I love happy endings. Or, as Instapundit would say faster, please.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3494705/Two-Paris-massacre-suspects-arrested-Brussels-manhunt-continues-one-jihadist-killed-four-police-officers-injured-shootout.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490

Some people ask "adblockers, what are they good for?" and my response:

http://arstechnica.com/security/2016/03/big-name-sites-hit-by-rash-of-malicious-ads-spreading-crypto-ransomware/

At least a flash blocker should be employed. This is not the first time an ad server has been used to serve up attack flash "ads".

Flash is the most horribly insecure thing in the world. They send out updates almost daily. (Some of the updates are done for DRM enforcement and provide no benefit to the user -- this is true of a lot of media applications these days. Have you ever wondered why iTunes updates so often?) Most people have it set to auto-update, but you should turn that off because the auto-update itself is insecure. However, if you turn off the auto-update, it will annoy the crap out of you trying to get you to turn it back on after every update.

If you use Firefox, you can go into your Extensions page and set Flash to prompt before running. You'll be stunned about how many sites are using Flash for no purpose that's obvious to the user. When I'm using Firefox, I always deny permission to run Flash unless it's a site that I know needs it. Youtube and most of the other popular video sites are now using HTML5 instead of Flash to play video.

In news that you don't care about, Boko Haram has rebranded themselves as Islamic State West Africa. In news you might care about, they're cheerfully using women as suicide bombers:

The Islamic State West Africa (ISWA), formerly known as Boko Haram, killed more than 20 people in a double suicide attack today at a mosque in northern Nigeria. Both suicide bombers were women. ISWA has now used women in 105 suicide attacks in Nigeria and neighboring countries since June 2014, according to data compiled by The Long War Journal.

http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2016/03/islamic-state-uses-2-women-in-suicide-attack-at-nigerian-mosque.php

The feminists should be pleased...

Cousin Dave, every now and again I see an android user ask "how can I play flash on my phone?"

My answer over the last five years has been Adobe pulled flash on android years ago, but if you insist on making your phone ownable by the first script kiddie that comes along and nails your ass with a malicious flash thingie, go for it.

This site will test how HTML5 happy your browser is, but on this page they have comparisons of the major desktop browsers:

https://html5test.com/results/desktop.html

Interesting that Apple Safari is lagging even Internet Exploder in this category. Oh, that's right, Apple's video codec wasn't the standardized one for HTML5.

https://www.aei.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/bern.jpg

Bernie's version of Monopoly

Things you hear on the subway:

This just happened. I was on the subway to work, and a fellow steps into the car. In a mellifluous, but loud enough, voice he announces that he recently lost his job and has medical bills to pay. He has 2 children who are staying with relatives. He has been looking for a new job, but in the meantime has needed to rely on handouts from strangers. It's a nice enough story, not too dissimilar to those I've heard with some regularity on the train. Depending on the look or feel of the person, I will hand them a buck or two. This guy looks legit.

However, as he passes one fellow, he collects a business card. In handing the card, the charitable soul says "This is a soup kitchen nearby, you can bring your children here and get hot meals."

The fellow looks up and replies, "Free food? Here, in Manhattan?"

"Yes."

http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/archives/27805-On-The-Subway.html

https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xlp1/v/t1.0-9/12631524_921433817972286_3203761901044686987_n.png?oh=c848a25f940197fcaf594e43bad08ee8&oe=5753D876

The world according to Trump.

Ralph Peters on why Putin is so hot to bug out of Syria:

Suddenly, Putin had a vision of a nuclear-armed, radical-Shia empire on Russia’s southern flank. Those Iranian missiles that can reach Israel? They can reach major Russian cities, too.

Putin’s initial bet on Shia Iran also backfired by turning the Islamic world’s Sunni majority against him — not least Saudi Arabia, which can continue to hold down the price of oil and gas, punishing Russia’s economy far more than it wounds American fracking efforts. And Sunni terrorists have taken a renewed interest in Russia.

After Putin’s Syrian adventure, he may be re-prioritizing his enemies.

http://nypost.com/2016/03/15/the-syrian-war-just-taught-putin-to-worry-about-iran/

This is why I'm fond of maxim 29:

The enemy of my enemy is my enemy's enemy. No more. No less.

Are all of our institutions hopelessly corrupt or incompetent?

In the recent race hoax at State University of New York at Albany, where three black women started a fight on a bus and accused a dozen white people of attacking them for being black, a professor at the school claimed they were justified because they started a conversation on race.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/the-it-started-a-dialogue-excuse-for-false-accusations/article/2585872

Re IRA Darth Aggie's Things you hear on the subway:

One of my favorites was a guy in Arlington, Virginia, with a fairly elaborate schtick: He had just been released from prison, you see, and was carrying a sheet of paper with the address of the halfway house in Maryland where he was supposed to report immediately upon release. The trouble was, he got on the wrong bus, and was transported to Manassas, and was desperately trying to reach the halfway house before sundown or we would be sent back to the joint, and could I possibly help him with the fare?

I had to give him points for chutzpah, especially the third time I saw him. My wife's sister in the Philippines calls people like that "professional mendicants."

Married gents: Don't do this. Whatever you do, don't do this.

So, just to be clear, the UN has the time to tell an athlete they cant be a cheerleader for them because she took a legal heart medication for over a decade that some international sports league doesn't like jut a few months ago.

But the UN doesn't have the time to do anything about their troops raping 13 year old girls?

http://ow.ly/ZvW1i

theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/11/un-peacekeepers-accused-killing-rape-central-african-republic

His campaign says criticizing Bennie is like crucifying Jesus.

So, let me get this straight.

A company founded by a couple of sex obsessed rapist brothers who liked to genitally mutilate children and recommended using acid to burn off women's clits is upset at someone answering the question "who peed in you cereal?"

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/03/14/man-caught-urinating-on-cereal-at-kellogg-plant.html

I am reminded of the Chinese saying (curse?) of may you live in interesting times:

The far-right victories in Germany was powered by the votes of discontented youths, who abandoned the center-left as well as center right in droves.

http://www.the-american-interest.com/2016/03/16/tomorrow-belongs-to-who/

So, Old RPM Daddy, I had a guy approach me in a bar one time, to ask for some $ for cab fare because his wife drove the car to the hospital up the road a piece and was about to give birth.

I told him no. He must have thought I was drunk, or a soft touch, or that he could wear me down. After about 20 minutes of back and forth I calmly stated that if he had simply left when I first said no and start walking up the road, he would already be 2/3rds of the way there. I don't recall, but I think he went apoplectic and then left. I think some fucks where given, too.

I should have warned him: when I drink, I can get feisty, particularly if you're annoying me.

"Ralph Peters on why Putin is so hot to bug out of Syria."

This is the flip side of what I posted yesterday about Putin mopping the floor with the Obama White House. It's true that in general Putin plays three-dimensional chess while Obama plays checkers, and the White House was, once again, caught flat-footed by the news the other day of Russia pulling out of Syria.

But although Putin is pretty smart, he isn't as smart as he thinks he is. Obama was essentially right when he predicted that Russia would get bogged down in Syria. I'm not sure that "bogged down" is quite the right phrase, but I do think that Putin thought that they'd go on, drop bombs, intimidate the population, prop up Assad, and be out in a few weeks. That hasn't worked out so well; I think Russia underestimated the complexity of the situation and the fact that Syria is not Assad-vs-the-rebels, but rather about six different factions in alliances that seem to change daily. Assad can't deliver what Putin wants, and there are no other reliable allies.

I think that Russia is seeking to substantially increase its influence in the region. I think the motivation for this is that they want to be able to slow down Mideast petroleum production. The fracking revolution and the resulting drop in petroleum prices has put a severe dent both in the Russian economy, and in Putin's ambitions in Europe where he envisioned being able to bribe/blackmail European nations with Russian gas. American fracking has suddenly made the USA and Canada energy independent, and now Mideast oil is a glut on the market. Putin is seeing his dreams of European and Asian domination die with the fall of gas prices, and going into Syria was part of a plan to fix that. He greatly underestimated the problem.

Some related thoughts on the whole Middle East thing, from the brilliant Richard Fernandez.

Re IRA's article

"This should make all of Europe sit up and take notice: Europe has a lot of unemployed young people (France and Italy: 25% and 40% youth unemployment respectively). If they turn to the far-right to deal with their problems, the discontented youth population would provide a massive reservoir of energy for extremist parties."

So, what I got from this article is liberal european politicians are more concerned with white citizens voting for their opponents than they are about muslim immigrants raping women all over their countries.

I'm guessing they fail to see a connect between the two events either

Flash meets pan.

Now that's real dedication to public service.

Cause nothing say ending third world abuse of women like talking about a nonexistent wage gap in the west and how the characters of one project would fit into the fictional world of another project.

How many rapes did Watson prevent with this interview?

How many girls schooling was funded or made safe?

How many honor killings were averted by discussing Harry Potter?

How many beating did her beat boxing stop?

https://www.facebook.com/thetweeks/posts/1777428042487964

"So, what I got from this article is liberal european politicians are more concerned with white citizens voting for their opponents than they are about muslim immigrants raping women all over their countries."

The operative phrase, as far as the elites are concerned, is "regrettable collateral damage". They see the Islamists as allies, and they will not let that damned inconvenient citizenry get in the way.