Opuscula LA-based Cartoonist Casts blame sans Risk experience

DARRIN BELL¹, a left wing cartoonist living in Los Angeles CA – some 2,336 miles as the crow flies from Miami FL² – has decided he knows why the FIU pedestrian bridge over the Tamiami Trail (US 41/SW 8th Street) collapsed, crushing several cars, killing six and injuring 10 more people.³.

According to Bell, the collapse was caused by the technique used to create the elevated walkway.

I looked at Mr. Bell’s background. He is a 1999 UC Berkeley PolySci grad (that explains a lot) who currently – at least as far as the Wikipedia site (ibid.) states – resides in Los Angeles.

I confess that despite our political differences, I read his Candorville comic daily. His main character, Lemont Brown is supposed to be a web “journalist.” As a former newspaper reporter and editor, his character’s published biases go against my sensibilities as much as the cartoonist’s politics. Still, Bell/Brown provides a window into leftist mentality.

I failed to see any hint that Bell has any risk management experience, or that he has any local connection to the Miami tragedy; I suspect he got his information from others of the same mind; forget facts, they aren’t important.

As a risk management practitioner, let me suggest to Bell/Brown that the tragedy could have been avoided if someone had been risk conscious and used common sense.

Bell/Brown may be correct in assuming ”accelerated bridge construction” (ABC) was to blame for the collapse, but it was not the cause of preventable death or injury.

According to the Miami Herald (ibid.),

the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) said late Friday (March 16) that two days before the bridge collapsed, the lead engineer responsible for the project had left a voice mail with an agency worker saying there was cracking in the structure.

The FDOT worker did not receive the voice mail until Friday, the agency said in a statement that included a transcript of the message from Denney Pate with FIGG Bridge Group, which engineered the structure.

“A crack in the bridge does not necessarily mean it’s unsafe,” Robert Accetta, the lead NTSB investigator, said during a briefing Friday night on the Florida International University campus.

HOW THE ACCIDENT COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED

The tragedy could have been avoided simply BY CLOSING THE STREET while the walkway as being tested or the cables tightened.

If the street was closed during minimal traffic hours, with well-marked detours, traffic flow might have been disrupted for a few hours and there would have been only one fatality, that of bridge worker Navaro Brown who died in the collapse of the span.

As it is, the heavily traveled roadway will be closed for an undetermined duration.

Again citing the Miami Herald,

Florida’s transportation department, in its Friday statement, said it never received a request from FIU or its contractors to close the road for stress testing. FDOT said it had issued a blanket permit allowing for two-lane closures effective from January through April, and that “Per standard safety procedure, FDOT would issue a permit for partial or full road closure if deemed necessary and requested by the FIU design build team’’ or its construction inspector.

What caused the structure to fall remains, as of this writing, “to be determined.”

The Miami Herald notes that

Federal investigators also confirmed an earlier report from U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio that bridge workers were tightening two tension cables inside a support truss located at the northern end of the structure. The work was supposed to strengthen the truss.

Rubio posted a message on Twitter shortly after leaving the scene of the accident late Thursday: “The cables that suspend the #Miami bridge had loosened & the engineering firm ordered that they be tightened. They were being tightened when it collapsed today.”

The cable tightening, along with the reported cracks, added to the growing list of issues that the NTSB will examine. Shortly after the bridge collapsed, local officials also reported the structure had undergone a “stress test.” It’s also too early to say what, if any, role that might have played in the failure.

U.S. Rep. Carlos Curbelo said he questioned why cars would be allowed to travel under a bridge undergoing a stress test. He said he spoke to experts about it and, “They have all told me they’ve never conducted stress tests on a bridge with anyone underneath.”

A little research into past ABC projects failed to turn up any failures similar to the Miami collapse.

However, according to the HNTB web site⁴ – a company that builds such structures – there are at least 11 successful ABC projects in the U.S.

CBS4 News⁵ has learned two of firms that built the (FIU) bridge have been accused of unsafe practices.

Unfortunately for Bell/Brown, nothing supports the claim that the collapse was caused by the technology used to create the walkway.

I’m surprised Bell didn’t manage to blame President Trump for the accident.

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Sources

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darrin_Bell

2. http://tinyurl.com/y9objnkd

3. http://tinyurl.com/y7ypu8oo

4. http://tinyurl.com/ybw8y3bl

5. http://tinyurl.com/ya4u5qby

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

BCPLANNER: Comments on Check facts

Opuscula County MPO asks What I want by 2045: Local mini-buses

THE COUNTY “Metropolitan Planning Commission” sent me a post card (for which the taxpayers paid) asking what transportation options I would like to see in 2045.

Most of the questions had suggested answers relating to cars and trucks, although pedestrians and bus riders were not forgotten.

But there was one thing missing.

LOCAL MINI-BUSES (10 to 14 passenger vehicles) that circulate in the neighborhoods and connect to the “main line” buses, trains, and the airport.

The county is off to a fair start; there is a shuttle – free, too – between the train depot and the airport, and there is an also free local shuttle that goes to major stops, but there is nothing between the shuttle and regular bus stops and the communities on the routes.

I thought about this long before I needed it. Now that I really need it – I no longer can walk from my house to a bus or shuttle stop, especially dragging a suitcase behind me, a la Winnie the Pooh behind Christopher Robin. Those days are history.

Harrisburg PA intended to have a transportation hub at the local airport. I know because I wrote about it for the Patriot-News. I moved on before the idea got off the drawing board, so I don’t know if the airport, buses, and rail line connected as hoped.

That still doesn’t solve the transportation problem for

(a) the folks who need public transportation and
(b) travelers who want to leave the flivver at home when traveling out of town by plane, train, or inter-city bus.

Most counties have communities off the main line.

Some counties, to their credit, have created “Park-n-Ride” options to reduce congestion in downtown or other high traffic areas, letting people park their cars and step on a bus or train. My local train depot has free parking during the hours the commuter trains come through town.

Dade County has a “Park-n-Ride” option at a major choke point where several major roads converge.

Once near downtown Miami, there is a shuttle-for-a-fee service.

There now are two rail options between West Palm Beach and Miami: Tri-Rail and the newcomer, Brightline. Tri-Rail is government; Brightline is private and is intended to eventually extend to Orlando. (Amtrak also stops in my town, albeit not at the depot most convenient to my house.)

I live in a subdivision about ¼ mile from the Tri-Rail/airport shuttle.

My problem is getting to (and from) the shuttle stop.

The subdivision is off a road that runs between two major thoroughfares. On that road are four, soon to be five, subdivisions.

Because we have been “spoiled” by having decent roads, (relatively) inexpensive cars and, compared to most other countries, “cheap” fuel prices, we don’t give a lot of thought to public transportation options: primarily buses and trains.

Until we have to beg a ride to someplace.

Such as the airport or train depot.

Miami International (MIA) is the “big” airport in the area.

I used to

1. Drive down to the airport, fighting traffic.
2. Pay for parking (once I found a spot)
3. Drive back to the house, paying tolls and fighting congestion.

When the government, in its “wisdom" (?) eliminated toll booths and made everything electronic, I had a choice:

• Buy a pass (that I rarely would use)
• Find a longer alternate route
• Travel by Tri-Rail right to the airport – and for less money than driving, tolls, and parking would cost

No brainer.

The train is comfortable – some cars are nicer than others – it has air conditioning and heat – yes, even in Florida we sometimes turn on the heat – and Wi-Fi if I want it. It does NOT have traffic jams (unless some fool tries to beat the train at a crossing – the fools always lose), I have zero parking fees and zero tolls. Wear and tear on my flivver is $0. The fare is $3.75 ($7.50 round trip). On top of that, the ticket sellers at my depot are kind and helpful. At MIA, tickets are dispensed from a machine; that’s “OK” (barely) but I buy all my tickets at “my” depot. (If I rode the rails frequently, my fare would be $1.90 ($3.80 round trip).

TODAY, I can get a free shuttle to within a quarter mile of my abode. I wouldn’t mind paying a small fare to ride from the shuttle stop to my house, or at least to the entrance of the subdivision. I can drag my suitcase from the gate to the common parking area, and then drive the several blocks to the house.

Usually I can arrange a ride to/from the depot with a neighbor – usually.

If there was a mini-bus running up and down the avenue passing in front of my subdivision, I certainly would use it. If that mini bus continued on to the next main bus route, even better – from there I could catch a bus to more stores or to my doctor.

Interestingly, most buses run east-west; few travel north-south, so getting to the local hospital can be difficult sans a car.

If the county officials ask me – and they did – what I think we need by 2045, it is local mini buses with a 10 to 14 passenger capacity; something to get people to the main bus routes. Free would be nice, but there could be small fare.

That’s what I told the country planners.

Will they listen?

By 2045, will I care?

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PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

BCPLANNER: Comments on Mini Buses

ERM-BCP-COOP Ignore risk manager’s Advice or pay penalty

THE LAKELAND (FL) LEDGER¹ REPORTED THAT Michael Petruccelli, the attorney for the risk manager, Patricia Wise-Youngren sued Heart of Florida Regional Medical Center for firing the risk manager after she filed several complaints about LPN practices at the facility.

According to Petruccelli,

“It was our contention that she was unlawfully retaliated against for bringing up concerns about unauthorized practice for LPNs outside the scope they are permitted under law, rules and regulations.

The court, agreeing with the plaintiff, awarded Wise-Youngren US$1 million.

The Ledger article states that

• Heart of Florida permitted and encouraged licensed practical nurses to administer cardiac arrest medications and narcotics and to engage in other acts that were to be completed only by registered nurses.
• Wise-Youngren complained of the practice and refused to participate during a staff meeting in March and April 2014. She informed upper management the hospital “needed to self-report the conduct to appropriate governmental agencies” but was told it was not an issue and the CHS legal team advised the conduct did not need to be reported.
• She filed four internal complaints between March and May 2014.

Wise-Youngren is a licensed risk manager and was employed to oversee patient safety issues.

In Florida, a licensed medical facility risk manager must meet certain requirements in addition to general risk management experience.²

The bottom line for risk management practitioners is to know there is recourse when a client ignores the practitioner’s advice and because of that refusal to act the client (a) is in violation of applicable laws, or (b) endangers a person’s well being.

Will a non-disclosure agreement prevent the practitioner from “whistle blowing?” Probably not, but to be safe, contact a lawyer with experience in the field. I am not a lawyer nor do I play one on tv.

The basic problem with risk management – enterprise as I practice it or medical as in the case of Wise-Youngren – is that a practitioner can “lead a horse to water,” but the horse cannot be forced to drink (act on the practitioner’s advice) – with the two caveats above: violation of law or endangering a person’s well being.

Any risk management practitioner with more than a little time in the business knows that too often clients ignore the professional’s identification of risks and recommendations to avoid or mitigate those identified risks.

How can a risk management practitioner protect himself or herself.

DOCUMENT EVERYTHING

I once performed a risk assessment for an international company. Local management ignored my recommendations and I found myself no longer employed by the company.

Later, when a disaster did occur and the company suffered losses it could have avoided had it implemented my recommendations, I sent a CD copy of my findings and recommendations to the corporate CEO. I later learned that a number of my recommendations had been implemented. (This is the same company that engaged a major corporation to create a “business continuity plan” for it – the plan was no more than an IT disaster recovery plan, and not even a very good plan.)

Risk managers, enterprise or niche, are the Jacob Cohens³ of professionals.

Perhaps this may change if practitioners become “whistle blowers.”

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Sources

1. http://tinyurl.com/yblaucw3

2. https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2011/395.10974

3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_Dangerfield

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

BCPLANNER: Comments on Pay attention or pay penalty

ERM-BC-COOP Bill a good start But is it enough?

FLORIDA’S GOVERNOR RICK SCOTT just signed a bill requiring nursing homes and assisted living facilities to have back-up generators sufficient to maintain 81 degree temperatures (or less) and enough fuel for three days.

But the bill still falls short of what must be done to protect the residents.

ACCORDING TO THE Sun-Sentinel¹,

The new rules mandate that nursing homes and assisted living facilities have an alternative power supply capable of maintaining the temperature at 81 degrees or less for a minimum of four days. Portable power sources can be used, but they must provide at least 30 square feet of cool space for each resident.

Facilities will need to have three days worth of fuel available on site, but assisted living facilities with fewer than 17 beds would be allowed to keep a two-day supply.

A West Palm Beach tv station² reports that Florida law now requires nursing homes to have backup power capability and adequate fuel supplies to maintain air conditioning for 96 hours after loss of electricity.

A LITTLE HISTORY

Back in September Hurricane Irma struck south Florida.³

It knocked out power to many, including the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills. The center is located directly across the street from a fully staffed regional Level 1 trauma center (Memorial Regional). The hospital, preparing for the storm, sent as many patients home as medically feasible; it had empty beds.

The loss of power ended up causing a number of residents to die unnecessarily.

Interesting that the bill requires a power supply able to maintain 81^o F for FOUR days but fuel for the power generator for only THREE days.

Unless the bill demands that the alternative power supply be checked regularly, the bill is a waste of time, paper, and web space.

There are several ways a generator can be fueled.

1. Fuel from an on-site storage tank, preferably underground.
2. LP or natural gas piped to the generator.
3. Propane tanks stored on site.

Underground fuel storage – typically Diesel fuel – usually is the preferred option; there is not a lot of underground gas (LP, natural gas) lines in south Florida (although Hollywood, where the nursing home is (was) located has some gas lines in place).

Assume – always a dangerous thing – that the facility has an underground fuel tank.

Unless the bill requires that the tank be “sticked” to check how much fuel is available AND unless the fuel is checked to assure it has not been “watered down” to the point of uselessness by natural causes, the requirement for a generator is not just useless, it’s criminal.

Now assume that fuel is provided by underground LP or natural gas lines.

Someone needs to install a pressure gauge near the generator to assure the pressure is sufficient to fuel the generator. Lines leak; lines rupture.

Assuming once more, we’ll assume the generator is fueled by on-site propane tanks. Pressure must be checked to assure the tanks are full. If one propane tank is emptied, will the next tank automatically open to fuel the generator or will someone need to be found and told to open the valve on the next tank – possibly sending the person into a 150 mph storm.

EVEN IF the chosen fuel supply is perfect, there still are questions.

• Will the generator start when needed?
• Will the generator provide the required power to maintain 81^o F for four days?
• When was the last time the generator was checked under full load? For how long?
• If the generator need repair, how quickly can a repair person be on site, and how long will it take to fix the problem. Remember, this may be in the middle of a hurricane.

As a young airman in Orlando FL, I know what its like to fight the elements to start generators for the 10 wards of a WW2-era hospital.

Later, working for a shipping company I learned about contaminated fuel from an underground tank.

Been there, done that.

WHAT IS THE ANSWER?

MOVE!

While it never is the best option, sometimes it is the only viable option.

In the case of the Hollywood nursing home, there was a hospital across the street. The hospital, Hollywood Regional (nee’ Hollywood Memorial) had empty beds and easily could have accommodated nursing home residents “for the duration.” (The hospital’s management had discharged as many patients as medically possible and canceled all elective surgeries when it became obvious Hurricane Irma was about to make landfall nearby. This is “Standard Operating Procedure” (SOP) for most hospitals when an “event” – be it environmental or otherwise – is anticipated.)

Residents at the Hollywood nursing home eventually were evacuated to the hospital and other area facilities, but only after heat had taken its toll on a number of residents.

It may be that the generators WILL work and that the fuel supply WILL last until electricity is restored.

But it equally is possible that the generators will fail or that the fuel supply will fail or be contaminated.

BOTTOM LINES

1. TEST the generators every three months or more frequently under full load for at least several hours.
2. Check the fuel for quantity and quality once a week.
3. Check with area hospitals about procedures when an “event” is predicted.
4. Identify which residents to relocate and in what order if relocation becomes necessary.
5. Know what transportation is needed to safely relocate residents and have it available (on stand-by, AT THE FACILITY).
6. Know where the facility stands in the restoration of power; there can only be one “first priority,” and it is likely to be a hospital.

Protecting residents and staff during a predictable event simply is a matter of thinking ahead; think “outside the box” and consider all options.

Waiting until the last minute is waiting too long.

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Sources>

1. http://tinyurl.com/y936tlg3

2. http://tinyurl.com/y8vn6856

3. http://tinyurl.com/y9emmp5m

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

BCPLANNER: Comments on Nursing homes

Opuscula Good for goose Not for gander: Media madness

I CAN’T COMPREHEND WHY suddenly it is unethical, perhaps illegal, to try and persuade voters to vote for this candidate or that amendment.

Trying to convince voters to vote this way or that is what

• advertisements
• political rallies
• polls
• whistle stop stump speeches

are all about.

Millions – perhaps BILLIONS of local currency are spent to win over voters. In some places, political parties still literally buy votes. The old saw “Vote early and often” still applies in some corrupt areas.

So why is Trump being excoriated¹ because someone on his campaign allegedly hired an English company to collect information and filter it to find potential supporters and their “hot button” issues.

No one has accused the Trump campaign (yet) of buying votes; undoubtedly that will be the next unfounded charge.

Does anyone REALLY think a campaign – for anything: person, amendment, whatever – does not try to sway voters?

Get real.

Media gets rich during campaigns selling advertisements for this or that candidate or cause.

Volunteers spend hours calling people to to influence people to support their candidate or cause.

Fund raisers are hired at great expense to fill campaign war chests to fund advertisements, travel, and campaign “experts.”

Campaign managers and their teams are paid to give the candidate or cause a popular “image.”

Pollsters are paid to

• find out how the candidate or cause is perceived
• to find out how to “market” the candidate or cause to the voters
• to determine the voters’ hot button issues; issues that really matter to this or that voter.

I have to ask Hillary’s hangers-on and the media (is that redundant?) why the big deal about the foreign company buying Facebook subscriber information.

Most of the Facebook information is available free – all that’s needed is time to read posters' comments about themselves and others.

Are the Democrats mad because Trump’s campaign apparently utilized the English firm’s findings or, as I suspect, are they upset because they didn’t think of it first.

There is a long history of nasty campaigns in the United States, dating almost to the country’s founding. Two web sites, CNN politics² and Owleation³ report on political exchanges from the past.

Reading some of the attacks suggests that modern politicians have lost a great deal of imagination and command of the language. A sample from the CNN site: "That hideous hermaphroditical character, which has neither the force and firmness of a man, nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman." The “daze” of golden oratory.

With rare exception, the acrimony ceases when the final ballot is counted and a winner declared – or in the Clinton-Trump campaign, when the Mrs. Clinton stopped congratulating herself for a win that escaped her and conceded that Mr. Trump had trumped her. (No hanging chads in this election.)

Did Mr. Nixon reveal Mr.. Kennedy's sexual peccadilloes? He did not. Gentler times? Perhaps.

Were there complaints – long and load – after Kennedy pere bought his sons’ elections. As with JFK’s liaisons with the ladies, the media and the opposing party were silent.

So why, now, do we have the media attempting to pillory the president at every turn?

Granted, he is not a liberal, albeit there are those who claim neither is he a conservative.

He did win the election and, despite the media madness, by legal means.

He has made good on some of his campaign promises; others have been blocked by liberal judges who seem to mimic the three famous monkeys.

The judges objected to his executive order banning immigration – of all residents – of several specific countries known to export terrorism, yet Democrat FDR refused entry of Jews⁴ trying to escape slaughter at the hands of the nazis and their cohorts simply because there might – MIGHT – be a spy in their midst. To be fair, the media also was silent when FDR imprisoned thousands of Americans of Japanese descent with an executive order⁵. (He also sent a handful of German-Americans and Italian-Americans to concentration camps⁶, also sans the benefit of legal proceedings. Again, the media was silent.)

Maybe I’m blind in one eye and can’t see out of the other, but I fail to see that, even if the Trump campaign engaged the English firm, how that is (a) illegal, (b) unethical, or (c) has not been done before sans media madness?

Perhaps Facebook’s owner, a liberal, needs to be charged with selling personal information to the English company. But similar information has been gathered and sold before (and continues to be gathered ans sold – just look at any bank or insurance agreement).

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Sources>

1. This is a word a local talking head was unable to pronounce; she probably doesn’t know the meaning of the word so someone else wrote her script. The word is defined, with audio pronunciation, at https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/excoriate

2. http://tinyurl.com/ybleb6pv

3. http://tinyurl.com/yccvufh2

4. http://tinyurl.com/j4lclsz

5. http://www.ushistory.org/us/51e.asp

6. http://tinyurl.com/y8up58ya

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Comments on Good for goose

Opuscula Expectations Of privacy Foolish dream

IT SEEMS THE LATEST “SURPRISE” is that the privacy of the social media mega star, Facebook, has been compromised.

Is anyone REALLY surprised?

Ditto for all the other “social media.”

Ditto for every database that contains personal, private information.

Including the governments (plural governments).

IN ORDER TO DO ALMOST anything these days you have to share a huge amount of personal information – from name, age, address, and phone number to government ID (in the U.S. at a minimum that means a Social Security number (that, incidentally never was intended to be used as ID outside of tax-related documents). Driver’s license (or other government-issued ID), insurance (health, vehicle, home), and more also are cavalierly demanded by issuers of things people desire.

Worse, people open “social media” accounts (Facebook and others), post highly personal information on them, and then act surprised when they discover someone knows more about them than they think proper.

Apparently the ONLY people who ignore “social media” admissions are in the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the FBI or “fibbies.” Several mass murderers have posted their intent on “social media” and the fibbies chose to ignore the warning signs (the latest being the murders at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland FL).

FBI says it didn't act on tip about Parkland shooter¹

Now there are those who feign surprise that an English company managed to collect information about Americans allegedly to identify who could be swayed to vote for this or that political candidate.

No, Virginia, it was not the Russians; it was a company based in England that raided, apparently quiet blatantly, Facebook’s user database.

The Democrats blame President Trump – he’s their “boogeyman du jour – and the GOP in general for the Facebook exercise; they probably are embarrassed that THEY failed to think of it first. Politics always have been played surreptitiously, much like Mad’s Spy vs. Spy.” )

Hackers don’t need to hack into “social media” sites. All that’s needed is money; money to buy information.

That is nothing new.

People have been buying public information – name, address, phone numbers – for years, and always for one reason: the convince the target audience to buy their products, be it politicians or philosophies, or vehicles or … frankly, just about anything. There are more than a few companies that have selling such information as their primary business.

Democrats and Republicans – and let’s not forget so-called “independents” – don’t have to buy “social media” information regarding a user’s political opinions; all they need to do is look at the user’s "social media" page. Rants against this or that politician or party are usually pretty obvious. Even references to favored art (music, comics, talk shows, etc.) gives a clue.

“Do we want to court this person for our purposes or do we want to avoid – or demean – the person who may not serve our purpose?”

I don’t have a Facebook page. I had a LinkedIn profile, but I took it down. I don’t “Tweet” nor do I (knowingly) have a presence on any other “social media” with the exception of this blog.

If anyone insists on knowing my political position, I am a social liberal and fiscal conservative; a former newspaper reporter and editor who has no trust in today’s media.

FOR THE RECORD

Social Security numbers were first issued in 1936 -- "for the sole purpose" of tracking the earnings history of workers for benefits, according to the Social Security Administration.

Until 1972, the bottom of the card said: "FOR SOCIAL SECURITY PURPOSES -- NOT FOR IDENTIFICATION." ²

According to ars TECHNICA, the White House wants to end Social Security numbers as a national ID, putting it in compliance with the intent of the original 1936 act.³

Rob Joyce, the White House cyber security czar, said on Tuesday that the government should end using the Social Security number as a national identification method.

"I believe the Social Security number has outlived its usefulness," said Joyce, while speaking at The Washington Post's Cybersecurity Summit. "Every time we use the Social Security number, you put it at risk."

Joyce, by the way, is NOT the first in the cyber security management position. The FCW website⁴ reports that Rob Joyce, who once ran the National Security Agency's office of Tailored Access Operations -- the hacking division -- is taking on the role of White House cyber security coordinator.

Tom Bossert, President Trump's homeland security advisor, told the audience at a Center for Strategic and International Studies event on March 15 that Joyce is officially taking the position last held by Michael Daniel during the Obama administration.

BOTTOM LINE

Unless you want everyone to know more about you than you’d tell your best friend:

1. Don’t post anything private of “social media” – the world is watching.
2. Change passwords frequently, at least once every 90 days.
3. Use random passwords, preferably created by a password generator program. (How you remember those passwords is up to you. Post-It notes on the screen are not recommended.

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Sources

1. http://tinyurl.com/y7vdfhy3

2. http://tinyurl.com/y8rn6zgl

3. http://tinyurl.com/ybm2uc5t

4. http://tinyurl.com/y9zcjpem

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

BCPLANNER: Comments on Expectations of privacy

Opuscula Damage property With spray paint Then copyright “art”?

IF A CRIMINAL WRITES A BOOK about his (or her) crimes, should the criminal enjoy the book’s profits?
In most cases the courts have ruled the criminal cannot get profits from the book’s sale.

IF A PHOTOGRAPHER photographs a person walking down a public roadway, can the person photographed sue for “invasion of privacy.”

As before, courts consistently ruled in favor of the photographer.

YET, IN THE U.S. a person with a can of paint can deface private property and then copyright the defacement.

What I fail to comprehend is why, when the “artist” tries to copyright the image, the cops don’t arrest the “artist” for any one (or more) of several charges; vandalism and trespass as a start.

The internet is replete with the contest between H&M, a clothing company, and “street artist” Jason “Revok” Williams.

TO BE FAIR, Williams is not accused of painting graffiti on an H&M property. The suit was initiated by Williams when H&M used some of his work on another structure in an H&M promotion. The “art” was on a private building and Williams wants compensation for H&M's use of his vandalism in an H&M publication.

According to the Hyperbeast site¹, ““The problem [with this case] is the precedent it could set which would make lives more difficult for artists in the public domain.” ” The comment is attributed to (quoting from Hyperbeast) “acclaimed street art photographer Daniel Weintraub known as Halopigg.”

This is not the first time a “street artist” – that, apparently is anybody with a can of spray paint – can “decorate” a private building with impunity.

Recently in New York an “art board” decided graffiti was “art” and a court ordered the building's owners to pay the artist after the owner had the nerve to paint over the unwanted, unauthorized vandalism.

Would the U.S. government – certainly not while President Trump is in office – allow “street artists” to deface Washington monuments? I suppose it depends on who is running the government, Who will be the first to paint holes in Lincoln’s trousers or to turn the Washington monument into the appearance of an ICBM. Maybe paint a hairpiece on the statute of MLK Jr. or write “Womanizer” on any JFK memorial. Perhaps a vandal with an interest in history could paint a car going off a bridge (and killing a young woman) or Teddy cheating on a take-home exam in Government³ on the sides of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate.

The nation would be up in arms. Would the courts smile on the “street artists” and offer them copyright protection?

So why are vandals praised for “decorating” private property sans invitation or permission from the property owners?

I have seen some really great street art, painted on construction site fences. I also have seen some beautiful wall paintings by artists compensated by the building owners; the Bacardi building in Miami is one such place.

The difference between the the private building in New York and both construction fences and sites such as the Bacardi building is in that the former is pure vandalism, no matter how “art worthy” some bureaucrats may rule while in the latter case the art work was invited – or in the case of the Bacardi building, compensated.

The political pendulum has swung too far to the left; it needs to be recentered. (I am not suggesting it should swing far to the right. The U.S. has survived for more than 200 years by striving to find a middle ground.) The courts, which now seem to be making the laws, need to bear that in mind.

Just what is “graffiti?” According to the Encyclopedia Britannica²: Graffiti, form of visual communication, usually illegal, involving the unauthorized marking of public space by an individual or group. Although the common image of graffiti is a stylistic symbol or phrase spray-painted on a wall by a member of a street gang, some graffiti is not gang-related. Graffiti can be understood as antisocial behaviour performed in order to gain attention or as a form of thrill seeking, but it also can be understood as an expressive art form.

The Britannica seems to take a generally negative view of graffiti. Perhaps someone has spray painted a Britannica building.

What used to be a crime (vandalism) is now considered haute culture when the criminal expects to be rewarded for his (or her) crime.

Tell me again, who is running the asylum?

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Sources

1. https://hypebeast.com/2018/3/hm-revok-graffiti-scandal-boycott-implications

2. https://www.britannica.com/art/graffiti-art

3. http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2013/5/27/teddy_boy_senate_1962/

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

BCPLANNER: Comments on “Street art”

Opuscula Common sense, Thing of the past?

THE FATALITIES FROM BRIDGE COLLAPSE In Miami could have been avoided if someone – anyone – had used a little common sense.

I know “Monday morning quarterbacking” often is not welcomed, but now that is all anyone can do. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) are representing the Federal government. Florida’s Sen. Marco Rubio already claimed on Facebook that ¹ cables that suspend the bridge had loosened and the engineering firm ordered that they be tightened. " They were being tightened when it collapsed today." Rubio’s Facebook announcement failed to provide any attribution

Later, speaking at an all-network news conference², Rubio said “We deserve to know and the public deserves to know and the families of those who have been hurt and who lost their lives deserve to know what went wrong,”

The newspaper USA Today parrots Rubio’s Facebook claim³ while the Miami Herald headlines Stress test may have contributed to collapse of FIU pedestrian bridge⁴

In addition to the NTSB, OSHA, state and local agencies’ spokespeople claim their agencies will be investigating.

Miami tv channel NBC6⁵ reports that FDOT says the two companies (bridge designer Tallahassee's Figg Engineering and contractor, Miami’s Munilla Construction Management) were under contract with FIU and it was that team's responsibility to hire a firm to conduct an independent, secondary review. 

The state identified the firm that's not FDOT pre-qualified as Louis Berger. Because the design of this bridge was unique, that's the reason the state said a secondary review was required. No reason was given why Louis Berger wasn't pre-qualified for this work. The firm does do other business with FDOT.

The primary inspection was being done by Bolton Perez and Associates of Miami. FDOT says they are what's called the CEI or Construction Engineering & Inspection team. 

Hindsight won’t bring back the dead

No matter what caused the collapse, the deaths could easily have been avoided HAD A LITTLE COMMON SENSE BEEN APPLIED.

Tamiami Trail, a/k/a 8th Street, Calle Ocho, and U.S. 41, is a heavily-traveled road, both by locals and people living on Florida’s lower west coast. The bridge was built to prevent injuries or death to people going to and from Florida International University (FIU). Most of FIU’s students are commuters; apparently many lived on the south side of the bridge in the Miami suburb of Sweetwater.

No matter what was being done on or to the bridge, the Trail should have been closed until the work was completed.

But that interferes with traffic flow I can imagine government and contractors responding.

Now traffic will be disrupted for days.

Everyone connected to the bridge will have to spend more than a few days in court – and countless thousands for defense attorneys – as the victims or their survivors demand some type restitution.

The Miami New Times, an alternative paper in Miami, noted that Construction Firms Behind Collapsed FIU Bridge Faced Accusations of Unsafe Practices.⁶

Common sense: Close the road while a test or adjustments are made. Whenever possible, do the test or adjustments during low traffic periods, much as many highway projects are done.

There are ways to bypass the bridge site, albeit not necessarily convenient, but available.

Now those “bypass” options will be in effect for days rather than hours.

Simply because no one applied a little common sense.

Six people are dead and more bodies remain to be recovered as this is posted.

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Sources

1. http://tinyurl.com/y7aqxu4a

2. http://tinyurl.com/y8o8wd2x

3. http://tinyurl.com/ycj3gzsn

4. http://tinyurl.com/yco8j83d

5. http://tinyurl.com/ya53qyjn

6. http://tinyurl.com/y9awrpxg

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

BCPLANNER: Comments on Common sense

Opuscula “Most unique” English heard From talking heads

When I was a child I loved to read; I had a library card before first grade. (I had an “in” at the Local Lending Library, the “L³.”)

In school – from primary through college – I always did well in English classes.

When I was a young man I worked as a newspaper reporter (having moved from the back shop to editorial). My bible on use of the English language was the AP style guide.

Later I worked as a technical writer who wrote according to government standards, i.e., U.S. Government Printing Office, Harvard, and Chicago University.

As a husband of a lady who has English as her fourth language, and as the father of three, I always stressed the importance of using “correct” English, both the words and the grammar.

My son, now a cop, has an English degree from a U.S. university. My daughter grew up to become a high school English teacher, albeit one who follows the British grammar rules. (She received her degree overseas where the English influence still lingers.)

It should be no surprise that when we – any of the family – listen to the tv talking heads (“anchor people” and “reporters”) we automatically correct these folks' English.

It’s easy.

The most common faux pas is modifying “unique.”

From the mouths of college graduates come the words “most unique,” “very unique,” and similar attributes.

From Oxford Dictionaries: There is a set of adjectives—including unique, complete, equal, infinite, and perfect—whose core meaning embraces a mathematically absolute concept and which therefore, according to a traditional argument, cannot be modified by adverbs such as really, quite, or very.

Far too often we hear the on-air professionals take a simple sentence and contort¹ it, often altering – sometimes reversing – the intent of the sentence. What’s “right” becomes “left,” what’s “up” becomes “down.”

I’m not 100 percent certain that the talking heads are solely to blame. Many, certainly at the network level, have professional² writers to prepare their scripts. Apparently neither local stations nor the networks can afford editors, fixtures at all newspapers. (I am not equating bloggers-as-”journalists” with newspaper people – from copy boy (or copy girl) to reporters and editors.)

It is not only a lack of English language and grammar that we find objectionable, it is the editorializing in what passes for a “news” story.

While tv stations lack an editorial “page,” stations often set aside time for editorial comments, usually presented by management (which frequently has a better command of the language than the professionals regularly before the cameras).

The lack of education in English – perhaps other languages as well – is not a state or region-specific thing. Locally we have talking heads from across the contiguous³ states; one talking head was educated in California, the other in Florida. Both believe “unique” is modifiable.⁴; in one morning “news” report each incorrectly used “unique” as if the mistake was as catching as the latest version of the influenza virus.

My ears have not been – at least recently – abused by “irregardless,” although “over” rather than “more than” and “under” rather than “less than” permeates both “news” and advertisements.

I realize English is a living language, but I suspect many of the talking heads (and their writers, if any) are making a valiant effort to murder it.

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Sources

1. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/contort

2. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/professional, 2nd definition, a. and c.

3. https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/contiguous

4. https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/unique, see Usage

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

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Opuscula Tillerson is out, CIA’s Pompeo in

WHY DOES TILLERSON’S PARTING ways with President Trump surprise anyone.

Over and over and over yet again Tillerson has been at odds with his boss.

Almost everyone knows, if you work against your boss, you are soon "out the door.”

Especially when you publicly call your boss a “moron.”

WHILE MOST “MAJOR MEDIA” report that Rex Tillerson learned about his dismissal via a tweet, there was an early morning report that the president told the secretary, then in Africa, to come back and pack his bags.

Regardless, it is one thing to disagree with your boss in private; it is quite another matter to disagree with your boss in front of the cameras – especially before cameras wielded for leftist media

According to the New York Times¹,

Mr. Trump announced he would replace Mr. Tillerson with Mike Pompeo, the CIA director and former Tea Party congressman., Pompeo forged a close relationship with the president and is viewed as being more in sync with Mr. Trump’s America First credo.

When you publicly call your boss a “moron,” unless you are yourself a moron, you must know your days as an employee are numbered.

Tillerson should not have been surprised by the dismissal; the surprise is that the president didn’t fire him before.

Debate is good A boss who surrounds himself (or herself) with “yes men” (“yes women”) is a fool. Diverse opinions should be valued and, I hope they are in Trump’s White House. But not before the general public and not before the media proven “out to get” President Trump and his administration.

According to President Trump’s statements to the media, Tillerson’s replacement, CIA boss Mike Pompeo’s thought processes are more in line with the president than were Tillereson’s.

As head of the CIA, while Pompeo can expect tough questions from congress – from both side of the aisle, especially from Sen. John McCain (R, AZ) who lately seems more of a liberal than a conservative. Still, Pompeo probably will be confirmed.

Perhaps – albeit it isn’t likely – having been head of the CIA, Pompeo can either get the left leaning rank-and-file of the State Department to “straighten up” and represent the incumbent president or, as a "new broom," sweep out the people who refuse to follow the secretary's (and president's) orders. State has a well-deserved reputation of ignoring White House direction; this is not unique to the Trump administration.

The president’s choice to replace Pompeo as head of the CIA , Gina Haspel, currently is (a) deputy director of the organization. She apparently had a role in the “torture” of Islamist terrorists devoted to the death of Americans, non-Muslims, and non-like thinking Muslims everywhere.

While this will play into the hands of the anti-Semites, the Babylonian Talmud², extrapolating a comment from the Bible3 states: "If a man comes to kill you, rise early and kill him first. " The Islamists made no secret of their hopes to murder people who are not like them.

Sen. McCain already seems to be preparing to pillory Ms. Haspel.

The bottom line to the Tillerson/Pompeo switch is that if the boss is directing the organization (the U.S.) one way, publicly opposing those efforts is going to get someone fired. That’s usually not going to be the boss.

Mr. Tillerson will soon land a situation suitable to a former cabinet secretary.

MEANWHILE, the NY Daily News⁴ reports that

President Trump’s personal assistant was fired — escorted from the White House without being allowed to get his coat — and promptly placed on Trump’s campaign team, according to reports.

John McEntee was dismissed after being denied a security clearance due to financial problems including issues with online gambling and tax problems the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

But the faithful Trump aide didn’t go far as he was immediately hired by the President’s reelection campaign team.

Apparently, the president stands by people who don’t disagree with him in public.

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Sources

1. http://tinyurl.com/ycujhxub

2. http://come-and-hear.com/berakoth/berakoth_58.html Footnote 18

3. Exodus 22, 1-2

4. http://tinyurl.com/y9os44a8

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Comments on Tillerson

Opuscula Florida considers Abandoning Clock changes

ACCORDING TO NUMEROUS ARTICLES on the Internet, Florida’s legislature is considering keeping the state on Daylight Saving^cq Time¹ all year.

Although this is a State issue, Washington must approve it.

Having just reset several clocks and watches, I am in favor of keeping the same “time” all year. I don’t care if it’s standard time or daylight savings time, JUST LEAVE THE CLOCKS ALONE.

A little DST history, compliments of History Stories, ibid.

• Blame DST on an English gentleman out for a ride in 1905, not Ben Franklin’s critique on the French habit of sleeping in.
• The first implementation of DST was by the Germans in WW 1. The Brit’s “summer time” came on its heels.
• U.S. farmers opposed DST when it was introduced in 1918. Farmers, and this supports this scrivener’s long-held opinion, work by the sun, not the clock.
• The Uniform Time Act, which standardized daylight saving time from the last Sunday in April to the last Sunday in October, although states had the option of remaining on standard time year-round.
• Florida would not be alone in refusing to spring forward and fall back. There are several locations where it is standard time all year ‘round.
• A U.S. Department of Transportation study in the 1970s concluded that total electricity savings associated with daylight saving time amounted to about 1 percent in the spring and fall months. As air conditioning has become more widespread, however, more recent studies have found that cost savings on lighting are more than offset by greater cooling expenses.

To the best of my limited knowledge, no U.S. state or territory has DST year ‘round.

Farmers are not the only people who work “by the sun.”

Most construction is “under the sun.” Likewise landscaping.

Offices and factories are “electrified” – they have artificial light and climate control. When a person goes to work has little bearing on the job. Most humans seem to function better when the sun shines. Perhaps DST is a good thing for the snow belt, but is it necessary to change the clocks twice-a-year even there?

There would be some overtime work for printers and web maintainers who would have to update schedules for interstate and international travelers to and from Florida, but that would be a one-time issue – rather than a twice-a-year task.

IN FLORIDA

Two bills before the State’s legislative bodies, called the “Sunshine Protection Act,” would ask Congress to give the state permission to make Daylight Saving Time permanent year-round. The proposals, SB 858 and HB 1013, each passed their first Senate and House committees unanimously.

According to the Miami Herald²,

The practical impact of that change would mean that on the Winter Solstice — that’s the day in the Northern Hemisphere with the least amount of daylight — sunrise in Florida would be at about 8 a.m. and sunset would be at about 6:30 p.m. instead of 7 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. like it is now.

The Senate version of the bill also moves the western part of the state, which is in Central Time, into the Eastern Time zone, if Congress approves.

Interestingly, Fox News³ can’t seem to “get it right.” It reports that

If the bill passes, Florida will join Hawaii, most of Arizona and a handful of U.S. territories that do not observe daylight saving time.

That’s exactly the opposite of the Florida bill. It is true that Hawaii and Arizona don’t observe DST – portions of Indiana once passed on DST as well – Florida is proposing to observe DST year ‘round. Fake news? Probably not; just lousy reporting and editing.

NEGATIVE APPROACH Orlando tv station WESH⁴ points out five negatives to a year ‘round DST.

• If Florida has permanent daylight saving time, it would be an hour ahead of the rest of the East Coast for much of the year, joining Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the easternmost parts of Canada.
• There would be no more springing ahead and falling back. That means that when the rest of the eastern states switch to daylight saving time in the spring, their clocks would be in sync with Florida from March to November.
• There would be sunny evenings, as those dark winter evenings would become a thing of the past. The sunset in Orlando on Dec. 22 would happen at about 6:34 p.m., an hour later than last year’s 5:34 p.m. sunset.
• Mornings would be darker. The sunrise in Orlando on Dec. 22, 2017 occurred at 7:14 a.m. That would be pushed an hour to 8:14 a.m. if Florida changed time zones.
• TV viewing times would be different. Our live TV viewing would be thrown off. Everything from those long Hollywood awards shows to late-night ball games from the West Coast would end even later than they do now.

The tv station, based in Mickey Mouse country, fails to report that in most cases, it’s whine has no value.

For example, Our live TV viewing would be thrown off. Everything from those long Hollywood awards shows to late-night ball games from the West Coast would end even later than they do now. SO WHAT! Since people get to sleep an hour later, what is the difference? People still will have the opportunity to sleep the same amount of time; 8 hours is 8 hours is 8 hours.

Mornings would be darker. The sunrise in Orlando on Dec. 22, 2017 occurred at 7:14 a.m. That would be pushed an hour to 8:14 a.m. if Florida changed time zones.

Again, SO WHAT!. Does that effect the resort centers’ profits (e.g., Universal, Sea World, Legoland, and the Disney)? In a word, NO! Same number of hours in the day. True, visitors to Florida would have to adjust their time pieces, but visitors from Eastern Standard Time zones to Alberta and British Columbia, Anchorage and Juneau, Chicago, Denver, Dallas, Honolulu, Los Angeles, Seattle, and anyplace beyond the continental U.S.’ eastern and western borders have to adjust their time pieces before and after their travels. Maybe that will make Florida more “exotic”?

What the people of Florida would have to do is set all their electronic time pieces to ignore provider generated seasonal time changes. That means all cell phones, computers and other electronic gear, those fancy clocks and watches that synchronize with the “atomic clock” via WWV’s radio signal.

This morning – March 11, 2017, I set six time pieces inside the house and two outside (in cars). The computers, cell phones, and my solar powered, WWV receiver watch (a gift from my first born) all switched over to DST sans my intervention.

Preventing an automatic switch-over is relatively easy and a one-time thing – as long as the device either (a) remains in Florida or (b) remains in a time zone that has DST. The key is to READ THE MANUAL that came with the device (or read an on-line copy of the booklet). To be honest, as a former newspaper reporter and editor, and technical writer, I DO “read the manuals”. I may be “the exception to the rule,” but I read, and usually hang on to, the documents.

I never understood the need for changing the clocks. Even when I worked a night shift (and loved it), I still was “working by the sun.” When the sun settled in the west, I knew it was time to head to the shop. No matter what time I was slated to work, I still worked eight hours.

There ARE benefits for parents and grandparents – if the time in the sun is up is moved from the morning (Standard Time) to the evening (DST), there will be more time to play outside with the young ones.

This scrivener, for one, will welcome year ‘round DST.

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Sources

1. http://tinyurl.com/ycblqwe3

2. http://tinyurl.com/ydgse2jr

3. http://tinyurl.com/yaodjhjh

4. http://tinyurl.com/y9v3t99t

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Comments on DST

Opuscula Insurer wants To acquire Pharmacy

ADVISEN FPN noted that insurer Cigna wants to buy Express Scripts, a mail order pharmacy.

According to Money.com (http://tinyurl.com/y8dbemd6),

Cigna is one of the country's largest health insurers, and Express Scripts is one of America's biggest pharmacy benefits managers, which administer drug plans for more than 266 million Americans with employer, government health insurance, and Medicare Advantage plans.

This has to cause a skeptic to wonder: What is this going to do to pharmacy pricing?

(Truth in blogging: My Medicare Advantage plan offers prescription home delivery via Express Scripts; OTC medications are provided for several plans in my geographic area by OTC Health Solutions and CVS Health.)

IT MIGHT SEEM to be in the best interests of an insurance company (Cigna) to own “one of America's biggest pharmacy benefits managers” (Express Scripts). The insurer could pressure the benefits manager to in turn pressure ethical pharmaceutical companies to lower their prices; Express Scripts is one the largest players in its field.

But the skeptic suggests that this won’t happen.

Why?

In a word, “Medicare.”

There may be other words, such as “VA hospitals,” military hospitals, and government clinics.

The commonality of all the above is “government paid” medications.

While most of my medications are “free” to me (I have $0 copays), the company providing my Medicare Advantage plan has to pay.

The insurer gets the major chunk of the money I pay to Medicare each month (after having paid into Medicare since it’s inception in 1965) PLUS another substantial sum from our favorite uncle (Sam) for any expenses I might cause the plan. Insurance is, after all, a business; a big business.

Hopefully, I’m wrong and if Cigna buys Express Scripts and instructs Express Scripts’ purchasing agents to pressure the pharmaceuticals to hold the line on prices, perhaps everyone buying prescription medications will benefit.

Money.com notes that

The merger could give Cigna more control over drug prices, which is a major issue for insurers. Rival insurer Anthem said last year that it would partner with CVS to start its own prescription drug plan manager. And UnitedHealth already has its own drug benefits manager, OptumRX.

The Cigna-Express Scripts merger, if allowed, would follow similar mergers between CVS and health insurer Aetna, Albertson and part of Rite Aid, and Walgreen with what remained of Rite Aid last year.

Meanwhile, a federal judge prevented merger attempts between Cigna and Anthem and between Aetna and Humana. The Justice Department sued to block both deals.

Given the Feds blockage of insurers (Cigna and Anthem, and Aetna and Humana), it s anyone’s guess if a Cigna-CVS merger will get a Federal green light as CVS now owns Aetna. (CVS could divest itself of Aetna if the price is right.)

The question remains: What is the likely outcome for the consumer?

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PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Comments on Cigna merger

Opuscula Hatred Trumps Thirst

THE SOUTH AFRICAN CITY OF CAPE TOWN is about to run out of potable water.¹

Israel, which knows a little about water having turned sand into farm land, offered to help Cape Town slake its thirst.

The South African government rejected Israel’s offer.

Apparently it would rather have Cape Towners die of thirst than deal with Israel.

The South African government may be anti-Israel – and simultaneously pro-”Palestinian” – because at one time, Israel provided military gear to the government at the time. (I recall documenting an Israeli-made communications system sold to South Africa in the mid-1970s when I lived and worked in Israel. When you are a small country such as Israel, you are forced to sell to anyone who will buy.)

No matter WHAT the reason, the government is potentially murdering-by-thirst a few million people. Cape Town had a population of 3,776,000 in 2018.²

Despite the fact that Cape Town is located on the Atlantic coast – no shortage of water there, albeit it is not drinkable “as is” – the area is expected to run dry in

According to World Population Review, the ethnic and racial composition of Cape Town is:

• 42.4% "Coloured"
• 38.6% "Black African"
• 15.7% "White"
• 1.4% "Asian or Indian"
1.9% other

With nearly 84 percent of the population non-white, South Africa’s black African National Congress (ANC) government surely is not trying to punish the entire area’s population by rejecting Israeli assistance. But maybe . . .

According to USA Today, in an article dated 7 March 2018,³, Cape Town might run out of potable water “as early as next month.”

Yet the South African government – due to pride or due to revenge – continues to reject Israel’s offer to avert death of South Africans from dehydration.

A search of the web failed to identify any other country or agency (e.g., a UN effort) that has offered help to Cape Town.

The Guardian⁴ reports that

In Australia, the millennium drought, which parched the country for the first decade of the new century, left cities such as Melbourne a year away from running out of water.

This experience has put the country, and institutions like the University of Melbourne, at the forefront of cross-disciplinary research into water security.

Still, Australia seems not to have volunteered its expertise to aid Cape Town. Only Israel stepped up.

Cape Town is not, according to Aljazeera⁵ the only place to suffer the drought; the whole country is in a drought.

South Africa has been experiencing the worst drought in 100 years. Since the 1990s, the country has lost a third of its farms due to water scarcity. As a result, farmers have had to turn to a hi-tech solution to help cope with dwindling water supplies and harsher environments

The drought, if Aljazeera’s article is accurate, is nothing new for South Africa; it started more than three decades ago (the 1990s).

In all this time the ANC – South Africa’s government – has failed to find ways to either combat or at least mitigate the drought. Cape Town, on the ocean is about to go dry. Consider the country’s interior, communities distant from an ocean water source.

Yet the ANC rejects Israel’s offer of assistance.

Was Solomon right again? Does South Africa’s “pride go before its destruction?” (Proverbs 16:18)

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Sources

1. https://www.facebook.com/theisraelproject/videos/10157037905277316/

2. http://worldpopulationreview.com/world-cities/cape-town-population/

3. http://tinyurl.com/yb9sefwa

4. http://tinyurl.com/yce57wju

5. http://tinyurl.com/y8uo4xlw

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Comments on Hatred trumps thirst

Opuscula Gun control: The reality

IT SEEMS THAT MOST POLITICIANS, on both sides of the aisle and at all government levels, are afraid to ban “assault rifles.” They also shy away from banning silencers (noise suppressors), and many close their eyes to large capacity magazines.

How can true assault rifles and silencers and large capacity magazines benefit either the hunter or the home defender?
Asi9de from police and the military, who needs these weapons of war?

Just what defines an “assault rifle?”

According to Wikipedia¹, The U.S. Army defines assault rifles as "short, compact, selective-fire weapons that fire a cartridge intermediate in power between submachine gun and rifle cartridges." In a strict definition, a firearm must have at least the following characteristics to be considered an assault rifle:

• It must be capable of selective fire.
• It must have an intermediate-power cartridge: more power than a pistol but less than a standard rifle or battle rifle, such as the 7.92×33mm Kurz, the 7.62x39mm and the 5.56x45mm NATO.
• Its ammunition must be supplied from a detachable box magazine.
• It must have an effective range of at least 300 meters (330 yards).

Rifles that meet most of these criteria, but not all, are technically not assault rifles, despite frequently being called such.

For example:

• Select-fire M2 Carbines are not assault rifles; their effective range is only 200 yards.
• Select-fire rifles such as the FN FAL battle rifle are not assault rifles; they fire full-powered rifle cartridges.
• Semi-automatic-only rifles like the Colt AR-15 are not assault rifles; they do not have select-fire capabilities.
• Semi-automatic-only rifles with fixed magazines like the SKS are not assault rifles; they do not have detachable box magazines and are not capable of automatic fire.

The National Rifle Association (NRA)² has a long rant about politicians who would ban assault rifles and high capacity magazines and tries – depending on your personal point of view, successfully or not – to justify both.

Caveat: This scrivener is a gun owner and has been safely shooting rifles and pistols since he fired a .22 single shot rifle at age 6. I never have shot a person and I am not a hunter. One of my sons is a police detective, the other, a “civilian” a gun owner. Weapons, when not carried, are secured in a gun safe.

The two most popular “assault” weapons – legally semi-automatic weapons; true “assault” weapons as defined on the Wiki page (ibid.) are not legal in the U.S – are the AR 15 and the AK 47. Both can be fitted to fire military and non-military ammunition.

The U.S. military prefers small caliber (5.56 * 45mm, 55 grain bullet); the AK 47 uses a larger cartridge (7.62 * 38mm, 122 grain bullet); however, both rifles can be chambered to fire heavier rounds. Both the 5.56mm and the 7.62mm are primarily designed to kill humans vs. used as a hunting rifle. The lengths of both (AR 15 = 39”; AK 47 = >34”) make the standard weapons awkward for home defense when considering hallways. (A short barrel shotgun is a better choice.)

Why would a hunter need a 15 or 30-round magazine? If the hunter needs that many bullets the hunter ought to (a) put a scope on the rifle and (b) spend considerable time at a firing range, at least enough so that he, or she, can hit the target and kill the animal with a single shot.

Small (military) caliber cartridges with light weight bullets, are suitable for small game (squirrels, rodents), while heavier bullets are better for deer, boars of the four-legged variety, bear, etc.

While there may be an advantage to using a silencer on a hunting rifle, I never have met a man or woman who hunts to eat that used a noise suppressor. Silencers tend to degrade bullet performance.

For those who may confuse “bullet” with “cartridge” or “case,” the image to the right graphically illustrates the difference. The NRA³ provides a definition for a cartridge (case) and even illustrates the difference between “clip” and “magazine.”

Semi-automatic vs. single shot vs. automatic

Most modern rifles and handguns are “semi-automatic.” Semi-automatic means that the shooter must pull the weapon’s trigger each time to fire. For revolvers (wheel guns), the cylinder advances every time the gun’s hammer is raised; when the hammer hits the cartridge, the bullet is fired. A semi-automatic handgun is similar in that as it ejects a spent (fired) cartridge, it loads a new cartridge into the weapon’s chamber.

The same process applies to semi-automatic rifles. There are single shot rifles in various calibers. The single-shot means the shooter manually loads a round, fires the round, ejects the round, then loads another round.

Automatics – erroneously applied to SEMI-automatics – are weapons that fire multiple rounds either in short (usually three round) bursts or fire continuously as long as the trigger is held back. Military weapons usually fall into the “automatic” category.

Wikipedia provides a definition for “machine pistol.”⁴ A machine pistol is typically a handgun-style machine gun, capable of fully automatic or burst fire, and chambered for pistol cartridges.

Once again, the question must be asked: Who needs a machine pistol to defend their manse? A pistol or shotgun AND TRAINING are far better options.

I am against gun laws that will take self-defense and hunting weapons away from law abiding Americans. I’m also not enthusiastic about registering weapons; that makes it easy for a despotic government to disarm the citizenry.

I AM very much in favor of serious background checks, at least for the first weapon. A cursory check is a waste of everyone’s time and money. Background checks should be similar to background checks for a concealed carry license.

An FBI report⁵ shows that nearly 80 percent of all crimes committed with a firearm are with guns illegally obtained. Less than 5 percent of guns used in crimes were legally acquired at pawn shops (3.8%) or flea market (1%). Less than 1 percent were bought at gun shows (0.7%).

Still, pawn shops, flea markets, and gun shows should be required to meet state laws before handing over a weapon. In Florida, that shortly will mean a three-day waiting period while the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) does a cursory check that, to this scrivener's mind, is too little.

HOWEVER, even with serious – CCW level – background checks, one major problem will still exist. COMMUNICATION There were multiple warning signs that the Parkland FL shooter should NOT have had a weapon – of any type – but there apparently was zero communication between law enforcement (FBI, county sheriff’s office, courts) and state services. It seems multiple “red flags” either were missed or ignored because “it’s not my problem.” In the end, 14 students and three faculty were murdered by a former student who somehow managed to bring a RIFLE “undetected” into the school. (How long is an AR 15. Almost 40 inches from butt plate to the end of the barrel . . . 40 inches !)

At one time I was an enterprise risk management practitioner. Part of my job was to design means to prevent incidents such as occurred in Parkland FL.

While there may – should – be multiple exits from a building, there should only be one secure entrance.

It wouldn’t cost a fortune to implement and no teachers would need to be armed (although that is an option).

The only problem is with the building’s population.

Exits must remain locked and alarmed (push bars can unlock the doors). If a person opens an exit door for a “friend” or to be a “good person,” the alarm needs to sound throughout the building.

All people coming into the building would funnel through two entrances.

One entrance would be for people with current IDs (swipe cards, bar codes, etc.) and one entrance for others. There would be a severe penalty for “tailgating” – allowing someone to enter on another’s ID. (At one place where I worked, the penalty was dismissal – being fired on the spot.)

The other entrance would be for people sans building ID. These people would queue in front of a bulletproof partition and show personal ID, explain their purpose, and then pass through a metal detector. Ideally, the visitor would enter a pass-through chamber with locked doors at both ends similar to those in use at Israeli embassies and consulates. All visitors, including vendors, would enter via this path.

It’s less expensive than arming and training hundreds of teachers who may or may not react appropriately in time of crisis; the materials can be relocated if the facility is abandoned.

Will it happen? Of course not.

It’s too simple and too (comparatively) inexpensive.

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Sources

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assault_rifle

2. https://www.nraila.org/get-the-facts/assault-weapons-large-magazines/#_edn32

3. http://tinyurl.com/ybokwa9d

4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine_pistol

5. http://tinyurl.com/c9dkrx6

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

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