go to work." Now he's sick and pissed off.

What underlying cause of depression--which your employer already knows about--would you want to keep hidden? Girlfriend trouble? No, not something to hide. Cancer? No. A personality disorder or severe mental illness? Yes, but how could that have escaped Lufthansa's screening? HIV/AIDS? Yes, and I don't think you have to tell your employer that. Did Andreas Lubitz have HIV/AIDS? I have wondered this since the moment I saw the photographs of him. Girlfriend or no girlfriend, he just "looks" gay to me. 

Mountain Man.

Andreas Lubitz...was "obsessed" with the French mountain region, one of his peers said on Friday.

http://www.thelocal.fr/20150327/germanwings-co-pilot-obsessed-with-french-alps

Toldja! 

Heh

        Heh

                 Heh.

Yes, well, it was my detective instincts that solve-ed the case. You see, when I saw that photo of Andreas by the mountains with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background I thought to myself, "He may have left his heart in San Francisco but the rest of his body parts are in the Alps." I then saw the photo of Andreas with those other mountains in the background and I KNEW. Now it turns out he was obsess-ed with them. Probably wanted to be bury-ed there if you know what I mean and I think you do. 

4U9525

Before signing off tonight, what a dreadful, bewildering day, I want to pay tribute to Nicola Clark, Dan Bilefsky and the New York Times for their public service in breaking the story of the pilot lockout aboard the Germanwings flight. We were flying smack into the flight path of MS350 until that report. CNN was getting the gang back together. The Clark/Bilefsky report focused an unfocused world.

Tribute also to the unknown, to me, photographer(s) who snapped these moving photographs of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy at the crash site.

Ah. So moving. Good night.

Andreas Gunter Lubitz.

Amazement-Euronews.

Disbelief, shock-Associated Press.

How much did you like mountains, Andreas?

'Just another boy'-RT.com

"A terrorist? Absolutely not."-Prosecutor Robin Brice.

'Very Happy'-ABC News.

...Lubitz...'100% Flightworthy'...-New York Times.

4U9525.*

This one takes the cake, doesn't it? Young guy, seems to have been a happy guy. No motive. It is just so random: What if Patrick S.,* the pilot, hadn't had to go to the bathroom?

*UPDATED March 27, 5:44 pm UTC: Sondenheimer http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3013109/Passengers-didn-t-realise-Germanwings-pilot-deliberately-flying-mountain-locking-captain-cockpit.html

"FAA Recognizez Andreas Guenter Lubitz."-Aviation Business Gazette.

This is from September 18, 2013:


Rheinland Pfalz-based pilot sets positive example

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is recognizing Andreas Guenter Lubitz with inclusion in the prestigious FAA Airmen Certification Database.

The database, which appears on the agency's website at www.faa.gov, names Lubitz and other certified pilots who have met or exceeded the high educational, licensing and medical standards established by the FAA.

Pilot certification standards have evolved over time in an attempt to reduce pilot errors that lead to fatal crashes. FAA standards, which are set in consultation with the aviation industry and the public, are among the highest in the world.

Transportation safety experts strongly recommend against flying with an uncertified pilot. FAA pilot certification can be the difference between a safe flight and one that ends in tragedy.

The FAA recently announced that is it increasing the qualification requirements for co-pilots who fly for U.S. passenger and cargo airlines. These requirements mandate additional minimum flight time and training, as well as aircraft specific training.
...
UniqueID: A4833038
FirstName: Andreas Guenter
LastName: Lubitz
Street1: Am Spiessweiher 8
Street2: Montabaur
City: Rheinland Pfalz
State: 
Zip: 56410
Country: GERMANY
Region: EU
MedClass: 3
MedDate: 062010
MedExpDate: 062015

http://aviation-business-gazette.com/A44/B58/Pilot-Andreas-Guenter-Lubitz-Rheinland-Pfalz-.html

4U9525. Lubitz' "deliberate attempt to destroy the aircraft."* **

"The co-pilot [Andreas Lubitz] is alone at the controls," [Marseille] prosecutor Brice Robin said, drawing on information gathered from the black box recorder. "He voluntarily refused to open the door of the cockpit to the pilot and voluntarily began the descent of the plane."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/11496066/Andreas-Lubitz-and-Patrick-S-What-do-we-know-about-the-pilots-on-Germanwings-flight-4U9525.html

*UPDATED, 1:08 pm UTC. He added: "The most plausible interpretation is that the co-pilot through a voluntary act had refused to open the cabin door to let the captain in. He pushed the button to trigger the aircraft to lose altitude. He operated this button for a reason we don't know yet, but it appears that the reason was to destroy this plane."http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32063587

**UPDATED, 1:18 pm UTC. "Deliberate attempt." http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/26/europe/france-germanwings-plane-crash-main/

Why, Andreas?

4U9525: Andreas Lubitz.

Photo, Daily Mirror from Paris Match.

Did you like mountains, Andreas?

4U9525 Pilots' Names.*

Andreas L. and Patrick S. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/11496066/Germanwings-crash-What-do-we-know-about-the-pilots.html

Unless it's Andreas L. Islam, we can rule that angle out.

*UPDATED, 12:15 pm UTC: Andreas L. is Andreas Lubitz, the co-pilot. He was the one in the cockpit in control of the plane. http://www.wsj.com/articles/germanwings-co-pilot-named-as-andreas-lubitz-1427370009

No Nukes Deal With Iran.

Folks, I've changed my mind on this. I want the U.S. to pull out of the 5+1 talks with Iran.

Fundamentally, I do not trust President Obama to make a good deal. Specifically, I read today that he has given up on the Holy Grail of American diplomacy, bringing peace to the Middle East, meaning a settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute and so, for his "legacy," he wants this deal with Iran. That alone is enough to make me suspicious.

Then, it's not just Netanyahu the Nut who opposes it, France, Saudi Arabia and a third country (Britain?) have deep concerns. My impression from reading, it may not be accurate, is that the other countries are reluctant to openly break with the U.S. given how much it means to Obama and how much time Kerry has spent negotiating it.

Next, the length of time this has taken. Impression: An unemotionally involved U.S. would have said fugettabout it some time ago.

Next, I read that the Iranians bargaining is characterized by one step forward, two steps back, one forward, always arriving at the same point, giving the appearance of negotiating but not really budging.

Next, the agreement, our "We got everything!" moment is a 10-year delay in Iran getting the bomb, not a red line that Iran will never get a bomb. That's small beer to a red line and to me is too little a "We got everything!"

Next, an "agreement" is looking less likely before the March 31 deadline, which was an extension of an extension and the Americans, desperate to salvage something are now pinning their hopes on a "political framework," somehow separating the political from...something else, the actual agreement I guess, and the Iranians are concerned that if they agree to a political framework, the scaffolding will constrain them from negotiating future changes, "You already agreed to the framework!" we could say and hem them in.

Next, the Iranians don't want spot inspections by the IAEA and I don't like the sound of that.

Next, they want all sanctions lifted immediately once they agree to anything, we want a gradual relaxation of sanctions conditioned on progress.

Finally, I don't trust the Iranians.

So, I am ready to rule: I agree with the Republicans. I don't like the looks of the smoke signals, I don't know what's in this agreement if it was to be reached, I don't trust Obama on this, I don't trust Iran and I want to pull the plug on the whole thing.

Have a good evening.

Oh, the trouble they have seen this year: Germany's Merkel, Spain's Rajoy, France's Hollande. God bless them.

Germanwings #9525 (Hereinafter 4U9525).

From National Post (Toronto):

"There's a 12-minute difference between when Germanwings says Flight 9525 lost contact and what radar shows."

Lufthansa says radar contact was lost at 9:53 am local time. The Post says data from Flightradar24.com shows it was lost at 9:41 UTC.The 12 minute difference is not understandable to flight boys. http://www.nationalpost.com/m/wp/blog.html?b=news.nationalpost.com/2015/03/25/theres-a-12-minute-difference-between-when-germanwings-says-flight-9525-crashed-and-what-radar-shows


This is the same crap we got into with MH370.

The plane was in perfect condition, the reports say, just inspected last week.

Okay, in light of the NYT report, what is the one question on everybody's mind right now? I'll say it:

What are the names and what are the religions of the pilots?

Germanwings #9525 Pilot Locked Out of Cockpit.

Per New York Times:

“The guy outside is knocking lightly on the door and there is no answer,” the investigator said. “And then he hits the door stronger and no answer. There is never an answer.”

He said, “You can hear he is trying to smash the door down.”

“We don’t know yet the reason why one of the guys went out,” said the official, who requested anonymity because the investigation is continuing. “But what is sure is that at the very end of the flight, the other pilot is alone and does not open the door.”

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/03/26/world/europe/germanwings-airbus-crash.html?referrer=

Wow. Strange things happenin' up above. 

Last May President Obama had the happy occasion to meet at a White House phot-op with the relieved parents of a an American serviceman kidnapped by infamous powers in Afghanistan and held for five years.

Look at the admiring glance mom is throwing POTUS' way.

And we may throw an admiring glance at milf mom Jani Bergdahl as she walks away!

The president exchanged five Taliban for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. Steep, some might say, and did say, but as SUSAN RICE said on one of those Sunday talk shows that prevented her from becoming Secretary of State over Benghazi:

"This is a joyous day...Sergeant Bergdahl wasn't simply a hostage, he was an American prisoner of war, captured on the battlefield. We have a sacred obligation that we have upheld since the founding of our Republic to do our utmost to bring back our men and women who were taken in battle...He served the United States with honor and distinction."

A "joyous day" indeed as Rice repeated at the end of her interview, she tends to repeat key phrases from her talking points on these shows as she repeated "very offensive video, "heinous and offensive video," "reprehensible and disgusting,"  "hateful video," (ABC); "hateful video," "very hateful very offensive video," "offensive video," "hateful video...disgusting and reprehensible," "a consequence of the video," (Fox); "hateful and offensive video," "spontaneous reaction to a video," "prompted of course by the video," "the video might spark," "very offensive video" (NBC) on the talk shows on Benghazi that cost her the Secretary of State gig, and there were yellow ribbons and tearful gratitude and a big parade was planned in Bowe's hometown of Hailey, Idaho.

Even before Uncooked Rice made her half-baked remark that Sgt. Bergdahl "had served the United States with honor and distinction" there was a counter-narrative that he had not, that he had deserted, walked off base and subsequently was captured by infamous powers.

Never mind said the president on June 3, 2014:

"Regardless of the circumstances, whatever those circumstances may turn out to be, we still get an American soldier back if he's held in captivity. Period. Full stop. We don't condition that."

Some developments since:

-Bergdahl's hometown canceled that big parade.
-Bergdahl refused to meet with his father (understandable) and his mother (inexplicable).
-Today, the United States Army announced that Bergdahl would be charged with "desertion with intent to shirk important or hazardous duty" (5-year maximum sentence), and "misbehavior before the enemy by endangering the safety of a command, unit or place" (max life).

Full stop.

"The FBI: Protecting the Homeland in the 21st Century."

That's the official title of their Close-Out Memo. It can be read here: http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/protecting-the-homeland-in-the-21st-century Glad to hear they're protecting the homeland in the 21st century.

There are instances where they did not provide "enhanced" protection however, instances where they "lagged" in providing that protection. One of them was the Boston Marathon bombing. Pageviewers will recall that in that lag the Rooskis actually provided advance warning. With that assistance from our Russian "partners" happily the FBI "gained information" but "lagged" in the ability to "analyze it." What says the FBI Close-Out Memo on the Brothers Tsarnaev?

CHAPTER II THE SUM OF FIVE CASES*



"The Review Commission concludes that FBI’s human intelligence (HUMINT), intelligence
analysis, and information sharing practices performed unevenly in the five cases to varying degrees.

...

Key Points (Hereinafter "Key Points.)

"In none of the five cases did an FBI confidential human source (CHS) provide actionable
intelligence to help prevent or respond to a terrorist operation. In no case, despite the existence of a
functioning HUMINT program, did FBI human sources alert the FBI to the plotters.

(Frowny face.) The FBI needs to be intelligent, it lags in that area, we especially need the humans at the FBI to be intelligent.

"...domain intelligence needs to be enhanced..."

We are lagging in the whole enhancement field. We need the humans at the FBI to have enhanced intelligence where they already have intelligence. Where they don't have intelligence we need them to get it. 

"...intelligence analysts must be empowered to question special agents’ operational assumptions."

Okay, stop. We have to take first things first. You don't want to empower the un-intelligent. The ability to analyze is a function of intelligence. If you are not intelligent in the first place you can't analyze. So: (1) FBI humans must be intelligent. (Dos). Just to make sure let's required them to be enhanced in intelligence. (3) Then we can empower them.

"The case studies identify lapses in communication, coordination, and collaboration..." 

For unintelligent FBI humans I, personally, would recommend shortening this to the "3 C's." A prerequisite for the 3 C's is intelligence. Otherwise you're going to get "lapses."

"In Boston, although Tamerlan Tsarnvaev’s radicalization was known to some friends and
colleagues, including at his mosque, the FBI did not understand the extent of his extremist views
until after the bombings."

It all comes back to intelligence, doesn't it? The FBI just didn't get it because they didn't have it!

"Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) passed a lead to the FBI in March 2011 that Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his mother Zubeidat were followers of radical Islam and that Tamerlan intended “to travel to Russia to join unspecified ‘bandit underground groups’ in Dagestan and Chechnya.”
The FBI opened but then closed an assessment on Tamerlan concerning his potential threat to national security, concluding on June 24, 2011, that he had “no link or nexus” to terrorism."

We need to add a 4th "C." Communication+Coordination+Collaboration=Conclusion. The FBI's conclusion was a "lapse." It becomes our disagreeable duty to conclude that FBI humans are not as intelligent as FSB humans. The opening and closing thing, they need to keep the book opened. 

"Given the limited information on Tamerlan, the FBI did not nominate him for inclusion on the Terror Watchlist. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), however, independently nominated Tamerlan for inclusion on the Terror Watchlist in October2011––based on the same information lead from the Russians, which had been passed separately to the CIA the previous month."

The FBI should have "nominated" Tam. 

"In November 2012, Tamerlan interrupted a sermon discussing Islamic and American
holidays at the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center in Cambridge, but it does not appear
that this information was ever reported to the FBI. In January 2013, Tamerlan again became
angry following a sermon at the same mosque. This information does not appear to have
made its way to the FBI."

Self-evidently this intel "made its way" to the FBI since it is, like, included in "The FBI: Protecting the Homeland in the 21st Century." It just "made its way" to the FBI AFTER the bombing so I don't think it's fair to the humans of the FBI to say it never made its way. It was late. Maybe it got lost! Who knows! Now they want it before. Who cares, they got it, didn't they?

"In all five cases, when the FBI eventually became aware of the plotters, intelligence analysts
played a critical role in the investigations."

SEE! 

"Still, in three of the five case studies, it was a tip from outside the FBI that triggered the investigation."

Before-after, inside-outside: picky, picky, picky.

"We do not intend to second guess the decision-making of dedicated special agents and intelligence analysts ex post facto."

 

Oh yeah, you say that NOW, after you've thrown the "Special Agents" under the Humvee.

 

"The special agent assigned to investigate the Tsarnaevs did not consult any North Caucasus
or counterterrorism subject-matter experts to understand the broader context and implications of
the information provided by the FSB..."

Maybe the Special Agent wasn't caucasian, did you ever think of that? Maybe he didn't understand the caucasian language!

"A more thorough review of Tamerlan’s activities by an intelligence analyst with the
requisite subject matter expertise on terrorism and radicalization, working in collaboration with
the special agent during the interview process, database searches, and subsequent evaluation of
the information, may have led to a different interpretation of the significance of the FSB lead."

"May," not "would," MAY. There's no telling. The Russians just have more intelligence than the FBI does!

"The Inspector General’s report on the Boston Marathon bombing noted that the special agents
did not ask questions that were expected by their counterterrorism supervisor regarding Tamerlan’s lifestyle and travel plans."

Okay, look: He may have been "special" but he was not "enhanced," he was not "empowered" with "intelligence." Maybe he was a special-ed Special Agent!

"Moreover, the special agent did not contact the local Cambridge Police Department or complete a comprehensive search of all of baseline databases required in FBI’s Baseline Collection Plan."

I bet this guy didn't get a cost-of-living raise. 

"The Boston case demonstrates that the path to radicalization can be easily obscured from law enforcement." 

It's not fair to obscure things from the special-ed.

Arright, enough. I stopped at page 49. This is a crappy Close-Out Memo. 

Now, from the Guardian today is this headline:

Boston Marathon bomb trial: FBI agent mistakes Grozny for Mecca in Twitter photo.

(Frowny face.)

Sparks flew in a federal courtroom in Boston on Tuesday in the trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev – the younger and only survivor of two brothers accused of perpetrating the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing – as the testimony of an FBI agent and witness for the prosecution collapsed under cross-examination by the defence.


Tsarnaev’s defence attorney Miriam Conrad surgically deconstructed testimony given late on Monday by an FBI agent that looked at Tsarnaev’s Twitter accounts – and embarrassed the FBI by showing them to have misidentified a picture of a mosque in Grozny, Chechnya, as the Muslim holy site of Mecca.

...

“You said the picture [that forms the background of the second account] was a picture of Mecca,” said Conrad, towards the end of a lengthy and tense cross-examination.

“Yes, to the best of my knowledge,” answered Kimball.

“Did you bother to look at a picture of Mecca?” Conrad shot back.

“No.”

“Would it surprise you to learn that it is a picture of Grozny?”

The picture on the account is not of Mecca – the FBI had misidentified it. It is in fact a picture of the Akhmad Kadyrov Mosque in Grozny.

 

The exposure of that mistake was just part of a long morning of embarrassment for the FBI, as Conrad poked gaping holes in their investigation into Tsarnaev’s online persona.

Kimball was forced to admit that he did not know that several of the tweets the prosecution had highlighted yesterday – to damning effect – as pointing towards Tsarnaev’s radicalisation and violence were actually lyrics from pop songs.

This included perhaps the most damning tweet of all those shown by the prosecution, which read, in Cyrillic: “I shall die young.”

...

Other posts shown by Kimball yesterday turned out to be jokes from the Comedy Central television show Tosh.o, or sketch comedy duo Key and Peele.

...

[Swine Defense attorney] also took Kimball to task for his lack of understanding of much of the slang Tsarnaev used in his tweets.

“Do you know what ‘mad cooked’ means?” Kimball fidgeted, and tried to guess. “Crazy?”

“It means high,” said Conrad. “Do you know who Key and Peele are?”

“No.”

Key and Peele are the lead performers of a Comedy Central sketch show.

The only slang Kimball did manage to successfully identify was “LOL” for “laugh out loud”.

Lol.

*"Najibullah Zazi and the New York City subway plot, David Headley and the Mumbai attack and Denmark plot, Major Nidal Hasan and the Fort Hood shooting, Faisal Shahzad and the Times Square attack, and Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and the Boston Marathon bombing."

"The F.B.I. has made great strides since the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001, but urgently needs to improve its intelligence capabilities and hire more linguists to counter the rapidly evolving threats to the United States, according to a report released on Wednesday.

"The report by the F.B.I. 9/11 Review Commission said that the bureau needed to enhance its ability to gain information from people and to analyze it, contending that the bureau lags “behind marked advances in law enforcement capabilities. (emphasis added).

"While the 2004 report of the national 9/11 Commission and subsequent reviews called for major changes to the F.B.I., the report released Wednesday was much less critical. Rather than a rebuke, it amounts to a status-check on the F.B.I. transformation that began in 2001." -The New York Times.

So this is the FBI's report on itself. It's sort of like "Close-Out Memos" in the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office on police shootings! Glad to see the FBI following that distinguished precedent. Glad to have this "status-check." Glad it was "much less critical" than previous status-checks. Glad they only need improvement in the ancillary areas of gaining information and analyzing it. Glad it's nothing central to their mission or anything. Glad to hear the only thing keeping the FBI from that "enhancement" is a "lag," "Behind marked advances in law enforcement capabilities." Keep up the good work. Closed out. Keep in touch.

Everytime I write something critical of the U.S. or of Obama especially, I get readership figures similar to today's:

Russia 38
U.S. 13

I want to read a psychological analysis of Barack Obama.

This has really gotten under my skin. Every time I look at that photograph I wince. I've tried to convince myself that a camera can capture a lot of untruth in 1/60th second. Maybe it did there too but I have not been successful in convincing myself. Pointing your finger at somebody especially at close range is not susceptible to many interpretations except one.  It's the body language of both men. Obama the lecturer, lecturing, looking directly at his subject, mouth open, clearly speaking, pointing--it's aggressive. Harper, head down, not making eye contact, hands at side, slumped. If that camera lied in that 1/60th second it lied a lot. In the context of that Washington Post article however, that camera did not lie about the other 59/60th of the U.S.-Canada relationship. At the least, that camera is telling symbolic truth.

I have been taken aback continuously by the personal hostility in politics the last few years: Putin's body language in meetings with Obama, his flat statement that he has no personal relationship with Obama; Netanyahu's speech to Congress; Samantha Power's berating Vitaly Churkin at the U.N.; domestically, the Tea Party, Boehner, McConnell, the government shutdown, last weekend John McCain telling Obama to get over his "temper tantrum" with Netanyahu. You can probably think of more than I can. There is no doubt that politics internationally and domestically is just more personally hostile in the Obama years--more hostile than it was even under George W. Bush. Bush had Tony Blair. Bush had Putin, for godssake, Bush had warm personal relationships with those guys, maybe with others I've forgotten. Reagan had Thatcher, Reagan had Gorbachev, JFK had Marilyn Monroe. Domestic politics was really rough in Bush's second term but not as rough, it doesn't seem to me, as under Obama.

In every case I did not see what Obama had done to deserve the coldness and hostility. In each of the instances above involving Obama personally, I blamed the other guy, I still blame the other guys, maybe I'd blame Harper if I knew anything about the Keystone pipeline, but there has been this discordant background noise that has grown louder, Obama's "aloofness," "cool, detached," smug, nouveau riche, the lone walks, the lone golfing, the Big Picture of NO warm personal relationships with ANY world leader. And now: U.S.-Canada relations "as cool AS I EVER REMEMBER," according to a diplomat who goes back to the 1980's! CANADA.

Good grief.

Look: warm personal relationships...I don't do warm personal relationships. In politics, especially in geopolitics...What geopolitical good came of the Putin-Bush love bites? Huh? Of Jimmy Carter's bussing of Leonid Brezhnev? You don't need love bites but you can't have sucker punches. You can't be fighting with everybody. Even I don't fight with everybody. "Dancing" whether lovin' or fightin' takes two. Obama is guilty under the Dancing Principle which I just made up and which Holds that if every time a person dances his "partner" ends up with her toes bruised then he ain't lovin' dancin'.

Discarding the analogy now, you can't have your ambassador berating the Russian ambassador, you can't have her predecessor,  Susan Rice, storming away from the Russian and Chinese ambassadors, you can't have Victoria Nuland saying "Fuck the E.U.," into a bugged telephone, and you certainly can't have finger-pointing at the prime minister of Canada. Good grief.

What Is His Problem?

A couple of days ago I thought, "There are some similarities between Putin and Netanyahu." Thought maybe I'd do a post on it. On the way home from work just now I thought, "Netanyahu, Putin, Obama, three world leaders, long-serving in their own countries, popular at home, and they can't stand each other." When I got home I immediately got formal photos of each I was going to put with the post. Then, while eating a quick sandwich I checked the news, and, happens all the time, got distracted. By this:

"A Chilly Wind from the Great White North."-Washington Post.

What the heck is that? I really didn't know so I got distracted and read the article.

There's a photograph with the caption "Bruce Heyman is the U.S. ambassador to Canada at a time of tension between the two allies."

I actually chuckled. "This is going to be a tempest in a teapot, eh?" What is this, about Quebec City not getting an NHL team?

"Israel isn’t the only U.S. ally at odds with the Obama administration."
...

"The cold shoulder turned to the ambassador was part of a chilly year for U.S.-Canada relations, which have become unusually discordant at the top,” wrote Campbell Clark, the [Globe and Mail's] chief political reporter."

"To put it simply, President Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper aren’t exactly close."

I don't know if my jaw actually dropped because I wasn't looking at my jaw. The jaw in my brain dropped.

OBAMA DOESN'T GET ALONG WITH CANADIANS!

I mean, come on, how can you not get along with Canadians, that's impossible.

"Last month, Allan Gotlieb, Canadian ambassador to the United States for most of the 1980s, called the current relationship between the two countries 'as cool as I ever remember.'"

“The Keystone project has been handled with considerable insensitivity. Our history has been characterized by . . . a sensitivity to each other’s interests,” he told the Globe and Mail in late February."

"...[I]n July 2014... Heyman irked some Canadians who thought he came off as patronizing in defense of the White House taking its time on Keystone."

Patronizing. We have heard that before about the Obamas. Acting like the "nouveau riche," right? That's what Putin said. Nuland, Rice, the Mad Irish Woman. Obama himself like a law school lecturer, someone said.

"A longtime...diplomat posited that the tensions may be a product of Obama’s personality, which he described as 'aloof.'"

Ummm...Yeah...Wait, wait, don't tell me, we have heard that before too, right? I think so.

Okay, as I wrote last night, as I frequently write when I've made up my mind, I'm ready to rule: This is an Obama problem. I don't know what it is! But it's an Obama problem. He just doesn't get along with anybody.