Got a problem? Bring up a tank

Sergeant Tomas had a home boy in Lima Troop, a friend from Refugio High School, Charlie Wilson. Tomas and Wilson enlisted within a month of each other in 1965. Tomas had infantry Basic and AIT at Fort Polk, in the swamps of Louisiana. Wilson decided he’d rather ride, and enlisted for cavalry scout, with Basic and AIT at Fort Knox, Kentucky. 

Tomas visited Wilson now and then, and Wilson made a couple of trips from L Troop area and dropped in at Air Cav Troop, to see how the upper class lived, he said on his first visit.

On his second visit, Wilson talked about a short operation 3rd Squadron conducted east of Blackhorse base camp. The area was mostly jungle, with no villages to speak of, no rice paddies, but some wood cutters.

In the operation, L Troop came upon what probably was a VC battalion base camp. There were plenty of bunkers, plus bamboo huts and a good size kitchen.

Wilson said his platoon took heavy machine gun fire from one bunker. The ACAVs returned fire – seven .50-calibers and 14 M60 machine guns – but the VC bunker was built well.

“It looked like we might not take out the bunker,” he said. He grinned when recounting the rest of the story. “And then a tank from H Company drove between a couple of ACAVs and up to the bunker, depressed the main gun as much as possible and put the muzzle as close to the middle firing aperture as it could.”

He laughed and waved his hands. “It was – It was something else, Man. That 90-millimeter gun fired, and there was dust and dirt and pieces of gook and shit coming out of all the firing apertures. We were all applauding and shaking our fists and saying, ‘All right, Man! All right!'” He shook his head. “It was something else, Man.”

 

A degree is a degree is a degree

In 1846, Jules Verne took the baccalaureate at Rennes, France. The future author of Journey to the Center of the Earth received the grade “Good enough.” Well, all right, then.

Logic obscured by the fog of fairy dust

From Legal Insurrection 

California lists five more states to which official travel is now forbidden, bringing the total to 17, or 34 percent of the USA.

“Make no mistake: We’re in the midst of an unprecedented wave of bigotry and discrimination in this country — and the State of California is not going to support it.” – California Attorney General Rob Bonta.

https://legalinsurrection.com/2021/06/california-adds-five-more-states-to-travel-ban-based-on-lgbtq-litmus-test/

The 17 states as of today are: Alabama, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Arkansas, Florida, Montana, North Dakota and West Virginia.

Well, Mr. Attorney General, we live where we want to live, just as you live where you want. Soon, California will refuse to do business with half the US and soon after that, only with Washington and Oregon, and whatever Progressive states remain on the East Coast.

FEMA explained

'FEMA isn't magic'

This post began as a comment over at Miguel’s place** and quickly grew large enough to be a post on its own.

Many people see FEMA as some sort of large Federal organization that responds to emergencies. They aren’t. What FEMA is, is a guy with a Rolodex (Remember those? If you don’t, ask your parents, snowflake.) and a checkbook. There isn’t some magical team of Federal Employees sitting around, waiting for “the big one” so they can swoop in and save everyone. That isn’t how it works.

No, this FEMA guy’s phonebook is filled with the contact information of local and state resources that can be called in an emergency. Those resources respond, tracking expenses and man hours used, and the FEMA guy then breaks out the checkbook to reimburse the states involved. The Governor doesn’t call out FEMA for shit. If you want to get technical, FEMA can’t do a thing unless the President tells them to. (Didn’t Trump catch hell for that recently?) FEMA’s largest contribution is writing the check to pay for it all.

After 9/11, the US government came up with the concept of Urban Search and Rescue Teams. They follow a set of guidelines in equipment and training, so that all of them nationwide operate on a similar set of procedures. This makes them interoperable across state lines: a person qualified for one could easily fit into any of the others. A USAR is equipped with everything from power generators to food trailers and rescue equipment. They have medical supplies, fuel, and all other equipment needed to fulfill their mission. Each USAR maintains over 5,000 pieces of equipment and has 140 or so assigned personnel. They can operate independently for 2 weeks, longer with resupply of fuel, food, and other consumables.

While there are some variations in the mission for each team (a team in Florida doesn’t need to be equipped for blizzards, for example) the teams are remarkably similar in training and equipment.

Florida doesn’t need FEMA resources for a building collapse. The state has eight Urban Search and Rescue Teams, all of whom are trained and equipped for that. Each one is centered on a large city, and draws its personnel from surrounding first responders. These first responders volunteer for the team, are sent to special training, and then become qualified for the team. Specialists are trained in HAZMAT, trench rescue, building collapse, confined space, water rescue, dive rescue, high angle, and vehicle and machinery rescue. Every member is certified as an EMT or Paramedic. It takes 2 to 3 years of training to fully qualify for a USAR team, on top of the extra training that they do on a constant basis. Most USAR members are the best of what their employing agencies have to offer. They are the most motivated and able of emergency responders.

Miami Dade is home to Florida’s TF1 (task force 1)
Miami has TF 2.
Tampa has TF 3.
Orlando is the center for TF 4.
Jacksonville has TF 5.
Fort Meyers has TF 6.
Tallahassee has TF 7, and
TF 8 is from Ocala and Gainesville.

Those eight task forces are comprised of about 2,000 of the state’s emergency services personnel. Before I retired, I deployed more than a couple of times with one of those teams. The most notable was to Mississippi for Hurricane Katrina.

Elements from six different USAR teams are in Surfside right now, along with a team from Mexico and another from Israel. They have more people and equipment than they can use right now- last I heard there were over 500 USAR team members there.

The issue is that a building collapse isn’t the type of disaster that is solved by throwing people at it. Even though miracles can happen and the occasional survivor is found days later, a building collapse is likely fatal for nearly everyone. Most of the survivors are found nearly immediately, survivors days later are miracles no matter how many rescuers are present.

The people in that building, with a few exceptions, were dead as soon as that building began to fall. No amount of handwringing is or could have changed that.

To be honest, I loved deployments. Not because deployments meant people were suffering. No, mostly it was because they were a test of all that you had learned. That, and a FEMA deployment usually pays pretty well. I was deployed to Katrina for 12 days and was paid more than $5,000. You want people who bring years of expertise and thousands of hours of training to come save you? You want people willing to live on 3 hours’ sleep a night without bathing while shitting in a bucket and eating old MRE’s for two weeks? It’s gonna cost ya. That kind of expertise and dedication isn’t cheap.

https://areaocho.com/fema-isnt-magic/

**gunfreezone.net

From the mountain

God to Moses: You shall not boil a kid in it’s mother’s milk.

A Bunch of Wise Men Expanding the Law 2,000 years later: You can’t serve milk and meat at the same meal.

Spirit of Moses: Well, dang. You realize you just did away with tacos, enchiladas, and a whole bunch of other Tex-Mex.

God: They did what??

'Nobody'

 A good enough movie. Good guys kill two dozen, three dozen Russian mafia types; eight, 10 cars are wrecked, blown up, burned. Good guys win in the end. Big time.

The trailer mentioned “from the producer of John Wick” films. You figure that might mean what it does mean. All three films, we get bad Russians who get their just desserts.

One of the times Christopher Lloyd fires a shotgun, he blinks his eyes. That means he is not all that familiar with firearms – guns, if you prefer. Many actors, men and women, do the eye blink of surprise when the gun shoots.

Mel Gibson did when shooting a smiley face in Lethal Weapon. It was like, “Surprise! Even a blank cartridge is loud.”

And in Nobody, the main character, Bob Odenkirk, 58, goes up against the chief bad guy, Aleksey Serebryakov, 56. Hoorah for older guys.

Irony -- Lincoln, Abbott and Ducey

In April 1861, President Lincoln called for 75,000 state militia forces to end the rebellion by seceding Southern states. Northern states were more than happy to send their young men off to war and teach those rebelling slavers a lesson. 

With illegals crossing into border states in large numbers and the Biden administration limited to making things good and free for the illegals, Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey asked for help from other states. Governors of Florida, Iowa and Nebraska have pledged state law enforcement to assist in securing the border.

At no other time in U.S. history have governors asked other governors for help in what should be a federal matter. But, the federal government has abdicated and abrogated its responsibilities in order to make sure everything looks good and nobody’s feelings get hurt.

European leftists fear well-funded conservative group in Poland

From Balkan Insight 

Declaration of the May 28 launch event of Ordo Iuris University: “As we observe the crisis of academic life, there is a need to return to the classical idea of the University. [W]e must not be afraid to refer to the heritage of previous generations, including the foundations of our civilisation – the Roman idea of law, the Greek love of wisdom, and the living legacy of Christian values.”

https://balkaninsight.com/2021/06/22/ordo-iuris-the-ultra-conservative-organisation-transforming-poland/

For too long billionaire-backed groups in Europe and in the US were part of the so-called progressive movement, including Antifa and Black Lives Matter. Now, individual donations fund Eastern European conservative organizations, and the leftists are frightened. Balkan Insight is a pro-EU publication and works on two assumptions: All Serbians are war criminals; and Orange Man Bad.

Chechen Muslim theologian ‘scolds’ witchcraft detainees

From The Caucasian Knot

Adam Elzhurkaev, the head of the Centre for Islamic Medicine, has held a conversation with those detained for rendering occult services. Social network users have disputed on whether a taxi driver should respond for where he had taken his clients.

A TV report about "a whole chain" of those involved in witchcraft – two women and two men – was shown by the "Grozny" TV Channel. "All these people don't know each other, but they are links of one crime – witchcraft. Each plays his/her role – there is a client, a sorcerer, and even a taxi driver," the report states, adding that Petimat Demilkhanova "first fell for sorcerers' bait herself, and then began acting as mediator."

Another detainee, Zalikhan Magomadova, "claims to have a gift, treating herself as an angel, stating she communicates with the Almighty and sees prophets in dreams when asleep."

Russia envisages criminal punishment of psychics and magicians, but it is difficult to prove a fraudulent intent in such cases, therefore law enforcers don't really like such cases, Abusupyan Gaitaev, an advocate, has noted.

Let us remind you that the hunt for sorcerers in Chechnya has transformed into persecution of their clients. Thus, on January 17, 2021, Elzhurkaev scolded men from the Shali District and the taxi driver who drove them for their travel to a witch.

https://www.eng.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/55958/
© Caucasian Knot

 

 

 

‘Shell mound skeleton is world’s oldest shark attack victim’

Bones showed at least 790 deep, serrated wounds. 

Attack happened between 1370 and 1010 BC.

From The History Blog

"The skeleton of a Neolithic fisherman found in a shell mound in Japan is the world’s earliest confirmed victim of a fatal shark attack. Discovered at the Tsukumo Neolithic shell mound in the village of Nishi Oshima, Okayama Prefecture, the bones have been radiocarbon dated to between 1370 and 1010 B.C. The previous oldest-known shark attack was far more recent, dating to around 1000 A.D.

"The research team found his bones were absolutely riddled with traumatic injuries, at least 790 deep, serrated wounds to his arms, legs, abdomen and chest. The team compared the wounds to weapons from the period and nothing matched. The sharp v-shaped cuts were the kind inflicted by a honed metal blade, materials not available to the Jōmon people. No land animal, predator or scavenger, had teeth that match the injuries. Comparison to modern cases of shark attacks finally solved the mystery. All of the characteristics of the wounds were found in modern victims of shark attacks, and the distribution pattern of the wounds, which shows a preference for certain areas, also matches shark attack data."

Researchers were able to reconstruct the likely progression of the attack.

"The pelvis has tooth marks in the area near where he lost his right leg. The majority of larger bites on the lower body suggest that he was probably in deep water, possibly swimming, and was alive at the time of the attack. The missing, sheared off left hand best is explained as a defensive wound as he tried to fend off an attack from below. The skull and vertebrae are free of injuries most likely because they didn’t offer enough flesh to interest the attacker. […]

"The completeness and trauma of Tsukumo No. 24 were mapped and quickly showed that a number of bites would have severed major arteries, suggesting that he would have lost consciousness within a few minutes and died soon afterwards."

http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/61658

Rehab that works

From Gun Free Zone

Sent by MC

After 6 burglaries, 3 car thefts, multiple illegal trespasses, an ongoing cocaine and alcohol addiction, committing 2 violent home invasions, 3 armed robberies, dealing with fentanyl and meth, passing counterfeit money, beating 4 victims senseless and being arrested 19 times since 1998, George Floyd has not committed a crime in over eleven months now.

You can’t argue with success.

https://gunfreezone.net/rehab-works/

 

We were told

God told the Israelites: “You shall not give any of your children to devote them by fire to Moloch, and so profane the name of your God” (Lev. 18:21). Since the law proscribes things to which the Israelites had knowledge, Moloch must have held sway over many other peoples. How unknowing of God must a people be, to willingly comply with a priest’s order, “Give us your child,” or even worse, to offer a child. Throughout the ages, man has wondered, “How long will God put up with this?” We should not be surprised when one day a voice says to all, “I told you so.”

A lesson from way back when

 If an alligator snapping turtle bites you, it will not let go until there is thunder.

Govn’t doesn’t know what UAP are, won’t say what they are not

From Legal Insurrection 

UAPs could be:

Airborne Clutter like birds, balloons, or debris

Natural Atmospheric Phenomena like ice crystals or moisture

USG or Industry Development Programs, but they could not confirm “that these systems accounted for any of the UAP reports"

Foreign Adversary Systems from China, Russia, or any other foreign body

As to that other possibility (Roswell-like craft):

Investigators “may require additional scientific knowledge to successfully collect on, analyze and characterize some of them.” (Emphasis added.)

https://legalinsurrection.com/2021/06/u-s-cannot-explain-unidentified-aerial-phenomena-but-do-not-rule-out-aliens/

Maybe, just maybe, we or some other country has the electronics and weaponry to bring down one or many UAFs, and all of this sudden talk from the Pentagon is getting us ready for the first dog fight, or the Pentagon is letting another government know we know they know. Not Russia or China, or any European country. They are too busy with remembering who did what to whom in the 19th century. Maybe Israel, or South Korea or Japan. We’ll see.

But until then, we will use what we have

 

Got a kid who's dying?

From Chicago Now 

Imagine your child has a terminal illness and has a wish to visit Disney Land or meet a famous actor or ride in a race car or sing on stage and you contact Richard Davis, CEO, Make A Wish Foundation and he happily tells you that your child’s wish can be granted — if your child and you and other family members are two weeks past the last vaccine shot.

If not, take your wishes elsewhere.

In the name of safety, Davis and Make A Wish are going to only grant that last wish if your child (is vaccinated) based on his and his organizations rendering of CDC guidelines. 

https://www.chicagonow.com/life-tv-dinner/2021/06/make-a-wish-foundation-is-granting-wishes-to-only-to-the-fully-vaccinated/

At Gun Free Zone

Thousands of Ford trucks

Satellite pictures of brand new ones parked at Kentucky Speedway because Ford doesn’t have enough chips. Wondered: Did Ford drive the trucks from the plant in Louisville? If the trucks can be driven without the chips … Well, seems like consumers should be able to buy them.

https://www.thedrive.com/news/40458/thousands-of-unfinished-ford-super-duty-trucks-are-parked-at-kentucky-speedway-due-to-chip-shortage

At Gun Free Zone.

 

Michelin Plantation, 1965

 

AP Cutline:

“HE FOUGHT TILL THE END – A Vietnamese machinegunner lies dead in his foxhole with hundreds of shells surrounding him. The knee-deep spent shells are silent proof that he fought to his death when Viet Cong overran his position at Michelin Rubber Plantation, 45 miles northwest of Saigon. The battleground was retaken today and over a hundred corpses recovered. AP Wirephoto from Saigon.” 

This picture was taken 28 November, 1965, the day after the 272nd Vietcong Regiment overran the South Vietnamese 7th Regiment, killing most of the regiment and five U.S. advisers. Michelin Plantation was the site of numerous Viet Cong and North Vietnamese supply and training camps and of several U.S. operations.

Some things are left to us

19 Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God!

    O men of blood, depart from me!
²⁰ They speak against you with malicious intent;
    your enemies take your name in vain.^[b]
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?
    And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
²² I hate them with complete hatred;
    I count them my enemies. 

n  Psalm 139

When almost everything we buy comes from somewhere else

Transport costs are going to rise, and, unlike Democrats who don’t understand how things get paid for, consumers (that’s us) will pay for the increases.

A few notes from “Everything is Awful Again”

“The Loadstar, a trade publication, has recorded that the most recent data indicates less than 10% of ships are arriving on time to Europe. Despite this, there have been a great deal of cancelled trips, as shippers try to get their ships onto some sort of schedule again, despite delays at load and discharge ports because of congestion.”

“Mega-terminals such as the one that I work to service, are operating at 100% capacity for extended periods to deal with the insane spike in imports. The shift to larger and larger ships means that, like rush-hour traffic, congestion is an issue even when ports are operating below capacity.” 

As for ships not arriving on-time in congested ports: “container ships lose MILLIONS by being a day late to port.” 

“It's an odd thing to see, a completely full containership, boxes stacked to the sky, riding high enough out of the water that the prop wash is full of foam …”

http://bigironbegfish.blogspot.com/2021/05/this-week-in-shipping-or-everything-is.html

 

Victory

 

Prediction, or literature repeating itself?

The whole generation is womanized; the masculine tone is passing out of the world; it’s a feminine, a nervous, hysterical, chattering, canting age, an age of hollow phrases and false delicacy and exaggerated solicitudes and coddled sensibilities, which, if we don’t soon look out, will usher in the reign of mediocrity, of the feeblest and flattest and the most pretentious that has ever been. – Henry James in The Bostonians, 1886.

 

 

 

No more a new guy

Tom Phillips lost most of his new-guy status his fifth day in-country, his first day in the bush, when an NVA soldier jumped out from behind a tree. Tom was walking second, behind Brando. The NVA soldier waited until Brando walked past, and then he jumped up. Tom put two loads of double-ought buckshot into the man, the first shot taking away most of the man’s face, the second tearing through his chest as the NVA spun from the force of the first shot. 

After killing the NVA, Tom jacked another round into his shotgun, at the same time stepping behind a tree. He knew better than to fall to the ground. He had heard stories of men who did that and impaled themselves on pieces of sharpened bamboo buried in the ground. Tom knelt behind the tree, glancing right and left and ahead. Brando also knelt beside a tree. He shot a look back, then scanned the jungle.

Bull’s voice cut through the silence. “Talk to me, Tom.”

Tom glanced at the body. Smoke from the two expended rounds hung in the air. “Gook jumped up,” he said. His nostrils crinkled from the smell of gunpowder.

“You okay?”

Tom knew there was more to the question than concern for his physical safety. “Roger that.”

“I’m coming up,” Bull said.

“You’re covered.” Tom glanced back. Bull moved cautiously, bent at the waist, eyes moving from side to side. When joining Tom, Bull glanced at the body, then lit a cigarette. “What happened?”

“He jumped up,” Tom said.

“Brando,” Bull called.

“Looks okay up here.”

Placing a hand on Tom’s shoulder, Bull said, “I’ll get the rest up and out. Stay here.” Tom nodded.

Within ten seconds, A Team moved past Tom and the body and fanned out on each side of Brando.

Bull rejoined Tom. “LT’s moving up. Let’s have a look.”

Tom stood, pulling a canteen from its cover. He took a small sip of water. “Okay.”

They stood over the body. Bull nudged the dead man’s ribs with the toe of his boot. “Fucker looks seriously dead.” He stared at Tom. “He jumped up, huh.”

“From behind that tree.”

Bull nodded. “Buckshot does the job every time.”

Tom stared at the body. “He must’ve been scared shitless when Brando walked past him.” The NVA wore a faded green uniform and rubber-soled sandals. His hair was black and long. Flies gathered on his face and chest, feeding on the blood. Turning to Bull, Tom said, “I guess we better search him.”

“Yeah,” Bull said. “You want me to do it?”

Tom shrugged. “Nah. I got it.”

The LT came up, kneeling as Tom went through the NVA’s pockets. “Got anything?”

“Beats me, sir,” Tom said. He rolled the man onto his stomach, then pulled backpack straps from the dead man’s arms. “A couple of letters, maybe a diary,” Tom said as he opened pockets on the backpack. “Family pictures.” He took the top from a metal cigarette tin. “Maybe some dope. Looks sort of like tobacco, but different.” He sniffed the can. “Smells like new-mown hay. Cut too rough to be tobacco.”

“Where’s his weapon?”

Tom pointed. “There. SKS, I think.”

The LT reached across the body and picked up the rifle. “That’s what it is. Most of them around here carry AK’s.” He opened the bottom of the magazine and caught the nine rounds there, then pulled back the bolt handle, ejecting the round from the chamber. “He kept it clean. Any clips on him?”

“Eight,” Tom said.

The LT opened the NVA’s back pack and dropped the cartridges inside. He handed the rifle to Tom. “You want it?”

“Don’t we have to turn it in to S-2?”

“I’ll take care of that.”

Tom held the rifle. “Okay.” He smiled. “I guess I get to carry it until we go back in.”

“No gun bearers out here,” the LT said, smiling. He stood. “I’ll check with Sergeant Reid. He’s calling in a report.” He slapped Tom’s shoulder. “Good job.” He smiled. “You get to carry the backpack, too."  

Tom glanced down at the NVA as the LT walked away. The man’s face was a mass of red pulp -- no nose or eyes, lips and front teeth shot away. Tom took his canteen from its holder and drank a long swallow, then slung the SKS and backpack over his left shoulder. He walked forward, joining the rest of the squad.

                                        

                                      

 

 

 

 

Every day

 One step at a time. Put this foot in front of that foot, that foot in front of this foot. Forget about the heat. Ignore the pain that started five minutes after you moved out, the pain in the lower back, the pain that worked its way up your back, to your shoulders and you want to arch your back and transfer the pain somewhere else, except there is no other place, because every place hurts. The hurt is the same hurt you put up with yesterday, the day before yesterday, the same pain you will put up with tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. You will put up with the pain until the day, the hour, the minute you climb the ramp and get on the plane that takes you home. And when you climb the stairs on the ramp, you will take the pain with you, a passenger on your back.

You put up with the pain because you don’t have a choice. You put up with the pain just as you put up with the cuts and scrapes and bruises, chipped fingernails and the dirt and grime beneath what’s left of your fingernails, the dirt and grime that won’t wash out maybe until you’re in a place where civilized people don’t have that dirt, that grime.

Every part of you hurts, places you didn’t think could hurt. Your feet and ankles and knees, sure. You walk for a living, don’t you? That’s your sole purpose, to go from here to there, and the only way to get there is to walk. Every part that supports your feet and ankles and knees -- those parts hurt. Your fingers hurt. Your ears hurt. And your eyes, when you haven’t had enough sleep, when you know you could sleep all day and most of the night.

Every part of you hurts, okay?

Ben Nunnery one day said, “My face hurts, Man. My face hurts.”

 

 

 

Flak Bait

B-26 flew more than 200 missions over occupied Europe. The aircraft is scheduled for presentation at the Smithsonian in 2025.

"At a time when just 25 completed missions was considered a notable feat, Flak-Bait achieved more than 200. On its 180th outing, reports claim, the bomber received no fewer than 700 hits from anti-aircraft fire, or flak. Speaking to the Smithsonian, radio operator McDonald Darnell Jr. recalled, 'Everybody was afraid of the damn thing, but she always got back for us. We always had faith in her.'”

https://social.entrepreneur.com/s/ww2-bomber-secrets?as=6dap23848516590420530&fbclid=IwAR2NZeB0d-HH2qrkiDXIxIdsqyuPX7qKKNAtbfUOnYt2RtPN2LL5iqxK7YA&utm_source=fb&utm_campaign=6dap23848516590420530&utm_medium=z020468&bdk=0

Ace of Spades joke

 A friend met an older woman at a bar last night.

He said, “She looked pretty good for a 60-year-old. In fact, she wasn't too bad at all, and I found myself thinking she probably had a really hot daughter.

“We drank a couple of beers, and she asked if I'd ever had a Sportsman's Double?

“'What's that?' I asked.

“'It's a mother and daughter threesome,' she said.

“As my mind began to embrace the idea, and I wondered what her daughter might look like, I said, 'No, I haven't.'

“We drank a bit more, then she said with a wink, ‘Tonight's your lucky night'. We went back to her place. She held my hand as we walked up the stairs.

“She stopped at the first door, knocked lightly, and said, 'Mom...you still awake?'”(H/T Hrothgar)

Large German publishing firm backs Israel

 “In the wake of the recent attacks on Israel by Hamas, the largest digital publisher in Europe, Axel Springer Verlag in Germany, raised the Israeli flag outside of its corporate headquarters in Berlin. Some of its employees raised objections to this act. The response from the CEO of the company in a corporate video conference held last Thursday as follows:

“’I think, and let me be very frank with you, any person who has problems with us flying the Israeli flag for a week, after the recent Anti-Semitic protests, should look for another job.’ (From Die Kreuznacher Rundschau).

“You can find out more in a slightly longer piece by our friends over at the Daily Wire here: German Media Giant’s Message To Employees: Find A New Job If You’re Anti-Israel.

“Axel Springer publishes the most-read tabloid paper in Germany, Die Bild Zeitung, as well as Die Welt and Business Insider, among other periodicals. It is also a major book publisher, in addition to being the largest digital publisher in Europe. Let’s hope they set a trend.” – Hartmann von Aue

https://ricochet.com/986692/an-encouraging-development-from-the-largest-digital-publisher-in-europe/

 

 

 

It’s good to know why some things happen

My wife and my daughter convinced me to see a doctor about my slight confusion and writing problems after I told them the problems existed, following my fall a month ago. 

I met the doctor this afternoon. The doctor listened. He asked questions. He then said I probably had a concussion, but if there was any bleeding on the brain it was small.

“If you had a large bleed, after a month you would be dead,” he said.

The doctor mentioned an MRI, but my wife quickly said, “He can’t have an MRI.” She then explained the brain aneurysm 35 years ago, and Army doctors who told me an MRI would possibly pull out the spring-loaded stainless steel clip in my brain.

The doctor said he doubted that would happen, but rather than find out with me as the lab monkey, he would check. He called a doctor friend. He called three different numbers before locating the other doctor.

Turns out magnetic attraction between an MRI procedure and a stainless steel aneurysm clip is not likely, but the possibility exists of movement of a clip inside the brain because of the way an MRI works. Movement of anything inside the brain is a thing to be avoided. 

So, there was a reason for my problems. 

I have said this before, but this time I mean it. Political writing is out. There is too much stupidity, too much … Our politicians should just meet on a big field somewhere, with baseball bats, and have at it. The country would be damaged less than by the hardships they are putting us through now.

Anyway, I have a CT scan scheduled for tomorrow.

 

Time out

I am going to a time out place for a while. My Army discharge medical evaluations include the phrases "reduced tolerance to stress," "subtle yet significant deficits in higher levels of cognitive thinking," "emotional lability" and "personality decompensation," all from a cerebral aneurysm 35 years ago. And, about three weeks ago, I fell and hit my head, and things have been a bit different since then. I will be working on stories about Life After Life and maybe refining three Vietnam novels. 

Thanks for reading.

Some days

Some days things sound so much like the day before and the day before that, dealing with the news is nigh unto impossible. Or, at least inimical to one's emotional health.

Marine Corps general fired in drowning deaths of nine

From Valor Guardians

Investigators found the accident, which occurred on July 30 last year, was the result of inadequate training, questionable maintenance of the decades-old amphibious assault vehicles (AAV) and commanders’ bad judgement.

“During the return transit, water began to enter the mishap AAV through multiple points of leakage, the transmission failed, bilge pumps were unable to expel water rapidly enough due to the transmission failure, and the AAV began to sink. The vehicle commander gave the distress signal, known as a ‘November flag,’ but no safety boats were in the water, and it took approximately 20 minutes for another AAV to arrive to assist,” the Corps explained.

“The mishap AAV was slowly sinking for approximately 45 minutes before the other AAV with embarked personnel pulled alongside. The mishap AAV crew prepared to evacuate embarked personnel by opening a hatch on the top of the vehicle. The AAVs collided, causing the mishap AAV to turn broadside to a swell. A large wave swept over the mishap AAV, in which water entered the troop compartment through the open hatch, and caused the mishap AAV to rapidly sink with eleven personnel on board.”

Troops had not been suitably trained to escape the amphibious assault vehicle quickly, nor had the unit executed the required evaluation that would address issues prior to the exercise.

https://valorguardians.com/blog/?p=114432

Marines and sailors were not trained in proper actions, rescue boats were not in the water, the AAV leaked because of bad maintenance. From the original story a couple of months back, everybody involved in planning and execution just sort of decided everything would go OK, and they didn’t have to follow all the proper procedures.

  

Croatia Refuses to ‘Take a Knee’, Says It’s a Political Gesture Against UEFA Rules

Paul Joseph Johnson Summit News

The Croatian national football team says its players will refuse to ‘take a knee’ before their Euro 2020 games because the stunt is an explicitly political gesture which would violate UEFA rules.

 

The argument made in the UK for England players taking the knee, despite being booed for it by their own fans, is that the gesture is merely a symbolic anti-racism stance and doesn’t equate to any form of political messaging.

However, the gesture only started being performed in the UK after the death of George Floyd last year and is inextricably linked with Black Lives Matter, a divisive, violent, extremist far-left political movement.

With Croatia set to play England at Wembley next week, the Croatian Federation said that its players would not be taking a knee before the match and will instead remain standing.

“At a press conference before the European Championships, Croatian national team spokesman Tomislav Pacak did not want to answer a question related to kneeling, but Croatian journalists said the decision was made by the association because kneeling is not part of the UEFA protocol and the UEFA is explicitly opposed to any politically motivated manifestations in sport,” reports Remix.

 

The Hungarian national team will also remain standing for the same reason, with the Hungarian Football Association explaining in a statement, “The rules of UEFA and FIFA do not allow politicization on the pitch and in the stadium, which the MLSZ not only accepts but agrees with. The national team will not express its condemnation of any form of hatred by not kneeling before the matches.”

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban went even further, asserting that the display was a “provocation” when performed in Budapest by Ireland players and is only being performed in some European countries due to their historical guilt over slavery.

Despite the fact that England will flagrantly violate UEFA’s rules on political gestures multiple times by taking the knee, don’t expect them to face any official sanctions.

As we document in the video below, fans who boo players taking the knee have been denounced as racists despite their reason for doing so being exclusively to express opposition to Black Lives Matter’s extremism, iconoclasm and demented political goals.

https://summit.news/2021/06/11/croatia-refuses-to-take-a-knee-says-its-a-political-gesture-against-uefa-rules/

Link at Gates of Vienna

 

 

Orbán: Kneeling on soccer field foreign to Hungarian culture

From Daily News Hungary 

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on Thursday said the practice of players kneeling on soccer fields to protest against racism was foreign to Hungarian culture. 

“I don’t sympathise with this kneeling thing in the slightest,” Orbán told a press briefing.

The prime minister said there was no place for kneeling on sports grounds, “sports is about something else.” 

Orbán said the act of kneeling in Hungary was reserved for prayer, showing patriotism and marriage proposals.

“In all other cases this is foreign to Hungarian culture,” he said. 

He said the practice had been introduced in countries with a history of slavery, adding that “these burdens of the past should be processed by the nations they concern.” 

Countries that do not have a history of slavery cannot help them with that, he added.

https://dailynewshungary.com/orban-kneeling-on-soccer-field-foreign-to-hungarian-culture/

 

Hungarian national team refuses to kneel to BLM, Irish show cowardice

From RMX News

As was expected, the Hungarian national team did not kneel before the last friendly match with Ireland, just four days before the kick-off of the European Championship co-hosted by Hungary, news and opinion portal Mandiner writes.

The protest form, which began in the sporting world with ex-NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, also broke into Euroepan football last year, along with the growing Black Lives Matter movement after the death of George Floyd. At the European Championship, members of the English national team will kneel before the matches, although there were spectators in the British stadiums before the home-run preparation matches who did not like it.

However, the players of the Hungarian team will not kneel at any point during the championship matches, according to a statement by Hungarian national football federation MLSZ, the Hungarian national team will not only follow the international rules and norms in all cases, but will give respect to everyone — be it an opponent, a fan or anyone else.

https://rmx.news/article/article/hungarian-national-team-refuses-to-kneel-for-blm-at-budapest-match-ireland-takes-the-knee

 

Link at Gates of Vienna

Go to jail, go straight to jail

In Britain, anyone who owns a TV must pay a “license fee” for the BBC. In Germany, if you are a breathing adult, you pay a radio licensing fee. Don’t own a TV? See above statement. Georg Thiel decided it was ridiculous for him to pay a fee for a service he did not use. He has been in a German jail for more than 100 days. 

https://gatesofvienna.net/2021/06/prison-time-for-a-tv-tax-refusenik/

 

 

 

 

 

Who’s running this train wreck?

Well, these people say they are

https://twitter.com/i/status/1403394195402858497

Like many other people, I am pissed by those who think we deplorables are as dumb as they are. Somebody was paid real money for thinking up that travesty.

Who do we work for?

From Hot Air 

Here’s some of what Democrats propose.

The top personal income tax rate, which is also the tax rate paid by successful small businesses such as LLCs, sole proprietors, partnerships, and S corporations, would rise from 37% to 43.4%.

The corporate tax rate would go up from 21% to 28%, close to the highest rate in the developed world.

The capital gains tax rate would rise from 23.8% today all the way to 43.4% for higher earners.

A second, "double death tax" would be created by taxing people on their unsold investments at death, assets that would then still be subject to the 40% death tax.

Some Democrats want “even more tax increases on top of these, such as a gas tax hike or a carbon tax.”

“Then there's H.R. 3, the crown jewel of healthcare legislation coming out of Pelosi’s slim majority. The bill imposes government price controls on 250 of the most common prescription medicines, including insulin. In order to make sure that the price control is adopted, the government gives an ‘option’ for the drug to be subject instead to a brand new 95% drug tax. Since people ultimately pay taxes, the 95% Pelosi Drug Tax will fall directly on consumers of prescription medicines, notably seniors.”

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/democrats-push-95-drug-tax-rate

Link at hotair.com

Well, if we seniors can’t afford the cost of prescription drugs plus the 95% tax, we will die off sooner, leaving younger voters, presumably Democrats, to pay for everything else politicians think up. After all, everybody should pay his or her or their fair share. If old folks are not around, the young'uns will have a whole lot of fair share payments.

 

From Western Rifle Shooters

 

Biden’s top general tells the truth on his boss

A couple of days ago, President Biden told a group of soldiers he had asked Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Miley what was the greatest threat to national security. “This is not a joke. You know what the Joint Chiefs told us the greatest threat facing America was? Global warming,” the president said.  

Well, that is not what the general told a Senate committee hearing. Beijing and Moscow are the greatest threats, Miley said.

He did toss a bit of cover for the president, though.

“Climate change does impact, but the president is looking at a much broader angle than I am,” he said, responding to a question from Senator Kevin Cramer (R-North Dakota). “I'm looking at it from a strictly military standpoint. And from a strictly military standpoint, I'm putting China, Russia up there.”

https://www.rt.com/usa/526263-climate-change-threat-milley/