Monday Shorts

Militarily the Mideast, specifically the target region Iran, is probably going to be of the most interest this week. A couple of short subjects:

Hezbollah, Iran’s surrogate based in Lebanon, seems to be dropping any pretense of being anything other than an Iranian unit.

Hezbollah is currently being overseen by officers from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), rather than its traditional Lebanese leadership, according to Saturday reports from Arab media outlets.

Sources told Al Arabiya and Al Hadath that the IRGC officers are not only supervising the rebuilding of Hezbollah’s military infrastructure but are also personally managing and executing strategic war plans.Jerusalem Post

Israel launched a strike Friday at a command center in the Beqaa Valley, which Hezbollah thinks may be the precursor to wider military action. Meanwhile the Lebanese are hoping not to get dragged into what they regard as an Iranian conflict. (Probably shouldn’t have let Hezbollah take over the south of your country then, right, pumpkin?)

And in the buildup of our forces in the region, some interesting F-16s were spotted with Angry Kitten EW pods.

“Unlike the F-16 tests, where pre-programmed mission data files were used, the C-130 testing includes development engineers aboard the aircraft who can modify jamming techniques mid-mission based on feedback from range control,” a release last March from the Air National Guard Air Force Reserve Command Test Center (AATC), which has been heavily involved in Angry Kitten’s development, explained.

“They are making changes [in] real-time to the techniques and pushing updates to the pod, seeing the change in real-time,” Chris Culver, an electronic warfare engineer involved in the work, said in that same release. “This approach allows for rapid optimization of jamming techniques against various threat systems.” TWZ

Rather than being programmed to perform certain actions, it seems these pods are much more easily adaptable to the fast changes a modern battlefields presents. The F-16s themselves do Wild Weasel, air defense suppression (Remember the old days when arty spotters would fly over AA batteries to draw fire and then call in artillery strikes on those pesky Germans?) and are also equipped with AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles.

Sounds like a potent EW upgrade for us, and the potential of a very bad day for Iranian-backed defenses.

Couldn’t they choose a better name? Angry Kitten… what’s next, the Noisy Cricket?

Sharp Dressed Men

Moving from the Mideast the Best Dressed Bodyguards, Kristi Noem apparently does not like the suits Secret Service guards wear and wants all of them to get new threads.

Secret Service members will get tailored suits at the expense of taxpayers after Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem disliked how a protective detail was dressed, according to a new report.

Graduates from protective detail training will get two navy blue suits with their name embroidered on the inside of the jacket, according to a public contract solicitation from the Department of Homeland Security, as first reported by CNN. The suits must be entirely made in the United States, the solicitation published last week states. AOL

At present, uniformed guards have their uniforms paid for, while protective detail plainclothesmen do not.

Last, but not least, one of the more prominent members of the Democratic Socialist Party (which is virulently against voter IDs) is Zohran Mamdani, the new Mayor of New York City. With a good-sized storm inbound, the city is hiring emergency snow shovelers to augment the regular staff.

Our candidates for office stand firm against racist voter ID laws and secret poll taxes like the “SAVE America Act.” (from the DSA website)

IDs are WACIST, right?

The NYC website for aspirational shoveler’s asks for the following documents on its application page:

• Two small photos

• Two “original forms of ID, plus copies”

• Social Security card   Mediaite

Category: "The Floggings Will Continue Until Morale Improves", "Your Tax Dollars At Work", Iran, Society