Power Station Sniper

What motivated the sophisticated sniper attack on a San Jose power station last April? The Times wonders:

Months Later, Sniper Attack at Power Hub Still a Mystery

SAN FRANCISCO — A mysterious and sophisticated sniper attack last year on a Silicon Valley power substation has underscored concerns about the vulnerability of the country’s electrical grid and prompted debate over whether it was an act of terrorism.

The chain of events is not in dispute: Shortly before 1:30 a.m. on April 16, 2013, one or more people methodically cut communication cables near a Pacific Gas & Electric substation in San Jose, sprayed more than 100 rifle bullets and knocked out 17 of the station’s 23 transformers before fleeing and avoiding capture. A grainy black-and-white surveillance video released by the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s office in a search for leads shows shots being fired for about a minute at the substation. 

Though the utility was able to prevent a power failure by diverting electricity from other areas, the damage took 27 days to repair, said Brian Swanson, a spokesman for Pacific Gas & Electric.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been investigating the attack, but says it has no evidence of terrorism nor any suspects.

“The F.B.I. at this time does not believe it is related to terrorism, based on the initial assessment of the investigation,” Peter Lee, an agency spokesman in San Francisco, said, adding that he was unable to disclose further details. The agency also considers the attack an isolated one, Mr. Lee said.

...

A law enforcement official briefed on the investigation said the situation so far was ambiguous.

“When you don’t know who did it and you don’t know what their motives were, it is very hard to say whether it was terrorism or not,” the official said. “Some people said it looks like they had military training, some people say that you can learn this from a video game. We just don’t know.”

So who knows? But based on my extensive reading of fictional thrillers, I found this to be thought-provoking:

The attack has renewed anxiety over the potential vulnerability of the power grid to physical attack, adding to worries about cybersecurity and the ordinary adversaries of hurricanes, floods, wild animals and falling trees.

On Wednesday, utility officials tried to tamp down concern. “It’s harder to knock out the lights than people think because of redundancy and resilience,” said Gerry W. Cauley, president of the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, a nonprofit group that sets standards for the nation’s utilities.

...

The location of substations is public, but it is a closely guarded secret what combination of them would have to be knocked out to cause extensive harm. It could be as few as a handful in each of the three grids, the eastern continent, from Halifax to New Orleans, the western continent, from New Mexico to Vancouver, and Texas.

We are building to the payoff:

In response to the April attack, the nation’s electric utilities began a two-and-a-half-year program to identify what substations or combinations of substations were most critical to the operations of the continent’s three power grids, how to minimize damage to them once an attack was detected, how to bring in law enforcement personnel before sending in the repair crews, and how to reconfigure the system after an attack to achieve maximum capacity.

I am sure this has crossed the minds of the people involved in this study, but - the playbook for the good guys could easily double as the game plan for the bad guys.

Just imagine that the people who hit the San Jose station are pros with a plan. And suppose they have their own Edward Snowden operating inside a utility somewhere. Within the next few years they may be able to steal away with the detailed assessment of the critical vulnerabilities of our nation's power grids which is currently under development. We might even speculate (wildly!) that a key goal of the San Jose exercise was to try to provoke the creation of such a plan.

Of course, the good guys see through this so they track access to the developing plans very carefully in an attempt to flush out the mole. Or try too - geez, such a page-turner.

Comments

[narciso]

What would it take for the FBI to say it is terrorism, NCIS had an episode along these lies in the first season,

[clarice]

I think from experience we can expect the new info to be securely kept. Sure.

[henry]

this will be good for generator sales.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

Plainly, a Deke pledge prank. HENRY!!!!

[henry]

No way NK... live animals not dead transformers.

[DrJ]

This is long, and perhaps of local interest only (Iggy?) but sometimes it seems state corruption does not win.

In a blistering ruling against Cal Fire, a judge in Plumas County has found the agency guilty of “egregious and reprehensible conduct” in its response to the 2007 Moonlight fire and ordered it to pay more than $30 million in penalties, legal fees and costs to Sierra Pacific Industries and others accused in a Cal Fire lawsuit of causing the fire.

The ruling is the latest twist in an epic legal battle that began not long after the fire erupted on Labor Day 2007, scorching more than 65,000 acres in Plumas and Lassen counties.

Sierra Pacific, the largest private landowner in California, was blamed by state and federal officials for the blaze, with a key report finding it was started by a spark from the blade of a bulldozer belonging to a company working under contract for Sierra Pacific.

But company officials have steadfastly denied responsibility and have accused the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and the U.S. Forest Service of conspiring to cover up their own shortcomings that allowed the fire to rage out of control.

Even after Sierra Pacific agreed to settle a federal lawsuit over the devastation in two national forests by paying $55 million in cash and handing over 22,500 acres of land to the government, the company insisted it was undone by an erroneous ruling of U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller, and then was a victim of stonewalling by Cal Fire in that agency’s Plumas County suit, including the alleged withholding of thousands of pages of key internal documents relevant to the legal struggle.

In a 28-page order issued Tuesday, retired Superior Court Judge Leslie C. Nichols essentially agreed with all of Sierra Pacific’s points, adopting a separate, 57-page order proposed by Sierra Pacific and the other defendants almost word-for-word, and excoriating the behavior of Cal Fire and two lawyers from the office of Attorney General Kamala Harris, which represented the agency.

“The court finds that Cal Fire’s actions initiating, maintaining and prosecuting this action, to the present time, is corrupt and tainted,” the judge wrote. “Cal Fire failed to comply with discovery obligations, and its repeated failure was willful.”

The agency withheld documents for months, “destroyed evidence critical (to the case) … and engaged in a systematic campaign of misdirection with the purpose of recovering money from (Sierra Pacific).”

After calculating defense attorneys’ fees and costs, Nichols, sitting on special assignment, said he was adjusting that total upward by a 1.2 multiplier to more than $30 million in a move to punish Cal Fire and state lawyers who represented it and to protect the integrity of the court. He also issued a terminating sanction; that is, he threw the lawsuit out as having little if any foundation.

http://www.sacbee.com/2014/02/05/6132239/judge-orders-calfire-to-pay-30.html#storylink=cpy

[narciso]

Shirley clarice just like the Target servers,

[Narniaman]

The reason the FBI says it's not terrorism is because they were able to identify the perps as some Middle Eastern males who are known to attend a local mosque. . . . . . .

It would only be terrorism if they could tie it to some Tea Party appearing folk.

So nothing to see here, folks. . . move along.

[Deserttrek]

snipers? please! that is the dumbest scare tactic I have ever seen. "sprayed more than 100 rifle bullets" real snipers do not spray. as far as knowing what to hit at a substation, basic high school electricity provides those answers. this is not rocket science folks.

hooligans, amateur terrorists, jack-wagons, who knows. sophisticated snipers, NO.

[Ignatz]

--“The F.B.I. at this time does not believe it is related to terrorism, based on the initial assessment of the investigation,”--

Let me guess the grainy video shows an Army psychiatrist shouting Allahu Akbar as he sprays the place with bullets.

[LA Grant]

How do you square this calming statement: "it is a closely guarded secret what combination of them would have to be knocked out to cause extensive harm" with this little bit of news later on: "the nation’s electric utilities began a two-and-a-half-year program to identify what substations or combinations of substations were most critical to the operations of the continent’s three power grids...."

Sounds to me like the secret is so closely guarded even the guardians don't know the answer.

[anonamom]

But DrJ, who pays that?
CA taxpayers, I assume.

Any chance the two named attorneys will be disbarred, DoT?
At least disciplined in some fashion?

Happy Birthday to you JiB!
What's for dinner?

[DrJ]

anonamom,

Of course the CA taxpayers will pay for it. Where else does the state get any money?

[Threadkiller]

Because the reporer says "sprayed" we are to believe "sprayed."

Duh.

[Threadkiller]

...reporter..

[Threadkiller]

http://www.veracode.com/blog/2014/01/flightless-birds-and-the-future-of-critical-infrastructure/

[Captain Hate]

Reporters writing about rifles, guns and pistols generally use their words more poorly than usual.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

DesertTrek@11:31-- Deke Pledges.

[Threadkiller]

I hate to disagree, CH. I think they use their words very wisely and purposely.

We aren't fooled because we aren't their target audience.

As you can see from Detestablehack's comment above, he is.

[Old Lurker]

Lucianne:

A New York nonprofit improperly diverted $25 million meant to help establish three Obamacare health insurance co-ops to a wholly owned for-profit subsidiary, a congressional oversight committee said Wednesday. The Freelancers Union, which received $340 million in federal loans to set up co-ops in New York, New Jersey and Oregon, gave some of that cash to a for-profit entity called Independent Worker Services.

[narciso]

the gut passage in the story, OL;

Horowitz is a former colleague of President Obama's from his days as an Illinois state senator. They served together on the board of a left-leaning New York think tank, Demos, early in their careers.

[narciso]

I think the headline is flawed;

http://nypost.com/2013/10/24/freelancers-union-rejects-obamacare/

[anonamom]

Thanks narciso. Explains why my cousin the freelancer in NY was so insistent her insurance costs weren't going up "under Obamacare."
Because she's been EXEMPTED from Obamacare.

Another little special union/Dem relationship.

[Dave (in MA)]

http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2014/02/naacp_urges_house_not_to_expel_jailed_lawmaker

The National Association for the Advancement of (a term that you're not supposed to use anymore because it's racist) wrote the the Mass. Legislature to ask that they not expel the convicted woman-beating state Rep. because his appeal is still pending. This guy's mother is a high-ranking Obama appointee in HUD.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

Davein Ma-- words fail. But not surprising.

DEM WAR ON WOMENZ!

[anonamom]

CSPA 3 right now--
Rep Poe and that TX gal who the IRS harassed at length are killing it!

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

Is the Englebrecht(?) woman using the script I suggested in the prior thread?

[Threadkiller]

http://globalresearchreport.com/2014/02/04/retired-four-star-admiral-blows-whistle-on-benghazi-with-new-evidence/#sthash.E7OjVG59.dpbs

[Jim Eagle]

Taking out a sub-station only affects local distribution. Now, if you are truly committed terrorist and want to do the maximum damage you take out a high-voltage transmission tower or corridor. But that ain't going to happen with sniper fire. You need some pretty powerful explosives and go undetected along the ROW.

Taking out a powerplant only removes one of many redundencies in the network.

What is most vulnerable are the grids - east, west and Texas. They are all managed and controlled via computers and everyone knows how easy it is to hack away and gain access to those babies. To me that is the weakest part of the overall system.

[Threadkiller]

A single worker's error led to a massive power outage that swept across Arizona, Southern California and Mexico, left millions of people in the dark and brought major West Coast cities to a standstill, according to a local power company.

The North Gila-Hassayampa 500 kV transmission line near Yuma, Ariz. was tripped offline when a single APS employee was carrying out a procedure in the North Gila substation, according to Arizona Power Service.

http://abcnews.go.com/m/story?id=14478198

[Jim Eagle]

TK,

That theory of "Ace" Lyons is from November of 2012. No one is buying it not even Issa and his band of merry men like Chaffetz and Gowdy. Ace has been out of circulation for a long time and closing in on 90 years of age.

[narciso]

Yes, a trade for their HVT, Abu Al Libi, seems the most logical scenario.

[anonamom]

CSPAN will rebroadcast the hearing tonight at 8 EST.

[narciso]

Speaking of power failure;

http://hotair.com/archives/2014/02/06/emerging-house-gop-consensus-on-immigration-wait-til-next-year/

[Threadkiller]

Can we name all of Issa's victories in his investigations?

http://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jan/16/lyons-benghazi-demands-a-select-committee-in-congr/

[Jim Eagle]

African Aircraft Test Flight

And you thought DoT's grandfather was a brave pioneer of aviation!

[Beasts of England]

Live animals in general, or just goats?

[henry]

Wooly Goats are specified, but pledges show up with an amazing assortment.

[narciso]

that doesn't look like a sturdy air frame, jiB.

[Extraneus]

Mass. college man-in-undies sculpture causes stir

WELLESLEY, Mass. (AP) -- A remarkably lifelike sculpture of a man sleepwalking in nothing but his underpants has made some Wellesley College students a bit uncomfortable, but the president of the prestigious women's school says that's all part of the intellectual process.

The sculpture entitled "Sleepwalker" of a man in an eyes-closed, zombie-like trance is part of an exhibit by sculptor Tony Matelli at the college's Davis Museum. It was placed at a busy area of campus on Monday, a few days before the official opening of the exhibit, and prompted an online student petition to have it removed.

The sculpture is a "source of apprehension, fear, and triggering thoughts regarding sexual assault" for many, according to the petition, which had nearly 300 signees on Wednesday.

The petition started by junior Zoe Magid called on President H. Kim Bottomly to have the artwork removed.

[Beasts of England]

Like the huge banner on the front of the DKE house at Alabama during sorority Rush Week last fall: 'Don't Worry Dads, They're Safe With Us!'

Wish I knew how to link that photo! I laughed like heck, but I'm pretty sure some of the other Dads were absolutely mortified...

[narciso]

well he's getting off a fine start, sarc;

http://hotair.com/archives/2014/02/06/hows-that-push-to-expand-medicaid-going-in-virginia/

[Threadkiller]

.

[Jeff Dobbs]

Mass. college man-in-undies sculpture causes stir

I made a bet with myself before scrolling down: I bet if that that was Ext, there would be a pic involved.

I both won and lost that bet. I hate betting myself.

[Beasts of England]

That's not the same image as the one on my iPhone, TK, but that's pretty damned close! How'd you do that? 'Cause that sure is the DKE house at Alabama...

[henry]

The Alabama chapter has double secret probation envy. ; )

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

THAT's a DKE house at UoA? It looks like the main building at my daughter's fancy pants boarding school. Jeez.

[narciso]

In contrast with the last thread's details;

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2014/02/democrats-block-widow-of-dead-cop-from-testifying-against-obamas-radical-doj-pick/

[narciso]

Lets not pretend this is anything but arbitrary

http://therightscoop.com/boom-attorney-cleta-mitchell-tells-congress-that-doj-irs-investigation-is-a-sham-non-existent/

[Threadkiller]

Google isn't just for lawyering, Beasts.

:-)

[Beasts of England]

The DKE house is an above average-sized house at Bama. The ATO and Phi Delt houses are bigger - about 30,000 square feet. The new sorority houses, such as Tri-Delta, are even larger.

@henry: The DKE's have an amazing record of staying off of probation at Alabama. Unlike the mother chapter of SAE, where they were booted off campus for dealing coke out of their house a few years back. Crazy kids...

[henry]

The mother chapter of DKE got booted at Yale for inappropriate comments... speech codes are enforced more vigorously than criminal codes.

[Jim Eagle]

Boom!

Cleta Mitchell's Opening Salvo.

[Jim Eagle]

Sorry, narc. Didn't see your 1:42.

[Jim Eagle]

“It led me to embrace Jesus Christ as my Lord and savior,” he said.

Can you guess who said that today?

[Captain Hate]

In contrast with the last thread's details

Levin will go crazy on that tonight.

[Beasts of England]

Everybody knows what 'yes' means, henry! ;)

[Ignatz]

--This is long, and perhaps of local interest only (Iggy?) but sometimes it seems state corruption does not win.--

I'm no SPI fan but it's nice to see someone stick it to the state.
That fire not only burnt many properties I had made offers on, it burnt around a beautiful little mountain lake my daughter and I used to go camping at.

Wonder if I can get that judge to come on down and nail my brother for me. :)

[matt]

Has anyone checked when the last time Obama was in church was? He is notable for his non attendance as well as his choice of ministers.

On the subject of taking the grid down all they have to do is wait for a very hot day and disable a moderately large transformer or substation suddenly. The line spike will do the rest.

Grid vulnerability is a major issue that no one wants to address. It's 'spensive! When the power companies became independent of government control, the grid got left in the lurch.

One of the problems with solar and wind is that the sine waves are highly irregular and thus the difficulty of managing surges and drops has increased exponentially. Smart Grid is imperative, but since no one makes money on the grid, it is a redheaded stepchild when it comes to funding.

[daddy]

Even if you're not a pro or a terrorist conspiracy, one guy with a rilfe can do a lot of damage:

One Guy, One Rifle and an Oil Pipeline

On Oct. 4 2001, according to police, Daniel Carson Lewis of Livengood, Alaska, shot a single hole into the trans-Alaska oil pipeline. Because it was near the base of a long, gentle rise, strong pressure spewed 285,600 gallons of petroleum 75 feet into the air, saturating the tundra. The pipeline was shut for nearly three days as workers struggled to fix the leak.

The author of the LA Times story above is Eco-nut Bill McKibben, who uses the Pipeline shooting to call for the shutdown of all fossil and nuke energy sources, and move the country entirely to Unicorn farts:

The alternative, of course, is to take the money now used to subsidize fossil fuels and nuclear power and use it instead to jump-start the conversion to renewable energy sources, which by their nature are decentralized, flexible and unappealing to terrorists. Take, for example, wind power. It is already the fastest-growing power source on Earth, mostly because it's environmentally benign. But now we know it's a security asset as well. An enemy could knock out one windmill, but it wouldn't spew radioactivity and it wouldn't damage all the other windmills. No one is standing guard around the clock on their rooftop solar panel.

I post this also because McGibben is one of the main cheerleaders who is begging for our 800 Mile Alaskan Pipeline to be shut down permanently, so you can see that the Left has been on their "Kill The Pipeline" crusade since at least 2001.

[Jim Eagle]

matt,

Mrs. JiB was in DC last week for business and took some of her lunch time to walk around various parks and historical buildings. One day she inadvetenly walked into rectory of St. John's Episcopal and one of the staff then escorted her into the church. While there she was shown where the President normally sits (which is actually in the middle and not up front). She asked her staff member guide if the President attends regulary and she was told that he does (at least twice a month). She was suprised to hear that but that is what the guy said.

[Janet - the districts lie fallow, while the Capitol gorges itself]

The guy was lying.

[Frau Raketenweib]

JiB - could be his body double. He's a busy man.

[Danube on iPad]

Ace stepped out of the loop 25 years before the Benghazi attack.

[narciso]

I would say his access is limited;

http://www.lionllc.com/Biography.html

it's not an unreasonable conjecture, but the facts are the key.

[daddy]

In other local news, it is essential that we replace Senator Mark Begich in 2014. The ADN releases this Poll showing that Begich beats all 3 of his announced challengers:

Poll puts Begich ahead by a hair in bid for re-election to US Senate

The voter survey found that Begich would edge out former Natural Resources Commissioner Dan Sullivan 41 percent to 37 percent, Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell 43 percent to 37 percent, and 2010 GOP nominee and tea party favorite Joe Miller 45 percent to 25 percent.

And this is worthy of mention:

Perhaps the most interesting element won't be released until tomorrow, in part two of the poll. The group tweeted a hint: "Lisa Murkowski approval: 59/27 with Democrats and 38/50 with Republicans."

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

Daddy-- BTW, 41-37% for an incumbent is just about Dead Senator Walking territory.

[narciso]

Bravin of the Journal, bought every excuse, JAG Couch presented about Ould Slahi, Wuahtani and this fellow;

http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/02/05/3915173/pentagon-to-prosecute-saudi-at.html#moreb

[daddy]

I see now that FOX News is highlighting a comment that Dem Senator Begich has put out concerning campaigning with Obama:

"I want him (Obama) up in Alaska so I can show him where his policies haven't worked. I'll drag him up there to show him what he needs to be doing. I don't need him campaigning for me."

It is all smoke and mirrors and lies. As mentioned yesterday, Begich votes in support of this President 97% of the time.

Watch what Begich does, not what he says.

[Janet - the districts lie fallow, while the Capitol gorges itself]

Victoria Nuland - http://weaselzippers.us/171822-top-obama-official-caught-on-tape-saying-fck-the-eu/

wow....

[narciso]

I don't think they believe it Janet;

http://hotair.com/greenroom/archives/2014/02/05/communism-socialism-and-christianity-one-of-these-does-not-belong/

[Danube on iPad]

Anybody afflicted with "thoughts of sexual assault" upon seeing that sculpture needs help.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

Daddy-- well of course that's true of every politician, but it is most true of a Dem faux 'centrist' like Begich.

97% vote agreement with Obummer. Just a joke.

[narciso]

Now Ace Lyoms did facilitate Marcincko's rise up to a point, within Red Cell, but he was also derided by the likes of Vistica, for being two hawkish in his Nacal Strategy,

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

The Statue?-- I thought it was Putin at Sochi.

[narciso]

Begich is McCaskill is Manchin is Webb, not a dime's worth of difference between them,

[Jack is Back! (From Resetting Safari and Clearing History)]

Janet,

How do you know "the guy" was lying?

[Threadkiller]

Retired Admirals should not speculate.

[narciso]

In the opening to From Russia with Love, there's a dialog among high Soviet officials,
where they strategize their recent setbacks notably at the hands of Bond, they reference
Admiral Radford, who was the leading hawk of that era, the early 50s.

[Ignatz]

--Anybody afflicted with "thoughts of sexual assault" upon seeing that sculpture needs help.--

People who have been sexually assaulted often do need help.

Not having been such a victim I was only afflicted with the thought of pulling one of the arms off and beating the "artist" with it fairly severely, simply in defense of good taste and artistic integrity.

[daddy]

NK,

Don't forget that we only have 700,000 people up here total, and no Senator before Lisa ever won a write in Election. There is great power up here for an incumbent with Federal money to promise to give away money to the Tribes in Exchange for having "helpers" in the villages lining the populations up and writing in the name "Murkowski", or in this case "Begich" for entire villages on Election day. In that regard, we are not a normal state.

We are also under the bizarre situation of having both Republican Congressman Don Young and Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski so far being vocal in saying they like Begich and enjoy working with Begich and that they will not endorse any Republican challenger to Begich. That is lunacy, but I've posted those quotes before.

And there is not a bit of Conservative Media in the entire State save local Talk Radio. None.

So sorry to be such a pessimistic downer.

FWIW, the closest challenger to Begich, Dan Sullivan, is an oddity. The Mayor of Anchorage (who replaced Begich as Mayor of Anchorage), is also named Dan Sullivan. He is much better known than the guy running against Begich, and the speculation is that people answering this poll in general do not know there is a difference and think they are considering Mayor Dan Sullivan as Begich's Senate opponent. I think that perception is true.

Since the Dan Sullivan that is running against Begich is the Natural Resources Commisioner, I think he will shortly take large amounts of incoming flack as the campaign goes along, about being responsible for the pollution at the Flint Hills Refinery, and for the Eco-Propaganda of the Pebble Hills Mine, etc. I've ben paying attention up here for 15 years now and I personally could not pick the guy out of a police line-up.

I wish I could say Begich is a dead man walking, but I thought Lisa was a dead woman walking after she lost to Miller in the Repub Primary, and it's also worth mentioning that Lisa was terrible in the publicized debates. Miller cleaned her clock in every debate, but to the write in voters in the Interior it made no difference in the long run.

Apologies for so much local stuff this morning, but please don't count on our Alaskan Senate seat as in the bag. Begich is a way better "Politician" than anybody running against him, and he will have unlimited outside money for his campaign, whereas the Koch Brothers, because they have shut down their Flint Hills Refinery for pollution, are Public Enemy Number 1 in the Media.

[ebony spleenwort]

Wow, did not know that Victoria Nuland is the daughter of noted surgeon/writer Sherwin Nuland-- he's a pretty good guy. Turned out a classy daughter

[Steve]

"Want to do it again"?

Pepsi MAX & Jeff Gordon Present: "Test Drive"

http://commoncts.blogspot.com/2014/02/video-pepsi-max-jeff-gordon-present.html

[Threadkiller]

Kengor: Moving away from this Christmas example, what about Obama’s attendance at church generally? The New York Times quotes an “unofficial White House historian” who calculates that Obama has attended church 18 times during his nearly five years in the White House, while his predecessor, George W. Bush, attended 120 times during his eight years in office. Is Obama a member of a church?

Smith: Obama does not currently belong to any congregation. After attending St. John’s Episcopal Church and 19th Street Baptist Church in Washington a few times, he decided instead to worship primarily at the Evergreen Chapel at Camp David. However, he rarely spends weekends at Camp David.

http://www.visionandvalues.org/2014/01/vv-qa-barack-obamas-church-attendance-an-interview-with-dr-gary-smith/

[Old Lurker]

Be sure to watch Cleta Mitchell on JiB's 1:55 link.

Now THAT is a lawyer...

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

Daddy-- as far as I'm concerned keep that Alaska senate stuff coming. Personally, I believe the Senate elections are the most important political reality this year.

[Dave (in MA)]

Well,

The Mass. Legislature voted 146-5 to expel the woman-beater. The State House News ‏reports that Reps. Fox, Holmes, Provost, Sciortino, Swan voted against it.

Fox, Holmes and Swan are A-A, for those keeping score at home.

[James D.]

TK, I imagine that Obama's primary place of worship is his bathroom mirror.

[Extraneus]

Anybody afflicted with "thoughts of sexual assault" upon seeing that sculpture needs help.

Reaction from the campus community was mixed.

Freshman Bridget Schreiner told The Boston Globe (http://bo.st/1kcwSkC ) she was "freaked out" the first time she saw the sculpture, thinking for a moment that a real, nearly naked man was lingering on campus.

"This could be a trigger for students who have experienced sexual assault," she said.

Others were more understanding.

"I find it disturbing, but in a good way," English professor Sarah Wall-Randell said. "I think it's meant to be off-putting. It's a schlumpy guy in underpants in an all-women environment."

[Threadkiller]

The basis of Subud is a spiritual exercise commonly referred to as the latihan kejiwaan, which was said by Muhammad Subuh to represent guidance from "the Power of God" or "the Great Life Force". He claimed that Subud is not a new teaching or religion but only that the latihan kejiwaan represents a kind of proof that humanity is looking for. He recommended that Subud members practice a religion but left them to make their own choice of religion.

ttp://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subud

[daddy]

Caller to Dennis Miller sez Janet Napolitano will be carrying the US Flag at Sochi tomorrow. Is this possible?

Apparently so, according to Google: Napolitano to lead delegation at Sochi Winter Olympics

Napolitano’s presence may help cultivate better relations between the two nations, according to Wetzel.

So we're sending a doorknob to a place with no doorknobs. What, we didn't have any spare feral dogs?

[Captain Hate]

Dave, that guy seems like a real POS; just what the legislature wants, somebody in handcuffs being considered a peer. Shocking that the NAACP would ask people to overlook that he was convicted for assaulting a woman.

[Threadkiller]

That jives with Obama's desire to rub homosexuals in Putin's face, daddy.

*vomit*

[Bori]

About the CBO study, I believe the study's explanation is done in a way to hide something that they know will pass.

I'll explain, the report claims that many people will choose to work less, not full-time positions because of ACA. I contend that this is to conceal that there won't be as many full-time positions, as a result of ACA.

Workers will be left with the choice of having to work 2-3 jobs to compensate the lack of 1 full-time position. So while the decision not to work several part-time positions appears voluntary, is it really so?

ACA has created an environment that discentivizes companies from hiring full-time positions, and incentivizes employees from not seeking multiple part-time positions to compensate for that loss.

Portraying the individual decision to dispense with the extra job as a personal one, not one forced by the law is just a neat trick to mask the law's effects.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

Daddy@3:28, too funny.

[daddy]

Jane,

Starting catch-up and just came to your RED EYE question.

Bill Schultz is the name of the guy Gutfeld got rid of:

Here's the replacement again, joanne nosuchinsky:

[Danube on iPad]

Cleta Mitchell was quite powerful.

Retired Admirals are free to speculate all they want, and they frequently do so. But no one should confuse speculation with first-hand factual knowledge.

Issa has no "victories" other than providing a tribunal for the victims to tell their stories, and to investigate their claims. He has no power to prosecute, and no power to establish a select committee.

[Threadkiller]

Issa is more useful than a retired Admiral l because he provides a shoulder to cry on.

[Threadkiller]

Strike out that "I".

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

Last week discussion; speaking of UP snow: http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/photos-snowiest-college-in-the/23009367