Category Archives: rants

US Doubling Minesweepers in the Persian Gulf

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The US Navy owns 14 minesweepers, arguably the lowest number since 1942. Of those 14, 4 are in the Persian Gulf stationed at Manama, Bahrain. Literally within site of Iranian waters.

Now another 4 are on the way.

Good move if you ask me.

All of the US Navy’s minesweepers are pushing 25-years of age and were paid for in the Regan administration. They are of the Avenger Class

Builder: Peterson Shipbuilders, Sturgeon Bay, Wis.
Propulsion System: four diesels
Propellers: two
Length: 224 feet (68.28 meters)
Beam: 39 feet (11.89 meters)
Draft: 11,5 feet (3.5 meters)
Displacement: 1,312 tons
Speed: 14 knots
Armament: Mine neutralization system, two .50 caliber machine guns

Crew: 8 Officers, 76 Enlisted

 

Femme Fatale, Femme Rafale

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French Air Force (Armee de la Air) Captain Claire-Mérouze was part of the team sent to Brazil to help try to sell the the Rafale fighter bomber to the Brazilian Air Force.

Even Brazil is catching on to the spokes-model atmosphere of it…they posted an article entitled Femme Fatale, Femme Rafale on one of their air-force blogs. http://www.aereo.jor.br/2012/03/08/femme-fatale-femme-rafale/


No one ever said the French were dumb.

TSA Infographic

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Provided by: http://www.onlinecriminaljusticedegree.com please take and pass around but please attribute to them. Thanks

Who thought of that?

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Probably the most devastating screw-up in the history of helping was the decisions that lead to cluster munitions and daily food ration packets both being colored canary yellow.

Left is delicious. Right will kill you. You try tell the difference if you can't read English and live out in the steppes.

Each yellow BLU-97 bomblet is the size of a soda can and is capable of killing anyone within a 50 meter radius and severely injuring anyone within 100 meters from the detonation. A Humanitarian Daily Rations (HDR) package contains a 2,000 calorie meal.

It was inevitable that Afghans coming across the yellow packages in the field would confuse the two. Children in particular — with no English and little idea of what a BLU-97 is even if they did — would investigate the yellow containers and try to pick them up, with devastating consequences that an Air Force general described as “unfortunate.”

hatip, Matador network…

Dont Swoop!

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Seals used to get reamed for this….now its an extreme sport…

 

http://www.smh.com.au/world/going-to-extremes-swooping-claims-seal-trainer-20120221-1tl83.html#ixzz1mzidddso

 

 

US Army Sergeant kills Afghan civilains, including 9 kids…

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Just in from the NYT. It doesn’t look good.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/12/world/asia/afghanistan-civilians-killed-american-soldier-held.html?_r=1&hp

PANJWAI, Afghanistan — Stalking from home to home, a United States Army sergeant methodically killed at least 16 civilians, 9 of them children, in a rural stretch of southern Afghanistan early on Sunday, igniting fears of a new wave of anti-American hostility, Afghan and American officials said.

Residents of three villages in the Panjwai district of Kandahar Province described a terrifying string of attacks in which the soldier, who had walked more than a mile from his base, tried door after door, eventually breaking in to kill within three separate houses. The man gathered 11 bodies, including those of 4 girls younger than 6, and set fire to them, villagers said….

One last fight for secret soldiers

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MINNEAPOLIS — In asmall building on Arcade Street in St. Paul, about a dozen Hmong veterans of the Vietnam War — all trained, paid and armed to fight for the United States by the Central Intelligence Agency — gather regularly to discuss upcoming public service events or festivities where their honor guard might be needed.They dress in old military uniforms they have bought on their own and have decorated with patches of their own design.



The meetings now come with a renewed urgency.

When they die, these secret warriors of a secret American war want to buried in veterans cemeteries alongside their American comrades. But even though they now are commonly acknowledged as having fought for the United States in northern Laos, they are prohibited by law from being buried in national or state veterans cemeteries, which are reserved for American service members and honorably discharged U.S. military veterans and their families.

http://www.stripes.com/news/veterans/one-last-fight-for-secret-soldiers-1.170566

Dont be so fast to make plans for 2041!

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THE GIST

  • The 460 feet (140 meter) wide space rock may pose a hazard in 2040, so researchers are calling for deflection plan discussions.
  • Asteroid 2011 AG5 was discovered in January 2011 by Mount Lemmon Survey astronomers in Tucson, Ariz.
  • Although it is currently considered “high risk,” we’ve only been watching it for half an orbit, so more observations are needed.

So in other words, we have a big ass rock headed for us.

So big that they are already talking about how (not why) they are going to try to deflect it. Call Bruce Willis.

http://news.discovery.com/space/asteroid-impact-hazard-2040-120228.html

Inside the wreck of the Costa Concordia

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One week ago the cruise ship Costa Concordia ran aground off Isola del Giglio, Italy. Of the more than 4,200 aboard, 11 have been confirmed dead, 21 remain missing, and hopes of finding any more survivors are fading quickly. Rescue operations were called off earlier today amid fears the ship could quickly slip and sink deeper during worsening weather conditions. Captain Francesco Schettino remains under house arrest as investigators work to determine exactly what happened, and who was at fault. Rescue workers have spent the past seven days rappelling from helicopters, scaling the hull, scrambling inside and diving beneath the wreckage, racing against the clock to find anyone alive inside the massive wreck.

The Atlantic has an amazing series of 34 photos from inside the massive wreck.

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2012/01/inside-the-wreck-of-the-costa-concordia/100229/

Armed Citizens vs Criminals

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Ginny Simone talks to Clayton Cramer, co author of “Tough Targets: When Criminals Face Armed Resistance from Citizens” – NRA News – January 8,

 

 

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