Month: February 2013

Posted  by AzBlueMeanie:

The Maricopa County Sheriffs Department on Monday released results of a five-year investigation into why the sex-crimes unit mishandled sex-crime cases. "It concluded that no single person was responsible for systemic failures that resulted in hundreds of cases being reopened." MCSO report: Blame the system for botched sexcrime cases:

Last year, an Arizona Republic investigation into the 400-plus reopened
cases revealed that the Sheriff’s Office failed to adequately
investigate reports of sex abuse and assault — in some cases never
interviewing suspects or running background checks on known offenders.

Some
sex-crime complaints were completely ignored. In other cases, files
were later found gathering dust in a drawer or in a deputy’s garage.
Those shortcomings, combined with lengthy delays in resolving cases,
left alleged predators free to find other victims — sometimes for years.

The
report concluded that detectives who failed to file reports or who
improperly stored evidence at home were no more responsible for flawed
investigations than supervisors who failed to check log books or who
signed off on incomplete case-clearance sheets.

“The deficiencies
identified … were not problems that stemmed from the conduct of one
or a few individuals. Rather, I have determined that … the MCSO
sex-crimes unit was inadequately resourced to complete its tasks. The
systemic problem could not then, and cannot now, be properly addressed
or corrected by disciplining a few individuals,” sheriff’s Deputy Chief
Brian Sands wrote last week to detectives at the center of the internal
investigation.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

You will recall that during the Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing for Chuck Hagel to be Secretary of Defense, Sen. John McCain made a complete ass-hat of himself:

[Iit was disconcerting to watch this Neocon war monger demand that his
former senate colleague Chuck Hagel genuflect before him and to praise
"Senator Surge" as a demigod (his media sycophants were unavailable?)
Chuck Hagel refused, insisting that Iraq was "the most dangerous foreign
policy decision since Vietnam." Good for him. Chuck Hagel is right, and
John McCain is wrong.

Sen. "McNasty" is still embittered that his old friend, Chuck Hagel, who endorsed him for president in 2000, later endorsed Barack Obama for president in 2008. Hagel was also highly critical of the Iraq war and the "surge" for which McCain was a principal cheerleader. This is a personal vendetta by Sen. McNasty against Hagel.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

In 1908, Siberia experienced a massive meteor explosion known as the Tunguska Event:

At 7:14 a.m. on June 30, 1908, a giant explosion shook central Siberia. Witnesses close to the event described seeing a fireball in the sky, as bright and hot as another sun. Millions of trees fell and the ground shook.

* * *

The blast, centered in a desolate and forested area near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in Russia, is estimated to have been a thousand times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The explosion leveled an estimated 80 million trees over an 830 square-mile area in a radial pattern from the blast zone. Dust from the explosion hovered over Europe, reflecting light that was bright enough for Londoners to read at night by it.

Russia just experienced another meteor explosion event, caught on videotape. This meteor appears to have been much smaller than the Tunguska Event, and caused far less damage, but it did cause damage to a populated area.

Here is a news report from Russia Today about the meteor explosion event (below the fold).

By Karl Reiner

In his State of the Union address, President Obama noted that Iran must be prevented from developing nuclear weapons.  The weapon capability issue, Iran's regional aspirations and oil supply security have
complicated the West's relations with Iran for years.  Tensions are increasing; Israel has threatened to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities while international sanctions have crimped the economy.

Neither side trusts the other. The West remains skeptical about the prospects of diplomacy, is suspicious of Iran's intentions and its interest in making peace. Iran fears that the real goal of the West is regime change.  Although they have gone nowhere in the past, Iran has suggested dates for reopening talks.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

When one of your main talking points is that we should do a better job of keeping mentally ill people from gaining access to weapons (the false implication being that the mentally ill are dangerous and responsible for crime; the mentally ill are far more frequently the victim of crimes), then the NRA probably should not have a spokesman who exhibits all the signs of paranoid delusions (a psychological disorder) ranting about his irrational fears of a coming "zombie apocalypse."

Wayne LaPierre is the poster boy for exactly who should not be allowed to own a weapon under the NRA's own standard of prohibiting the mentally ill from owning a weapon.

NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre, the chief lobbyist for the merchants of death on Capitol Hill, penned an apocalyptic jeremiad for Tucker Carlson's far-right web site The Daily Caller entitled “Stand and Fight.”