Why calling out Russia matters

Posted: December 21, 2019 by ng36b in economy, war
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Maritime Safety Information Bulletin, from the Jacksonville Coast Guard Website

In the midst of all the impeachment news was a Maritime Safety Information Bulletin issued by the Coast Guard concerning the Russian vessel Viktor Leonov, an intelligence surveillance ship that has been prowling the East Coast. The vessel has been in international waters, which while annoying to the United States is in fact very legal. However, unlike in previous years, this year it decided to behave in an unsafe manner. The bulletin spelled it out pretty clearly:

The United States Coast Guard (USCG) has received reports indicating that the RFN VIKTOR LEONOV (AGI-175) has been operating in an unsafe manner while navigating through USCG Sector Jacksonville’s Area of Responsibility. This unsafe operation includes not energizing running lights while in reduced visibility conditions, not responding to hails by commercial vessels attempting to coordinate safe passage and other erratic movements. Vessels transiting these waters should maintain a sharp lookout and use extreme caution when navigating in proximity to this vessel.

Maritime Safety Information Bulletin, U.S. Coast Guard

The VIKTOR LEONOV’s operations should be a lesson as to why we build and maintain a Navy and Coast Guard. Navies aren’t cheap…the 2019 budget for the Navy alone is $194.1 billion dollars. In comparison, the United Kingdom spent about $79 billion on their entire military. The cost of not building a Navy is far worse though. The VIKTOR LEONOV is only a surveillance vessel, but she is likely preparing the battlespace for any future conflict in the Atlantic. The only credible deterrent to her operations is a solid response from a Navy, which she has received since entering the Western Atlantic.

Countries without Navies can’t enforce their Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ). Every country is given exclusive rights over resources within 200 nautical miles of their coast. While that sounds nice in theory, in reality other countries are quick to take advantage of any countries inability to patrol their EEZ. China is exploiting EEZs to illegally fish in the South Pacific and Indian Oceans, as far away as South Africa. Small nations are struggling to keep out the hoardes of Chinese fishermen, who bank on China’s use of economic power to stop any action against their illegal fishing. China has also shown its willingness to illegally drill in another countries waters for oil, which it did in Vietnam in 2014. Even the United Kingdom illegally used waters for fishing, fighting three different “Cod Wars” with Iceland before recognizing Iceland’s EEZ.

A Navy isn’t cheap, but its cheaper to have one than watch another nation plunder your resources. It’s better to fight in waters far away from the Western Atlantic than on your own door step. As tensions continue to rise between the US and peer competitors, the Navy and Coast Guard will be the first to push back against any attempts at aggression on our shores.

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

Opinions Sought Pro & Con on Shoulder Surgery vs Rehab

Posted: December 21, 2019 by datechguy in personal
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And now for a very topical post, at least for me.

As you may or may not know I took a very bad fall at work just before thanksgiving and broke my shoulder. I have been out since that day healing.

After a CAT scan last week I’m informed that in addition to the base fracture a significant amount of the socket is also damaged. I’ve been referred to a 2nd specialist who I will be seeing after the new year to decide on what to do about it and if the best solution is a surgical or a non-surgical path.

While of course until I actually see the Doctor to get his assessment an intelligent decision or opinion can’t be reached it occurs to me that there may be plenty of readers who have had a similar situation who have made the choice I am going to have to face and have been living with the results of said choice.

Naturally both surgery and therapy have their own risk/reward factors on both a long term and a short term scale. A better grasp of said risks/rewards of either decision will be valuable in making the right choice for me & mine.

So I’m asking for your input. If you’ve faced this situation I’d be interested in the pros and cons you’ve experienced with the choice you’ve made. I would be most grateful to any reader willing to volunteer such information. Simply leave it in comments.

DaTechGuy Guest Hosts the Joe Mangiacotti Show on WCRN AM 830 Sun 6 AM to 8 AM

Posted: December 20, 2019 by datechguy in media, News/opinion, special events
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For the last two years WQPH 89.3 FM show Your Prayer Intentions has been the only place to find DaTechGuy on DaRadio as we each week take and pray for people’s prayer intentions while playing religious interviews and talking scripture rather than secular politics.

That will change for two hours this Sunday morning as I will be guest hosting the Joe Mangiacotti show (formally Conservatively Speaking) on my old station WCRN AM 830 AM Worcester from 6 AM to 8 AM EST

Normally I would have had to decline Joe’s gracious offer to guest host but thanks to a bad shoulder break (more on that tomorrow) I am out of work as the break heals as I await the options from my doctor on treating the permanent damage to the shoulder.

Thanks to this injury while Joe’s producer Cam will be running things from the Clinton Savings Bank Studios at WCRN I will be broadcasting from the palatial DaTechGuy Studios in Fitchburg Mass. also known as my sickbed.

The topics will be impeachment, Thursday’s Dem debate and what comes next.

If you want to be a part of that conversation you can call in at 1-508-871-7000

“Beyond Normal” “Running on the Economy” “peace and security” “congressional approval” “we become morons” Under the Fedora

Posted: December 20, 2019 by datechguy in Always look at the bright side of Trump, elections, politics, primaries
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Because I have a busted shoulder and am currently on disability instead of doing my share to advance Christmas eCommerce, I am watching a Democrat debate.

It simply amazes me that people think these folks are serious and there was a lot of stupid on that stage but I want to point out just a few things that were said by various candidate in particular that were, well….interesting

Joe Biden: “We have to move beyond normal”

This was in response to how to win republicans back in a post Trump era. It has to be one of the silliest things I’ve ever heard. If I was Team Trump I would be making fun of that line for the rest of the campaign and in a debate with any democrat I’d ask how many genders they are.

Tom Steyer: “Trump is going to run on the Economy”

There was a question asked about how the Democrat field will deal with the economy. Every single democrat then went on and on about how bad the economy actually is for the majority of people. Yet Tom Steyer stated bluntly that Donald Trump is going to run on the economy.

If the economy is so bad, and the majority of voters know it, why on earth would Trump run on the economy?

To ask the question is to answer it.

Bernie Sanders: ” Israel has the right not only to exist, but to exist in peace and security”

Now in fairness of all of the statements that were said on the stage this is one of the sanest and most rational things said, but the revealing moment was the reaction to those words.

The night was full of loud applause to the words of candidate but of all the audience reactions of the night the most significant was the single solitary lonely clap that was heard in the audience when these words were said.

If you are a Jewish Democrat who supports Israel that should speak volumes

Joe Biden: “you had to have Congressional approval.”

Joe Biden was asked why Gitmo was not closed during the Obama years and he quickly pivoted toward Israel, but before he did he stated that to close gitmo “you had to have Congressional approval”

In 2008 a new congress was elected with Barack Obama and Joe Biden, that congress gave the Democrats majority in the house of 256-178. In the Senate they had the majority of 55-41 with two independents who caucused with the Democrats and that number at once point was 60-40.

That being the case how can Biden claim that congress was to blame for Gitmo not being closed?

Andrew Yang: “If you get too many men alone and leave us alone for a while, we kind of become morons”

It’s often commented that there is a gender gap between men and women in elections with men favoring the GOP and women favoring Democrats. If you want to know why just look at this response to the question concerning President Obama’s statement about how much better the world would be if women were running it.

The obvious statement that calling half the electoral population a bunch of morons is a bad idea when you want to win an election but it’s worth noting that Donald Trump did better than Hillary Clinton among Married couples.

Married couples would include a mother and a father and likely a son or two. I suspect that a lot of mothers don’t appreciate having some stranger tell her their fathers, or husbands or sons are a bunch of morons.

This type of thing might play with the Democrat Debate audience but it’s not going to play with the general public outside liberal universities.

In fairness only one of the Democrat nominees will be running for President ( I say it will be Biden on the 2nd ballot) and the great saving grace for the Democrats is that most of the voters they need to win in 2020 were not watching. But if I was the Trump Presidential campaign I would be tagging this entire field with all of these statements and dare them to run away from it.

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