This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Author: AW1Ed

  • Obama tries to demonize Trump voters, following Hillary’s losing strategy

    SCoaMF
    He’s back.
    Fox News reports former President Obama gave the nation insights into the Democratic Party’s midterm election strategy. Doubling down and in full lecture mode, Friday’s speech demonized Americans who elected Donald Trump as president, and touted the failed liberal ideology that devastated our economy.

    In a moment reminiscent of Hillary Clinton’s outrageous characterization of Trump voters as “deplorable” and “irredeemable,” President Obama said: “I have to say this … Over the past few decades, the politics of division and resentment and paranoia has unfortunately found a home in the Republican Party.”

    Labeling the 63 million Trump voters as “deplorable” and “irredeemable” didn’t work out for Hillary Clinton when she ran a failed presidential campaign against Trump in 2016. Labeling the same voters as divisive, resentful and paranoid will not work for Democrats in the November midterm elections.

    Democrats continually demonstrate a fundamental misunderstanding and active demonization of Trump voters. They are clearly wrong but don’t realize they’re wrong.

    If one needs an example of “politics of division and resentment and paranoia” then look no further than the Kavanaugh hearings, where the Dems have beclowned themselves all week.

  • Hamas commander dies in accidental explosion in Gaza Strip

    hamas
    Times of Israel reports a member of the Hamas security forces was killed Wednesday in an accidental explosion in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian terror group reported.

    The military wing of Hamas announced the man was Abdel Rahim Abbas, 42, a local commander of the Hamas security forces.

    The Hamas-run Gaza interior ministry said the explosion happened at the administrative headquarters for the police’s bomb disposal unit and was a result of explosive materials catching on fire during an inspection.

    Police and civil defense units extinguished the fire caused by the explosion, the ministry added.

    A Hamas security source said he was trying to neutralize an Israeli munition.

    Self-inflicted wound, or a successful Israeli assassination? Guess we’ll never know for sure, but in the end it really doesn’t matter.

  • Amazon founder donates $10 million to get more veterans elected to Congress

    MastRep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., walks to a meeting with fellow Republicans on Capitol Hill on July 14, 2017. Mast, a combat veteran and bomb disposal technician, lost both legs in an IED explosion in Afghanistan in 2010.

    Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos is donating $10 million into a political action committee (PAC) dedicated to getting more veterans elected to Congress.

    The donation comes just two months before the contentious November midterm elections, and is a major funding and publicity boost for the PAC veteran advocacy group With Honor, which has already endorsed a bipartisan slate of 33 House candidates.

    Fox News reports group founder Rye Barcott tells how the Bezos family’s donation supports With Honor’s idea of building a “cross-partisan coalition” of lawmakers who can overturn the partisan infighting in national politics today.

    Bezos, has not made any similar major campaign donations in the past. The With Honor fund has a stated goal of creating “a government that works for and is trusted by Americans, where principled veterans represent a significant percentage of elected positions at all levels.”

    While I generally disagree with Bezos’s left-slanted activities, this donation to a PAC dedicated to getting vets into politics seems like a good idea. Until I think of Tammy Duckworth, that is.

  • Last living member of Marine aviation legend Joe Foss’ ‘Flying Circus’ recalls Guadalcanal

    Sam Folsom had never flown an airplane above 10,000 feet, or fired the weapons on the F4F Wildcat he would soon fly into combat, when he arrived on Guadalcanal in September 1942.

    The battle for the strategic Pacific island was raging, as Folsom and most of his green fighter pilots joined squadron VMF-121.

    They were tasked with finding and destroying Japanese G4M medium bombers – nicknamed “Bettys” – that had been wreaking havoc on American Marines on their first major offensive in the Pacific theater during World War II.

    “We were in combat immediately with no experience,” Folsom, 98, recently told Stars and Stripes. “Green as can be – very few of us had any real flight experience. I guess I had 12 or 14 hours in the F4F when I got into combat.”

    It showed from the outset, he recalled.

    Stars and Stripes reports just days after reaching Guadalcanal, Folsom found himself piloting his Wildcat upward of 25,000 feet when a formation of Japanese A6M Zero fighters and Betty Bombers approached.

    For the first time, Folsom maneuvered his fighter into position, moving onto the tail of an enemy plane to line up the sights for the six M2 .50-caliber machine guns mounted on his Wildcat’s wings. He pulled the trigger.

    “Nothing happened,” Folsom recalled.

    Folsom’s squadron had covered its guns in lubricant before he took off, but at altitude the coating froze, rendering the machine guns useless.

    “I don’t remember anything except thinking, ‘Jesus, are these damn guns going to fire?’ ” Folsom said. “Very frustrating. Causes bad words to come from your mouth.”

    It would happen twice more to Folsom – and dozens of additional times to his squadron mates – before the unit realized the cause.

    Folsom would leave Guadalcanal with three air-to-air kills – after downing a pair of Betty Bombers and a D3A Type 99 “Val,” a carrier-based Japanese dive bomber.

    To the best of his knowledge, Folsom said, he is the only living member of his fighter squadron.

    In honor of his 98th birthday, Folsom took the field Aug. 14 at Los Angeles’ Dodger Stadium, where the Major League Baseball team celebrated him as its Hero of the Game.

    It was a moment, like so many others in his life, he said he would treasure.

    Talk about on the job training. Bravo Zulu, Mr. Folson, one of America’s Greatest Generation.

  • Exclusive: Iran moves missiles to Iraq in warning to enemies

    Zolfaqar-missiles

    Iran has given ballistic missiles to Shi’ite proxies in Iraq, and is developing the capacity to build more there. Iran sees this as a deterrent against attacks on its interests in the Middle East, and to give it the means to hit regional foes, Iranian, Iraqi and Western sources said.

    Reuters reports any sign that Iran is preparing an aggressive missile presence in Iraq will exacerbate tensions between Tehran and Washington. Tensions are already heightened by President Trump’s decision to pull out of a 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, and to re-establish economic sanctions.

    It would also embarrass France, Germany and the United Kingdom, the three European signatories to the nuclear deal, as they have been trying to salvage the agreement despite new U.S. sanctions against Tehran.

    According to three Iranian officials, two Iraqi intelligence sources and two Western intelligence sources, Iran has transferred short-range ballistic missiles to allies in Iraq over the last few months. Five of the officials said it was helping those groups to start making their own.

    “The logic was to have a backup plan if Iran was attacked,” one senior Iranian official told Reuters. “The number of missiles is not high, just a couple of dozen, but it can be increased if necessary.”

    The Iraqi government and military both declined to comment, of course.

    The Zelzal, Fateh-110 and Zolfaqar (pictured) missiles have ranges of about 200 km to 700 km, putting Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh or the Israeli city of Tel Aviv within striking distance if the weapons were deployed in southern or western Iraq.

    How many here think Israel is going to ignore this escalation, and hope for the best?

    Yeah, me neither.

  • Buzz Aldrin slams ‘First Man’ movie

    Buzz Aldrin

    Fox News is reporting legendary Apollo 11 astronaut Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin critized the upcoming movie “First Man” late Sunday. Its director decided not to show the iconic planting of the American flag on the moon during the historic 1969 mission.

    Aldrin, 88, who was the second man to step on the moon, behind crewmate Neil Armstrong, posted historical photos of the flag-planting and added the hashtag “Proud to be an American.”

    Armstrong, who died at age 82 in 2012, is the subject of “First Man,” which stars Ryan Gosling and is scheduled to hit theaters next month.

    In previous posts Saturday, Aldrin shared photos of himself wearing a T-shirt with the tagline “Buzz Aldrin, Future Martian” that shows an astronaut planting the American flag on the Red Planet.

    He also retweeted a photo of himself saluting while standing next to an enlarged photo from the Apollo 11 mission that includes the flag on the moon.

    The ultimate Selfie-Selfie…thank you for sharing the wonderful photo and your incredible journey @TheRealBuzz. #Moonwalker #Apollo11 #RoadToApollo50 #NASA pic.twitter.com/ZwAVgWZSJO

    Jason Clarke, co-star in the movie, dismissed controversy over the movie’s omission of the planting of the American flag from the moon landing, calling criticism “silly and naive.”

    Since it was an American achievement, not one of “humanity” as dick weasel here says, the flag was purposely omitted. Because you know, it might trigger some snowflake who would feel oppressed and have to hide in a “safe space” like Mom’s basement. I’ll not enrich the movie’s director, producers and cast with my hard earned American dollars.

  • Khamenei says war unlikely but urges boosting Iran’s defenses

    khamenei

    Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Sunday war was unlikely, but called on Iran’s armed forces to boost their defense capacities, as the country faces increased tension with the United States.

    Saturday, Iran announced plans to boost its ballistic and cruise missile capacity, and acquire modern fighter planes and submarines following both the U.S. pullout from Tehran’s nuclear agreement with, and the resumption of economic sanctions.

    Reuters Link

    “Ayatollah Khamenei emphasized that based on political calculations there is no likelihood of a military war but added that the armed forces must be vigilant … and raise their personnel and equipment capacities,” the website quoted Khamenei as telling commanders of Iran’s air defense forces.

    “The Supreme Leader said …the air defense units were a very sensitive part of the armed forces and on the front line of confronting the enemy, and emphasized the need to increase their readiness and capabilities,” the website said in its report on the gathering, which was held to mark Iran’s Air Defence Day.

    Saturday’s news of the military development plans came a day after Iran refused a French call to return to negotiations on Tehran’s nuclear plans, its cruise and ballistic missile arsenal, and its role in wars in Syria and Yemen.

    Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said last month the Islamic Republic’s military prowess was what deterred Washington from attacking it.

    Separately, a senior Iranian diplomat met visiting UK Foreign Minister Alistair Burt, and urged swift European action on economic measures to offset the U.S. pullout from the accord, and the reimpositions of sanctions by Washington.

    “The imposition of (U.S.) sanctions and pressures and the lack of rapid action by Europe to fulfill their commitments will have serious consequences,” Kamal Kharrazi, a former foreign minister who heads a top foreign policy council, told Burt.

    Iranian officials have said they would decide whether to quit the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers after studying the European package of economic measures that could help offset U.S. sanctions.

    “European countries have not been able yet to take necessary measures to secure Iran’s interests under the nuclear agreement,” Kharrazi said.

    Of course the Europeans are stalling. They know as soon as the sanctions are re-enacted in November, anyone conducting trade with Iran will be barred from U.S. banks and markets. The sanctions already in place prohibit Iran’s purchase of U.S. currency, trade in gold and precious metals, ability to purchase auto parts, commercial aircraft and related services.

    Novembers sanction’s will prevent sale of Iranian oil and petroleum products on the world market, transactions with Iranian banks, and operations of Iranian ports and shipping companies.

    Trump is looking for a regime change from within. For the sake of the Iranians and the security of the Middle East, I hope it works.

  • The US is sending an unmistakable message to China

    BUFFs

    -Four B-52 bomber flights through the East and South China Seas this month

    -US Air Force B-52H Stratofortress heavy long-range bombers, powerful weapons of war, have made multiple flights through the East and South China Seas this month.

    -These flights are part of US Indo-Pacific Command’s Continuous Bomber Presence mission, which aims to strengthen America’s deterrence in the face of emerging threats.

    -News of these flights comes on the heels of a Pentagon report that China’s bombers are increasingly active in the region, often pushing the limits to project power at greater distances.

    Business Insider reports several US Air Force B-52H Stratofortress heavy long-range bombers have flown through the contested East and South China Seas multiple times this month, sending an unmistakable message to China.

    Four flights involving two bombers each time, were carried out in the disputed seas as part of US Indo-Pacific Command’s Continuous Bomber Presence (CBP) mission.

    Two B-52s assigned to the 96th Expeditionary Bomber Squadron (EBS) participated in joint anti-submarine training exercises with two US Navy P-8 Poseidon aircraft on Aug. 1 in the East China Sea, US Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) said in an official statement.

    “Ultimately, it increased our readiness to serve as a credible deterrent force and presence within the theater,” Maj. John Radtke, 96th EBS mission planner, explained.

    “Is the US trying to exert more pressure on China’s trade by sending a B-52 bombers to the South China Sea?” China’s nationalist state-affiliated tabloid Global Times asked in an editorial Thursday.

    The CBP flights are “flown in accordance with international law” and are consistent with America’s “long-standing and well-known freedom of navigation policies,” PACAF public affairs said. China has often expressed frustration with the US position on this particular matter.

    Looks like the Air Force is getting in the Freedom of Navigation Ops in a big way. Hard to miss a couple BUFFs flying formation over China’s disputed claims.

    What they were doing in an ASW exercise is beyond me, but whatever floats your boat.