US Army Retired

US Army Retired

Monday, November 19, 2018

Lots of News and Interesting Stuff for November 19, 2018





President Trump Wants Pelosi for Speaker
I couldn’t believe it when I heard him say it! Was he kidding? And then, he Tweeted;
I can get Nancy Pelosi as many votes as she wants in order for her to be Speaker of the House. She deserves this victory, she has earned it – but there are those in her party who are trying to take it away. She will win! @TomReedCongress
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 17, 2018
This comes as Pelosi said she has secured enough Democrat votes and would refuse any GOP support.
If anyone can’t see her goal to be totally independent of– and even strongly opposed to – the president, they’re blind.
So, can someone explain to me why the president should be supporting her?
Maher: Why Not Make Pelosi Speaker Since ‘She’s Already Pre-Tarnished’ @ https://www.breitbart.com/video/2018/11/16/maher-why-not-make-pelosi-speaker-since-shes-already-pre-tarnished/

(President) Trump Signs DHS Cybersecurity Agency Into Law
More and more people are becoming aware of and concerned by internet attacks and the need to secure data. I thought this was just another government entity, but it appears to be reorganization of an existing one.
The importance of cybersecurity work within the Department of Homeland Security has been elevated by legislation now signed by President Donald Trump.
The legislation the president signed into law Friday creates the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency at DHS. The new agency will become the focal point at the department for protecting critical infrastructure, including election systems, against threats from unfriendly nation states, cyber criminals, and other adversaries.
It reorganizes DHS's National Protection and Programs Directorate into a new agency and puts more focus on its work to secure the nation's cyber and physical infrastructure.

Trump: We're Writing up Rules for Reporters
I posted that this was coming in response to the judge’s ruling.
President Donald Trump says the White House is "writing up rules and regulations" for reporters after a judge ordered the administration to restore credentials for CNN reporter Jim Acosta.
Trump told reporters Friday that "people have to behave." He added that if journalists "don't listen to the rules and regulations, we will end up back in court and we will win."
Asked what he meant by rules and regulations, Trump said: "Decorum. You can't take three questions and four questions. And just stand up and not sit down."
Trump said he wants "total freedom of the press," but added "you have to act with respect."
The White House said Friday that it would "temporarily reinstate" the credentials that were revoked after Acosta and Trump tangled during a press conference last week.
And I’m going to predict this; as soon as the rules are posted, Acosta or CNN or some other news outline, will complain and demand they be changed. The whole thing will end up back before the same judge and, if he doesn’t back up, a higher court.
It's easy to find judges who make a mockery of common sense. Hell, even Trump can find them and appoint them, as he did with this turkey.
Well, then, fine.
Let Acosta back in.
Nobody can make you CALL on him, can they?
Trump Throws Down the Gauntlet on Acosta, Reveals His Incredible Plan If Jim Starts Acting Up @ https://www.westernjournal.com/ct/trump-throws-gauntlet-acosta-reveals-incredible-plan-jim-starts-acting/

Sen. Graham set for new role as chairman of Senate Judiciary committee
Oh boy are things gonna be fun during confirmation hearings for judicial appointments. Think Spartacus can get away with more of his antics? Or Feinstein try to run all over Lindsay. Not a chance in the netherworld!
I very much appreciate Senator @ChuckGrassley's leadership of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
He chaired the committee with a steady hand, sense of fundamental fairness, and resolve.
His leadership serves as a model to us all.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) November 16, 2018

Why Does America Have 13 Million Households That Don’t Have Enough Food To Eat?
Does the picture break your heart?
That’s what it’s supposed to do. So is the entire piece.
Am I being hard-hearted? Probably. I’ve been in the place of wondering how to put food in the cupboard. I still barely get by paycheck to paycheck. But, that’s my own problem and not the government’s.
Here’s an important fact buried deeply in the article:
Many of the working poor are single parents, and they often suffer in silence because they don’t want those around them to look down on them.
And, going a step further, how many welfare dependents are single parents? Parents whose spouses refuse to take responsibility for their offspring?
A 2014 study by the Pew Research Center found 52% of U.S. residents in their 60s—17.4 million people—are financially supporting either a parent or an adult child, up from 45% in 2005. Among them, about 1.2 million support both a parent and a child, more than double the number a decade earlier, according to an analysis of the Pew findings and census data.
The squeeze is coming from both ends. With lifespans growing longer, the number of 60-somethings with living parents has more than doubled since 1998, to about 10 million, according to an Urban Institute analysis of University of Michigan data, and they are increasingly expensive to care for. At the same time, many boomers are helping their children deal with career or health problems, or are sharing the heavy burden of student loans.

President Trump, please fix the Pentagon
It isn’t as if he isn’t trying, Tech Guy. But there’s only so much he and Secretary Mattis can do. This has been simmering for decades and it’s only because of this first-ever audit that we’re just beginning to understand the massive problems there are. This blogger calls for 3 things;
Civilian employee reform – not as easy as it seems because it requires a massive overhaul of the Civil Service system – that isn’t going to happen in the 116th Congress.
Acquisition Reform – there might be a dent in that with Executive Orders and regulation changes. But, don’t hold your breath as a lot of it is controlled by pressure from politicians.
Individual Augmentation – I’m really unsure what this blogger wants done here. It’s a manpower problem that can only be met by acquiring more military personnel.
As for the audit, here are the results from DefenseNews;
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon’s first-ever audit discovered major flaws in how it handles IT processes and challenges with its internal tracking databases, but did not discover any major cases of fraud or abuse.
The audit — long sought by Congress and good-government groups — was unveiled Thursday evening. The effort covered $2.7 trillion in DoD assets. Calling it a single audit isn’t strictly right, as the effort, led by the Department of Defense’s inspector general, in collaboration with the comptroller’s office, was actually 21 different audits done by a collection of auditing teams.
Over 1,000 auditors from outside firms, as well as 150 from DoD OIG, visited over 600 DoD locations, requested over 40,000 documents, and tested over 90,000 sample items, per a department fact sheet.
The effort overall is considered a “failed” audit in the strict term, as only 5 of the 21 individual audits checked received a fully passing grade, with two more receiving an ok grade. But department officials were quick to note that was no expectation that the audit would be clean, given the size and scope of the project.

The drug pricing maze
I always thought it was Big Parma’s way of recouping R&D costs. But this says that’s not the case.
How it works: Using publicly available data and common industry assumptions, Pachman built out a rough, simplified sketch of how money changes hands for a “typical” generic drug.
This drug would cost about $3 to make and would sell for about $15.
So, what happens to the other $12? It’s split among the manufacturer (about $3), the pharmacy ($1.50), a wholesaler ($2), and, finally, the largest share goes to the company that manages your insurance plan’s drug benefits ($5.50).

More Babylon Bee
Judge Orders Trump, Acosta To Wear Their Get-Along Shirt @ https://babylonbee.com/news/judge-orders-trump-acosta-to-wear-their-get-along-shirt
'We Would Be Delighted To Have Hillary Clinton Run In 2020,' Says Democratic Party Chair As Several Laser Dots Dance Around On Forehead @ https://babylonbee.com/news/we-would-be-delighted-to-have-hillary-clinton-run-in-2020-says-democratic-party-chair-as-several-laser-dots-dance-around-on-forehead
Man Who Was Wished 'Happy Holidays' Knows Exactly What The Persecuted Church In China Is Going Through @ https://babylonbee.com/news/man-who-was-wished-happy-holidays-knows-exactly-what-the-persecuted-church-in-china-is-going-through
New Evidence Suggests Early Christians Wore Favorite NFL Jerseys To Church Every Sunday @ https://babylonbee.com/news/new-evidence-suggests-early-christians-wore-favorite-nfl-jerseys-to-church-every-sunday
Citing Tough Competition From Amazon, Santa Claus Declares Bankruptcy @ https://babylonbee.com/news/citing-tough-competition-from-amazon-santa-claus-declares-bankruptcy
Gossip Tops List Of Most Socially Acceptable Sins Yet Again @ https://babylonbee.com/news/gossip-tops-list-of-most-socially-acceptable-sins-yet-again
The good stuff just keeps coming. :)

Troops Assigned To The US Border Mission Are Bored As Hell
Here goes this site again! I’m becoming positive it’s a Leftist front out to belittle our president anyway they can.
Troops bored? Good Lord! They obviously don’t know the most basic rule of being in the military. Hurry up and wait? It’s why we learned to pass our time anyway possible, to include getting lots and lots of sleep. And, any NCO worth his or her salt would be finding all sorts of ways of giving them make-work tasks.
The Times likened the atmosphere to the early years in Afghanistan. Rep. Anthony G. Brown, a Maryland Democrat and Iraq War veteran, said a key difference is that in Afghanistan the soldiers have a mission.
Brown said that even on holidays, that mission, a sense of purpose, helped troops maintain morale. Along the border, it seems, that purpose is missing.
While some of the troops spend their days constructing barbed-wire fences, others are just trying to make their bases livable, according to The Times. Many are performing the same tasks as previously deployed National Guard units.
“When you send a soldier on a dubious mission, with no military value, over Thanksgiving, it doesn’t help morale at all,” Brown told The Times.
Of course they cite the NYT and find a Dim Rep for the commentary.

Has the Air Force Lost Its Sense of Mission and Purpose?
A perfect example of this is our troops now on the southern border. Does each individual know exactly what they – and their units – are supposed to do? And how to do it?
The Reset Button
Airmen do not need more taglines, buzzwords, catchphrases, or other motivational fodder — they need purpose. Despite all the rhetoric, the reason the United States has an Air Force is actually quite simple. In fact, its role has remained unchanged since it was written into law in 1947: “be organized, trained, and equipped primarily for prompt and sustained offensive and defensive air operations.” Everything else is support, a byproduct, or a distraction.
That is built on a higher purpose. Being a military branch, the Air Force should possess military capability that is uniquely suited to wield out of military necessity, in order to achieve a military objective. The purpose of a military is to exert sufficient force to break an adversary’s body, mind, or spirit in order to bring about the end of war. Combined with the other instruments of power, the military is a nation’s sword and shield that advances and defends national values, interests, and objectives — whether through action or the threat of action.
With purpose in mind, priorities become clear when resources are stripped away. The Air Force can choose wisely. It has done it before, and it can do it again.

Here’s What You Should Think About Before Getting Out Of The Military
Many enter the military to gain special skills and experience with an idea of looking for the time when they get out and join the civilian workforce. Some just enter for the security of getting “three hots and a cot,” as the saying goes. They get so used to that paycheck on the 15th and last day of each month, that they continue to sign the papers and swear the oath to stay in.
This article deals with ways to take a look at this.
When it comes to deciding whether to leave the military or to make it a career, too many folks just wait until their current contract expires and say, “Oh shit. I have to get a real job now.” Others just robotically keep signing papers every few years, sleepwalking from tour to tour until they’ve ended up having a military career without ever consciously deciding to.
After all the military does to get you to join, it’s usually ambivalent about whether you stay or not. That’s unfortunate, because that decision is at least as important as the decision to join. In your early twenties, if your four years or so in the military didn’t work out, you can just chalk it up as a shitty first job. But for those with 8 to 12 years in, deciding whether or not to spend a substantial portion of your adult life in the military by making it a career is a more substantial decision.
Unless you have a leader really looking out for you who cares about your well being, you’re pretty much on your own on this.

U.S. Forces Take Charge of Haiti’s Major International Airport?
I caught this on my daily internet search and am totally surprised that it isn’t all over every newscast in the country. This also happened 6 years ago, so I’m surprised of this report dated Nov 18, 2018.
OAN Newsroom
6:12 PM PT – Sun. Nov. 18, 2018
Reports of unrest are surfacing in the Republic of Haiti.
Local sources today say U.S. forces have taken control of the country’s major international airport.
This builds on a statement released by the State Department Friday, warning Americans not to travel around Haiti in the upcoming days.
Demonstrations are expected to take place over the weekend, to protest against excessive spending and taxes throughout the country.
However, local activist groups are saying the U.S. presence could suggest something larger.
I can’t find anything else confirming the OP headline

UN Refugee Agency Tries to Step on U.S. National Sovereignty
Once again, an unelected, unaccountable globalist bureaucracy in the UN tries to tell the USA that it cannot control its own borders. Just how long will we have anything to do with this organization that supports terrorism against freedom-loving people?
Every nation has the sovereign right to control its own borders. Nevertheless, responding to President Trump’s proclamation, the UN refugee agency known as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), released a statement last Friday saying that the U.S. must abide by international refugee protection accords as interpreted by the UN refugee agency. Without citing any specific, first hand evidence from the scene, the agency claimed that many of the migrants from Central America “are fleeing life-threatening violence or persecution.”

Austrians with Turkish roots fear being stripped of nationality
It seems the once accepting Austria has changed its view of immigrants. I personally remember the influx of Turks to fill jobs they couldn’t find Austrians to fill. There are now 270k of them and their children now living there.
But, maybe not for much longer as the two ruling parties are pushing on those with dual citizenship, something forbidden to Austrians.
Except in very special cases, Austria does not allow its citizens to hold dual nationality.
But the far-right and anti-Islam Freedom Party (FPÖ) -- junior partner in a ruling coalition with the centre-right Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) -- last year claimed to have received a list of Turkish voters which it said could contain tens of thousands of illegal dual nationals.
The affair drew comparisons to Britain's "Windrush" scandal, in which scores of British citizens of Caribbean origin were deported or detained because they had not collected the necessary paperwork proving their right be there.
Now many of the Austrians of Turkish origin whose names appear on the list could face a similar administrative nightmare.
This article discusses the difficulty of these people to prove their right to remain in Austria. It also deals with “nationalism” that is arising among some European countries – many based upon a growing dissatisfaction with Muslims.

The Woman Who Invented the Green Bean Casserole
I swear I had it during the war from my grandmother’s kitchen. I do clearly remember having it for almost every holiday meal I had after the war.
I still like it.
In 1955, Dorcas was working as a supervisor at the home economics department of a Campbell’s test kitchen in Camden, New Jersey, when she was tasked with creating a recipe for a feature that would appear in the Associated Press. The recipe had to be based on ingredients that any home cook would have on hand, including Campbell’s mushroom soup and green beans.
Dorcas, who had earned a degree in home economics from Drexel University (known then as the Drexel Institute of Technology), got to tinkering. According to Today’s Vidya Rao, she and her team initially toyed with adding celery salt and ham to the recipe, but ultimately settled on six simple, affordable ingredients that could be stirred together in a casserole dish and popped into the oven for 25 minutes. The prep time was minimal; the dish worked well with frozen or canned green beans, and the fried onions were pre-packaged.

Troll-Feeding and You
They’re everywhere you turn on the internet. Sadly and shame on me, I often let them get under my skin – which is exactly why they’re there. But, this blog provides some great ideas on how to deal with them and I’m going to do my best to follow them.
Always have fun when you’re feeding trolls. Picture yourself as an apex predator playing with her food before consuming it. I’ve been known to say that I love trolls because they go well with onions, garlic, peppers and seasoning. Red wine vinegar is the key, however. Trolls feed you.
Never get angry or offended at what a troll says. Remember that they don’t know you. They barely know themselves.
It bears repeating: trolls feed you. Look for inconsistencies in troll comments and exploit them. Trolls are stupid and, therefore, will always provide you with your own rhetorical ammunition. They can’t help it; it’s in their nature.
Never block them because they have another use: attracting eyeballs. If you can handle them well and with some humor, the Popcorn Factor applies.
Possessing a mean streak helps.
Remember this about much of the Internet: it is populated with people who not only have not figured out how to analyze information but see absolutely no value in analysis. They just want to try to make you — or anyone else — look as stupid as they have felt during the bulk of their lives. But, generally, they are poorly armed.
There is a downside to engaging them even for sport, however: sometimes owned trolls don’t know when to quit. But there’s a downside to everything in this world.
I believe in being a Happy Warrior; for that, it’s necessary to sharpen your spear and engaging in target practice.

7 Tips From Ernest Hemingway on How to Write Fiction
I normally take pieces like this with a grain of salt. Everyone wants to help you write a best seller – for a fee. But, this article is filled with great tips.
1: To get started, write one true sentence.
2: Always stop for the day while you still know what will happen next.
3: Never think about the story when you're not working.
IMHO, this is a real toughy. How can you ignore all the scenes you see and plot lines filling your head?
4: When it's time to work again, always start by reading what you've written so far.
5: Don't describe an emotion--make it.
6: Use a pencil.
I’m willing to bet that, if he were alive today, he’s be using a word processor.
7: Be Brief.
Hemingway writes:
It wasn't by accident that the Gettysburg address was so short. The laws of prose writing are as immutable as those of flight, of mathematics, of physics.

Posted by Dale Day at 5:31 PM

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