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NSA Chief Built Star Trek Like Command Center
Bruce66423 writes "As the NSA scandal moves from appalling to laughable, the latest report in the Guardian indicates that the current NSA chief spent US taxpayers' money to create a command center for his intelligence operations that was styled just like Star Trek. From the PBS News Hour report: 'When he was running the Army's Intelligence and Security Command, Alexander brought many of his future allies down to Fort Belvoir for a tour of his base of operations, a facility known as the Information Dominance Center. It had been designed by a Hollywood set designer to mimic the bridge of the starship Enterprise from Star Trek, complete with chrome panels, computer stations, a huge TV monitor on the forward wall, and doors that made a 'whoosh' sound when they slid open and closed. Lawmakers and other important officials took turns sitting in a leather 'captain's chair' in the center of the room and watched as Alexander, a lover of science-fiction movies, showed off his data tools on the big screen. "Everybody wanted to sit in the chair at least once to pretend he was Jean-Luc Picard," says a retired officer in charge of VIP visit '"
We ALL wear red shirts.
That's an interesting insight. In Star Trek the "red shirts" are members of the same crew as the rest of the people wearing other shirt colors. I'm not sure that I can think of many cases where the "red shirts" were killed by their own crew, I believe it was almost entirely killing done by the enemy. That enemy was often unseen until it killed a red shirt, and then threatened or attempted to kill the rest.
Well, just a reminder that there really is an enemy out there (not the NSA), and now they are activating their cloaks. Is it solely to escape, or to strike by surprise? I guess as red shirts we'll eventually find out.
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
How apropos. A False Comparison Between Terror Deaths and Bathtub Deaths
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
Instead of living in fear, many people are living in denial. Your statement, "quit being dicks on the international stage and stop being involved in political coups" has nothing to do with al Qaida's goals. Nothing. Bin Laden's first demand in his letter of America was that the US convert to Islam. The second was, in short, to replace the Constitution with Sharia law. It looks like you are projecting your political beliefs instead of observing what it is that they actually want. That is a recipe for failure, a recipe for disaster. It is more of the same: Westerners not listening to third world peoples, and their goals - a complaint I expect you would recognize. They are aggressive imperialists that want to turn the clock back 1,000 years to when their civilization was powerful, and directly threatened Europe with conquest, not some randomly aggrieved anti-colonialists.
The Future of Terrorism: What al-Qaida Really Wants
Claiming that an enemy that has managed to kill 3,000 people in a single day "isn't a threat" isn't rational, it isn't fear, it's denial.
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
Your entire post seems to be an instance of what you list as "Flaw 4." Based on your own standards I think we can take your post as nonsense.
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
If people can acknowledge that al Qaida poses a threat, and are trying to do everything they can to harm us, and all it takes is a symbolic condemnation of the US government as "terrorists," I suppose that is a start back towards sanity. We'll just treat it as a crutch.
For what it is worth to you, al Qaida and the Taliban fighting in Syria constitute a minor percentage of the rebel forces. If we were going to work with them at all it would have been much better to have done it several years ago, before it became a real draw for the Islamists. I suppose that would have been too much to hope for.
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
The difference between your son and his pony versus al Qaida and their goals is that they are willing to kill large number of people to get what they want. They have destabilized multiple countries and posed a genuine threat to the governments.
In one sense it really doesn't matter if they are going to win or not, but rather that they will continue to fight, and kill, and destabilize.
Your claim that, " al-Qaida has virtually no ability to strike the West with any force" is proved false by the terrorist attacks in London and Madrid, not to mention the Bali bombing, that occurred after 9/11. The British intelligence services are very concerned about the threat there. There have been many more attempts that could have caused mass casualties, including in the US. In the US there have been multiple attempts to use vehicle bombs to attack various cities, including audiences at public events. It's a minor miracle that none of the big bomb plots have succeeded. However, there is the Fort Hood attack, misleading labeled "workplace violence," and the recent Boston Marathon bombing.
I give you credit for tackling the material, but I don't think you've quite got a grip on all the implications.
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
There are many rebel factions, but the vast majority of the fighters are Syrian. They would like to not be subjected to the brutal Syrian Baathist government dictatorship, which is backed by Iran. Do you think that is bad? Suppose it turned out they could manage to form a democratic government like Iraq's?
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
You may have a problem due to mental illness, perhaps anger management problems. You may want to seek profession care before it results in major life issues.
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
If you think I advocate "cowering for decades" then you really don't understand, and probably do need help from someone. Denial isn't a river in Egypt, but it does seem to be a barrier for you.
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
Quite so.
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell