Monday Miscellaneous
Ah yes, the dawn of a new week. From the TV ads, time to start practicing “Bah, Humbug!” to be sure it snarls appropriately, like am unmuffled Triumph.
First up (or down, depending on Willie Brown’s whereabouts) our Vice President showed off her exquisite sense of timing again. Evidently, beside curing the border and walking on water, she is involved with eliminating – ya gotta love it – Islamophobia.
…”announcing the country’s first National Strategy to Counter Islamophobia” with most users taking issue with the timing of the post just weeks after the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel.
The timing of the post was immediately criticized on social media, and many also pointed out the recent surge in hate crimes against Jewish people.
“On the same day Hamas leadership goes on international TV and declares their goal is to erase Jews and Israel off the planet,” The Spectator editor Stephen L. Miller posted on X. “Just stunning.” Fox News
Because we all know Muslims world-wide love us and want nothing but the best for us… What’s next, her celebrating Bedford Forrest’s birthday on MLK day?
Next up is more a point of curiosity – we all know that the Rooshians essentially have two fighter design houses, Mikoyan Gurevich and Sukhoi. Their Su-27 is one of their better models; but I for one did not realize how BIG the damn thing is. Think a Mini longer than an F-15, which is one of our largest. Put into perspective, in the pic above the foreground left is the SU, the ‘smaller’ one above it a MiG-29, and the one above that an F-4 Phantom (far from a tiny plane its own self.) Or maybe better put: the -27 is less than an arm’s length shorter than a WWII B-17. The War Zone
Going the opposite direction…some of you former EW types from INSCOM no doubt remember when EW jamming units were big suckers that had to be vehicle mounted, right? Not just big sonsaguns, they required their own towed generators back in the pre-Cambrian Cold War days.
The U.S. Army selected a CACI International-owned company to prototype a jammer that soldiers can carry and use on foot to spy on electronic signals.
The TLS-BCT Manpack is meant to give troops on the move a means of conducting electronic warfare and signals intelligence.
The Army is reinvesting in electronic warfare — and manipulation of the electromagnetic spectrum — after years of divestment. C4ISRnet
Nice that someone in the Pentagon has realized that potential major foes like China and Russia, or even Iran, are not going to rely on Hamas-style couriers for battlefield info flow… and disrupting their comms is always a good thing. I once saw a FEBA map during a REFORGER that showed a large bight in the line, and centered in the bight was a singlejammer screwing up comms, therefore movement, for the whole area.
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And the Biden administration has shut down all commercial shipments of US arms overseas for 90 days. Except to Israel, Ukraine, and the 42 countries of the Wassenaar Arrangement which includes almost anyone still speaking to usWassenaar Arrangement – wiki ironically, including Russia.
In 2020, export control for most commercial arms, ammunition, and accessories was moved from the State Department to the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS).
The “pause” is by far the most drastic move that BIS has taken to restrict firearms exports since it took over jurisdiction. One might expect such a major change in policy to be front and center on a government agency’s website, but notice of the “pause” was hidden at the bottom of the BIS’s “FAQ” Page.
The notice on the FAQ page also gives little reason for why the “pause” is necessary beyond noting that the “pause” “will enable the Department to more effectively assess and mitigate risk of firearms being diverted to entities or activities that promote regional instability, violate human rights, or fuel criminal activities.”
That statement and the timing seem to indicate that the “pause” is in response to recent reporting by Bloomberg targeting the Commerce Department for “exporting” American “gun culture” at “unprecedented levels.” Bloomberg even appears to be taking credit for the “freeze” (as they call it). Buckeye Firearms
Biden’s folks dancing to the gun-controllers’ tune. It’s interesting, that the gun makers are still allowed to ship to Russia but not elsewhere?
Man, I feel like someone has been sneaking into my office and reading all my notes…yeah I remember TLQ-17s. Was suppose to run a platoon until they upgraded the equipment. I have been looking at those new fangled pieces of equipment…some even better than what you describe 😉
Ohh, and yeah Gun control through banning exports. Not sure that is what Mexico was asking for, but yeah sure screw the little guy trying to expand his market while staying away from government control… or put a better way squeeze them until the cow-tow to the government!
I knew the SU-27 was a big plane, but had no idea it was that much bigger than a MiG-29.
“remember when EW jamming units were big suckers”
Not to mention the operators….
Seems to me the biggest offender regarding giving guns to the wrong folks rests on 2 sets of shoulders. The first, obozo, with the guns they “allowed” to go into Mexico allegedly to track nefarious arms sellers. The only arms sellers they identified was the aft and fbi.
The second, even more egregious arms dealer, is non other than the dementia in chief and the billions in $ that he left unsecured in Afghanistan. You know the same weapons we are seeing in the hands of nice wholesome folks like hamas and being distributed by iran.
And let’s not forget that there was at least one FFL Dealer who was on the phone to the BATF saying “HELL NO, everything about this says ‘straw purchase'” to which the ATF said “go ahead anyway”.
They didn’t want some yokel gun shop owner throwing a monkey wrench into their clever gunwalking op that flowed guns to the cartels.
One thing about our current ‘leaders’ is their ability to demonstrate the truth that there is no end to a tyrant’s ability to screw things up.
Another recommended reading:
1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed (Turning Points in Ancient History)
https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=31642256110&searchurl=ds%3D20%26kn%3D1177%2Bbc%2Bthe%2Byear%2Bcivilization%2Bcollapsed%2Bby%2Beric%2Bcline%26sortby%3D17&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp1-_-title1
It details how an interconnected cadre of elite rulers and governments led to a total collapse of civilization at the hands of invaders. Some interesting parallels to the current world situation.
A bold reassessment of what caused the Late Bronze Age collapse
In 1177 B.C., marauding groups known only as the “Sea Peoples” invaded Egypt. The pharaoh’s army and navy managed to defeat them, but the victory so weakened Egypt that it soon slid into decline, as did most of the surrounding civilizations. After centuries of brilliance, the civilized world of the Bronze Age came to an abrupt and cataclysmic end. Kingdoms fell like dominoes over the course of just a few decades. No more Minoans or Mycenaeans. No more Trojans, Hittites, or Babylonians. The thriving economy and cultures of the late second millennium B.C., which had stretched from Greece to Egypt and Mesopotamia, suddenly ceased to exist, along with writing systems, technology, and monumental architecture. But the Sea Peoples alone could not have caused such widespread breakdown. How did it happen?
In this major new account of the causes of this “First Dark Ages,” Eric Cline tells the gripping story of how the end was brought about by multiple interconnected failures, ranging from invasion and revolt to earthquakes, drought, and the cutting of international trade routes. Bringing to life the vibrant multicultural world of these great civilizations, he draws a sweeping panorama of the empires and globalized peoples of the Late Bronze Age and shows that it was their very interdependence that hastened their dramatic collapse and ushered in a dark age that lasted centuries.
A compelling combination of narrative and the latest scholarship, 1177 B.C. sheds new light on the complex ties that gave rise to, and ultimately destroyed, the flourishing civilizations of the Late Bronze Age―and that set the stage for the emergence of classical Greece.
If we don’t learn from history, we are bound to repeat it eventually.
P3 for comparison
The way we dealt with the like was something called minimum controllable airspeed. The P-3 of course could not hope to outrun a jet.
But we sure as shit could out slow one.
*grin*
“The P-3 of course could not hope to land on a carrier.” FIFY
Those don’t exactly look like sonobouys under the wings.
Harpoons?
No need to be “skeered” (ht2 NBF) of a group of people (?) whose stated purpose is to destroy you, but it would do you good to Be Aware and…(Prepare)…defend yourself against those whose stated purpose is to destroy you. Be they foreign or domestic. Bedford’s Escort Company(100 men) had over 50 Troopers of color that were loyal to him, of their own free will. Some of those same troopers were Pall Bearers at his funeral with others being part of the 10,000 person funeral attendees, many of them being Black Folks. His fight after the Late Unpleasantness was NOT against Black Folks, but against carpetbaggers and scalawags that were oppressing and exploiting Blacks and Whites.
The bigger the Aerial Artillery Platform is, the bigger the target it makes. Can you say “AAA”? I knew you could!
As any wire dog knows, you can’t beat a twisted pair tied down to a terminal for secure comms. If it is transmitted, over air, EVERYBODY can “hear” it and or lock down its’ position. How much of the whizz bang comm systems are hardened against a localized EMP Strike? Legit question. Bring back snuff/C-Rat cans and a ball of string?
Too bad I can’t have control of the arms left in Affy. Just .001% of that would go a long way towards shoring up the North Wall. Sell to anybody and everybody…make the MIC Agents Great Again…they got bills to pay and former Flags to hire.
The systems are fairly well hardened against EMP as well as TEMPEST hazards (different but very closely related issues). However… when you have multiple reels of CX-11230/G attached to a transmission shelter or switch, you’ve not only created an EMP entry point, those nice, pretty, evenly laid wraps of cable create an induction coil, amplifying that pulse as it zorches your shelter. Same holds true for power cables. Now, proper doctrine says that you use the shortest cable possible, and play the slack out loosely on the ground, not in coils. Yeahhhh CSM’s and 1SG’s love that shit.
Roger that, SFC D, and Thanks. Way back yonder, IIRC, our “hardening” consisted of old tube radios in a Faraday Cage. Thank God we never had to test that theory. And 10-4 on the entry point, ergo my poke at cans and string. When we were kids, brother and I would take a coupla Granny’s Tube Rose Snuff cans, poke a hole in the bottom and run a kite string between the 2 of them when we played Army. Worked pretty good and the OpFor kids never could figure out how we could ambush them when the only one they could see was the “scout”. Good times! Wonder if there’re any kids out there today that “play” Army other than on a video game console?
Cans and string (Dixie cups work too… can I still say that?) can work over a surprising distance but encryption is a real mother.
You could speak authentic frontier gibberish.
Only if the Sherriff is near.
Just watched blazing saddles the other day with my 30ish yo nice and her husband. They were all mouth open in astonishment at the movie. They found it hard to believe this movie actually was released.
I explained it was a different time.
I have a half-baked plan to commandeer TBS and run Blazing Saddles on repeat until SWAT arrives.
we used the soup cans and string tied to a shirt button on the inside of each can.
This is what we need.
Anybody that poses a threat to the Republic,
Including a certain group of Congress people,
Free HANO vacation to the Middle East, or at least their choice of any other Third World country.
Right, and more lemon pledge
That woman is armed with an XM-177, not an M-4. I carried one in the Viet of the Nam for 6 months.
Is it really a phobia if it makes sense? For example, when I traveled Paris, I skirted no go zones. Not because I’m scared but because I’m prudent.
If I must go to sketchy places I carry. Not because I’m scared but because I’m prudent.
Not a phobia if there’s evidence.
Many years ago, our MC-130E taxied into a parking spot at Pinal Airpark, AZ. We were there to support HALO training, by doing the drops. Being a non-flier and getting to fly during the drops was a blast, but damn was it cold.
Sitting next to us on the ramp was a B-17G 44-83785/N207EV “Shady Lady” owned by Evergreen International. This B-17 at one time had a Fulton Recovery System installed and was operated by the CIA, before becoming a Fire Bomber. Ironic that the MC-130E also had the Fulton System at one time. So two previous Fulton birds together.
Anyways I was amazed as to how small the B-17 actually was compared to the C-130, it looked like a toy. Then again Hollyweird makes all aircraft look bigger on screen.
We got a tour of it, and of the hangar where several of their projects were stored and some of their aircraft going through maintenance.
Mike
USAF Retired
…” announcing the country’s first National Strategy to Counter Islamophobia”
I have an idea. Round up every Muslim in the country and send them back where they came from. No more Islamophobia! Problem solved.
Works for me, I volunteer to go to Detroit to make sure that Tlaib gets on the first flight to the Middle East. And that she doesn’t get a chute.
Islamophobia is a misnomer. A phobia is an irrational fear of something. Most of us here don’t fear muslims. We just neither like nor trust them, as their religion and holy book teaches them to commit jihad against any nation that is not Islamic. The fundamentals of Islam are incompatible with any democratic republic with freedom of religion and speech. I am not a fan of any religious zealot who believes his god tells him he has a duty to kill anyone who doesn’t want to join his lunatic death cult.
My son and I love the Air Force Museum! We’re going back next month to check that monster out!
“-phobia” means “fear of”.
And as far as I can tell, as long as I’m armed with anything (gun, machete, etc), I’m not afraid of any muzzie. Prudent, possibly. Afraid, no.
So once again, the Gooberment is twisting words and their meanings against conservatives (any color).