waveshaper

Pentagon Press Briefing (about an hour ago): Some caution being exercised on this crazy Nuke stuff. 'Such provocative rhetoric and possible changes to nuclear posture involving the most consequential weapons in our respective arsenals is unacceptable. The United States has not taken any similar steps. And so in an effort to demonstrate that we have no intention in engaging in any actions that can be misunderstood or misconstrued, the secretary of defense has directed that our Minuteman-III intercontinental ballistic missile test launch scheduled for this week to be postponed. Now, we did not take this decision lightly, but instead, to demonstrate that we are a responsible nuclear power. This is not a step backwards in our readiness, nor does it imply that we will necessarily cancel other routine activities to ensure a credible nuclear capability. We remain confident in our strategic posture, as we've said before, and our ability to defend the homeland and our allies and partners remains fully intact and ready. We recognize at this moment of tension how critical it is that both the United States and Russia bear in mind the risk of miscalculation, and take steps to reduce those risks.' Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby Holds a Press Briefing > U.S. Department of Defense > Transcript

Some info on this Turkish drone + primary ordnance it carries: - 'MAM-L missile: The MAM-L is offered with high explosive fragmentation, thermobaric, and tandem HEAT warheads, probably with the anticipation that it might be used against a wider variety of targets. This is in line with other micro drone munitions, which make up for the small size of the warhead by offering specialized variants that are optimized for specific target types, as opposed to larger warheads which can be decent at both fragmentation and HEAT effect if the warhead is designed with a fragmentation rings.' Etc,etc. Is Turkey's Military a Drone Superpower? | The National Interest - Baykar Bayraktar TB2 Drone: Baykar Bayraktar TB2 - Wikipedia

The last Russian Empire collapsed in 1917 after Russian soldiers/citizens got tired of the Tsar's shitshow/slaughter on the Eastern Front and back in the homeland. Hopefully we will eventually see a repeat (Round 2) and Emperor Ras-Putin will meet the same fate as Tsar Nicholas II. Eastern Front 1917/Movie Clip. Most of the actual Russian military units that mutinied were on Ukrainian turf.

Ukraine is game to you!?/:>) https://youtu.be/fzLtF_PxbYw

Yep, I get it. I just figured that due to the potential rapidly deteriorating situation in the Ukraine AO that the US State Department might be able to exert a little leverage on Poland/Romania (EU/NATO). Hopefully we can convince Poland/Romania to conduct this bureaucratic screening process (Passports/Visa/Covid Vaccination + Test, etc) of our evacuating US Citizens (also other countries citizens) at a safe location inside these countries that's a good distance from the Ukraine border.

The State Department sure has some screwed up/ass-backward priorities that will complicate/slow the emergency ground evac of US Citizen trying to get the heck out of Dodge (Press Release/Source=State Department/US Embassy in Ukraine). 'Message to U.S. Citizens: Poland/Ukraine Border Open to U.S. Citizens:' 'U.S. citizens must present proof of COVID-19 vaccination. Travelers are also encouraged to present a negative test result from a PCR or antigen COVID-19 test, which will facilitate entry into Poland.' etc, etc, etc. Message to U.S. Citizens: Poland/Ukraine Border Open to U.S. Citizens - U.S. Embassy in Ukraine (usembassy.gov)

Here's just one example of someone who might want info like this to get out. 'Army flight surgeon says pilots risk ‘sudden cardiac death’ from COVID vaccine side effect' Army flight surgeon says pilots risk 'sudden cardiac death' from COVID vaccine side effect | American Military News 'A U.S. Army flight surgeon is warning that known side effects associated with the COVID-19 vaccines pose a potentially deadly risk to pilots and is alleging the Army isn’t following Department of Defense protocols to screen pilots for those potentially deadly side effects.' Lt. Col. Theresa Long recently filed an affidavit stating there is a risk of Myocarditis, a condition that causes inflammation to the heart muscle, associated with the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines. Long noted one potential complication of Myocarditis is “sudden cardiac death” and said “flight crews present extraordinary risks to themselves and others' etc, etc;

Yep, I remember all that lethal aid we sent them in 2014/15. Here's a video of them doing some live fire training with all these US provided weapons/rumor was that all the Russian combat troops got a woody after watching this Ukrainian combat training video.

Here's the latest: 'Airmen Have Five Days to Get Immunized After Vaccine Exemption Is Denied or They Face Punishment, Air Force Says | Military.com' 'So far, the service has approved 1,133 medical exemptions, 184 administrative exemptions, but no religious exemptions for its active-duty force of about 326,000, the service said Tuesday. About 4,756 active-duty airmen are awaiting decisions on religious exemptions requests'.

These potential Russian moves involving Eastern Ukrainian turf sound ominously familiar and give me the jitters in a bad karmic kind of way. Back in the day, when the newly formed Soviet Union was going balls to the wall expanding their empire - they made a similar move in this AO. The Soviets invaded Eastern Ukraine and occupied it while simultaneously Poland invaded and occupied Western Ukraine. Later, Hitler and Stalin cut a deal involving this AO and in Sept 1939 Germany invaded/occupied Western Poland and the Soviets invaded/occupied Polish controlled Western Ukraine/Eastern Poland = the rest is history.

I see things haven't changed much in Russia/USSR since WW2 . Typically volunteers for vaccines in that AO are Shatrafniki's assigned to a Shtrafbat.

Here's another site that tracks each states daily/cumulative Covid hospitalizations and the State's hospital bed capacity. Key words 'cumulative hospitalizations': New York currently leads the pack in cumulative hospitalizations - 'New York cumulative Covid hospitalizations = 89,995 (note: Texas might also be in the running for top dog but they, for some reason, don't report cumulative totals). 'COVID-19 hospitalizations by state: Nov. 24' 'Texas has the most COVID-19 patients hospitalized in the U.S., according to the COVID Tracking Project. 'The Atlantic's COVID tracking project compiles data directly from the websites of local or state public health authorities. When data is missing from the websites, it supplements available numbers with information from official news conferences. Data was last updated Nov. 21, Nov. 22 or Nov. 23, depending on the state.' https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/public-health/number-of-covid-19-hospitalizations-state-by-state-july-15.html

Dang - she only lasted ‘About Half A Scaramucci’:

Here's the official investigation/report (long - 246 pages/lots redacted). Chapter 4 'Command Climate and Formal Complaints' covers most of this stuff (pages 56 - 80). Also, pages 71 - 80 covers this incident in detail - Nicknames (like Pornstache, etc), Call Sign Policy, Lt Al-Shamrani and other complaints, the complaint process, the apology that wasn't enough for Lt Al-Shamrani - '2nd Lt Al-Shamrani said, “I want his hea…I want something to happen to him!', etc. https://www.secnav.navy.mil/foia/readingroom/HotTopics/Pensacola Investigation/Command Investigation - NAS Pensacola Shooting Report and Endorsements (Redacted for Release).pdf

"Navy Investigation of Pensacola Shooting Points to ‘Toxic’ Command Climate as Factor" Short version: How to avoid triggering a Jihadist - Instructors shouldn't give them nicknames like 'Pornstache' or refer to them as 'the a--hole' or tell them they 'Stink/send them home to take a shower' or tell them they don't respect women, etc, etc. Red Flag, if your an instructor don't do this - 'an instructor from TW-6 was present while Alshamrani applied to purchase a firearm in July 2019. While his action was legal, Alshamrani violated Navy regulations and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia policy for students training in the U.S. by purchasing the weapon, "transporting it onto NAS Pensacola and storing it in his [public-private venture] residence," the report states.' The instructor was unaware that Alshamrani's application violated the service's rules, according to the report. https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/11/20/navy-investigation-of-pensacola-shooting-points-toxic-command-climate-factor.html

Another angle to help understand the impact of COVID when it comes to death rates is to look at the potential adjustment to the 2020 US life expectancy due to COVID-19. These life expectancy downward adjustments may be heavily localized - "see NYC as an example". Here's some data on this subject: - "Using data reported by the New York City Health Department through May 14, 2020, we estimated that the excess deaths to date due to COVID-19 caused a drop in life expectancy of 5 years (95% CI: 4.8 – 5.2 years)." - "Reductions in 2020 US life expectancy due to COVID-19 and the disproportionate impact on the Black and Latino populations": (Source - NIH/long/complicated/etc). "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7523145/

RIP. I believe Air Force One was fixing to land in Pensacola about the time this crash happened? "The crash happened Friday at 5 p.m." "The two killed in Friday night's crash are the Navy's first aviation-related fatalities in more than a year. The Naval Safety Center announced Tuesday that the Navy and Marine Corps recorded no aviation-related deaths in fiscal 2020, which ended Sept. 30."

Shielded Mild Det Cord (SMDC)/Flexible Confined Det Cord (FCDC) functioning:

My recommendation for the next debate moderator = Nurse Ratched:

The latest: "Air Force moves to cancel contracts for training on white privilege" "The Air Force is taking the first steps toward canceling any contracts for diversity and unconscious bias training that include segments on white privilege and other controversial subjects, as called for by the White House." Etc, etc, etc. https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2020/09/22/air-force-moves-to-cancel-contracts-for-training-on-white-privilege/

"Trump Says Troops Won’t Have to Pay Back Deferred Payroll Taxes -- If He Wins": "President Donald Trump pledged that service members and Defense Department civilians won't have to pay back the extra money that will be in their paychecks through the end of the year under the payroll tax deferral plan -- if he wins re-election in November." "In a Twitter post Thursday night, Trump wrote, "When we win I, as your President, will totally forgive ALL deferred payroll taxes with money from the General Fund." https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/09/11/trump-says-troops-wont-have-pay-back-deferred-payroll-taxes-if-he-wins.html

IMHO, Soleimani should've been targeted/killed long before the current POTUS ever took office. Also, I place most of the blame for these endless wars squarely on "Congress". When and under what authorization did we get stuck "Again" in the middle of this Iraqi/Syrian - Sunni/Shia/Kurd/Tribal/etc/etc endless Civil War? - When (Round 3/4?) = Operation Inherent Resolve (start date - 2014/end date - TBD). - Authorization - 2002 AUMF (Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq).

Here's a list of "NEW" wars/conflicts the US has been involved in since the mid 1970's. President Ford was the last President to not get the US involved in a new war/conflict. POTUS Scorecard for getting the US involved in "NEW" wars/conflicts (I only covered the new war/conflict start dates not the war/conflict end dates). The timeframe covered is from President Ford to President Trump; - President Ford = He got the US involved in "Zero" New Wars/Conflicts during his term in office. President Carter = He got the US involved in "Two" New Wars/Conflicts (One Minor League Conflict and One Doozy with lots of blowback) during his term in office. - President Reagan = He got the US involved in "Seven" New Wars/Conflicts during his term in office. - President HW Bush = He got the US involved in "Five" New Wars/Conflicts during his term in office. - President Clinton = He got the US involved in "Three" New Wars/Conflicts during his term in office. - President GW Bush = He got the US involved in "Five" New Wars/Conflicts during his term in office. - President Obama = He got the US involved in "Seven" New Wars/Conflicts during his term in office. - President Trump = So far he has gotten the US involved in "Zero" New Wars/Conflicts during his term in office.

Here's a snapshot on how Michigan is tabulating the states total monthly deaths by select medical/health related causes. This chart also includes all COVID classified deaths since March 2020. I'm not sure how the other 49 states collect and publish this type data but for simple minded folks like me it's easy to see that COVID is probably the main reason there's been a spike in the Michigan death count since March 2020. "Number of Deaths by Select Causes of Death by Month, Michigan Occurences": https://www.mdch.state.mi.us/osr/Provisional/MontlyDxCounts.asp Year of Death Month of Death Number of Deaths Total Cancer Heart Disease COPD Stroke Pneumonia & Flu Septicemia COVID-19 2019 January 8,490 798 2,274 486 443 176 107 – 2019 February 7,712 665 2,064 452 386 144 93 – 2019 March 8,582 777 2,230 522 479 197 88 – 2019 April 7,987 719 1,984 510 422 203 117 – 2019 May 8,164 795 2,090 486 422 140 78 – 2019 June 7,711 729 1,971 468 374 116 90 – 2019 July 7,994 836 2,002 456 413 109 93 – 2019 August 7,811 797 1,948 431 403 89 93 – 2019 September 7,734 770 1,884 444 406 109 87 – 2019 October 8,292 862 2,112 472 446 100 86 – 2019 November 8,395 729 2,196 462 424 122 106 – 2019 December 8,777 861 2,394 512 474 136 96 – 2020 January 8,932 857 2,224 607 512 181 116 – 2020 February 8,227 708 2,148 497 478 229 111 – 2020 March 9,635 807 2,386 578 495 300 126 461 2020 April 13,031 753 2,535 544 505 254 125 3,197 2020 May 9,284 750 2,024 404 473 132 87 1,152 2020 June 8,163 773 1,883 381 429 90 89 249 2020 July 8,221 757 1,876 410 400 70 110 132 2020 August 2,472 86 243 62 67 9 11 42

This seems like a move from the original Tuskegee Airmen recruitment playbook: IMHO, the folks that came up with this idea need to attend this new USAF Microaggressions Course; https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/08/26/conversation-about-race-air-force-warns-troops-avoid-microaggressions.html