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

Author: Hondo

  • Most “Hardline and Effective” Regime In History

    I saw this gem from one of our frequent commenters.

    Fucking nonsense. Obama has been much more hardline and effective in the fight against Islamic extremists and terrorists than any president in history, including Reagan.

    I have to agree, at least in part. I must admit that the current Occupant, 1600 PA Ave, Wash DC, and his krewe have indeed been uniquely effective regarding engaging Islamic extremists and terrorists. Let’s discuss his and his regime’s amazing record of success here.

    1. Inherited a stable situation in Iraq, with functioning government, a low-level of insurgency, and relative peace. And just look at Iraq today!

    2. Took over a manageable conflict in Afghanistan. Initially ignored good advice (Afghan surge recommended by McChrystal), then implemented a variant later. Things have only gotten better there in the last 6 1/2 years, right?

    3. For political reasons (or possibly out of pure spite), failed to obtain an Iraq SOFA allowing a residual US presence in that nation.

    4. Ignored warnings concerning possibility of rise of ISIS/ISIL/whatever the hell they’re calling themselves today during Iraq SOFA negotiations. Coupled with #3 above, this led to the rise of ISIS. ISIS now controls about half of Syria and around a third of Iraq; the Iraqi Army and government are now barely credible.

    5. Appears to have based US strategy on countering Islamic extremism on “support for local populations” and clandestine armed RPA strikes. Yes, the latter has been of minor military value – but it’s been at least as counterproductive, if not more, in terms of creating hostility to US efforts due to occasional erroneous strikes. It’s also handed a major propaganda weapon to Islamic extremists for only marginal military gain. And it’s almost certainly undermining the Pakistani government in the eyes of the Pakistani public, since each uninvited strike in Pakistan is a demonstration that the Pakistani government cannot control its own territory and airspace.

    6. And that “support for local populations” thing, AKA the “Arab Spring”? It’s led to a chaotic Libya with at best a marginally effective central government and parts dominated by al Qaeda allies; the ouster of stable, pro-Western governments in Tunisia and Yemen; and nearly resulted in the Muslim Brotherhood taking over freaking Egypt. It also led to protests/unrest short of regime change in numerous other countries friendly to the US: Bahrain, Morrocco, Jordan, Kuwait, and Oman.

    7. Dithering over Syria – e.g., being at first afraid to do squat, then drawing meaningless “red lines”, providing support to feckless “moderate” Syrian opposition that was in turn largely handed over to Islamic hardliners (al Nursa), and wasting $500M with the net result of training 50 troops.  But no fear; all will turn out well.

    8. And don’t get me started on the 5-for-1 trade with the Taliban for the knowing return of an apparent deserter – followed by feting said apparent deserter and his family at the White House.

    Yeah, all of that simply screams “hardline, effective countering of Islamic extremism”, doesn’t it?

    The author of the comment above is correct. The current    gang of feckless fools and tone-deaf tools running things in DC since January 2009    Administration has indeed been singularly effective while engaging Islamic extremism.

    Problem is, it’s been almost uniformly successful from the perspective of the Islamic extremists. From the US perspective, it’s been a nearly-uniform series of failures.

    My reaction on reading that comment? “Son, I want some of whatever it is you’re smoking. That must indeed be some ‘really good sh!t’.”

  • Yer Sunday Funny: More Tales from teh Terminally Stoopid

    Figuratively speaking on the “terminally” – though I’m not sure whether we should be glad or sad about that.

    In Michigan, a man was allegedly afraid of spiders. So when he saw one, he tried to burn it to death with his cigarette lighter.

    While at a gas station. And while getting gas.

    Did I mention the spider was on his vehicle’s gas tank?

    I’m not joking.

    Luckily the resulting fire was quickly extinguished without injuries – except to the gas pump involved, which was destroyed.

    Idiot.

  • “Holy cow, I think he’s gonna make it!”

    Some tunes are tied to a particular person, time, or place. Others are broader in their appeal.

    Then there are some songs that are tied to a particular time of life. This is one of the latter.  Enjoy.

    The male singer was, well . . . to be charitable, he was homely.  But the man could indeed sing.  (The ladies involved – there were two – were anything but homely.) And Jim Steinman could certainly write catchy rock-n-roll.

    Yeah, it’s rather cliche; it’s overdone, and it’s dated. But then again: don’t everyone’s teen years always seem that way in retrospect? (smile) And IMO this one captures some aspects of that time of life better than most.

    A few bits of trivia about Paradise by the Dashboard Light, courtesy of Wikipedia:

    1. Yes, that’s indeed MLB Hall of Famer and longtime Yankees announcer Phil Rizzuto doing the “play-by-play”. Whether he knew the context in which his vocals were to be used has been disputed. Rizzuto later claimed he did not know the intended context when he recorded the vocal.  However, Meat Loaf (the male vocalist, who was present at that recording session) later stated that Rizzuto was fully aware of the intended context but later feigned ignorance to deflect criticism.  Decide for yourself who you want to believe.

    2. The lady singing in the audio here is not Karla DeVito, who appeared on the song’s music video (above) and toured with Meat Loaf; it’s Ellen Foley. DeVito lip-synched Foley’s vocal for the video; she sang it on tour.  Both ladies are accomplished singers (as well as quite attractive).

    You may recognize Foley from her work on television a few years after this tune was recorded – she played the character Billie Young during the second season of the TV series “Night Court”.

    3. Todd Rundgren played guitar on the tune; Edgar Winter played saxophone. The song’s author Jim Steinman played keyboards and is also credited with “lascivious effects” on the recording. (smile)

    4. Meat Loaf had previously appeared in the now-cult-classic film “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”.  Due to that fact, a recording of a live performance of the song was made on 35mm film and distributed to theaters showing “Rocky Horror” for use as a short subject before midnight screenings (the film was beginning its journey to midnight feature cult classic at the time).

  • Why “Clock Boy’s ‘Science Project’ ” Should Have Raised Eyebrows – and Alarms

    Jonn wrote an article the other day about “Clock Boy” – the 14 year old in Irving, Texas, who took apart what appears to be an old Radio Shack digital clock and put it into some kind of carrying case, then took it to his school.

    Many seem to think what happened after he took the device to school was a gross overreaction on the part of local school and police officials.  Some even say that the lad’s “science project” could not possibly have been a “hoax bomb” (illegal under Texas law), was obviously innocuous, and should never have been treated as anything suspicious.

    Perhaps they’re right.  But let me make a couple of observations regarding the situation.

    •  The case into which the clock appears to have been installed looks to be about 9” x 6” x 2”, more or less.

    •  The clock’s working parts take up very little of the case’s interior space; virtually all of the interior of the case remains free.

    •  An M18A1 Claymore Mine is approximately 8.5” x 5.5” x 1.5”; it weighs about 3.5 pounds.

    •  The parts of a Claymore that “make bang/dead” only occupy somewhere around half of a Claymore’s total volume, give or take.  The rest of that 8.5″ x 5.5″ x 1.5″ volume is taken up by the Claymore’s case, sight, and the case’s curvature.

    •  The equivalent of that “make bang/dead” part of a Claymore will easily fit within half of the case in which the lad mounted the Radio Shack clock parts, leaving the rest of the space inside unused.

    •  Add a couple of other things – which I won’t list here, but which terrorists know quite well – and you essentially have a home-brewed Claymore with integral timer/detonator.

    •  Those “couple of other things” will easily fit into the unused volume in that case after the clock and “makes bang/dead” parts are installed.

    •  The total package would weigh maybe 5 pounds – probably less.

    Bottom line:  this kid’s “science project” is about 1/3 of what’s needed for a homemade and quite deadly little time bomb.  The other things needed are well-known to terrorists.  The fabrication required to finish the job is decidedly low-tech, not particularly difficult, and wouldn’t take very long.  And with the clock side towards a wall or otherwise hidden, it would also appear innocuous enough that wouldn’t be all that hard to hide it in plain sight.

    Yeah, maybe this was all innocuous and innocent.  But the possibility exists it wasn’t completely innocent, either.  Hell, the kid could have been duped into making it and taking it to school by someone else.

    . . .

    We Americans want to believe that people are inherently good, and that the world is a safe place.  We usually act as if that’s the case – and in the past it’s usually been the truth, at least in the USA.

    However, reality is now different.  There is indeed evil in the world; there are those who would kill us simply because we are American citizens.  And some of them are here among us today – just as they were living here among us on 10 September 2001.

    Denying that reality and refusing to act accordingly is not only deadly.  It’s also monumentally stupid.

    Now, tell me again why this kid’s actions were “no big deal” and why what the authorities did was an “overreaction”?  Especially since, roughly 4 months prior, a group of terrorists had tried to attack a “draw Muhammed” cartoon contest 10 miles or less from where this kid went to school?

     

    Author’s Addendum:  for what it’s worth,  it’s quite possible that an entire M18A1 Claymore would fit in the case the lad used if the case is indeed 9″ x 6″ x 2″, as it seems to be above.  If the case were slightly larger than that, it would fit easily.  In either case, there would almost certainly be plenty of space left over for the clock entrails and other items required to convert the case into a truly nasty little time bomb.  

    Under those conditions, there would also be very little fabrication work required for that conversion.

     

    Second Addendum:  here’s a link to a nice bit of reverse-engineering on “Clock Boy’s” little “science project”.  It appears to have been based on a clock sold by Radio Shack in the 1980s:

    Reverse Engineering Ahmed Mohamed’s Clock… and Ourselves.

  • Another Six Come Home

    DPAA has identified and accounted for the following formerly-missing US military personnel.

    From World War II

    • Cpl. James D. Otto, L Company, 3rd Battalion, 8th Marines Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, USMC, was lost on 20 November 1943 on Tarawa. He was accounted for on 5 September 2015.

    • Pfc. James P. Reilly, L Company, 3rd Battalion, 8th Marines Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, USMC, was lost on 20 November 1943 on Tarawa. He was accounted for on 5 September 2015.

    • 1st Lt. Alexander Bonnyman, F Company, 2nd Battalion, 18th Marines Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, USMC, was lost on 29 November 1943 on Tarawa. He was accounted for on 27 August 2015.

    From Korea

    • CPL Martin A. King, E Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, US Army, was lost on 2 November 1950 in North Korea.  He was accounted for on 16 September 2015.

    • CPL Robert E. Meyers, A Company, 2nd Engineer Combat Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division, US Army, was lost on 1 December 1950 in North Korea.  He was accounted for on 4 September 2015.

    • CPL Grant H. Ewing, 2nd Reconnaissance Company, 2nd Infantry Division, US Army, was lost on 14 February 1951 in North Korea. He was accounted for on 8 September 2015.

    You’re no longer missing, my elder brothers-in-arms. Our apologies that it took so long.

    Now you’re home.  Rest in peace.

    . . .

    Over 73,000 US personnel remain unaccounted for from World War II; over 7,800 US personnel remain unaccounted for from the Korean War; and over 1,600 remain unaccounted for in Southeast Asia (SEA). Comparison of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from recovered remains against mtDNA from a matrilineal descendant can assist in making a positive ID for unidentified remains that have already been recovered, or which may be recovered in the future.

    TAH reader HMCS(FMF) noted in comments elsewhere that DPAA’s web site now has what appears to be a decent “Contact Us” page. The page doesn’t have instructions concerning who can and cannot submit a mtDNA sample or how to submit one, but the POCs listed there may be able to point you in the correct direction if you’re interested. If you think you might possibly qualify, please contact those POCs for further information.

    If it turns out you qualify to submit a mtDNA sample, please arrange to submit one. By doing that you just might help identify the remains of a US service member who’s been repatriated but not yet been identified – as well as a relative of yours, however distant. Or you may help to identify remains to be recovered in the future.

    Everybody deserves a proper burial. That’s especially true for those who gave their all while serving this nation.

  • Yogi Berra Passes

    D-Day veteran and baseball great Yogi Berra died yesterday. He died at home, of natural causes.

    As noted in this article from earlier this year, he was 90.  Fittingly, his passing came on the 69th anniversary of his major league debut.

    Berra was a Navy vet – he was gunner’s mate during World War II. He served on the crew of the USS Bayfield during the D-Day invasion.

    Combat veteran in the largest, most critical amphibious operation in history. Baseball Hall of Fame. Thirteen World Series rings (10 as player, 3 as manager/coach). Married to the same woman for 65 years, until her death last year. I’d say the man was living right.

    RIP, Mr. B. Enjoy the reunion with Mrs. B in the afterlife.

    Jonn Added:

    Author’s note:  the first link (which Jonn added) in turn has an embedded link to an article that describes what Berra actually did during D-Day.  After reading it, all I can say is . . . cojones muy grandes – de granito.

  • Russian Combat Equipment, Troops in Syria – Along With Iranian Troops, Too

    We all know that the current        group of feckless fools and tone-deaf tools running things in DC      Administration has been somewhat reluctant to become involved in Syria’s civil war – at least, when it came to sending US troops.  I have to admit I think that’s the right call.  Or at least, it was when inactivity on the Administration’s part made it the de facto US response.

    Hey, even a stopped clock is right twice daily.  (smile)

    But other nations aren’t so reluctant to become involved.  Take Russia, for instance.

    Russia has apparently sent combat troops to Syria.  They’ve recently (as in last week) been reported to have participated in combat operations on the side of the Syrian government.

    It’s hardly a minor “just to show the flag” deployment, either.  The Russians have made a serious logistical effort to support operations in Syria, and appear to be setting up airfield/basing facilities IVO Latakia – including billeting for up to 1,500 troops.  They’ve conducted numerous Antonov 124 flights to deliver troops and/or key other items.  They’ve also delivered tanks (including T-90s), APCs, and artillery pieces via ship.  Components for the SA-22 SAM system have also reportedly been assembled in Syria.

    Russia also isn’t the only foreign nation supporting the Syrian government. Iran has also sent a number of troops to “support” Russian forces in Syria.

    The US government – or, at least those currently in DC pretending to perform that function – are reacting predictably to these latest developments.  They have publicly expressed “deep concerns” over Russian forces in Syria, and also indicated they are “closely monitoring the situation“.

    Well, that’s just dandy.

    This last tells me that the introduction of forces was both unforeseen and undesired by the current Administration.  Otherwise, why draw attention to the fact you couldn’t prevent it from happening by expressing your “deep concerns”?

    And unforeseen?  GMAFB.  The Russians have been arming Syria for decades; the Iranians have been similarly close recently as well.  The fact that either or both could decide to intervene on Syria’s side should have been foreseen, oh, maybe about 24 hours after the current Syrian troubles began.  Yet all this Administration can manage to do is call attention to an unwanted and apparently unanticipated foreign action – and wring its hands after-the-fact.

    Yeah, that’s effective leadership.  Just like we had back in 1977-1980.

    Let me be crystal clear here:  I’m not calling for US forces to be deployed to Syria. And maybe having Russian and Iranian forces there to do something we’re not willing to do (e.g., fight ISIS on the ground) is the correct course of action.  Dunno.

    But calling attention to your own major diplomatic failure probably isn’t going to get us much respect in that part of the world – or anywhere else, for that matter.  And I do wonder what quid quo pro Assad will give to his Russian and Iranian benefactors afterwards to show his gratitude for saving his butt.

    As I’ve said before about the current Syrian civil war:  “I got a bad feeling about this.”

  • Yet Another “Private Email” Update

    Well, we have a few new bits of news regarding the Clintoon “private email” brouhaha.

    So, Clintoon’s lawyers have turned over all her “private email”? Well, maybe – or maybe not. There are gaps totaling roughly 5 months in what was turned over to government authorities by Clintoon’s lawyers. Specifically, in what was released by Clintoon’s lawyers there’s roughly 2 months with no email received by Clintoon: 21 January thru 17 March 2009. There’s also a roughly 3 month gap in email sent by Clintoon: 21 Jan thru 17 April 2009 – plus another sent email gap for her last month in office, 30 December 2012 thru 1 Feb 2013.

    And then we have this: a senior DoS records management official apparently stated in an email to a colleague that they did not want to discuss certain matters by email, but instead wanted to discuss the matter in person. Why? Well here’s one possible reason: as that official knows quite well, email is considered a Federal record – and can be requested under a FOIA request. Verbal discussions that generate no written records are much easier to hide. (The specific details of what were to be discussed were redacted in the email from the senior DoS records management official that was made public. However, since that email was obtained by Judicial Watch in conjunction with the Clintoon private email scandal, it’s reasonable to infer the subject was – or was related to – the Clintoon email matter.)

    Oh, and it seems that Congress is starting to get a bit fed up with the matter, too. They’ve asked the Attorney General to weigh in on whether or not they can meet privately with Brian Pagliano (the staffer who set up Clintoon’s private email server) and his lawyers while determining whether to grant Pagliano immunity and then compel him to testify. It seems that Pagliano’s lawyers are pulling out all the stops to prevent this; they’ve raised questions as to whether such a private meeting would constitute a waiver of Pagliano’s 5th Amendment rights.  A couple of Congressmen have therefore asked the Attorney General for a formal reading on the subject. I guess Pagliano’s lawyers must never previously have been involved with similar private discussions with prosecutors with or on the behalf of other clients regarding possible testimony in exchange for immunity. Silly me – I thought lawyers did that on occasion.

    That’s all for today, but stay tuned – this one seems worth watching.