A follow up…

Posted on by October 5, 2024

To the Navy welding fiasco at Newport News…

Navy leaders this week identified an aircraft carrier and two submarines affected by faulty weld issues during work at the Newport News Shipyard in Virginia, but say that the substandard work did not take place on components that affect ship safety or operations.

In a letter to House and Senate armed services committee members Thursday, Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro said impacted ships include the recently-revamped aircraft carrier George Washington and the brand-new attack submarines Hyman G. Rickover and New Jersey.

Full article, HERE from Military Times.

And apparently another TWENTY-THREE ships/subs are still to be checked… WTH???

This appears to have been going on for a ‘while’, maybe years. And of course, they are pushing the mantra that “malicious intent” has been ruled out. My question is, BY WHOM???

A lot of the Navy boards I’m seeing or hearing about, etc. are, shall we say, less than happy with this mess, as it is those sailors asses that are on the line on those ships, NOT the shipyard workers or bosses.

The one thing we are NOT hearing is what the Navy is finding, and whether SUPSHIPS is involved in the review/investigation.

I can’t help but wonder if HII and Newport News are betting on the Navy burying this to protect Newport News’ contracts…

Interesting…

Posted on by October 4, 2024

I can’t help but wonder if this violates any law (Hatch Act), and if it does, will anything be done?

Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro used public funds to train dozens of overwhelmingly liberal social media influencers on how they can get their audience to vote in the 2024 election, according to documents obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation through a records request.

Shapiro directed the commonwealth of Pennsylvania to pay thousands of dollars to host a day-long “Democracy Summer Camp” on July 25 to instruct people with large social media followings on how to get their audiences to vote and how to identify “misinformation” on the internet, according to the documents. The DCNF obtained a list of 43 influencers the governor’s office invited to attend the publicly-funded training and, upon review, none of the influencers favored Republicans and roughly 70% had an explicitly liberal social media presence.

Full article, HERE from Daily Caller.

Is it just me, or has the left kinda gone full GAF on the rules, and all they care about is winning in November, and screw the country?

It’s like the bubble on the left has lost all pretense of reality and common sense, and has become such an echo chamber that nothing is penetrating? Not the hurricane relief issues, not Israel’s situation, Russia/Ukraine, the inflation, and crime issues in America, nothing is penetrating… And then there is the usual Dem spying, infiltrating, and lawfare, HERE.

And now the ‘port strike’ has mysteriously ‘resolved’ until January… Resolved…yeah, right. The can got kicked down the road again, just like the CR was kicked until Christmas. What is going to happen when all these things come crashing together???

IMHO, it’s gonna be UGLY, regardless of who is in charge. Re the port issues, are we looking at another PATCO situation HERE? Granted the ILA isn’t a federal union, but automation is coming to ports, ILA or not…  Remember, most major cities are three days from anarchy when the food runs out. Then what???

Folks, I don’t have any good answers, but I will say this. Go VOTE, I don’t care how you vote, but get out there and vote! That is a right that we enjoy, and it’s going to take a lot of folks to overcome the illegals that are going to be voting! The irony to me, is that most years, barely over 50% of the eligible voters actually vote! That is pathetic!!!

Who are we???

Posted on by October 3, 2024

Are we a reflection of our vehicles, or are they a reflection of us?

I live in a little small town, total pop less than 7000. Semi-rural, big city is 10 miles away.

I live on a corner and my neighbor and I were cussing and discussing traffic through our neighborhood yesterday. He’s retired and likes sitting on his porch watching the world go by, since he’s NOT a big TV fan. I go out in my garage to smoke, since I don’t smoke in the house, so we have similar perspectives… And both cuss the number of people that run the 4 way stop… Easily 30% of the total traffic. And we have seven small kids within a block! We also have a lot of walkers early in the morning/late evening especially during the summer.

80 to 85% of the vehicles that drive through are either pickups, work trucks, or SUVs. Probably 5% are Jeeps, 5% are cars, and the rest are a mix of hot rods, old/restored cars/trucks, and large vehicles. Within about 2 blocks there are, I think, five or six cars, mostly owned by little old ladies, and a couple of vans owned by families with 3 or more kids. That I know of, there are TWO Tesla EVs in the entire town, and one is owed by a sheriff’s deputy, because her mother and dad bought one before they moved here.

Many of the trucks and SUVs are muddy, depending on the time of year, and are working vehicles. Granted we do have a couple of blinged out pickups, but not many, and those don’t seem to be out/about when it rains…LOL

I’d say our neighborhood is a mix of older folks and a few younger couples, but we all get along, often talking and keeping up with whom is on vacation, keeping an eye on houses, etc. which is a HUGE change from what I had for neighbors in northern Virginia!

Anyhoo, back to vehicles. I ‘think’ we tend toward practicality as opposed to keeping up with the Jones/latest fad. And we do see the occasional snow/rain events that cause flooding, and the need to actually haul stuff (folks seem to be pretty handy and not afraid to do house/yard stuff as necessary), rather than hiring somebody to do it. A lot of folks work for ranches/oil field/businesses that pretty much require trucks to get to/from work in the field.

The Jeeps? Sigh…don’t ask me…

I know for ‘some’ of us old farts, an SUV is easier on our broke old bodies to get in and out of, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it! 🙂

YMMV, IANAL, and I sure as hell didn’t stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night…

On point!!!

Posted on by October 2, 2024

I can’t say it better than this!

Matt Taibbi via Camus, HERE.

Matt Taibbi: “So let me pause to say something about America’s current intellectual class from which the anti-disinformation complex works. By the way, there are no working class censors. The dirty secret of content moderation all over the world is that it’s a tiny sliver of educated rich correcting everybody else. It’s telling people what fork to use, but you can get a degree in it, basically. The problem is America has the most useless aristocrats in history. Even the French dandies who were marched to the razor by the Jacobins were towering specimens of humanity compared to the Michael Hadens, John Brennan’s, James Clapper’s, Mike McFall’s, and Rick Stengel’s who make up America’s self-appointed speech police. In pre-revolutionary France, even the most drunken, depraved, debauched libertine had to be prepared to back up an insolent act with a sword fight to the death. Our aristocrats pee themselves at a mean tweet. These people have no honor, no belief, no poetry, no art, no humor, no patriotism, which is unique to them, no loyalty, no dreams, and no accomplishments. They are simultaneously illiterate and pretentious, which is very hard to pull off. They may have one idea, and it’s not even an idea, but a sensation. Fear. Rightly so, because they snitch each other out at the drop of a hat. They’re afraid of each other. But they’re also terrified of everyone outside their social set, and they live in near constant dread of being caught with even one original opinion.”

And, they could care less about us and America. To whit- The lack of support to the Americans taken prisoner by Hamas, the anemic support into the Blue Ridge area after the storm (funny how Musk was able to get them Starlink), but ;gov can’t move water, etc), the current port strike, and now the Americans in Lebanon being told to ‘pay their own way’ out of the country…

Grrrr…

 

What’s next???

Posted on by October 1, 2024

Welp, the fuze is apparently ‘lit’ in the middle east. Iran fired on Israel again yesterday. With about the same results.

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan says that the Iranian missile attack on Israel was “defeated and ineffective” and that the U.S. military coordinated with the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to repel the strikes. 

Iran launched nearly 200 ballistic missiles towards targets in Israel on Tuesday, Sullivan said at a Tuesday White House briefing, noting the move was a “significant escalation.”

The strikes were in response to the deaths of Hezbollah and Hamas leaders, Iran says. The move comes after weeks of Israeli strikes against Tehran’s proxies in the region.

Of note, the Pentagon briefing was ‘delayed’ to allow the administration to get their ‘take’ out there before the Pentagon said anything. And the Pentagon briefing was a nothing burger… sigh…

Meanwhile, the Lebanese Army had pulled back 50km from the southern border, leaving the UN ‘peacekeepers’ swinging in the wind, as the Israelis moved 45km into Lebanon to take out even more Hezbollah personnel, weapons caches, and launch sites.

The ball is now well and truly in the Israeli hands, and the question everyone is asking is WHAT will they do?

Personally, I do not think they will go nuclear, but I do believe there will be more ‘targeted’ strikes into Iran, possibly including the Iranian nuclear program, and possibly part of the Iranian administration (IRGC) that supports the Hezbollah and other surrogates.

In any case, I doubt that the US will have ANY input to what happens. Netanyahu and his cabinet will make whatever decisions THEY need to make, regardless of what the rest of the world says. I do believe they have reached that point.

Sigh…

Posted on by September 30, 2024

Once again, young military men are being stupid…

A new liberty order, promised two months ago by the top U.S. commander in Japan following alleged cases of sexual assault and attempted sexual assault by U.S. troops, takes effect Tuesday.

The order from U.S. Forces Japan bans early morning drinking in off-base establishments for all service members and spreads responsibility to every service member for policing one another’s conduct, according to a copy of the order obtained Monday by Stars and Stripes.

“Servicemembers should make every reasonable effort to prevent inappropriate or illegal activities by other Servicemembers,” the order states. “If Servicemembers are aware of such misconduct, they are to directly report such misconduct to their chain of command or other appropriate organization/office as soon as possible to do so.”

Full article, HERE from Stars and Stripes.

Two things about this concern me. One is the order to report misconduct to the COC. This is effectively making Sailors, Marines, Airmen, and Soldiers subject to punishment if they DON’T report things, and also puts young enlisteds in the position of trying to determine what is and what isn’t misconduct…

The second, and more troubling, is “Commanders shall practice proactive, intrusive leadership and develop programs that foster positive behavior and accountability,” the order states. Bold is mine… There isn’t a definition of what intrusive leadership is, and trust me, THAT can very from commander to commander…and officers within commands.

This has been an ongoing issue in Japan and elsewhere for years, anytime you put young military men in an environment where young women are trying to make money off them in bars, etc. I don’t have a good answer, other than for the kids to get their s**t together and STOP doing stupid stuff!

Sigh…

A little humor…

Posted on by September 30, 2024

To start the week!

APHORISM:  A SHORT, POINTED SENTENCE THAT EXPRESSES A WISE OR CLEVER OBSERVATION OR A GENERAL TRUTH.

1. The nicest thing about the future is . . . That it always starts tomorrow.

2. Money will buy a fine dog, but only kindness will make him wag his tail.

3. If you don’t have a sense of humor, you probably don’t have any sense at all.

4. Seat belts are not as confining as wheelchairs.

5. A good time to keep your mouth shut is when you’re in deep water.

6. How come it takes so little time for a child who is afraid of the dark to become a teenager who wants to stay out all night?

7. Business conventions are important . . . because they demonstrate how many people a company can operate without.

8. Why is it that at class reunions you feel younger than everyone else looks?

9. Scratch a cat . . . And you will have a permanent job.

10. No one has more driving ambition than the teenage boy who wants to buy a car.

11. There are no new sins; the old ones just get more publicity.

12. There are worse things than getting a call for a wrong number at 4 a.m. – like, it could be the right number.

13. No one ever says “It’s only a game” when their team is winning.

14. I’ve reached the age where ‘happy hour’ is a nap.

15. Be careful about reading the fine print . . . there’s no way you’re going to like it.

16. The trouble with bucket seats is that not everybody has the same size bucket.

17. Do you realize that, in about 40 years, we’ll have thousands of old ladies running around with tattoos? (And rap music will be the Golden Oldies!)

18. Money can’t buy happiness — but somehow it’s more comfortable to cry in a Cadillac than in a Yugo.

19. After 60, if you don’t wake up aching in every joint, you’re probably dead.

20. Always be yourself because the people that matter don’t mind . . . And the ones that mind don’t matter.

21. Life isn’t tied with a bow . . .  But it’s still a gift.

“REMEMBER….POLITICIANS AND DIAPERS SHOULD BE CHANGED OFTEN AND FOR THE SAME REASON”.

Grrr…

Posted on by September 28, 2024

This…is criminal at best…

Shipuilder Newport News Shipbuilding, Va., informed the Department of Justice of faulty welds that may have been made intentionally on non-critical components on in-service Navy submarines and aircraft carriers, USNI News has learned.

HII reported to the Navy that welds on new construction and in-service submarines and Ford-class aircraft carriers were made not following welding procedure, according to a Tuesday memo from Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition Nickolas Guertin to Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti.

Guertin told SECNAV and CNO the workers did not follow proper techniques to weld the suspect joints with an early indication that some of the welding errors were intentional. Based on the Newport News assessment of the welds, the shipyard notified the Department of Justice over the issue.

Full article, HERE from USNI.

And from a second article… Yeah, right…

In a separate statement to USNI News, HII said that while the shipyard workers had violated the welding rules, they did not have “malicious intent” to damage the submarines or aircraft carriers they were working on.

Full article, HERE, also from USNI.

Excuse me, but if you’re screwing up welds ON PURPOSE, that is malicious intent as far as I am concerned, because your s**t work can kill a sailor or entire crew, depending on what happens on that ship in combat, or a sub on patrol.

This is the LAST thing the Navy needs right now, especially in light of what is going on in 5th Fleet with Israel, the Houthis, Hezbollah, and Iran.

Grrrr…

If you would…

Posted on by September 27, 2024

Say a prayer for those dealing with the aftermath of Helene. It’s ugly all the way up into Virginia.

The remnants of Helene continued its onslaught across the Southeast Friday, with nearly 4 dozen dead across multiple states and hundreds rescued from floodwaters.

The Category 4 hurricane made landfall along Florida’s Big Bend region late Thursday with estimated sustained winds of 140 mph.

Post-landfall, the hurricane quickly weakened, but its torrential rains and gusty winds continued hundreds of miles inland, with feet of rain being reported over the Appalachians.

Full article, HERE from Fox News.

Thankfully, as far as I know, all my family and friends down that way are okay, but there are a lot of folks that aren’t…

Another one bites the dust…

Posted on by September 26, 2024

NYC again…

New York City Mayor Eric Adams was indicted on five federal charges relating to illegal contributions to his 2021 campaign, according to the indictment unsealed Thursday.

The 57-page indictment alleges Adams “sought and accepted improper valuable benefits, such as luxury international travel, including from wealthy foreign businesspeople and at least one Turkish government official seeking to gain influence over him” for nearly a decade.

Full article, HERE from Daily Caller.

Sigh… Another dem run city, another scandal. Even worse, Adams was NYPD before he retired, so he damned well knew better. But I find this statement rather ‘telling’…

Adams “engaged in a long running conspiracy in which he solicited and knowingly accepted illegal campaign contributions from foreign donors and corporations.”

Granted, this has been building for a while, but how many times do we have to go through this? If it’s not the money they are spending on illegals, it’s corruption, or it’s ignoring ‘problems’/blaming them on anything but the root cause (the city administration itself), etc.

Crap like this is just one of the reasons I ‘like’ living in a small rural town. I know my neighbors, the local cops, and city workers. I can walk into city hall and get help and/or answers the same day.

I’m really starting to worry about what November is going to bring…