100 PERCENT AND THEN SOME!

KSM - Blutarsky?

2010-01-31T12:07:00.003-05:00

OK - is it just me or does KSM look like our old departed John Belushi (RIP)? You know that picture where he's grimacing and got his back hair showing on his neck etc., right? Maybe I've just been smoking too much crack, and starting to hallucinate...

(Another) Terror Haven with Drug Money

2010-01-06T22:37:00.004-05:00

No, I'm not talking about Mexico! Talking about Yemen-Somalia and the drug that helps drive their economies and addict their men...Sound familiar? Think Afghanistan, another lawless terrorist breeding ground...Taliban funding their arsenal and bribing warlords from drug trade cash.

Proximity between Yemen / Somalia - an easy boat ride across the Red Sea. Further, both countries' economies and social / political dynamics are significantly influenced by "q'at" which is an amphetamine-like stimulant. (I hope I don't get in trouble but I've tried it - only once, cross my heart - it's nice, reminds my of my days dippin' Copenhagen but a lot more potent and tasty). It is highly addictive and consumed by the majority of men in both countries. Making strategy on terror needs to take drugs into account. And also energy, but that's another topic for another time.

Speaking about this geography Somalia and Yemen - we've openly been there for decades - no surprises on what's happening there! On an extremely personal note - RIP to our brothers who passed there - broke my heart...

New Fronts with the Enemy?

2010-01-05T07:16:00.003-05:00

My observation is that we may be seeing new fronts in our battle with those who seek us harm. A couple of fronts are known, and in fact (in my opinion) a natural development of the sleeper cell model favored by the enemy:

American-based / "home grown" terrorists sympathetic to Al Qaeda
The move towards Yemen, which similar to Somalia provides an excellent opportunity for Al Qaeda to regroup...more about Yemen another time

In addition however there could be additional fronts developing. I hope I'm wrong! And I am uncertain about the facts upon which this analysis is based (media reports) - but here goes:

Intel manipulation - the tragic killing of 7 CIA operatives by an allegedly "turned" double agent. Intel is in my opinion absolutely fundamental to winning our battle - the basis of our strategy, our military operations whether traditional or SOF (special operations forces) counterinsurgency, and basically anything we do etc. Intelligence must be extremely challenging anyway, as one of my simplifying rules about the Middle East is that it generally goes back to tribes (see a previous post); if true then this makes it quite challenging to infiltrate the enemy. However this instance seems to go several steps beyond - not only a very painful loss for the families on a personal level, and for America as a tough blow in our battle - but these were apparently some very heavy hitters, their loss will be felt.

Has the enemy taken intel to a new front?

Socially acceptable branding - "Jihad" vs. "Terrorist" - the 5 young "Americans" (all of Middle East origin) arrested in Pakistan who allegedly proclaimed they had nothing to do with Al Qaeda or any terrorist organizations, but rather rallied around "Jihad" to support Muslims against occupiers. In Pakistan, and across most of the Middle East, this gets a favorable reception...

Has the enemy opened a new front to win hearts and minds?

Agassi - Balls to the Wall

2009-11-09T21:03:00.002-05:00

Gotta love Andre Agassi! His father - an Iranian Olympic boxer - was domineering and pushed Andre, against his will, to succeed at all costs as a tennis champ. The new revelations are that Andre "hated" tennis! And felt so bound to his image that (in addition to indulging in crystal meth for the better part of a year) he actually had a hair weave...and his biggest fear was that his piece would fall off, exposing his glistening bald pate!

Anyway I find his story quite inspirational - he has decided to build his life and has found happiness, love and meaning. A 9th grade dropout, he is a huge education proponent, putting his money and his time behind it...among other things he sponsored a new charter school in a tough Las Vegas neighborhood which last year sent 100% of their graduates to college.

Balls to the Wall!

Where I Stand on Health Care Reform

2009-09-30T23:55:00.003-04:00

OK - so by now you've seen I'm a capitalist (despite my Wall Street background)...and generally speaking I like free markets, and am against government solutions to issues best solved by the private sector...but I have to weigh in on health care reform.

The system is broken. Prices are out of control (I know - I just cut health insurance by 35% - down to "only" $1250 per month!). Insurance companies have literally made a living out of denying claims. My answer is - consistent with (ironically) my free market principles - competition! I want the government to provide a solution to compete with private insurers, and I want competition across state lines.

And anybody - anybody at all - who is going to challenge that - what about the human cost??? Let's assume that the current administration is full of it (likely so) and it will not be "budget neutral". So what - we're going to pay extra out of our pockets for our sick brothers and sisters? Give me a break, we're still a quarter of the world's economy and by far the richest country in the world, and we can't afford a literal life and death issue for our own people? What's happened to us, are we that greedy? I'm not talking about a factory worker or store clerk, who's barely getting by...but what about those of us who have a couple of nickels to rub together?

Let's get it together here and take care of our people. Another area that I don't see being emphasized is our own ability to proactively manage our wellness - exercise, diet, sleep, stress, etc. are demonstrably linked to health and wellbeing. I don't have the numbers but I am certain that we could save tens of billions of dollars in health care just from preventive actions and proactive health management.

Let's go for a little bit of humanity here!

Dick is a Dick!

2009-09-30T08:17:00.000-04:00

Dick Cheney - from the maker of the great movie...unvested options from his Halliburton days, who steered us into the Iraq invasion from which surprise surprise! Halliburton won billions in no-bid, cost-plus contracts...that disgusting intersection of business and government that is polluted and in my opinion literally steals from the hard work of our fighting force, who are literally sacrificing their lives! On top of our hard-earned taxpayer dollars...to subsidize a hard-on without a plan...

Same Dick is now continuing his Dickly habits, spreading fear, in this instance getting us to resist having Gitmo prisoners on US soil for fear that they will break free and do us harm...does the Dick think we are stupid??? We have the hardest core gang-bangers in maximum security, in places that have never been breached, and we can't securely contain a few Jihadists?

We are Americans - what we (used to at least) call "The Free and the Brave"!

Dick it's time you quit being a Dick, retire quietly and let historians take their view.

Mood(y) Swings

2009-09-30T08:01:00.003-04:00

This is about the economy - not sure if everyone realizes how close to plunging over the cliff we actually came. There's a lot of anger towards Wall Street, much of it justifiable in my opinion (although the scorpion's nature is to sting - the tiger can't change it's stripes - and Wall Street feeds on markets, just the way it's wired).

There are a lot of other stakeholders in creating this crisis but there are two in particular that I feel have emerged relatively unscathed given their culpability. First are the politicians, and I'm not talking about the lack of regulation...but this disgusting quid-pro-quo between politicians and Fannie Mae / Freddie Mac - whenever government and business intersect, look out!!! I fundamentally resent the revolving door between these quasi-private institutions and politicians and the links between the two. So bottom line, in my opinion, politicians used our taxpayer money to underwrite non-creditworthy mortgages, with the objectives of:

- helping people who couldn't otherwise afford it to purchase home - very noble goal (although in my cynical opinion it was done primarily to buy votes) with unintended consequences namely the triggering of the sub-prime meltdown which triggered the economic collapse
- creating a pool of blank check funds - Fannie / Freddie et al were expected to be incredibly generous political donors
- arranging a soft, cushy landing for people who were hand-picked to ensure that the pig would continue to get well fed, in other words continuation of the "win-win" political / mortgage business (but "lose-lose" for taxpayers)

Anyway forgive my diatribe, just nobody's really called them out and I'm a bit down on politicians...but the other massive culprit is the rating agencies. These f'ers were paid a lot of money to give "unbiased" ratings - but lo and behold Moody's, S&P et al were on the lam! So investors (who also have some culpability but that's for another time) who were relying on "independent" risk assessments of incredibly complicated securities were out and out lied to!

So someone from within Moody's has blown the whistle - and said that the old practices continue! And now the ex-head of compliance for Moody's is testifying...

Stay posted

We're Not All Hawks, but...

2009-09-24T00:17:00.003-04:00

Frankly I'm disappointed in President Obama's public head fake on Afghanistan. I am not a stereotypical hawk by any means...and although I have tremendous respect for General "Stan the Man" McChrystal - a super hard-charging Ranger and legend in the SOF community - I try to take an independent view.

It's true Afghanistan has an incredible warrior culture and a history of outfighting and outlasting empires throughout history. It's also true that the so-called "elected" officials are incredibly corrupt, and undermine the legitimacy of the government of "the good guys". Further I agree that although the Taliban are from my view distasteful to say the least, I don't recognize them as an immediate and direct threat to US interests outside of their own territory.

Having said that I strongly believe that we need to support General McChrystal and give his innovative plan a real shot. Imagine how those Marines feel "winning hearts and minds" - and can't even commit they'll be there in a couple of months! What message does that send to the locals, and who's waiting to fill that vacuum of power?

And the biggest question for me - what about the spillover into (nuclear) Pakistan, a struggling democracy? And on the other side, what about (soon-to-be-nuclear) Iran, who is directly and openly hostile to US and our interests in addition to being a highly destabilizing influence throughout the Middle East?

In my opinion - as anyone within shouting distance from me knows (starting in '91) - the invasion of Iraq and subsequent regime change was all but doomed from the start. In Afghanistan we have a shot - let's not squander it!

Norman Borlaug - A Real Hero RIP

2009-09-16T07:54:00.003-04:00

I would like to call attention to and pay tribute to Norman Borlaug, who just died at 95. He was a brilliant man from the heartland of America who revolutionized food production - in my opinion he positively transformed the world as no single person of our lifetimes has. The Wall Street Journal says that "he saved more lives than anyone who ever lived."

Norman committed his life to ending hunger. The conventional wisdom (and likely fact) several decades ago was that world population would quickly eclipse food production - and that the world would run out of food! Norman created new farming techniques that exponentially increased yields; and then spent his life in developing countries to teach the locals how to implement.

One example - he and his team arrived in South Asia during the onset of war between India and Pakistan - instead of turning right around, they worked through artillery fire etc...and in three years, Pakistan was self-sufficient in wheat production and within six years, India was self-sufficient in all cereals production!

It reminds me of this - "Give a man a fish and he eats for a day; teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime." Millions of lifetimes exist because of Norman Borlaug, a real hero.

Smokin' WOD

2009-07-02T23:35:00.001-04:00

Killed the WOD today ("workout of the day")! The boys and me switched to Crossfit Football recently, and I went balls to the wall today...Good stuff

Brave New World in Iraq

2009-07-01T14:40:00.002-04:00

It's a brave new world for the Iraqis as the US troops start to return home. Beer's on me to those who served!

Here's wishing the Iraqis the best in securing their future

A Nice Cold Brew

2009-07-01T00:00:00.002-04:00

I love beer! Being a brewer was fantastic - provide happiness and get paid for it :).

And now - after a long hard day - a nice cold brew.

Cheers

Room Clearing

2009-06-26T23:57:00.002-04:00

So "back in the day" room clearing was one of our more dangerous operations - you went in fast, low, and simultaneous with a small team with sights on just about everything. Bottom line is no matter how skillfully executed you were totally exposed.

As expected some of the SOF are using some really high speed gadgetry to deal with this. But I just heard a new one from a SWAT member. They are using a snake with a camera on the end.

Talk about The Plumber!

Our LEO Brethren

2009-06-23T23:52:00.003-04:00

Here's a shout-out and a salute to our law enforcement brothers. Went to the Police Expo in Atlantic City today and met some of our East Coast's Finest. We appreciate your service!

Drive On! Motivational Ranger Gear

2009-06-23T02:35:00.002-04:00

Pete brought me some highly motivating gear :). First - a tactical drive-on cap with an IR American flag and the Ranger Crest on the back. Honestly it puts me in a positive kick-ass frame of mind - great stuff!

Second - a new generation Ranger PT shirt with the new 2nd Battalion logo - awesome! The "new" logo is inspired from the WWII Rangers, a diamond shape with the number "2" inside for 2nd Battalion. I always loved our PT uniforms but this is pretty high speed.

Gotta love it! :)

(Thanks Pete)

Happy Father's Day :)

2009-06-21T23:32:00.000-04:00

Culture of Incarceration

2009-06-16T08:30:00.003-04:00

We have created a culture of incarceration - the statistics are appalling. Last year 1 in every 100 American adults was in prison; 1 in every 30 men between 20-34 years old; 1 in every 9 black males between 20-34 years old. We have 5% of the world's population but nearly one-quarter of the world's prisoners. We have increased our incarceration of small-time drug use 10-fold since 1980.

At the same time we've opened up a front on our southern border that exposes us to new security threats - and say what you will but in my opinion Hillary Clinton was right to say that ultimately the demand for drugs comes from the US (and therefore gives fuel to the cartels which in turn exposes our security).

I will be thinking about drug policies and incarceration over the next period. Will check in with my thoughts then.

SuperPowers

2009-06-13T22:51:00.002-04:00

If you could choose any superpower, which one would it be? Super strong? Fast? Invisible? Something to ponder...

Runoff in Iran?

2009-06-13T00:27:00.002-04:00

Ahmedinajad and Mousavi in a runoff? You've gotta love how all the under-30's are getting out the vote for Mousavi...even have the election officials running scared - they kept the polls open until midnight to facilitate this record voter turnout - in my opinion they realize that they need to allow some of the social unrest to be expressed.

The rule is that if one candidate (of the 4) does not have more than 50%, then it's a runoff. Although the official state media was calling Ahmedinajad the clear winner, let's see what happens...

New Belleville Boots - Tactical Research Footwear

2009-06-11T21:54:00.002-04:00

Launching this Monday, June 15 - preliminary buzz is positive - looking forward...

European Politics - Right Trend?

2009-06-10T22:02:00.002-04:00

Interesting that the general trend in European elections has been a swinging to the right...many of our European brethren question the US's role in creating the global recession (and some question the entire Anglo-Saxon capitalist model)...but instead of swinging left, like Iceland did (to the max!) voters turned more conservative.

Bullish?

2009-06-08T21:15:00.002-04:00

OK I admit I'm an optimist - typical entrepreneur - for me the glass tends to be 3/4 full. And I want to believe - I really want to believe! - that we've turned the corner on the economy. Lord knows most folks have been dramatically affected...

With oil prices doubling since February, equities up around 35% from the trough, and the general "sheep" all saying we're turning the corner...

And yet I see a propensity for risk that seems disproportionate for me and doesn't calibrate with the slaughter we've just been part of. Many many examples - but today in the Wall Street Journal was a discussion on the outlandish returns posted in "frontier" markets (cutting edge emerging markets).

Holding my breath...

Elections in Lebanon - Looking Good...

2009-06-07T21:37:00.003-04:00

So far so good for the elections in Lebanon...We won't know officially until tomorrow but preliminary results are positive for the so called May 14 ruling bloc led by Saad Hariri (son of slain Prime Minister Rafik Hariri), with Hezbollah supported candidates seeking a majority.

Although a small country, it is a confederation of 19 religious sects - very interesting but also helped to plunge the country into civil war. In my opinion this election is one important signal on what's happening across the region in terms of moderation vs. extremism; and also regarding Iran's influence, who support Hezbollah and generally directly or indirectly have worked to undermine Arab governments to further their regional power.

Reportedly there has been record turnout for elections. Next stop - Iranian elections this Friday, June 12 - also creating tremendous excitement locally, and lots of interest regionally.

Let Freedom Ring!

D-Day Remembered

2009-06-06T22:08:00.003-04:00

Today's the 65 year anniversary of D-Day. To all those that served - the "Greatest Generation" - I stand up and salute you! I am proud to draw my freedoms, heritage and way of life from you. You changed the course of history. This nation and so many others give our utmost respect and appreciation.

Everyday Valor

2009-06-05T20:40:00.003-04:00

My friend - a Vietnam vet and successful architect - just told me a couple interesting stories. One of them is that he turned down 3 Purple Hearts - although offered - because he wasn't seriously wounded in combat and felt that it would lessen the honor for those who had been.

Yesterday he saw a returning soldier in line at the local deli. He could tell the soldier was fresh off the plane, dog tags and GI t-shirt and all. My friend welcomed him back, thanked him for his service, and then bought him lunch...and nobody else made a move or said a word!

Character - we can show valor every day