This restores my faith in some churches.

Full disclosure.

I've quietly been having a serious case of heartburn.  The reason is because you have all these church charities.  Instead of looking around their city, county or state at the people close to them that need help, they've joined efforts to bring people into the nation from war torn states.

The heartburn comes because people that they pass by everyday are struggling yet instead of helping them they decide to go the high profile route and do the politically correct thing.

This church is doing it the right way, but that goes to the core of what's wrong with our country and why I think that we're headed to a serious meltdown.  CITI predicts that the chances of a recession next year at 65% likely.  China isn't getting any better.  The middle east is melting down and arms sales to that region is brisk.  Gas is down but oil producing parts of the country are already in a hurt locker.

And then we have the threat of terrorism.

We've talked on these pages of what happens to countries that have been ravaged by war for over a decade.  Drug use booms and people start treating life as if its cheap.  But what happens to a developed country when its been in economic trouble for over a decade, been waging war for as long and tensions across the board are increasing?

Yeah.  The Christian church in the US has enough problems at home without trying to save some souls across the seas.

The so called "increase" in F-35 numbers is a fiction.

Thanks to Jonathan for the link!

via Defense Aerospace.

To support Norway’s continued acquisition of the F-35 along with its associated infrastructure the Government proposes a 2016 budget allocation of NOK 8.6 billion. While this proposal includes NOK 1.1 billion re-allocated from the 2015 budget due to planned payments that have been postponed, this nevertheless constitutes a near doubling of the 2015-level.
Also covered by the funding increase are additional funds for the construction of the new F-35-base at Ørland Main Air Station, where several projects are already underway to prepare for the arrival of the first F-35 in Norway in 2017.
The Norwegian Parliament has already authorized the procurement of 22 of the 52 aircraft Norway plans to procure, which includes deliveries up to and including 2019. In the 2016 budget, the Government requests authorization to begin procurement of an additional six aircraft for delivery in 2020.
On Tuesday the 6th of October the Norwegian acquisition of the F-35 reached another milestone as the second F-35 for Norway, AM-2, completed a successful test flight from Lockheed Martin’s facility in Fort Worth, Texas. This was the first flight for a Norwegian F-35, and comes only two weeks after the formal roll-out ceremony for the first Norwegian F-35.

That sounds like fantastic news doesn't it (if you're a F-35 fanboy).  But wait a sec...lets see what the Editor of Defense Aerospace has to say...

EDITOR’S NOTE: The “near-doubling” of funding for the F-35 program that leads the above statement by Norway’s MoD is achieved by carrying over 1.1 billion kroner of unspent money from 2015.
In actual fact, there is no “near-doubling” as combined funding for the program in 2015 and 2016 remains flat.
It is disappointing to see Norway’s government adopting the “smoke and mirrors” approach to public communications used by Lockheed Martin and by other, less reputable, governments.

A lie from the Norwegian Ministry of Defense?  I'm surprised.  I believed that they were beyond the type of games that our own DoD revels in.

But I shouldn't be.  Lockheed Martin and the F-35 has corrupted the defense establishments of the western world.

Norwegian Leopard 2A4NO Main Battle Tanks in the snow (pics)

Blackwater Mercs take their first hits in Yemen...including an Australian national killed...

Thanks to MicMac for the link!

via The Guardian

An Australian mercenary has reportedly been killed in clashes in Yemen, alongside six Colombian troops.
Guardian Australia understands the Australian commander was named Philip Stitman. The world needs to know about Yemen’s war. But journalists are being silenced.  It’s believed he was employed as a mercenary by the United Arab Emirates to lead Colombian fighters against the Houthis in the country’s south.
Local media reports said six Colombian soldiers under the Australian’s command had also been killed. They were reportedly advancing towards the al-Amri area in the heavily contested Taiz province, in Yemen’s south-west.
The mercenaries, including the Australian, were fighting with the private military contractor Blackwater, the reports said.

Yeah.

This is gonna happen again.  The only good thing is that the Houthis don't appear to have the same "lust for torture" that the ISIS animals do.  But I expect to see more Westerners killed before its over.  The money is...decent...not compelling enough in my opinion to risk it...but many will jump at the chance.

 What would really be interesting is if Prince decides to dip his toe in the Syrian fight.  That would REALLY attract a bunch of people.  I wonder how desperate the Saudi's are? 

USMC briefing on ISIS (pdf). MUST SEE!

Many thanks to Bruce for the link!

  Is the Caliphate Revision Nov 2015

I beg you all to take the time to go thru these slides and get the quick and dirty on ISIS.

Long story short?  These bastards are the same animals that we thought we had put in the ground so long ago.  We've been lied to.  Bin Laden's boys are still around causing trouble (well at least a band of them).

All the talk from the White House about degrading Al Qaeda is just another lie...they're back and like a bad Sci-Fi movie they've mutated into something even more deadly.

Kalibr sub launched cruise missile strike against Syrian rebel positions (vid)

Syria is more than a civil war.  It's become a capabilities demonstration of Russian high tech weapons.  So far I'd say that I'm rather impressed.

Factual lies against Trump's poorly rolled out plan.

If you ever wonder why I hate to engage in debates on this page it's really simple.  I despise people putting words into my mouth, attempting to infer some type of  mood and the attempts to depict me as being "excited" when I'm anything but.  Quite honestly I've taken to just blocking those type of people.

But it's the same time of dishonest gamesmanship that is being used against Trump.  It reminds me of debates with American Mercenary.  Talk about twisting simple statements so hard that they were no longer recognizable!

Well Trump is facing that now.

What happens if you stop immigration from Syria, Iraq, Iran and Northern Africa...or demand that people from those lands undergo detailed vetting before they're allowed into the country?

You're in essence doing what Trump calls for yet you can label it as being aimed at nations involved in or hubs of terrorism.

Trump is getting hit because he didn't play the Washington word game.  Its a pity.  I'm not sure I'll vote for Trump but the rest of the field leaves me cold.

The Republican elite by teaming with the Democrats to beat up Trump on this issue is only guaranteeing Hillary Clinton gets the White House.

The so called conservative elite are idiots.  They're giving it all away and this will not be forgotten.

I told you that the SPMAGTF-CR was a lie!

via Free Beacon.

Newly released emails show that a senior Defense Department official offered the State Department “forces that could move to Benghazi” immediately during the deadly 2012 attack there on the American consulate.
Jeremy Bash, the former Pentagon chief of staff, offered to provide forces at 7:19 p.m. on the evening of the attack, “only hours after they had begun,” according to Judicial Watch, which disclosed the email on Tuesday.
“We have identified the forces that could move to Benghazi. They are spinning up as we speak,” Bash wrote.
Portions of the email remain redacted by the Obama administration.
“The Obama administration redacted the details of the military forces available, oddly citing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) exemption that allows the withholding of ‘deliberative process’ information,” according to Judicial Watch.
The newly disclosed email contradicts testimony to Congress by Obama administration officials who cited the inability to immediately provide forces in response to the attack.
“Bash’s email seems to directly contradict testimony given by then-Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta before the Senate Armed Services Committee in February 2013,” writes Judicial Watch.
“Defending the Obama administration’s lack of military response to the nearly six-hour-long attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Panetta claimed that ‘time, distance, the lack of an adequate warning, events that moved very quickly on the ground prevented a more immediate response,’” the group wrote in a press release.

Everyone is looking at this from the point of the Benghazi hearings.

The United States Marine Corps tribe should look at this from the point of honor, honesty, moral courage and finally the alignment/ disposition of our Fleet Marine Force.

Check this out from Marine Corps Times (Apr 2013).

“We can do this,” Commandant Gen. Jim Amos told Marine Corps Times in January, referring to the new crisis-response force. “This is what we do for a living. We would go forward into a combatant commander’s theater with this capability and give it to him, and then we would refresh the capability every six months.”
The new unit could respond to such crises as the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya, that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. Gen. Carter Ham, the outgoing chief of AFRICOM, told Congress in March that threats from Islamic extremists in Africa are increasing and pose threats to American interests.
“I think we have the opportunity now to work preventative efforts in concert with African forces and with allies and friends globally to suppress the threat, to reverse the trend, which is increasingly worrisome to me,” Ham told the House Armed Services Committee. “And that does not necessitate a large commitment of U.S. forces. And I do not believe that a large commitment of U.S. forces is either necessary or appropriate under the current circumstance.”

So in essence the Pentagon lied to Congress.  Forces were being spooled up to get to Benghazi.

Even worse (but not by much...the DoD in essence participated in a coverup of omission if not fact..) is the aftermath to the USMC.  We've seen deployments explode exponentially.  The force is being worn out to fill a need that did not exist, does not make sense and only serves to give Combatant Commanders a few more play toys.

The SPMAGTF-CR is a lie!  The MEU is the basic unit of action for the USMC and SPMAGTF's should go back to being specifically tailored units to serve short duration missions.  At this moment we should have a SPMAGTF operating in Iraq based on the MV-22 to conduct TRAP missions for downed allied pilots with a Infantry Battalion as its Ground Combat Element (not a freaking company that could get chewed up).  Cover them with a couple of squadrons of Super Hornets and have them on trigger alert with a Ready Company that can deploy in minutes.

But back to the task at hand.  The SPMAGTF-CR concept should be shelved.  The USMC should purge itself of the political animals that have somehow wormed their way to the top, and a return to high standards of ethical behavior should be instituted.

The Amos legacy keeps on giving.  Its like drug resistant syphilis.  Its eating away at the moral bearings of the Marine Corps.

NOTE:  General Ham's statements on this have turned murky.  In one instance he's quoted as saying that he wanted to deploy forces and was told to stand down, in others he's said to have stated that forces couldn't get there in time.  The General Officer Corps is failing this nation so badly that it boggles the mind...even more worrisome is the fact that the vaunted, hardcore members of the Republican party that questioned Hillary on this incident are obviously participating in the cover up. 

Combined Joint Task Force - Operation Inherent Resolve Training Infographic.

Note:  Is it just me or does this seem to smack of propaganda?   As far as the training mission.  Pure insanity.  We've been training those forces for over a decade and they still can't fight. 

Insider talks about 8 vs 8, Typhoons with mixed air-air/air-ground loadouts with F-35s defending...

The "Insider" (well informed) speaks....

I've seen the outcome of some briefings along those lines. (Eurofighter was pitching to the Greeks when the Greeks had money, and the Turks are on F-35 and we know what Greeks think about Turks,)

8-v-8, Typhoons with mixed A2G/A2A loads, F-35s defending. The Typhoons in lead and trail elements. On contact (using IRST and ESM) the forward element dumped bombs and went screaming for height, outside the AIM-120 kinematic envelope, and then dropped on the F-35s from all directions. The rear element cruised in and schwacked the objective.

Uh wow.

Surely our people know/have the same information.  People are already running combat simulations against the ultimate F-35 configuration and are crushing it. More startling is the fact that these are our friends doing it.  What are potential enemies doing?  This had to play a role in the J-20 and PAK-FA designs.  Rebuttals anyone?