Archive for the ‘opinion/news’ Category

A Navy desperate to keep…everybody!

Posted: January 6, 2024 by navygrade36bureaucrat in Afghanistan war, Blame Biden Administration, opinion/news
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Over the holiday period I didn’t bother checking the latest NAVADMINs, because spending time with my family was for more important. So when I looked this week, I saw I missed a doozy: the Navy’s message concerning retention boards.

In December the Navy announces its promotion boards, which are in January (for Captains), Feb-March (for Commanders), and April-May (for Lieutenant Commanders). Some years ago the Navy began convening the retention board immediately after these boards to decide the fates of anyone not selected for promotion. The overarching policy of retention boards is a direct measure of the health of the service, and well, the Naval Service is not healthy.

Take a look at NAVADMIN 291/23. I’ll break it down below:

Paragraph 2 states that any Captain (O-6) that has certain AQDs (basically, special training or expertise in a specific area) that relate to Acquistion can stay until 33 years of service. Normally Captains have to retire at 30 years of service. This isn’t a huge surprise, the Navy is in dire need of Acquisition Workforce personnel, so it’ll keep anyone that it can.

LCDRs (O-4s) that twice failed to select for CDR (O-5) will simply be kept until 20 years, when they can retire. They won’t even be considered for retention…it’s assumed. In the past the retention board could be used to shape manpower by removing the bottom performing LCDRs. That is not happening at all now, essentially if you have a pulse and made O-4, you can stay till 20 years.

Let’s say you’re a LCDR that is a flight instructor, chaplain, cyber warfare engineer, foreign area officer, information professional, maritime space officer, medical corps, nurse corps or supply corps. What if you want to stay past 20 years? Well, you can!

URL 1310 aviators with primary AQDs of DIP or DA5/DA7/DB2/DB5/DB6/DD1/DH3/DL3/DS2 (TACAIR), CWE, FAO, IP, and SC officers selected for continuation will be continued for a period of 3 years to 23 YOAS.  CHC, MSO, MC, and NC officers selected for continuation will be continued until the last day of the month in which the officer 
completes 24 YOAS.

That right there is a bad sign. That means we are significantly short in all those areas, and we’re willing to keep people for an additional 3-4 years to cover the gaps.

What about Lieutenants (O-3s)? Typically LTs that are passed over twice for O-4 are sent home at the end of the next fiscal year. The only LTs I’ve seen the Navy hold onto are people that were prior enlisted and needed another year to reach mandatory officer retirement criteria. But now: 

Lieutenant (LT)  Aerospace Engineering Duty Officer (AEDO), CHC, CWE, Cryptologic Warfare (CW), Dental Corps (DC), FAO, Intelligence Officer (INTEL), IP, Judge Advocate General's Corps (JAGC), MC, Medical Service Corps (MSC), MSO, NC, and SC will follow the below as applicable:
    a.  2XFOS LTs covered in paragraph 4 with less than 18 YOAS and selected 
for continuation will be continued for a period of three years, but not 
beyond retirement eligibility at 20 YOAS.

FOS stands for “Failure of Selection.”

So now LTs can stay for 20 years until they can retire. I never thought I’d see that, but here we are. Granted, it’s not every officer, but it won’t surprise me if the retention board eligibility expands to include more officer specialties.

I want to remind everyone that this crisis was generated 100% by our own government:

  • We changed the retirement system way back in 2016-2018, which was the number one thing that kept good people in past 5-10 years of service. I predicted this would end badly, by the way.
  • Then we started losing wars, specifically Afghanistan. We drew out of Afghanistan in a horrible way, so everyone that lost limbs or part of their sanity fighting in that war felt betrayed. This in turn made them tell their kids to never join the military.
  • Oh, and we stayed around in Syria so more of our people could die needlessly. Because nothing says we love our Special Forces more than allowing them to die needlessly in a crappy country where we don’t have an exit strategy.
  • THEN, we kicked people out over the COVID vaccine. Instead of handling that crisis with care, we booted people with general discharges. But don’t worry, we’ll invite them back, I’m sure they’ll come in droves!
  • THEN, the Navy played politics and openly told Congress to go f*#! themselves and used OPTAR money to pay for abortion.

NOW, we are SHOCKED! SHOCKED! that we are in a huge recruiting. crisis. I made a prediction back in February that the Navy would use its “BINGO card” to keep people in:

  1. Not kicking people out for physical fitness test failures
  2. Waiving darn near everything, from age to non-violent felonies
  3. Asking people to pretty-please stay around a few more years
  4. Opening OCS and other admissions
  5. Raising bonuses
  6. Make life better for officers
  7. Reduce opportunities to leave early
  8. Op-Hold people

The Navy has in fact done all the things in bold. The only missing one is making life better. Maybe that’s a draw, since if you wanted free time and per diem off to go murder your unborn baby, you can now get it. The only prediction that hasn’t held was that the Navy would remove marijuana from its drug test, although it was totally an option in Congress.

My prediction for 2024: it only gets worse!

  • We’ll relax rules on marijuana, opioids and other drugs
  • Mental health rules will relax
  • Bonuses will be handed out just to get on the bus
  • We’ll create some new ribbon candy to congratulate people on passing boot camp
  • We’ll see Navy advertisements EVERYWHERE, especially on Reddit, YouTube, Amazon Prime and other streaming platforms

None of it will work. When we spend more time focused on renaming the John C Stennis aircraft carrier, continue to allow flag officers to violate rules and get away with it (remember, you can sexually assault people and not go to jail, so long as you’re a 3-star in the Air Force), and continue to allow a broke acquisition system to churn out expensive weapons, we can’t recruit the best people. The best men and women want to join the Navy to fight for their country, with people and leaders they trust and on equipment that works. They want people held accountable for their actions, and they want others to hold them accountable because that’s how they become better.

We’re doing all the wrong things, and I expect 2024 to be another terrible year for military manning.

This post represents the views of the author and not those of the Department of Defense, Department of the Navy, or any other government agency.

Illinois conservatives, start planning now for the 2028 constitutional convention vote

Posted: December 31, 2023 by John Ruberry in elections, News/opinion, opinion/news, politics
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By John Ruberry

Conservatives, I certainly like to think, have great political ideas, such as believing in smaller, and therefore less expensive government, and we believe in aggressively pursuing overall public safety.

And that is where conservative political acumen, particularly in states like Illinois, ends. Much less so than liberals, we are people of the private, not public sector, and we are not constantly thinking about, or scheming, about politics. I’m pretty sure leftists think about politics as often as 16-year-old boys think about sex. In both situations, that’s too much, but conservatives need to have their political radar–and sonar–always switched on.

That is why the unhappy conservatives in Illinois need to begin now to plan for the 2028 vote to call for a constitutional convention. The current constitution, which is deeply flawed despite its relative youth, went into effect in 1970. 

While the Illinois General Assembly can call for constitutional convention any time, Article XIV of the 1970 constitution stipulates that every 20 years the question of holding a “con-con” must be presented to voters. If 60 percent of voters–or a majority of those casting a ballot in that election–votes “Yes,” then a constitutional convention must follow. Voters in the next general election can choose to accept or reject the resulting document. 

Four years from now–yeah, 2028.

But what about the 2024 presidential and congressional races? And the 2026 midterms? Yeah, they’re important too. But conservatives need a long game. A very long game. Make that a winning game.

Leftists plan for the expected as well as the unexpected. As for the latter, once the COVID lockdowns started, liberals were calling for widespread mail-in and early voting, as well as a plethora of ballot drop boxes. 

They had contingences in already mind–and now Joe Biden is our president. Do you understand yet?

As for right now, we can start with talking about the many flaws of Illinois government, generating what urban activists call “street heat.”

A new Illinois constitution can attack those problems.

And there are so many problems in Illinois, which has been annually losing population for ten years.

Gerrymandering. This is a problem statewide. Saying that legislators draw their own districts is not correct. It’s the state House speaker and the state Senate president who drive the redistricting process. Independent commissions should draw General Assembly districts and for all counties and municipalities with more than 50,000 residents.

An attempt in 2016 to change the decennial redistricting process by a constitutional amendment was ruled unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court.

Legislative leaders. Boss Michael Madigan, a Chicago Democrat who is currently under indictment for racketeering, was House speaker for all but two years from 1983 until 2021. He’s been around for so long that Madigan was delegate to the 1970 constitutional convention. One of the arguments against calling for a con-con in 2008, when this issue last faced voters, was that Madigan wouldn’t be around forever. But he hung on for another 13 years. After Madigan was ousted from the speakership–amid a federal investigation–his replacement and the state Senate president drew another gerrymandered General Assembly remap. It was signed into law by Gov. JB Pritzker, breaking his campaign promise to veto partisan redistricting. Forgive me, I know it took me a while to get here, but House speakers and Senate presidents should be limited to single two-year terms.

Term limits are needed for all elected offices. Statewide, from municipal library boards up to governor, elected public officials should be limited to eight years in office. Just before Christmas, Chicago alderman Ed Burke, after 54 years in the City Council, was convicted on over a dozen corruption charges. A quick look at Madigan and Burke’s careers shows that they weren’t able to amass enough power to abuse it until they had been in office for about a decade. ‘Nuff said.

Illinois’ electoral votes. Liberals hate the Electoral College and Illinois conservatives hate that every four years every electoral vote in the Land of Lincoln goes to the Democratic presidential candidate. Instead, Illinois needs to distribute its electoral votes in the same manner Nebraska and Maine do it. The presidential candidate who wins the most votes in Illinois gets two electoral votes. As for the rest of Illinois, the candidate who wins the most votes in a congressional district–Illinois currently has 15–gains that district’s electoral vote. I suspect liberals won’t be on board because winner-take-all benefits them in the Prairie State, but didn’t I mention that leftists hate the Electoral College? Oh, speaking of Nebraska, the Cornhusker State has a unicameral state legislature. All Canadian provinces have the same system. Just saying, but Maybe Illinois doesn’t need a state House and a state Senate?

Cash bail. The most fundamental duty of any government is to protect its citizens. The SAFE-T Act, which went into effect three months ago, abolishes cash bail. It’s bad legislation. Re-establish cash bail as part of the law enforcement process.

Township government. Illinois has more units of government, despite being only the sixth-most populous state, than any other state. Pennsylvania is a distant second. Illinois needs to remove the deadwood, starting with township government, a 19th-century relic.

State holidays. This may seem petty, but holiday creep is a problem in Illinois. Limit state holidays to federal holidays and Lincoln’s Birthday. Require a 2/3 vote in the General Assembly to add a new state holiday. Sorry state workers, you need to show up to work on Casimir Pulaski Day, General Election Day, and the day after Thanksgiving. As someone with a December birthday, the day after Thanksgiving is an ideal one for me to renew my driver’s license.

Rotten schools. Give parents the right to send their children to private schools with vouchers. Establish home schooling as a parental right. According to the latest Illinois Report Card, only 35 percent of students read at grade level and just 27 percent of them are proficient in mathematics.

Too many statewide offices. The constitutional offices of treasurer and comptroller should be combined, and the position of lieutenant governor should be abolished. Place the attorney general next in line when the governor’s office is vacant.

Corruption. But add one more statewide elected office, that of inspector general, who will be responsible for investigating corruption from the governor’s office down to village halls.

Lockdowns. Permit the governor to issue statewide stay-at-home orders only after a 2/3 vote by the General Assembly.

Pensions, the 800-pound beast. The 1970 constitution has a pension guarantee clause. Drop it and establish a non-partisan commission to resolve state and municipal underfunded pension plans. And compel new state workers to pay into Social Security but make 401(k) programs available to them.

I know, Illinois is a deep blue state and I’m a dreamer. But we have four years–almost five, really–to plan for the 2028 vote for an Illinois constitutional convention.

You have your new year’s resolution.

John Ruberry, a fifth-generation Illinois, regularly blogs at Marathon Pundit.

Taxpayers should be able to sue crooked politicians for their corruption

Posted: December 24, 2023 by John Ruberry in crime, News/opinion, opinion/news, politics
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By John Ruberry

“Some men see things as they are and say, ‘Why?’ I dream things that never were and say, ‘Why not?’” Robert F. Kennedy Sr.

“When people fear the government, there is tyranny. When government fears the people, there is liberty.” Thomas Paine.

Former Chicago alderman alderperson Edward M. Burke, who for much of his–wait for it–54 years as a member of Chicago’s City Council, was the second-most powerful politician in the city, because he was the chairman of that body’s Finance Committee. 

Last week Burke was convicted on over a dozen corruption and racketeering charges. Burke, according to federal prosecutors, abused the powers of his office to shakedown businesses, such as the owner of a Burger King restaurant in his ward who was told by Burke if he wanted a construction permit, he needed to retain the alderman’s law firm. 

Developers of the massive old US Post Office and even the venerable Field Museum were victims of Burke’s extortion schemes. I suspect there were hundreds more.

Burke is appealing his guilty verdict of course. Once the appeals are exhausted, barring a successful appeal, the lifetime politician is likely headed to prison.

I’m not a lawyer–so forgive my naivete here. Then again, since I’m not an attorney–and not enmeshed in the gears of the rotten system–maybe I’m the right person to tackle this subject.

For thirteen years of Burke’s crooked career, I was a resident of Chicago. Because I was denied honest services by Burke, so that gives me standing to sue Burke for damages. Right?

Wrong. 

Qualified immunity protects public officials from such suits. My interpretation of the legal concept–again, I’m not an attorney—is that if officials, let’s say the head of a state highway department, fears being sued over a possible bridge collapse, it may mean that no new bridges are built.

Back to Burke.

It’s difficult to see where Burke’s public career as an alderman alderperson began and where his private legal practice ended. It was a hybrid beast. In short, Burke was running a racket.

So, since a jury ruled that Burke was using his public office for private gain, why should qualified immunity protect him?

Why shouldn’t Burke, and other corrupt Illinois pols such as former governors Rod Blagojevich and George Ryan, be subject to taxpayer lawsuits? Or class action lawsuits?

“To join this lawsuit now–call the 800 number on the bottom of your screen–time is limited! Make that politician pay!”

Taking my idea to the federal level, there’s a recent case with bribery allegations against a sitting US senator and his wife. I mean, I’m just saying…

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if crooked pols could be sued for every penny they have? And their vacation homes? And their gold bars?

Everything!

That just might scare these pols into honesty.

Change the law. Or laws. 

Drop qualified immunity for crooked public officials. Call it–ahem–Ruberry’s Law. Consider it my Christmas gift this year.

Back to Illinois.

As Illinois’ SAFE-T Act law–which by the way I believe it should be repealed–was being drafted, dropping qualified immunity for police officers was suggested. So clearly, at least in Illinois, qualified immunity is not sacred.

One more item. Since 1973, 38 members of the Chicago City Council have been convicted of crimes.

John Ruberry regularly blogs from Illinois at Marathon Pundit. During his lifetime, four Illinois governors have served time in federal prison.

Let’s not go Brandon: Chicago’s new mayor focusing on wrong root causes of crime

Posted: December 17, 2023 by John Ruberry in crime, education, News/opinion, opinion/news, politics, Uncomfortable Truths
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By John Ruberry

Last Thursday, Chicago’s new mayor, Brandon Johnson, the candidate of the far-left Chicago Teachers Union, held a press conference. It was one of those dog-and-pony shows, also in attendance was the city’s police superintendant, Larry Snelling a Johnson appointee, and other municipal officials.

Armed with brochures, Johnson unveiled the “People’s Plan for Community Safety.” Who are the people that devised the plan? Presumably that group doesn’t include cops and crime victims, and it almost certainly doesn’t include the South Side family who had two cars stolen in separate incidents last month. One theft was a carjacking that was captured in a horrifying video. 

Crime was the main campaign issue in this spring’s runoff election for mayor. Paul Vallas, a moderate Democrat, promised to beef up law enforcement. It was the center piece of his lackluster campaign. Johnson, appealing to his African American and leftist whites, vowed to attack crime at the root causes–just like the outgoing mayor, Lori Lightfoot.

Crime soared under Lightfoot. And now that she is gone, it’s still high. While Chicago’s murder rate is a little bit lower, post-pandemic, it’s still higher than it was in 2019. There are more robberies and auto thefts than a year ago, and many more compared to pre-pandemic levels.

Predictably, Johnson and the other city officials at the presser focused on the “root causes” of Chicago crime.

From the event’s press release:

There is a shattered sense of safety in Chicago that has been driven by decades of purposeful disinvestment in our communities. It is time for a new community safety approach – one that addresses the root of the problem by investing in our people and neighborhoods to secure a safer Chicago for generations to come. The People’s Plan for Community Safety calls upon our entire city, and especially those most impacted by violence, to create solutions together.

Lightfoot’s failures as mayor went beyond law enforcement. But Chicago tried the healie-feelie approach to crime under Lightfoot. It didn’t work.

Chicagoans voted to double-down on dopey.

Commenting the next day on the Morning Answer with Dan and Amy, co-host Dan Proft threw a penalty flag at Johnson’s root causes crimefighting strategy. Reminding listeners that Johnson is half of a two-parent household, Proft said Johnson is focusing on the wrong root causes. 

Indeed.

A few days earlier in the Wall Street Journal, Proft noted, Jason L. Riley pointed his finger at the true root cause of rising crime rates, the proliferation of fatherless households since 1960. Referring to what is known as “the success sequence,” Riley wrote: 

A decade ago, New York City launched a campaign to combat teen pregnancy. It featured ads on buses and subway cars that read: “If you finish high school, get a job, and get married before having children, you have a 98% chance of not being in poverty.”

He continued: 

We could use more of that moralizing from public officials, whether the issue is solo parenting, substance abuse or crime. The success sequence works to keep people not only off the dole but also out of trouble with the law. High-school graduates and children raised by both parents are much less likely to end up in jail. “Virtually every major social pathology,” political scientist Stephen Baskerville writes, “has been linked to fatherless children: violent crime, drug and alcohol abuse, truancy, unwed pregnancy, suicide, and psychological disorders—all correlating more strongly with fatherlessness than with any other single factor, surpassing even race and poverty.”

Chicago, and most American large cities, as well as many suburbs and rural communities, have been on a failure sequence for decades.

I’m not claiming to have the answers to turning around the failure sequence, ignoring the problem, along the lines of placing electric tape over the check engine light on your car when it flashes, of course means more failure. And yes, there are single moms who do a stupendous job raising kids.

One time-tested way out of poverty is quality education. Utilizing education to achieve success worked for that Founding Father without a father, Alexander Hamilton.

But Johnson, a former Chicago Public Schools teacher who was a longtime paid organizer for the Chicago Teachers Union, even while serving as a Cook County commissioner, remains overly loyal to the CTU.

Also last week, the Chicago Board of Education, which includes six Johnson appointees, approved a resolution, in the name of equity of course, that has long been on the CTU’s anti-education wish list, removing the ability of students to attend high schools–better high schools–outside of their neighborhoods. Most of the students who benefit from the doomed program are minorities. Of low-income 11th-grade CPS students, less than 20 percent of them score at grade level in reading and math.

In another attack on students, the state’s private school tuition tax credit program, the Invest in Kids Act, which was signed into law six years ago by a Republican governor, will be allowed to expire next year.

Chicago–and Illinois–are focusing on the wrong root causes.

John Ruberry regularly blogs at Marathon Pundit.

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