Who doesn’t like a military parade?

Everyone thinks Trump’s military parade is a dumb idea. Well, everyone in the media anyway, and sadly there is a vocal minority in the military that is attempting to lend their voices as well.

We’ve done military parades before. CNN of all places had a neat wrap up of pictures from previous military parades. While we haven’t done them for a while, that is probably due to under sizing and under-resourcing our military. The last big military parade was in 1991, when we had almost 530 ships. Only a few years later, in 1995, we were under 400, and now we are under 300. Similar downsizing happened for the other services.

Advertisements

The Guardian and the Times take up the White Man’s Burden

Looking at these stories I can’t help but think of this poem:

Take up the White Man’s burden–
Send forth the best ye breed–
Go bind your sons to exile
To serve your captives’ need;
To wait in heavy harness,
On fluttered folk and wild–
Your new-caught, sullen peoples,
Half-devil and half-child. Kipling 1899

What else can one think when you see headlines like this:

NYT:

Afghans Avenge Florida Koran Burning, Killing 12

Think about what that headline implies, AVENGE. Words mean things. AVENGE suggest a just retaliation for an act. This suggests that the New York Times finds their acts a legitimate response to the burning of a Koran.

Over at the Guardian they actually have a poll asking who is responsible for these actions and as of this moment 9:44 a.m. EST 46% of the respondents blame the killings on Terry Jones.

I don’t have a lot of respect for Jones but I wonder, would those same people who blame him for the killings blame the “artist” who put up the painting of Christ/Palin and Christ/monkey up if he was attacked by a violent Christian Cult?

What’s the bottom line, both the Times, and the Guardian have concluded that we can’t expect better from the people and those who are busy blaming Jones for these murders consider the Afghans inferiors “half devil and half child”. We CAN’T expect civilized behavior from such people.

How is such an attitude by these papers any different that Kipling’s?

I’m not outraged over the burning of the Koran, I’m outraged at the murder of innocent people and the Fatwa against an US citizen for free speech, and if you consider yourself civilized you should too.

Both are serving but in different places

You might recall I reported quite a bit on Katherine Jenerette when she was running in a crowded Republican Primary.

As you know by now Tim Scott won that primary and is now one of two black republicans

Captain Katherine Jenerette and Congressman Tim Scott

serving in congress. Katherine Jenerette however is also serving, at a different location:

Scott was on his way to Baltimore-Washington International Airport to see ooff 35 troops to Afghanistan. Most of the men and women are from Arizona, California and Oregon, but two were from South Carolina, Capt. Katherine Jenerette of North Myrtle Beach and Sgt. 1st Class Marticia Maxie of North Charleston.

The country is lucky to have both of these fine Americans serving them and on a personal level Katherine stay safe.

“If anyone was a victim of “psy-ops” here, it was Michael Hastings.”

When Morning Joe went long with Rolling Stone great Military expose four days ago I said this:

WOW that’s absolutely positively…ordinary

Today at Hotair Bruce McQuain tells why Rolling Stone gathered no moss.

Hastings apparently took the word of LTC Michael Holmes as the premise and theme of his article. In fact he sets it up with a quote from Holmes:

“My job in psy-ops is to play with people’s heads, to get the enemy to behave the way we want them to behave,” says Lt. Colonel Michael Holmes, the leader of the IO unit, who received an official reprimand after bucking orders. “I’m prohibited from doing that to our own people. When you ask me to try to use these skills on senators and congressman, you’re crossing a line.”

Except LTC Holmes job wasn’t “in psy-ops” (Psychological Operations) nor is LTC Holmes trained in PsyOps. That is a very specific Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) that requires school training. The place in which PsyOps is taught is the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School at Ft. Bragg, NC. According to Special Operations Command, the Special Warfare School has never heard of LTC Michael Holmes.

His conclusion?

In short Hastings was gulled by Holmes. If anyone was a victim of “psy-ops” here, it was Michael Hastings. His lack of knowledge about the command plus an apparent desire to put another general officer notch in his journalistic belt left him open to a sob story from a disgruntled officer that may have sounded good to him, but appears to have little or no basis in fact. A story from an officer who had already been reprimanded for making a false official statement.

Go and read the whole thing. Joe Scarborough? Better luck next time, will be interested in how you will report on this stories crash and burn. As for Rolling Stone…I suggest you stick to Bieber manina.