Random News and Notes 5 September
The FBI seems to have prevented a mass shooting at a preschool in Carteret County NC. It appears that Google forwarded a potential threat to the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center on Aug. 31 after linking the account to another belonging to one Zachary Charles Newell, who under the username “CommentatorsHateMe,” posted a comment on YouTube indicating his intention to “shoot up” a preschool and kill black children.
. . . and kept families whole.
The Carteret county Sheriffs office affected the arrest. A state magistrate released Newell on a $30,000 bail. The feds then arranged for him to be re-arrested to face federal charges.
I’m not sure where I fall on this one. This has a very Minority Report pre-crime feel to me. I’m quite sure I have made comments in the past online that could be taken in a very negative light. Do I deserve to be banged up for them? I don’t think so.
We’ve spoken about the US Navy’s deployment to the southern Caribbean a couple of times since it was announced. Well, there is more news on the subject. It seems that Maduro wants to find out at a pretty high level. He sent two VZ military aircraft to fly close to the US ships in the area.
I said before that a war with Venezuela is unlikely. I still think that is the case, but it seems I forgot one of the Cardinal rules of situational assessments: your adversary has a say. Hopefully Maduro and those around him stop getting high on their own supply long enough to realize there is only one way it ends if they actually do something.
A three judge panel of the 11th Circuit court of appeals gave Florida and the Trump administration a big win yesterday. The 2-1 opinion vacated the order from district judge Kathleen Williams requiring Alligator Alcatraz be emptied and the site returned to the condition it was in pre-detention center. The order also precludes the judge from making any rulings on the matter until the appeal is heard.
There are a couple of big issues at play here. First and foremost is the fact that Judge Williams does not have jurisdiction. She is a judge in Florida’s Southern District. Alligator Alcatraz is in the Middle District. Several southern district judges have refused to hear related cases over the jurisdiction issue. Second, Alligator Alcatraz is owned and operated by the state of Florida, not the feds. As such, the law Williams used as the basis for her order – FEPA – is inapplicable.
While I am not an attorney, I do not see any way this case – at least the one in front of judge Williams – goes anywhere other than the trash bin.
The jobs report is out. It seems job growth was less than expected for the reporting period, 22k new jobs vs 75k forecast. What does that mean? According to economists, it points to a slowing economy. Or not. Who knows?
Meanwhile:
- Unemployment ticked upward to 4.3% from July’s 4.2%.
- Private sector employment gained 38,000 jobs while federal government employment decreased by 15,000.
- Hourly wages rose by 0.3% or 10 cents.
- Labor force participation rates remained steady.
This report is a dogs breakfast. Now, as an informed layman I see some things here that are troubling and some things that give me hope.
The bad? The sectors with the highest job growth are government adjacent: Health Care and social services. Those sectors are (mostly) paid for with taxes.
The good? Deep in the cross tabs there are indications that jobs that would have been going to H1B visa holders are now going to Americans.
We’ll see going forward if I’m right about any of this.
Today marks a very sad anniversary. It is the 53rd anniversary of the murder of 11 Israeli athletes abducted from the Olympic Village in Munich. They were killed by Black September, a terrorist organization linked to Fatah – Yasser Arafat’s faction of the PLO – during a rescue attempt.
Shot during the initial break-in
- Moshe Weinberg, wrestling coach
- Yossef Romano, weightlifter
Shot and killed by a grenade in eastern-side helicopter
- Ze’ev Friedman, weightlifter
- David Berger, weightlifter (survived grenade but died of smoke inhalation)
- Yakov Springer, weightlifting judge
- Eliezer Halfin, wrestler
Shot and killed in western-side helicopter
- Yossef Gutfreund, wrestling referee
- Kehat Shorr, shooting coach
- Mark Slavin, wrestler
- Andre Spitzer, fencing coach
- Amitzur Shapira, track coach
Shot in control tower during the gunfight
- Anton Fliegerbauer, West German police officer
The abductions and killings proved to be a bad idea for Fatah and Black September. The Mossad launched Mivtza Za’am Ha’El or Operation Wrath of God. Over the next 20 years Mossad hunted down everyone involved in the Munich massacre and killed them. The last killing of someone directly related to the massacre happened in 1992 when Mossad operatives killed Atef Bseiso, the then PLO head of intelligence.
זכרונם לברכה (May their memory be a blessing)
