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

Author: NSOM

  • Death gratuity payments on hold while leftist groups are given exemptions from shutdown

    The selective manner in which budget items are prioritized and laws are enforced by the federal apparatus under the leadership of the Obama administration is getting sleazier by the day. We already know that death gratuity payments for service members killed in the line of duty have been suspended as “non-essential”.

    Are they, from the perspective of the legion of Washington bureaucrats enforcing federal governance, actually essential? Probably not. Yet, it’s part of the American ethic and, just maybe, a good idea too. It’s why Congress is already moving to reinstate the funding by law, one of the many ethical and simply good pieces of funding that the Congress has sent to Obama to be reinstated.

    The odd thing is while this “non-essential service” is falling victim to Obama’s “no negotiation” strategy it comes to light that at the same time leftist union backed immigration amnesty groups are managing to have a previously scheduled rally on the supposedly shutdown national mall today. How? Courtesy of an Obama administration exemption. Imagine that.

  • Who’s in trouble over Benghazi (so far) and why

    The Benghazi hearing this Wednesday and two pieces by The Weekly Standard and ABC News have established that there was a coordinated effort to scrub the initial public reports on the attacks of politically damaging information. They reveal that people in the State Department and, in all probability, the White House knew the attacks were pre-planned and well coordinated by al Qaeda linked terrorists. They reveal that the State Department knew from the beginning that there were long outstanding requests for additional security in Libya and that disclosure of this fact would be damaging.

    ABC News has obtained the precise edits made to talking points to be disclosed to the public. The important point to be had here is that the person with the most fingerprints on these edits, so far, is career Foreign Service Officer and Ambassador Victoria Nuland. This is critical because Nuland is not a Democratic political appointee or White House staffer. In fact, Nuland served under various administrations and was a close adviser to former Vice President Dick Cheney. While Nuland’s own politics are not yet clear it’s not without reason to note that she’s married to well known neoconservative intellectual Donald Kagan, the founder of the Project for the New American Century, putting her in close political and social proximity to Bill Kristol, the founder of The Weekly Standard, the same magazine calling for investigations and performing the first reporting on the talking points cover-up. This reveals two things, first that the cover up was systematic in the State Department; Nuland was seeking to cover for the Sate Department itself. Second it shows the non-Fox media’s initial indifference to the Benghazi investigations as partisan politics were more indicative of their own inherent biases than any grounding in fact. The partisan effort was not in investigating the attacks but instead in the Democratic Party’s circling of the wagons and “nothing to see here” routine. The true partisan politics were in the cover-up, a divide then sold to the public as a Republican witch hunt.

    The cover-up, while seemingly starting at State, doesn’t end there. Reporting so far also fingers two high level White House staffers, Ben Rhodes and Jay Carney. Ben Rhodes is a White House Speech writer and close confidant to Barack Obama. He’s well known for helping craft the White House’s public positions on Middle East policy. In fact, Rhodes wrote Obama’s now infamous 2009 Cairo speech. Jay Carney is the White House Press Secretary, the same man who recently couldn’t find the moral clarity to reject the notion that U.S. troops in Afghanistan are terrorists. Both men seem to have been aware of, or participated in, the changes. Despite this Carney has been insisting from the beginning that the attacks were of the nature portrayed by the false edits instead of the nature indicated by the truthful intelligence reporting scrubbed from the release, something he knew to be a lie.

    Of course the three people everyone is watching now are former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and the President himself. There still remains the unanswered questions of how and why a Special Forces CIF team in Italy was left waiting on the tarmac, why no armed air support was scrambled, why a four man Special Forces detachment in Tripoli couldn’t get permission to fly in on a Libyan C-130, why CIA Global Response Staff at the nearby CIA Annex was refused permission to provide back up, why in the aftermath of the attacks Greg Hicks was told not to talk to visiting Republican Congressman Jason Chaffetz and what instructions the President left as he delegated the handling of the attack before going to bed that night. Gregory Hicks, the State Department’s number one in country after Ambassador Chris Stevens’ death has already testified he was actively seeking the Tripoli detachment’s help and coordinated their airlift but that the team was denied permission to go. We also know that the CIA GRS, despite being denied permission to aid the Ambassador and his staff in Benghazi, saddled up and went anyway. Who exactly refused, or declined to provide, permission to send aid remains to be seen. The President, Panetta and Clinton are so far avoiding answering these questions, deflecting by leaning on the fog of bureaucracy surrounding the response.

    The important thing to watch and demand accountability for now is that the media shines the light on the partisan obstruction of the investigation and that the House continues to seek answers to who, exactly, made the changes, was aware of the changes, was aware of requests for help, denied or refused to grant permission to help and what the President knew and when. Why did Jay Carney continue to lie to reporters about the nature of the attack? What was his motivation and who did he believe these lies helped? For those of us who expect leadership from our President perhaps most important of all is a personal explanation of why the President thought that having dinner with his family and getting rested up for a political fund raiser the next day was more important than dealing with an American Consulate under attack and one of our Ambassadors going missing.

  • Obama Press Secretary unsure if U.S. troops in Afghanistan are terrorists

    At a press briefing at the White House today a member of the press corps asked Jay Carney, in light of the Boston bombings, whether a U.S. airstrike earlier this month resulting in the unintended deaths of eleven people claimed to be civilians could be called an act of terrorism. In what seems to be been an unprecedented response the official public representative of the President of the United States declined to defend the American service members involved or draw conclusions as to whether or not they were committing acts of terrorism.

  • Target to military widow: Park somewhere else

    In May of 2012 Navy Master-at-Arms Sean Brazas was killed in action while serving in Afghanistan. Earlier today his widow Allie Brazas, also a Navy Petty Officer, attended a ceremony on a public street corner where a banner, sponsored by the Chief Petty Officers of Naval Base Kitsap, was put up in his honor. She called ahead as a courtesy to the Target in Silverdale, WA to let them know that some people might be parking in the far corner of the their lot for about 30 minutes and explained what the ceremony was for. The store management’s response?

    No.

    According to Petty Officer Allie Brazas when some people parked in the lot anyway two Target employees walked across the nearly empty lot to tell them they had to park somewhere else. It took the Kitsap County Sheriff, who was on site for the ceremony, to intervene. From her Facebook page:

    Target,
    I am stationed in Washington State and shop often at the Target Store on Silverdale Way in Silverdale, WA as do most of my Brothers and sisters in arms. On May 30, 2012 my husband, MA2 (EXW) Sean E. Brazas was Killed in Action while serving in Afghanistan. Today, we hung a Gold Star Banner in his honor on the street light on the corner of your store. We called weeks ahead of time to let the store manager know that we would be having this ceremony. The street light is on city property so we were just doing it as a courtesy call to let the store know there would be a lot of traffic on the corner infront of the store. We also informed the manager that the parking lot may have additional cars parked in it due to the ceremony. The ceremony was from 1030 am to 1100 am. The manager told us we were absolutely NOT aloud to use there parking lot for any part of our ceremony, to include parking our vehicles. We politely reminded her he was KILLED IN ACTION protecting our freedoms. She once again denied the request and told us it was “Target Policy”. We went ahead and used the parking lot to park our cars anyway. We had several mayors, county commissioners, and service members in attendance along with myself, Seans wife. We utilized the very very BACK of the parking lot to park our cars then gathered near the street corner. While people were pulling up and gathering 2 target employees approached me and asked me what was going on. I explained to them that we were having a public ceremony on the street corner for my husband and we were simply parking our cars and gathering on city property. The gentleman told me this required written permission. I explained that I had asked for permission and was denied.. But this was city property where we were gathering and as far as parking was concerned I did not see any “No Trespassing” signs. I also explained it was 1030 in the morning and there were tons of open parking spaces available for customers. They continued to give me a lecture about how we could not utilize the parking lot. By this time the sheriff had arrived to attend the ceremony and said he’d take Care of it and said we were in no way violating any laws. Thankfully, the rest of the ceremony went flawlessly, no thanks to Target.

    I was VERY disappointed in the way things were handled. It’s unfortunate that your company is not more supportive of the military, especially of those who paid the ultimate sacrifice. I hope someone somewhere reads this and fixes this so called “policy” you guys have in place. Its truly Unacceptable

    Thank you for your time

    Very Respectfully,
    Allie Brazas

    You see, when you use an almost empty Target parking lot for a half hour to honor a fallen sailor you get treated like a junkie trying to use the customer only restroom to shoot up. Maybe if they’d bought a pack of gum they would’ve been okay. Not that I’m not one to tell people what to do with their private property but this falls somewhere between outrageous and stupid. Not only does this Target serve a military town but, having grown up in this town myself, I spent years having to drive by anti-war protesters, Occupy types, LaRouchies and other assorted shit bags on that corner. Can you guess where they parked?

    Needless to say Target’s Facebook page is currently getting shit all over. I for one will be letting Target know that until an official apology is issued I won’t be shopping at Target. I’ll also be waiting on an update on the manager who made the decision.

  • Scandal in RASP class 5-12?

    The Discovery Channel has been doing a series of shows covering the entry level screening and training courses for the American military’s elite units for some time. They’ve already covered BUD/S, SFAS, Marine Corps Scout/Sniper School and the Air Force’s PJ and CC selection courses, among others. Inevitably they’d get around to the newly revamped Ranger Assessment and Selection Program, known as RASP. RASP is the initial entry and training course for the 75th Ranger Regiment. The 75th’s three line and one support battalions are the pinnacle light infantry formation in the Army, almost exclusively tasked by, although not part of, the Joint Special Operations Command. You may know a few contributors here who were once part of the 75th.

    The show has been pulled from YouTube and the 75th Facebook page. I haven’t yet seen it but my understanding is that follows the same formula as the other segments still available on Youtube, albeit with one difference: The class followed by the Discovery Channel, 5-12, reached a graduation rate of approximately 80%. Once this uncomfortable reality set in some in the Ranger community were outraged. Traditional graduation rates in RASP hovered between 20-30%. “Jack Murphy” over at SOFRep had an absolute conniption fit at this revelation. According to him this signifies a “plummeting” set of standards in the Regiment:

    With the Army issuing a press release to announce a new Discovery Channel Special called Hell and Back, Special Ops Ranger, there was one curious factoid published with it that left many of us in the Ranger community taken aback. The documentary follows a class of prospective Rangers through RASP, the Ranger Assessment and Selection Program which is a pre-requisite for serving in the 75th Ranger Regiment.
    The Ranger Regiment is known to maintain tough standards in regards to everything from physical appearance, to maintenance of equipment, and most importantly, performance in combat and job competency. These standards are enforced, violators are shown the door and Released For Standards but more critical than that, these non-performers are usually never allowed through the door to begin with, they are weeded out during the selection process which historically only has a 30% graduation rate.
    This is why we were shocked when the Army press released stated, “114 Soldiers started Class 5-12; 91 Rangers graduated.” This is a shockingly high graduation rate of about 80% as opposed to the historical 30% that pass RASP and before that RIP. These graduation rates signify is massive drop in the physical and/or academic standards that RASP students are being held too in order to move on to a Ranger Battalion.

    …

    Something changed with RASP class 5-12. In the class that the Discovery Channel filmed, 20 RASP students failed Land Nav and still graduated. 7 students were caught drinking and still graduated. A student received 90% negative peer reviews and still graduated. Since class 5-12, graduation rates have continued to be abnormally high with upwards to 130 students graduating per class.
    After being held accountable to standards and enforcing them as well, these numbers leave many current and former Rangers embarrassed, disgusted, and ashamed.

    I can’t vouch for Mr Murphy’s credentials nor the truth of insider assertions. From the perspective of a Pouge Marine I’d say it’s all pretty out of my lane. I also view his negative view of the Army’s 18-Xray program as unusual. His assertion is that the program was “a failure” while everything I’ve heard has said the opposite. Then again, it’s always hard to decipher what really going on in the Special Forces community. They take the entirety of their “Quiet Professionals” manta pretty damn seriously.

    Nonetheless, it will be interesting to see what the Ranger community at large has to say as this unfolds, membership here included.

  • Ana aasif, would you have any Grey Poupon?

    It’s no surprise to those who have followed the intel on the post invasion of Iraq that in all likelihood the remaining WMD stockpiles in Iraq went to Syria as U.S. troops invaded the country. While the media was decrying the supposed absence of WMDs in the country, and Hollywood writers were busy writing left wing fantasies such as The Green Zone, the Saddam regime had already sent the bulk of both its fixed wing air assets and its chemical weapons over the border into the custody of the neighboring Baathist regime’s hands. I remember talking to a MSgt friend in Marine Corps intel back in 2005 about the embarrassing lack of stockpiles in Iraq. He simply laughed at me and said, “Dude, that’s because it’s all in Syria.” He made sure to follow with, “And you didn’t hear that from me because I don’t know shit. Feel me?”

    Back then, as always, the same diligent academics and journalists who were so enthralled by the current President were a tad too over eager to chronicle history before the final verdict came in. I don’t refer to the slightly preemptive feel good awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize for proper posturing, good vibes and swell intentions. I refer to the willful ignorance of reams of intelligence indicating that not only did the Saddam regime still have WMDs in 2002 but, in fact, had consciously transferred them through the Wild West of Iraq, the same porous region which occupied Marines for years as they attempted to stop the flow of weapons and jihadists flowing the opposite direction as they battled the “Iraqi freedom fighters” hell bent on blowing up Shia holy sites and neighborhoods.

    Yesterday Victor Davis Hanson, one of the good guys, and a superbly articulate Professor of History, spelled this out in his usually devastating manner:

    There are suggestions that at least some of Assad’s supposed stockpile may have come from Saddam Hussein’s frantic, eleventh-hour efforts in 2002 to hide his own arsenals of weapons of mass destruction in neighboring Syria. Various retired Iraqi military officers have alleged as much. Although the story was met with general neglect or scorn from the American media, the present U.S. director of national intelligence, James Clapper, long ago asserted his belief in such a weapons transfer.

    The Bush administration fixated on WMD in justifying the invasion of Iraq while largely ignoring more than 20 other writs to remove Saddam, as authorized by Congress in October 2002. That obsession would come back to haunt George W. Bush when stockpiles of deployable WMD failed to turn up in postwar Iraq. By 2006, “Bush lied; thousands died,” was the serial charge of the antiwar Left. But before long, such depots may finally turn up in Syria.

    …

    The moral of the story is that history cannot be written as it unfolds. In the case of Iraq, we still don’t know the full story of Saddam’s WMD, the grand strategic effects of the Iraq War, the ripples from the creation of the Iraqi republic, or the relative degree of incompetence of any American administration at war in the Middle East — and we won’t for many years to come.

    And so us jingos, fanatics and serial warmongers wait, as we always do, to again be vindicated by the ebb and flow of historical events. Which is, perhaps, the reason George W. Bush sits so contently, and without concern, ready for the final, actual judgement of history to be levied.

  • Obama: You just don’t get how great I am

    If you’ll all excuse a drive by posting by a really busy guy:

    Obama told Charlie Rose today that his biggest failing as President was that he didn’t spend enough time communicating how successful he is to the spooked herd of sheeple roaming the American countryside which constitute the voting (or polled) public. You see, he’s been doing a bang up job as President, he just hasn’t worked hard enough to let you know about it. But don’t let me tell you, take it from him:

    “The mistake of my first term – couple of years – was thinking that this job was just about getting the policy right. And that’s important. But the nature of this office is also to tell a story to the American people that gives them a sense of unity and purpose and optimism, especially during tough times.”
    President Obama said he’s fallen short in “explaining, but also inspiring” the American public, which is why he has been spending more time traveling the country.
    He continued, “It’s funny – when I ran, everybody said, well he can give a good speech but can he actually manage the job? And in my first two years, I think the notion was, ‘Well, he’s been juggling and managing a lot of stuff, but where’s the story that tells us where he’s going?’ And I think that was a legitimate criticism.”

    Get it?

    Now of course one can make a convincing argument that Obamacare, the largest give away from the rich and middle class to the poor since LBJ, is a huge PR problem. After all, it’s always been more unpopular than popular yet the Democratic Party has spent the past 50 years winning votes by giving away other people’s money in just such fashion. As George Bernard Shaw once said to inadvertently indicted his own Progressivism, “A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.”

    So what’s the disconnect here?

    Explaining away the rest of the tangible numbers over the past four years as him not spending enough time with the American public on his knee might prove to be a bit more difficult.

  • Army reject kills five, self, in Seattle

    Ian Stawicki, a 40-year-old former soldier, shot five people in Seattle yesterday before killing himself as the Seattle Police Department closed in on him. He started his shooting spree in a cafe in the University District by shooting five people, one of whom survived, before heading downtown and killing a seemingly random woman in a car jacking. His family didn’t express any surprise and described him as having mental problems and “a lot of anger”. According to the local ABC News affiliate, KOMO, Stawicki did a brief stint in the Army in the early 90’s and was based at Fort Drum before being discharged as “unsuitable” for the military.

    When his identity first broke and before any history of his time in the Army came out KOMO ran the picture of him above, wearing a gray Army PT shirt. KOMO also went out of their way to mention that he suffered hearing loss from a grenade going off near his head during training, presumably to set up the narrative of Stawicki suffering from some sort of service induced PTSD. This narrative is already being diligently picked up on by some commentators. We’ll see if there’s any further attempt to beat this meme to death.

    And, in the tradition of never letting a good tragedy go to waste, Jonathan Golob and the always petulantly fussy David Goldstein, both of alt weekly Seattle paper The Stranger, used the “opportunity” to attack “right-wing propagandists” and the Second Amendment, quite literally while the bodies were still warm. Their solutions are, of course, right down the center of The Stranger’s extremist, left-wing Progressive statism, calling for a larger welfare apparatus (but not “inhumanly” institutionalizing crazy people) and restricting law abiding people’s access to guns. Stay classy, guys.