Daily Roundup - Jan 17, 2016

WAPO: Brazilians panic as mosquito-borne virus is linked to brain damage in thousands of babies Dom Philips

The Zika Virus causes microcephalic Babies, how long till our porous border brings this plague to us?
The map shows it is already in most of the countries that feed us illegal immigrants.  How long before our babies fall under this mosquito borne virus?  Since the Zika virus can be sexually transmitted, it is possibly quite easy to transmit.
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NYT: 14 Testy Months Behind U.S. Prisoner Swap With Iran - Peter Baker and Davide E. Sanger

"In Washington, the Obama administration engaged in a vigorous debate about whether to trade Iranian prisoners and, if so, which ones, with Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch objecting to a deal that equated innocent Americans seized for political gains with Iranian criminals indicted or convicted under western legal traditions.

In the end, officials said President Obama decided that to spare the Americans years — if not life — in an Iranian prison, he would make what he called a “one-time gesture” by releasing Iranians who had been accused or convicted of violating sanctions that he was lifting anyway as part of the nuclear agreement."

Israel is well acquainted with these "one time gestures"  they happen whenever an Israeli is taken captive by a terrorist group, and ends up costing the Israelis many murderers which go out to repeat their attacks on Israel.  Paying ransom, whether monetary on in personnel is a bad idea.

As far back as 1785, the Barbary Pirates (Muslims it turns out) capture an American Ship and held them for ransom for years demanding and getting ransom until after the war with the British, America fought the Barbary Coast Pirates and defeated them.

Israel has paid for its political stupidity by training their soldiers in "anti capture" techniques, in making detailed plans of how to respond to an abduction to recover the abductee before he is spirited away. All of this costing lives, and treasure to the country.

Let's not go down the same road of allowing extortion to be a normal part of asymmetric warfare.