Mattis Says He Has Extra Authority to Use Military on Border
How the hell are they going to protect Customs and Border Protection personnel, with lethal force if necessary, if they’re not carrying weapons?
So, big deal. Chief of Staff Kelley sends him a letter on behalf of the president.
Mattis was adamant that the military will remain within its legal limits.
"We are not doing law enforcement," he told reporters at the Pentagon. "We do not have arrest authority." He noted that National Guard troops under state control are also involved at the border, and he said the governors of those states could give them arrest authority. He said there are about 2,100 National Guard troops involved.
Mattis said that as of Wednesday there were 5,764 active-duty troops performing support missions along the border in Texas, Arizona and California. The number changes frequently. Just a day earlier, the Pentagon said in a report to Congress that there about 5,900 troop involved; at other times the Pentagon has put the number at 5,800.
Mattis Says He Has Cautioned Trump Not To Visit War Zones
The Leftists will have you believe that the president doesn’t travel to Afghanistan or the Middle East because he’s afraid to.
Horse puckey!
First of all, it’s never been a secret that he doesn’t want to legitimize our involvement in Afghanistan by visiting there. The second, unlike some POTUS’ who’ve gone for the photo ops, he knows how disruptive his visit would be for the troops. Now we learn this:
While some critics insist that President Donald Trump should visit U.S. troops overseas, Defense Secretary James Mattis thinks it unwise. In fact, the SecDef told reporters on Wednesday that he has urged the president to stay away from war zones.
“The president is the commander in chief and he decides where he needs to go,” Mattis said. “There are times I don’t want him in certain locations – to be frank with you – for his security and the troops’ security. There’s places that I’ve been very straightforward, I don’t want him to go at certain times.”
Mattis declined to say which countries he has advised the president not to visit.
Since taking office nearly two years ago, Trump has not visited U.S. troops in Iraq, Afghanistan, or elsewhere downrange. The president said during a Nov. 18 Fox News interview that such a trip could be in the works, but he declined to provide specifics, citing security concerns.
As the president prepared to leave the White House for Florida on Tuesday, a reporter asked the president if he is afraid to visit U.S. troops in a war zone.
“No, I’m going to a war zone,” Trump replied.
Trump Will Hold Teleconference With Troops Thanksgiving Morning @ https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/donald-trump-military-troops-thanksgiving/2018/11/21/id/891620/
I’m sure the Leftist media will call him a coward for doing this instead of going all the way somewhere for a photo op.
Trump hints could make first visit to Afghanistan @ https://www.oann.com/trump-hints-could-make-first-visit-to-afghanistan/
Troops Abroad to Get More Food This Thanksgiving
I remember how our messhall guys really went overboard for Turkey Day and our Christmas meal. Seems it’s not a bit different decades later.
In addition to more than 81,000 pies, the Defense Logistics Agency plans for more.
n addition, this Thanksgiving the DLA will also provide 10,000 more pounds of ham than last year, 25,000 more pounds of beef, more than double the amount of shrimp, 9,000 more gallons of eggnog and 10,000 more cakes.
Pelosi claims ‘everywhere I go, people thank me for saving America’
Well, she certainly has reason to brag. It’s still unclear whether or not she’s got the Speakership.
During an off-the-wall news conference, Pelosi bizarrely claimed that everywhere she goes, people thank her for “saving America.”
Pelosi was bragging about Democrats regaining control of the U.S. House of Representatives in the midterm elections earlier this month.
Of course, she didn’t mention that Republicans gained two seats in the U.S. Senate. She also didn’t mention that Republicans still control the White House and a majority on the U.S. Supreme Court.
More of this @ https://mediaequalizer.com/martin-walsh/2018/11/pelosi-claims-everywhere-i-go-people-thank-me-for-saving-america
‘Out Hondurans, we don’t want you here:’ anti-migrant sentiment continues
Things are getting a little hot on the border. One thing bothers me. We haven’t heard anything about the others making their way north, most likely to other border towns like Nogales, Mexicali, Juarez, and Nuevo Laredo. Where are they?
With two other caravans currently traveling through Mexico, Tijuana officials have estimated that the number of migrants in the city could reach 10,000, stoking concerns about the city’s ability to cope with such a large cohort.
There are already around 3,000 migrants on a waiting list to apply for asylum in the United States, meaning that the new arrivals, and future ones, face a lengthy wait just to have the opportunity to plead their case.
But after traveling more than 4,000 kilometers to reach Mexico’s northern border, the vast majority are determined to do all they can to enter the United States, even if that means attempting to cross illegally.
“If I die on the way, at least I will have fought for something,” 24-year-old José Adan Núñez told The New York Times.
‘This Is an Invasion:’ Angry Tijuana Residents Push Back Against Migrant Caravan @ https://www.westernjournal.com/invasion-angry-tijuana-residents-push-back-migrant-caravan/
IRONY: Mexico Is Now Deporting Members Of The Migrant Caravan For Crimes
Am I wrong or did not the media take President Trump to task for declaring that the caravans included criminals? Well, it seems Mexico knows there are!
Tijuana officials said late Monday they had arrested 34 caravan members for drug possession, public intoxication, disturbing the peace and resisting police, and they would be deported to their home countries.
More @ https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/nov/20/mexico-deport-migrant-caravan-members-after-tijuan/
There Are Criminals in Caravan, Mexican Ambassador Admits @ https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/migrant-caravan-criminals-illegal-aliens/2018/11/21/id/891574/
More Amusing Babylon Bee
[I love checking these out every day. Nice to be able to smile at the news for a change.]
Trump Suggests California Deploy Water-Type Pokemon @ https://babylonbee.com/news/trump-suggests-california-deploy-water-type-pokemon
California Legislature Unveils Plan To Raise Taxes On Wildfires Until They Move Out Of State @ https://babylonbee.com/news/california-legislature-unveils-plan-to-tax-wildfires-until-they-move-out-of-state
Report: Wife Cold @ https://babylonbee.com/news/report-wife-cold
[And they’re not referring to THAT kind of cold]
Duggar Family Discovers Kid They Forgot They Even Had In Couch Cushions @ https://babylonbee.com/news/duggar-family-discovers-kid-they-forgot-they-even-had-in-couch-cushions
Man Unsure Why Wife Taking So Long To Get Self, 3 Kids Ready For Church @ https://babylonbee.com/news/man-unsure-why-wife-taking-so-long-to-get-self-3-kids-ready-for-church
Compassionate: This Democratic Representative Is So Opposed To Gun Violence That He's Willing To Nuke The Entire Country To Stop It @ https://babylonbee.com/news/compassionate-this-democratic-representative-is-so-opposed-to-gun-violence-that-hes-willing-to-nuke-the-entire-country-to-stop-it
There will definitely be more.
59% of Americans Medically Ineligible to Join the Military!
This comes from a study by retired flag officers and can be read in full @ http://cdn.missionreadiness.org/NATEE1109.pdf
Now, with that out of the way, I find the author of this piece somewhat biased. He tried to get into OCS and was turned down due to medical reasons. He then tried the Navy and quit when he was turned down by the Army National Guard.
He claims a retired military physician gave him a letter saying he was fit to serve.
This is the conundrum of recruitment. One might be fit to perform selected duties, but that does not mean they are physically capable of performing the most basic reason for being in the military – conducting war with a pistol or rifle in hand.
According to AMSARA, the top conditions for active duty medical disqualification from 2010-2014 were weight/body build (17 percent), psychiatric (12 percent), refraction (11 percent), and skin/allergies (9 percent). These conditions largely hold across years and components. Many conditions included in these categories may inhibit an applicant’s ability to serve effectively. However, many do not. Although overweight applicants would most likely not be able to meet military physical standards, according to AMSARA one-third of “weight/body build” disqualifications include cases of underweight applicants who may not have such issues. Ongoing psychiatric conditions should be taken seriously, but even symptoms or outpatient treatment of depression within three years of applying for military service is disqualifying, according to the Department of Defense’s Medical Standards for Appointment, Enlistment, or Induction regulations. Vision that cannot be corrected to 20/40 as well as allergic reactions to fish, insects, and nuts can be disqualifying as well.
Much more of this piece @ https://warontherocks.com/2018/11/department-of-disqualified-fixing-the-broken-military-medical-accessions-process/ w/lots and lots of links.
Sleep Better as He Invests $1 Million in Anti-Abortion Film
Anyone who’s ever watched 1 hour of the boob tube knows that face. Buy his MyPillow and he’ll guarantee you a sound night’s sleep.
[It really surprised me to read that he’s a former cocaine and alcohol addict.]
Lindell has invested $1 million into the movie "Unplanned," which criticizes Planned Parenthood. He's also got a cameo in the movie, where he is shown bulldozing one of the agency's clinics to make room for the home of an anti-abortion group.
A Mind-Numbing Scientific Discovery!
Are you ready for this?
Scientists finally know how wombat butts make cube-shaped poops
Hunh? Are you kidding me? Who the hell funded this life-changing research at the Georgia Institute of Technology?
“We currently have only two methods to manufacture cubes: We mold it, or we cut it. Now, we have this third method," she said in a statement. "It would be a cool method to apply to the manufacturing process — how to make a cube with soft tissue instead of just molding it."
Make you feel better. And there’s more links in the article @ https://www.foxnews.com/science/scientists-finally-know-how-wombat-butts-make-cube-shaped-poops
The stunning winners of the panoramic photography awards
I know little about professional photography. I do wonder how much is skill and how much is pure luck. Being at the right place at the same time and taking advantage of it.
Both professional and amateur photographers were invited to enter their best landscape shots for the Epson International Pano Awards 2018 in a bid to win more than $50,000 (£38,000) in cash.
And this year's competition received 4,937 entries from 1,251 photographers in 74 countries.
The overall winner of the contest was Veselin Atanasov from Bulgaria, who impressed with his shot of the sun rising over a tree-lined hill in Tuscany. We were also very taken with the shot of lightning lashing the Grand Canyon, a diver in a Brazilian abyss and a haunting shot of fog drifting around a U.S swamp.
The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2018
I think this is the funnies of the 12. The following was the overall winner:
Love to see some captions for it. Mine is; “Get out of my easy chair!”
The rest of them @ https://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-46302730
Twenty Years Old? The International Space Station
Hard to realize that the Russians sent the first module, the Zarya Functional Cargo Block, into space on Nov. 20, 1998.
We’ve come a long way. Now, not only the Russians are sending stuff up to it buy private contractors that have developed some amazing technology.
The story is @ https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/20-years-ago-construction-began-on-the-international-space-station
This Is Why Some Cactus Spines Are So Hard — and Painful — to Remove
I didn’t need a lengthy, probably tax-funded research study to know why. All one has to do is examine the darned things when you remove them.
Stephanie Crofts and Philip Anderson of the University of Illinois put the spines of six species of cactus to the test to see how the spines’ structure affects their function, including their ability to puncture animal skin. Their results, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, show that the microstructural traits that improve a spine’s ability to puncture flesh also increase the level of difficulty required to remove it.
Okay, so what does this conclude? That you should avoid the darned things so you don’t get pricked. Doncha love stuff like this?
Next Generation of Marine One Prototype
The Sikorsky-built VH-92A is the next generation of military choppers and six different prototypes are undergoing testing to determine which will be the final version accepted.
Two new versions of AF One are in the works and he president’s new limo, known as “The Beast” is already in operation.
And, to get things straight, these all were in the planning stages before Donald Trump announced he was running for president.
A video and more is @ https://www.foxnews.com/tech/newly-released-images-offer-first-glimpse-of-next-generation-marine-one-prototype
November 21, 1969 = The Internet is Born
Dos commands to enter your software and agonizingly slow dial up modems. How many of you were even born when this happened?
By Community Team November 21st, 2018
On this day in 1969 the first permanent ARPANET link was established and put into service. ARPANET or Advanced Research Projects Agency Network was an early computer network that used packet-switching and the protocol suite TCP/IP, technologies that became the foundation of the modern Internet. It was developed by computer scientist J.C.R. Licklider, Robert Taylor and many other researchers of the 1960s for the U.S. Department of Defense’s Advanced Research Projects Agency or DARPA. On November 21st, 1969 it was used to connect a computer at UCLA with another from the Stanford Research Institute. The following month, the entire four-node network was established.
You Must Be Prepared for the Inevitable Unforeseen Circumstance
Do you have enough survival supplies set aside for a hurricane, flood, earthquake, power outage, wildfire, or any of the other things that come along that make life miserable?
This seems to be more of a hype for the company but it does make a lot of sense.
Portable power generator a fuel to keep it going. Lots of clean water. Canned and/or concentrated food. On and on the list goes.
Wise is also the go-to source for a wide array of emergency survival merchandise – from fuel sources to high-end water filtration systems – all designed to help you customize your own do-it-yourself emergency kit. Portable solar generators, 50-gallon water containers, water filter systems, survival seed kits, and first-aid kits for the entire family you won’t find in departments stores that are capable of handling lacerations, burns, poison ivy – are among the many emergency preparedness items available to your family from Wise.
More of the hype @ https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/emergency-ready-made-food-dehydrated/2018/11/21/id/891536/
Five Hollywood Stars You Completely Forgot Existed
I guess being a Hollywood has been isn’t so bad. At least not for these five.
David Caruso
Drove me nuts how he always held his head crooked.
Val Kilmer
He really got into some stinker movies and then had to battle cancer for years. Supposedly coming up on a film comeback.
Joe Pesci
He never really impressed me.
Dennis Franz
For some reason, I never watched NYPD Blue so he never impressed me.
Linda Fiorentino.
I never saw any of her movies so I don’t know why they call her a star.
All the inside goodies @ https://www.lifezette.com/2018/11/five-hollywood-stars-you-completely-forgot-existed/
How Retailers Ruined Thanksgiving
And Christmas. And Easter. And just about every other holiday one can think of.
Happy Thanksgiving!
The holiday season is upon us. Retailers have replaced “Merry Christmas” with the mundane and politically correct line “Happy Holidays.”
Worse, they have completely destroyed my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving, with the dreaded materialistic “Black Friday” week of mindless shopping, followed by “Cyber Monday.” Ugh! Retailers don’t even use “Thanksgiving” anymore in their advertising. Everyone else greets one another with a smile, “Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.” Store executives go around and say, “Have a Black Friday!” Shame!
Thanksgiving had a grand tradition until the Keynesian consumer society took over. This sacred holiday does not take place on a Monday, but on a Thursday, and is a wonderful time to get together with friends and family to celebrate and thank God for our peace, prosperity and liberty in this great country. And for those who subscribe to Forecasts & Strategies, we can be grateful for another successful year, despite the recent market pullback.
Sadly, the retailers and Wall Street have taken over Thanksgiving and Christmas and replaced them with never-ending shopping, where people buy a lot of stuff and give away gifts that they don’t need or want. Meanwhile, our streets, bridges and infrastructure deteriorate every year. We are chronically saving too little and spending too much. Our lives are out of balance.
I remember a few years ago the retail store Sears decided to stay open on Thanksgiving. It serves its management right to go bankrupt.
Black Friday used to refer to a stock market crash. Wouldn’t it serve retailers right to see consumers boycott sales starting on Friday? Let them have their own crash!
I’m no Scrooge. I love the holidays and the Christmas spirit. But our society has lost the true spirit of Thanksgiving.
Good investing, AEIOU,
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