Day: December 8, 2016

Closing Thought–08Dec16

There Are No Facts!…….

I have had this conversation a couple of times…usually when I quote facts and then someone disputes their validity….by asking how do you know what are facts?  How do you know that these are truly facts?

It is easy….A Fact is just the a FACT!

For instance it is a FACT that the Golden Gate is a bridge…it is NOT a FACT that it is a taco…..see how that works?  Think that is silly?  NO more so than the slugs that argue against facts.

I revisit this issue because of something that I read…..a supporter of Donald Trump said in an interview….

“Well, I think it’s also an idea of an opinion. And that’s — on one hand I hear half the media saying that these are lies, but on the other half there are many people that go, no, it’s true,” Hughes said. “And so one thing that has been interesting this entire campaign season to watch is that people that say facts are facts, they’re not really facts.”

She went on, “There’s no such thing, unfortunately, anymore of facts. And so Mr. Trump’s tweet amongst a certain crowd, a large — a large part of the population, are truth. When he says that millions of people illegally voted, he has some — in his — amongst him and his supporters, and people believe they have facts to back that up. Those that do not like Mr. Trump, they say that those are lies, and there’s no facts to back it up.”

Source: Trump booster Scottie Nell Hughes gets blasted on NPR after saying ‘there’s no such thing as facts’

People that do not comprehend the concept of a fact are people that will readily believe a lie to influence their nature.

I stand by my assertion that….a Fact Is A Fact!

My day is done…all have a great remainder of the day….

Burn Baby Burn

This is one of those stories that few will read or even care….but for me I feel I must set the record straight whether anyone reads or not…..I do not those that peddle bullshit.

Awhile back some fires were raging in Israel and some accused the Pals of setting them…and then AQ was responsible….so far NO one knows for sure who set these fores (according to Times of Israel)…….

I bring up this seemingly uninteresting story because of those fires in Tennessee….while reading some of the more lunatic BS artists sites like Infowars, Breibart or WND I read that there was a group of Muslims or should I say jihadist that could have set this fire…..well an arrest has been made…..

Authorities on Wednesday charged two juveniles in an East Tennessee wildfire that killed 14 people and destroyed or damaged more than 1,700 buildings in an iconic tourism spot at the foot of the Great Smoky Mountains, the AP reports. Officials offered few other specifics about how they think the two started a fire that leveled buildings into charred scraps, carving a deadly path through the Gatlinburg area. People scrambled in terror to try to flee on foot or drive out of the inferno that often cloaked them from all sides, shooting hot embers through the winds. Some spent days hoping for good news about their missing loved ones. Many learned they would soon be planning funerals. The juveniles face aggravated arson charges in the fire in the Chimney Tops area of Great Smoky Mountains National Park on Nov. 23.

That fire grew amid drought conditions and ultimately rode winds exceeding 87mph into the Gatlinburg area early last week. Authorities have not yet announced a dollar amount on the damage caused by the wildfire. The teens are being held in the Sevier County juvenile detention center. “Our promise is that we will do every effort to help bring closure to those who have lost so much,” said Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director Mark Gwyn. The juveniles are from Tennessee, but not Sevier County, where the fires spread. Otherwise, officials said state law prevents releasing more information about them. Great Smoky Mountains National Park Chief Ranger Steve Kloster said the public was “critical” in offering investigators information through a tip line. Previously, the National Park Service said it believed the fire was human caused and set up a tip line for people to call if they hiked that trail on Nov. 23, or knew anyone who did.

I know that few even care but I thought that maybe someone ought to call out the mindless crap spread on Right wing slugs, sites and blogs.

I decided that I would correct their accusation since I am certain that they will not….

Does Any Of Them Have Half a Brain?

This time I am talking about those mental midgets we elect for our Congress.

This time they have out stupid themselves.

Does anyone remember when the report came out that ISIS was using American weapons in their struggle?  NO?  Then listen up!

Weapons made in at least 25 nations, including the United States, made their way into the hands of extremists through decades of industry initiatives that saturated the region with destructive power. The weapons range from small firearms to heavy artillery and anti-aircraft missiles.

“Irresponsible transfers of arms and failure to control the resulting stockpiles are a major cause of untold human suffering in Iraq,” said the 45-page report titled “The Arming of the Islamic State.”

The findings were based largely on expert review of thousands of Islamic State and other videos showing militants wielding the weapons, which were identified in the report.

Ring a bell?

I bring up old news with good reason…..

The House voted for the first time today to explicitly authorize the incoming Donald Trump administration to arm vetted Syrian rebels with anti-aircraft missiles.

While the language in the annual defense bill also creates restrictions on the provision of the controversial weapons, it represents a win for Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., a fervent advocate of helping the rebels resist President Bashar al-Assad and his Russian and Iranian allies. The Senate is expected to pass the bill next week.

Until now, the transfer of man-portable air-defense systems, or MANPADs, had been implicitly authorized in the absence of an outright ban. Critics, however, view the new provision as tantamount to a policy recommendation for the president-elect.

Does anyone else see a problem forming?
Keep in mind that we, the US, are still involved with airstrikes in Syria….how long will it be before one of our AA missiles brings down a US plane?
I ask again….what are these mental midgets thinking?
When will the American people pull their heads out and see what ignorance all this is?

Where Did The Money Go?

I along with so many others are tired of the waste of cash by the Pentagon…they get all the cash they want and then set off to piss it away…..we all know the horror of a $60 hammer or a $300 toilet seat…..

But there are times that the Pentagon is just wrong and how can a “small government” GOP Congress allow it to continue?

What am I going on about?

The good news: A Pentagon-requested study on administrative waste turned up plenty of fodder for officials to work with in streamlining operations. The bad news: The study found so much internal waste—$125 billion worth—that Pentagon officials seemingly tried to squash it, based on interviews and secret memos seen by the Washington Post. The report, issued in January 2015 by the Defense Business Board, found what the Post refers to as a “bloated bureaucracy,” with nearly a quarter of the defense budget used on overhead and administrative costs like HR and accounting. The study offered the DOD a five-year plan to save that $125 billion (including through attrition and maximizing its IT capabilities), at which point it appears enthusiasm for the report waned as Pentagon brass worried future military funds would be cut if Congress and the White House got wind of the results.

The Post details how the Pentagon went into downplay mode, restricting the study’s data and taking down a public summary. Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work, the Pentagon’s No. 2 official, commissioned the report—even after one board member warned him “you are about to turn on the light in a very dark room”—but his stance shifted when the study was done. “There is this meme that we’re some bloated, giant organization,” Work told the Post, noting the study “vastly overstates what’s really going on.” He noted it’s not easy to carry out some of the board’s suggestions, including getting rid of federal jobs, though he says the Pentagon will partly implement some of them to bring an estimated $30 billion in savings by 2020. “We’re the largest bureaucracy in the world,” Work said. “There’s going to be some inherent inefficiencies in that.”

Not only are the Repubs bullshit specialists but they also cover for this sort of thing when it comes to the Pentagon…like they are somehow above having to account for the taxpayers money they are given…..

Will this new upcoming Congress be any different?  (the sound of raucous laughter)…..maybe a good place to look for help with the deficit would be the Pentagon…..

Republicans are always railing against “government waste” in their never-ending quest to cut government programs. Well, the Washington Post has presented them with the quintessential example of what they can tackle as soon as the new Congress is sworn in: an almost unfathomable amount of taxpayer dollars being wasted at the Defense Department.

The Post’s Craig Whitlock and Bob Woodward published an incredible investigation on Monday uncovering that the Pentagon itself commissioned an internal report aimed at identifying wasteful spending within its bureaucracy. The auditors, which only looked at the agency’s business and support operations, found a staggering $125bn that the Pentagon was wasting.

Source: If Republicans want to cut fat, they might start at the Pentagon | Trevor Timm | Opinion | The Guardian

The Air Force has a dud of a plane (which I have written about extensively) and the Navy has ships that it cannot afford….

The U.S. Navy today has only 272 deployable warships — a decline of more than 50 percent in just the last three decades — of which fewer than a third put to sea at any given time. Although the U. S. Navy remains by far the strongest force of its kind, current fleet trends call into question its future ability to meet inflated global missions that include tracking Russian submarines in the Arctic, patrolling the Persian Gulf, and defeating China on its home seas.

Rather than rethink those missions, the Navy is clamoring for more appropriations to pay for budget-busting weapons systems. For example, the Navy wants a dozen new ballistic-missile-carrying nuclear submarines at an estimated cost of about $140 billion. A single new Ford Class nuclear aircraft carrier will cost taxpayers nearly $14 billion — and that doesn’t include the inordinately expensive aircraft it will carry or the support ships needed to help protect it.

Source: New Navy Ship Leaking Tax Dollars – Consortiumnews

Trump has promised the best equipment and weapons….but does that include drains on our vital resources?

Just a thought that will get NO consideration from a GOP controlled Congress.

Is The Red Sun Rampant Again?

To be truthful…I do not pay as much attention to Asia….I lost interest in the region once I left the military after Vietnam….then I started my education and the Middle East became my focus.  I do keep an eye on the developments especially when it may lead top some sort of armed conflict….which was one of my majors.

In this case and since we have just celebrated, not the best word for the occasion) the attack on Pearl Harbor 75 years ago I thought that an article I recently read might bring about a few comments….

Once we nuked the piss out of Japan and they surrendered aboard the USS Missouri they have been allowed to have a military force but for defense only….nothing that could appear to be an offensive force.

The problem there is…how do you define or draw a line on which force is which?

On another note…I read a couple of years ago that Japan has resended its self-defense call for its military…..

Source: Japan Ends Ban on Military Self-Defense | TIME

That one move got me to thinking about the future and then a report on CNN (not a fave of mine but will use the report anyway)……

Seventy-five years after Japan unleashed one of the most devastating naval attacks in history on the US fleet at Pearl Harbor, the country has again established itself as one of the world’s foremost military powers, experts say.

The resurgence comes despite a constitution imposed by the United States after World War II that limited the country’s forces to defensive purposes only. In fact, analysts say, that defensive restriction has helped make Japan’s military stronger than it might have been without it.
“Pilot for pilot, ship for ship, Japan can stand toe to toe with anybody,” said John T. Kuehn, a professor of military history at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College.
Source: Resurgent Japan military ‘can stand toe to toe with anybody’ – CNN.com
With all happening in the South Asian waters…is it possible that the military is once again becoming an important part of their society?  Are we rebuilding another future Empire of the Rising Sun?
I know….I know….they are our valued ally…..but keep in mind that Japan was a valued ally during World War One…..so take that for what it is worth.