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

Author: Hondo

  • Stupid Terrorist Tricks

    Headline says it all:

    Suicide Bomber Blows Himself Up on Empty Mediterranean Beach

    Seems as if he was observed and chased away from the hotel he was apparently targeting.  So he fled to an empty beach nearby – and executed his one-way mission.  Solo.

    A second suicide bomber, possibly in a separate and unrelated attack, was reportedly noted and disarmed by Tunisian security forces before he could execute his mission (or anyone else).  Good job, guys.

    Wonder if you still get “72 virgins” if you only take yourself out – or fail in your mission completely?  (smile)

  • You Couldn’t Make This Sh!t Up . . . .

    The following screen was reportedly shown by Healthcare.gov about 30 minutes before HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius testified before the House Energy and Commerce Committee today:



    Spot checks reportedly verified that the message was seen by users in multiple states (North Carolina, Virginia, Utah, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, New York, Maryland, Vermont, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Kentucky, Minnesota, and New Hampshire). So it seems highly unlikely this was due to an outage at the state level.

    But I guess that must not be the case.  According to Secretary Sebelius today, “The website never crashed. It is functional, but at a very slow speed and very low reliability.”

    As I said in the title: you couldn’t make this sh!t up.

  • Shinwari: Wheels Down on US Soil

    Jonn’s written multiple times (here, here, and here) about Janis Shinwari, the Afghan interpreter who saved the life of a US soldier and later applied for a US visa under a special program.  Shinwari initially got a visa, sold most of his belongings and prepared to move his family to the US – then was notified that his visa had been “frozen” without explanation.

    Turns out the story has a happy ending.  A few hours after the US government shutdown ended, his visa was reinstated.   He and his family landed in the DC area earlier today.

    Kudos to Matt Zellar – the former MI officer whose life Shinwari saved – for bulldogging this one on Change.org.  I’m guessing Shinwari would still be in limbo (or worse) if not for Zellar’s efforts.

    The Army Times has more details.  IMO it’s worth taking the 5 min to read their article.

  • Robert Rheault, 87

    COL Robert Rheault (Ret), US Army, passed away on 16 October 2013.

    COL Rheault’s name may ring a bell.  He was commander of the 5th Special Forces Group in Vietnam in 1969, and oversaw (among many other things) Project GAMMA – at the time of the “Green Beret Affair”.   The resulting scandal ended his career.

    I won’t comment further, except to say that – if reported accounts are accurate, as they seem almost certainly to be – I can’t condone what happened and Rheault’s apparent participation.  I can certainly understand it, though.

    No intent here to either lionize or criticize the man.  I just thought his passing merited mention.

  • Sweet Jane Mourns

    Lou Reed passed away yesterday.  He was 71.

    A few details and a brief career retrospective are available here.

    RIP, Lou.  I guess you’re now taking the ultimate walk on the wild side.

  • In Case You’re Wondering Why the “Obamacare” Web Site Was So AFU* . . .

    . . .perhaps this article might help explain things:

    Feds reviewed only one bid for Obamacare website design

    Single-bid, no-bid, and sole-source contracts all have their place.  But I’m not sure I’ve ever heard of a $670+ million dollar contract being awarded on that basis before – and certainly not to the US subsidiary of a foreign firm with a spotty track record.  Hell, even the Angel and Oxcart programs evaluated multiple proposals initially (though Angel was eventually pursued sole-source by another Agency after the USAF rejected it).

    However, I also found this:

    Michelle Obama’s Princeton classmate is executive at company that built Obamacare website

    Interesting.  Dunno if there’s a connection, but . . . .

     

    Note:  AFU = “All Fouled Up”.  But there may be other definitions for the acronym, too.  (smile)

  • If You’re Still Wondering Why Your Taxes Are So Ridiculiously High . . .

    . . . this article might explain it:

    Census Bureau: Means-Tested Gov’t Benefit Recipients Outnumber Full-Time Year-Round Workers

    Here’s the summary:  in 2011, 108,592,000 persons in America were receiving some kind of means-tested benefit from Federal, state, or local governments.  That same year, only 101,716,000 people worked full-time year round.

    Unfortunately, that’s only part of the “good news”.  The total of nearly 108.6 million above does not include persons receiving non-means-tested government benefits – e.g., benefits such as Social Security, Medicare, non-means-tested VA benefits*, or unemployment compensation.  Again according to the Census Bureau, the total number of persons receiving Social Security, Medicare, non-means-tested VA benefits, and unemployment compensation in 2011 was 104,617,000.

    There’s obviously some overlap between these categories.  There’s overlap as well as with means-tested government benefits.  Still – this is well past ridiculous, and fast approaching obscene.

    So, the next time you wonder why you pay all those damned taxes, just remember:  there are now more people drawing means-tested government benefits in America than are working full-time.  There are also more people drawing non-means-tested government benefits than are working full-time.  That just might have something to do with why the government seizes so much of your earnings.

    And it also might explain why we can’t seem to come up with enough dollars to defend the nation adequately, too.

     

    *Note:  most VA benefits are not means-tested.  However a few VA benefits – such as VA pensions for low-income vets and the VA Aid and Assistance allowance, to name two – are means-tested. 

  • A Quick Reminder . . .

    On 25 October 1983, beginning at 0500


    Combat had effectively ended by 27 October 1983; the end of the combat phase was declared on 2 November 1983.  The operation’s formal end was 15 December 1983.

    Overall, Operation Urgent Fury was successful.  However, many substantial problems with communications and interservice coordination were discovered during the operation.  Thankfully we discovered these issues in Grenada vice against more serious opposition.

    The operation was not zero cost.  US fatalities, Operation Urgent Fury, were as follows: