Category Archives: crime
Dots
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, better known as the underpants bomber, claimed there are twenty others like him in Yemen boning up on how to take down airliners. Despite the smoking gun, his lawyer entered a not guilty plea and clammed him up.
Scientists Gone Bad
Thousands of hacked emails between climate scientists were posted on the web this week. The emails reveal attempts by the climate science “mafia” to “trick” data and muscle out opposing peer review publications. Here’s a WSJ story, a Washington Post story, and a Daily Telegraph story. Here are some more useful links.
Do No Harm
Two weeks ago I was in Iraq drawing cartoons for happy soldiers headed home to Fort Hood. A few days earlier I had drawn troops, doctors, and other medical staff at Walter Reed hospital in Washington, DC.
Fortunately, I didn’t meet anyone like Major Nidal M. Hasan. In 2007, as a resident at Walter Reed, Dr. Hasan gave a “medical lecture”. You can read about it in this Washington Post story by Dana Priest. Along with talk about beheading and boiling oil (UK Telegraph) he says, “we love death more than you love life”.
That kind of talk may cause you to miss your flight at the airport, but Hasan was sent to Fort Hood as a psychiatrist. At Fort Hood he gave away his possessions and, while shouting Allahu Akbar, allegedly shot 43 people, killing 13. His former Imam, Anwar al-Awlaki, on the lam in Yemen, called Hasan a hero.
I hadn’t figured on jihad in Texas.
As for claims that Hasan was just one more stressed out GI, David Ignatius, of the Washington Post, thinks the military “may be the most resilient part of American society right now”.
Hating Hate Crimes Bill
The house recently passed a hate crimes bill. If you are unlucky enough to get killed by a mugger and he gets caught, he’ll merely be punished for your murder. But if you hit the jackpot and get murdered because you are gay, your killer will be not only be punished for your murder, he’ll also get punished because he didn’t like the fact that you were gay.
In other words he’ll be punished for his unpleasant thoughts. For Nat Hentoff ‘s thoughts on this, please go here.
