Barack Obama owes his presidency in no small part to the power of rhetoric. It’s too bad he doesn’t appreciate the damage that loose talk can do to America’s tax system, even as exploding federal deficits make revenues more important than ever.
What did the President say in 2009, exactly?
“I really thought this was much ado about nothing, but I do think we all learned an important lesson. I learned never again to pick another team over the Sun Devils in my NCAA brackets. . . . President [Michael] Crowe and the Board of Regents will soon learn all about being audited by the IRS.”
Heh, heh. Good one. Reynolds reminded us of why such attempts at humor using the abuse of Presidential power are so ill-advised:
Should the IRS come to be seen as just a bunch of enforcers for whoever is in political power, the result would be an enormous loss of legitimacy for the tax system…. The notion that people who are audited are probably just “enemies of the regime,” coupled with the idea that big shots get a pass …is a recipe for widespread tax evasion.
It has been the recipe for revolution more than once.
Europe is in a fight for its life with radical Islam. Moderate Islam is also in a fight for its life with radical Islam. We are, too, whether we believe so or not. Acts like this will become more commonplace in Western cities. If we think this is not the end-game of our pandering to Islamists in this country, we are fools of the first magnitude. Begin by calling the gravest threat for what it is: Islamic Extremism.
Pray for this Soldier’s soul and for his family. Those who perpetrated this should be drowned in pork fat.
Piers Morgan should explain on television to the the grieving family why being armed for self defense is dangerous.
Stockholm seems an unlikely place for civil unrest. Among the wealthiest cities in Europe, Stockholm has not seen significant violence in decades. So, for the last couple days, I have been reading about the burning of cars and the far-left in Sweden claiming government failure for denying the youth of the suburbs “hope”. Well, here is this morning’s article from Reuters, via NBC News, in its entirety:
By Johan Sennero and Johan Ahlander, Reuters
STOCKHOLM – Hundreds of youths set fire to cars and attacked police and rescue services in suburbs of Stockholm Tuesday night in Sweden’s worst disorder in years.
A police station in the Jakobsberg area in the northwest of the city was attacked, two schools were damaged and an arts and crafts center was set ablaze, despite a call for calm from Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt.
It was the third night of unrest, mainly in suburbs where many immigrants live.
The riots, in one of Europe’s richest capitals, have shocked a country that prides itself on a reputation for social justice, and fuelled a debate about how Sweden is coping with both youth unemployment and an influx of immigrants.
“We’ve had around 30 cars set on fire last night, fires that we connect to youth gangs and criminals,” Kjell Lindgren, spokesman for Stockholm police, said on Wednesday.
He said eight people had been arrested on Tuesday night, but there were no reports of injuries.
The riots appear to have been sparked by the police killing of a 69-year-old man wielding a machete in the suburb of Husby this month, which prompted accusations of police brutality.
Riot police spent a second night outside Stockholm trying to control protesters angry about a recent police shooting, NBCNews.com’s Dara Brown reports.
“Everyone must pitch in to restore calm – parents, adults,” Reinfeldt told reporters on Tuesday.
After decades of practicing the “Swedish model” of generous welfare benefits, Sweden has been reducing the role of the state since the 1990s, spurring the fastest growth in inequality of any advanced OECD economy.
While average living standards are still among the highest in Europe, governments have failed to substantially reduce long-term youth unemployment and poverty, which have affected immigrant communities worst.
The left-leaning tabloid Aftonbladet said the riots represented a “gigantic failure” of government policies, which had underpinned the rise of ghettos in the suburbs.
“We have failed to give many of the people in the suburbs a hope for the future,” Anna-Margrethe Livh of the opposition Left Party wrote in the daily Svenska Dagbladet.
An anti-immigrant party, the Sweden Democrats, has risen to third in polls ahead of a general election due next year, reflecting unease about immigrants among many voters.
Some 15 percent of the population is foreign-born, the highest proportion in the Nordic region. Unemployment among those born outside Sweden stands at 16 percent, compared with 6 percent for native Swedes, according to OECD data.
Among 44 industrialized countries, Sweden ranked fourth in the absolute number of asylum seekers, and second relative to its population, according to U.N. figures.
The story is 440-odd words. But one word is conspicuously absent. Any guesses? Yep. MUSLIM. The rioter “immigrants” are Muslims. Violent youth gangs roaming the streets, burning cars and buildings, smashing windows, assaulting police and passersby, protesting that the government that took them in is not doing enough for them now that they are there.
For many years, the “Swedish Model” was what the Left in this country always touted. Well, watch where this goes, as this particular “Swedish Model” is playing out all across Europe and the UK.
The 1st Battalion, 227 Aviation Regiment has a long proud history. Former member, and long time friend of the blog, Outlaw 13 collaborated with several others, and international film and television star Nick Searcy, to produce a great tribute to the unit. It’s well worth your time.
By now most of us have heard the terrible news of the massive tornado that tore through Moore, Oklahoma. Last coverage I saw counted 37 51 dead, but we can expect that count to rise. The devastation from such a storm is frightening down to one’s soul. The only thing more powerful than the winds of a tornado are the waters of a coastal hurricane.
I know some idiot is going to say, if one hasn’t already, that these storms are due to global warming. Remember, however, that there was just such speculation when the Xenia, Ohio F-5 super-cell tornadoes that killed 34 people in April of 1974 were blamed on global COOLING. Which was described then as scientifically irrefutable.
The only thing more certain than nature’s occasional wrath is mankind’s arrogant stupidity. And the ideologues who exploit tragedy for their political aims.
I loved Oklahoma and found the people to be genuine and friendly in a way that New Englanders are not. Pray for these folks.
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Sadly, the death toll as of 0900 EDT is now 91
It seems that the confusion of the day had caused some miscalculation of the confirmed killed in yesterday’s tornado. NBC News is reporting now that the number of confirmed dead is 24. Perhaps some prayers were answered as well. I do hope they are correct.
One cannot think back to the last thing that the Obama Administration nor any of its appointed officials have said about Benghazi, the IRS scandal, or the illegal subpoena of Associated Press phone records that has had even a shred of truth.
About Benghazi, Hillary Clinton lied. She knew it was a terrorist attack when she talked about some internet video being the cause of a spontaneous demonstration that turned violent. Hillary also knew it was her State Department, and not intelligence entities, that changed the talking points into a pack of lies. Susan Rice lied by repeating those talking points when she knew they were untrue several days after the tragedy. Barack Obama lied when he claimed he had called the Benghazi attack “terrorism”. He very pointedly did no such thing, and apparently believes us lazy enough to not remember what he said, or stupid enough to make us think we didn’t understand his words.
The IRS scandal keeps growing, as well. Despite assurances at the time that no such targeting of political opponents took place, it was widespread. Not only that but even as the assurances were being given, high level White House and IRS officials knew that targeting was happening. The tale that it was a few “low-level employees in Cincinnati” was a deliberate fabrication. So when President Obama tells us he heard about it on the news like everyone else, he is either an imbecile, or he is lying. Since he considers himself smart enough to lecture us on Naval strategy during a debate, I will have to choose the latter.
Now, new revelations that the illegal, secret, unconstitutional subpoena of Associated Press phone records is much broader than we were first told. Attorney General Eric Holder’s Justice Department has been nothing short of a criminal enterprise, with this episode yet another in a long list of violations of his oath, and of the law. (Fast and Furious, New Black Panthers) His Deputy Attorney General is also complicit. James Cole has been caught in a lie. The extent of the subpoenas is far greater than we were told. Another deliberate falsehood. Resignation is not sufficient. Eric Holder is a criminal and should be behind bars.
There has been nothing that can be believed that has come out from this Administration in this first few months of a second term. Worse, he has two people who are willing unconditionally to sell their honor and trumpet the deliberate falsehoods of this presidency. One is a spineless political sycophant. The other is Jay Carney.
The Obama apologists will cling to their ideas that this is either not important, or the result of some kind of media/right-wing persecution of their Dear Leader. That the IRS scandal, the subpoenas, and Benghazi weren’t stonewalled and obfuscated until Obama was safely re-elected. Those who assert such, and claim anyone criticizing Barack Obama (don’t be hatin’ on Brother Barack!) is either parroting Fox News or is somehow a racist are intellectually bankrupt, and seemingly incapable of serious discussion regarding the malevolence of this Administration and its statist command-economy secular socialism.
Just as a reminder, this is the Administration that wants to control dispensing of our medical care. That believes that it is a government responsibility to care for our children. That believes a secret star chamber of “informed government officials” determining the grounds for assassinating Americans without criminal charges, a trial by a jury of one’s peers, or conviction in court constitutes “due process” and is a legitimate power of government. This is the Administration that wants us to surrender our firearms, our last redress against the tyranny of government, and tells us it is for our safety and protection.
And a President that tells a commencement class not to listen to voices that tell them that tyranny is around every corner. Small wonder.
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Did I mention Fast and Furious, above? Well, seems DoJ was going great guns, pun intended, to discredit the one who blew the whistle on Holder’s criminal activity:
The former U.S. Attorney for Arizona could be disbarred, after an investigation found he lied to the Justice Department about his role in trying to discredit the federal whistle-blower who exposed the botched gun-running scheme known as Fast and Furious.
An Office of Inspector General report showed that Dennis Burke — the former chief of staff for Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano appointed as U.S. Attorney for Arizona by President Obama in September 2009 — lied when asked if he leaked sensitive documents to the press meant to undermine the credibility of ATF whistle-blower John Dodson.
“The report brings into question, yet again, the treatment that whistle-blowers receive from this administration,” Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said Monday. “Instead of examining the allegations that came forward, the Justice Department almost immediately began to attack the credibility and good name of a dedicated federal agent upset with what he was ordered to do.”
I don’t agree with Chuck Grassley. There is no question whatever of the treatment that whistle-blowers receive from this Administration. They get the Chicago treatment.
We have a long affinity for, and association with the ‘03A3.
In the fall of 1982, as we began our sophomore year, as a member of the high school NJROTC, we tried out for, and were accepted onto, the Armed Drill Team.
The Armed Drill Team would compete against other JROTC teams in the area in three phases of competition- In Ranks Inspection, Regulation Drill, and Exhibition Drill. Obviously, the “armed” part meant that the members of the team had to be under arms, and for that, the US Navy had provided our unit with a selection of M1903A3 rifles. But for various reasons, the Navy wasn’t keen on giving out actual honest to goodness weapons (mostly a matter of secure storage). So the weapons had their barrels plugged, and their bolt actions welded shut. Further, the wood stocks had been replaced by a plastic stock, which was much more resistant to breaking when we inevitably dropped the piece.
At about 9.5 pounds, the ‘03A3 was a pretty hefty piece, but it was also wonderfully balance, and for drill, just about perfect. It may have been surpassed as a weapon of war, but to this day it is still the preferred piece for ceremonial units such as the Army Drill Team, and for color guards both in and out of the service.
It was also quite capable of inflicting some significant trauma. Esli was there when I lost my two front teeth to one. And Esli and Jay were both present when I had one thunk me right on the crown of my skull and leave me dazed and confused. And goodness knows all the times I picked up minor cuts and bruises from one.
Just about the day after graduation, I memory dumped all the nomenclature and other information about the ‘03 (I had to memorize all the M16A1 stuff in its place!).
But when I found myself in college, and again on an armed drill team, I had to relearn all that stuff. And at the college level, the weapons were not demilitarized, but actual functioning weapons. That meant finding secure storage for them. We ended up storing them at the campus police office.
There are quite a few Springfields in civilian hands, and are popular rifles. Very well made, they have a great reputation for reliability and accuracy. And the .30-06 cartridge rightly holds a place as one of the greatest rounds in history.
I saw the news while eating dinner. Salamander broke it first over on the front porch, but I was gonna finish my baked scrod, dammit. His question as to whether the media has “had enough” of Obama and Holder and the infringements on the First and Fourth Amendment rights of the press, I am afraid I have to answer in the negative. Most, despite the loud protestations of some, are far-left ideologues, who consider such intrusion “breaking a few eggs”. Hell, Chris Matthews was glad for Hurricane Sandy, with its 100+ dead and quarter million homeless, because it helped his man Obama win re-election.
Sniveling sycophants aside, I have a few questions of my own.
So, how is this new, streamlined, secret Eric Holder-style due process working for ya? Anybody still think that the drone strike memo had anything to do with terrorists anywhere? Or that gun-grabbing efforts anything to do with “the children”? Or that the IRS targeting political opposition was a matter of “a few low-ranking employees”? Or that Holder didn’t know anything about Fast and Furious? Or that the “immigration reform” sought by Obama is anything but allowing millions of illegals onto Democrat voter rolls? Or that repeal of DADT and women in combat arms was anything other than pandering to special interests to garner votes, at the expense of the combat effectiveness of our Armed Forces?
Here is an interesting quote. It is by none other than Eric Holder, uncredited author of Fast and Furious, obstructionist in his refusal to prosecute the Black Panther Party voter intimidation case (wrong color), champion of the authority of the Federal Government to kill any American, anywhere, without such messy and time consuming things like charges, grand juries, trials, or convictions. Holder here in 2004, discussing the PATRIOT Act (emphasis mine):
When you look at some of the things that have done under the spirit of the act, where you detain citizens without giving them access to a lawyer, where you listen in on attorney-client conversations without involving a judge, these are the kinds of things that have been done in the name of the Patriot Act by this (Bush) administration…
…the problem that I had with the enforcement of the act is that this (Bush) administration said essentially trust us. We’re not going to involve judges, we’re not going to report to Congress on what we’re doing, and I think our history has shown us that we are best when we operate as people governed by the law as opposed to putting our trust in people and that’s the problem I have.
Seems that’s not a problem any more. At least Bush was going after America’s enemies, and not Obama’s political opponents.
It was known, for good reason, as the Death Railway. In 1942, after the fall of Singapore, the Japanese army ordered the construction of a jungle railroad from Bangkok to Rangoon to support its assault on India.
Almost 260 miles of track were built by a forced labour workforce consisting of 250,000 local men and 60,000 Allied prisoners of war, whose treatment at the hands of the Japanese was brutal. More than 16,000 prisoners of war and an estimated 90,000 Asian labourers died.
As one of the last remaining survivors, 99-year-old Reg Twigg wrote a remarkable personal testimony of his three years of hell on the River Kwai. Sadly, the former private in the Leicestershire Regiment died last week and never lived to see it published.
Fuddruckers was a Sunday afternoon ritual, if you were lucky to have it off, when I was at Parris Island working recruit series twenty-odd years ago. Chocolate shakes, and incredible burgers with everything imaginable on them. And artery-clogging fries. Three years in Recruit Training Regiment meant lots of 100+ hour six- and seven-day work weeks with recruits on deck, which was always. A little air conditioning and good chow were a damned welcome break for a few hours.
I will make a last trip to Parris Island before I retire, but I was looking forward to sitting down at Fuddruckers and topping off my cholesterol. Rumor has it that the one in Alexandria VA is also closed.
Dammit, I feel old.
But that’s all shove be’ind me — long ago an’ fur away,
This week marks VE Day, commemorating the Victory in Europe over Hitler’s Third Reich. The last and perhaps the most savage battle was for the German capital of Berlin. This from the Battlefield series, which was aired weekly on Far East Network (“Forced Entertainment Network”) when I had an artillery battery in Okinawa in 1996. The entire series is superb, and if you look, you can find most of them on line. They are also available on DVD. They contain a pretty good description of the higher tactical through the strategic picture, and have enough detail and technical stuff, but not too much.
Since the series was made, Russian archives have been explored more completely, and the number of Soviet casualties have been scaled up more than two-fold, from the 305,000 quoted in this episode, to nearly 700,000. Note the ever-present use of artillery and mortars, rockets, and field guns, even in an urban environment. The episode is 116 minutes, roughly the time one spends clicking on all of Mav’s aviation links and cool pictures and videos and stuff. So get your Eastern Front geek on, and watch it. You know you wanna.
Lefties, Obama apologists, and Fellow Travelers all squawk loudly in protest when anyone points out instances where this Administration and its elected and appointed officials turn the weight of government persecution against political opponents like a tin-pot dictatorship, and portrays those opposed to them as national enemies.
Far-Left gun-grabber Congressmen labeling law-abiding gun-rights advocates as “extremist fringe groups”. (Not coincidentally very similar to the language that replaced Islamic extremists, so as not to offend our sworn enemies.)
WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service inappropriately flagged conservative political groups for additional reviews during the 2012 election to see if they were violating their tax-exempt status, a top IRS official said Friday.
Organizations were singled out because they included the words “tea party” or “patriot” in their applications for tax-exempt status, said Lois Lerner, who heads the IRS division that oversees tax-exempt groups.
In some cases, groups were asked for their list of donors, which violates IRS policy in most cases, she said.
“That was wrong. That was absolutely incorrect, it was insensitive and it was inappropriate. That’s not how we go about selecting cases for further review,” Lerner said at a conference sponsored by the American Bar Association.
No, it was criminal. I will not buy that those perpetrating this did not know IRS policy. Not for a second. Of course, the official explanation sounds awfully similar to that of the Benghazi hearings. ”Gee, we made a mistake, we didn’t have any malice in mind. Gosh, we sure are sorry and promise to fix it.” In both instances, it is complete and disingenuous bullshit.
Lerner said the practice was initiated by low-level workers in Cincinnati and was not motivated by political bias. After her talk, she told The AP that no high level IRS officials knew about the practice. She did not say when they found out.
Uh huh. People in those targeted groups, which extend well past the reach of “low level workers in Cincinnati”, were decried in the beholden and supplicant liberal media as paranoid, complete with vehement denials by IRS officials to Congress.
“Yes, I can give you assurances,” said Shulman. “As you know, we pride ourselves on being a nonpolitical, nonpartisian organization.” He pointed out that only he and the IRS chief counsel are Presidential appointees, and they are appointed for five-year terms in order to overlap administrations.
Doug Shulman is either a liar or an incompetent. Taking into consideration this Administration’s propensity for deceit and the lack of integrity of its officials, I would need to see damned strong evidence that he is not the former. Besides, if the IRS is interested in finding tax cheats, it really doesn’t have to look far.
Remember, this is the government that Obama touts as the solution to all our problems. This is OUR democracy, right? Then why does Administration behave more like Castro’s Cuba or Khruschev’s Soviet Union than the United States of America?
Tyranny is just around the corner? Well, in your Administration, President Obama, it is in full view. You are not to be trusted. Your motives are wicked, and harmful to our Republic and our liberties. Nor are any officials you have appointed to be trusted. They lack integrity and decency, and any sense of responsibility to carry out the duties they are entrusted with in an honest and faithful manner. Those who continue to scream “benefit of the doubt” and “no proof!” when the fix is in, as it is with virtually everything this Administration touches, are willfully blind nincompoops. That they expect others to be, and level criticism when they aren’t, is nothing short of delusional.
“It is freedom itself that still hangs in the balance,
and freedom is never more than one generation from extinction.”
The Administration knew the truth, even as the Benghazi attack was occurring. They deliberately misled the American people, and the Mainstream Media outlets were complicit in the cover-up that followed.
Not that anyone who paid the slightest attention to the events as they occurred and immediately after the death of Ambassador Stevens and three other Americans had any doubt as to the deliberate falsehoods being promulgated by this Administration through the news media, who willingly and unquestioningly trumpeted those falsehoods. In addition to the media’s complicity in the Administration’s deliberate deceit, media personalities attacked those voices who were critical of the botched tragedy in Benghazi, and who were suspicious of the unconvincing tales being told by Administration officials.
The one I have the most contempt for is Marty Dempsey. He has shown himself time and again of questionable loyalty and lacking in integrity. He sold his honor cheap. And there is no recovering it from the bazaar of the political marketplace. He is unfit to lead, and no longer deserves to wear a uniform. He is despicable.
The individual with the most to lose is former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who may yet see this testimony (which the mainstream media can no longer ignore) damage her chances as the Democratic nominee in 2016. Because it does matter, Hillary. And you know it.
The biggest hypocrite, however, is the sitting President. He spoke yesterday at Ohio State’s commencement, where he derided those voices who warn that government isn’t to be trusted. Perhaps his Attorney General, Eric Holder, can label any US citizen calling Barack Obama a hypocrite as an “extremist”, maybe even a “violent extremist”, and target them for death by Hellfire. The new, streamlined due process arrangement should make that easy enough.
Unfortunately, you’ve grown up hearing voices that incessantly warn of government as nothing more than some separate, sinister entity that’s at the root of all our problems. Some of these same voices also do their best to gum up the works. They’ll warn that tyranny always lurking just around the corner. You should reject these voices. Because what they suggest is that our brave, and creative, and unique experiment in self-rule is somehow just a sham with which we can’t be trusted.
One would hope, at least, that the History majors and Political Science majors were squirming in their seats because their respective educations gave them insights that would cause them to disagree fundamentally with Obama’s assertions. However, after sixteen years in the leftist secular-progressive socialist indoctrination camps that are secondary and higher education in this country, I am not optimistic. Though it might be instructive to include an essay question on a final exam in which students would be asked to identify where forcible wealth redistribution, government-enforced equality, and government-dictated behaviors did not end in tyranny, oppression, and death.
Just whose voices are they that warn “incessantly” of tyranny that Obama begs to be rejected? If you are scoring at home, here are a few of the no-account alarmists unreasonably suspicious of government overreach:
Thomas Jefferson
John Stuart Mill
Voltaire
Martin Luther King
Edmund Burke
Alexander Hamilton
Thomas Paine
Abraham Lincoln
Patrick Henry
Benjamin Franklin
Plato
Frederick Douglass
Samuel Adams
CS Lewis
Aristotle
James Madison
Ronald Reagan
Whose voices have extolled the virtues of government authority and the necessity to limit the freedoms of citizens, for their own safety and well-being? Here’s a sample of Obama’s esteemed colleagues:
Mao Tse-Tung
Pol Pot
Malcolm X
Fidel Castro
Earl Browder
Friedrich Engels
Saul Alinsky
Hugo Chavez
Vladimir Lenin
Eugene Debs
Leon Trotsky
Idi Amin
Karl Marx
Che Guevara
In his speech, Obama remarked, “Because we understand that this democracy is ours.” That phrase, and the plural possessive, has an entirely different meaning for those who warn against the encroachment of government authority on individual liberties than it does for those who believe that government, America’s experiment included, is about collectivism, and “what can be done by us, together”. That difference is precisely the difference between liberty and tyranny.
Class of 2013, ignore five centuries of despotism at your own peril. Because tyranny is always lurking just around the corner.
The welfare of the people in particular has always been the alibi of tyrants, and it provides the further advantage of giving the servants of tyranny a good conscience. -Camus
An interesting post over at Op-For by the redoubtable LtCol P commemorating the 150th anniversary of the famous Stonewall Jackson flank attack in the middle of the week-long battle.
While the Battle of Chancellorsville was a stunning Southern victory, and the end of General Joe Hooker’s time at the head of the Army of the Potomac, the battle was not all disaster for the Federals, nor did their soldiers fail to fight. Some fought extraordinarily well. The 240-odd Officers and men of the 115th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, fighting under Dan Sickles’ Third Corps, held the western wall of the Federal position just west of Wilderness Church, in and around Hazel Grove. The Regimental History for the 115th PA Vol. Inf. tells the story:
At daylight on the 3rd, the first line was attacked. After holding its position for an hour, it fell back on its supports. The Second line was then ordered to advance. With alacrity it sprang forward, driving the enemy, when Colonel Lancaster fell, pierced through the temple with a minie-ball, [sic] the command devolving on Major Dunne. Without faltering, the line pressed forward, recapturing the breastworks, taking four hundred prisoners and two stands of colors… The position was held against the desperate efforts to carry it…
The price, including the desperate fighting withdrawal on the 6th, was high.
The Regiment entered the battle with fourteen Officers and two-hundred thirty men; of these, Colonel Lancaster, and Captains John J. Donnelly and George Cromley were killed, and Captains Richard Dillon and Wm. A. Reilly, and Lieutenants William J. Ashe, James Malloy, and Evan Davis were wounded, the two latter mortally. Captain Dillon lost his left arm. Eight men were killed, seventy-three wounded, and twenty-two missing; an aggregate loss of one-hundred eleven.
One of those seventy-three wounded was Private C. A. Warner of D Co., who was struck in the chest by a Rebel musket ball.
Warner, C.A.
Private
Wounded at Chancellorsville, Va., May 3, 1863 (Pa. Archives); Tr. to Co. D, 110th Regiment, P.V., June 22, 1864
D
Surgeons could not remove it, so it remained in his chest for the remainder of his life, which was all too short. Just weeks before his son, my grandfather, was born in 1885, Christopher A. Warner died of complications from his wound. He was 43.
One of the most incredibly moving experiences I ever had was walking through the Chancellorsville Battlefield in 1986 while at the Basic School. Our 25-mile MCCRES hike was conducted there, and while 25 miles in 8 hours with a full march order is no leisure stroll, the venue was inspired. On our breaks, Park Rangers would conduct impromptu lecture on the course of the battle. I asked a Ranger at one point where the 115th PA Volunteers had fought, and he informed me that we were standing on the spot.
Knowing that I was within yards of where one of my ancestors had been wounded in the Civil War was both a thrill and a strongly compelling experience. Even after the nearly thirty years, I remember every detail of the spot, and of the few minutes spent in thought, before shouldering MY pack again and falling into the long column of men being trained for war. It is something I shall never forget.
[Update-XBrad]- Of course, for ALL your American Civil War blogging needs, be sure to check out Craig’s blog To The Sound Of The Guns. He’s devoted considerable space to Chancellorsville.
It sounds so reasonable, at first. I mean, everybody wants to “prevent violence”, right? That is at least the initial premise in Palm Beach, FL.
But the idea of giving the government, through its law enforcement arm, “needed information to keep a close eye on things” flies in the face of every lesson the totalitarianism of the last century taught us.
“How are they possibly going to watch everybody who makes a comment like that? It’s subjective,” said Liz Downey, executive director of the Palm Beach County branch of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. “We don’t want to take away people’s civil liberties just because people aren’t behaving the way we think they should be.”
A damned good question. Never fear, however, for the efficiency and compassion of government employees and institutions will protect you:
Bradshaw acknowledged the risk that anyone in a messy divorce or in a dispute with a neighbor could abuse the hotline. But, he said, he’s confident that his trained professionals will know how to sort out fact from fiction.
“We know how to sift through frivolous complaints,” he said.
I bet you do. Wait until the term “troubled people” gets a definition that looks an awful lot like political opposition to the far Left. Giving such unfettered power and invasive authority to law enforcement is dangerous in the extreme, for is a violation of the First Amendment, Fourth Amendment, Fifth Amendment, and Sixth Amendment.
Not long into the article, the real agenda pokes through the veil, just a little.
“We want people to call us if the guy down the street says he hates the government, hates the mayor and he’s gonna shoot him,” Bradshaw said.
Hating the government, and the mayor, and wanting to shoot him is not a crime. Doing so, or threatening to do so, is. But it seems Bradshaw doesn’t care to wait on such things as the commission of a criminal act, or even probable cause or reasonable suspicion. I am sure we will be told that the urgency of the problem precludes due process yet again.
Republican Governor Rick Scott should take one of two paths. He should veto such a frightfully dangerous proposal and make it clear that such an example of egregious government overreach will never get his signature, or he should simply appoint a Gauleiter for Palm Beach County and drop all pretense to civil liberties.
After all, crimes and violence committed by “private citizens” in the Third Reich or the Soviet Union was historically low compared to crime rates in US cities.
The government? Not so much. And it started with police knocking on doors.
Seems it might become policy for the US Military. Unless you are Muslim. Which is fine, provided you can somehow refrain from blowing up your CO with a grenade, or shooting four dozen comrades while yelling “ALLAHU AKBAR!” And even if you do, we can conjure terms like “pre-traumatic stress” and speculate about discrimination being the cause if not the justification for such acts.
Those who believe this will end up as a “common-sense” regulation against those forcing their religion, unwelcome, upon comrades and juniors must have missed the DoD genuflecting (pun intended) to Islam, Global Warming, Diversity, Gun Control, Feminism, LGBT, and the various other “religions” that General and Flag Officers spend an inordinate amount of time proselytizing as a matter of command influence.
Could one imagine the Defense Department having ANY dealings with someone who declared sharing the Koran with fellow Muslims to be “spiritual rape” and those who do so are “enemies” of the Constitution?
The reason, perhaps, that this grates so is that it is another in a long line under this Administration, with these GOFOs, of political pandering to the far-Left, anti-Christian, anti-cleric secular progressives. With no end in sight.
But don’t worry, Marty Dempsey and your band of bended-knee political servants. Jesus loves you.
Some of the rest of us can’t stand the sight of you.
The ministry’s paper said: “French industry is increasingly losing its competitiveness. The relocation of companies abroad continues. Profitability is meagre.”
Relations between France and Germany are chilly after Mr Hollande’s Socialist party accused Mrs Merkel of “egotistical intransigence” and called for “democratic confrontation” with Berlin.
While France clings to its totemic 35-hour working week, workers in Germany are increasingly discontented at having to endure years of low pay rises.
It points out that France has the “second lowest annual working time” in the European Union, while its “tax and social security burden” is the highest in the eurozone. It also warns that France has made too little investment in research and development.
One cannot but think of the stereotypes of the humorless, hard-working German looking over his factory apron at his lazy, decadent French neighbor with contempt and frustration, while the Frenchman stares back from his sidewalk table, eating his wine and cheese, confident of his moral and cultural superiority.
What could go wrong? It isn’t like these two countries would actually fight over something. That would be unprecedented….
Part one is a general description of the YC-15 aircraft. You can view that here. This post will detail the flight test program of the YC-15.
There were 2 YC-15 aircraft,serials 72-01875 and 72-01876. 875 was rolled on 5 August 1975. The first flight was 26 August 1975. 875 flew from the Douglas plant in Long Beach, CA to Edwards AFB. The only problem during this 2.5 hour flight was a landing gear door found to be ajar. The flight itself was therefore speed limited to 200kts at 20,000ft.
875 flew 3 times over the next 3 days, conducting general flight envelope verification and expansion tests. A further 2 weeks were conducting 7 air-worthiness flights. On 12 September, 875 moved to a Douglas Aircraft Company (DAC) test facility at Yuma, AZ.
876 flew for the first time on 5 December 1975. This flight took the aircraft from Long Beach, CA to join 875 at Yuma AZ.
The YC-15 Joint Test Force (JTF) personnel from the Air Force Flight Test Center (AFFTC), Air Force Test and Evaluation Center (AFTEC), McDonnell Douglas, Boeing (for the YC-14). The (Air Force Logistics Command (AFLC), Tactical Air Command (TAC), Army and the USMC played minor logistical roles in the flight test program. NASA also sent (short take-off and landing (STOL) engineers to analyse data gleaned in the AMST program. The core pilot cadre for the YC-15 was made up of 3 contractors, 3 AFFTC and 3 AFTEC pilots. The competing aircraft were housed in separate hangars with the JTF office between the 2 contactors. This became the model for both the ATF and JSF programs.
The consensus amongst the test pilots and crews was that the YC-15 had generally good handling qualities. The aircraft was easy to fly with the SCAS off and on. There was concern that the pilot could overload the aircraft with the SCAS off but control forces were considered light in both modes.
There was some discussion on whether or not the YC-15 should have a stick or yoke for control input. The intention was to have a “fighter-type” stick installed but there was some skepticism over it’s suitability from higher up the chain-of-command so the stick was removed. To counter, it was argued that the yoke obscured the view of the instrument panel.
The YC-15 had no natural warning upon entering the stall (i.e. vibration) so warning for the stall relied on an artificial “stick-shaker” to provide some warning within the critical angle of attack. This was judged as an inadequate solution because the shaker could activate in conditions of high thrust and flap settings when the aircraft clearly wasn’t in a stalling condition and because a high stink rate (such as during a STOL landing) could mask stalling conditions. As such, a Supplemental Stall Recognition System (SSRS) was developed and tested during the program. The SSRS provided an aural warning when the aircraft approached critical alpha during a given flight condition.
At gross weights of 149,300 the YC-15 flew STOL approaches at 87kts at a 6 degree glideslope giving a sink rate of 15.4 degrees per second. Conventional Takeoff and Landing (CTOL) approaches were normally made a 127 kts with a typical 8-12 feet per second sink rate with no flare at touch down. In STOL mode the aim-point for touch down was about 300 feet from the runway threshold . The YC-15 tested both flare and no-flare landing techniques in STOL mode. Testing at Edwards AFB showed the YC-15 was unable to land consistently in “hot-and-high” conditions in the required 2000 feet because of the slow actuation of the thrust reversers.
The thrust reversers could be used in-flight with some minor airframe buffet.
Testing the VAM, used approaches very similar to Navy carrier approaches were airspeed on approach is governed by angle of attack. The major issue was that the VAM didn’t display enough information to enable a completely “eyes-out-of-cockpit” approach.
33 STOL and CTOL off field demo landings, at Edwards, were conducted on 5000ft x 200ft runways with markers placed at 2000ft x 60ft. 5 pilots flew these tests and the YC-15s landing gear tire pressure was reduced. It was also found that the YC-15 could taxi over a 4-inch dump at 75-80kts. A unique procedures for the YC-15 during a STOL takeoff was extending the flaps from 14 to 23 degrees during the takeoff roll. Below is some archive video of STOL testing in 1975 (please pardon the music, Creed’s “Higher” just doesn’t work IMO):
During testing cracks were found in the blown flap material and fasteners had to replaced on a cracked rob. This was due to repeated exposure of hot jet exhaust. Direct Lift Control (DLC) (*see update below) was found to be effective for corrected high approach errors in the glide-slope but wasn’t effective for getting too low during approach. Flight path correction was done with a slightly high arrival at glideslope,correct with DLC, and then add thrust. Maximum DLC deflection angle was 20 degrees from flush on the upper surface of the wing. Orientation of the DLC actuation in the cockpit was a major “human factors” issue of debate among the pilots.
The YC-15 displayed docile engine out characteristics with mild crew indication 4-6 seconds after an engine out occurred. The YC-15 also was unable to meet the range requirement of 2600nm. The aircraft had more drag than predicted giving it a range of 1760nm.
I’ll be standing fast on this post for now. I’m splitting part 2 into this and an additional part detailing some of the operational and international demonstrations as well as technical improvements and further flight test results.
*[UPDATE]: For reader that may not know, direct lift control (DLC) is a system of spoilers, located on the upper surface of the wing. that either differencially control roll and in unison control pitch by dumping lift from the wings. They are common to most airliners.
Navy Lieutenant Alan Wood, Communications Officer aboard LST 779, the man who provided the second and larger Iwo Jima flag raised by the patrol of 28th Marines in the war’s most iconic image, has passed away at 90.
Semper Fidelis, Lieutenant Wood. You may report into the growing formation of heroes mustering on the fantail above.
The Telegraph reports, in an article on the fight for the Al-Safirah chemical facility:
The Syrian regime’s chemical warchest is indeed vast – the biggest in the Middle East, and the fourth largest in the world. Started in the 1970s ranks with help from Syria’s Cold War sponsor, Russia, today its programme includes facilities for making mustard gas, sarin and another nerve agent, VX, which stays lethal for much longer after dispersal.
Of course, this is not the first revelation that Assad’s chemical inventory contained VX. Former Syrian Army Chemical Officer MajGen Adnan Sillou discussed the matter in a December 2012 interview:
He listed mustard gas along with the sarin, VX and tabun nerve agents as the main elements in Syria’s chemical arsenal, whose existence Syria doesn’t even acknowledge.
Despite the anguished cries of the Bush-haters, the question of VX in Syria is a vexing one for the “no chemical weapons in Iraq” crowd. Only four countries have ever been known to produce VX; Great Britain, where it was discovered/invented, the United States, the Soviet Union, and Iraq.
So, how did VX end up in Basher Al-Assad’s arsenal? One of two ways, it would seem, or some combination thereof. It was either provided by what the Telegraph calls Syria’s “Cold War sponsor” (the Soviet Union, not Russia), or it came from Syria’s southeastern neighbor, Saddam’s Iraq. Or both.
Methinks that the VX stockpiles have MAKSIM‘s fingerprints all over them. The presence of a KGB General in Iraq in the months leading up to the US invasion cannot plausibly be explained by casting him as an “adviser”. Primakov had intimate knowledge of Iraq’s chemical capabilties, and would have been in an ideal position to help remove Saddam’s remaining stockpile, along with evidence of Soviet/Russian culpability.
Another alternative is the possibility that the Soviet Union (or Russia post-1991) provided Syria with VX directly. Were that the case, the likelihood that the Soviets/Russians did the same with Iraq (or provided technical assistance to manufacture) increases dramatically.
Perhaps this is one of the reasons that Putin’s Russia has remained in the protector role of Assad in Syria, far and above that which would logically attend a regime on such shaky ground internally. And would explain Primakov’s presence in Iraq in the months leading up to the US invasion.
In either case, those who refuse to acknowledge Syria’s possession of VX, the most lethal of nerve agents, and by far the most difficult to produce, have to do some soul searching. It might serve them well to search all the way back to 2003.
Huh. To show how significant this catastrophe is, all one has to do is “AlGorify” the data. (Not to be confused with “algorithm”, which could lend some statistical validity to the process.)
So, there’s where next year’s spring temperatures will be come the end of April. Just a little above freezing. 2015? Frozen solid. Anthropomorphic? I dunno. And I am also confused by what to do about it. When the coldest spring of 1975 happened, we were told that we needed to stifle industry and redistribute wealth to the Third World (and Environmentalists’ pockets) to keep the world from freezing. THEN we were told that we needed to stifle industry and redistribute wealth to the Third World (and the pockets of those same Environmentalists) to keep the world from roasting to oblivion.
I can’t for the life of me understand why 0.00000000035% of the data is not conclusive. Even though it was unevenly collected with a wide variety of instruments and methods. But hey, it is “settled science”, innit? Like predicting Presidential election results by counting four tenths of a vote.
“I think that in many ways a line’s been crossed when we see tens of thousands of innocent people killed by a regime, but the use of chemical weapons and the danger that is poses to the international community, to neighbors of Syria, the potential of chemical weapons to get into the hands of terrorists, all of those things add increased urgency to what is already a significant security problem and humanitarian problem in the region,” Obama told reporters.
So the hundreds of thousands of innocent people being killed by a regime, the use of chemical weapons, the potential for chemical weapons to get in the hands of terrorists, ARE considerations for military intervention? Could we say as a counter, perhaps, that Bashar al-Assad poses no imminent and direct threat to the United States, or to his neighbors…and that in concert with the international community he can be contained until, in the way of all petty dictators, he falls away into the dustbin of history?
Yes, indeed we could. I am not advocating for or against intervention in Syria, though I would be curious to know whom we believe we would ally with, and whom against, and just what we could accomplish given the active opposition of Putin’s Russia (not least because of the possibility of Russian fingerprints on Syria’s chemical stockpile, and on a chemical stockpile of Iraqi origin).
It seems that President Obama’s “student union view” of the world and how it works has once again collided head-on with reality. The “game-changer” bandied about so often of late has already happened. The world, our allies, and our adversaries, will see what comes next. Will we see the Obama who condemned his predecessor for Iraq? Or the Obama whose tough talk regarding Syria is a virtual echo of that predecessor? Has he the statesmanship and foreign policy acumen to act decisively and effectively? Considering the string of diplomatic failures punctuated by the Benghazi catastrophe and the ineffectual confrontation with the DPRK, I am not terribly hopeful.
The events of this video occurred in 1999-2000. I remember the story then, but I did not know the most amazing part of the story. That the Butaritari people of that island had buried the Marine dead, had given them a warriors’ burial, is astounding and incredibly moving.
The August 1942 Makin Raid by Carlson’s 2nd Raider Bn killed a large number of Japanese on the island, but the raid was not really a success. as no prisoners were taken, and no Japanese forces diverted from the Solomons to the Gilberts. Nonetheless, the Butaritari people honored the sacrifice of those Marines, and protected their slain comrades from the hated Japanese until they were liberated in November of 1943.
(Among those on the Makin Raid was 2nd Lt Oscar Peatross, who would win a Navy Cross there. I had the honor of meeting him when I was stationed at Parris Island in the early 90s.)
Don’t be surprised to get dust in your eye while watching the video. Nineteen brave young Marines, honored by the people they died to free, and again by those they died to keep free. Semper Fidelis.
In the very darkest days of the Second World War, when England stood alone, and suffered alone, Prime Minister Winston Churchill replaced his friend General Edmund Ironside, veteran of two wars, as Chief of the Imperial General Staff with General Sir John Dill. Churchill told Dill:
“We cannot afford to confine Army appointments to persons who have excited no hostile comments in their careers… This is a time to try men of force and vision, and not to be exclusively confined to those who are judged to be thoroughly safe by conventional standards.”
Ponder.
But for the leadership in our Armed Forces to embrace such sentiment.
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The opinions expressed are solely those of the authors and do not represent those of any other person or entity.
Craig Swain
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