US Army Retired

US Army Retired

Wednesday, January 9, 2019

Anti-Semetic House, Marines Invade Catalina Island, and very much more for January 9, 2018





FACT CHECK: Trump's Oval Office Pitch For A Border Wall
Chuck and Nancy couldn’t wait to call the president a liar.
And they were quickly followed by other sources.
The attack on the president’s claims is five times more than the tiny commentary about the rebuttal.
Surprised?
CBS gets it wrong
 
GoFundMe wall backer to appear at Mar-a-Lago event
He’s raised $19,594,522 as of today. Dims claim it can’t be used to build the wall but others claim he can.
The Trumpettes USA, the president’s fan club, on Feb. 23 will hold a second annual gala celebrating the president’s inauguration. Last year’s Jan. 18 event featured more than 900 guests in two Mar-a-Lago ballrooms and was attended by Trump’s son, Eric, and his wife, Lara.
Kolfage said he doesn’t blame immigrants for trying to come into the United States. He blames politicians and the nation’s broken immigration laws. But he said he’s worried for “my future and my kids, that they have the same freedom we have today … I think it’s important to protect everything we have in this country.”

Hating Jews Rising Its Ugly Head in the 116th Congress?
Such a nic, disarming smile. Hard to believe the words “impeach the motherfucker” could come out of those lips.
Freshman Democratic Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) is creating fresh controversy in her second week in the House of Representatives, but this time it’s over a shocking, anti-Semitic slur leveled at her Congressional colleagues for their support of a bill which would allow local, state, and federal agencies to avoid doing business with entities that support the anti-Israel Boycott-Divestment-Sanction (or BDS) movement.
They forgot what country they represent. This is the U.S. where boycotting is a right & part of our historical fight for freedom & equality. Maybe a refresher on our U.S. Constitution is in order, then get back to opening up our government instead of taking our rights away. https://t.co/KkmqjR58ZM
— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) January 7, 2019
And then, there’s this:
The background is that Republicans have introduced anti-BDS (boycott, divest, sanction) legislation in defense of Israel. Democrats are trying to block a vote on the bill:
Other Democratic senators, including Senators Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), tried to keep the anti-BDS bill off the floor by suggesting that Democrats should not consider a single bill on any issue besides the federal budget until the ongoing government shutdown is resolved.

Ever Wonder How a Pilot Who Stays in the Cockpit for Hours Relieves Himself?
I’ve got to admit that I’ve wondered. Those guys who flew the U2 or SR71 spent hours upon hours up there with no handy toilets.
Well, this answers the question.
Omni Medical Systems.
The division began delivering the Aircrew Mission Extender Device — known as AMXDmax — earlier this year. More than 600 devices have been put in the field so far, and another 1,500 are scheduled for delivery in the next six months, according to the Air Force.
The new devices are hands-free, battery operated and worn underneath uniforms. The device collects urine in a cup for males and a pad for females. It then pumps it into a collection bag. Embedded with sensors, the device quickly detects urine within one second and pumps it into the collection bag. It can hold a total of 1.7 quarts of urine.

Mark VI PT Boats
We all kn ow about JFK and PT Boat 109. I personally remember seeing the Swift Boats, a version of them, on the Mekong in ‘Nam.
But, how many of us know they’re still around.
And getting a whole lot of use.
Prior to the 500-nautical-mile transit, Mark VI patrol boats were put to work during Super Typhoon Yutu relief efforts for the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands.
The vessels delivered military personnel along with essential supplies and equipment to Tinian and Saipan following the historic super typhoon on April 23.
The Guam detachment, which is part of Task Force 75, conducts maritime security operations, including port security and protecting high-value assets on ships with limited capabiliities of their own.

Changes to the Military Justice System
The Uniform Code of Military Justice is the military bible for dispensing justice to all members of the armed forces regardless of rank. It ranged from a simple letter or reprimand to the death penalty. No military commander’s office is complete with a copy of it near at hand.
It has just undergone the broadest changes in decades.
Significant changes include a right by convicted servicemembers to appeal a sentence greater than six months and the criminalization of sexual activity between a person with special trust and a “specially protected” junior member.
Specially protected applies to a recruit or trainee, according to the statement. Positions of trust include most anyone in authority over them: officers, noncommissioned officers, recruiters and instructors.
Another two crimes were added to the UCMJ: retaliating against someone for reporting or planning to report a crime, and fraudulent use of a credit or debit card, according to a statement from the Secretary of the Air Force.
The changes also hand military judges authority to issue investigative subpoenas before the case is referred to a charging authority, issue warrants for electronic communications and enforce certain victim’s rights.
In addition, courts-martial panels — the group of officers and enlisted servicemembers that hear the case — are set at eight members for general courts-martial that do not include capital punishment as a potential sentence and four members for special courts-martial.

Would patrolling with the Border Patrol change your mind about the border?
Living far away from the daily influx of illegals makes most of us Americans somewhat wary of the strident calls for more border security. It doesn’t affect a lot of us personally. So, what would it take to have more become aware of what is really going on?
I’ve read this before but this piece reminds us that of the 19,000 border patrol agents, half are Latinos.
They see and appreciate the problem.
Why not the rest of us?
This is a long but very revealing article.
In some ways, the dance the Border Patrol is engaged in under Trump is even more complicated than the military’s. Strict rules separate soldiers from the civilian world of politics and policy decisions; the Border Patrol, meanwhile, has been engaged in a public lobbying campaign around some of the very policies it is theoretically a neutral agent in carrying out. Listen to the running commentary on immigration issues from Border Patrol sector chiefs on Fox News, and it is easy to mistake the agency for a uniformed, gun-toting arm of the Republican Party.
From traveling with a border patrol agent to political commentary, reading this is well worth your time if you want a sense of what’s going on along the border.
Most OTMs (Other than Mexicans) WANT to be caught so they can claim asylum.
VA Finally Fills 3 Key Management Slots
James Gfrerer [don’t ask me how to pronounce it] served two decades as a Marine [doesn’t say as what or doing what] and was a cybersecurity executive with Ernst & Young [so he had to be a senior officer]. He’s now Assistant Secretary for the Office of Information and Technology. Took Congress 2 years to confirm him!
And here comes the good stuff:
Also sworn in was Tamara Bonzanto, a former Navy corpsman, registered nurse and health care investigator for the House Veterans Affairs Committee, as assistant secretary for the VA's new Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection.
On New Year's Eve, the VA also announced the appointment of Cheryl J. Rawls, an Army veteran, to serve as executive director of the Office of Transition and Economic Development.
Notice something? Two more females appointed to senior positions in the administration. The media never gives the president credit for this.

Marines 'Invade' Catalina Island to Fix Crumbling Airstrip
I took a ferry boat there several times when I was a kid.
Just reading the headline brings this song back to me.
Few people know but the big casino was opened in 1928 by the Wrigley family and was a huge draw through the 30s and 40s when offshore gambling was legal.
SANTA CATALINA ISLAND -- The sky was a gloomy gunmetal gray Monday as dozens of U.S. Marines swarmed the notoriously tricky airstrip high atop Santa Catalina Island.
By days end, the Airport in the Sky resembled a war zone full of heavy machinery, trucks, troops in camouflage and green military tents.
The squadron was on a mission to fix a problem that can make takeoffs and landings a daunting prospect for even the most experienced pilots: potholes, rocks and loose chunks of asphalt on the 75-year-old runway.
Under an agreement with the nonprofit Catalina Island Conservancy, which owns and operates the facility about half an hour's drive from Avalon, the Marines and some Navy Seabees will repave the 3,000-foot-long runway with concrete.

Four Star Marine General Resigns
The Newsweek headline would lead you to believe that it’s because of his unhappiness with administration policies.
Another Four-Star General Just Resigned From the Trump Administration, Says He Couldn’t Complete His Mission
It then follows it up with a video of Secretary Mattis.
Here’s the truth:
The general, who formerly served as the head of U.S. Central Command, was an envoy for the Trump administration to resolve an ongoing dispute between U.S. ally Qatar and a Saudi-led block of Arab states. However, as he confirmed to CBS News and Task & Purpose on Tuesday, Zinni believed he’d reached an impasse and decided to step down.
“I resigned because I do not feel I could successfully help resolve the Qatar dispute because of the unwillingness of the regional leaders to agree to a viable mediation effort that we offered to conduct or assist in implementing,” Zinni told CBS, according to senior foreign affairs correspondent Margaret Brennan.
Got that?
It’s because the Arabs quarreling with one another wouldn’t or didn’t want to stop!
It then goes on to list all the generals who either resigned or were fired.
Bias?

Florida woman attacks parents for refusing to take her to Outback Steakhouse
28 years old and she’s living at home with her advanced-age parents. Makes one wonder.
She goes on a rampage, punching her mother and chasing her father with a knife.
For that, Seltzer was arrested on one count each of simple domestic battery and battery of a person 65 or older. She also faces two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
A Palm Beach County judge ordered that Seltzer undergo a mental health assessment upon her release from jail. She was also ordered to stay away from drugs, alcohol and weapons.
So she’s loose and back living with the people she attacked?

Turkey Slams US Request for Assurances on Syrian Kurds
The Turkish Caliph says his country is ready to start military operations against Syrian Kurds and says, “We cannot make any concessions in this regard."
The only caveat is: Erdogan committed that Turkey would not take offensive action while U.S. forces were there
In other words, if we want to stay true to those Kurds who stepped up and helped us, we cannot leave them undefended.
To be defended against our so-called NATO ally.
Dunford on Mission to Protect Syrian Kurds from Threatened Attack by Turkey @ https://www.military.com/daily-news/2019/01/08/dunford-mission-protect-syrian-kurds-threatened-attack-turkey.html
In the usual weaseling manner of Turkish leaders, they claim they’re not after the Kurds allied with the US but members of the PKK/YPG and Daesh (ISIS) terrorists.
Don’t hold your breath.

Kurds’ Ambitions Caught in Power Games
They sided with the US in the war against ISIS and, once again, find themselves abandoned.
An old Kurdish proverb reflects a history of disappointments: "We have no friends but the mountains."
Most Americans have no idea who they are or what makes them different from other peoples in the Middle East.
WHO ARE THE KURDS?
The Kurds are an ethnic group numbering some 20 million people spread across four nations — 10 million in Turkey, 6 million in Iran, 3.5 million in Iraq, and a little over 2 million in Syria. They speak an Indo-European language, related to Iran's Farsi, and are overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim.
The 191,000-square-kilometer (74,000-square-mile) Kurdish area arcs through a mountainous zone from southeast Turkey to the Zagros mountains in northwest Iran. They're divided not only by borders but by tribal, political and factional splits that the regional powers have often used to manipulate them.
Okay, I can hear it now. “So they’re just another bunch of Muslims fighting among themselves. Why should we get involved?
The Turks are out for them because there’s a Kurdish sect trying to pull away from Turkey and form their own area – that was promised to them. Iran, 99% Shi’a, won’t give them the land they were promised. They have a semi-autonomous area in Iraq but the central government is unhappy with them. The same holds true with Syria.
In the areas where they dominate, they are somewhat peaceful and actually have better conditions than their neighbors.
In any case, they’re screwed and it appears we are not going to help them all that much.

Was Pulling Out of Syria the Right Move?
There are all sorts of pieces and opinions about the president’s decision to pull out of Syria. I am surprised to read what this hacker has to say as he makes one heck of a lot of sense and provides an interesting insight.
(Senator Lindsay) Graham emerged from the White House after a two-hour lunch with Trump and said the president "told me some things I didn't know that make me feel a lot better about where we're headed in Syria."
A very telling comment not reported in the LSM. The president clearly has some intelligence closely held and not available to the public that makes the decision reasonable.
Trump's preference, while he does believe in a "peace through strength" strategy, seems to be that we are better off when we can bring our boys home. From his point of view, boots on the ground should only be something that happens as a necessity, but when the main battles have been won, they need to be home.
For the most part, I don't disagree with him, but I am also concerned when we limit our presence.
Time is the ultimate factor here. In other words, to answer the original question posed regarding pulling out of Syria, "Only time will tell."
The most important thing that this blogger, like many others, misses is that the president is fulfilling a campaign promise. Something he seems to be doing a whole lot better than all the professional politicians put together.

Mexico’s president to raise pay, boost economy along border so residents ‘will have no reason to cross into US’
Could it be that the new president is diverting the millions of pesos previously gobbled up by corrupt politicians and bureaucrats is being used to improve the country?
The minimum wage for Mexican border residents will double and gasoline prices will be set on a par with those in the U.S. as part of an ambitious plan by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to stimulate the economy, make the region more competitive and stop his countrymen from heading north.
The moves come in a region facing the worst drug violence in years and a looming humanitarian crisis set off by the rising number of Central American migrants in this city and elsewhere along the border with the United States. Many are there awaiting the opportunity to request asylum in the U.S. but have been deterred by the immigration policies of President Donald Trump.
Lopez Obrador and his team say they see the border as a place of opportunity, to build so-called economic curtains, or nets, not walls.
Having been to Mexico, I can relate that, while this is a great idea, there will still be many parts of that country where people are desperate to raise themselves out of abject poverty. They will still come north to try for a life better than what they have.

Winter storm blasts Europe, with avalanches, high winds
From Norway and Sweden to the north to Greece in the south.
Hundreds of people were snowed-in in Alpine regions and warned of a high risk of avalanches, parts of Scandinavia were left without electricity, and high winds caused flight delays and cancellations in the Netherlands as deadly winter weather continued to blast Europe on Tuesday.
Several people have already been killed in weather-related incidents over the last week, and in Norway attempts to find the bodies of four skiers were again put on hold due to poor visibility and heavy snowfall. A 29-year Swedish woman and three Finns, aged 29, 32 and 36, were presumed dead after a 300-meter-wide (990-foot-wide) avalanche hit
Germany raises avalanche alert after skiier deaths @ https://www.thelocal.de/20190107/germany-snowfall-alert

Is Marijuana as Safe as We Think?
Reading the article leads one to the following conclusion;
Nobody knows for sure!
There haven’t been any real studies to show yes or no.
The first of Berenson’s questions concerns what has long been the most worrisome point about cannabis: its association with mental illness. Many people with serious psychiatric illness smoke lots of pot. The marijuana lobby typically responds to this fact by saying that pot-smoking is a response to mental illness, not the cause of it—that people with psychiatric issues use marijuana to self-medicate. That is only partly true. In some cases, heavy cannabis use does seem to cause mental illness. As the National Academy panel declared, in one of its few unequivocal conclusions, “Cannabis use is likely to increase the risk of developing schizophrenia and other psychoses; the higher the use, the greater the risk.”

The 10 most in-demand skills of 2019, according to LinkedIn
The economy is booming and the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates there are over 7 million unfilled jobs.
7 million!
Here’s something important:
This tight labor market has led many companies to become more open-minded when considering candidates. Companies including Google, Apple, IBM and Bank of America no longer require applicants to have a college degree.
So, what are these skills?
Soft skills:
5. Time Management
4. Adaptability
3. Collaboration
2. Persuasion
1. Creativity
Hard skills:
5. UX Design
4. People Management
3. Analytical Reasoning
2. Artificial Intelligence
1. Cloud Computing
Each of these comes with recommendations of courses to take. It gives links to where each course can be found.

The Mysterious, Stubborn Appeal of Mass-Produced Fried Chicken
Why do so many accomplished chefs call Popeyes their favorite fried chicken?
It certainly is my wife’s. Me? I’m okay with it and also like KFC and Church’s.
Fast food chains like Popeyes also buy a whole lot more raw inventory than a typical independent restaurant, and they can leverage that monopsonistic power toward consistency. “They have a very strict limit on the size of the chickens,” López-Alt says. “They'll reject any chickens that aren't in that range...Most fast food chains are pretty strict with their suppliers and have a lot of power because they buy so much.”
Consistency. I guess that’s what makes them so popular. You know what you’re getting.
Now, I’m gonna get accused of being racist.
Do you know why fried chicken was such a favorite in the South?
Because it was a spill-over from slave days.
Before the arrival of African slaves, most dishes were either roasted or cooked in kettles. The slaves introduced frying. Most slave owners only used chickens for their eggs. When they got to old or quit laying, they were given to the slaves who fried them. Whites began to eat them and found them better than being roasted or tossed in stews.

Does It Pay to Be a Writer?
I think most of us here realistically know it doesn’t. We scratch and struggle to find a publisher and, unless we’re among the rich and famous who get Ungodly sums in advances, we go nowhere. Or, get sucked in by unscrupulous publishers who offer us entry into the world of being a published author. For a fee.
In a recent call, Ms. Martin said that “the people who are able to practice the trade of authoring are people who have other sources of income,” adding that this creates barriers of entry and limits the types of stories that reach a wide audience. There is also, she added, a devaluation of writing in which it is often viewed as a hobby as opposed to a valuable vocation.
“Everyone thinks they can write, because everybody writes,” Ms. Rasenberger said, referring to the proliferation of casual texting, emailing and tweeting. But she distinguishes these from professional writers “who have been working on their craft and art of writing for years.”
“What a professional writer can convey in written word is far superior to what the rest of us can do,” Ms. Rasenberger said. “As a society we need that, because it’s a way to crystallize ideas, make us see things in a new way and create understanding of who we are as a people, where we are today and where we’re going.”

A Soap Opera’s Been Around Fifty-Four Years!
And it’s getting another season!
This wasn’t one of them, but when I was little, I would listen to them avidly on my old AM radio because they were the best, cheap entertainment of the day. I won’t even begin to list my favorites beyond The Lone Ranger, The Shadow Knows, and the one with the creaking door.
Days is also coming off a win for outstanding drama series at the 2018 Daytime Emmys and a ratings uptick in 2017-18, where it averaged 2.55 million viewers.
"It's a great day in Salem! The sands in the hourglass will continue to flow for yet another year," executive producer Ken Corday said in a statement. "We're grateful to NBC and [producer] Sony for their continued support of the show and, of course, to our dedicated and passionate fans — we owe it all to you. Thank you for taking us through our 55th season. We can't wait for you to see what we have in store."

Posted by Dale Day at 1:12 PM

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