MAGA Republicans Are Anti-Military

Posted: September 5, 2023 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | 1 Comment

Since February of this year, Senator Tommy Tuberville (MAGA-Ala) has been holding up the confirmation process in the Senate for over 300 senior military officers. Originally, he claimed his “hold” on the nominations would last until the Department of Defense (DOD) changes its policy on women’s reproductive health care. Specifically, in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization that pushed laws concerning abortion to the states, he objects to the military paying for women to leave states where abortion is illegal or restricted to go to states where it is legal. Lately, he expanded his argument for freezing military promotions by saying that the military is “top heavy” and has too many generals and admirals.

His position may be a legitimate policy discussion to have, but the Senator from Alabama (or is he the third senator from Florida where he lives and his wife works?) does not want a policy discussion. He wants to single-handedly decide for himself what the military may or may not do. Both Republicans and Democrats have offered him a chance to bring an amendment to the floor to implement his desired changes. He refuses because he knows that his amendment will be defeated. There are Senate rules that can overcome his obstinate strangle-hold on our military, but they are laborious and time consuming requiring hours of work on the Senate floor for each nominee. A quick back of the envelope math problem shows that all other Senate work will be stalled for months while doing so. The Senator from Florida, oops, Alabama is also violating the spirit of cooperation and negotiation that gets things done in the Senate and is using the “hold” process in an unprecedented and harmful way. But, as we are finding, everything surrounding MAGA Republicans is “unprecedented” because they are there to break the system. In truth, this is one more example of their efforts to destroy our democracy and yet another anti-American stand.

The Senator has no personal military experience and is the same man that opined earlier this summer that white nationalists are not racists, they are “Americans.” In an answer to a question as to whether white nationalists should be allowed in the military, he said “Well, they call them that. I call them Americans.” He went on to say that “I look at a white nationalist as a Trump Republican.” Months later he finally conceded that perhaps white nationalists were possibly racist. This who he is. As a U.S. Senator, he may also need to take a civics class as after his election he proclaimed, “Our government wasn’t set up for one group to have all three branches of government — wasn’t set up that way. You know, the House, the Senate, and the executive.”

In todays Washington Post the secretaries of the Army, Navy and Air Force wrote a piece about the tremendous harm Senator Tuberville is causing to the military organization, the officers, their families and those who they would lead in dangerous situations. They explain why the senator is wrong on the facts, the damage being done, and that he “is putting national security at risk.”

Among the officers that have been nominated but not confirmed are the Chief of Naval Operations, Commandant of the Marine Corps and the Chief of Staff of the Army, three of the members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff responsible for advising our civilian leaders on areas of great responsibility. Their predecessors all were required to retire under U.S. law, so the positions are technically empty. Other officers are filling those spots on an “acting” basis, while still doing their primary jobs. More importantly, under the law, only Senate confirmed officers in those positions can carry out most of the duties of the offices. At the end of this month, General Mark Milley will, in accordance with the law, retire, thus leaving the position of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff empty. At least twenty-five two and three star officers have had their retirement put on hold until the end of the year or until the hold is released. This impacts their future livelihoods as many had civilian jobs ready to go after their retirement, bought homes in the new locations and endured significant disruption to their spouses and children as they have their own jobs and schools to figure out while in limbo.

Other top positions held hostage to assuage one man’s ego include the Commander, Pacific Air Forces, Commander, Northern Command, Commanding General Marine Forces Japan, Commander Indo-Pacific Command, and Commander U.S. Pacific Fleet. All are critical to our nation’s security and to counter Chinese mischief in the Far East and to keep our country protected.

To defer to Senator Tuberville’s desires is to seriously impact the readiness of our nation’s fighting forces by lowering morale, imperiling individuals’ health and undermining recruitment and retention. Not all military bases are able to handle all health issues. It is common practice to move personnel to receive proper healthcare as needed. Service members cannot choose where they are stationed or live. In this particular case, DOD complies with the Hyde Amendment which forbids the use of federal funds for abortions except to save a woman’s life or in the case of rape or incest. The DOD policy as it is to pay for transportation and to allow time off with pay. To the Senator, this is not acceptable.

There are further impacts on unit morale, and in retention among the ranks. For example, the current officers at the Colonel, Lt. Colonel, Captain or Commander levels, the battle hardened core of our day-to-day leadership will look at the way a politician is willing to use them as pawns in his political games. There will surely be a calculus in their minds to take their vast leadership and technical experience to the civilian sector if they feel they will be mistreated in uniform. The next generation of generals and admirals taking up leadership positions in the next decade may not be there as they vote with their feet to leave.

Senator Tuberville claims that the DOD leadership and the Biden Administration refuse to compromise with him. What he really means is that they will not give in to him, and he seems quite happy about that. I suppose he enjoys the attention. Given the total context of his six month and counting hold, what it really means is that he could care less about the health, readiness, leadership or strength of our American fighting forces. Meanwhile our adversaries in Russia, China and North Korea are loving it.

We Are Not Alone In The Universe

Posted: July 28, 2023 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

This week the House Oversight Subcommittee on National Security, Border, and Foreign Affairs held hearings to investigate Unexplained Anomalous Phenomena (UAP), formerly known as UFOs. This is not the first Congressional hearing concerning UAP, however this may be the most unserious one ever. In the past year or so, there have been hearings attempting to understand possible national security threats posed by UAP. Additionally, there are military and civilian safety of flight issues surrounding their possible existence. More to the point, there are UAP, the real questions are what are they, and where do they come from?

In his testimony, the star witness, a former Department of Defense (DOD) intelligence officer named David Grusch, claimed that they do exist and that they are extra-terrestrial. Not only that, as Dana Milbank reports in the Washington Post, he claimed the U.S. government has intact aircraft, dead pilots, and “non-human” evidence of their other-worldly existence. For over a century, according to Mr. Grusch, the U.S. government has covered up its knowledge of such activity and hidden evidence in an effort to “gaslight” the public and to allow the federal government to lie to our citizens. Hold that last thought, I’ll come back to it.

He offered no proof, evidence, or even a single fact that could be corroborated.

Earlier this year, Sean Kirkpatrick who is in charge of the DOD office investigating UAP testified that they have “no credible evidence thus far of extraterrestrial activity, off-world technology, or objects that defy the known laws of physics.” Other federal agencies, such as NASA, concur in that conclusion.

My own view matches that of Mr. Kirkpatrick. We on Earth have no knowledge of any other-worldly beings or spacecraft. However, I do think it likely that there are other beings in our universe. We just have not met them yet. I have no inside information or conspiracy theories to back that up. It just seems that with a universe so large that we do not totally understand its full size, the odds are that there must be other beings out there somewhere.

That said, they have not visited Earth. My primary reason for thinking so is exactly as Mr. Kirkpatrick stated. There is no evidence and in my mind, given the “known laws of physics,” there cannot be any to find. I am not a scientist of any sort, much less a physicist, but I am a reasonably educated person with common sense. When talking thousands of light years of travel to get here, how could any biological being make it? Not to mention that the size of the UAP spotted to date are far too small to carry beings and all of the logistical support needed for a trip of impossibly indeterminate time and distance. Even if manned by robots or other mechanical replacements for living beings, the practical aspects of the undertaking create obstacles too large to overcome.

There is, of course, one major flaw in my thinking. It could be that I, and others, have a failed sense of imagination. The terrorist attacks on 11 September and the insurrection on 6 January were unimaginable before they happened, demonstrating one human failing is an inability to imagine the unimaginable. Perhaps there are physical laws of the universe that we have yet to discover that undermine all that we think we know. Such a development is theoretically possible and cannot be discounted. Yet, where is the proof that those obstacles were overcome? In this age where overwhelming numbers of people literally carry a camera everywhere they go, how come no one has video or even a photo clear enough to discern the true nature of the object?

This conclusion is not meant to disparage anyone that has ever reported a UAP. They saw what they saw and I was not there. However, numerous studies have shown that reported UAP were weather balloons, birds, reflected sunlight, natural phenomena or man made objects. From personal experience I know that weather anomalies of pressure differentials, cold air over warm air and other naturally occurring events can cause technical equipment such as radar to produce false images. I experienced similar anomalies observing objects miles further away than I should reasonably be able to see them. Atmospheric conditions can cause light to bend over the horizon and travel further and in different directions than expected. It happens. Sometimes our brain deceives us. (Think mirage in the desert.) There is, of course, some small number of never explained sightings. These should be explored. From a national security and air safety perspective we need to know if there are things flying around space and in our skies that we do not know about. It is possible that those UAP are experimental air or space craft tested by a foreign power or even our own military. Remember that in the 1980s there were reports of mysterious objects spotted over the desert in Nevada and other areas of the far west that were reported as (then) UFOs. We later learned that there was a “secret” base in the desert where the U.S. Air Force F-117 Nighthawk was based and the UFOs were the first stealth fighter aircraft.

So, back to the thought I first raised above. Why would a Republican controlled House subcommittee hold public hearings where the star witness claims, among other things, that the U.S. worked a deal in the 1930s with Benito Mussolini with the assistance of Pope Pius XII to obtain an alien spacecraft, or that a defense contracting company has a warehouse containing an alien spaceship as big as a football field or any of the other unbelievable statements for which he has no proof? Primarily because Mr. Grusch also ardently testified that the U.S. government (aka: “The Deep State”) has been consistently lying to the American people, is engaged in a massive cover-up and is running secret operations to suppress the truth-tellers. Sound familiar? It is one more step in executing a MAGA Republican plan to discredit the federal government, undermine its authority, feed every coo-coo conspiracy they can find, and generally bring everything into question to create chaos. As usual.

We need serious and real efforts to identify UAP and their impact on national security. I think that, so far, they are all of this planet. However, it can be a fascinating enterprise to contemplate other beings in our universe. It has great moral, philosophical, religious and scientific implications. So many questions and almost no answers. Of one thing I am sure. We are not alone in the universe.