Well…

Posted on by September 12, 2024

The truth is finally coming out…

The Navy’s manning shortages are curbing the service’s ability to repair its ships while at sea, according to a watchdog report released Monday.

Sixty-three percent of executive officers — a ship’s second-in-command — surveyed reported that insufficient manning made it “moderately to extremely difficult to complete repairs while underway,” according to a Government Accountability Office report released Monday.

Full article, HERE from Navy Times and HERE for the GAO report.

BLUF-

This goes all the way back to sequestration and the impacts of ‘rightsizing’ crews under that. Reduction in ship manning was done to ‘allow’ more work to be done during maintenance availabilities with shore based sailors… Yeah, right…

And the pièce de résistance that made it even ‘better’ was the reduction in the underway days, forcing crews and commands to cram even MORE qualifications into less and less time, plus tying ships up at the pier where they had to use ‘systems’ online to conduct training pierside rather than underway (hence no maintenance).

Of course the other ‘little’ issue of sequestration was the cuts (back in 2010) of over $450 million in shipboard maintenance budgets…

The OPTEMPO/PERSTEMPO requirements (e.g. how often the ships/crews were supposed to be at sea) pretty much went out the window as there was no reduction in the amount of operations the Navy was expected to perform, including operations and exercises with foreign Navies…

Today, things are even worse, with the Teddy Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group having to leave 7th Fleet uncovered to go to 5th Fleet to ‘cover’ the contremps between Israel and Iran. They were already 7 months into a 6 month deployment, and now they have NO idea when they are going to get home!

So much for retention in THAT CSG…

Sigh…It’s sure as hell not my Navy anymore. But I don’t blame it on the kids, I blame it on the CNO/SECDEF et al who have created this ‘cluster’…

Kicking the soapbox back in the corner and going to find my BP meds.

Grumble…

Posted on by September 11, 2024

Gotta wonder who’s side the administration is…never mind…

It isn’t a joke whenever I say that the new space race is Elon Musk versus the rest of the world, and I’m not joking now when I tell you that his company’s biggest competitor isn’t China — and it certainly isn’t Russia — but the Biden-Harris FAA.

SpaceX’s Starship promises to revolutionize spaceflight by reducing launch costs by two orders of magnitude — that’s a 99% savings — and vastly expanding current limits on the size and mass of what can be lifted into orbit and deep space.

If SpaceX can get permission to perform the necessary flight tests, that is — and the FAA is dragging its feet.

Full article, HERE and Musk statement HERE.

It’s becoming pretty obvious that the administration is trying to shut Musk/SpaceX down after Musk came out supporting Trump.

The really sad part is that right now SpaceX is the ONLY reliable US option for getting astronauts to/from the ISS. Granted UAL can push log flights, but most of them are also being done by SpaceX.

What happens if Musk says F it, and moves somewhere else, shutting off any support to the US and NASA programs?

Is ANYBODY in DC thinking about that? Musk does what he says he is going to do, unlike most celebrities that just mouth plaudits….

Sigh…

9/11…

Posted on by September 10, 2024

Today’s media pushes the idea it is time to ‘move on’ that 9/11 should become a part of our ‘history’ rather than continue to be kept at the forefront of people’s minds…

I lost two good friends in the Pentagon, Retired Captain Jack Punches and Captain Larry Getzfred. I served with and crossed paths with both these gentlemen from the 1970’s until 2001, along with AW1 Joe Pycior, who was a former P-3 acoustic operator.  I went to Arlington, and stood there remembering these guys like it was yesterday- How good they were with the sailors, how they worked throughout their careers to succeed in the Navy culminating in command tours. Jack had VR-24 in Sig and was well respected and remembered by his sailors, Larry had VP-40 and was very successful during the end of the cold war.

THIS was the reality of 9/11/2001

Not sugarcoated, apologized for, sanitized talking points, or spun by whomever.  We, the USA were attacked on our home soil by terrorists who are STILL determined to bring America to her knees, since we are the “Great Satan”…  Now, 23 years later, the terrorists are still after us, and the Taliban/al Queda are back in charge in Afghanistan…

Today, the politicians will horn in on the various memorials for the obligatory photo ops. They won’t speak, and will keep those who actually DID THE WORK out of the memorials.

On 9/12/2001, the firefighters and military hung this flag on the Pentagon in honor of those who died…

Military service members salute as fire and rescue workers unfurl a huge American flag over the side of the damaged Pentagon, Sept. 12, 2001, during rescue and recovery efforts following the previous day’s terrorist attack. At about 9:40 a.m. local time, a hijacked commercial airliner, originating from Washington’s Dulles airport, was flown into the Pentagon’s western side. In his weekly address to the nation issued Sept. 10, 2016, President Barack Obama recalled the 9/11 attacks that struck the United States 15 years ago. He urged all Americans to honor the memory of the nearly 3,000 victims of the attacks that targeted the Twin Towers in New York City, the Pentagon, and another airliner that crashed into a Pennsylvania field. He also called on citizens to salute the efforts of the firemen, police and other first responders who risked their lives to help others in need that dark day, as well as the U.S. service members, diplomats, and the intelligence, homeland security and law enforcement professionals “who serve, and have given their lives, to help keep us safe.” Navy photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Michael W. Pendergrass

Never Forgive, Never Forget!!!

Funny…

Posted on by September 9, 2024

How ‘little’ attention this is getting…

Last month, economic conditions triggered the Sahm Rule — one of the most historically reliable indicators of a recession. The market responded swiftly with a major sell-off, fueling fears of an approaching downturn. However, instead of raising alarms, experts and the media immediately sought to cast doubt on whether the rule’s activation truly signaled a recession. Even Claudia Sahm, the rule’s creator, came out to downplay the possibility of a recession.

But now, the economy has triggered another notoriously accurate recession indicator.

“The inversion of the yield curve, which occurs when short-term bonds offer a higher yield than long-term bonds, is over for now after a more than two-year-long stretch,” reports Business Insider. 

Full article, HERE from PJ Media and HERE from Business Insider.

When you add in what some are saying is a ‘real’ inflation rate of 19%, and the lack of media coverage of ANY negative budgetary issues, along with the constant ‘corrections’ to the monthly job numbers…

You really have to wonder whatthehell is going on! And none of it is good for us peons!

The media bread and circuses are continuing, hard news is ‘hard’ to find, the Trump assassination has disappeared from the media, etc…

And we are less than 60 days from a presidential election…

Sigh…

A little humor…

Posted on by September 8, 2024

California became a state
The people had no electricity.
The state had no money.
Almost everyone spoke Spanish.
There were gunfights in the streets.

So basically nothing has changed except then the women had real boobs and the men didn’t hold hands.

That, my friends, is the history lesson for today!

+++++++++

THE TINY CABIN

A social worker from a big city in Massachusetts recently transferred to the mountains of West Virginia and was on the first tour of her new territory when she came upon the tiniest cabin she had ever seen in her life. Intrigued, she went up and knocked on the door.

“Anybody home?” she asked.

“Yep,” came a kid’s voice through the door.

“Is your father there?” asked the social worker.
“Pa? Nope, he left afore Ma came in,” said the kid.

“Well, is your mother there?” persisted the social worker.
“Ma? Nope, she left just afore I got here,” said the kid.

“But,” protested the social worker, (thinking that surely she will need to intervene in this situation) “are you never together as a family?”

“Sure, but not here,” said the kid through the door. “This is the outhouse!”

Government workers are so very smart. Aren’t you overjoyed that they’ll soon be handling all our financial, educational and medical dilemmas?

+++++++++

A good one for all my fellow veteran friends and others who might understand it.  Two old farts, Dwaine and Lonnie were sitting in their rockers at the old soldiers home…

Dwayne asked Lonnie. “Do you remember that stuff they used to put in our coffee during the war, to make us forget about women?”

Lonnie replied, “I think you mean salt peter.”

Dwayne. “Yep, that’s the stuff. I think it’s beginning to work!”

++++++++++++

During dinner one night, our friend Jim told us of his days playing football in college as a defensive lineman.

“Did you play sports in college?” his wife asked me.

“Yes,” I answered. “I was on West Point’s shooting team.”

“That’s great,” she said, appropriately impressed. “Offense or defense?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

A young boy and his mother were in the cemetery visiting the grave of a loved one. They came upon a headstone that read, “Here lies an Alabama graduate and an honest man.”

The boy asked his mother, “Mommy, why did they bury two men in there?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Q:  Why do Tennessee fans wear orange?
A:  So they can dress that way for the game on Saturday, go hunting on Sunday, and wear it to pick up trash on Monday.

Q:  How many Florida freshmen football players does it take to change a light bulb?
A:  None. That’s a sophomore course.

Q:  How can you tell if an Auburn football player has a girlfriend?
A:  Tobacco juice on both sides of the pickup truck.

Q:  You are stuck in a cave with an angry grizzly bear, a mountain lion, and a Texas A&M fan. You have a gun with two bullets. What should you do?
A:  Shoot the Aggie fan…twice.

Q:  If three LSU football players are in a car, who is driving?
A:  The police officer.

I know that a few Washington Commanders fans drop by here from time to time. Here’s one for them.

Q: What is the difference between a Commanders fan and a puppy?
A: After a while the puppy will stop whining.

 

 

Pot…kettle…

Posted on by September 7, 2024

Isn’t THIS just speshul…

How many data points must you identify before you can identify a pattern? 

This is a question I’ve pondered about in the case of New York’s Acting Judge Juan Merchan. He is the judge presiding over the bookkeeping and non-disclosure agreement case of Donald Trump. What happens when you hide evidence of a pattern? Ironically—and illegally—Judge Merchan and the people at the oxymoronically-named Ethics Commission for the New York State Unified Court System have been hiding the judge’s records and disclosures since 2018. America First Legal is suing both Merchan and ethics overseers for illegally hiding the judge’s disclosures for the past seven years.

Full article, HERE.

Funny how when the shoe is on the ‘other’ foot, the foot dragging, ignoring, etc. becomes the norm rather than the exception?

Anybody with two brain cells to rub together knew going in this was a ‘hit piece’ in the lawfare scheme against Trump and the odds of overturning on appeal are…astronomical, simply from the egregious actions of Merchan.

Personally, I believe this was pushed through just so they could trumpet the ‘convicted felon’ meme during the election, not caring it will be overturned as soon as real judges take a look at it.

The media is obviously complicit in the whole mess, covering for anything the left does, while trumpeting anything they can to bring down conservatives any way they can…

What happened to the America I spent over 20 years defending???

 

PSA…

Posted on by September 6, 2024

Dammit… I HATE hackers…

Xxxxxx detected a match to your Social Security Number.

Found: Social Security Number
Potentially Breached Site:  nationalpublicdata.com

Personal information exposed on the dark web does not necessarily mean your info has been used fraudulently. We recommend you take the following proactive steps to prevent any potential risk:

  • Place a fraud alert on your credit file as soon as possible at Experian.com/fraud or by calling 1-888-397-3742.
  • Place a freeze on your credit file at all three credit bureaus—Experian®, TransUnion® & Equifax®.
  • Review your credit report from all three bureaus and report any activity you don’t recognize. Request a copy of your latest credit reports by visiting AnnualCreditReport.com.
  • Review resources available at the Social Security Administration online by visiting SSA.Gov/Fraud.
  • Monitor your credit card and bank accounts for suspicious transactions and notify the financial institution if you notice anything suspicious.

Note: Large data breaches often lead to multiple alerts of exposed personal information, as information is exposed in a variety of combinations.

I have noted ‘fake’ invoices in the last couple of days, usually trying to hit Paypal. But I don’t have any credit card attached to that and the account it is tied to is locked down.

Folks, jumping through the hoops is a PITA and takes about a half hour, but if it saves you from losing $$$ it is well worth it!

One reminder- If you put credit freezes on, you MUST take them off if you are doing something like buying a house or car, or anything requiring credit. Otherwise, nobody can see your credit.

YMMV, IANAL, I didn’t stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night, but I’m also not going to take chances….

Book promo…

Posted on by September 5, 2024

Raconteur Press has another antho out! The Big Ones

Click on the cover for the Amazon link!

The Blurb-

World War II. The Great Patriotic War. The Big One. No matter what the name, the Second World War was a great and terrible conflict that swung frequently on the hinge of fate. This short story collection brings together both acclaimed writers and capable newcomers to explore fresh “what ifs” of humanity’s most expansive conflict. If you’re a fan of World War II and alternate history, prepare to be entertained. It doesn’t end on the deck of a battleship, but rest assured Big Ones is satisfying all the same.

Yes, I have a story in this one! And I’m honored to have been selected.

James Totten has a .99 cent special going for his novel South Korean Blues

The blurb-

North Korea gets real quiet when the Chinese Communist Party Kingpins die in an orbital strike from the US Space Force. South Korea gets presented with a once in a generation oppertunity to reunite Korea with Seoul in charge. Will crossing the DMZ going noth present that much of a problem? What can be done to prevent the NKPA from rushing reinforcements to the DMZ? The NKPA has special forces that can enter the South through invasion tunnels. What about the North Korean leadership and the nucelar weapons? Will the US get directly involved or sit on the sidelines? What in the heck is “Rapid Weseal?” Find the answers to all of these questions and more in this fast paced novel of World War Three becoming a global conflict. 

And last but certainly not least, David Weber and Richard Fox’s Book two in the Ascent to Empire series Rebel

The blurb-

HE NEVER WANTED TO BE A REBEL

The Five Hundred, the elite families who rule the Terran Federation, control its political power and its wealth, and they’ve grown steadily wealthier and more powerful, thanks to the war against the Terran League. War may be hard on the people who get caught in its path, but it’s very good for business, in the short term, and the Five Hundred own the shipyards that build the Navy’s ships. They own virtually all the industry that produces the weapons and matériel the war consumes so voraciously . . . and they’ve made damn sure someone else does the dying.

True, there are a few flies in the Five Hundred’s ointment.

There’s the growing hatred and resentment of the Fringe Worlds, whose children do eighty percent of the dying in the Five Hundred’s war. But the Five Hundred have made sure the Fringe knows what will happen to any system that goes ”out of compliance.”

There are the lunatic conspiracy nuts who insist that the alien Rishathan Sphere is secretly aiding the League’s military, but the Five Hundred have forced them to keep their mouths shut where it matters.

And then there’s Terrence Murphy, a man of honor who loves the Federation, who springs from the Five Hundred, yet knows it for what it is and is determined to speak for its victims. But the five hundred have dispatched ample force to deal with him and his handful of lunatic followers.

Unfortunately, the Fringe has paid enough of its children’s lives, and it no longer cares what may happen if it dares to defy the Five Hundred.

Worse, the lunatic conspiracy nuts were right, and the Rish have planned carefully for the Federation’s destruction.

And, worst of all, the Five Hundred have fatally underestimated Terrence Murphy.

All three are highly recommended, and very ‘different’ takes on battles… WWII, near future, MilSF.

Sadly…

Posted on by September 4, 2024

He’s NOT wrong…

I truly hate to hear about the number of family restaurants, long time, restaurants, and historic restaurants that are closing their doors…

If you can, support those ‘local’ restaurants that continue to serve up the good, wholesome meals (or at least meals you actually enjoy eating).

It’s past time…

Posted on by September 3, 2024

To drain the DC swamp…

If he is reelected this November, will Donald Trump manage to drain the swamp this time? The swamp-dwellers are saying no.

Ever since he began his first run for president, Trump has famously vowed to drain the swamp, that is, clear out the far-left bureaucracy in Washington that bears so much responsibility for the leftward drift of the nation over the last decade and a half. 

<snip>

According to a new survey, fully 54% of “federal government managers would defy voters to do what they want.” The Napolitan Institute, which states that “we recognize that the only legitimate authority for government comes from the consent of the governed,” and that “our mission is to amplify and magnify the voice of the American people so clearly and powerfully that it becomes the driving, framing and shaping force for the crucial conversations of our nation,” conducted a survey of 500 swamp denizens, aka federal bureaucrats.

Full article, HERE from PJ Media.

I literally don’t have the words for what I want to say, since this is a ‘family’ blog…

Dammit!!!!!

Tar and feathers is sounding better and better, just sayin…