Politics

[Altitude sickness]

Mark, you are correct those look like 1800s Kentucky long rifles in their hands

 

[Zambezi]

CENTCOM and AFRICOM Commanders testimony to the House Armed Services Committee.

Around the 48 minute mark Gen Langley is asked about the "whole of government" approach in Somalia. He gives a bit of a word salad answer but ultimately it was, in my opinion, a diplomatic way of him saying "look we're trying, but the military isn't equipped to handle everything Congressman". The Chinese for instance don't have troops in Somalia, but the entire cellular infrastructure in Somalia was built by them with Huawei equipment, which means the Chinese also own all the back doors into the network and can control what's on it. It's also important to note, that the Somali military relies heavily on this infrastructure to coordinate actions against Al-Shabab, which means by proxy US Forces advising and assisting the Somali Army rely on this infrastructure. American taxpayers footing the bill and American troops protecting Chinese infrastructure.

Around the 1:28:00 mark Gen Kurilla says 90% of Iran's sanctioned oil sales are purchased by China. It seems these sanctions could be doing serious damage to Iran if this wasn't the case. I can't imagine it's all that possible to realistically stop China from buying this oil, but there are other ways to hurt China economically. We could sanction China, stop importing many goods from them into the US, forbid US companies from dealing with the Chinese, etc.

Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any real appetite in the US to deal with China, other than banning Tik-Tok (which accomplishes nothing really). I guess enough American businessmen and women are making too much money for it to be important.

Apparently some people here think that buying Chinese is ok because those people employ a few Americans in their American companies. They don't see that buying American or bringing those manufacturers home to employ Americans (even if it raises the price by 10% they will be paying Americans wages and those wages will be spent in America).

Yes capitalism is the driving force to create wealth but individual wealth is not the measure of success or the measure of a man. Please tell me it's not. Please tell me it's not....

While countries across the globe flee to China to make a quick buck China is reaping that reward. Second to that China is raping Africa and other parts of the world and the USA and other European countries are gleefully rubbing the penny on the pound they are making in China while China makes the dollar.

The shortsightedness is astounding!!! But hey, I employ 3 people and a dog and make enough for a $22 burrito once a month. Styling!

 

[Corey0372]

Our Scout Rangers in the middle of a QRF response to some Phil SF guys that were getting hammered by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (19 killed that day). You can see the M60s in the pic.

News article about that firefight, was a rough situation for everyone on Basilan...

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/78739/19-soldiers-slain-in-basilan

 

[Zambezi]

[Directed at Joe's reply to my comment]... but I'd still happily share a campfire with him.

Aaaand once again the point is missed entirely. Entirely.

Dem candidate = Satan
Dem support for candidate = 100%

Republican candidate = Any Republican it doesn't matter because you all hate each other for reasons as petty as the next.
Republican support for candidate = 3% / 22% / 52% / 0% / 1%....

Result = Dem win.

Get it?!

 

[Vashper]

I am one of the strongest opponents of the Putin regime and its actions in Ukraine on this site. However, terrorist attacks like this are the height of evil wherever they occur. My heart and my prayers go out to all of those affected by this cowardly incident. I think it is vitally important to discover the perpetrators. If it was an Islamic radical group, it is a scourge about which all of us need to cooperate.

The Islamic State Group is claiming initial credit. They have been active in Syria, Iraq, and East Africa. They seem to have been responsible for several incidents in the Caucasus over the last decade or so.

The latest statement from the Islamic State Group on their Telegram channel.

“Islamic State fighters attacked a large gathering of Christians in the city of Krasnogorsk on the outskirts of the Russian capital, Moscow, killing and wounding hundreds and causing great destruction to the place before they withdrew to their bases safely.”

In this case, the terrorists are not very similar to ISIS suicide bombers, they wanted to escape and survive too much. Rather, they are not very smart mercenaries, and God knows who paid them. However, any conclusions are premature now. And I must say, statements that "these are guilty, and these are definitely innocent" produce rather the opposite effect and unnecessary suspicions. Let's face it, few people believe the claims of ISIS.
I do not believe that the US Embassy was somehow involved in the organization of this terrorist attack (although such accusations are heard in some places, because of these warnings); rather, US technical intelligence is able to read any messengers in different languages, and received some vague information about the impending crime. By the way, our government has acknowledged that such information was provided by the American special services.

 

[freefall]

I would submit that is exactly what Trump does with any number of fellow Republicans, and yet so many who support him give him a pass on it.

So you use the behavior of the man you despise (because of said behavior, you say) to justify emulating the same behavior.
Interesting.

 

[WAB]

So you use the behavior of the man you despise (because of said behavior, you say) to justify emulating the same behavior.
Interesting.

I would challenge you to find one example where TT has exhibited Trump-like behavior. To the contrary, in the face of ridiculous accusations, such as yours, he has always behaved as a gentleman. If Trump demonstrated anywhere close to his level of polite and respectful behavior, he would be our president now.

 

[Red Leg]

In this case, the terrorists are not very similar to ISIS suicide bombers, they wanted to escape and survive too much. Rather, they are not very smart mercenaries, and God knows who paid them. However, any conclusions are premature now. And I must say, statements that "these are guilty, and these are definitely innocent" produce rather the opposite effect and unnecessary suspicions. Let's face it, few people believe the claims of ISIS.
I do not believe that the US Embassy was somehow involved in the organization of this terrorist attack (although such accusations are heard in some places, because of these warnings); rather, US technical intelligence is able to read any messengers in different languages, and received some vague information about the impending crime. By the way, our government has acknowledged that such information was provided by the American special services.

You make a fair point with respect to the attempt to flee. On the other hand, the target and results were not so very different than November 2015 attacks in Paris, or the May 2014 attack in Brussels, while far smaller in scale did see the perpetrator both recording his actions and trying to escape. Another somewhat similar event occurred in Tunisia in 2015 at the Bardo National Museum which was closely followed by the attack on the Port Al Kantaoui Hotel. There was also the attack on the Turkish night club in Istanbul in 2017. There are several others that are similar.

I will agree that car bombs and suicide vests have very often been the preferred tool of ISIS terrorists. But they have also used direct action to simply shoot as many people as possible. In your nation's eagerness to find a conspiracy, I would not discount the level of hatred Russia has generated in the Islamic world over the last two decades as it has crushed dissent across the Caucasus and begun to play a more active military role in the Levant. The brutality of the Wagner Group in the region has become something of legend.

I suspect that the terrorists had support within Russia. I would look very hard there before assuming they were associated with Ukraine. Besides, such an action would be one of the worst things Ukraine could do while trying to maintain steady Western support on the battlefield.

I hasten to add, conspiracies are popular in the West just as much as Russia. Here, the internet is alive with opinion that the attack was a false flag operation on the part of the FSB to allow Putin to call for general mobilization and unrestricted attacks on Ukrainian population centers. I personally believe such an atrocity is the last thing the man who promised Russia security needed well into the third year of a month-long Special Military Operation.

 

[fourfive8]

News article about that firefight, was a rough situation for everyone on Basilan...

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/78739/19-soldiers-slain-in-basilan

Yes, this incident was a warning for what was brewing.... it finally ended, at least in the near term on any large scale, with the total destruction of Marawi in 2017. I will never be convinced that BHO was and still is somehow sympathetic or supportive of the various factions of the IS around the world including those factions in the Philippines. And we are still seeing the effects of that policy today- as is obvious in the Mid East. I also believe he often "signaled", in plain sight, his sympathetic understanding and policy toward the IS by using the term "ISIL" instead of "ISIS". The brain dead, low IQ media didn't question it nor even look into it since he was and still is of untouchable racial background, a Marxist-Socialist and a Democrat of convenience. I remember when he went to Manila to tell Duterte all about the finer points of "human rights" as a made-for-media stunt for his power base in the US and was promptly shown the door by Duterte. Duterte had been really cracking down on IS gang crime and the drug trade that funded it in the Philippines. BHO was on the wrong side of that as is normal for politicians of his ilk and Duterte simply told him to go home and not come back.

 

[Tundra Tiger]

So you use the behavior of the man you despise (because of said behavior, you say) to justify emulating the same behavior.
Interesting.

I was merely pointing out what seemed to me to be a parallel. You took exception with a site member for what you perceived as that member running down Trump, and you asserted "making negative comments about a candidate at every opportunity equates to dissuading support for said candidate". I simply pointed out that is exactly Trump's M.O. and his supporters want to give him a pass on it, saying it's just campaign rhetoric or bluster. I personally don't think it is; I think that's really him and how he really feels. I can't begin to imagine the things he spews behind closed doors. But if you truly believe someone saying negative things about Trump is a bad thing, man... please consider applying that same rationale to Trump himself.

 

[rwp315]

Sorry, this doesn't sound correct, assuming (always dangerous) you are referring to the terrorist attack on the USS COLE.

Did the USS COLE have a Marine Detachment (MARDET)? I cannot comprehend that any MARDET wasn't armed with. But, since the COLE is powered by gas turbine and NOT nuclear power, I don't know why it would have had a MARDET.

Further, US Marines, other than perhaps a "Designated Marksmen" and MARSOC and Marine Raiders have not been armed with M-14's since Vietnam.

There is of course always an exception...
During Desert Storm, enroute to Kuwait as part of the 5th Marine Expeditionary Brigade (MEB), with my Marines, I stood up in port security and underway mine lookouts for the USS TRIPOLI https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Tripoli_(LPH-10) . USS Tripoli (LPH-10), an Iwo Jima-class amphibious assault ship was designed to transport US Marines to contingencies. That's why my Marines and I were aboard her!

My Marines took over the M-2 .50 caliber Brownings mounted around the ship and we added our M-60's for close in security. As for me as an officer, I had only a M9 Beretta sidearm. That symbol of authority is okay for commanding men but to put my marksmanship ability to use, I drew an M-14 from TRIPOLI's armory and an automatic selector lever for it. I had a ship's machinist install it and I strutted around the ship with a loaded, full auto M-14! That weapon motivated the sailors, I kid you not!

On a Sunday without flight ops, we provide smalls arms training for the ship's crew. I had all the ship's Company Grade (Junior) officers in a line getting more instruction on the M-14 than the 5 rounds they had previously fired in their officer training. I would instruct the officers to fire a few shot one at a time, then with 3 or 4 round remaining in the magazine, I'd flip the selector lever to Auto and have them let her rip! Wow, talk about muzzle rise! I had the magazines loaded with a tracer evert third round to add to the realism! The Chief Petty Officer in charge of the ship's ammunition was torqued at me for robbing the tracers from a 4+1 (4 ball and 1 tracer) belt for this training!

When I learned of the COLE attack, I thought of my experience a decade earlier and wondered where was the in port security?

Thank you. I was basically repeating what I was told, I’ll be more careful, and what I read in one of the books. Sorry I don’t remember the title.

Thank you for your service and hope I didn’t offend anyone.

Appreciate the correction.

RWP

 

[Mark A Ouellette]

Thank you. I was basically repeating what I was told, I’ll be more careful, and what I read in one of the books. Sorry I don’t remember the title.

Thank you for your service and hope I didn’t offend anyone.

Appreciate the correction.

RWP

Sir, No offense taken. You mentioned Marines, who by nature practice "attention to detail" to the day we die!

To quote Captain John W. Thomason's description of Marines in France in 1917, Marines have... "a tolerant scorn of nearly everything on earth. They were the leathernecks, the old breed of American regular, regarding the service as home." Nothing has changed in the past century.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Thomason

Note: Click on the "Watch on YouTube" above

One other point of fact for your memory banks...
The U.S. Navy Medical Corps' Hospital Corpsmen (or women) are known as Corpsmen, never "medics". Like the title US Marine, Corpsmen is a title earned and revered by each and every Marine who has ever been in harms way. Thus when written, it is always capitalized!

Corpsmen who serve on our "green side" are Marines by a different mother...

 

[rwp315]

Sir, No offense taken. You mentioned Marines, who by nature practice "attention to detail" to the day we die! 's

One other point of fact for your memory banks... The U.S. Navy Medical Corps' Hospitalmen (or women) are known as Corpsmen, never "medics" Like the title US Marine, Corpsmen is a title earned and revered by each every Marine who has ever been in harms way. Thus when written, it is always capitalized.

Corpsmen who serve on our "green side" are Marines by a different mother...

Thanks. I should have known that.
My cousins youngest son. Just finished his tour with the Blue Angels as crew chief on Fat Albert. Now ME or Europe.

Brandon in the middle.

 

[flatwater bill]

Pres Donald Trump claimed that the Biden administration "flew in 325,000 unvetted illegals" last year to unmentioned cities under a secret program. FALSE claims AP Fact Focus. (Mar 6, 2024. Author Elliot Spagat) He uses CBP data and White House spokesman Angelo Fernandez' statements to prove Trump lied. Biden did not do it. Still, the data he quotes proves exactly the opposite. He actually brought in over 1 million immigrants under the 1952 law for Presidential Parole......including 67,000 Cubans, 126,000 Haitians, 53,000 Nicaraguans and 81,000 Venezuelans by air. To 43 cities that were kept confidential. You didn't help your case Mr Spagat. It kind of sounds like Trump was right. But here's the kicker: they paid for the flights themselves. (Although subsidized a little.) And they were "thoroughly screened" said Fernandez. By a self filled out app on their phones called CBP App 1. I'm sure no one would lie, but damn, he just countered his own fact check. Once again, Trump was correct. The dems lied. And the Fact Checkers lied for them. Sound familiar? ............Obama calls free speech "raw sewage", and he should know....................stay free, hunt often.........FWB

 

[Red Leg]

Bill Maher doing what he does best.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Bill Maher doing what he does best.

But was Beto listening?

 

[freefall]

I was merely pointing out what seemed to me to be a parallel. You took exception with a site member for what you perceived as that member running down Trump, and you asserted "making negative comments about a candidate at every opportunity equates to dissuading support for said candidate". I simply pointed out that is exactly Trump's M.O. and his supporters want to give him a pass on it, saying it's just campaign rhetoric or bluster. I personally don't think it is; I think that's really him and how he really feels. I can't begin to imagine the things he spews behind closed doors. But if you truly believe someone saying negative things about Trump is a bad thing, man... please consider applying that same rationale to Trump himself.

I make no excuses for Trump's behavior. He's a grown ass man, and I DO wish he'd act like it.
I merely observe that taking every opportunity to run down the only fucking hope we have of preserving our country and justifying it by saying "He's a nasshole" is not helpful.
I relate more and more to my brother-in-laws sentiment, expressed while Carter was president, "I'm ready to shoot the next sonofabitch I see in a uniform, and I don't care if it's the mailman!"

 

[Red Leg]

I make no excuses for Trump's behavior. He's a grown ass man, and I DO wish he'd act like it.
I merely observe that taking every opportunity to run down the only fucking hope we have of preserving our country and justifying it by saying "He's a nasshole" is not helpful.
I relate more and more to my brother-in-laws sentiment, expressed while Carter was president, "I'm ready to shoot the next sonofabitch I see in a uniform, and I don't care if it's the mailman!"

I was in uniform then. Care to enlighten us what your brother-in-law meant?

 

[freefall]

It's probably as well you didn't show up at his door informing him of what his government wanted him to do.

 

[Red Leg]

It's probably as well you didn't show up at his door informing him of what his government wanted him to do.

I still have no idea what you - or he - are talking about.