2011 Was pretty decent as far as years go, lots of good times, some difficult times and the good outweighed the bad by far.
Here's to hoping that 2012 is even better.
So, to all of my readers, have a very Happy New Year and All Best For You in 2012.
Apparently, you have the grounds for a protest when you've spent all your money and the adults come in to try to fix the mess you've created. While you sound like a bunch of spoiled kids after daddy pulled your allowance, you can do it apparently, and in Jesse Jackson's case you can do it without any shame at all.
The Detroit Free Press: Civil disobedience a possibility, opponents of emergency manager law say
The Rev. Jesse Jackson joined a coalition of pastors, civil rights leaders and elected officials Thursday in Detroit to pledge strong opposition -- including civil disobedience, if necessary -- against the state's new emergency manager law.
Jackson and others likened emergency managers to dictators who wipe out the democratic process with unilateral authority to gut union contracts, sell cherished assets and slash essential services.
"We are prepared to go from education, mobilization, litigation, legislation, demonstration and civil disobedience," Jackson said during a news conference at Bethany Baptist Church on the city's west side. "We want a positive commitment to restoring democracy and economic justice for all citizens"......The coalition acknowledged the city was in a crisis but didn't offer financial solutions.
So Obama has to celebrate Hanukkah ahead of time. Two weeks ahead of time in fact. After all, he's busy with vacations and such.
However, he had no trouble celebrating the start of Kwanzaa on the day it is scheduled to start.
So, no timely celebration for the historic holiday of Hannkah, but right on time for a black nationalist holiday created in 1966 out of whole cloth by a Marxist convicted felon.
To be fair, Obama did manage to squeeze in celebrating Christmas on its actual eve and day, in between golf rounds in Hawaii. Oh, and he also got Eid on time.
The deepening financial crisis in Detroit has intensified hints that the city could opt for bankruptcy, but financial experts warn the move could cost taxpayers millions, stall economic development and take years to be resolved in the courts.
Bankruptcy is an option if the city can't win major concessions from its unions and if the state's tough new emergency manager law is suspended or repealed.
Under the law passed in March, an emergency manager appointed by the governor would have the power to throw out union contracts, sell off assets such as the Detroit Water & Sewerage Department and other powers to fix the city's fiscal crisis.
Attorney General Bill Schuette said he is undecided whether Michigan would revert to its old emergency manager law if opponents get enough signatures to put the repeal question on the ballot next year.
But bankruptcy would be a worst-case scenario, warned Brad Coulter, who specializes in municipal turnaround and bankruptcy services.
"That's where the opponents of an EM maybe don't quite understand the consequences if (the law is) repealed, and Detroit has no choice but to file for bankruptcy; I think it's going to be an expensive, time-consuming potential disaster,"
This morning I met up with Murphy's Law and his nephew Spud and took them to the range. It was a beautiful day, sunny and cold but crisp and we had the range all to ourselves.
We setup a couple paper targets and a mass of steel poppers and had at it.
I let the Spud shoot my Ruger Mark II. I must say, after the detailed cleaning I gave it, it functioned flawlessly with no extraction/ejection issues.
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| The name is Law, Murphy's Law. |
While this day is full of Christmas cheer for many, The Detroit Free Press is all upset that Detroit's most prominent SWPL project, a light rail line up and down Woodward Avenue has been cancelled. After all, for a modest line running 3.4 miles and costing 300 million to build and to be subsidized for eternity, for such a bargain to be cancelled is a blow to the progressive SWPL ego.
The pain of the cancellation to the progressive psyche is readily apparent in a guest editorial where the writer expresses outrage at the cancellation and insists that both light rail and a bus rapid transit system should be built and paid for by all of Michigan's taxpayers.
Instead, Mayor Bing is announcing a regional Bus Rapid Transit system, to cover 110 miles for the same cost while claiming it won't need an ongoing subsidy. Of course that claim that there will be no need for a subsidy is laughable but you have to admire him for at least trying to save some taxpayer money.
The Freep meanwhile asks readers to Name that transit (not bus) system.
I'd suggest Detroit Rapid Transit (or Detroit Regional Transit, in the spirit of recognizing that it will be the suburbs that will be subsidizing the heck out of it), to be pronounced "Dirt".
With such a name there could be truth in advertising about the service for visitors:
I and the family received an invite from Murphy's Law to spend Christmas Eve with his family. He came to town and brought Murphy with him. Getting together with Murphy's Law and his folks for Christmas has become an annual tradition.
This was the first time for me and the kids to meet Murphy and he was very well behaved indeed.
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| Yes, I'm a good dog. |
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| Pie, for me? Well, if you insist by leaving it out... |
for the LCP and a Ruger factory spare magazine for it.
. The book is about the recovery effort to retrieve a squadron of P-38s and B-17s that had been buried 260 feet under the ice in Greenland after crash landing there in World War 2. In keeping with the theme, I plan to read it this winter on a day when we're iced in to the house. |
| Merry Christmas to you all from a good dog. |
As everyone knows, owning a firearm for personal defense is not only a right but also a big responsibility.
Preventing the firearm from falling into unauthorized hands, especially if you have kids is a high priority. However, you also want to be able to quickly access your firearm in case of need. So what to do?
There are numerous potential solutions but having a gun safe that can be opened quickly by the bedside certainly fits the bill.
on Amazon right now for less than the Amazon price for the standard Gunvault Mini
.
.
Last night was the first night of Hanukkah, and I celebrated with the family.
Commemorating the victory of the Jews, led by the Maccabees (Maccabee is Hebrew for "Hammer") over the Syrians and liberation of the land of Israel from their domination, Hanukkah is a relatively minor holiday on the list of Jewish observances, now made greater due to its proximity to Christmas and the need to make Jewish kids feel less jealous of their neighbors getting all the presents.
Hanukkah also celebrates the miracle of the oil. After the liberation and re-dedication of the Temple after it had been desecrated by the Syrians, there was only sufficient oil available to light the presence lamp for one day. By a miracle it lasted the 8 day round trip to reach the nearest source of the oil.
Hannukah is celebrated by lighting the Menorah (or Hanukkiah if you prefer) and eating foods fried in oil in commemoration of this victory and miracle. There is also a lesser-known second miracle of Hanukkah, to be revealed below.
But first, the latkas!
A latka is a potato pancake - think hash brown but better.
To make the perfect batch of latkas do the following:
It may be a first.
Barb Arrigo: Don't blow last tax credit chance
The first time I gave money to the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan, I did it out of spite.
Not to spite the Community Foundation. In fact, I didn't even know what a community foundation was.
I did it to spite then-Gov. John Engler and ensure that the State of Michigan did not get a single tax dollar of mine that I could divert somewhere else.
Not that I or anyone else ever makes a donation based solely on tax considerations. Oh, wait. ...
I'm currently reading Herbert W. McBride's The Emma Gees, about his service as an American in the Canadian Army in World War I with a machine gun section. McBride relates his training and combat experiences, including sniping on the Western Front.
Better known for his work A Rifleman Went To War
You can now get the Emma Gees for free at the Project Gutenberg library, or Free for the Kindle
Any way you get it, it is well worth reading.
One of the most striking things about the book is how erudite Mr. McBride is and how it is conveyed in his writing. His vocabulary is very rich and wide, and he knows the history of the land he travels through in England and in France at a level that the average college graduate of today would be hard pressed to match.
He vividly conveys the conditions of trench warfare and his combat experiences in a prose that is both very readable and well suited to his tale. I'd highly recommend giving the Emma Gees some of your reading attention as a vivid first hand account of the Great War.
An obituary for Mr. McBride, who died in 1933 from a heart condition at the age of 59, appeared and can be read in the NRA's American Rifleman.
Instapundit links to a rather modest proposal by Discriminations that notes that Democrats, Ruth Marcus liberal Washington Post opinion writer among them, are now upset about the decline in marriage. Marcus is concerned that
If current trends hold, within a few years, less than half the U.S. adult population will be married. This precipitous decline isn’t just a social problem. It’s also an economic problem.
Specifically, it’s an income-inequality and economic-mobility problem. The steadily dropping marriage rate both contributes to income inequality and further entrenches it.
Nor does the marriage gap seem destined to lessen. Pew found that 27 percent of those with college degrees say they consider marriage “obsolete.” But 45 percent of those with a high school diploma or less took that view.
A different arm of Pew, its Economic Mobility Project, found that among children who started in the bottom third of income, only one-fourth of those with divorced parents moved up to the middle or top third as adults. By comparison, half of children with continuously married parents — and, somewhat surprisingly, 42 percent of those born to unmarried mothers — moved up the income ladder as adults.
Is marriage a magic-bullet solution to the broader problem of income inequality and lack of economic mobility? No, but fewer marriages will mean more inequality. Neither development is healthy.
Jedi knights top 15,000 in Czech census
More than 15,000 Czechs follow the faith of the Star Wars movies' Jedi knights, official census data showed Thursday, while half of the country's 10.5 million people declined to list any religion.
"Many people adhered to the moral values of Jedi knights from the Star Wars saga," the Czech Statistical Office said in a statement, noting that the invented faith also had a strong following in countries such as New Zealand, Australia, Canada and Britain.
Trial Number 10 has resulted in a win after a two day trial against a bug-house nuts pro-per defendant, and I don't use the term nuts lightly.
This defendant had her condo foreclosed on her by the condo association after failing to pay any condo dues for the past three years. She's also terrified the neighbors and is absolutely convinced that they are members of the mafia and are secretly breaking into her attic to spy on her.
Did I mention she's nuts?
She also threatened to kill my process server and has claimed she's going to go out and buy a gun. Great, I'm so looking forward to this trial. I've got the facts and law on my side, she's got the crazy.
On the first day of trial, we were required to talk outside of the courtroom to attempt to resolve the matter before going to the judge. She was interesting to watch - one minute seemingly sane and rational, the next going on about this great conspiracy and all the important people she knows who will intervene on her behalf and destroy the condominium association, the law firm, me, the process server, etc. Amazingly long diatribes that the judge just won't shut down even as she sustains my objections.
On the second day, she gets even more aggressive, yelling at me in front of the court clerks and other people at the front desk, claiming among other things that she's going to file a complaint with the bar association and she'll get us, and then jabs her finger at my face twice, the second time leaving it up there.
I tell her to get her finger out of my face and back off.
Surprisingly, she does so.
It seems like I actually have a reasonable command voice when necessary.
Throughout the trial she makes a big show, alternately being calm and rational, then crying, then shouting and back and forth like a switch through all these stages. She tries to have totally irrelevant documents admitted and also pulls out a quitclaim deed she made and recorded transferring the condo to her "trust", claiming it now can't be foreclosed.
One little problem with that strategy is that she filed this transfer after the Sheriff's foreclosure sale and as such the only thing she transferred (assuming this mythical trust even existed) was her redemption rights which she waived when she didn't pay the outstanding condo assessments that equaled the amount in the sheriffs deed during the six month redemption period.
It was a nice try but it didn't work.
She continually tries to name drop to the judge and claim she can't be foreclosed on and that she got a 1099C from her mortgage company canceling her mortgage. Which of course means nothing. In other words, she hasn't paid a dime to live there for 3 years now, at the expense of other condo residents that have to pay more in order to make up for he failing to do so.
At times she states she loves the condo.
She admits she hasn't paid a condo assessment in over 3 years and hasn't paid her property taxes in the last three years either, with the result that not only did the association foreclose on it but the county has also foreclosed on the condo.
She doesn't have a mortgage and can't pay less than $300 a month in condo dues and property taxes? Heck all she had to do to redeem it was pay a few thousand dollars and she could have got that before the foreclosure by putting a mortgage on her place. While the condo isn't worth much, it is worth much more than the few thousand she owes.
Did I mention she also dresses to the nines and has very expensive stuff yet won't pay for what she claims is her prized home?
So much for loving her condo.
Unfortunately, the judge bends over backwards, giving her plenty of leeway to make wild and crazy conspiracy accusations even as she admits she has no factual defense and admits she didn't pay and was properly served with all the required documents. This turns a half day trial into a two day affair.
She also continually goes on about how she's a "shark on land", which doesn't make a heckuva lot of sense. She also continually states how she is just so smart and sophisticated.
After two days, including my presentation of rebuttal witnesses to exhaustively enter into evidence every step of the foreclosure so that there is no question it was properly performed, the judge rules in our favor.
Given the judge's demeanor and the insanity of the defendant I don't just prove my case by the preponderance of the evidence which is the standard I must meet, instead I prove the foreclosure was proper by clear and convincing evidence, demolishing all frivolous claims to the contrary.
The judge finds in my favor granting me my 10th straight trial victory and preserving my perfect record.
Our insane defendant doesn't take this well, claiming she's not through, she's a shark on land, and we'll never see it coming. Great.
Unfortunately, the judge, instead of just giving her 10 days to move out as required by statute gives her 30 days after coaching her to ask for more time.
Yeesh.
I know the judge wants her leaving the courtroom happy with her and identifying with her as a friend rather than a foe for giving her more time. Still, after the judicially-inspired delays already in the case and the fact she's been living rent free for 3 years and all her carrying-on at trial it is a little frustrating.
On top of that extra time, the judge had already giving her an initial extra 3 week adjournment from the initial trial date so she could try to get a lawyer. Just like the offer of more time to move, the judge had again offered it to her sua sponte rather than waiting for her to bring it up. Of course she didn't really plan on doing so but certainly took the judge's suggestion to play for more time.
I half expect she will file a frivolous appeal to try and stall for even more time.
The joy of dealing with insane pro per defendants.....
Yesterday night, I had a set of Bridgestone Blizzak Snow Tires installed on my RAV4.
This expenditure, as totemic as a carbon offset, should ensure a lack of snow this winter.
You can thank me later.
The Ed Show on MSNBC totally mis-educates its viewers on the Emergency Financial Manager issue here in Michigan.
Heck, Ed doesn't even go into why such EFMs are appointed - because the cities involved have spent themselves into practically a state of bankruptcy, not due to his theory of some grand racial scheme on the part of Republicans.
He also neglects to mention that it was Democrat Governor Granholm who, in the example of Benton Harbor, had the first EFM appointed.
Curious that oversight, wouldn't fit his meme.
He then glosses over how Detroit, with a pending financial review and other communities already with EFMs, got there - by outspending themselves into incurable deficits as part of the great Democrat vote buying machine and corrupt patronage system. Without an EFM, it will lead to bankruptcy. Detroit is officially out of money this April, hence an EFM or bankruptcy - your choice Mr Ed.
Curious that oversight as well.
Of course, special guest Shelia Jackson Lee (D Texas) claims its undemocratic and a diminishing of minority voting power. This is nonsense - it doesn't prevent the people there from voting in any election, only it replaces the morons in city government who caused the crisis, which would happen anyways in a bankruptcy proceeding with a financial manager who can cut through the corrupt deals they've fashioned that brought these cities to their knees. She also goes on in rather nonsensical fashion about the "ongoing fund" - you know the one that was canceled under the Democrat Granholm administration as the State didn't have the money for it either.
Then listen to Ben Jealous of the NAACP make stuff up out of whole cloth.
He states Michigan's racial history led to names of certain cities near Detroit (around 5:08):
He says the names were chosen deliberately: Inkster for the black folk, Dearborn for the white folk.
Get it? Ink-ster = black people, Dear-Born = white people. How terribly racist right?
The trouble is, it isn't even remotely true.
It is a nice racist myth there Ben, but completely nonsensical and ahistorical.
Inkster was named after Scotsman Robert Inkster back in the 1860s.
Dearborn was named in 1836 after Henry Dearborn, a General in the American Revolution and Secretary of War under President Thomas Jefferson.
So Ben, this cunning racist plan took a 30 year period to come to fruition, and luckily they just happened to have two historical people whose names could be metaphors for racial groups if you stretch really, really hard to play with the sounds of the names?
In other words he makes a racist claim that is wholly made up to make his nonsensical race-based point. A lie to back up another lie. Not a lot of credibility when you make up stuff like this that is so easily confirmed to be complete and utter nonsense.
Quit playing games with my states' history. We unfortunately have enough real racial issues and history here without you coming along making crap up wholesale Mr. Jealous.
Watch this clip to see how the other side blithely makes stuff up on national television without any challenge or correction, or reality for that matter.
Have some popcorn ready as they go into real high dudgeon and real low credibility.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
My Ruger Mark II had not been torn down for a detail clean in quite sometime due to the rather arcane requirements to have it reassembled and function after stripping. It was starting to have some extraction problems so I figured it was well and truly due for a quality cleaning.
As anyone who owns a Mark II or its related variant knows, a complete tear down is generally a source of trepidation due to the hassle of reassembly.
I removed the bolt, took the receiver off of the grip and trigger housing, removed the grips and gave it a serious scrubbing.
The amount of crud that had built up over the long period of firing it was impressive. It is now cleaner than it has been in quite some time after being cleaned in every crevice and on every surface. There was even crud awaiting on the metal frame under the grip panels. The trigger is noticeably better now that all the grit that built up on it has been removed and the bolt and chamber are now remarkably clean.
Then it was time for reassembly:
Reassembling the Mark 2 generally requires facing Southport, Connecticut, then sacrificing a chicken and promising to quit being pissed, at least for a little while, at Bill Ruger for his support of the assault weapons and magazine ban.
But that is not enough.
After placing the barrel and receiver back on the trigger frame you have to do what I call the Ruger Pokey dance:
So this afternoon I went with Rob to the range.
The temperature had certainly dropped since our last outing, and there was snow on the ground but that didn't keep us away, but it did deter most other people.
I practiced drawing from under my winter coat with and without gloves on, both articles of clothing have an impact on your draw and shooting.
I also practiced drawing and shooting my Kahr PM9 from its pocket holster and engaging targets from around 7 to 25 yards away.
The Kahr would accurately hit the targets and would knock down Pepper Poppers reasonably enough. All poppers fell quickly, except for one pepper popper that apparently had taken PCP before standing in the target array. Mr. PCP Popper took multiple rapid and consecutive rounds to drop.
I shot up my 14 rounds of usual carry ammo for the Kahr PM9 all with good hits, in addition to 100 rounds of FMJ for practice.
Rob also shot his Kahr and his Beretta 96 and did quite well.
I also shot 100 rounds through my Glock 17 and hit targets with it well and practiced a few FAST drills. The nice and free shooting times for the Android phone are pretty useful but wickedly unreliable, crashing often and making me veer towards buying a proper timer soon.
After the timed course of fire with the 17, I then brought out the Glock 22 as well for practice. Mr. PCP Pepper Popper dropped to both the 17 and the 22, showing that there is some real loss of effective velocity when a 9mm is fired through the 3 inch barrel of the PM9.
After shooting, we stopped for some good burgers and headed homeward.
Once I got home I cleaned the Kahr, the Glocks and my Ruger MKII, the cleaning of which is a subject deserving of a post all its own, which will follow this one.
I have now rotated my Kahr carry ammo to some fresh 124gr Speer Gold Dot Hollow Points after shooting up the last of my Remington Golden Sabres that were in the gun for practice. I figured I should get some practice with the full power self defense ammo and can report that it really doesn't feel very different at all from FMJ and the hits were just as accurate with either ammunition.
As usual, the Kahr did impressively well and it continues to serve as a practically perfect pocket portable protection device.
A fine sunny if chilly afternoon at the range.
The Detroit News: The Misplaced Stuff: NASA loses moon, space rocks
Federal agencies these days.
A few rocks is one thing, but NASA loses the moon? That's just plain careless.
Did I Call It or What?
Turkia Awada Mullin may have case against Wayne County airport board
Turkia Awada Mullin sued the Wayne County Airport Authority on Thursday, seeking to answer what might end up a $700,000 question.
Why was she fired?
[Turkia's attorney] Sterling did obtain a copy of Mullin's personnel file, which he said contained no indication that Mullin had done anything wrong.
"Unfortunately for them, they can only go by what's in the file," Sterling said.
It's not only in Britain where certain ethnic groups get nice deals on criminal charges.
The Detroit Free Press: Student who threatened violence at WSU gets probation
A judge ordered probation Friday for an honors student who threatened to shoot up Wayne State University with a machine gun.
Ali Saad's online threat a year ago turned out to be false, but no one knew it at the time. Two people who read it alerted authorities, and Wayne State police and FBI agents launched an investigation.
U.S. District Judge Stephen Murphy III called it a "big deal" but agreed with the prosecutor that prison wasn't necessary, despite guidelines that called for a possible term of up to a year.
"Your conduct stemmed from anger and narcotics or substance abuse," the judge told Saad. "If you slip into drug use or impulsive behavior, you're going to be here again and on your way to jail."
Saad wrote online that he was planning to take an AK47 to Wayne State's General Lectures building and kill more than the 32 people who died at Virginia Tech University in 2007, according to the FBI. Authorities said he pledged to set up a Web cam to record it and wrote, "Be sure to tune in."
Saad, 20, apologized in court. He also got a significant break: Authorities found images of child pornography on his computer but didn't pursue charges.
Via The Volokh Conspiracy: English Court: “Kill the White Slag” Attack Wasn’t Racially Motivated
The Telegraph: Mercy for the drunk Muslim girl gang who attacked woman
A girl gang of Somali Muslims who repeatedly kicked a woman in the head during a drunken attack were spared jail after a judge heard that their religion meant they were not used to drinking. The four defendants shouted “kill the white slag” as they attacked Rhea Page after dragging her to the ground.He also gave them 150 hours community service, presumably to be served in their community to instruct others how to attack "white slags" and get away with it.
Ambaro Maxamed, 24, her sisters Ayan, 28, and Hibo, 24, and their cousin Ifrah Nur, 28, faced up to five years in jail after admitting causing actual bodily harm.
But Judge Robert Brown gave them six-month suspended sentences after deciding that the attack in Leicester city centre was not racially motivated.
With the fall of the first snows this week and the days getting shorter, you know that range time will start to become more limited.
Luckily, there are lots of ways to keep your shooting proficiency up during the winter of our discontent.
Michael Seeklander's book Your Competition Handgun Training Program: A complete training program designed for the practical shooter
As a complete training program, its pretty solid. He covers everything from mental and physical preparation to dry-fire and live-fire exercises to make you a better pistol shooter. While its focused towards improving IPSC and IDPA competition skills, this manual can help any shooter improve.
The drills are well described and diagrammed out and easy to follow.
Most importantly for winter its full of dry-fire drills to help you practice when you're snowbound. You can setup a target, or targets as the drill may require in your basement, get in your gear so you practices as you intend to shoot and make sure no ammunition is in the firearm and none is in the room and get practicing.
At 296 pages and well written, the book can be read quickly and thoroughly and it helps you develop a training plan for the course of an entire year, including the depths of winter.
Given the depth of information provided and the clarity in which it is presented I think any shooter working on improving their pistol-craft will benefit from this book.
I'm going to follow the plan as practicable given the other commitments on my time and we'll see if I show improvement during next year's shooting season.
We may be looking at the middle stages of the deconstruction of a major American city.
The Detroit Free Press: State orders Detroit financial review
One can only wonder how much corruption they'll find when they really start auditing Detroit's books.
The financial review is the first stage on the road to appointing an Emergency Financial Manager for the city. The EFM will have the power to run the city, control the books and budget and renegotiate city contracts, including union contracts and pension arrangements.
In other words, Detroit has just about run out of other people's money and the checks they've written are coming due with nothing to cover them.
The sweetheart deals and back room corruption of a decades-long Democratic party dominated government have resulted in the decline of this once great city. At the current rate, the city is out of money by April of this year.
Of course, the power structure in place is of course fighting back with their most powerful remaining weapon - the race card.
Already city councilman and black nationalist Kwame Kenyatta is accusing the Governor of turning Detroit into a plantation if he goes ahead with the appointment of an EFM.
The city's entrenched black elite have managed to run the city into the ground, and failed at governing quite well on their own. Playing the race card this late in the game doesn't work.
Detroit should be declared to be out of race-based timeouts.
The Good News: You're renovating your house, and you find 9 sheets of uncut $5 bills hidden in the walls.
That's the Law of Serendipity in action.
The Bad News: You then find out they're counterfeit.
Murphy's Law strikes and wins yet again.
Troy homeowner discovers sheets of counterfeit cash in wall
Last Week, with much fanfare, Hizballah announced it had rolled up a CIA spy ring in its organization.
AP: Hezbollah unravels CIA spy network in Lebanon.
Michael Totten, who is always worth paying attention to, notes an interesting argument that this announcement reveals more weakness about Hezbollah and its ability to be compromised by foreign agents than it does about Hizballah's counterintelligence prowess.
I'm rather curious myself as to whether Hizballah's alleged agent at the FBI and CIA, Nadia Prouty, was a factor in providing information and intel to Hizballah that led to them detecting and rolling up the CIA spy ring.
