The Airport Game

A while ago I decided that I'd had it with airports and long security lines. I'm feeling better and better about that decision!

Look, up in the air . . .

The Skystar 180 tactical aerostat system developed by RT Ita Systems was recently used to protect world leaders at the UN climate summit in Paris.
Photo credit: (Photo courtesy RT Ita Systems)

According to Globes:

Dec. 02--Leaders from all over the world gathered this week in Paris for the Climate Change Conference, which was clearly also utilized for diplomatic and security meetings. A surveillance balloon made by Israeli company RT Ita Systems -- a small mobile tactical balloon system suitable for tactical intelligence missions and military and civilian security missions -- provided security for this high-level event. The Skystar 180 tactical aerostat system developed by RT is already in use in communities near the Gaza Strip and on Road 443 between Jerusalem and Modi'in. The system can carry up to 20 kilograms, and provide prolonged intelligence coverage of all events from a height of up to 300 meters. The system is operated by only two people, and can operate in different weather conditions and remain airborne continuously for up to 72 hours. The balloon system used in Paris is equipped with a special TR-Stamp load for surveillance made by Controp -- an independent light balloon that is easy to change and economical to use for diverse military operations, and also for civilian purposes. RT Ita emphasized that the Skystar 180 balloon is being used for intelligence tasks in a number of countries, and is regularly operated by the IDF and Israel Police. For the Climate Change conference, the company trained local police personnel and cooperated with French company SSI. Skystar surveillance balloon systems are independent, economical to use, and very easy to transport. RT Ita's products are patent protected. 40 of the company's balloon surveillance systems are in use in 10 countries, including Israel, Canada, the US, Russia, Thailand, Afghanistan, Mexico, Columbia, and African countries, where they have accumulated over 500,000 operational hours. Copyright 2015 - Globes, Tel Aviv, Israel

* * * The Dry Bones Online Academy of Cartoon Advocacy and Activism is now open! For info about it, to donate to it, or to apply to be a student take a sneak peek: www.drybonesacademy.com

BOOM!

We blew up the Ma'ariv Bridge today. Everyone figures we are in for years of traffic snarls. The authorities say that setting up the light rail system for Tel Aviv will take six years to complete. Nobody believes them. My bet is nine years.
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Clicks

I'm old enough to remember when they used actual wire recorders when they did wire-tapping. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Sukkot

The holiday starts on Sunday evening. Happy Holiday.

Vanunu (1986)

December 01, 1986

Today's Golden Oldie is from December 1986. Twenty Five years ago!!

In 1985, Mordechai Vanunu, a technician at Israel's top-secret facility at Dimona, brought his camera to work and took about 60 photos of the place. These photos were then published in a London Sunday Times' exposé about Israel's "nuclear weapons program".

In 1986 he was tried in a secret trial. The country was shocked! So was I! Most people were shocked about what he had done. I was shocked that nobody asked how he was able to saunter around taking snapshots of the place.

Vanunu was convicted and was released in 2004, after 18 years in prison.

* * * The Guardian is now beating the drums for the guy in a piece published just last month (November 2011):

Mordechai Vanunu deserves freedom from Israel

"Vanunu's attempts to leave Israel have been dragging on for more than seven years now. He was released from prison in 2004, after serving 18 years, and told that he must wait another six months before he could leave the country and must not talk to any foreigners in the meantime. Since then, a cruel game of cat and mouse has been going on, with Vanunu periodically arrested and detained for technical breaches of his conditions." -more

On the Road

Right now I'm away from my studio.
I did today's cartoon before leaving for a U.S. lecture tour.

I'm on my way to America on my "Dry Bones Campaign to turn Z Street into the Grass Roots Zionist Movement that America Needs", and to explain my YIISA (Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Antisemitism) "Secret Codes" findings.

* * * You can keep up with my adventures in the U.S.A. by following me at facebook.com/drybonescartoon.

I plan to return home to Israel in time for for Shavuot (June 7).

Dry Bones On Tour

I'm about to leave for America on my "Dry Bones Campaign to turn Z Street into the Grass Roots Zionist Movement that America Needs", and to explain my YIISA (Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Antisemitism) "Secret Codes" findings.

* * * You can keep up with my adventures in the U.S.A. by following me at facebook.com/drybonescartoon.

I plan to return home to Israel in time for for Shavuot (June 7).

I've done cartoons for while I'm away so that you can still get your Dry Bones "fix".

Worries (2004)

Today's cartoon was published on February 12, 2004.

The day before, on February 11, 2004, Israel was hit by an earthquake (depicted in the third panel of the cartoon). The quake set off a whole new set of worries for us. As I write this we are witnessing the incredible destruction caused by the catastrophic 2011 Japanese earthquake/tsunami/nuclear meltdown disaster...

...and once again we in Israel are being warned by the authorities about the inevitable "big one" that will, one day hit us!

* * * The news back in 2004 was reported like this:

Earthquake cracks Knesset
By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
February 11, 2004
- "An earthquake measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale rocked Israel and surrounding states Wednesday morning, sending frightened people streaming into streets throughout the country, but causing only one indirect injury and little damage.

Israel Radio reported the quake left a crack in the ceiling of the Knesset plenum, Israel's parliament, just minutes before lawmakers were scheduled to take their seats for the day's debates.

Channel 2 TV reported that Israeli geologists believe a major earthquake could strike Israel without notice, and based on research predict the arrival of "the big one" in the next 50 years." -more

Fear of Flying

According to the University of California, San Francisco

UCSF scientists speak out against airport full-body scans
"Four UCSF scientists sent a letter last April to the President’s Office of Science and Technology Policy, expressing concern about the health risks of full body scanners being implemented at U.S. airports. The co-signers were David Agard, PhD, John Sedat, PhD, (emeritus), and Robert Stroud, PhD, all professors of biochemistry and biophysics, and Marc Shuman, MD, professor of medicine (hematology/oncology)." -more

And then there's this report out of Vancouver Canada:

Full-body scanners are waste of money, Israeli expert says

"A leading Israeli airport security expert says the Canadian government has wasted millions of dollars to install "useless" imaging machines at airports across the country.

"I don't know why everybody is running to buy these expensive and useless machines. I can overcome the body scanners with enough explosives to bring down a Boeing 747," Rafi Sela told parliamentarians probing the state of aviation safety in Canada.

"That's why we haven't put them in our airport," Sela said, referring to Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion International Airport, which has some of the toughest security in the world."

Sela, former chief security officer of the Israel Airport Authority and a 30-year veteran in airport security and defence technology, helped design the security at Ben Gurion." -more

Holiday Mail

I came across this interesting piece of trivia about today, December 20, 2010. According to the US Postal Service:

"The Postal Service is projecting Monday, December 20 as the busiest mailing day and Wednesday, December 22 as the heaviest delivery day this holiday season." -more

* * * And a Merry Christmas to all our Christian friends.

Obama's Security Record

The insane flubbing of the Nigerian Christmas Bomber affair seems to me (and others) to be a turning point in the Obama Presidency. Here's some comment by one of the "others" (Kathleen Parker of the Washington Post):

"As the new year commences, two facts emerge: George W. Bush is officially retired as the fault-guy for the nation's ills, and Barack Obama owns the game.

Whether he wants to or not.

Every president deserves a year of grace to adapt to the job and adjust to its Himalayan learning curve. As Obama's first year ends — almost with a bang, thanks to a lonely Nigerian who found love in jihad — his grace period is up.

Indeed, depending on how he responds to the security breach that almost brought down a Detroit-bound flight from Amsterdam, Obama's presidency is at risk of being rendered prematurely impotent." -more

Your thoughts?

Profiling

Our modern world is being threatened by an Islamist movement. It is carrying on a Jihad against the rest of us. It is antisemitic, anti-Christian, anti-Bahai, anti-Buddhist, anti-Hindu, anti-athiest, anti-female, homophobic, intolerant, and anti-democratic. It teaches young Moslems that dying in the service of Islamist global conquest is a carrying out of the teachings of the Quran. It teaches Muslims that bombings and terror attacks against innocent men, women, and children are holy acts of Islamic faith.

The idea that security personnel should not treat Muslim men with more suspicion than other travellers is stupid!