Howdy All, a few Interesting Items for your information. Enjoy –
In this issue –
1. NATO
2. CSAR
3. Artemis
4. Bondi
5. Death
6. Birthright
7. KBJ
8. Tiger
1. NATO. Perhaps the biggest story out of the war with Iran last week was the active obstruction of the Allied war effort in Iran by France, Spain and Italy. All three nations are NATO members. All three nations denied both overflight and landing privileges for US jets enroute to and from Iran. While socialist Spain and France don’t surprise me, Italy led by a nominally conservative Meloni does. Note that these are bases the US built and have funded for half a century to support NATO wartime commitments. Germany and Great Britain are not active obstructionists for the air war, but they are not readily supportive. This follows fast on the heels of Trump’s request for NATO support to open the Strait of Hormuz, something Europe for the most part rejected right up to the point where he told them they weren’t needed to open the Strait. 22 nations immediately decided they would help out. What is really going on?
- Trump told the world that the US doesn’t need anything flowing through the Strait of Hormuz and that it is their job to open it and keep it open. Looks like the Gulf States and the Pacific nations (India, Philippines, Southeast Asia and Oz) are lining up to do precisely that. How quickly it goes is anyone’s guess, though there are reports that the Strait is open to shipping. When we hear more reports of open than closed and see the gasoline prices fall (a lagging indicator), I will believe it.
2. CSAR. Search and Rescue (SAR) is a military mission to find and retrieve a downed aircrew member. When it is actively opposed, it is called a Combat SAR (CSAR). The mission is incredibly complex and dynamic involving multiple aircraft, helos, friendlies and enemy on the ground. If it is a CSAR that means you get to do it all in a hostile environment with the hostiles trying to capture / kill the evader and remove as many aircraft from the sky as possible. The current festivities started when an F-15E was shot down Friday. The front seater was quickly rescued (a couple hours). The back seater took a couple days of some of the more complex operation in recent memory. Special Ops were also involved. At least 4 other airframes were lost during the action, an A-10 on the first day, a pair of MC-130s stuck in wet sand last weekend, and at least one helo. Sounds like quite the action. This one was successful. Contrast this with Hilly and O’Bama leaving Americans to die in Libya in 2012. It will take a while, perhaps years before the details of this one are released. Good job, guys.
3. Artemis. While all of this was going on, NASA launched the first rocket to the moon in 54 years, the Artemis 2 mission. Flight path is similar to that flown by Apollo 13. The most substantial difference is a day in low earth orbit to check out systems before going to the moon. Closest approach happens this afternoon. The orbit will take it well past the moon and then back to earth, splashing down Friday Apr 10. So far, the mission has gone well, with the normal plumbing problems with a space toilet. In the old days, capsules handled the bodily functions with diapers and bags. One of the old solutions was to constipate the astronauts a bit so as to minimize those problems. As everything is connected, the more solid the stool, the harder it is for the equipment to handle, a problem ISS has been dealing with for decades. The largest concern with Orion is reentry, as the heat shield did not do well during the unmanned Artemis 1 test flight Dec 2022, with large chunks breaking off during reentry. That problem is supposedly solved. We will see. Prayers for safe return.
4. Bondi. Attorney General Pam Bondi left the Trump administration to pursue other opportunities. The departure appeared amiable, though it was quick. Bondi has taken no small amount of criticism over her failure to prosecute those who prosecuted Trump after he left office. OTOH, she has been outstanding fighting the lawfare machine so beloved by democrats. Outgoing US Senator Thom Tillis (R, NC) is doing his best dog in a manger routine promptly announced he would not vote for any replacement unless they swore obeisance to the Jan 6 hoax narrative. He leaves office Jan 2027, which can’t come soon enough. Trump picked Todd Blanche, Associate Attorney General as acting for the foreseeable future. No replacement has been named as yet, though speculation abounds. Associate Attorney General for Civil Rights, Harmeet Dhillon is getting a promotion. Trump appears to be configuring his administration for the next couple years and not to waste any time while doing so.
5. Death. Leftism has become the culture of death. This is not unexpected. Perhaps it always was, but it is not as obvious as it has been in recent months. First, we have Canada, where Medically Assisted Dying (MAID) is being used to target elderly, cancer, and other inconvenient people is now responsible for a growing 5% of all deaths nationwide. Most of those who partake have terminal conditions, with an average age of 78. It is also a great way for National Health Care to save money (no old farts to care for). MAID was recommended to an 80+ year old a couple weeks ago with back pain. Second participant is socialist Spain, which successfully euthanized a young woman paralyzed by a suicide attempt. This case is particularly heartbreaking, not unlike the Terry Schiavo case in Florida, 2005. The Spanish woman was sexually assaulted three times, with the last in 2022. Attackers were young Muslim men who were never prosecuted for the multiple repeat reported crimes. She attempted suicide by jumping out a 5th story window, breaking her spine. Decided she wanted to die, which the docs were more than willing to assist. Her father fought the decision in court for two years, actively fought by the state and hospital before losing. Note that his fight was against the hospital and pro-euthanasia advocates. The more you tolerate death, the more death you end up with.
6. Birthright. SCOTUS heard arguments over a Trump Executive Order shutting down the birthright citizenship industry in the US. Birthright citizenship is the notion that any child born in the US regardless of the citizenship status of the mother is instantly a citizen of the US. This has led to an veritable industry the imports pregnant women into the US who give birth then return home. Mom and the kid then show up afterwards demand citizenship for themselves and then the entire extended family via chain migration. The CCP has their own little version of the scam, with well-connected mothers showing up, giving birth, and returning home with the kiddo, where he or she can be raised and indoctrinated by the CCP, returning to the US as fully formed adults to diddle American elections. A pair of these birthright Chinese were responsible for placement of an IED inside Joint Base McDill a couple weeks ago. One was arrested. The other escaped back to China. The arguments did not go particularly well for the Trump administration, with the biggest concern being how to unwind the current system, something that never seemed to bother the Court when it threw out all abortion laws nationwide in 1972. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was characteristically silly with a question about children of tourists being US citizens if they were born while the parents were in country at the birth. This should be an interesting opinion for the so-called originalists like Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Barrett, as the 14th Amendment that this scam is based upon was written so that children of freed slaves would also be American citizens along with their parents. Diplomats were specifically rejected during arguments in congress. We are about to find out whether the constitution a suicide pact or not.
7. KBJ. Fun piece out of Hot Air last week arguing that Ketanji Brown Jackson (KBJ) is not the idiot you think she is. Rather, it is her logic trail that is making everyone crazy, as KBJ is a committed Marxist, using the tools provided by Critical Theory. What is Critical Theory? Critical theory asserts that words and in particular the Law is all about power structures, designed to preserve the power of the Ruling Class (whatever the Hell that is), white supremacy, colonialism or some other form of oppression. These words are tools of oppression and need to be redefined. To KBJ and fellow Marxists, words are all about maintaining power rather than seeking truth. In KBJ’s Marxist world, what is true or false doesn’t matter. What matters is all about useful in reaching the Marxist goal, power to get from here to there. Critical Theory is the Marxist toolkit. When asked what a woman is, her answer is accurate as it describes where she is in that power formulation for that particular question. She doesn’t know the answer until she goes through the workup, pulling from wherever she pulls it from, to come up with a response. In short, she chooses outcome first and creates a path to get from where she wants to be to how to get there. It seems idiotic, but it takes an awful lot of brane cells to jump through all those hoops on the way, unnecessary hoops. She is not an idiot. She is evil. Sadly, unless impeached and removed, she will be with us for a very long time. Thank you Brandon.
8. Tiger. Golfer Tiger Woods got himself into another vehicle accident, rolling a vehicle while driving last week. He refused to take a blood test which resulted in an instant license suspension for a year. He also had hydrocodone with him, though he said the accident was due to distracted driving. I don’t know how much money he has left after multiple accidents and a messy divorce, but I would think he ought to be a fan of a Tesla with Full Self Drive (FSD). A Cybertruck can be had starting at around $60,000 these days. Even if supervised FSD) the cost of an second driver would be well worth it. Of course, laws in Florida would need to be changed to allow FSD drivers to be impaired. This is a case where the tech is a long way ahead of the legal system.
More later –