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Samantha Power's Motorcade 60 MPH Hit and Run: What Is a Little Boy's Life Worth In The Great Scheme Of US Foreign Policy?

In April,  Obama appointee UN Ambassador Samantha Power's speeding entourage hit and killed 7-year-old Birwe Toussem at 60 mph on a two lane road in rural Africa - and did not stop because it was "too dangerous". Her staff didn't bother to tell her about it until after they reached their destination. She did return after wrapping up the day's photo-op meetings, at a more leisurely pace of 25 mph. And promised his family she would "compensate them for their loss"

Now, we learn that her idea of compensation was probably less than the rest of her expenses totaled for that single day of her "humanitarian" trip:  $10,000, two cows, and a truck load of USDA "Commodities".

McClatchy DC reports today:

"State Department officials said the cash payment was 1 million Central African francs, roughly $1,700. Cameroon's GDP per person is about $1,300.

"Cameroon's government, aid organizations operating in the area and the U.N. — which also had officials in the convoy — contributed another 5 million francs, bringing the total cash payout to more than $10,000.

"In addition to money, officials said the U.S. government provided a pair of cows; hundreds of kilograms of flour, onions, rice, salt and sugar; and cartons of soap and oil. Still to come: A well that will provide the village with fresh drinking water.

"State Department spokesman Jeffrey Loree called it a "compensation package commensurate with local custom, as well as the needs of the family and village."

The BBC reported on the incident in April:

"Ms Power's motorcade was moving at a fast speed when the sixth vehicle in it hit the boy after he darted on to the two-lane highway near the small city of Mokolo, the Associated Press news agency reports.

"The vehicle that struck the boy stopped, but was then ordered by US security forces to continue travelling through the unsecured area, AP reports.

"Ms Power later met children at a camp for people who fled attacks by Boko Haram, which is fighting to establish an Islamic state in the region. "All of you who are attempting to fight this terror, the United States stands with you,'' she said, AP reports.

"Boko Haram is the most dangerous militant group in the region."

The UK's Independent is very blunt:

"The news agency said the motorcade was traveling at speeds of more than 60 mph, while villagers lined up along the sides of the road.  ....

"The vehicle that hit the boy initially stopped but was ordered by American security forces to continue traveling through the unsecured area. An ambulance in the US caravan immediately attended to him.

 "......The motorcade moved at a significantly slower pace for the rest of the day. "

Even the NYT notes the convoy used a safer speed "for the rest of the way" :

 "Ms. Power was not informed of the accident until after she arrived in Mokolo for her first meeting, with a local official.  ...[After the day's meetings concluded, Power returned to the scene of the accident.] Mr. Cooper said her security officials had balked at returning to the village, but Ms. Power had insisted, saying, “I’m going.”

"This time when the convoy arrived in the village, there were no laughing and waving children running on the side of the road. Instead, hundreds of villagers, surrounded by dozens of black-clad Cameroonian soldiers, stood near the road, staring stone-faced at the motorcade.

"The vehicles, engines idling, sat on the road for 30 minutes as Ms. Power went in to pay her respects to the boy’s parents.

"When she got back in her car, the convoy resumed its journey. For the rest of the way, it continued at a speed of about 25 miles per hour."

Why did I mention above that Samantha Powers is an Obama appointee? Because her response to this incident reflects the callous disregard of this Administration in general for principles of common decency, and a complete failure to learn and apply lessons from history.

Yes, she did return after learning about it, but we see no sign that she considered it more than the proverbial "tragic accident". Her only statement about it has been  to say at the time that "...she learned of the death with "great sorrow." She said she met with the boy's family to "offer our profound condolences and our grief and heartbreak."

Nothing to admit that these speeding convoys of armored vehicles have no business tearing through rural villages on roads lined with the very people they are supposed to help at speeds that would be illegal in the US.  Nothing to admit that driving away after running over a human being is morally reprehensible, and a felony in most US states. Do she and her team have "Diplomatic Immunity" for doing something that in America carries as much as 15 years in jail  and treble damages in civil claims?  American soldiers are prosecuted , by either local courts or US Military courts, for leaving the scenes of accidents in foreign countries, and face jail regardless of fault or even if they were unaware of the accident.

Throughout Donald Trump's life and career are story after story of him responding immediately to help when he sees something happening: stopping his limo to confront a mugger or sending his own plane to transport a sick child. We still see this during the campaign, with CNN reporting that  Mr Trump :

" completely stopped his speech after a woman in the crowd fainted.

"Is she OK?" a stern-faced Trump inquired multiple times, in addition to calling for a doctor and demanding his aides get the woman a glass of water.

"We love our people, we've got to take care of our people," Trump said. "Who cares, we'll hold it for a couple of minutes."

...."After a couple of minutes passed, the woman gave Trump the OK to continue. Trump told the woman to rest backstage and to return for the end of the speech.

"And if she wants me to stop, I'll stop on a dime."

I just have a feeling that President Trump would expect his appointees to follow the same rules in other countries that he would expect them to follow here: the same for everybody.


UPDATE: Thanks to Bill Quick over at Daily Pundit for the link!

Post Brexit, This Takes On A Whole New Relevance

We liked this so much, we even bought the book! "A Triune Tale of Diminutive Swine by John Branyan" Enjoy!

Why I Am a Christian (David Wood, Former Atheist)

A chilling, terrifying story. But like all Christian lives, this one "begins again" with redemption.

"It Will Soon Be Time To Believe In America Again"

via Daily Pundit:

​Mr. Donald J Trump's Statement on the British Referendum on E.U. Membership (aka "Brexit"):

" The people of the United Kingdom have exercised the sacred right of all free peoples. They have declared their independence from the European Union and have voted to reassert control over their own politics, borders and economy. A Trump Administration pledges to strengthen our ties with a free and independent Britain, deepening our bonds in commerce, culture and mutual defense. The whole world is more peaceful and stable when our two countries – and our two peoples – are united together, as they will be under a Trump Administration. 

" Come November, the American people will have the chance to re-declare their independence. Americans will have a chance to vote for trade, immigration and foreign policies that put our citizens first. They will have the chance to reject today’s rule by the global elite, and to embrace real change that delivers a government of, by and for the people. I hope America is watching, it will soon be time to believe in America again."

The Orlando Terrorist Attack, Self Defense, And A Sobering Reality Check

For your own sakes, people, either walk armed or else refuse to go places that do not allow ordinary people to defend themselves. Gay or straight, black or white, Christian or Jew, children or adults, we have all suffered from the murders of people trapped in those despicable "Gun Free Zones".

The tragedies have become numbing. It was only by the grace of God that Anti-American Anti-Trump rioters in San Jose did not kill some innocent citizen under the very eyes of the police, who watched unmoving as many were traumatized. Last week, nine American soldiers drowned in one of the flash floods that every year kill more people than any other weather event. This weekend, scores of people were gunned down in yet another act of war against our civilization. May our Father God bring comfort to the those whose loved ones were killed, and healing to those who were injured.

After San Jose, we looked for ways to protect oneself against mobs. In the tragic deaths of strong people against rushing water, we saw the need for more urgent flood safety education. And now, looking once again at a group of defenseless people shot down without mercy, we see that self-reliance and self-defense and self-preservation are the only means by which we can assure our own safety and that of our neighbors.

Because nothing any government official or agency or law or employee does is going to save our lives from people bent on killing us. We MUST take charge of our own safety and demand the mealy-mouthed elite stop hiding behind their PAID ARMED GUARDS, stop using us as their shields, and stop gambling with our lives when they won't take an unprotected step with their own.

No one can vote away my right to defend myself - or yours. The ancient, indigenous American culture of gun use and carry - not just for adults or "non-convicted" - that was a part of life in these United States from 1492 until the 1980s, has been eroded by people who HIRE THEIR GUNS while trying to eliminate ours.

Paul and I made a decision several months ago that we will not go into buildings that do not allow the public to bring their guns. Places we can't avoid, such as the doctor's office and Courthouse, we will respectfully make known our opinion. Otherwise, we have choices (such as shopping at Kroger and not at HEB), and we make them.

While we always have to be aware and willing to protect and defend ourselves and our neighbors, there is an additional element when the danger comes from foreign elements - whether or not the "actor" is a US citizen or not. The word for terrorists who happen to hold US citizenship is: Traitors. Traitors are citizens who commit acts on behalf of foreign elements.

Terrorists are people who commit acts on behalf of foreign interests: they are, by definition, "enemies foreign and domestic", and it is the job of our governments to protect us from them. In fact, that is the PRIMARY (and some say ONLY) job of government: to protect citizens and our lands from damage or injury or incursion by foreign interests.

When it comes to terrorists and traitors, Stefan Molyneux has a reality check, and a history lesson for people who really care about saving lives of Americans who believe in liberty. It's long, but you don't want to miss the last part either, because we have hard choices to make. He says it all far better than I can:

Daily Pundit: "If You Can Vote For Trump This Week, Go Vote For Trump This Week"

Bill Quick reminds everyone in places with primaries or caucuses how important your vote STILL IS:

"For those of you who would actually like to stop Crooked Hillary’s headlong attempt to win the White House by armed robbery and corruption, and who would like to see a President who intends to end and reverse a significant part of the damage the Obama administration has done, you really have only one choice, and that choice is now Donald Trump.  

"We need to see as many votes for him this coming Tuesday as possible.  Let’s break all the records.  Let there be no more doubt in anybody’s mind who will be the GOP nominee and our next President."

Bill points out that in politics, momentum counts, and that is something we can still affect as individuals with our votes. This means you California, New Jersey, New Mexico, South Dakota, and North Dakota. Go vote for Mr Trump!

San Jose PD Tips On How To Survive Mob Attacks

They will not protect us. The police in blue city after blue city have shown they will refuse to prevent mobs from assaulting innocent citizens who have a normal reason to be where they are. This past week, it was San Jose California law enforcement. San Jose Mayor Liccardo hosted an event for Hillary Clinton the week before, so I guess he thought that meant she had "dibs" on ol' sanctuary San Jose. And the Chief of Police just came right out and said police feared if they defended the people getting beat up, it might make the mob "turn on the officers"... so they didn't.

I am working on a post for tips about how to stay safe when attacked by violent mobs, because I can't seem to find a good article about it. But in the mean time, the San Jose Police Department and Sheriff's Office did give us clear examples of what they do to avoid being assaulted or injured when attacked by a mob aka "protesters".

Despite a mob so predicated on violence that dozens of peaceful ordinary citizens were assaulted, beaten, brutalized and made to fear for their lives for doing the most ordinary thing there is in America, law enforcement was able to get through with only one minor injury and a claim of "four arrests"!

AND, thanks to their sharp thinking, no members of law enforcement were egged, brutalized, spat on, chased down, punched from behind, had their clothing ripped off their backs, had to run for their lives, were kept from entering safety by armed badged men holding the doors shut, or had their cars rocked and pounded. That only happened to decent citizens.  And no, they did not 'deserve' it.

Obviously, the police in San Jose know something the rest of us need to know.

I'm no expert. I know nothing about personal protection or defensive manouvers. But since the SJPD are and do, I carefully reviewed a number of different videos to find some practices the San Jose Police Department used that look to me to maybe be effective in protecting and serving the innocent citizenry too:

Model the San Jose police: Back to the wall - Notice all those San Jose Police lined up against the buildings? The ordinary citizens under attack were often trapped between law enforcement and the mob, effectively protecting the police from the angry brawlers. I think this is the same man who was earlier surrounded by a bullying mob and finally reached "safety".

Model the San Jose police: Stay together .

Model the San Jose police: stay inside and bar the doors until "somebody else" disburses the mob. This brave woman refused to bow to the brutality, and went from door to door to find away in. Police watched from inside and refused to open the door for her until men in suits showed up and signaled for them to do so.

Model the San Jose police: victimized groups can maintain a tight defensive circle that protects all in it from being isolated and targeted.

Model the San Jose Police: There is safety in numbers. Be sure there are more of you than of the mob.

Model the San Jose Police: Keep moving, together, away from the crowd and away from the most chaotic areas. Oh look! At the end of the day, the Sheriff's Deputies finally take down a protester - but he was far away from anyone.. hmmm... OH now they are taking down a protester holding a Free Speech sign who also does not seem to have done anything and was not near anyone...  I wonder if these were among the 4 arrested?

Model the San Jose Police: Wear a uniform, helmets and carry shields. Maybe we all need a hard hat! All the videos seem to show that men in suits and ties are ignored by all protestors.

Model the media: carry a big camera. People in America, citizens or visitors, understand to treat media as neutral parties. Even the bad guys want it on film.

Model the San Jose police: be a group of BIG, fit, strong men, with a military bearing to influence mobs to prefer conversation to physical confrontation. You will still need to stay together, and instead of the police-issue nightstick, normal people can carry a big camera. Here are some guys doing a good job of all of that.

And at the end of it all, of course, there's always "Crime Stoppers":

"San Jose police are asking anyone with information about physical assaults at the Trump rally to contact their Assaults Unit at 408-537-4161 or "311". Persons wishing to remain anonymous may call the Crime Stoppers Tip Line at 408-947-STOP (7867). Persons providing information leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspect may be eligible for a reward from the Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers."

One Adam 12, we miss you.

THIS is what Hispanic America looks like!!!!! #LatinosForTrump

Thank you, Mark F, Angelo Gomez, and everyone in this video for showing the world the kind of good people, dear friends, beloved family, and patriotic neighbors we in Texas see every day!

"The most patriotic Americans are immigrants who came here, not for what they could get here, but for who they could BE here."

(Be sure and watch all the way through. The compilation of voices starts about 1:40 in)

@Immigrant4trump #LatinosForTrump

Hubbubs Over Haboobs

In an article titled "Arabic weather term ‘haboob’ is apparently troubling for some Texans",    Washington Post Weather Editor Jason Samenow claims Texans and Arizonans are "prejudiced" if they object to using exotic neologisms from half a world away to describe local phenomena. He wrote:

"Of course, the actions of a few shouldn’t color all Texans and Arizonans as prejudiced."

But he didn't cite a single comment that talked badly about people or races or ethnicities - all specified the difference in REGIONAL weather terminology as opposed to global. Every comment clearly objected to sudden use of rare and impenetrable words for the simple reason that they are unintelligible to the audience.

But does Mr Samenow comprehend the actual words his audience uses, listening to them at face value? No. Instead, he and other weather writers project onto them attitudes, intentions and histories from their own minds. They turn defensive, never imagining that this is not a debate about nations or culture, but instead about the rules of effective communication.

Clueless and projecting, these weather writers seem to think people who have listened to weathermen describe dust storms and sand storms for fifty years using words like "dust storm" and "sand storm", should not object to media suddenly deciding to boycott effective, descriptive terms in favor of  too-cute-by-half virtue signals that are so obscure the only English use prior to 2001 that even meteorologists can find is:

"a 1925 paper in the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society was titled “Haboobs.” "

In 2014, faced with similar objections, National Weather Service's Dan Satterfield quoted  the American Meteorological Society atmospheric science dictionary. Note that in March of 2014, the word was still applied ONLY to the country of Sudan, and only portions at that. Officially, in 2014, "haboob" had no relationship to any dust storm or sandstorm outside that tiny region - and the definition itself was originally described in 1925:

HABOOB
(Many variant spellings, including habbub, habub, haboub, hubbob, hubbub.) A strong wind and sandstorm or duststorm in northern and central Sudan, especially around Khartoum, where the average number is about 24 a year.
The name comes from the Arabic word habb, meaning “wind.” Haboobs are most frequent from May through September, especially in June, but they have occurred in every month except November. Their average duration is three hours; they are most severe in April and May when the soil is driest. They may approach from any direction, but most commonly from the north in winter and from the south, southeast, or east in summer. The average maximum wind velocity is over 13 m s-1 (30 mph) and a speed of 28 m s-1 (62 mph) has been recorded. The sand and dust form a dense whirling wall that may be 1000 m (3000 ft) high; it is often preceded by isolated dust whirls. During these storms, enormous quantities of sand are deposited. Haboobs usually occur after a few days of rising temperature and falling pressure.
Sutton, L. J. 1925. Haboobs. Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc.. 51. 25–30.

Weather writers who use the word are ignoring its etymology in their drive to muddle their vocabularies.

Claims that this silly-sounding (to English-speaking ears) word from 1925 has 'been in common use' for years are false and misleading. The entry in the American Meteorology Society's Glossary was updated a few months later , in Dec 2014, to enable it to support the claims. Yet, aside from the original 1925 description, they found only a single other scholarly use to cite, from 1972:

"The name comes from the Arabic word habb, meaning “wind.” The term “haboob” originated as a description for wind and sandstorms/duststorms in central and northern Sudan, especially around the Khartoum area, where the average number is about 24 per year, with the most frequent occurrences from May through September. However, the term is now commonly used to describe any wind-driven sandstorm or dust storm in arid or semiarid regions around the world, and haboobs have been observed in the Middle East/Arabian Peninsula, the Sahara Desert, central Australia, and the arid regions of southwest North America, from the Sonoran Desert of northwest Mexico and Arizona to the western portions of the Great Plains of the United States..
References:
Idso, S. B., R. S. Ingram, and J. M. Pritchard, 1972: An American haboob. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 53, 930–935,doi:10.1175/1520-0477(1972)053<0930:aah>2.0.CO;2. [1]
Sutton, L. J. 1925. Haboobs. Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc.. 51. 25–30. 

Categories: TermTerms H

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The Thesaurus.com entry for synonyms of "Sandstorm" lists:
black blizzard, devil, dust devil, duster, harmattan, khamsin, peesash, samiel, sand column, sandspout, shaitan, simoom, sirocco

"Haboob" is also not even on the list of fifty synonyms for dust storm in PowerThesaurus.org.

Google Ngram's search of books back to the year 1800 shows the long and respectable history of the accepted terms: sand storm, and even more common, dust storm.  Despite its invention in the Roaring Twenties, it is obvious that "haboob" has been rarely, if ever used in print since it was coined, through the Millenium Year.

Google Ngram:


"Now commonly used to describe any wind-driven sandstorm or dust storm"  Sure. So common the literature only contains two references. I don't gamble. but I would bet no meteorologist who graduated before 2001 ever heard or used the word "haboob" in school.

Obviously, the silly word never quite "caught on". It is silly sounding, it's proponents don't offer any meaningful history to support its adoption, and it is needlessly obfuscative. Replacing clearly descriptive terms with a nonsense word benefits no one, although it does give us a chance to see which meteorologists disdain their audiences.

American English is a language that easily and happily adopts words from every other language and makes them our own.  And guess what? We Texans knew that and were adopting foreign  words long before Samenow, Satterfield, et al had the hubris to project their own motives into the push-back they got for making their forecasts unintelligible.

Texans are not objecting to the natural adoption or coinage of new words from any source.

Texans are not objecting to the adoption of "Arabic" words or words from any language that are useful for conditions where extant  English terms are lacking in specificity, eg "sirocco".

What Texans are objecting to is silly weather writers trying to prove their leftist globalist sensibilities while they look down their long long noses at their audience, trying to shame their legitimate critics while gleefully crowing "They didn't even know what "haboob" means! Can you imagine?".

For some progressive weather writers who put their politics before their science, their use of non-standard words may be about race or religion or culture or immigration or national borders or any other political issue.

But don't project that onto us, because politics has nothing to do with it for the people you disparage without cause.

 For US, it is about safety, and the proper use of settled language to communicate safety information.

When it comes to weather reports, in Texas our lives and property are at stake. We need clear, comprehensible data unhampered by foolish philosophical urges.  Just because you are bored with saying the same old things the same old ways, does not mean it will help us to change standardized terms, words, and phrases.

We don't have time to try to figure out what you mean if you wake up one morning and decide to announce that  "Brown County is under a Gorwynt warning until 15:00 GMT. A Gorwynt has been sighted and all residents are advised to sich unterstellen immediately."

When it comes to weather, speak clearly and communicate effectively. If you want to provide forecasts in foreign languages, go for it, but make sure you are using the established language of your "hearers" or else they won't understand you.

Our lives and safety depend on it.


6/2/16 Update: Thanks to Bill Quick at Daily Pundit for the link!