Well, it’s coming… I don’t have any doubt at this point…
From Wired, Danger Room…
A memo released late Thursday by Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter instructed the military to begin “reductions in flying hours, steaming days, vehicle miles, and other operations/training/support activities that address force readiness.” The services are supposed to identify cuts to “large programs” and “significant” changes to “joint programs” that they buy or operate together. (While it’s not identified in Carter’s memo, perhaps the most prominent of these is the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter family of jets.) Upcoming “ship maintenance availabilities and aviation and ground depotlevel maintenance activities” are to be cancelled; “contracts and studies” to are to be “review[ed] for cost savings”; and facilities maintenance upgrades are to be paused.
According to Carter’s memo, defense programs “closely associated with the new defense strategy” — that is, the “rebalance” to Asia and the Pacific region — are to be spared, but only “to the extent feasible.” Neither the Pentagon nor the services have specified which programs, planes, ships or R&D are “closely associated” with the new strategy. But it likely means drones, special operations forces, new jammers, next-gen sensors, and cyber weapons. It also probably means the retrofit of the USS Ponce, which the Navy is turning into an “Afloat Staging Base” to ferry commandos, Osprey tilt-rotors and other gear.
From Wired, Danger Room…
A memo released late Thursday by Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter instructed the military to begin “reductions in flying hours, steaming days, vehicle miles, and other operations/training/support activities that address force readiness.” The services are supposed to identify cuts to “large programs” and “significant” changes to “joint programs” that they buy or operate together. (While it’s not identified in Carter’s memo, perhaps the most prominent of these is the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter family of jets.) Upcoming “ship maintenance availabilities and aviation and ground depotlevel maintenance activities” are to be cancelled; “contracts and studies” to are to be “review[ed] for cost savings”; and facilities maintenance upgrades are to be paused.
According to Carter’s memo, defense programs “closely associated with the new defense strategy” — that is, the “rebalance” to Asia and the Pacific region — are to be spared, but only “to the extent feasible.” Neither the Pentagon nor the services have specified which programs, planes, ships or R&D are “closely associated” with the new strategy. But it likely means drones, special operations forces, new jammers, next-gen sensors, and cyber weapons. It also probably means the retrofit of the USS Ponce, which the Navy is turning into an “Afloat Staging Base” to ferry commandos, Osprey tilt-rotors and other gear.
The entire article is HERE.
I’m at the point that we just need to shut down the government, even if it does cost me my job… I don’t see any other option to get our government under control.
I’m going with humor today, “I” need it…
And these are the ‘other’ birdies I shoot (actually probably a better chance with these than a real one)… sigh
SOME GOLF FACTS YOU MAY NOT KNOW
1. 125,000 golf balls a year are hit into the water at the famous 17th hole of the Stadium Course at Sawgrass.
2. The longest drive ever is 515 yards. The longest putt ever is a monstrous 375 feet
3. Phil Mickelson, who plays left-handed, is actually right handed. He learned to play golf by mirroring his father’s golf swing, and he has used left handed golf clubs ever since.
4. The chances of making two holes-in-one in a round of golf are one in 67 million.
5. Tiger Woods snagged his first ace at the tender age of eight years old.
6. Balls travel significantly further on hot days. A golfer swinging a club at around 100 mph will carry the driver up to eight yards longer for each increase in air temperature of 25°F.
7. The longest golf course in the world is the par 77 International Golf Club in Massachusetts which measures a fearsome 8325 yards
8. The highest golf course in the world is the Tactu Golf Club in Morococha, Peru, which sits 14,335 feet above sea level at its lowest point.
9. The longest golf hole in the world is the 7th hole (par 7) of the Sano Course at the Satsuki Golf Club in Japan. It measures an incredible 909 yards.
10. The largest bunker in the world is Hell’s Half Acre on the 585-yard 7th hole of the Pine Valley Course in New Jersey.
11. The largest golfing green is that of the 695-yard, 5th hole, a par 6 at the International Golf Club in Massachusetts, with an area in excess of 28,000 square feet.
12. The driver swing speed of an average lady golfer is 62mph; 96mph for an average LPGA professional; 84mph for an average male golfer; 108mph for an average PGA Tour player; 130mph for Tiger Woods; 148-152mph for a national long drive champion.
13. There are 336 dimples on a regulation golf ball.
14. The first golf balls were made of thin leather stuffed with feathers.
Tightly-packed feathers made balls that flew the farthest. Feather balls were used until 1848.
15. The youngest golfer to shoot a hole-in-one was Coby Orr, who was five years old at the time. It happened in Littleton, Colorado, in 1975.
16. 22.8% of golfers are women.
17. Golf was banned in Scotland from 1457 to 1502 to ensure citizens wouldn’t waste time when preparing for an English invasion
18. The term birdie comes from an American named Ab Smith. While playing 1899, he played what he described as a “bird of a shot”, which became “birdie” over time.
19. The word golf does not mean “Gentleman Only, Ladies Forbidden”. This is an internet myth. It is thought the word golf comes from the Dutch word “kolf” or “kolve”, meaning “club”. Historians believe this was passed on to the Scottish, whose own dialect changed this to “glove,” “gowl” or “gouf”. By the sixteenth century, this had evolved into the word we know today.
20. Don’t feel bad about your high handicap – 80% of all golfers will never achieve a handicap of less than 18.
Well, welcome to Obummer care…
Went in an picked up my prescription meds, and they have gone up $100 a MONTH!!! And when my MSA runs out, my copay will be $60 each! Last month my copay was $10 each…
Just frikkin lovely…
And got into a ‘discussion’ with a left wing loonie today (I KNOW better dammit)…
She knows I’m a shooter, doesn’t know I carry. She was crowing about ban this/ban that, etc. BUT, she ‘supports’ the second amendment… Discussion went something like this…
Me- So I asked her should that ban extend to LEOs and Feds?
LWL- Of course not, they might NEED those guns.
Me- Well, what about ME? Shouldn’t “I” be able to protect myself the same way the LEOs do?
LWL- Grudging acceptance, but ONLY with a pistol with limited ammunition. I like the 7 round maximum…
Me- Why 7 rounds?
LWL- Well, that’s what NY is doing, and they have ‘researched’ this.
Me- Ummm, okay, what about a shotgun?
LWL- Oh no, and if I have any other guns they need to be ‘properly’ stored.
Me- Ummm, I have them in a safe.
LWL- Oh no, they need to be ‘safely’ stored, and you can go check them out when you want to use them.
Me- Say whut???
LWL- As she warmed up, oh yes you could keep ONE pistol, everything else would be in secure storage.
Me- So, who would pay for this?
LWL- Oh, you’d be charged by the gun and by the magazine and by the ammo.
Me- So what if I want to go hunting? That normally occurs EARLY in the morning.
LWL- OH no, you wouldn’t be able to do THAT, you could only check them out during daylight. And you could only have enough to hunt or go to the range.
Me- Huh??? Well, how many rounds is that?
LWL- Well, you’d have to be photographed and your vehicle too. I ‘guess’ you could have one magazine of ammo per day.
Me- Umm, I don’t hunt locally all the time.
LWL- Oh you’d have to pay to have your gun shipped to a storage site at that location.
Me- So I couldn’t check it on the airline myself?
LWL- That’s not SAFE!
Me- So what about backcountry hunts that take a couple of days?
LWL- OH NO, they’d have to be checked back in every day before sunset.
Gah…
BUT, she ‘supports’ the second amendment… And I swear she said under her breath I was crazy…
I better hope SHE is never in a position to impact my legal status…
Went in an picked up my prescription meds, and they have gone up $100 a MONTH!!! And when my MSA runs out, my copay will be $60 each! Last month my copay was $10 each…
Just frikkin lovely…
And got into a ‘discussion’ with a left wing loonie today (I KNOW better dammit)…
She knows I’m a shooter, doesn’t know I carry. She was crowing about ban this/ban that, etc. BUT, she ‘supports’ the second amendment… Discussion went something like this…
Me- So I asked her should that ban extend to LEOs and Feds?
LWL- Of course not, they might NEED those guns.
Me- Well, what about ME? Shouldn’t “I” be able to protect myself the same way the LEOs do?
LWL- Grudging acceptance, but ONLY with a pistol with limited ammunition. I like the 7 round maximum…
Me- Why 7 rounds?
LWL- Well, that’s what NY is doing, and they have ‘researched’ this.
Me- Ummm, okay, what about a shotgun?
LWL- Oh no, and if I have any other guns they need to be ‘properly’ stored.
Me- Ummm, I have them in a safe.
LWL- Oh no, they need to be ‘safely’ stored, and you can go check them out when you want to use them.
Me- Say whut???
LWL- As she warmed up, oh yes you could keep ONE pistol, everything else would be in secure storage.
Me- So, who would pay for this?
LWL- Oh, you’d be charged by the gun and by the magazine and by the ammo.
Me- So what if I want to go hunting? That normally occurs EARLY in the morning.
LWL- OH no, you wouldn’t be able to do THAT, you could only check them out during daylight. And you could only have enough to hunt or go to the range.
Me- Huh??? Well, how many rounds is that?
LWL- Well, you’d have to be photographed and your vehicle too. I ‘guess’ you could have one magazine of ammo per day.
Me- Umm, I don’t hunt locally all the time.
LWL- Oh you’d have to pay to have your gun shipped to a storage site at that location.
Me- So I couldn’t check it on the airline myself?
LWL- That’s not SAFE!
Me- So what about backcountry hunts that take a couple of days?
LWL- OH NO, they’d have to be checked back in every day before sunset.
Gah…
BUT, she ‘supports’ the second amendment… And I swear she said under her breath I was crazy…
I better hope SHE is never in a position to impact my legal status…
Grey Locke has an excellent point HERE…
If you just bought a gun, go get TRAINING!!!
I’m linking to Appleseed and the NRA below:
If you just bought a gun, go get TRAINING!!!
I’m linking to Appleseed and the NRA below:
Find the Appleseed Location nearest to you: Appleseed Locations
From the World Health Organization:
The latest Murder Statistics for the world:
Murders per 100,000 citizens
Honduras 91.6
El Salvador 69.2
Cote d’lvoire 56.9
Jamaica 52.2
Venezuela 45.1
Belize 41.4
US Virgin Islands 39.2
Guatemala 38.5
Saint Kits and Nevis 38.2
Zambia 38.0
Uganda 36.3
Malawi 36.0
Lesotho 35.2
Trinidad and Tobago 35.2
Colombia 33.4
South Africa 31.8
Congo 30.8
Central African Republic 29.3
Bahamas 27.4
Puerto Rico 26.2
Saint Lucia 25.2
Dominican Republic 25.0
Tanzania 24.5
Sudan 24.2
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 22.9
Ethiopia 22.5
Guinea 22.5
Dominica 22.1
Burundi 21.7
Democratic Republic of the Congo 21.7
Panama 21.6
Brazil 21.0
Equatorial Guinea 20.7
Guinea-Bissau 20.2
Kenya 20.1
Kyrgyzstan 20.1
Cameroon 19.7
Montserrat 19.7
Greenland 19.2
Angola 19.0
Guyana 18.6
Burkina Faso 18.0
Eritrea 17.8
Namibia 17.2
Rwanda 17.1
Mexico 16.9
Chad 15.8
Ghana 15.7
Ecuador 15.2
North Korea 15.2
Benin 15.1
Sierra Leone 14.9
Mauritania 14.7
Botswana 14.5
Zimbabwe 14.3
Gabon 13.8
Nicaragua 13.6
French Guiana 13.3
Papua New Guinea 13.0
Swaziland 12.9
Bermuda 12.3
Comoros 12.2
Nigeria 12.2
Cape Verde 11.6
Grenada 11.5
Paraguay 11.5
Barbados 11.3
Togo 10.9
Gambia 10.8
Peru 10.8
Myanmar 10.2
Russia 10.2
Liberia 10.1
Costa Rica 10.0
Nauru 9.8
Bolivia 8.9
Mozambique 8.8
Kazakhstan 8.8
Senegal 8.7
Turks and Caicos Islands 8.7
Mongolia 8.7
British Virgin Islands 8.6
Cayman Islands 8.4
Seychelles 8.3
Madagascar 8.1
Indonesia 8.1
Mali 8.0
Pakistan 7.8
Moldova 7.5
Kiribati 7.3
Guadeloupe 7.0
Haiti 6.9
Timor-Leste 6.9
Anguilla 6.8
Antigua and Barbuda 6.8
Lithuania 6.6
Uruguay 5.9
Philippines 5.4
Ukraine 5.2
Estonia 5.2
Cuba 5.0
Belarus 4.9
Thailand 4.8
Suriname 4.6
Laos 4.6
Georgia 4.3
Martinique 4.2
And
The United States 4.2
ALL the countries above America have 100% gun bans
After a shooting spree, they always want to take the guns away from the people who didn’t do it. – William S. Burroughs.
And they’re off and running…
El Pres… HERE.
Cuomo… HERE.
O’Malley… HERE.
Now apparently (for now) the Illinois bill is dead, or at least on life support… The Connecticut single shot bill, unknown…
And from Laura, a question about Wally World and no more ammo… HERE.
El Pres… HERE.
Cuomo… HERE.
O’Malley… HERE.
Now apparently (for now) the Illinois bill is dead, or at least on life support… The Connecticut single shot bill, unknown…
And from Laura, a question about Wally World and no more ammo… HERE.
I find it really interesting that there has been NO reporting on what was said in the meeting between El Prez and Wally World… Was it threats? Tax breaks? Unionization??? Just WTF is going on?
Bottom line, if you don’t believe the left is serious, y’all better wake up and smell the coffee; before you end up smelling the gun powder…
They DO have a point ya know…
h/t Rick
Had a planned range ‘day’ yesterday, so on the way I decided to stop by my local gun store…
I guess ‘ravaged’ would be the best way I can put it. Racks empty, cases empty, six EBRs left in the store, down to less than a dozen shottys, about the only thing left were some revolvers, a couple of Ruger .22s, a few Sigs and a few Glocks. The most guns there were bolt actions, but over half of that wall was empty also!
The magazine wall was pretty much emptied, along with anything AR related. Very few boxes of ammo left, mostly ‘odd’ calibers… In talking to the owner, he DID NOT raise prices, as he said he values long term commitments rather than short term profits (he didn’t jack the prices in 2008 either). I did pick up some cleaning supplies, but that was about it.
At the range is was pretty subdued, folks were ‘husbanding’ ammo, and picking up spent cases. It seems most of the folks at the rifle range were sighting in to be dead on at 100, and they’d finish one rifle, case it and move on to the next with NO extra rounds fired. A couple of us helped a newbie get his AR on paper, both BUIS and an Aimpoint and reminded him NOT to try to put the dot on the front post. As I packed up to move over to the pistol range, I noticed there was NO brass in the brass bucket, it had been picked clean.
At the pistol range it was much the same, folks working on POA/POI, taking their time and not a lot of rounds going down range. Spent a little time working with the .22, then worked rounds through the carry pistols and strong/weak hand. A few more folks showed up, so I packed up and let them have my spot. I gathered up the spent casings, walked over to the brass bucket, and noticed it was empty, so I thought twice and dumped them in a bag and put them in the truck.
Since the pistol range is all the way at the far end of the property, just out of curiousity I stopped at every range on the way back to the club house, not a single round in the brass buckets anywhere!!! And it looked like somebody had been picking up brass from in front of most of the ranges too…
After getting home and doing the normal cleaning, I decided to scout around on the net for ammo, and folks it is BLEAK out there for damn near all of the standard caliber rounds… Most places just say out of stock and don’t even have back order dates up!!!
Tomorrow, it’s back to emailing and calling the congresscritters, which I plan to do every day until this situation is over. If you write letters, DO NOT write to the Washington addresses, write to the local district addresses. I’m hearing DC is not expecting to be able to deliver the mail in anything approaching a timely fashion as it all has to be checked (one piece at a time)…
Keep your powder dry, and your options open.
I guess ‘ravaged’ would be the best way I can put it. Racks empty, cases empty, six EBRs left in the store, down to less than a dozen shottys, about the only thing left were some revolvers, a couple of Ruger .22s, a few Sigs and a few Glocks. The most guns there were bolt actions, but over half of that wall was empty also!
The magazine wall was pretty much emptied, along with anything AR related. Very few boxes of ammo left, mostly ‘odd’ calibers… In talking to the owner, he DID NOT raise prices, as he said he values long term commitments rather than short term profits (he didn’t jack the prices in 2008 either). I did pick up some cleaning supplies, but that was about it.
At the range is was pretty subdued, folks were ‘husbanding’ ammo, and picking up spent cases. It seems most of the folks at the rifle range were sighting in to be dead on at 100, and they’d finish one rifle, case it and move on to the next with NO extra rounds fired. A couple of us helped a newbie get his AR on paper, both BUIS and an Aimpoint and reminded him NOT to try to put the dot on the front post. As I packed up to move over to the pistol range, I noticed there was NO brass in the brass bucket, it had been picked clean.
At the pistol range it was much the same, folks working on POA/POI, taking their time and not a lot of rounds going down range. Spent a little time working with the .22, then worked rounds through the carry pistols and strong/weak hand. A few more folks showed up, so I packed up and let them have my spot. I gathered up the spent casings, walked over to the brass bucket, and noticed it was empty, so I thought twice and dumped them in a bag and put them in the truck.
Since the pistol range is all the way at the far end of the property, just out of curiousity I stopped at every range on the way back to the club house, not a single round in the brass buckets anywhere!!! And it looked like somebody had been picking up brass from in front of most of the ranges too…
After getting home and doing the normal cleaning, I decided to scout around on the net for ammo, and folks it is BLEAK out there for damn near all of the standard caliber rounds… Most places just say out of stock and don’t even have back order dates up!!!
Tomorrow, it’s back to emailing and calling the congresscritters, which I plan to do every day until this situation is over. If you write letters, DO NOT write to the Washington addresses, write to the local district addresses. I’m hearing DC is not expecting to be able to deliver the mail in anything approaching a timely fashion as it all has to be checked (one piece at a time)…
Keep your powder dry, and your options open.
Movin’ on up…
North that is…
Illinois is now giving driver’s licenses to illegal aliens soooo…
This has kinda dropped off the radar since the election, but having said that, things continue. From Arizona…
The five families of illegals renting the house at the end of the cul de sac down the street in my “bedroom community” have been packing up their pickup trucks for the past two days. Looks like they’re walking away from the Gov-subsidized 2-story rental. The trucks are packed so high with appliances, bicycles, luggage, cardboard boxes and stuff that they look like the opening scene of the old “Beverly Hillbillies” TV show.
North that is…
Illinois is now giving driver’s licenses to illegal aliens soooo…
This has kinda dropped off the radar since the election, but having said that, things continue. From Arizona…
The five families of illegals renting the house at the end of the cul de sac down the street in my “bedroom community” have been packing up their pickup trucks for the past two days. Looks like they’re walking away from the Gov-subsidized 2-story rental. The trucks are packed so high with appliances, bicycles, luggage, cardboard boxes and stuff that they look like the opening scene of the old “Beverly Hillbillies” TV show.
Since I speak some Spanish, I decided to go down and inquire as to their intentions. I figured they were headed back to Mexico with their “booty,” as I see so many doing this during this time of year.
Nope. They’re headed for Chicago…the new promised land! Spanish spoken there. The Mexican cartels have driven most of the black gangs underground, so it is a “safe place to live,” if you’re a Mexican, and living in the USA illegally, with a boatload of Anchor Babies…. (anchor babies are to Mexicans as baby mamas are to black males – a source of steady income from the US taxpayers).
h/t JP