Posts Tagged ‘datechguy's magnificent seven’

The Biden Regime is neutering the M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank

Posted: October 13, 2022 by Jon Fournier in Uncategorized
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For over forty years the M1 Abrams has been the absolute best tank.  It outclasses all others when it comes to firepower, armor protection, mobility, and accuracy.  The M1 Abrams is the gold standard all other tanks are measured against.  Thanks to Joe Biden and his climate change obsession, this will come to an end.

As you can see from this Federalist Papers article, the Pentagon is turning the next generation of the M1 Abrams into a pussified green clown car.

The tank’s “hybrid power pack” will also consume half the fuel that current versions do and run more quietly; it “even allows for some silent mobility,” according to the company.

There’s only so silent a multi-ton vehicle is ever going to be when it’s on the move, of course, but things are relative on the battlefield.

This may be making a virtue of necessity, as the U.S. military — like every branch of an out-of-control federal government run by un-elected bureaucrats and increasingly left-leaning idealogues — has climate-change-related goals it must meet.

“The AbramsX’s hybrid power pack supports the U.S. Army’s climate and electrification strategies,” the company announced.

Not only is the engine being replaced, the M1 Abrams will shed a significant amount of armor protection.

Described in the company’s news release as the “main battle tank for the next generation,” GDLS says the newest Abrams version will weigh significantly less than those currently in service, which could make the tank both more mobile and more easily transported to far-off battlefields.

The engine of the M1 Abrams is one of the  primary factors responsible for the success of this tank.  It is described  here on the M1 Abrams Wikipedia page.

The M1 Abrams’s powertrain consists of a Honeywell AGT1500 (originally made by Lycoming) multifuel gas turbine capable of 1,500 shaft horsepower (1,100 kW) at 30,000 rpm and 395 lb⋅ft (536 N⋅m) at 10,000 rpm and a six-speed (four forward, two reverse) Allison X-1100-3B Hydro-Kinetic automatic transmission. This gives it a governed top speed of 45 mph (72 km/h) on paved roads, and 30 mph (48 km/h) cross-country. With the engine governor removed, speeds of around 60 mph (97 km/h) are possible on an improved surface. However, damage to the drivetrain (especially to the tracks) and an increased risk of injuries to the crew can occur at speeds above 45 mph (72 km/h).

The tank was built around this engine[ and it is multifuel–capable, including diesel, kerosene, any grade of motor gasoline, and jet fuel (such as JP-4 or JP-8). For logistical reasons, JP-8 is the U.S. military’s universal fuel powering both aircraft and vehicle fleets. The Australian M1A1 AIM SA burns diesel fuel, since the use of JP-8 is less common in the Australian Army.

 The gas turbine propulsion system has proven quite reliable in practice and combat, but its high fuel consumption is a serious logistic issue (starting up the turbine alone consumes nearly 10 US gallons (38 L) of fuel). The engine burns more than 1.67 US gallons (6.3 L) per mile (60 US gallons (230 L) per hour) when traveling cross-country and 10 US gallons (38 L) per hour when idle.

No traditional type of power plant comes close to matching the horsepower to weight ratio of a gas turbine engine.  This has given the M1 Abrams an unmatched top speed. The new green engine, although more fuel efficient, will perform significantly worse than even a traditional tank engine, drastically reducing the performance.  This will greatly endanger the tank crews.

The armor protection of the M1 Abrams is second to none.  Because of this no Abrams has been destroyed by enemy fire.

Similar to most other main battle tanks, the M1 Abrams feature composite armor only on the frontal aspect of the hull. However, the Abrams’ turret features composite armoring across both the front and the sides. In addition, the side skirts of the frontal half of the hull are also made of composite, providing superior ballistic protection against chemical energy munitions such as HEAT rounds. The composition of the Abrams’ composite armor consists of sandwiched plates of non-explosive reactive armor (NERA) between conventional steel plates. The NERA plates feature elasticity, allowing them to flex and distort upon perforation, disrupting the penetrating jets of shaped charges and providing more material and space for a kinetic round to pass through, thus providing increased protection compared to conventional steel armor of similar weight….Armor protection was improved by implementing a new special armor incorporating depleted uranium and other undisclosed materials and layouts.[31] This was introduced into the M1A1 production starting October 1988. This new armor increased effective armor particularly against kinetic energy rounds but at the expense of adding considerable weight to the tank, as depleted uranium is 1.7 times denser than steel.  

The only way to significantly reduce the weight of tank is to significantly reduce the armor of the tank.   That will unconscionably reduce the protection for the tank crews, endangering them,

Yes the M1Abrams is a fuel hog.  Fixing that will turn the Abrams into third rate fighting vehicle.

Report from Louisiana: Baseball is Life

Posted: October 10, 2022 by Pat Austin in Uncategorized
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Photo by Jose Francisco Morales on Unsplash

By: Pat Austin

SHREVEPORT – Random, unconnected thoughts about baseball.

I am writing this on Sunday evening while watching the Mets v Padres. It’s not looking good for the Mets at the moment. But as I watch, I am thinking about the proposed MLB rule changes for next year. And a big thumbs down to that from me.

I am by no means whatsoever the baseball expert that my friend Liz is; she is a Pirates fan from waaaayyy back and can quote stats, dates, and important events for all the players. It’s incredible. I am a different kind of fan; I just watch because I love baseball. I don’t even have a favorite team! I have some I like and follow more than others, but I’m not die-hard for any one team.

So maybe that negates my opinions on the matter. Who knows.

But I’ll express them anyway. I’m not a fan of a pitch clock. At all. Baseball is a game of strategy and the dance between a pitcher and the batter is a beautiful thing. Putting a clock on it is criminal. You think the game lasts too long? It’s not fast enough for your video-game-aged-mind? Too bad.

And another thing.

This man-on-second thing when the game is in a tie at the end of the ninth…what the heck!  I hate it. Hate hate hate. Can we say unfair advantage?! Let the teams duke it out…give me those old tie-breaker games that lasted all night! These guys are athletes, professional athletes making lots and lots of money. We aren’t talking about a T-ball game. This is professional baseball!

I really wish we would quit expecting a homerun derby every time we watch a game; batters going for the fences every time does not equate to better athleticism for me. There are merits to be found in “small ball,” in the well placed ground ball, for example. Moving the runners around the bases. You want to see a homerun derby, tune in at All-Star time and you can find one. Leave the rest of the games alone.

And this one will be really unpopular, I’m sure, especially coming from a female, but I do not like a female baseball announcer. I’m so sorry, feminists, but man, listening to some former softball player chick try to tell me what is happening in a Major League baseball game just irritates me. Fight me.

Baseball is the purest, best game we have. Leave it alone. There is no other game more American, more beautiful, than baseball. The history! The poetry! The show! I love it, even though I can’t quote stats and even though I don’t bleed team colors, I love baseball. I hate to see the season end. Spring training is circled on my calendar. Winter is long and dark.

To be honest, I love minor league baseball and even the college leagues even more. If you don’t know about the Clarinda A’s, look it up. What an amazing story!

Rule changers: sit down. Leave it alone.
Baseball is Life.

At least 24 Illinois county prosecutors have filed suit against pro-criminal SAFE-T Act

Posted: October 9, 2022 by John Ruberry in crime, elections, News/opinion, politics
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By John Ruberry

As you’ve learned in my recent posts at Da Tech Guy, Illinois’ SAFE-T Act will become effective on January 1, which will make the Prairie State the first in the union to abolish cash bail. Under very narrow circumstances, accused criminals can still be jailed, but these are among the crimes that will be non-detainable, which means, after perhaps 24 or 48 hours, they’ll walk free until their trials.

  • Aggravated Battery
  • Aggravated DUI
  • Aggravated Fleeing
  • Arson
  • Burglary
  • Intimidation
  • Kidnapping
  • Robbery
  • Second-Degree Murder
  • Threatening a Public Official
  • Drug-Induced Homicide

    Fact checkers, an ever increasingly dishonest lot, have been running to the defense of the law, which is being championed by the far-left of the Democratic Party. Illinois’ governor, J.B. Pritzker, a likely candidate for president if Joe Biden doesn’t run for reelection, probably plans to use the SAFE-T Act, which passed the state Senate at 5:00am on the last day of the 2021 veto session, to enshrine his woke credentials for 2024. 

    Illinois’ rising crime rate is a hot-button issue this election season, as it should be. The opinion of prosecutors of the SAFE-T Act is hostile. As I’ve mentioned in prior posts, 100 of Illinois’ 102 county prosecutors–they’re called state’s attorneys here–oppose the law. Tellingly, Kim Foxx, a George Soros-funded politician who is the so-called prosecutor in Cook County, where I live, is one of the two who support it. 

    Claiming the SAFE-T Act is in violation of the Illinois constitution, at least 24 state’s attorneys have filed suit to prevent it from going into force.

    As of October 9, these prosecutors include: 

    And I may be way short on this count. East Peoria’s mayor, John Kahl, claims 50 state’s attorneys have filed suit again the SAFE-T Act. But I’ll stick with my number for now–I derived my figure after an exhaustive Google News search. Some of the plaintiffs are Democrat and some are Republicans. Many county sheriffs have joined in on these lawsuits, most of which list Pritzker, Illinois’ attorney general, Kwame Raoul, and the state House speaker and state Senate president as defendants.

    Pritzker, along with some Democratic members of the Illinois General Assembly, are promising that changes will be made to the SAFE-T Act after Election Day, but no details are being offered. Which means that Illinois voters shouldn’t take their promises seriously. During Thursday’s televised debate with his Republican opponent, Darren Bailey, Pritzker didn’t mention any specific changes that he favors to the law. Bailey favors full repeal of the SAFE-T Act.

    Pritzker, as I’ve written for my own blog, has resorted to the ad misericordiam fallacy, an appeal to sympathy as the props up the controversial law. He keeps clinging to an apocryphal story about “addressing the problem of a single mother who shoplifted diapers for her baby, who is put in jail and kept there for six months because she doesn’t have a couple of hundred dollars to pay for bail.” Breitbart, in an honest fact-check, shot holes into Pritzker’s “Diapers Mom” argument.

    If the SAFE-T Act is so wonderful, then why does Pritzker have to lie when he defends it?

    John Ruberry regularly blogs at Marathon Pundit.

      Could LGBT fit in the GOP?

      Posted: October 8, 2022 by navygrade36bureaucrat in Uncategorized
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      Well, maybe?

      Plenty of talking heads in the media want to paint LGBT voters as a block that all share the same interests and should thus always vote the same way (i.e. Democrat). I previously wrote that LGBT voters have some strong incentives to be pro-life and want less government, which is something we saw when Donald Trump was running for office. I think the talking heads do everyone a disservice when they pretend that all LGBT voters look alike and should vote the same, rather than treating people as individuals. Donald Trump saw this and exploited it, and as we head into the 2022 midterm elections, I think Republicans should be doing the same (which likely means most won’t…).

      But pro-life and economics don’t hint at what most GOP voters struggle with when working with potential LGBT voters, and that is the issue of LGBT families and children. I think this is with good reason, because what was sold in the past was the notion that an LGBT family would look very much like a normal family, but in reality, the LGBT lifestyle pushes many ideas contrary to this, such as relationships with significantly more sexual partners. Pointing out that “Well, heterosexual families often have multiple partners and open relationships too!” doesn’t really help, because those families also tend to not do well, especially when raising children.

      And lets talk about children, specifically kids at school. Plenty of people probably didn’t care if a teacher was homosexual or transgender, but plenty of parents care about schools instructing their children about sex. Many of these parents don’t want schools instructing kids on sex even if it doesn’t include LGBT materials, so adding LGBT to the mix only throws fuel onto an already burning fire.

      The key problem here I think is that the excesses of LGBT culture, with the drag shows, inappropriate books and hiding information from parents are the things that bother most people. I doubt too many parents would care about a homosexual or transgender teacher if they were focused on, you know, teaching kids about science, math, English and the like, just like they wouldn’t care that the kindergarten teacher runs a profitable OnlyFans on her weekends off. When you show up, do your work and leave most of your personal life out of it, it is incredibly easy to please most people.

      Yes, there are people out there on a McCarthy-esque witch hunt, but they are becoming fewer and farther in-between. Violence against the LGBT community is becoming less and less tolerated, with even the Daily Wire is running a story about a gay Palestinian beheaded that expresses sympathy for the young man.

      So can LGBT voters fit into the GOP? I’d give it a solid maybe. I think someone can be an LGBT voter and want parents rather than schools instruct children on sex, find drag shows for kids inappropriate, and place value on a monogamous relationship and a stable home to raise children. Given those parameters, I think there are plenty of GOP voters that might not care that the wife in the couple next door has XY chromosomes. Whether that person is Christian is a different matter, but that person could be a more conservative voter.

      Most importantly, beginning to treat voters as individuals full of competing interests, and thinking about how conservative values satisfy those interests, is far more important if we want a long-term stable country.

      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. Liked what you read? Try buying the author’s book to help him out!

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