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

Author: Ex-PH2

  • Norwegian Military Women in Special Forces Training

    They certainly do have nice hair.  Okay, enough snarking on my part, as I wholly support the efforts of women who volunteer for this kind of thing.

    Per the article, in this group of women there were over 300 who voluntarily applied the first year, but only 12 made it through to completion.  I believe there is a high rate of washout in this kind of preliminary training, anyway.

    At first I thought it was an April Fool’s joke, but it was not released on 4/1/17, so that eliminated that possibility.

    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-39434655

    According to the narrative, the women in training carry their weight in a backpack (ruck, for you picky people), which means that if one of them weighs 120lb. (54.54 KG), this is what they carry. They hike 30 KM (18.9 miles) per day, they get a lot of cold weather training, they do a lot of shooting, and they do other physical training.

    Everything was fine, but the video showed them doing pushups. I couldn’t help giggling. They don’t look very well done to me, but maybe that’s just me. I don’t do regular pushups. I do wall pushups, which are easier on my aging back.

    Still, I’m not going to say it’s baloney, because we have our own ladies in Spec Ops training, don’t we? But it’s been a year, and no women have stepped up and volunteered for BUD/S since it was opened to Navy women.  http://taskandpurpose.com/year-seals-still-havent-seen-female-applicants/

    I think they should do something about the hair, like get it out of the way. Long hair, even in a pony tail or braid, is not your friend when you undergoing a strenuous program.  But they’re Norwegians, so their regs are probably different from ours.

     

  • US Launches Tomahawks into Syria

    US has launched at least 43 Tomahawk missiles into Syria, targeting the area where the sarin nerve agent is being stored.

    http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/04/06/us-launches-missiles-into-syria-in-response-to-chemical-weapons-attack.html

    Pres. Trump gave the order at his house in Mar-a-Lago in Florida, in the company of Pres. Xi Qinping, who is there to work on a solution to the problem with Kim Jong-un.

     

    More to come tomorrow.

  • Y.G.B.S.M.

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    And I thought I had seen everything until now.  I truly did. But I was wrong…so completely wrong….so unutterably wrong that if I said I had a pet trilobite named Bert, I could not be more wrong, because Bert would be a fossil. Bert would, therefore, be my pet rock.

    When I went snooping around over on WattsUpWithThat, I came across an article in which it is reported that three senior House Democrats (shown in the photographs in the linked article) want a book trashed because it challenges the environmentalist view of global warming/climate whatever. This is the same mindset that wanted people who disagree with that view prosecuted under the RICO Act. Remember that?  Yeah, me, too.

    Here’s the article from WUWT. It is well worth your time to read it, because it has several good points.  The comments kind of speak for themselves.

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2017/04/04/intolerant-democrats-ask-teachers-to-destroy-books-written-by-climate-deniers/

    Since there is a high probability that not one of these Congress critters has read the book itself, this appears to be a ‘jump on Johnny and pound him’ sort of thing.  As someone interested in how tax money is being spent on twaddle in Foggy Bottom, I find it appropriate to ask bluntly if any of these three congressional twits have even read this book itself, and whether or not they can read past the 4th grade level.

    It’s nice to see our tax dollars being put to such wonderful use, isn’t it? Intolerance of opposing views speaks for itself. Troyfim Lysenko must be so proud!!

    Trash that book, huh?  Why not just hold a book burning? Make a real serious statement. Get the kids to pitch in, just like in the Old Days in the 1930s!  And let’s not stop there! Let’s blow up libraries, too, because they might have even more dangerously mind-boggling stuff like this sitting on their shelves! The horror!

    That’s one way to get some PR going on your current project, which appears to be thought control and brainwashing school children to me.

    What happens when they grow up, defy Mom and Dad by joining the military because the uniforms are so cool, find a copy of this dreadful book, which opposes the current climate fad, in the library and realize that, after reading other stuff like it, they were lied to their whole lives until they had enough sense to get out on their own?

    I think I’ll see if I can get a copy of this book. I’m always interested in the opposing view of a current fad in science.

  • News from Afar

    First thing is this video from the BBC News service, of the use of human shields by IS.  The sound is not good, but it’s radio communication which can be blurred.

    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-39475588

    The second bit of news, which I got from Nicki and relayed to Jonn, is that there was a bomb explosion on a commuter train between two commuter stations in St. Petersburg. So far the report is 10 people killed, and another explosive was found at another train station.  Medvedev is describing it as a terrorist attack.

    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-39481770

    It’s easy enough to point fingers, but I won’t speculate about who did it.  If it’s Vlad Putin behind it, what purpose is there but to increase support for his efforts in Syria? And considering that a few weeks ago, his loudest critic was shot in the back four times while crossing a bridge near the Kremlin, I’m not sure it makes sense to blame him.  At the same time, he sold 50% of the drilling rights for the Rosneft oil platform to Qatar and Swiss-based Glencore a couple of months ago, which doesn’t seem very smart unless he needs money to fund his war in Syria and maybe returning to Central Asia. This is why I won’t speculate, just report what happened.  There should be more on the news tonight, and Nicki has an article on it at her blog.

     

     

     

  • A Rebuttal

    A Rebuttal

    To those of you complaining about my deeming Brian Losey a coward: I stand by what I said. I will not retract it, nor will I apologize.

    There is enough corruption in this world to fill an encyclopedia. It’s visible in the news every day, in every part of society, and that includes law enforcement and the military. How many officers were slammed in the Fat Leonard business? How many senior NCOs and GOs have been caught with their pants down for abusing subordinates? How many cops have been charged with criminal and civil complaints over their behavior? How many politicians in office have been busted and dismissed or still hold office?

    I did not base what I said on a newspaper article. I said what I said based on the DoD IG report, to wit: “We concluded that RDML Losey viewed the complaint as a personal attack against him
    and reprised against Complainant in violation of Title 10, United States Code, Section 1034, as
    implemented by DoD Directive 7050.06, “Military Whistleblower Protection.” “Losey was “livid” after receiving the complaint, and he called him into his office and told him to deliver a message to “the locker room” and tell them to: “play nice and wait until I’m gone. Smile. Act like you’re going to work … but if you continue to undermine my authority as a commander, I’m going to bury each one of them. I’m going to come after them and I’m going to make it very unpleasant.”
    The IG’s conclusion:

    “VII. CONCLUSION

    We conclude, based on a preponderance of the evidence, that RDML Losey relieved
    Complainant from his position as [redacted] and failed to place him in another position
    commensurate with his rank, in reprisal because he suspected Complainant of filing an IG
    complaint against him, in violation of 10 U.S.C. 1034

    Note that Losey decided this individual was at fault without proof, based solely on his own suspicions. As indicated in the DoDIG report, when he met with the Complainant and asked him if he was the whistleblower and the Complainant said he was not, Losey refused to believe that and removed him from his position, subsequently transferring him elsewhere.

    To see someone at Losey’s level of seniority engage in personal revenge against any subordinates because he simply suspected anyone of filing an anonymous complaint for his misuse of travel regs, with no real evidence beyond his own suspicions – which is what he did per the DoD IG report — shows a serious lack of integrity and a bullying personality that seems to have been hidden from most of the people who worked with him.

    He went ballistic over an anonymous whistleblower. He used his position of authority to try to damage someone whom he singled out over the report of a petty error on his part, even though the object of his ire had nothing to do with blowing the whistle on him. That is unacceptable behavior in anyone at his level.

    Abuse of authority by those in positions of authority is unacceptable, period. I expect better. I have a right to expect better. At Losey’s level, I expect integrity, which he has clearly demonstrated that he lacks.

    This member of the Admiralty knew better, but ignored morality. He reacted exactly the same as a drunken 300-pound Chicago cop who beat the crap out of a female bartender when she refused to serve him any more liquor – because he had a badge and a gun, so he could do that and get away with it.

    Before you say ‘oh, that’s different’, no. It is exactly the same thing. It is an abuse of authority to get your own way. Period. Losey abused his authority. There is no question of that.

    Cowardice comes in many forms. It is not related solely to war zones or military decorations. Any abuse of power or authority is the act of a bully and a coward.

    If you don’t recognize that, you are not paying attention.

    I stand by what I said.

  • Women’s Group Objects to Artillery

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    The anti-war women’s group Code Pink has issued an objection to public displays and use of artillery.  Medea Benjamin’s brief statement calls for an end to the obviously male symbols of artillery and other ballistic equipment, and wants it all canned.

    Her release on Twitter was direct: “No more phallic symbols of warfare.”

    Well-known for its anti-war stance since the early 2000s, the group has stated clearly that it welcomes men.

    “As long as they support our anti-war efforts, we’re okay with having them as members,”  Ms. Benjamin said, “especially since the White House appears to be dead set on increasing the U.S. presence in the Middle East. We protested this 15 years ago, and it’s as though we had no influence at all.”

    While Code Pink’s objections to warfare are widely known, the reasons for the organization’s dislike of war equipment were not clear until a brief statement was issued to clarify the matter.

    “Obviously, war is historically a male-oriented and male-dominated endeavor, but until the development of guns and cannons, there was no real connection to the masculinity of it all. It’s much more easy to see the connection between aiming a rocket or missile launcher and maleness.  Raising one of those big pieces of artillery is psychologically symbolic of male arousal. Shooting off a rocket or a big missile obviously results in  the same relief men feel after ejaculation. Simply put, these weapons of war are psychological replacements for sex. If the troops were not exposed to these objects, it’s more likely they’d return to their real purpose. To promote this idea, we are reviving that popular slogan from the 1960s protests, ‘Make love, not war’ for our next public protest. We are, after all, Women For Peace.”

  • USAF Considering a New Fighter Jet Platform

    Image result for photos of F-35A

    Photo: US Air Force

    The US Air Force has released a statement detailing some of its plans to improve its carbon footprint by developing a new fighter jet platform.

    The success of the experimental flight of Solar Impulse HB-SIB in 2016, which circumnavigated the globe in a mere 505 days at 45 MPH, was a heartening display of technological flight superiority.  This has been the inspiration for the prospective design change from the AVGAS-burning fighter jet to a solar-powered fighter jet.

    Fast-tracking the development of climate-friendly, clean aviation technology has been listed as one of the Air Force’s primary goals for the current century. Considering that the weight of a jet engine is directly related to a plane’s ability to climb, turn and maneuver, the thrust-to-weight factor when fully fueled and loaded, as well as the expense of AVGAS (kerosene) and maintenance of the engines and hydraulics, were all taken into consideration when discussing the development of this platform.

    Speed was included as part of that discussion. A lighter fighter powered by solar cells will not be dragged down by the weight of jet engines and their fuel requirements, allowing for a greater load of munitions such as rockets and bombs. The lack of doors on air intakes will likely contribute to fewer incidents of fuel-starvation for the engines and subsequent loss of the equipment.

    “It’s merely a matter of time before we get a fully-loaded, fully-functioning solar-powered fighter at MACH 3 flight speed,” said CAPT Robin Whitney. “The lowest thrust-to-weight ratio we’ve been able to get was 0.84 with the F35A. We’d like to drop that considerably by using a non-carbon powered flight platform. The weight of the airframe alone is exponentially lighter without the engines. This will provide the US Air Force with enormous savings in fuel costs, maintenance, and mechanical expenses, as well as giving us the extra room we need for long distance bombing runs. Our mission is, as always, efficiency, economy of style, and a forward-looking, environmentally-friendly program.”

    He added that between now and 2019, the development of solar-powered engines for the fighter plane platform should be right on schedule for a PR appearance at the EAA’s Fly-in at Oshkosh, WI.

  • US State Department Employee Charged

    Yesterday, I said that I was sure there was more to come about this State Dept. employee, and I was right.  Here it is:  http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-intelligence-state-charges-idUSKBN1702U8

    Candace Claiborne, 60, was charged in a Washington federal court with obstruction of justice and making false statements to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

    Her preliminary hearing is April 18. She is under house arrest until then.

    She and an unidentified co-conspirator were given tens of thousands of dollars in gifts and wire transfers by Chinese agents beginning in 2011 in exchange for information about U.S. economic policy in relation to China and other diplomatic matters.

    The US government has several times accused the Chinese of cyberhacking US government agencies and corporations. It appears those accusations had some basis in reality.

    Maximum term for the charges is up to 20 years in the slammer, and a possible additional 5 years for lying to the FBI.  Naughty, naughty.

    Nice to see our tax dollars at work, isn’t it?  I think it is way past time we cleaned house, but good.

    I don’t understand these people: not that slumdog Pressley, not this broad, not any of the Navy officers and senior POs who took bribes from Fat Leonard, not any of the politicians who are rolling in crap handed to them by organizations as corrupt as you can get, and that includes The Weiner.

    I just don’t get it.