Mayor de Blasio is in deep trouble because of his anti-cop attitude. The NYC police are basically on strike.  Governor Cuomo is in even worse trouble because of rampant corruption in the New York State government.  Cuomo set up a special unit to investigate corruption. When they actually found some, he shut the unit down.  However a Federal Prosecutor kept right on going and the most powerful man in New York Politics, Sheldon Silver, has been arrested.  The connection with Andrew Cuomo is so obvious that even the Huffington Post noticed:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/22/sheldon-silver-andrew-cuomo_n_6528058.html?flv=1

Beyond the political turbulence, Cuomo must consider the possibility, uncertain at this point, that Bharara has the governor in his sights. Nothing in the complaint against Silver implicates the governor in any wrongdoing. But one of the political donors it mentions was also Cuomo’s largest contributor in the most recent election cycle, and the governor and the speaker had a tight working relationship.

This explains why de Blasio and Cuomo were desperate for an opportunity to show leadership.  Then, God sent them a huge blizzard.  They both leaped into action.  But there was a problem. God apparently changed his mind. Now, if possible, de Blasio and Cuomo are in even more trouble for over-reacting. It’s a beautiful thing.

Anyone remotely familiar with New York politics was not surprised to learn that Sheldon Silver was corrupt.  The shock was that someone is holding him accountable.  Governor Cuomo has been cautious in his comments on the case.  When you combine that with his decision to shut down the unit investigating corruption, it gives one pause.  Perhaps Cuomo is more than a little afraid of Silver turning state’s evidence.  If media reports are accurate, Sheldon Silver is looking at some serious jail time.  He will be 71 years old in February.  If things go wrong he could easily spend the rest of his life in jail.

In the meantime, all those people who panicked and bought large quantities of food, for the storm that never came, have a problem.  That is why the New York Post is providing advice on creative recipes for “snowmageddon food stockpiles.” 

http://nypost.com/2015/01/27/6-recipes-for-all-the-snowmageddon-food-you-stockpiled/?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=NYPTwitter&utm_medium=SocialFlow

This is what happens when people foolishly put Democrats in positions of responsibility.

TDM

The storm of the Century, possibly the worst storm in the history of New York City, ended up with the Weather Service apologizing for a botched forecast.  This is an important reminder that experts are not all that good at forecasting things.  Just think about it.  In this case they had all those satellite pictures, computer models, and colored Doppler radar and they still missed it by a mile.  In the end, God decides were storms go and he moved this one slightly off shore. At times I got the distinct feeling that everyone wanted this to be a really bad storm. Perhaps it was because both Governor Cuomo and Mayor De Blasio desperately needed a heroic photo shop opportunity.  Instead they are busy this morning wiping egg off their faces.  Perhaps it was because people like Bill Nye desperately wanted another chance to finally prove global warming. Sorry Bill, but that was destined for failure because most sane people don’t buy the global warming nonsense when they are freezing their butts.

This is why it is easy for me to predict that Hillary Clinton will NOT be the next President of the United States.  Too many people, who are always wrong about everything, are predicting this. They want us to believe that Hillary’s election is inevitable. They want us to believe that she is the most qualified person to ever run for President. However deep down liberals know that being married to a President does not make one qualified to be President.  The only accomplishment liberals can come up with for Hillary is staying married to Bill Clinton.  She also was a Senator, because she had been married to Bill, and a Secretary of State, because she had been married to Bill, and accomplishing nothing in either position.  The reality is that the liberal left has had their black President and now they want their female and they view Hillary as the holy grail of feminism. That of course is utter nonsense, since Hillary is opposite of the feminist ideal.  She is the classic example of a woman who married for power and willingly put up with flagrant philandering as the price of power.  If anything, Hillary enabled Bill in his personal quest.

So as you watch the news this morning looking for all the snow that never came, keep this in mind.  The experts are wrong.  They have always been wrong.  They always will be wrong. Hillary’s Presidential run will be a lot like this storm. A lot of hype and blustery wind, but it will end up seriously off shore.

TDM

In 1967, Bill Bradley was in the Air Force Reserve for six months.  During that time he showed up at one of the base gyms to shoot some hoops.  He took about three shots and then announced that the basketball rim was ¼ inch too low.  The maintenance crew got out a ladder and a tape measure and sure enough the rim was ¼ inch too low.  They adjusted the hoop to the right height and Bradley resumed shooting baskets.  That was when I learned that professional athletes are nothing like the rest of us. I am pretty sure hundreds, if not thousands, of people used that gym and no one noticed that ¼ inch. But to Bill Bradley, this was really obvious.

This is why I do not believe Tom Brady.  I don’t believe him when he says he didn’t notice any difference in the footballs during the second half. Brady described picking out footballs five hours before the game.  He explained that because footballs are made out of leather, each one is unique.  He carefully picked out the ones that felt just right to him. I think that Brady knew that the balls were underinflated and that it was exactly what he wanted.

This was a really important game and the Patriots equipment staff was focused on Tom Brady and how he was throwing the football.  Brady wouldn’t even have to say anything. All that was necessary was to have one ball slip out of his hand during a throw and the equipment staff would know what to do.

None of the footballs used by the Baltimore Colts were underinflated, so you can’t blame this on the weather.  Someone deliberately deflated those footballs. Regardless of whether or not it affects the final outcome, it is against the rules and it is cheating. The NFL is caught between a rock and a hard place.  They don’t have enough evidence to suspend anyone before the Superbowl. I’m pretty sure they don’t want to have enough evidence between now and the Superbowl. They will assign this to some committee that will investigate later.  There will be outrage and someone will be fined.  Next year, there will be a change in the rules designed to prevent this from happening again.

The Patriots are playing well and they just may win the Superbowl, but they will still be losers in my book.  What a shame. There is a clear pattern here.  This is not exactly the first time the Patriots got caught cheating. They didn’t need to cheat, but they did. Character counts! Go Seahawks.

TDM

There are reports that 11 of the 12 footballs used by the New England Patriots last Sunday were underinflated.   Normally this would be a non-story, but we are talking about the New England Patriots and they are, well, famous for cheating in the past.  Tom Brady tried to laugh this away.  But there is a serious problem here.  Now we learn that Baltimore complained to the NFL, in November, about the Patriots using under-inflated footballs.  That puts this into a whole new stratosphere.  The NFL was already in big trouble because of the mixed signals regarding Ray Rice.  Now they look pathetically inept.  The big issue here may not be whether or not the Patriots were taking the air out of the ball.  The question is how could the NFL let this happen?  If the Colts had complained in November, shouldn’t the NFL have assigned someone to watch over the Patriot footballs during the game?  That seems really obvious.  This is unbelievable.

There is no good answer here.  Eleven out of twelve footballs is not a coincidence.  It seems obvious that someone let the air out of the ball and it seems equally obvious that this was not the first time. I don’t know if it is easier for Tom Brady to throw an underinflated football or not.  The point is that why have a rule if you don’t enforce it.  Regardless of the outcome, this year’s Superbowl has already been tainted.  If the Patriots win, the NFL has a huge problem.

Today, to make this worse, Coach Belichick tossed the ball to Tom Brady and walked away.  He said that he had no knowledge of the under inflated balls until Monday morning and that he was shocked to hear the news.

“I would say I’ve learned a lot more about this process in the last three days than I knew or have talked about it in the last 40 years that I’ve coached in this league,” Belichick said. “I had no knowledge of the various steps involved in the game balls and process that went through.”

I interpreted this press conference as an admission by Belichick that there is solid evidence that someone deliberately under inflated those footballs.  He probably knows that if they pin this on him, he could literally be banned from the game for life.  Last time he was fined $500,000.  If that size fine wasn’t enough, then what’s next?  This is as strong of a denial as one can get.  Either Belichick is telling the truth, or he is history.  Only Bill Clinton could get away with this type of bald faced lie. Belichick’s statement looks and smells of desperation.

The fickle finger of fate is pointing directly at Tom Brady.  To make it worse, former quarterbacks have been bragging about how they paid equipment managers to mess with their footballs.  This is a reminder of how much things can change in the blink of an eye.  Last Sunday, Tom Brady was being discussed as one of the greatest quarterbacks in the history of the game.  Today he is holding a press conference in a desperate attempt to salvage his reputation.  He is in serious risk of being suspended from playing in the Superbowl.  He is also at risk of going from a unanimous first round Hall of Fame candidate to the football version of Barry Bonds.  I sincerely hope Brady had nothing to do with this, but fear that is increasingly unlikely. One thing is sure; this Superbowl will be less about the football game and more about the football itself. It is also time to start speculating on who will be the next commissioner of the NFL.

TDM

The Obama administration’s foreign policy has gone from hopeless inept to a pathetic joke.  After botching the opportunity to show solidarity with France regarding Islamic Terrorism, Obama sent in Secretary of State John Kerry to do damage control.  That is like sending in Al Sharpton to quiet down things after a racial incident.  Oops, the administration has tried that too.  Our hero, Kerry, shows up with James Taylor in tow to sing “You’ve Got a Friend.”  Unbelievable:

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/kerry-brings-james-taylor-serenade-french-youve-got-friend_823854.html

James Taylor looks old, disoriented and slightly out of tune, just like this administration. I guess we should have expected this as some point.  The primary face of the Democratic Party, and unfortunately our country, in the world is John Kerry, arguably the world’s biggest ass.

TDM

Hillary Clinton’s sole argument for being elected President is that she is a woman.  Her campaign strategy is to argue that it is time to break the glass ceiling.  The theory is that since we have elected a black man it is time to elect a woman. Like Obama she has no real qualifications for the job.  Hillary is the classic example of someone running primarily on name recognition.  In her case, her last name.

Unfortunately for Hillary the man who gave her all of the power in her life is the man who is about to destroy her presidential ambitions. Hillary is the classic example of a woman who married power. If she was not married to Bill Clinton no one would even know her name. It is well documented that Bill Clinton is a serial philanderer.  It appears as though Hillary’s primary function in the Clinton White House was to suppress bimbo eruptions.  She raised stand by your man to a whole new level.

But things are different today.  Perhaps it was the exposure of Tiger Woods.  It may have been the Ray Rice video.  It could even have been the disgusting revelations about Bill Cosby.  It probably is a combination of things including the internet.  But it is no longer cool to cover up the sexual misconduct of star athletes and rich celebrities.  Public opinion has changed.  They now want these people exposed and they want them punished. That is very bad news for Bill Clinton.  It was never a question of whether or not he had behaved badly; it was merely a question of whether anyone cared.  Now, for the first time, they care.  The following article in the Daily Mail is devastating for Clinton:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2584309/Bill-Clinton-identified-lawsuit-against-former-friend-pedophile-Jeffrey-Epstein-regular-orgies-Caribbean-compound-former-president-visited-multiple-times.html

The problem is that this is all too believable.  Nothing about this is inconsistent with what we already know about Bill Clinton.  Women have come forward with accusations about him before, but they were ignored.  The real glass ceiling was the one defending liberal Democrats like Bill Clinton from accusations of sexual misconduct.  That ceiling has been shattered and it will never be the same.

Expect the Clintons to fight back.  Bill may even make another “I never had sex with that woman” speech.  No one will believe him.  They will attempt to find some convenient Republican to throw under the bus.  The good news, so far, is that Epstein appears to have been pretty much devoted to providing good times to liberal Democrats. So far, no Republican names have surfaced. That may leave the Clinton’s with no convenient Republican to blame.  Ouch!

This almost seems too good to be true.  It is hard to imagine a better way to start the New Year than to see Bill Clinton get credit for all he has done. That is particularly true when one realizes that Hillary will go along for the ride.  It is still hard to imagine, but the glass ceiling has been shattered and anything is possible.

TDM

New Year’s Eve never seems complete until someone plays and/or sings Auld Lang Syne.  I am not sure how that happened.  This is actually a Scots poem written by Robert Burns in 1788.  I am relative sure that few people know much more than the first chorus.

Auld Lang Syne

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne.

Chorus

For auld lang syne, my jo,
For auld lang syne,
We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne,

Frankly, I am not sure many people understand the first verse and the chorus.  What does it mean to forget old acquaintance?  How is that helpful.  I sometimes thing we sing Auld Lang Syne only because we sing Auld Lang Syne and some how it feels right. It doesn’t have to make sense.

In addition, Robert Burns may have “borrowed” the most familiar lyrics from a poen written by James Watson in 1711.

In some ways, Watson’s poem “Old Long Syne” is easier to understand:

Old Long Syne

Should Old Acquaintance be forgot,
and never thought upon;
The flames of Love extinguished,
and fully past and gone:
Is thy sweet Heart now grown so cold,
that loving Breast of thine;
That thou canst never once reflect

On Old long syne. 

Chorus

On Old long syne my Jo,
On Old long syne,
That thou canst never once reflect,
On Old long syne.

 The comparison between the two poems is pretty obvious.  I at least understand the James Watson version.  New Year’s Day is a good time to remember times gone by and particularly old friends.  It is a time to focus more on the future than on the past, but also to appreciate the pure joy of living. It is only by pausing to remember that we can truly appreciate all the blessings we have.

It is also a time to let bygones be bygones and to focus on what really matters. There is probably no better example of this than the life long relationship between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.  They were close friends who worked together on the Declaration of Independence.  They both were representatives of the Colonies in France.  John Adams was the second President of the United States.  Thomas Jefferson was the third.  Political divisions drove them apart. The closest of friends became the bitterest of enemies. They went many years without contacting each other at all.  But then, later in life, they were able to put aside the bitter disputes and were able to once again reflect on the things that united them.  Both of them died within hours of each other on July 4, 1826.  I am sure that when James Watson wrote Old Long Syne in 1711 he didn’t have Adams and Jefferson in mind.  But they lived out what Old Long Syne/Auld Lang Syne is all about.

Happy New Year.

TDM

There is no epidemic of excessive use of force by the police in this country.  That is a liberal lie. Like most liberal lies it is designed to get people too blinded by rage to pay attention to the facts. In reality every police officer knows they are being scrutinized.  There are dash cams on police cars. Soon there will be cameras on police officers themselves.  There are also millions of civilians with smart phones capable of shooting video. Police officers are already under tremendous scrutiny.  Every time someone is shot by a police officer, the officer is immediately suspended and the incident investigated.  In most states this is reviewed by an independent agency. Every time an unarmed person dies after being arrested by the police the National Bar Association launches an investigation. The myth that police brutality is a daily occurrence and that it is covered up by authorities is absurd. In reality, these cases are extremely rare and it is almost impossible for anyone to cover one up.

The entire myth is based on a handful of incidents, all of which are distorted and misrepresented by the liberal left.  This also is a typical liberal strategy.  They take one case and pretend it represents a national trend. Sometimes they don’t even have a single case, so they take anything that looks close and distort the facts to fit the narrative.  The classic example of this was the dreadful Matthew Shephard case. Matthew Shepard was brutally murdered on October 6, 1998. Even today Matthew Shepard is considered to be the poster child for gay hate crime. The myth is that he was brutally murdered because of his sexual orientation. In reality he was killed by someone he knew very well who also participated in gay sex. He was killed by someone who was in a rage because he was high on meth. You probably don’t know that because the main stream media and the LGBT community needed a hate crime. So did President Clinton, who was desperate to do anything to distract from the Lewinsky scandal.  The following article, by a gay investigative reporter willing to tell the truth explains this in detail:

http://www.advocate.com/print-issue/current-issue/2013/09/13/have-we-got-matthew-shepard-all-wrong?page=full

The liberal left did the same thing with Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown. They repeated the process with Eric Garner. This, by the way, is the same tactic used to promote the discredited theory that we are all going to die because of global warming caused by too much CO2. Liberals know that their insane cap and trade policies which are destroying our economy are only acceptable if people are terrified about non-existent global warming.

In all cases the lies are designed to generate outrage and/or fear that will cover up the embarrassing lack of facts. This is always accompanied by loud screams of outrage when anyone dares ask questions. This is why anyone who questions the narrative regarding Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown or Eric Garner is accused of being racist. It is why liberals are trying to silence anyone who dares to criticize the global warming narrative.  This is the quickest way to tell when people are lying.  Those who are most outraged at being questioned are those who need to be questioned the most. People who have the facts have no need to silence the opposition.  The facts speak for themselves.

This time the liberal left has made a huge mistake. They forgot something very important. We need the police. If those people protesting think the police are a problem wait until they find out what happens if the police are not there. Criminals are unlikely to use this as an opportunity for that coveted family vacation.  Instead they will exploit the lack of police presence to seize the day and wreak havoc.  This will soon become obvious because the police in New York City have had it:

Following is a memo allegedly distributed by the NYPD Patrolman’s Benevolent Association (“PBA”).

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/city-hall/2014/12/8558990/pba-condemns-mayor-denies-inflammatory-memo

“At least two units are to respond to EVERY call, no matter the condition or severity, no matter what type of job is pending, or what the option of the patrol supervisor happens to be. IN ADDITION: Absolutely NO enforcement action in the form of arrests and or summonses is to be taken unless absolutely necessary and an individual MUST be placed under arrest. These are precautions that were taken in the 1970’s when Police Officers were ambushed and executed on a regular basis. The mayors hands are literally dripping with our blood because of his words actions and policies and we have, for the first time in a number of years, become a ‘wartime’ police department. We will act accordingly.”

The PBA has denied being the source of the memo, but clearly the message has been received.  In addition to hundreds of NYPD police officers literally turning their back on Mayor de Blasio, there appears to be a virtual strike:

http://nypost.com/2014/12/29/arrests-plummet-following-execution-of-two-cops/

The results boggle the mind:

If you are in New York, and you are threatened by a criminal don’t bother to call the police, call Al Sharpton and ask him to scream at the criminals. Let me know how that works.  Thanks to the help of Barack Obama and Eric Holder the problem isn’t limited to New York City. It was just reported on Fox News that police in Seatle are scalling back the prosecution of minor crimes. I suspect that every police force in the country is seriously considering modifying daily activities to focus more on protecting the police and less on arresting criminals. Who can blame them when police are literally being attacked.

As pointed out above, this entire mess is based entirely on liberal lies. Any strategy based on an assumptions that are untrue is destined to fail. The real problem in our black communities is not police brutality, it is black on black crime. Reducing the police presence is not going to fix that problem, it will only make it worse.  In addition, the anti-police rhetoric is likely to increase the potential for excessive force by police. When a police officer feels threatened the potential for violence escalates.

Since most liberal policies are based on absurd lies, they are destined for failure. Unfortunately the damage is not usually limited to those people foolish enough to believe liberals. This is a reminder that when liberals resort to liars leap, there is no need for anyone to follow.

TDM

This is what happens when Mommy and Daddy give you a football team. The story of the 49ers is very easy to understand if you look at any timeline.  When Eddie DeBartolo owned the team the 49ers were the class of the league. Whether you loved them or hated them they were the team to beat. That all changed in 1999 when Eddie DeBartolo had to give up ownership of the team because of his personal legal problems.  The team ownership went to his sister Marie Denise DeBartolo York. The new CEO was her husband, John York.  At first the team did pretty well under the leadership of head coach Steve Mariucci.  But soon it became clear that Mariucci was frustrated by his lack of power within the 49ers organization.  Sound familiar?  Even though he had a winning record, John York fired Mariucci.

The result was a rapid decline of the 49ers as a team. The team got progressively worse.  It didn’t change until they hired Jim Harbaugh. Under Jim Harbaugh the 49ers became a great team again. The players learned how to win again. It was one of the most remarkable turnarounds in NFL history. Yet Jim Harbaugh was just fired because he couldn’t get along with Jed York. They are going to replace him, with “somebody.”  Obviously the first criteria will be to get along with Jed York.

The following article in Wikipedia provides interesting details on Jed York:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jed_York

After graduating from Notre Dame he worked as a financial analyst for Guggenheim Partners in New York for about a year.  Then he was brought in to work for his father, John York, CEO of the 49ers.  He began his career as Director of Strategic Planning and then Vice President of Strategic Planning.  In 2008 he was appointed President of the 49ers by his father. He is now CEO of the 49ers.  On October 11, 2010, after the 49ers started 0-5, York wrote that the 49ers would win their division and make the playoffs. For the record, in 2010 the team ended up 6 -10 and the 49ers fired Mike Singletary. That is when the 49ers hired Jim Harbaugh and everything changed. The 49ers went on to play in three NFC championship games and one Superbowl. At the start of this season the 49ers were expected to be a favorite to win the Superbowl.

ESPN correspondence David Fleming noted that York could make this bold prediction because of his lifelong love of the 49ers, his high school baseball career and the fact that his godfather is Eddie DeBartolo. Who would dare compare the resume of someone like Jim Harbaugh to that?

This is really simple. Every NFL team with an open head coach position expressed interest in Jim Harbaugh. The 49ers just gave up one of the best coaches in the history of the NFL for absolutely nothing. When you give up someone other people value and you get nothing in return, somebody is obviously making a huge mistake.

Jim Harbaugh got one of the most prestigious coaching positions in the country. If you do not believe that, you have never lived in Michigan. He will be one of the highest paid coaches in the country, at any level, and he won’t have to listen to any more advice from Jed York. Who’s got it better than that!

I suspect a lot of 49er season tickets holders are seriously considering how much they are willing to spend to watch the 49ers next year.  It is hard to be overly optimistic considering what happened after the 49ers fired Mariucci because he couldn’t stand living in York town. Levi Stadium is already one of the most expensive tickets in the NFL. There are reports that traffic is horrible. Several 49er players have complained that the support from the crowd at Levi stadium doesn’t compare to the atmosphere at Candlestick. That makes sense, because the only people who can afford to go to 49er games are rich nerds from the Silicon Valley.  They are still trying to figure out why the 49ers are playing with an odd shaped soccer ball.

Who knows where we go from here, but my hunch is a lot of people in Michigan will be singing Hail to the Victors while the people in San Francisco will wonder where it all went wrong.

TDM

The imitation game is a great movie about Alan Turing. It is rare to attend a movie any more where people spontaneously clap at the end.  I have some experience in cryptology working for the NSA, so I found the movie very interesting. I thought it might be interesting to note some of the “gaps” in the story.   It is based on a true story, and most of the story line is somewhat true. However the real story is far more complex and involved a lot more people.

The first “bomba” was designed by Polish cryptographer Marian Rejewski. It actually worked well, until the Germans adopted a plug board which made things more complicated. Alan Turing actually used this “bomba” to design his machine which he called a “bombe.” It was a great achievement and he deserves a lot of credit for his invention, but the movie makes this far too simplistic.  One was led to believe that Turning’s great machine magically broke all the Enigma codes in about 20 minutes each day after figuring that Germans liked to say Heil Hitler.  I hope no one believes real life cryptographers are that stupid. If that was true, cryptographers would have been on it in a New York minute.

The entire project was called Ultra. Defeating Enigma was a daily battle and in many ways the real vulnerability was with sloppiness by operators rather than the system itself. It was the humans who provided the keys to breaking the code. For example an operator might realize than the same message had been sent on two different cyber networks, sometimes in different codes. Or an operator might notice that a German operator always started his messages the same way.

In addition sometimes protocols designed to reduce risk have the opposite impact. German procedures did not allow using the same rotor in the same slot as it had been in the preceding configuration.  They also didn’t allow the machine to ever reproduce the original letter struck.  This actually helped cryptographers because it limited the number of options.

The bombe designed by Turing did not “break” the code.  It reduced the potential outcomes to a manageable number. Then cryptanalysts would compile a menu when was then used to break the code.  If you watch the movie Enigma it does a better job of explaining how this works.

It is a fascinating movie and without a doubt the cryptographic team at Bletchley Park was material in winning the war for the allies. The breaking of the Enigma code was a magnificent achievement that can never be discounted.  Alan Turing was a fascinating man who clearly played a major role in this achievement, but he didn’t exactly win the war by himself. He also was an admitted homosexual but no one ever accused him of being a spy.  Sadly, the story is accurate with regard to how homosexuals were treated in 1952.

By the way, Turing wasn’t very good at crossword puzzles. It is true that British intelligence did put crossword puzzles in newspapers as a means of recruiting cryptographers. It is also true that at times British intelligence had vital information from Ultra but didn’t use it because they feared tipping Germany off to the vulnerability of the Enigma code.  Those kinds of decisions were not made by Alan Turing or any other cryptographer.  They were made by Winston Churchill.

Great move about a real life miracle.

TDM