I am very pleasantly surprised by the low level of Iranian "sleeper-cell" activity in the US during the past month.
I am not saying that "They are not here". Clearly, there are many people in the US with sympathy for the former Iranian government.
I am saying that I am grateful for whatever reasons (non-permissive environment, phantom threat, LE activities, hardened-infrastructure, loss-of-zealotry due to prosperity...) that we have not seen much.
If this were a basketball game, the commenter would be saying something like "The other team has been denied easy layups for the first five minutes" and nothing more.
Kubota in Florida
This is Kubota's "big trip".
We offered to take him on a trip anywhere in the US after he graduated from high school. He said he would rather have us buy parts for his truck.
Kubota does not like crowds. He doesn't like frenzied activity around him. He hates airports.
He and his buddies drove down and they should be arriving somewhere near Daytona this morning.
Scion sale
Cummins Nursery has a 40% off sale on their scion. The price they charge for a single scion is and eyewatering $12. Ordering three of a single variety brings it down to $8 per stick. 40% off drops that to a tolerable $4.20 a stick. Use code ROOTSCLEAR at checkout to get the discount.
On a personal note
The pulled/strained muscle on the right side of my neck/shoulders is mostly resolved. I can now quickly glance to my left which is a wonderful thing when driving.
After three days of doing nothing, I was able to do slow, gentle "static" stretches. That helped a lot.
Glad to hear your doing better as the ability to "I can now quickly glance to my left which is a wonderful thing when driving." is INDEED wonderful for both you and the car you might not have seen before.
ReplyDeleteIn my area we have two nonstandard 4-way intersections that generate most of our car accidents due to weird angles and visibility issues.
I do wish we had "Hardened Infrastructure" but we barely have some anti-car bollards around Federal Buildings around here.
The single layer chain-link fence around our large grid transformers don't look like a serious "Hardening" to me. Same with water systems, cell phone towers and so on.
I looked up when Iranian Sleeper cells were first in print and it was 1997. Seems they got after some Dissidents in Germany around that time.
Aside from that incident there have been many "warnings" they'd be "activated" but I've not found any reports of actual incidents that were later found to be minor criminal activities since then.
I ponder if H. L. Mencken is correct as 2026 - 1997 = 29 years of "threats" and no real action seems odd for "Terrorists".
The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.
H. L. Mencken
That America has plenty of Pro-whatever the CURRENT THING (No Kings, Pro-Palestine, Pro-Ukraine, etc.) protesters ready for action I'm not sure they quite equal Iranian Sleeper Cells in the classic terrorist format.
But that said NYC DID ELECT a Marxist-Muslim for Mayor, didn't they? Minnesota is busy with mostly Muslim Somalis? Isn't there a Muslim Congresswoman from there?
America isn't ready for a terrorist year of rage.
We will know the threat is real when the mainstream media buttons up the security around their talking-heads. I assume the are still taking Uber rides and going to social events. SOFT targets. Huge multiplier effect.
ReplyDeleteGreat to hear about the young'in. I went on a trip after HS w/ a buddy down to New Yawk City (stayed w/ my buddies Uncle in NJ)... my parents were mortified at the thought! Unaccompanied 18 year old boys!??!!
ReplyDeleteWas a big moment in my journey to adulthood.
Kubota doesn’t like crowds and frenzied activity…I live one town away from Daytona. Here’s our sheriff (same county as Daytona) discussing the situation a couple weeks ago when Spring Break was at its peak. I haven’t heard of this level of chaos in the last week or so, but regular check-ins with Kubota might help prevent him from slipping into a situation that he’ll deeply regret.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.foxnews.com/us/spring-break-hot-spot-declares-state-emergency-curfew-after-rowdy-takeovers-spark-mass-arrests
I realize Spring Break trips are a right of passage for many kids. Almost fifty years ago all my friends went to Daytona Beach. I didn’t go due to not liking crowds nor frenzied activity. After hearing about my friends escapades on break, including all the usual suspect activity, to this day I’m still shocked that they made it back unscathed. This was not because of any good judgement on their part.
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