Early release is a sad joke...compassion framed as reform is already killing people...

via Heavy.com

John Dalton Jr., of Omaha, Nebraska, was convicted in 1999 of manslaughter in the death of his 22-year-old wife, Shannon Dalton, and was released from prison in 2010. Omaha Police say Dalton, 46, is now a person of interest in the December 26 shooting deaths of his parents, John Dalton Sr., 70, and Jean Dalton, 65, and his niece, Leonna Dalton-Phillip, 18. They were found dead Tuesday night in their Omaha home.

Murder charges have been filed against Dalton.

Police are still at the scene investigating and are also searching for Dalton, who also goes by the names JJ Dalton and Jay Dalton.

Story here. 

We haven't touched on this issue but early release/parole of offenders is a joke.  Its an attempt to be compassionate wrapped in reform but it's already killing people.

But what has me spinning is that this guy had all the warning signs of ending up where he is.  The only question was who would his victims be.

History is a tricky thing.

It must be remembered, honored and cherished .... both the good and the bad.  But the evils of the past should not guide today's behavior.

An international example of this is the drama between S. Korea and Japan. An example closer to home is the issues with our criminal justice system.

There was a time when people were wrongfully convicted.  It still might be happening today.

But a murderer is granted a weak prison sentence?  He killed his wife and did less than 25 years in prison?

That alone is racists....it's like the justice system considered her to be only 2/3rds a person!  

This piece of shit killed his wife and gets to plead to a lesser charge?  He's on probation and gets additional charges to include drug dealing?  And now he's killed again?

Spare me your morality.  If I was the judge or on the jury I would accept nothing less than the death penalty.

I don't want to hear about his upbringing, hard times, socio-economic conditions etc...the only thing we should push for is the right thing....or a cop that has the commonsense to end the rampage via a little street justice.

Open Comment Post. Dec 27, 2017

Japan & S. Korea considering F-35B's for their Amphibious Assault Ships? Where did this come from!

via Military.com

South Korea currently has one amphibious assault ship, the 14,300-ton, 653-foot Dokdo, which is the largest ship in the South Korean navy. A second Dokdo-class amphib is planned for 2020.

"I understand that the military top brass have recently discussed whether they can introduce a small number of F-35B fighters and operate them aboard the new ship that has already been deployed and one to be additionally built," a military source told Yonhap.

Japan is also considering buying F-35Bs to operate from its helicopter carrier, the Japan Times reported.

The problem for South Korea and Japan will be in redesigning the decks of the amphibs to take the heat and stress of the F-35B vertical landings. The Dokdo class ships now are configured to support 10 helicopters.

"Considerations will continue about whether we can run F-35Bs by redesigning the decks of the Dokdo and the new ship that is being constructed," a second military source told Yonhap.

Story here. 

Interesting.  When I was in the F-35 camp I stated that we would see this happen.  Considering the expense of the F-35, coupled with the deck issues along with the size of these ships I just don't see it happening.

They just couldn't carry enough F-35's to be useful.

But ignore all that.

Japan and S. Korea are mortal enemies.  Now we have them releasing almost SIMULTANEOUS stories of them thinking about placing F-35's on their LHDs?

This just smells.

I'm not ready to call it propaganda but there is much more to this story than we know.

At Least 10,000 Killed During the Tiananmen Square Massacre

via TheEpochTimes

At least 10,000 people were killed during the Tiananmen Square massacre on June 4, 1989 a secret British diplomatic cable has alleged, citing a source within the Chinese communist regime.

An unnamed high level source from the Chinese State Council provided the death count, via an intermediary, to Alan Donald, Britain’s ambassador to China at the time.

Donald sent the information to London a day after the massacre occurred. The previously secret cable was declassified in October and then obtained by news website HK01.

The death toll of 10,000 is much higher than what is usually associated with the massacre committed by the People’s Liberation Army. Figures have ranged between several hundred to a couple of thousand.

The Chinese regime said at the end of June 1989 that 200 civilians and several dozen security personnel had died in Beijing as security forces dealt with “counter-revolutionary riots,” according to the BBC.

However, the 10,000 number does closely match those of U.S. documents declassified in 2014. Those files estimated that 10,454 people were killed and some 40,000 people were injured. The U.S. information was provided by sources within the Chinese military, reported HKFP.

Story here.

Everyone forgets.  Correction.  No one wants to remember.

That beacon of free markets that our corporations want to enter so badly is the land of mass murder of its citizens that disagree with it's policies, that jails journalists on a daily basis, that sells the organs of its criminals to those wealthy enough to afford them....and they seek the destruction of the US.

A dirty millionaire in Moscow that is jailed gets pages of ink in newspapers and hours of coverage on TV news shows.  10K Chinese citizens killed in the open hardly gets a whisper.

Chinese Americans bask in the glory of a rising China, bad mouth other Americans that warn of the danger and make excuses for bad behavior of their motherland.

Meanwhile Russia is seen as the big bad, while the dragon with a knife ready to slice our throat is courted like the home coming queen and memes carry the day instead of reality.

Let's hope the 10K that were killed in Tiananmen can forgive us.

Canada's Resolve-Class Naval Support Ship, Asterix completed....via Naval News Instagram..

Davie Shipbuilding announced December 26th it has completed the construction, commissioning and sea-trials of the first Resolve-Class Naval Support Ship, Asterix. The ship was delivered on time, to budget and most importantly, at an internationally competitive cost. The ship departed Quebec City 23 December 2017 en-route to Canadian Forces Base Halifax where she will enter service with the Royal Canadian Navy and be operated by Federal Fleet Services Inc.

Her crew of 36 Canadian merchant sailors together with Davie personnel and industry contractors sailed the 26,000-tonne ship on her maiden voyage. During the journey, they completed the testing of her propulsion and navigation systems and state-of-the-art military systems. Upon arrival in Halifax, the ship will welcome aboard members of the Royal Canadian Navy to begin integration training during the month of January 2018 prior to supporting Canadian naval operations from February 2018, for the next 10 years.

The delivery of Asterix represents the first new naval support ship to enter service with the Royal Canadian Navy in over 50 years. It is also the first large naval platform to be delivered from a Canadian shipyard in over 20 years and the first naval ship to be delivered since the launch of the National Shipbuilding Strategy.

No Marine is going to leave here unless they know how to ski...We need Mountain Leaders, Jungle Experts, Desert Guides!

via Military.com

Scout snipers, reconnaissance Marines, and some infantrymen, along with members of the Marine Corps' new rotational force in Norway, will soon receive new ski systems to replace old equipment that broke and tore in the cold.

On a brief visit to the 300-strong Marine Corps Rotational Force-Europe, located at a Norwegian Home Guard base near Trondheim, Commandant Gen. Robert Neller announced that the unit would be the first to receive the new equipment.

It comes not quite in time for Christmas, but ahead of upcoming cold-weather training exercises above the Arctic Circle.

"I talked to the Norwegian colonel. I told him, no Marine is going to leave here unless they know how to ski," Neller told Marines assembled in the winter dark Wednesday morning, referring to Home Guard District 12 Commander Col. Haakon Waroe. "You're going to get your skis here in about a week, so get ready."

Story here.

Still think we're deploying unnecessarily to Norway.  I just don't see the threat of Russia invading Europe.  They don't have a military built for that.

Don't get me wrong.

Russia could make spoiling raids cross border.  They could launch air strikes, commando raids and engage in electronic/cyber warfare, but a fullscale invasion?

Not likely.

But since it's apparent that Washington is going to hype the threat the best we can do is to take advantage of the situation we find ourselves in and orient appropriately.

My modest proposal.

I've stated it before and I'll say it again.  We need Mountain Leaders, Jungle Experts and Desert Guides in every Infantry Battalion in the Marine Corps.

The Royal Marines led the way with Mountain Leaders and we should follow their lead and expand on it.

What would we gain?

We would have subject matter experts that could give advice to Commanders when operating in these inhospitable ecosystems.As things currently stand we can expose Marines to these locales but they will never be as "functional" as a person that is born and bred there.  So training someone up to a standard that approaches the expertise of the locals could be a big boost when we actually deploy to fight.

Cold/Mountainous terrain is obvious, but the same applies to operating in the jungle and in certain areas of the desert (not the classic desert of open terrain and endless sand but the rocky, hilly areas that limit vehicles to roads and make killboxes child's play to setup).

We can't make policy but we can make the best of it.  Setting up Mountain Leaders, Jungle Experts and Desert Guides would be the best lemonade possible..

Is it possible for the US to mobilize in a fight for survival?

I'm using allied posters from WW2 as a backdrop to my question.  Could the US (and it's allies) mobilize in a fight for national survival?

The posters are just a snippet of the effort carried out on the homefront to get people involved and supporting the fight.

We saw our entire industrial might, agriculture, and even human capital turned to the war effort.  From rationing gasoline, to planting victory gardens to encouraging workers not to take sick days, we saw the entire populace put on a war footing.

Could we do it today?

Would a modern war between peer nations start and finish so fast that it would be wasted effort?

If a war between peer nations occurred today, would it be of such intensity that if it were to last more than a year we would have to quit the field because of losses and not being able to replace them in a timely manner?

The question I guess I'm really asking is this.  The Commandant has joined me in stating that a big fight is coming.  Are we ready?  Or have we tailored our force to fight counter insurgencies to such a degree that anything bigger would break our armed forces beyond repair?

Art by Mel Hunter...via Solsys Instagram...

Open Comment Post. Dec 26, 2017...

China AG600 Heavy Amphibious Aircraft First Flight