Victor Davis Hanson writes about the war in Ukraine.
The US Military Budget is $817 Billion Dollars
So hostile Bottlecap Balloon Brigade actors had better not step out of line.
A small, globe-trotting balloon declared “missing in action” by an Illinois-based hobbyist club on Feb. 15 has emerged as a candidate to explain one of the three mystery objects shot down by four heat-seeking missiles launched by U.S. Air Force fighters since Feb. 10.
The club—the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade (NIBBB)—is not pointing fingers yet.
But the circumstantial evidence is at least intriguing. The club’s silver-coated, party-style, “pico balloon” reported its last position on Feb. 10 at 38,910 ft. off the west coast of Alaska, and a popular forecasting tool—the HYSPLIT model provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)—projected the cylindrically shaped object would be floating high over the central part of the Yukon Territory on Feb. 11. That is the same day a Lockheed Martin F-22 shot down an unidentified object of a similar description and altitude in the same general area.
There are suspicions among other prominent members of the small, pico-ballooning enthusiasts’ community, which combines ham radio and high-altitude ballooning into a single, relatively affordable hobby.
“I tried contacting our military and the FBI—and just got the runaround—to try to enlighten them on what a lot of these things probably are. And they’re going to look not too intelligent to be shooting them down,” says Ron Meadows, the founder of Scientific Balloon Solutions (SBS), a Silicon Valley company that makes purpose-built pico balloons for hobbyists, educators and scientists.
James Sinclair and Chuck Prodonick
The military stories are incredible. Then come the politics. Take the time, no, make the time, to listen. Language warning: it’s not for treatoddlers or woke snowflakes.
Together they have 54 years of Canadian military experience. They both served in Princess Patricia’s Light Infantry, combined they did tours in Croatia, Bosnia, Kosovo & Afghanistan. This episode marks the first attempt at a military roundtable where we hear stories about the military and an outlook on the world today.
The Decline And Fall Of The American Empire
QOTY: The Department of Defense, which has a $858B yearly budget, unsure what to do about a balloon.
Justin’s New Military
Catholic chaplains could be purged from the CAF. They would be replaced with gay advisors.
White Supremacy Running Rampant In The CAF
Only Justin can save us. As part of their new recruitment drive, they have hired someone to report on racism and how to deal with it. Apparently there are even anti-vaxxers and Freedom Convoy supporters in the military.
Safe and Effective®
@RealSaavedra – The Pentagon has ended its COVID vaccine mandate for the U.S. Military after Kevin McCarthy demanded that it be pulled out of the National Defense Authorization Act that was approved last month.
Buy the damned planes, finally!
In an odd way, Trudeau’s foot dragging on buying the F-35 has resulted in us getting much better planes. But will we get them soon enough?
America Is Back
Avoid Strength, Attack Weakness.
RT editor in chief Margarita Simonyan in a television appearance Thursday said she was “very amused but not surprised” that the Biden administration swapped Griner, rather than Whelan, for notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, as Whelan has “three problems.”
“His first problem is that he is white. His second problem is he is a man. His third problem: He is a heterosexual. This is not something that can be forgiven today,” Simonyan said. […]
Bout, a former Soviet military translator known as the “Merchant of Death,” was convicted in 2011 of selling weapons to a Colombian terrorist cell that planned to kill American soldiers. Simonyan, whom the State Department calls “Vladimir Putin’s loyal propagandist,” said Bout’s release is “the first good news” for Russia.
“The second good news is that [the United States] spits on its heroes to the extent that it considers it significantly more important to free a rightfully charged, well-known athlete,” the Russian propaganda chief said, adding that “this says a lot about the state of this society, of these intelligence agencies, and everything related to geopolitical confrontation.”
Griner since her arrest has become a cause célèbre, which likely informed the Biden administration’s decision to prioritize her release over other Americans imprisoned abroad. President Joe Biden has met with Griner’s wife Cherelle several times, inviting her to the Oval Office on Thursday to personally share the news of Griner’s release.
White Men Running Rampant In The Military
And they wonder why recruitment is so low.
‘White nationalism’ a threat the Canadian Armed Forces aren’t equipped for: watchdog
Remembrance Day 2022, From Ottawa
Go Woke, Go Broke
Now is the time at SDA when we review the state of our military preparedness!
In a historic reform to its nation’s military dress code, Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) on Wednesday permitted the servicemembers to have facial tattoos, dye their hair, allowed women to keep long nails and wear skirts in an attempt to make military service more inclusive. In a statement, Ottawa’s Department of National Defence said that these new military dress and personal grooming regulations were aimed “to support respect, diversity and inclusiveness” and to encourage the youth to join the armed forces. […]
The Canadian army will now be allowed to choose whether to wear skirts or pants. The updated rules will accommodate the men who identify as females to wear the skirts and blouses as part of their uniforms, according to an FAQ released by the Canadian military.
The commander of the Canadian Armed Forces is calling on the country to rally behind its military as it faces an unprecedented personnel crisis that he says is threatening its ability to protect and defend Canada. […]
The extraordinary appeal comes as Eyre and his subordinates are struggling to fill about 10,000 empty positions at a time when Canada’s military is facing a growing number of threats and requests for help at home and abroad.
At 19 Wing Comox on Vancouver Island a senior officer recently told Armed Forces members they could contact Habitat for Humanity if they needed help finding housing.
Also October, 2022.
h/t jk
How on earth did we get to this point?
Please show me how Tucker Carlson is wrong.
“Non-Essential”
CTV- Military’s chief orders halt to non-essential activities, focus on personnel crisis
The Armed Forces is supposed to be adding about 5,000 troops to the regular and reserve forces to meet a growing list of demands, but is instead short more than 10,000 trained members — meaning about one in 10 positions are currently vacant.
The problem has become so acute that some senior offers have started using the word “crisis” in interviews with The Canadian Press, including the commander of the navy and the officer responsible for military recruitment and training.
The China Virus
“Even as the military faces its greatest enlistment crisis in decades, tens of thousands of Christian service-members face expulsion for refusing to take the COVID-19 shot. The largest branch of the services, the U.S. Army, announced it met only 52% of its recruitment goal this fiscal year, which ends Friday,” Johnson reports today.
Today on Unsolved Mysteries
Canadian Press- Military sounding alarm over recruiting problems as Canadians steer clear
But Brodie says the military is getting about half the number of applicants it needs per month to meet the goal of adding 5,900 members this year.
The shortfall is expected to exacerbate the current personnel shortage, with about one in 10 of the military’s 100,000 positions unfilled.
“We are without a doubt in an applicant crisis right now,” Brodie says.
Net Zero
This is big. Story is still developing. And there’s a lot of speculation going round.
ZeroHedge- Damage To Nord Stream Pipelines “Unprecedented;” May Have Been ‘Sabotaged’
Jerusalem Post- Blasts occurred near Nord Stream gas leaks, seismologist tells SVT
Seismologists in Denmark and Sweden on Monday registered powerful blasts in the areas of the Nord Stream gas leaks, Sweden’s National Seismology Centre (SNSN) at the Uppsala University told public broadcaster SVT on Tuesday.
“There is no doubt that these were explosions,” SNSN seismologist Bjorn Lund told SVT.
The size of the Nord Stream pipeline gas leak is huge.
According to the Danish armed forces, it measures about 1 kilometer in diameter. The smaller circle in the center is approximately 200 meters wide https://t.co/7FJQNN5hNg
— Javier Blas (@JavierBlas) September 27, 2022
Praise The Lord and Pass The Ammunition
No rush.
The Telegraph- Britain runs low on ammo as Ukraine bombards Kremlin forces
Ukraine, then, still has a great need for ammunition. It is burning through thousands of rounds and rockets each day, but Britain’s arms industry is yet to get the orders it needs to increase production and deliver on Truss’s pledge.
Much of the UK’s ammunition stockpile is built by BAE Systems, Britain’s largest defence contractor. A deal to expand production is expected but it has not yet been signed.
This is how the west fights its enemies.
Take That Putin
The Electric Hummer
Get your mind out of the gutter.
ZeroHedge- US Army Embraces “EV Future” With New Electric Hummer