Month: February 2018

Vietnam War’s Bloodiest Battle

Your history lesson for today is from the war that I was a participant…..Vietnam.

This is becoming another war that most Americans are trying hard to forget…..it has that in common with the Korean War.

Unfortunately all war is bloody but there are some battles that are more so than others.  So what is the bloodiest battle of the Vietnam War?

Khe San?  Tet?  Hamburger Hill?

None of the above.

1971 and the invasion of Laos will have the dishonor of the title of Vietnam’s bloodiest battle….

Invasion of Laos, 1971: Lam Son 719, author Robert Sander notes, “Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) 1st Corps, appears to have suffered more than 7,500 casualties, and the Communist forces approximately 13,000.”

American losses are harder to estimate. But at least 250 Americans died in support of the operation.

Particularly hard-hit were US Army helicopter crews who suffered more losses than at any similar period during the war.

Despite all this the battle remains understudied.

http://www.businessinsider.com/uncovering-the-story-of-one-of-the-vietnam-wars-bloodiest-battles-2015-1

Let’s Beat The Dead Horse!

Okay I know that the parade debacle is pretty much over….we have shootings and a budget debate and other stuff to entertain our brain….but I just cannot let the whole moronic idea of a military parade to massage the ego of this poser president.

If the parade were to celebrate something other the ego of some idiot that loves being slapped on the back then I might be in favor of it.

We already have parades on Memorial Day, 4th of July and Veterans Day why do we need another?

The American Conservative asked the important question….what would we be celebrating?

Remember when military parades actually celebrated victories? Those were the days, or, better yet, the day—June 8, 1991 actually. A few months after the U.S. military’s 100-hour lightning ground war ejected Saddam Hussein’s forces from Kuwait, some 8,800 soldiers marched down Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C. President George H.W. Bush and General Norman Schwarzkopf presided. The White House called it the National Victory Celebration.

The world seemed simpler then. Sure, some openly questioned Bush’s motives (no blood for oil!), the Senate authorization vote was uncomfortably close, and matters got messy when the Kurds and Shia rose up in postwar Iraq. Still, America had won a “victory” of sorts. At the cost of fewer than 200 dead (experts had predicted thousands), a highly professional U.S. Army and its coalition allies had liberated Kuwait and devastated the Iraqi military. Its objectives clearly set and now achieved, the army mostly returned home. Bush wisely ignored hawkish calls to seize and occupy Baghdad. Saddam, after all, was “in his box” and could be contained. It was time for the parades.

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/parade-of-defeat-trump-prefers-spectacle-over-strategy/

This dead horse regained a bit of life when the figures of such a parade came out of the OBM……..

The White House budget director said Wednesday that a military parade envisioned by President Trump won’t come cheap: It could cost between $10 million and $30 million, although that money isn’t included in the administration’s new budget request. Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney told the House Budget Committee that estimates are “very preliminary,” reports the AP. “I’ve various different cost estimates from between I think $10 million and $30 million, depending on the size of the parade, the scope of it, the length of it,” Mulvaney said. “We’ve not accounted for it in this year’s budget simply because it’s come up at the last minute.”

Officials such as Defense Secretary Jim Mattis have confirmed that Trump has pushed for a large-scale parade to trumpet the US military, but Mulvaney said the administration hasn’t decided to go forward with it. “We’ll continue to work with you folks if we decide to push forward,” Mulvaney told the lawmakers. Mulvaney said the administration would have to seek an appropriation from Congress or redirect existing funds to finance the parade. Trump’s new budget requested $686 billion for the Pentagon’s budget next year.

Maybe this will put the idea of a parade to massage an ego can now be put down forever……or until we have something to celebrate other than the election of a reality star as president.

Waiting For The Next Middle East War

Well according to some in DC (them not me) are claiming that the scourge of ISIS has been eliminated…. these fighters may be dying at an alarming rate but the problems in this region are far from settled…..far from.

ISIS is now mostly gone, but the Syria War is actually getting substantially worse, with a series of new conflicts starting to erupt on several different fronts, and threatening a new round of chaos.

For one the Turks have now taken exception to the Kurds in Northern Syria and gone to war against them (US allies I might add)…..then the US kills a bunch of Russians in an airstrike in Syria…..and now Israel wants to flex its puny muscle in the region by attacking position is Southern Syria…..then there was a oops!…..

Israeli officials have been carrying out large-scale attacks against several military sites within Syria, claiming to have done major damage to Syria’s air defenses nationwide. The Israeli Air Force described the attack as the most significant attack on Syria since 1982.

But Syria’s air defenses were a bit more successful this time, and one of Israel’s F-16s managed to crash. Whether it was hit by an anti-aircraft missile or just took shrapnel damage, the warplane crashed in Israel, and one of the pilots was hurt.

Interestingly, almost all Israeli officials are presenting this to the public as an attack on Iran, as opposed to Syria, and are now calling all of the Syrian military bases that’ve been attacked are “Iranian bases.”

Some Israeli analysts are warning that this is a very dangerous rhetorical strategy, as Russian officials have been trying to calm the situation, and with Israel both continuing to escalate and making it about Iran, they may be pushing Russia into a more explicitly pro-Iran stance.

(antiwar.com)

All this jockeying of troops has many asking the same question….is there a new war brewing in the Middle East?  Another question being asked is…..what the Hell is Israel up to?

Historically: Israel’s approach to the Syrian war has largely been a hands-off one, and the Washington Post sees what happened this weekend as an indication that it may be about to get off the bench. Israel and Syria share a border, but not allies—Israel has issues with Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah in addition to the Assad regime, but stayed largely uninvolved with the exception of small-scale, quietly carried out airstrikes against Hezbollah weapons installations in Syria. But as the seven-year war moves toward its end, Israel is bristling at what it sees as an apparent effort by Iran to establish military bases within Syria.

  • What’s changed: ISIS, for one, observes the Post. “US- and Russian-backed forces had a common enemy” in ISIS, which has been defeated in the country. But rather than the temperature coming down, new conflicts are heating up. “Turkey, for example, recently launched its own offensive against Kurdish fighters in Syria’s north, placing it in de facto opposition to the United States, which had allied itself with some Kurdish forces to defeat Islamic State forces.”
  • The likelihood things will escalate: Writing for the Wall Street Journal, Rory Jones sees the potential for “another front line in war-torn Syria.” He notes the last time Israel lost a fighter jet was more than three decades ago. Israel’s “strong reaction illustrates how the competing aims of Iran and Israel could lead to a war between the two Mideast powers—as Tehran increases its military presence in Syria, a move Israel has warned it won’t allow.”
  • Israel’s air prowess: The New York Times characterizes the downing of the F-16 (per the LA Times, from shrapnel, not a direct hit) as being viewed by Israel as “Saturday’s biggest surprise.” As Bashar al-Assad has gained strength, he has also in the last year been more willing and aggressive in using antiaircraft missiles against Israeli incursions into its airspace. But after so many decades unscathed, Israel had established itself as seemingly untouchable in the air. No more.

There are many thinking that Israel is lining up Lebanon for another incursion.  As always they accuse Iran of everything that will garner approval for any action they take.

But will Israel actually go to war with Syria or Israel?  I mean a declared war instead of across border raids that they are famous for committing.  They will continue to thump their chest in macho bravado as long as the US is kissing their ass.  I think in the long run that Israel would be alone and that will cool their jets (pun intended).

Israel is a regional bully….and you know what they say about bullies?

One More Shooting Post

Late Breaking……….

Sorry to say there is more on this latest shooting.  Truth is I was going to let this go until I read a couple of reports that was just irksome on so many levels….

I realize the the GOP does enjoy blaming Obama for everything that goes wrong…..well this latest shooting is no different…..Ted Cruz when interviewed mentioned the massacre in Texas as an example…..

Cruz also asserted that President Barack Obama shared the blame for a mass shooting that killed 26 at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas.

“Had the Obama administration simply followed federal law and enforced the law, existing gun laws made it illegal for the Sutherland Springs shooter to buy a gun,” he opined. “But the Obama administration failed to report his criminal conviction so he wasn’t in the background check system.”

And he was worried that the Dems would politicize this latest attack….and what would anyone call what Cruz did?

But the main reason I have this late post was a report on the shooter of this latest massacre…..

The Republic of Florida, a white nationalist militia, confirmed Thursday that the man charged in Wednesday’s school shooting in Parkland, Florida, was involved in some of its activities.

Jordan Jereb, the group’s leader, told The Associated Press that shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz had participated in the group’s paramilitary drills in Tallahassee.

The ROF, which says it seeks to establish a “white ethnostate” in Florida, did not order Cruz to carry out the shooting, Jereb told the ADL. However, attacks carried out by groups like the Republic of Florida are on the rise: Murders by white supremacists more than doubled in 2017 compared to the year before, according to an ADL report released last week.

(HuffPo)

This is just a “he said/they said” thing about the shooter…..but should make right wing bloggers go into shock and lash out with their usual string of insults……

“I saw him wear a Trump hat,” said Sebastian Gonzalez, a 19-year-old who graduated from the high school in 2017. “At our school you were sort of with Trump or really against Trump.” Ocean Parodie, a 17-year-old junior said that he also saw Cruz wearing the hat. “He always wore like really patriotic shirts that seemed really extreme, like hating on the Islamic religion. For example, he would say things such as like, he would degrade Islamic people as terrorists and bombers. I’ve seen him wear a Trump hat,” Parodie said.

Cruz wore the hat in a photo on an Instagram account the company said belonged to him. Over his face he wore a red, white, and blue bandana. On that account and another one, Cruz posted photos of guns, knives, anti-Muslim slurs, and a picture of a toad he killed.

(Daily Beast)

I am sure this had nothing to do with the Trumpster Movement whatsoever…..

Quick update…Pres. Trump basically blames the community for this shooting saying they should have reported this young man….and in reality they did report this dude and it still happened…..clueless in DC……

Closing Thought–15Feb18

No surprise that I am an OLD FART!  I remember when NASA was an institution that brought great pride to most Americans…..we celebrated our 1st dude in space and our first to circle the globe and the first space walk and finally our walk on the moon…..and then as quickly as we fell in love with space we fell out of love.

Those were the days of fiscal responsibility and NASA lost all its allure…..maybe to never have it again.

Well it looks like billionaire and Tesla owner Elon Musk, an immigrant,  may be trying to revive our space enthusiasm…..

SpaceX’s big new rocket has blasted off on its first test flight, carrying a red sports car on an endless road trip past Mars. The Falcon Heavy rocket rose Tuesday from the same Florida launch pad used by NASA nearly 50 years ago to send men to the moon, per the AP. With liftoff, the Heavy became the most powerful rocket in use today. The three boosters and 27 engines roared to life at Kennedy Space Center, as thousands jammed surrounding beaches, bridges, and roads to watch the rocket soar, delayed more than two hours by high wind.

Two of the boosters were recycled and programmed to return for a simultaneous touchdown at Cape Canaveral, while the third, brand new, set its sights on an ocean platform some 300 miles offshore. SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk owns the rocketing Tesla Roadster, which is shooting for a solar orbit that will reach all the way to Mars. As head of the electric carmaker Tesla, he combined his passions to add a dramatic flair to the Heavy’s long-awaited inaugural flight. Musk previously said the auto would be in “deep space for a billion years or so.” The Heavy is intended for massive satellites, like those used by the US military and major-league communication companies. Even before the test flight, customers were signed up.

A screenshot of the "Starman" mannequin in the Telsa Roadster orbiting Earth.

https://mashable.com/2018/02/08/elon-musk-tesla-roadster-not-typical-space-junk/?utm_cid=mash-com-Tw-main-link#Bk49qwjJgSqY

Too cool……

My day is finished thanx for stopping by…….. hope to see you guys tomorrow…..chuq

If America Was Not America

AS my reader would guess I do a lot of reading (and none of it fiction…well that is a lie.  Most anything positive about Trump could be labeled as fiction) I read some things that make sense and some is not so much…..

I wrote an article many years ago about parts of the US were no better than some poverty ridden Third World country…..boy did I catch Hell after that article.  But as I explained…..travel to the Delta of Mississippi and tell me that it is not something out of a 3rd world documentary.

I thought of that ancient article after something I read just a week ago….something on the site….theantimedia.org…….

On January 8, 2018, former government advisor Edward Luttwak wrote an opinion piece for Foreign Policy titled “It’s Time to Bomb North Korea.”

Luttwak’s thesis is relatively straightforward. There is a government out there that may very soon acquire nuclear-weapons capabilities, and this country cannot be trusted to responsibly handle such a stockpile. The responsibility to protect the world from a rogue nation cannot be argued with, and we understandably have a duty to ensure the future of humanity.

However, there is one rogue nation that continues to hold the world ransom with its nuclear weapons supply. It is decimating non-compliant states left, right, and center. This country must be stopped dead in its tracks before anyone turns to the issue of North Korea.

http://theantimedia.org/united-states-bombing-america/

IT is a fascinating look at the US ……a view that too many refuse to see and then cannot understand why some do not trust or even like us.

What’s Wrong With The Democratic Party?

2016 the Democrats lost the election to Donald J. Trump and they have been scratching their heads ever since……plus Trump constantly relives his win….keeping Dems on the defense and what they needs an offense.

Plus Trump’s and the GOP approval ratings are in the crapper….so much so that the prez made an observation…..

“In private conversations,” said the Post, “Trump has told advisers that he doesn’t think the 2018 election has to be as bad as others are predicting. He has referenced the 2002 midterms, when George W. Bush and Republicans fared better after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, these people said.”

Seriously?  I think that people should keep that in mind as the mid-terms draw close…….an attack may be the GOP’s only chance to retain power…..interesting thought…..huh?

Okay enough chit-chat……the Democratic Party…..

Every time the Dems lose an election someone seems to always bring up the party’s loss with McGovern in 1972.  Is your political history a little sketchy?

A specter is haunting the Democratic Party—“McGovernism.” In 1972, President Richard Nixon shellacked his Democratic opponent, George McGovern, by a 23-point margin in the popular vote. Following McGovern’s defeat, Democrats began running towards the center and haven’t looked back, even though that center seems to have moved further and further to the right with each passing election.

For the past 40 years, whenever a Democratic presidential hopeful has given off the slightest whiff of leftish anti-establishmentarianism, party leaders and mainstream pundits have invoked McGovern’s name. In 2004, HowardDeanwasthenewMcGovern. In 2008, Barack Obama becamethenewMcGovern. This year, it’s Bernie Sanders’s turn.

https://newrepublic.com/article/130737/democrats-still-dont-get-george-mcgovern

After the ass kicking the Dems took in 1972 the party has been gun shy on any progressive issues….in other words it has been running sacred since ’72.

Do Dems truly want to win elections?

What this country truly needs is a real progressive Democratic Party.

I’ve been less than enthusiastic about the Democratic Party since the days Bill Clinton served as president. That’s an odd admission for a registered Democrat and a kid who grew up supporting the Party. What’s more, my reticence was a gut reaction initially, and nothing more.

Today I know why I reacted as I did. But the underlying reason why I felt that way years ago is still in play. America needs a strongly positioned, mainstream progressive party—a party that’s different in kind—not degree—from the Republicans.

That’s not happening. Worse yet, it hasn’t happened for decades.

Clinton’s policies on incarceration and welfare punished African Americans. Obama’s defense policies were drawn from Bush’s hymnal. And the current “resist and oppose” movement is more about Trump than about advancing progressive policies.

https://www.laprogressive.com/progressive-democratic-party/

All reports are that things look good for a “Blue Wave” in the mid-terms of 2018.

Personally I do not think it is as inevitable as the pundits seem to envision.  The Dems may win some races but I do not see a massive Dem win.

But to win maybe they should take a page from the DSA……

On a recent Saturday afternoon, 11 aspiring socialists joined together in a public library in Northeast Washington, DC, to try to clog up the city’s eviction machine. The meeting room was yellow, with a clock set at the wrong time and streamers on the wall left over from somebody’s birthday party.

Gathered around me are members of the DC chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America. DSA membership has skyrocketed from 7,000 to 30,000 members nationwide since Trump’s election, and this meeting was yet more evidence of the new energy in the organization. It was one of the two weekly canvassing meetings for the new Stomp Out Slumlords campaign (SOS), which encourages people facing eviction to get their day in court.

https://www.vox.com/the-big-idea/2017/12/20/16798026/rebuild-left-democratic-party-democratic-socialists-tenant-rights

I still o not see  a solid set of stands that will atract more people to vote Dems…..so far they are just regurgitating the high dollar crap from the Clinton years.

I think the Dems may be disappointed with the next election.

Nunes, Media Mogul

The Lapdog is fighting back!

If you do not like the news then make it up…..something the GOP excels at doing.

Trump’s own little boot licker has started a way to fight Fake news…….

Devin Nunes isn’t just complaining about what he sees as liberal “fake news.” He’s created his own media company to fight back, reports Politico. The Devin Nunes Campaign Committee has provided the money behind a site called the California Republican, which promises “the best of US, California, and Central Valley news, sports, and analysis.” (It was slow to load on Sunday, perhaps because of increased attention; it also has a Facebook page.) Two sample headlines: “CNN busted for peddling fake news AGAIN!” and “Understanding the process behind #ReleaseTheMemo.”

The latter is a reference to Nunes’ efforts as chair of the House intelligence panel to release a memo alleging bias by the FBI and Justice Department in the Robert Mueller investigation. Nunes has long complained that pretty much all coverage about him and his ally President Trump is tainted by bias, and a spokesperson emphasized the point when asked about the media company: “Until Politico retracts its multitude of fake stories on Congressman Nunes, we will not go on the record.” But Vox noticed that the California Republican seems to have issued its first tweet in the wake of the story: “We are real news, POLITICO.”

This whole thing is getting silly and yet pathetic…..if I do not agree with these types then everything I write is Fake News and everything they write is Fake News…

Calling something Fake News simply because you do not agree with the subject is silly…..but convincing people is as simple as taking to Twitter and calling stuff Fake News.

Speaking of Fake News……a historical look-see……..

Before Facebook, there was the coffee house. In the 17th-century, panic gripped British royal circles that these newly established drinking salons had become forums for political dissent. In 1672, Charles II issued a proclamation “to restrain the spreading of false news” that was helping “to nourish an universal jealousie and dissatisfaction in the minds of all His Majesties good subjects”.

Now, 350 years on, legislators across the world are seeking to do the same. Last week, the House of Commons digital culture, media and sport committee flew to Washington DC to grill representatives of big tech companies, including Facebook, Twitter and Google. The title of their session echoed Charles II: “How can social media platforms help stop the spread of fake news?”

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/11/fake-news-long-history-beware-state-involvement

Back to this person….this Nunes tool…..is in support of a person….not the nation….he deserves NO respect and should be arrested for violating the oath he took to become a Congressperson…….he is not protecting the rule of law……instead he is protecting a person.

The Dhofar War

I know it is obvious that I am a student of history so much so that I tend to hit people over the head with history as often as possible.

I am always going on about the US and its wars…..so I decided to check into some of our allies and their little wars.  I have many English visitors so I decided to try and embarrass them if possible (that is a joke please do not take offense)…….

The English have a long history on the Arabian Peninsula….this is one of their wars against god-less commies during the Cold War….

Between 1963 and 1975 the Sultanate of Oman was the scene of one of the most remarkable, and forgotten conflicts of the Cold War. The British-led Sultan’s Armed Forces (SAF) would battle and defeat a formidable Marxist guerrilla movement based in the southern province of Dhofar. The Dhofar War remains one of the few examples of a successful Western-led counterinsurgency in a postwar Middle Eastern country.

An interesting aspect of this conflict is the polyglot nature of the forces involved, with British, Pakistani, Arab, Iranian, and Dhofari irregulars ultimately involved in fighting the rebels (known in Arabic as the adoo), themselves a transnational outfit. A survey of the war raises interesting questions about the myth of fighting ‘localized’ conflicts, insofar as the Dhofar War is often portrayed as an isolated contest between British and Omani troops and the Dhofari guerillas. . It also draws interesting parallels with other ongoing multi-faceted counterinsurgencies as seen in Yemen, Syria, and Iraq. As exhausted Western publics become increasingly hesitant to commit large-scale forces to conflicts in the Third World, their governments may depend on regional allies to provide the necessary manpower instead.  The war in the ‘Frankincense Mountains’ provides lessons in the benefits and complications of such strategies.

https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2018/01/12/the_dhofar_war_and_the_myth_of_localized_conflicts_112890.html

You see the US was not the only participant in those proxy wars of the Cold War era….

Seriously? A School Shooting?

What news is this?

There has been another school shooting……that is 12 this year….12 and it is only mid February…..

A Florida school official says there are “numerous fatalities” from a shooting at a Parkland high school Wednesday that sent students rushing out into the streets as SWAT team members swarmed in and locked down the building, the AP reports. Ambulances converged on the scene as emergency workers appeared to be treating possibly wounded people on the sidewalks, according to the AP. The Broward County Sheriff’s Office says there are at least 14 victims, the AP reports. TV footage showed police with weapons drawn, entering Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, then dozens of children frantically running and walking quickly out. A police officer waved the students on, urging them to quickly evacuate the school. The sheriff’s office tweeted that the shooter was still at large even as the evacuation was underway.

Len Murray’s 17-year-old son, a junior, sent his parents a chilling text: “Mom and Dad, there have been shots fired on campus at school. There are police sirens outside. I’m in the auditorium and the doors are locked.” The AP reports those words came at 2:30pm. A few minutes later, he texted again: “I’m fine.” Murray raced to the school only to be stopped by authorities under a highway overpass within view of the school buildings. No information was immediately given to parents, Len Murray says. And he says he remained worried for all those inside. “I’m scared for the other parents here. You can see the concern in everybody’s faces. Everybody is asking, ‘Have you heard from your child yet?’
Is this the new normal?
Damn!  This is making the case for home schooling.
But not to worry the NRA will not let there be any sensible gun laws.  I am so proud.