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

Author: Ex-PH2

  • This ain’t your ol’ daddy’s Herky Bird…

    by Poetrooper

    When my unit was calling in gunships for close air support, those birds were usually old C-47’s, hold-over troop transports from WWII, armed and configured for this new mission. Sometime after I left Vietnam, that gunship role was taken over by the C-130 Hercules, an aircraft I knew as the best jumping platform available during the time I served in Airborne units. The venerable “Herc” has continued that role, providing CAS for American troops around the world. During that half-century of service the Herc has undergone many metamorphoses, but never in my wildest dreams did I think it might become a bomber. And yet, that is precisely what has happened in the latest iteration of this incredibly endurable fighting platform. As this official Air Force description sheet shows, the new AC-130J, Ghostrider, which is supposed to go fully operational this year, has, among its fearsome armament, GBU-39, small diameter bombs but also AGM-176 Griffin, air-to-ground missiles. And other articles out there indicate that laser weapons are in the future of the Ghost.

    Back in the early 60’s, I spent many an hour lounging beside airstrips, leaning back on my chute and equipment, closely eyeballing C-130’s as I waited to board them for another jump. To this kid from Oklahoma they were a wondrous thing with that unique turboprop whine that I can hear in my mind as I write this. But never in all those hours of contemplation did I ever imagine that those aircraft would someday be dropping bombs on and firing missiles at enemy targets in the Middle East fifty years later.

    Go figure…

  • …and the Pendulum Slowly Swings to the Right

    The Brits have already voted for Brexit and given the Prime Minister’s job to a conservative, Theresa May, who campaigned on that platform.  The talks for this change will begin in March this year.

    Next autumn, the French will have their own election for a new President. François Fillon is the leading Republican candidate, but has come under scrutiny because his wife Penelope has been getting a fat paycheck since before 2002. The work contracts that she signed have yet to turn up. Fillon insists that her employment is all above board, and these complaints are nothing but attempts to discredit him, part of an “institutional coup d’etat from the left’, per this BBC article.  http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38826458

    Nepotism is never a  pretty thing, is it? Pres. Trump’s (get used to that) son-in-law has been hit with the nepotism label.

    Unfortunately for Mr. Fillon, the Froggies do not like to see someone getting what they think is a free ride, any more than we do. French farmers may dump truckloads of tomatoes on a roadside if they can’t get the price they expect to get, but in France, there is no such thing as ‘le fromage gratuit’.

    In the discussion in that article the author looks at the possibility of Marine LePen getting the position of President, and holds it as unlikely.  However, Mlle. LePen is a Frexiteer. Her father founded the National Front, and she is its leader. She has changed and softened its positions and image, including expelling her father from the party, but it’s still quite conservative.

    In the opinion of author Barry Gordon, “if there were a referendum in France on the EU, they would vote to leave. I don’t know if a vote would actually go that way, but it is indicative of popular sentiment. A referendum on the constitution in Italy at the end of last year turned into a referendum on the EU, and the anti-vote won. In Finland, severe curbs are being placed on immigration. Austria has just banned the wearing of the veil in public.”  He predicted a year ahead that  Trump would win the US elections last fall. LePen is quite protectionist and wants France to leave the Eurozone and the Schengen Area, which allows free movement across national boundaries. She is the only candidate with enough radicalism to bring about such changes.

    Brexit begins in earnest in Autumn; through the summer, we’ll see what Gordon has termed a ‘phony Brexit’, more a rehearsal than the real thing. This BBC article defines the Brexit talks as “on a humongous scale”.  http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-38825830

    Two to three years after the Spring elections in Germany and the Fall elections in France, in addition, we should see a complete change. Antiglobalism is raising its head.

  • Wednesday Open Thread (Temp)

    Okay, it’s early, but I have to go run some errands and may be out for a little bit.

    I think that curmudgeon Dave Hardin is muddling around with some stuff, too, but nothing definite. I’ll have more later.  Have some fun.  It snowed here last night and I am not a happy camper. I get to shovel. Not my cup of tea.  More later!

  • To help you keep up with things….

    Resistance is futile!!!  It seems that the controversy over Pres. Trump’s (get used to that)  immigration ban is having some side effects.

    A few days ago, Iraq said they’d retaliate for it, but they now appear to have changed their minds.  http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-immigration-iraq-idUSKBN15F238

    They just happened to remember that they still need our help on stuff like ISIS/Daesh, and we do, after all, have 5,000+ people over there helping them out, don’t we?  Yeah… we do.

    However, Sally Yates has been fired for refusing to enforce Pres. Trump’s EO.  She was the previous administration’s lawyer.

    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-immigration-idUSKBN15E1DE

    Meanwhile, jihadists are giggling and snorting, telling us: “Your decision will do nothing. Attacks will come at you from inside America, from Americans born in America with American parents and grandparents,” posted by one Islamic State supporter on Telegram, an encrypted messaging app.

    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-immigration-islamists-idUSKBN15E0MI?mod=related&channelName=politicsNews

    And finally, because there are growing concerns in Europe, there is now an Austrian ban on the full face veil.  There’s  a link in the BBC article to Mrs. Merkel’s statement banning the same thing in Germany.

    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38808495

    What was that Chinese curse? Oh, yeah: May you live in interesting times.  Well, one financial forecaster has said he is expecting some shocks of all sorts, political, financial and geophysical (quakes or eruptions)  this year.

    Keep your eyes open and your ears on ‘High Alert’.

  • Saudi Warship Attacked by Houthis from Yemen

    This happened late yesterday.  Fighters from Yemen’s Houthi movement crashed three boats loaded with explosives into a Saudi warship, killing two people. (Yes, I do know that’s one of our own, USS Mahan, but it’s the only war ship photo I could find.)

    http://news.sky.com/story/deadly-attack-on-saudi-warship-near-yemen-claimed-by-houthi-fighters-10749675

    In December, the Houthis’ rebel Prime Minister accused the UK government of war crimes for sending arms to the Saudis.

    This is not going to go away.

  • SEAL Team Member ID’d

    DoD identified a SEAL Team 6 member who was killed in a raid in Yemen as 36-year-old Chief Special Warfare Operator William “Ryan” Owens, originally from Peoria, Illinois.

    The full story is here:  http://www.13newsnow.com/news/military/locally-based-navy-seal-team-6-member-killed-in-raid/394267484

    There may be more to come later.  The other part of this story, not being quite so widely reported, is that the SEAL Team fought and killed women fighters during that raid on an Al Qaida affiliate in Yemen.

    http://www.military.com/daily-news/2017/01/30/navy-seal-team-6-members-fought-female-fighters-yemen-raid.html

    So don’t start with me about women in combat.  Those people, the Very Bad Guys, are going to use every damned trick in the book including sending women out to confront you. They know what your weaknesses are and are willing to exploit them.  If you don’t think so, you’re very naive.

  • Tuesday Open Thread (Temp)

    Geez, youse guys are impatient.

    2/17 Air Cav wants to know about Claymore and Jonn.  I don’t have any word on Claymore, but if he posts something HERE ON THIS THREAD, I’ll answer.

    AS  TO Jonn, the news I have from The House of Jonn is positive, and I ain’t sayin’ nuthin’ more until he chimes in himself.

    Meantime, go ahead and do your worst.

  • Our neighbors to the north and south and elsewhere….

    Last night, a report of an attack in the evening on a mosque in Quebec City, Quebec caught my eye.

    At the time, the report said 5 dead, several injured. That was updated this morning to 6 dead and 8 injured.  The Prime Minister did use the term ‘terrorist attack’ in his response to the news.

    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38793071

    Since we’ve been discussing immigration, our unfortunately porous borders, and the fact that both our neighbors to the north (Canada) and south (Mexico) have strict immigration policies, I think it’s fair to ask why we should be expected to simply throw the doors wide open and endure a swarm unchecked.  Ellis Island, which was the clearing place for incoming emigrants from other countries, was closed some time ago. It was the Checkpoint Charlie of its time.  Things have changed substantially in the last 100 years, making a single way station less efficient.

    Frankly, the Central American country of Belize is even more strict about immigration than either Mexico or Canada, and New Zealand is so tight-assed about it that you can visit, but if you really do want to emigrate permanently to Kiwiland, you have to meet their financial requirements ahead of everything else or they will tell you ‘N-O, NO’ and show you the door.

    No one is addressing this at all. The Eurozone countries are finding that following the imbecilic open doors policy promulgated by Angela Merkel has become a financial and political disaster. She herself admitted last fall that it was a mistake on her part. This nonsensical notion, that everyone – every single person –  running from a war zone is only a refugee looking for a place to squat has sent the political pendulum swinging back in the other direction. The Brexit vote was the Brits saying, bluntly ‘we want OUR country back’.  The same rumblings have been popping up everywhere in the Eurozone.

    Like nearly everyone else here, I’m a descendant of many generations of people who emigrated from Europe and England and Scotland in search of a better life, and who found it through hard work and contributing something tangible. None of those people were leeches looking for freebies.

    Ergo, I will ask again and a again until I get a sensible answer: if other countries, including Mexico and Canada, have such tight-assed requirements for immigrants and no one is complaining about it, why is it NOT okay for the USA and its citizens to expect the same thing?

    I’d like to repeat what has been said in several other places: Pres. Obama did the same thing in 2011. He also capped the incoming volume at 50,000 before he dropped the limits.

    http://www.nationalreview.com/article/444370/donald-trump-refugee-executive-order-no-muslim-ban-separating-fact-hysteria

    Obama’s order stood for six (6) months. Trump’s EO has a duration of 120 days, a considerably lower number.

    The nonsense that is rising out of this effort by the media to poison the apple can only be smacked down when they learn to stop lying. They feed into the hysterics of the left because it gets ‘clickbait’ and raised viewer numbers for them.  They’re worse than 12-year-olds who sneaked out to go to a party they weren’t supposed to go to. There is no end to their obnoxious behavior and won’t be until they grow up.  The only way they will grow up is when the surging masses they weep for run over them roughshod, as has been happening in the Eurozone.  I’m just waiting for that shoe to drop, if you must know.  Their cocoon of protection needs to be stripped away for good.

    So I will ask again, and I expect some answers: why must WE be expected to have an open door for anyone who sees this country as a free ride, when other countries such as those I’ve mentioned are far more strict?