Go Navy!
Category: Politics
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Navy Backlogged on Reserve Retirement Pay
Most of us have experienced many age-related milestones in our lives.
I couldn’t wait to be 13 so I was technically a teenager and I could go see a decent movie.
At 16 I could drive on my own. At 18 I could drink – legally.
Then, we transition to wanting to pump the brakes. Life is speeding by too fast. As you get older there are things you can’t do anymore. I was disappointed when I reached 28, because I could no longer join the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Not that I ever wanted to, mind you, but it was one less thing I life I couldn’t do anymore due to my age.
Through the years, there were other milestones. Some unexpected as when I got that dreaded letter from AARP, the American Association of Retired Persons, when I turned 55.
But alas, there was one milestone I was looking forward to and that was turning 60, because it meant I could start drawing my retirement pay after spending almost 30 years in both the Navy and Navy Reserve, retiring out of the Reserve. The one time in my life I was looking forward to getting older.
So, I was advised to get my package in since, oddly, one has to request to get retirement pay. I did this many months beforehand hoping for a smooth transition.
I never got a brochure or package welcoming me to the exciting and fun-filled world of Navy Reserve retirement. There was no “Thank you for your service” letter signed by the POTUS. There was no fruit basket. I cared little about all that since cold, hard cash will keep me company on a snowy winter’s evening. Cashing it all in for one dollar bills, throwing it all on my bed and rolling around in it naked. That was the dream.
But no, it turns out they are backlogged.
https://www.public.navy.mil/bupers-npc/career/reservepersonnelmgmt/Pages/default.aspx
I even missed the following article about it back in August of 2018, although there was probably not much I could have done differently.
The article had a bunch of examples about how long people had to wait – in some cases one year, but reiterate that you will get every penny when the eagle finally flies.
I don’t know how the Army or Marine Corps is doing but if you are a “Gray area Navy Reservist” as they call it, put your package in a year early and hope for the best. I have a friend that is still a drilling reservist and will reach 60 next year. I broke the news to him that it’s a double-whammy for him: he will stop drilling and not get the check every month but has to wait until the retirement kicks in. He said his wife is not going to like hearing that.
They can keep throwing things at me but they won’t wear me down. Time’s on my side, I hope anyway.
Is this old sailor sour? Not really… because I’m used to waiting. Now I will look forward to turning 61 and not many people can say that.
I would have really liked that fruit basket – I’m not gonna lie.
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New Beginnings or Status Quo?
I’m going to go out on a limb here but I need to say as a disclaimer that these thoughts are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of other admins or writers.
There are some changes coming and I’d like to solicit input on how the community feels. If opinions become heated and non-consentual things may default to status quo.
I look at TAH and it’s mission. To define it allows us to best support it moving forward. To me, it seems like it is a collection of a predominately veteran community that leans right. There are alternate voices and some say you need two wings to fly.
The views are very hard right. This is an observation and not criticism. Maybe we all get so much spin on our news that it is refreshing to be able to express ourselves in one place that we feel safe. Our “safe space” as one would say. I’m only saying that the current make-up and discussion trends may be valuable to support.
You just have to know what you are giving up.
TAH discussion will never be mainstream in its current form. Sure, you will tie into Google but if there are national implications with Stolen Valor discussions, I think the discussion forum will immediately be attacked and discredited based on strong language, what some would perceive as homophobic, inside humor, etc. I think someone addressed this at one time and was immediately discounted.
OK, fine. But the views expressed in the discussion group will be never be mainstream and that may be what you are giving up.
TAH can always be supported as a “niche” discussion group, but Stolen Valor may have to go a different direction and have cases offered up as discussion as with any other news topic. The vast wealth of military and other experiences is invaluable for piecing together a puzzle of someone’s military service when presented as a stolen valor case.
The liability can become a huge issue. It needs to be reader comments and opinion and have a clear delineation from the site. Nobody wants to pay for somebody else’s right to call someone names. You can prove that someone is a ‘liar’ but you can’t prove they are a ‘cocksucker’ or ‘MF’er unless you have photos.
I’m not chastising anyone or anything. I’m merely citing this because this drives the main question as to how best to support the TAH community:
1) Make it a “niche” right-leaning [edit] discussion group, perhaps even walled off from the public or have a private section walled off?
2) Have it more mainstream and promoted to the mainstream media with strigent policies on what can and can’t be posted in order to cut down on criticism?
This is what I am soliciting opinion on.
This wil come into play how things are structured in the near future.
Also, I’d like to say that I feel it is important to welcome new readers / commentors and not chase them away with tar and feathering. This will be imporant for growth and credibility, but of course not give people a ticket to be fruity and disrespectful. Let’s hear their points, try and bend over backwards to tolerate, but really be proactive in welcoming them.
Having said that – ALL opinions are welcome. Look forward to hearing them if you have any.
~ Extra Admin
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President Trump to Speak During Prime Time
President Trump plans to address the U.S. during prime time tonight. Then, he plans to travel to the border to talk with personnel involved with border security. President Trump intends to keep the partial shutdown in effect until he gets funding for the border wall.
President Trump is also hinting on putting another item on the table in order to talk about ending the shutdown.
From Fox News:
Meanwhile, a source said no further meetings to discuss the shutdown were planned in the foreseeable future.
Trump also suggested he would rather wait until the Supreme Court rules on the legality of his administration’s pullback of the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program before negotiating with Democrats on the issue as part of the talks to end the shutdown.
Several federal judges have held that the Trump administration’s reasons for terminating DACA were legally insufficient under a federal administrative law statute, which requires adequate notice and justification before the government terminates a right it has previously granted.
You can read more here.
I am pleased to inform you that I will Address the Nation on the Humanitarian and National Security crisis on our Southern Border. Tuesday night at 9:00 P.M. Eastern.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 7, 2019
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Ginsburg Misses Supreme Court Arguments
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg places some items in her bag before speaking at Georgetown Law School, Friday, April 6, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is recuperating at home after cancer related surgery. As a result, she wasn’t on the bench hearing arguments before the court. More arguments are on their way… She may be recuperating through those as well.
She previously voted, from outside the Supreme Court, to block one of President Trump’s actions.
From the Associated press:
Appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1993, Ginsburg rebuffed suggestions from some liberals that she should step down in the first two years of President Barack Obama’s second term, when Democrats controlled the Senate and would have been likely to confirm her successor.
She already has hired clerks for the term that extends into 2020, indicating she has no plans to retire.
If she did step down, President Donald Trump would have another opportunity to move a conservative court even more to the right. On the day she had surgery, Trump tweeted his wishes for Ginsburg’s “full and speedy recovery!”
You can read more here.
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Democrat Proposes Amendment to Eliminate Electoral College
Representative Steve Cohen, Democrat, Tennessee. AP Photo by Cliff Owen. It seems that those on the left don’t understand what’s really going on during the Presidential Election. Many people assume that this is a single contest, within a single voting area (US), by voters, to determine who wins the White House.
But, voting for the President isn’t one of these “single contests.” It’s actually 51 different contests, 50 States plus District of Columbia.
Each State, as a sovereign, votes for the President via their electors.
The popular vote, within a State as related to that state’s Electors, matter. The national popular vote, for President, is meaningless, and rightfully so.
From Fox News:
Cohen, in particular, called the Electoral College “distorting” and “outdated” in a statement regarding his proposals.
“Americans expect and deserve the winner of the popular vote to win office,” he said. “More than a century ago, we amended our Constitution to provide for the direct election of U.S. Senators. It is past time to directly elect our President and Vice President.”
Thanks to AnotherPat for the link. You can read more on Fox News as well as on the Washington Times.
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U.S. court rules for Trump on transgender military limits
By Lawrence Hurley
WASHINGTON, Jan 4 (Reuters) – A U.S. court on Friday ruled in favor of a Trump administration policy barring certain transgender people from serving in the U.S. armed forces, handing the president his first legal victory on the issue after several defeats.The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit overturned a decision by a federal judge in Washington, D.C., that blocked the policy, saying it likely violates the constitutional rights of transgender recruits and service members.
President Donald Trump announced in March that he would endorse a plan by former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to restrict the military service of transgender people who experience a condition called gender dysphoria.
The appeals court victory is limited because other federal courts issued injunctions against the policy, which applied nationwide. The administration already has asked the Supreme Court to weigh in on the issue.
The high court is due to consider whether to hear three separate government appeals at its private conference on Jan. 11.
The various injunctions allowed transgender troops to join the ranks as of Jan. 1, 2018.
Some sanity reigns, but the social experimenters are readying their appeals as I type. The rest of the article, and complexly expected backlash, may be read here: MSN.com
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Muslim Patrol Cars now on the streets of America
The notion that Muslims think there are streets in this country that are considered “theirs” to patrol is absurd. I thought this was click bait being posted by a few loons but as it turns out it is real news.
The New York Police Department had to issue a statement saying that this Muslim Patrol is not sanctioned or endorsed by them.
New York’s Muslim community created a “security patrol” in Brooklyn’s Bay Ridge neighborhood in November of 2018. The “Muslim Community Patrol” car is outfitted to look like an NYPD vehicle, complete with a nearly identical logo.
But the police department told PJ Media that the vehicle is not sanctioned by the department and that it must obey the law.
It should be noted that other racial and religious groups in New York City have community patrols as well.
Read more: https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2019/01/ny_police_say_muslim_community_patrol_car_not_sanctioned_by_them.html#ixzz5bZlr1S4f
Follow us: @AmericanThinker on Twitter | AmericanThinker on FacebookYa, well I have no support for other “Religious” groups having patrol cars on the streets of America either. It will be a matter of short time before these Patrols are out enforcing sharia law in parts of America now considered Muslim territory.
This kind of thing needs to be put to a stop. Maybe some of you support this … you know who you are. I suspect if you do not support it then Liberals will consider your criticism of it a form of hate speech. Because feelings are more important than freedom.
