Archive for the ‘war’ Category

Under the Fedora Thoughts: Hey Elon What about Robert Stacy McCain? Business returns to as Usual, Lauren Boebert nails it, What a difference One pick makes, My Popular Day

Posted: December 23, 2022 by datechguy in congress, in Ukraine, nfl, personal, Sports, tech, twitter, under the fedora, war
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A lot of accounts have been restored in to twitter over the last several months under Elon Musk from Donald Trump to Project Veritas to the Gateway Pundit and I cheer the return of these accounts and for a semblance of free speech for conservatives to come back. I must say frankly that I’m getting sick of waiting for the folks at twitter to restore the account of Robert Stacy McCain.

He was one of the first conservatives to be targeted by the twitter cancel crowd because like Libs of Tictok he dared to quote feminists directly using their own words against him to make his point.

I keep seeing these other worthy folks come back but there still remains no sign of Stacy’s @rsmccain account being restored. He had over 80K followers when he was tossed and as a writer no longer connected with major media the loss of such an account had I suspect a real effect on his reach and potential income which was the entire point of kicking him off.

I understand Elon Musk is a busy man but I urge him to take a few minutes out of his schedule and end this injustice against a reporter with thirty years of print media experience behind him and #freestacy

It’s the right thing to do.

A lot of GOP voters are rightly upset about the omnibus spending bill that just passed and the number of GOP senators who voted for this goody package for the left to make it happen.

While it outrages us it should not surprise us as I’m sure this bill contained a bunch of goodie packages for these individual senators and/or their states and/or contributors.

Unfortunately this has been the norm in congress for a very long time, it was the removal of earmarks that was a change from the routine and the people who paid a lot of money to get these folks elected expect to get their dough.

And if it means funding a bunch of stuff that helps the left in their culture war against the country, what do their care as long as they get their cut?

Lauren Boebert’s statement on Ukrainian president after his speech to congress was spot on.

She correctly acknowledged that Zelenskey is doing all he can to save his country from the Russians but also noted that it is our duty to make sure the billions we are sending to him to defend his country actually go toward that goal.

I don’t blame Zelenskey one bit, Ukraine was a land of graft and grift before the Russian invasion and if I was in charge of Ukraine and the US offered me dough but the big guy & his pals wanted their 10% or more I’d not care if thousands of grifters got their share as long as I got kept getting the dough and weapons that I needed to save my country from the Russian hoards. That’s got to be his primary goal.

But it damn well should the goal of a representative of the United States to make sure that the taxpayer dollars of Americans that are being spent to save Ukraine isn’t all about making the rich and connected richer and even if my own rep doesn’t care about it it’s nice that SOMEBODY in congress does.

We got out of work a couple of hours early yesterday so I had a chance to watch the 2nd half of the Jets Jaguars game which pitted Trevor Lawrence the 1st pick overall in the 2021 NFL draft starting for Jacksonville against Zach Wilson the 2nd overall pick in the NFL draft starting for the Jets. In two Seasons Lawrence has taken a bad team and put them within a game of their division lead and a game and a half away from the final wildcard spot this season.

Meanwhile Wilson in a year marred by injury got himself pulled shortly after the start of the 2nd half after taking a Jets team that had a lot of promise nowhere. It makes the 2nd time this season that Wilson has been sat down for poor performance but subsequent injuries to his replacements pressed him back into service.

This goes to show you how thin the line is between success and failure is in the NFL. Both of these two young men excelled in college and have physical tools to make the NFL, tools that 99.99% of the population don’t come near to. Yet one of them has the stuff to make it in this league and one did not. Meanwhile in San Francisco the # 3 pick in that draft Trey Lance is recoding from injury while Brock Purdy the 262nd and final pick in this years NFL draft Mr Irrelevant is about to lead his team to a playoff bearth.

Until the iron comes out of the forge you don’t know where it’s been.

Finally as I did last year at work I came in wearing a full Santa Suit for the final work day before Christmas. Given I have both a real stomach and a real Santa beard (that I will shave shortly after Christmas to the delight of my wife) which causes little kids to gasp when I walk into restaurants this time of year it’s very effective.

I could practically not punch in as about half of the woman (and a few men) punching out for 1st shift wanted a picture and my first hour on the job while I was in theory trying to pick orders was in fact spent taking pictures with groups of very attractive women, many dressed for the season, who all wanted a picture with Santa Claus.

It’s slightly ironic, As I’m one of only 4 white English speaking white Americans on my shift and with very few exceptions old enough to be the father or grandfather of just about everyone in the place it often makes for a lonely & silent work day (the “silent” bit will shock folks who know me) since I have few conversations during the day and can’t understand the conversations around me in Spanish, Portuguese (Cape Verde) , Creole or French (Haitians you know) everyone knows who I am and says hello but I’m generally left alone

But one day a year, for just a few hours when I come in and during the Christmas party I become the most popular person in the place.

The Ultimate Ukraine Irony

Posted: November 27, 2022 by datechguy in war
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Something hit me today concerning Russia with it’s army and reputation it the worst position it’s been in since Japan rolled over them at the turn of the last century.

Poland, Romania and Hungry along with the Baltic States all have a grievance with Russia over a half century of enslavement under communist rule not to mention their invasion from the east while they were trying to fight off the Nazi’s in the west. The wounds are still there and the fear of Russian Invasion after the fact never really left.

Ironically now the Pols have one of the most modern tank forces in the world, they are well trained, highly united as a country and very invested in a Ukrainian victory but there is one fact more.

If Poland decided to use it’s army and take revenge on Russia it is very likely that the Russians would not be in a position to stop them from going deep into their territory and there is no longer a US ready to provide lend lease to supply them in the event of such a war. Particularly if the other states who all own Russia a bloody nose decided to join in under the theory that there will never be a better chance to end the danger from Russia once and for all.

Now it’s my opinion that the Pols have no interest in doing so and are happy enough with the knowledge that Russia has has to fear them, but if they did decide they wanted to go after them only two things would stop them

  1. Russia’s Nukes
  2. NATO

That’s the ultimate Irony, right now NATO is the single strongest guarantor of the territorial integrity of Russia in the west.

Who woulda thunk it?

The Navy chose death over life

Posted: November 5, 2022 by navygrade36bureaucrat in war

Back when Don’t Ask Don’t Tell was repealed, the military services, including the Navy, gave a homosexual couples 10 days of free leave to travel and get married in a state that supported same-sex marriage. Plenty of people, myself included, complained that nobody else got free leave to get married. I had to take regular leave to get married, as do most other people unless they get lucky and their command simply looks the other way. It was an unpopular move, and it should have been a warning sign that the Navy was actively picking sides on issues of morality instead of sticking with warfighting.

Well, in case that wasn’t enough proof for you, the Navy just decided to smack you over the head with more nonsense. ALNAV 071/22 was released late last week. It’s title is “Reproductive Health Services and Support,” but if you think its about supporting pregnant service members and their babies, well, you’ll be sorely disappointed. Let’s see what it says.

1.  It is critical our Sailors and Marines maintain health, fitness, and wellness to optimize mission readiness.  Therefore, the Department of the Navy (DON) is committed to ensuring the health, safety, and well-being of 
those who serve our country, and their families in an environment of safety, privacy, and respect.  The recent Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization has generated concern for some Sailors, Marines, 
and family members about how their reproductive health care may be affected.  The decision has necessitated that the Department of Defense (DoD) closely examine and evaluate policies to ensure seamless access to health 
care, consistent with federal law.

Uhm, it hasn’t changed any laws. Military health care has been banned from aborting babies for quite some time. The Hyde Ammendment, passed in 1997, bans the use of federal funds for abortion except in the cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother. Overturning a previous Supreme Court ruling simply means the states can choose to ban abortion…or not in the case of many states like California. So, nothing much has changed, except some people (never defined) are “concerned.”

2.  Reference (a) is newly released guidance from the Secretary of Defense entitled, "Ensuring Access to Reproductive Health Care."  Reference (a) outlines reproductive health policy and directs the DoD to promulgate implementing actions no later than the end of this calendar year, to the maximum extent possible.  Nothing is more important to me than the health and well-being of our people.  The DON will be fully engaged in this policy work.

The referenced memo is here. Good to know the DON will be fully engaged with this while ignoring the suicide epidemic on our ships, the inability to get any ships through a repair cycle on-time and on-budget, or solving the current recruitment crisis.

3. Future policy will: 
   a.  Establish additional privacy protections for reproductive health care information, including standardizing and extending the time Service Members have to fulfill their obligation to notify commanders of a pregnancy to no 
later than 20 weeks unless specific requirements to report sooner, such as those necessitated by occupational health hazards, are set forth in policy.

This is dumb. Normally you’re required to report pregnancy right away, the idea being that your boss should limit your physical workload and exposure to things like hazmat and ionizing radiation, since early stress and exposure can cause serious issues in those first few weeks. The purpose of delaying is to allow service members to go and receive abortions…which they already could do. If a Sailor told her Commanding Officer that she was pregnant, then later had an abortion, its not like the CO could DO anything about it. So now because of the delay, women…I mean, birthing people, will face additional hazards to their unborn babies and themselves during critical early weeks of pregnancy.

b. Allow for appropriate administrative absence consistent with applicable federal law for non-covered reproductive health care.
c. Establish travel and transportation allowances for Sailors, Marines, and their dependents, as appropriate and consistent with applicable federal law and operational requirements, and as necessary, amend any applicable
travel regulations, to facilitate official travel to access non-covered reproductive health care that is unavailable within the local area of a Sailor or Marine's permanent duty station.

So…paying for Sailors to get abortions. “Non-covered reproductive health care” my ass. This is directly funding abortion with federal money. It’s a direct violation of the law. It’s one thing when a Sailor uses her own money to travel and have an abortion. It’s another for the government to pay for it.

Now, you might say “But what about ectopic pregnancy, or the baby isn’t viable anymore?” Well, military treatment facilities perform D&Cs, or dilation and curretage. They do this if a fertilized egg stops developing and doesn’t naturally miscarry. I know from experience. Granted, NPR didn’t broadcast this, but its true. If you call any military treatment facility, they will tell you that they provide condoms (male and female), IUDs, Plan B, and D&Cs for anything that threatens the mothers life.

That’s not good enough for the “abortion on demand” crowd, and rather than comply with law, the Navy and Department of Defense is going to pay for abortions. The only possible excuse for this is that they know Congress won’t stop them. They aren’t afraid of reprisals.

d. Direct commanders to maintain objectivity and discretion when addressing reproductive health care matters and underscore their duty to enforce existing policies against discrimination and retaliation in the context of reproductive health care choices.

“Maintain objectivity?” As in, comply or be silenced/booted. This is direction by the way, not advising. You WILL be supportive of Sailors killing their babies, or else you will be forced out.

e. Develop a program to reimburse applicable fees, as appropriate and consistent with applicable federal law, for health care providers who wish to become licensed in a different state than that in which they are currently licensed in order to support the performance of official duties
f. Develop a program to support health care providers who are subject to adverse action, including civil or criminal penalties or loss of license or reprimand, for appropriately performing their official duties, to include the indemnification of any verdict, judgment, or other monetary award consistent with applicable law.

Oh my! Not only will we shove this down service members throats, but we’ll pay for people to get licensed in other states so that they too can kill babies! This is especially insulting when the Navy can’t fully fund the Navy Credentialing Program (called Navy COOL) for members to seek actual credentials. Plenty of us have applied for credentialing funding, only to be told there isn’t enough money.

4.  While this policy work is underway, and pending issuance of the implementing actions, I want to assure you that I am fully committed to ensuring the DON continues to provide contraceptive and reproductive health care services and support to our Sailors, Marines, family members, and retirees.

Yes, we know you are fully committed to killing otherwise healthy babies. Thanks SECNAV!

5.  Securing Easy Access to Contraceptive Care:  active duty Sailors and Marines are entitled to comprehensive counseling by a health care provider and access to the full range of contraceptive methods for pregnancy 
prevention or menstrual suppression.  Further, active duty Sailors and Marines may receive an adequate supply of short-acting reversible contraceptives for the entire length of deployment (up to 12 months).  If menstrual suppression is desired, extra supply of the chosen method will be ordered and dispensed as necessary to ensure the member has enough active medication for the entire duration of deployment.  Additionally, Walk-In Contraceptive Clinics (WICC) (primarily in Fleet Concentration and Fleet Marine Force areas) offer same-day contraceptive services to Sailors and Marines.  Currently, 32 WICCs are open (22 Navy and Marine Corps, 4 Army, 4 Air Force, and 2 National Capital Region locations), offering easy access to same-day contraceptive services resulting in reduced wait time for accessing long acting reversible contraception.  Finally, emergency contraception Plan B (or generic equivalent) is available at all military pharmacies free of charge.

Uhm…as previously pointed out, this has always been the case. But sure, lets post something more about it!

6.  Ensuring Service Members and Beneficiaries Can Access Covered Abortions:   consistent with long-standing federal law, 'covered abortions' - those cases that involve rape, incest, or where the life of the mother would be 
endangered - will continue to be performed within the military health system.  Please know that there is no interruption to this care.  Existing DoD policy authorizes travel for covered abortion care, if necessary. 
 
7.  Ensuring Service Members Can Exercise Their Reproductive Health Rights:   DoD health care providers may recommend non-chargeable convalescent leave to allow time for the Sailor or Marine to recover after receiving an abortion.   
Pre-and post-care is available to Sailors and Marines within the military health system, regardless of whether the abortion service was a covered or non-covered procedure.

Has always been the policy, again, not sure why it bears repeating here.

8.  I encourage you to visit the Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center's, "Women's Health Toolbox," at https://www.med.navy.mil/Navy-Marine-Corps-Public-Health-Center/Womens-Health/ for additional information and 
resources on a myriad of important women's health issues, to include abortion care. 
 
9.  Rest assured that the DON's work to implement the DoD's new policy is a priority and it will be released expeditiously.  I expect promulgation in short order, with cooperation from leaders across the Navy and Marine Corps 
to ensure appropriate input and efficient implementation of the new policy. 
 
10.  Released by the Honorable Carlos Del Toro, Secretary of the Navy.

There is no honor in anything you put out here. This is just a sad violation of the law wrapped in the guise of caring.

Please contact your representative and senators and demand some action, and pray for the unborn, who don’t get any votes when it comes to the despicable actions of people passing themselves off as honorable.

This post represents the views of the author and not those of the Department of Defense, Department of the Navy, Satan, or any of his minions. Those people are in agreement on murdering the innocent.

Five Assorted Thoughts Under the Fedora: Russia Unmasked, A Tough Call for Ukraine, Woke Winners, The coming tech pivot, and My Paypal Plans

Posted: October 12, 2022 by datechguy in culture, DaTechGuy's Quick Thoughts, education, politics, tech, under the fedora, war
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One of the things that has really been revealed by the war in Ukraine is just how weak and unready the Russian Army is. Moreover a lot of Russians were in favor of the war in Ukraine when it looked like it would be a cakewalk to retake the territory that until the breakup of the Soviet Union was part of Russia proper since the days of Napoleon, but once it became clear that it would involve actually fighting, actual causalities and a mobilization the whole pride thing went out the window.

It’s amazing how much harder war is when people are willing to shoot back rather than roll over. I would not be surprised if this lesions the fear of China’s untested military as well.

It’s a tough call for Ukraine when it comes to how the war ends.

They have a good point that they don’t want to reward Russia with any gains but the longer the war goes on the more likely Putin decides to play the tactical nuke game. Ukraine can likely get the best deal it could get right now but in the words of Lincoln if they consider this war for a purpose they see no reason to end it before that purpose is achieved.

Since it’s their blood that being spilled it’s their call, as long as I don’t have to keep paying for it.

This story via Gateway Pundit made me smile:

I predict that in the woke sweepstakes Muslims trump gays, drag queens and transsexuals’ for two reasons:

  1. The Muslim population of the US continues to grow
  2. There have been unfortunate and unhealthy consequences for those who defy those communities

One of the reasons why Sicilian American’s like myself don’t mind people associating us with the mob is it make people less likely to try to mess with us (also we don’t give a damn what others think). With the reputation of Islam backed up by 30 years of shall we call them “incidents” I suspect school committees are going to think twice before they mess with them.

Sometime in the next month we are likely going to see a pivot in tech companies.

Once they decide they can not stop the GOP from winning the House and perhaps the Senate they are going to be a lot more hesitant to oppress members of the GOP when there is a prospect of lawmakers striking back.

Now of course as long as they control the White House and the Justice Department they have a modicum of protection and I’m sure they’ll go all in no matter who the GOP nominee is but most companies don’t want grief and don’t want scrutiny and when it becomes clear who is going to win I suspect these firms will decide to be on the winning side.

Finally a lot of people I know have dropped Paypal like a hot potato. Being a person who is a tad more deliberate I’ve decided to wait till after the first of the year.

This will give me time to decide what I’m replacing it with, to contact donors to see if they wish to switch to whatever service I go over to and to evaluate my opitions.

Also in terms of taxes and their preparation it will be easier to have the account active through at least January.

This does involve some risk but if I’m right about the tech pivot that should give me enough leeway to move deliberately without a lot of worry. If I’m wrong, then it’s on me.

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