I refer, of course, to the vendor of shooting targets for the Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies that has created a line of “non-traditional threat” targets that include pregnant women, children, mothers in playgrounds and elderly Americans. Seriously.

Finally, the DHS will put an end to the epidemic of seven-year olds and pregnant women shooting cops. The company says it's all about, uhm, realism.

The subjects in NMH targets were chosen in order to give officers the experience of dealing with deadly force shooting scenarios with subjects that are not the norm during training. I found while speaking with officers and trainers in the law enforcement community that there is a hesitation on the part of cops when deadly force is required on subjects with atypical age, frailty or condition (one officer explaining that he enlarged photos of his own kids to use as targets so that he would not be caught off guard with such a drastically new experience while on duty).


This hesitation time may be only seconds but that is not acceptable when officers are losing their lives in these same situations.


The goal of NMH is to break that stereotype on the range, regardless of how slim the chances are of encountering a real life scenario that involves a child, pregnant woman, etc. If that initial hesitation time can be cut down due to range experience, the officer and community are better served.

Because over and over again, history is replete with incidents of law enforcement officials being shot at by 7-year old kids and pregnant ladies.

With that as context, please consider the following news reports:

1. The Department of Homeland Security recently acquired 2 billion rounds of ammunition, which represents thousands of rounds per DHS employee.

2. Newly released drone records have revealed extensive military flights inside the U.S.; police departments and federal agencies plan to have as many as 30,000 drones monitoring Americans within the next seven years.

3. When Can the U.S. Kill Americans? The White House Won't Say -- and Won't Even Tell Congress; President Obama's successful efforts to renew and strengthen The Patriot Act under the NDAA means, according to the ACLU, American citizens may be subject to "indefinite military detention without charge or trial... for the first time in American history."

4. The FBI director said in March he'd have to check whether the president can assassinate citizens inside the U.S.. When questioned by Congress regarding a speech by Attorney General Holder, who offered his "legal justification for assassination", FBI Director Mueller was unable to say whether the president could unilaterally decide to assassinate U.S. citizens inside the borders of this country.

5. The DHS has specifically listed Americans who believe in "individual liberty" as potential terrorists. These "right-wing extremists" who insist in fidelity to the Constitution are, according to multiple studies funded by DHS, among the country's most dire terrorist threats. Not Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Ansar al-Islam, Hamas, or Iran's Revolutionary Guards -- together responsible for tens of thousands of murders -- but "violent right-wing extremists" who believe in the principles of the nation's founding.

6. The military recently deployed gunships over Miami, executing training exercises with local police departments. A few days later, similar exercises were conducted in Houston. Last year the military deployed ground forces, armored personnel carriers and tanks on the streets of St. Louis for "training exercises". Military exercises in domestic urban environments of this scale are "unprecedented".

7. Police departments throughout the country are receiving tanks, humvees and drones from the Department of Defense, according to a WLS-TV (Chicago) I-Team investigation. "Short of a weapon of mass destruction, you can get any kind of military gear that's out there," the police chief of Benedectine University told WLS. "We chose firearms and a vehicle." WLS also reported rampant theft of military equipment, including body armor and night-vision goggles issued to the Chicago Police Department.

And now we can add:

8. The purchase of "non-traditional" shooting practice targets by the DHS, which include realistic images of kids, pregnant women and seniors.

You progressives starting to get the picture?

Google's electronic eyewear -- dubbed "Google Glass" -- is nearing a milestone beta release for developers (or is it alpha, I always forget).

Google ... announced a promotion in which people who share interesting ideas about what to do with the device get the chance to become a "Glass Explorer," who can then pre-order a $1,500 prototype. The application deadline is February 27.

I offered up several ideas including one with a simulated picture:

#ifihadglass I would automatically recognize QR codes and project previews of web pages in their stead (now w/pic: 4.bp.blogspot.com/-4Tx-3lcdVOA/U… )

— Doug Ross (@directorblue) February 20, 2013

In other words, Glass would offer up semi-transparent views of the pages/content represented by QR codes in magazines, on posters, etc. -- helping to bridge the physical to the virtual world. If you like the idea or some of my other ones, please consider retweeting!

Send us tips! Bloggers: install a Larwyn's Linx widget. Get real-time news, 24/7, at BadBlue.

Nation

Your Papers, Citizen: Fred Reed
The President’s Hard Authoritarianism: AIM
Newtown Shooter Picked School As It Was The “Easiest Target”: Cove

Democrats Unveil New Jim Crow Laws: GWP
Assault gun ban: Not that science and facts will stop the left: Q&O
Total Destruction of the U.S.: An Interview with Larry Grathwohl: AT

The Hagel Nomination: An Open Letter to Sen. Charles E. Schumer: Pipes
Obama’s Worst Speech Ever, Deconstructed: HayRide
Important PSA from Joe Biden: “Buy a shotgun. Buy a shotgun.”: Hot Air

Economy

Unions To Opt Out Of Obamacare: Jawa
As predicted: Cali's 1Q revenues dropping back to earth. Hard.: Moe Lane
Calvin Coolidge: Bigger Government Isn’t Better: Foundry

Only the suckers will pay with Obamacare: IBD
ILL: Deadbeat state takes up to year to pay for indigent funerals: Marathon
In 2011 Obama Threatened to Veto Any Efforts to Undo Sequester Cuts: GWP

Scandal Central

Dumb and Dumber: Top 15 Worst Stimulus Abuses: IJ Review
Obama Pushes Illegals Ahead of Legal Immigrants: Breitbart
DHS Target Supplier Includes Pregnant Women, Old Men For Target Practice: AmmoLand

Climate & Energy

‘Richard Windsor’ EPA scandal spreads, Administrator James Martin resigns over hidden emails: Watts

Media

Remember when Bush was blamed by the media for high gas prices?: IBD
Let the mockery begin: MSNBC political director David Axelrod becomes NBC analyst: Twitchy
Who Needs the White House Press Corps?: Weigel

Levin obliterates Obama's spending/cutting lies: Scoop
While the media sleep, Obama and other Democrats befriend Medicare fraudsters.: Malkin
Kiss Your Ass Goodbye: RWN

Liberals Take The Pro-Rape Position On Gun Control: RWN
Colorado Democrat Says Women Can’t Be Trusted With Guns, Backers Fail To Rebuke: RS
Dems are troglodytes about women and self-defense, and they’re selling this as a virtue: Bookworm

World

Report: Hagel Said Israel Headed Toward Apartheid, Netanyahu a ‘Radical’: Beacon
The Hagel-Cruz Bait and Switch: Tobin
Director of CAIR Missouri wants to prosecute Americans who insult Islam…using Sharia law: Creeping

Congressional Testimony Reveals Obama Lazy, Dishonest, Incompetent: ConHideout
Afghanistan And Iraq Head To Hell, Thanks To Obama: IBD
Cornell Student: Gandhi Championed Right to Bear Arms: CI

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue.com/Tech)

Asteroid Impacts: 10 Biggest Known Hits: NatGeo
Microsoft's $30 Million in Anti-Google Ads Put Political Advertising to Shame: AtlWire
Microsoft made a mistake with its mobile strategy, says Bill Gates: PC World

Cornucopia

Dept of Compulsory Health Outlaws Pre-existing Conditions: Cube
10 Democrat Tips for Avoiding Rape Without Needing a Gun: Looking Spoon
A Chinese Double Bogey: MOTUS

Image: The People's Cube
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Day of Resistance: 23-Feb Nationwide Rallies Against Obama Agenda

QOTD: "The freshman from Texas has ruffled a lot of feathers in his first six weeks in office on both sides of the aisle. His rough questioning of Hagel during the committee hearing and subsequent questions about the nominee’s financial records also raised the hackles of some senators and Washington insiders but there’s something slightly suspicious about the over the top reaction to Cruz on the news shows as well as from New York Times and Washington Post columnists. Even if we were to accept their dubious assertion that Cruz’s take-no-prisoners style of political combat is a shocking departure from the traditions of DC politics, the sudden interest in slamming the Texan is nothing more than a transparent attempt to change the subject just at the moment when Hagel’s nomination seems to be hanging in the balance. The herd instinct of liberal journalists is prompting them, as if on cue, to try and gull the public into thinking the real issue at stake here is not the elevation of a prejudiced and unqualified man to run the Pentagon but the supposed bad manners of one of Hagel’s most energetic critics." --Jonathan S. Tobin

The man who invented the budget sequester now claims it will destroy America. Put simply, if America's had a more dishonest president than #44, I've yet to read about him.

...Obama's out there trying to raise fear on all of this talk about the sequester -- we're talking $85 billion. I want to put this in perspective. The federal budget is $3.5 trillion dollars a year, and we're talking about $85 billion that might be cut, and all of this disaster is gonna happen. Kids are gonna go hungry. Schools are gonna shut down. Bridges and road repair will not happen, and now prisoners are gonna be let go. $85 billion. It is like if you earn a hundred thousand, it's like losing a quarter. It wouldn't matter. Hell, what is the Sandy relief package, $50 billion? So while this is gonna cost us $85 billion, the sequester, $50 billion we're spending here on Sandy relief. Sixty. Pardon me. I was wrong. Sixty billion on disaster relief...

OBAMA: Emergency responders, like the ones who are here today, their ability to help communities respond to and recover from disasters will be degraded. Border Patrol agents will see their hours reduced. FBI agents will be furloughed. Federal prosecutors will have to close cases and let criminals go. Air traffic controllers and airport security will see cutbacks, which means more delays in airports across the country. Thousands of teachers and educators will be laid off. Tens of thousands of parents will have to scramble to find child care for their kids. Hundreds of thousands of Americans will lose access to primary care and preventive care like flu vaccinations and cancer screenings. This is not an abstraction. People will lose their jobs. The unemployment rate might tick up again.

...Obama is saying this as a freedom fighter. Obama is on the campaign trail, and he is trying to stop all of this from happening. He is fighting the forces that want you to suffer, and they are the Republicans. They are the conservatives, and they are Fox News and they are me...

...Obama wants you to think that Republicans don't care that tens of thousands of parents would have to scramble to find daycare, 'cause the Republicans don't care that daycare would be shut down. You see, none of this that he predicts here is debatable. In the minds of the low-information voter and in the terms that Obama is offering this, these are not things that might happen. These are what the Republicans want to do every day. These are the things that Obama is fighting to stop.

These are the people that he's fighting to stop. They don't care if your kid or your grandmother doesn't get her flu shot. They don't care if you or anybody else gets cancer screenings. They don't care if you lose your job. They don't care that the unemployment rate might tick back up again. All of this, as far as Obama is concerned, is what will happen every day if they're not stopped! This is not so much tied to the sequester. The sequester is just the most recent opportunity for him to characterize his opposition this way, and he is doing everything he can to stop this.

The fact that this sequester business is only $85 billion -- the fact that none of this would happen, the fact that there's no Republican who wants any of this to happen, the fact that it's other people's idea -- is irrelevant in terms of the people Obama trying to reach. This whole sequester is his idea! In fact, I've revised my thinking. I think he wants the sequester to happen because I think he wants to cut down the US military, in a big way. Most liberals do. Here it's gonna happen automatically. He's not gonna have to do anything but sit around and let it, but he's gonna score some political points along the way.

I believe this assessment is correct. Obama created the sequester. He designed its brutal cuts to the military. And he desperately seeks to eviscerate the military.

Mandiant has published a lengthy, must-read report (PDF) on a Red Chinese cyber-war unit [APT1] that is openly attacking American firms.

One of the primary methods the PLA gains a beachhead inside the target firm is through spear-phishing, which uses a personalized email that entices the victim into clicking on a malicious link.

The Initial Compromise represents the methods intruders use to first penetrate a target organization’s network. As with most other APT groups, spear phishing is APT1’s most commonly used technique. The spear phishing emails contain either a malicious attachment or a hyperlink to a malicious file. The subject line and the text in the email body are usually relevant to the recipient. APT1 also creates webmail accounts using real peoples’ names — names that are familiar to the recipient, such as a colleague, a company executive, an IT department employee, or company counsel — and uses these accounts to send the emails. As a real-world example, this is an email that APT1 sent to Mandiant employees:


At first glance, the email appeared to be from Mandiant’s CEO, Kevin Mandia. However, further scrutiny shows that the email was not sent from a Mandiant email account, but from “kevin.mandia@rocketmail.com”. Rocketmail is a free webmail service. The account “kevin.mandia@rocketmail.com” does not belong to Mr. Mandia. Rather, an APT1 actor likely signed up for the account specifically for this spear phishing event. If anyone had clicked on the link that day (which no one did, thankfully), their computer would have downloaded a malicious ZIP file named “Internal_Discussion_Press_Release_In_Next_Week8.zip”. This file contained a malicious executable that installs a custom APT1 backdoor that we call WEBC2-TABLE.

Although the files that APT1 actors attach or link to spear phishing emails are not always in ZIP format, this is the predominant trend we have observed in the last several years. Below is a sampling of file names that APT1 has used with their malicious ZIP files:

2012ChinaUSAviationSymposium.zip
Employee-Benefit-and-Overhead-Adjustment-Keys.zip
MARKET-COMMENT-Europe-Ends-Sharply-Lower-On-Data-Yields-Jump.zip
Negative_Reports_Of_Turkey.zip
New_Technology_For_FPGA_And_Its_Developing_Trend.zip
North_Korean_launch.zip
Oil-Field-Services-Analysis-And-Outlook.zip
POWER_GEN_2012.zip
Proactive_Investors_One2One_Energy_Investor_Forum.zip
Social-Security-Reform.zip
South_China_Sea_Security_Assessment_Report.zip
Telephonics_Supplier_Manual_v3.zip
The_Latest_Syria_Security_Assessment_Report.zip
Updated_Office_Contact_v1.zip
Updated_Office_Contact_v2.zip
Welfare_Reform_and_Benefits_Development_Plan.zip

The example file names include military, economic, and diplomatic themes, suggesting the wide range of industries that APT1 targets. Some names are also generic (e.g., “updated_office_contact_v1.zip”) and could be used for targets in any industry.


On some occasions, unsuspecting email recipients have replied to the spear phishing messages, believing they were communicating with their acquaintances. In one case a person replied, “I’m not sure if this is legit, so I didn’t open it.” Within 20 minutes, someone in APT1 responded with a terse email back: “It’s legit.”

Bottom line: trust no one.

Yo, ladies! Joe Salazar here. As you can tell from my picture, I've never had any problems attracting members of the opposite sex.


But even though I'm a musk-scented magnet for women, I'm sad to say not all men have my skills. Certain men can have problems in the area of inter-gender ice-breaking. Their troubles may cause them to stalk, attack, even assault women.

But since I'm a progressive -- and therefore a big supporter of gun-control and chicks -- I'm here to dispense my special, ladies-only advice for protecting yourself without firearms. I care about you, but I also care about a misunderstood, less well-adjusted male who gets his willie shot off just because you, in your hysterical woman-panic, thought he was gonna attack you.

So listen up, chicas, here are my top ten ways to avoid getting raped:

Number 10. Stop dressing like a ho.
Number 9. Try to relate to the attacker’s feelings.
Number 8. Trip your cutest friend and run like hell, while yelling “She’s a skank!”
Number 7. Whatever you do, avoid the Kennedy Compound.
Number 6. Wear a burka and never leave home without a male relative escorting you.
Number 5. At the top of your lungs scream: "I AM CURRENTLY ATTRACTING BEARS."
Number 4. Wait for global warming to cause a meteorite to hit your attacker.
Number 3. Don't be an underage girl in the Dominican Republic when Bob Menendez comes to visit.
Number 2. Urinate on yourself to ruin the mood (warning: may act as an aphrodisiac for Occupy Wall street participants).
Number 1. Ask your would-be rapist to follow you into a safe zone.


Hat tips: @SooperMexican, @RBPundit, @JimmieBJr, @JohnHawkinsRWN, @Smitty_One_Each, @CuffyMeh, @19Marty68, @DJDoobs and @BBaAblog.

Send us tips! Bloggers: install a Larwyn's Linx widget. Get real-time news, 24/7, at BadBlue.

Nation

We're History: AmSpec
The Marketing Genius of Marco Rubio: Zanotti
Is Administration Preparing for Economic Collapse?: Nice Deb

Hagel and Defense: Thomas
Obama Regime Wants Federal Registration and Confiscation: MB
CO Dem to women: “Vomiting, urinating” better than having a gun: Malkin

First Amendment vs. Second Amendment Rights: AmmoLand
Chicago: no jail space for gun criminals, but we need more gun laws: A&L
Who sounds stupider?: Second City Cop

Economy

Amnesty for All and Jobs for None: Sultan Knish
Chicago Teachers Union demands end of standardized testing: DC
Why Are Major Retail Chains All Over America Collapsing?: SHTFplan

Obama's Spending: Scarier Than the Sequester: Elephant
The Cut Is In the Mail: RWN
Someone Needs To Duplicate Montana’s HB 468 In Louisiana: HayRide

Scandal Central

Paul Ehrlich and ‘The Most Spectacularly Wrong Book Ever Written’: RSM
Doing the Chicago Shakedown, Starring the Jacksons: AT
Chicago Police Chief: Booze, Guns and Abuse of Authority: GSL

Climate & Energy

Who Needs Keystone XL? Gas Prices Soar 51 Cents in Just Two Months: CNS
Van Jones: Obama Approving The XL Pipeline Would Be Like 'Lighting The Fuse On A Carbon Bomb': MRC

Media

Daily Beast: “You Know, The 2nd Amendment Is Really About Gun Control”: Cove
Jason Mattera: ‘Violence against women’ protesters don’t believe women should have concealed carry: Scoop
The 2013 Blog Bash Award Nominees Are…: BlogBash

No Russian: Owens
Alec Baldwin accused of racist rant; People ask, ‘Do you support your spokesman, Capital One?’: Twitchy
Shocker: L.A. Times Front-Page Story Slams Surging Insurance Premiums Caused by ObamaCare: AmPower

There's Real Danger Lurking In David Frum's Ignorance: Ace
NYT Horrified by Conservative Group It Collaborated With to Expose Menendez Scandal: NB
President Narcissism Celebrates President’s Day With A Picture of… Himself!!: Sooper

MSNBC's Chris Matthews: Is 'Great' Obama About to Equal Presidents on Mount Rushmore?: MRC
Obama, the Puppet Master: Politico
Liberals Foaming At The Mouth Over My Hashtag #LiberalTips2AvoidRape: Sooper

World

The Death of Socialism: Kimball
Londonistan: Muslim ‘Young Mayor’ of Islamic Enclave Posts Violent Twitter Threats: Creeping
Why President Obama keeps the press away – playing golf with Tiger Woods doesn’t look good: Telegraph

Why Is Mexico Asking the U.S. Senate for a Registry of U.S. Gun Owners?: Blaze
California-Based Islamist Group: No Offensive Jihad in West Because We Aren’t Strong Enough Yet: WorldThreats
Chinese Army Hackers Are Trying to Bring Down U.S. Infrastructure, After All: AtlWire

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue.com/Tech)

NBA gives casual fans and armchair GMs access to the league's entire statistical history: Engadget
Boy meets girl. Girl strips on webcam. Tells boy to do the same. Girl blackmails boy.: Sophos
How to banish Metro from your Windows 8 PC forever: PC World

Cornucopia

iOwnTheWorld Exclusive – Footage of Michelle Obama Skiing in Aspen: iOTW
Amerika: “Shotgun Down the Avalanche”: MOTUS
The Glock 9mm Rape Whistle: Morlock

Burger King’s Twitter account hacked by Anonymous, now promoting McDonald’s: VentureBeat
A theory and motive behind the massacre at Sandy Hook, Newtown: Neil Allen
Con-Con Con: Western

Image: AllThingsD
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Day of Resistance: 23-Feb Nationwide Rallies Against Obama Agenda

QOTD: "H.L. Mencken said: “Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard.” The 2012 Election makes the Sage of Baltimore’s quip ring true. All the bizarre political, sociological and economic theories that we have heard from the left for years are now being put into practice (in fact, President Obama showcased it in his Second Inaugural and State of the Union speeches). The result is a
germinating dystopia sprouting from an executive branch contemptuous of the legislative and judicial branches of national government. Barack Obama is the embodiment of a country in willful decline in both domestic and foreign affairs, and he seems to relish his role. The president is a political Dr. Jack Kevorkian assisting our slow, national suicide.

Maybe some future Gibbon will contemplate the wreckage." --Bill Croke