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.