Mozambique, not for the first time, but the best time

Mozambique came by. Had a visit from Mozambique in the past, noted how much I like the Bob Dylan song of that name from the album "Desire," but couldn't find a cut. Found one. Turn it up:




Love me some Bobby. Thanks to Mozambique for coming by.

John Daly sinks a hole in one at some golf event somewhere

No doubt with a cigarette between his lips, one hand on his crotch, one hand holding a drink and his third hand banging that 5-iron down the range to put one in the cup.

For those of you who don't follow golf at all -- I am barely aware of it myself --  John Daly is enormously talented and never sober after about 10 a.m. He also wears truly fabulous ugly pants, which he sells out of the trunk of his car at the tournaments he plays.

Yeah, it snowed yesterday

And, yeah, it's gone already. Only got about an inch, never got much below freezing and today the high was near 50, so the snow disappeared quickly. We've had about five or six snows this winter, none of them more than an inch or two. Some of them hung around for quite some time because we've had some prolonged cold weather several times this winter, but by and large this winter has been only slightly less disappointing, winter-weather-wise, than last winter, which basically was spring. Oh well. I can live without cold weather -- high school in Hawaii was great -- but if I live somewhere that is supposed to get cold, damn it I want it to snow. So far we've had some pretty good cold, but not snow. Not much luck the last couple years. The storms keep missing us by just a little bit.

Having said that, we'll probably get a blizzard in two weeks. Careful what you wish for.

After all they've said about sex, why does the left think we should care about this?

When Bill Clinton was getting his chops busted for getting some head in the Oval Office and then lying about it, Democrats far and wide told us it was just sex, that was personal and hey, everybody lies about sex anyway. Maybe they were just projecting, but that was their story, and they stuck to it.

Now stories are coming out that President Donald Trump, back in the day, might've banged a Playboy Bunny or maybe stuffed his schlong into a porn star, both while married to someone else.

Who fucking cares. Both allegations are about events more than a decade ago and involve only marital infidelity. I'm old enough to remember when President William J. Clinton was getting his root chuffed in the Oval Office, while president, and lefties and the press (but I repeat myself) all defended him. All I have to say is this: Here's the Playboy bunny:

Here's the porn star:

And here's what Bill was getting head from in the Oval Office:

OK,, she's not hideous, but I have to believe the leader of the free world could do better, especially while he was actually leader of the free world. Trump was just a rich guy at the time he supposedly tapped the above referenced hot chicks. And have you seen Melania?

Seriously, if my president can't keep his dick in his pants, I would much rather it be years before he was president with hot chicks than while he is president with a chick who could skip a meal. And please don't make me post a picture of Hillary. Just sayin'.

So many tiny countries, so few visits

As in none. I've been trying for forever to get a visit from Monaco, Kosovo, Montenegro, San Marino, Vatican City and Lichtenstein that I can't even begin to describe my frustration. Macedonia comes by, Andorra comes by. You guys are too proud? Not enough porn for you? I don't say "fuck" enough? Not enough naked chicks here? OK, I actually don't put up pictures of naked chicks, but I figure if I say "naked chicks" enough people will come by. It works for Russia. I get a spike in traffic from Russia every time I say "porn" or "naked chicks." Sure, it's spambots, but it's traffic. You telling me Monaco and San Marino don't have spambots? Shit.

Please, God, make it happen

Californians apparently are hoping for the next best thing to the state falling into the ocean:

Activists who want California to leave the United States have filed papers to set in motion a process they hope would end with Golden State voters deciding whether to secede in 2021.This is the second attempt at a “Calexit,” as supporters call their effort. The first measure died last year during the signature-gathering process.
Secession supporters, who say the Trump administration is specifically targeting their state, will begin gathering signatures to qualify a ballot question in 2020. That initiative would ask voters whether to hold a secession vote — and, if it passes, that vote would take place May 4, 2021.
The secession vote would instruct the state legislature to formally declare California’s independence from the United States.

I should say something here, but I really don't want to jinx things. Hoping for the San Andreas Fault to finally go apeshit and send half  of California into the ocean -- thank God, it would be the lefty half -- hasn't worked. Sure, it will eventually, but likely not soon enough. But if California cheerfully becomes the Republic of California -- hey, guys, see you later.  And for all of you Constitutional illiterates who think the American Civil War -- properly known as the War Between the States, as a civil war involves a divided nation rather than two related but separate nations -- put an end to the notion that a state could secede from the Union, I offer two things. First, read the Constitution. Yes, a state can secede. Second, please note that every state that joined the Confederacy had to be readmitted to the Union. If they lacked the right to secede and thus never left, why would that be necessary? Yeah, California can secede, and no one would ever vote to readmit them.

Too much to hope for.

California man writes long blog post about government efficiency without a hint of irony

Apparently a Santa Ana, Cal. man recently posted a 5,000 word blog arguing in favor of government-run health care. The reason he had time to post such a long blog was that he was waiting for three hours to receive a two-minute service from his local DMV office. It seems to never have occurred to the man that government-run health care might resemble government-run driver's license services.

This moron, who has serious cognitive dissonance and must be completely unaware of the reality surrounding him, wrote:

“America is way behind the rest of the civilized world—we need universal healthcare and NOW. ... The United States government has more than proven its capability of running large-scale operations for its citizenry; for instance, the Department of Motor Vehicles and the Post Office are stellar examples of efficiency and financial prudence. Also–almost forgot—Amtrak. Great performance and NO recent disaster incidents that come to mind. And NASA on top of that! If NASA weren’t doing a world-class job then you would expect a boom in private-company space exploration, to the point where NASA itself might come to rely on the private companies, even. Has anything like that happened? I think not. ... Someone just let me know when a PRIVATE company shoots the most powerful rocket by a factor of two into space. I won’t hold my breath!”

This story appeared in the Bablyon Bee on Feb. 8 -- less than a week ago. In the weeks preceding this remarkably ill-informed post, this moron, Ralph Dunkley, apparently was missing all of the news about Amtrak killing people left and right in recent months, as well as all of the news about how all of America's heavy-lift space launch capacity now depends upon Elon Musk.

Since the California DMV graciously gave Mr. Dunkley all that time to write his blog post, one hopes that he was appreciative when, after his three-hour wait, a computer glitch sent him to the back of the line to start all over again. Hell, I hope this guy gets his government-run health care. And I hope the DMV runs it.

Not clear how ready for action China's fifth-generation fighter is

Apparently, China's J-20, which it claims is a fifth-generation, stealth fighter, is not exactly fully operational. Mind you, this isn't that unusual for advanced aircraft -- operational does not mean fully operational. But it is interesting in that China hasn't hedged its language on how ready the J-20 is:

It is unclear exactly how close the J-20 is to being truly operational. An initial operational capability is often a long way off from a fully operational capability. In the case of the fifth-generation Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor air superiority fighter, the aircraft still had many teething issues when the U.S. Air Force declared it operational in 2005. Meanwhile, the tri-service fifth-generation Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, both the United States Air Force and Marine Corps declared their versions of the stealthy single-engine jet to be operational with a very basic interim capability. Only the U.S. Navy is holding out for a full warfighting capability before declaring their version of the F-35 operational. Thus, only time will tell just how operational the J-20 really is.

This isn't really all that unusual, obviously. Still, interesting given the absolutist language from China about how ready the J-20 is. Still, it is a good-look aircraft:

I think this might be because guys in the Army aren't as good of marksmen as Marines

For sure the Marines put a higher emphasis on being able to hit what you shoot at pretty much anyplace within 500 yards, while the Army is less stringent. Still, while the Marines have accepted the M27 as their new infantry rifle, replacing the M4 carbine as well as the M249 squad automatic weapon, the Army will not be using the M27.

Their reason? The Army worries that the 5.56mm round fired by the M27 -- and by the M4 and the M249 -- will not penetrate modern body armor used by potential adversaries:

Last May, Gen. Mark Milley testified to the Senate Armed Services Committee that the service's current M855A1 Enhanced Performance Round will not defeat enemy body armor plates similar to the U.S. military-issue rifle plates such as the Enhanced Small Arms Protective Insert, or ESAPI.

The cleverly named ESAPI is known to the troops as the "chicken plate," a ceramic plate inserted in the front and back of standard body armor to provide added protection because our adversaries use weapons that fire 7.62mm rounds, larger and more powerful than the 5.56mm round fired by the M4 and M249. Naturally, then the Army wants to develop a rifle that fires a 7.62mm round. Oddly enough, before the Vietnam conflict, all U.S. infantry small arms used a 7.62mm round. We switched to conform with NATO because the European nations didn't like carry that kind of weight around. But I digress.

Because of the extra weight involved, many U.S. troops, who already carry close to 100 pounds of gear most of the time they leave base, decline to insert the chicken plate. In our current conflicts, you are far more likely to be it by an improvised explosive device than by a random shot from an untrained jihadi who happens to have a higher-caliber weapon than you do. Who made those weapons (and the body armor the Army is worried about, which the jihadis don't wear)? The Chinese and the Russians, of course.

I don't have any problem with the Army wanting to return to the 7.62mm round. I just suspect that it is because Marines can hit their enemies where the chicken plate isn't, and the Army can't. Just sayin'.

I must've posted something porn-like

Traffic from Russia and Ukraine is through the roof after months of disinterest. Of course, that coincides with months of me not posting much, so there is that, but I must have posted something that included porn-like words, such as "fuck" and "naked." Of course, I don't recall doing that, and if I did say "fuck" a lot, it would never be just to drive porn-related traffic. And I would never use the word "porn" just to drive traffic from sex-starved eastern Europeans. Or Asians. Or anyone else interested in hot naked Russian babes who want to fuck all night. That would be wrong.

No combat trial for proposed A-10 replacements, apparently

The Air Force seems to have reversed course on plans to subject the aircraft proposed as replacements for the A-10 ground attack aircraft to a combat trial. Instead, it plans to conduct tests for two of the four aircraft in the competition at U.S. bases:

The new experiments, planned for May to July 2018 at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona, narrow the field to Textron Aviation’s AT-6 Wolverine and the A-29 Super Tucano made by Sierra Nevada Corporation and Embraer — cutting the Textron Scorpion and L-3 Technologies’ AT-802L Longsword from further competition.

Personally, I favor the AT-6 Wolverine, primarily because it is made by a domestic company and oh, by the way, kicks ass. The Super Tucano also is very good -- they are very similar airplanes -- but The Super Tucano ultimately is owned by Embraer, a Brazilian company. I have nothing against Brazil (except their socialist leanings), but I do not favor putting defense contracts in the hands of foreign companies. Too much potential for trouble.

As for the tests that will be conducted, simulations and data taken from exercises will form the basis for the decision. Conducting mock attacks with data sensors is not a horrible approach. In fact, it is the norm -- I am not aware of a combat system being tested in combat against other candidates. Anyway, the Super Tucano is on the left, the AT-6 is on the right.

They're both tuboprop dumptrucks that don't cost a lot and can deliver a metric shit ton of ordinance onto the battlefield. I don't know how they compare to the A-10 when it comes to survivability -- the A-10 is without peer in that regard -- but these aircraft are intended to be used in low-threat environments, where the opponent, such as ISIS, has little or no ground-to-air capability and no air-to-air ability. I think it is long past time the Air Force invested in such a plane.

Another unemployment haiku (or two)

Yeah, my project ended on Monday. I have lots of prospects for next week, but we'll see how those turn out. In the meantime, I have these:

Project has ended
Leaving me without income
Could get challenging.

Mortgage holder says
Joblessness not our problem
Pay up soon, fuckwad.

Market seems OK
Apparently jobs out there
Still, I don't have one.

Seriously, I could do this all day.

Could it be that Germany's vaunted Leopard tank actually sucks?

Apparently, the answer is maybe. It might not suck at the purpose for which it was originally designed -- stopping vast numbers of Soviet tanks pouring through the Fulda Gap and across the coastal plains of northern Germany (the U.S. was mainly responsible for the Fulda Gap back then) -- but it apparently has problems dealing with the realities of warfare in a less conventional battlefield:

Germany’s Leopard 2 main battle tank has a reputation as one of the finest in the world, competing for that distinction with proven designs such as the American M1 Abrams and the British Challenger 2. However, that reputation for nigh-invincibility has faced setbacks on Syrian battlefields, and placed Berlin in a uniquely awkward national-level dispute with Turkey, its fellow NATO member.

. . . .

The Leopard 2 is often compared to its near contemporary, the M1 Abrams: in truth the two designs share broadly similar characteristics, including a scale-tipping weight of well over sixty tons of advanced composite armor, 1,500 horsepower engines allowing speeds over forty miles per hour and, for certain models, the same forty-four-caliber 120-millimeter main gun produced by Rheinmetall.

Turkey, a NATO member that is maybe less than dedicated to the same human-rights principals that Germany applies in restricting its arms exports, is a Leopard 2 customer. Turkey used to employ the M60 Patton tank, a U.S. tank first employed in 1960. The Patton was woefully obsolete, and in the early 2000s Turkey bought a bunch of  Leopard 2A4 tanks. Despite being obsolete themselves, they were a big upgrade from the M60. Those tanks still make up the bulk of Turkey's armored forces.

It is rumored that the sale of 2A4s was conditioned on not using them against the Kurds. Nobody has ever confirmed that, but the Leopards were kept out of action against the Kurds for many years. In 2016, though, about a dozen of Turkey's M60 tanks were destroyed in action against the Kurds and ISIS, and Turkey sent in Leopards. That didn't go well.

In December 2016, it became clear that ISIS managed to take out about 10 Leopard 2s with relatively low-tech weapons. Since then, Turkey has asked for upgrades to the Leopard 2s it has. Germany, while upgrading its own fleet of tanks, has declined to sell upgrades to Turkey. That may be because Turkey is not the kind of customer Germany wants in terms of human rights. It also could be because Germany doesn't want the Leopard 2 to suffer further embarrassments. Having fought in a similar non-conventional battlefield in Iraq, the Abrams did not suffer the same kind of defeats the Leopard 2 apparently has. Germany might be seeking to avoid damage to the export market for the Leopard 2.

Substitute "government" for "Hawaii" and I think this guy is on to something

The Washington Post ran a piece today on the op-ed page by one of its employees with the headline The Missile Employee Messed Up Because Hawaii Rewards Incompetence.

The author, formerly a public employee in Hawaii and later a journalist there, lays out the background of the incompetent fuck who panicked an entire state:

This week, we learned the man responsible for the bogus Hawaii missile alert kept his job for a decade even though he had a history of performance problems and has been a “source of concern,” according to an Federal Communications Commission report. His co-workers had expressed discomfort about his leadership, and the FCC said he has been “unable to comprehend the situation at hand and has confused real life events and drills on at least two separate occasions.” Although the emergency management supervisor, who remains unnamed, was a union member, he could have been fired at will. Instead, he was promoted to a leadership role. “Why,” Gizmodo understandably wondered, “was the employee in a position to send a false missile alarm to a couple million people?”

The author then attributes this monumental fuck-up to a uniquely Hawaiian situation:

There is a strong assumption in the islands that once you enter the state government system, you are set for life. There are great retirement benefits, union protections and the ability to move up, and laterally, across departments. (According to figures drawn from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Hawaii has the second-highest rate of union membership — more than 20 percent — after New York.) The prevailing assumption is: You do not have to work that hard.

Um, I don't know how long this guy has worked in Washington, but he is really missing the point. Yes, unions are part of the problem, but it isn't the state's level of unionization, it is the government's level of union membership. Private sector union membership is in the low single digits. Government employee union membership is about 40 percent. Further, civil service "reform" laws make it virtually impossible to fire government employees, regardless of how bad they are at their jobs. Unlike their private sector counterparts, not only do government employees not need to be good at their jobs (after they get through their first year probationary period, during which they must avoid being caught smoking dope at their desk) they can be just fucking awful at their jobs and still get a cost-of-living raise every year. Automatic raises are strictly a perk of government employment.

Hawaii might be really bad, or even worse than any other state, when it comes to rewarding incompetence. But they are by no means alone. Any system that gives raises regardless of performance, makes it difficult to impossible to fire someone for incompetence and offers generous retirement benefits base solely on whether you managed to avoid that near-impossible firing for incompetence is, by definition, rewarding incompetence. That effectively describes all government employment.

Sure, there are competent, dedicated government employees. No one who has been to get a drivers' license believes those employees are in the majority.

In a shocking development, a government employee pays the price for incompetence

Of course, the employee in question apparently had been incompetent for at least a decade and managed to keep his job. On the plus side, sending the entire state of Hawaii into a panic over a missile attack finally got this worthless fuck fired. Plus his boss had to quit:

Gov. David Ige and Hawaii Emergency Management Agency officials announced that HI-EMA administrator Vern Miyagi resigned this morning and the so-called “button pusher” has been terminated as a result of the state’s internal investigation of the Jan. 13 false alert of an imminent missile attack.
. . .
As a result of the findings, Logan said, the worker who set off the alert was fired on Friday, another HI-EMA executive resigned after Jan. 13, and a third employee is being suspended without pay. The fired worker had been on paid leave after the false alarm.
Retired Brig. Gen. Bruce Oliveira, who headed the internal investigation into HI-EMA, said the button pusher failed to hear “Exercise, Exercise, Exercise” although five others got it right.
According to Oliveira’s report, the employee has been a source of concern for over 10 years because of poor performance and had been counseled.
Oliveira said the fired employee had confused drills for real events at least twice before, once for a fire and once for a tsunami and had been “counseled.”

The idiot who told everybody in Hawaii that a missile was inbound finally lost his job after being unable to tell the difference between drills and real events for quite some time. He sucked at his job for 10 years before getting shitcanned. Private sector employees would kill for that kind of job security. How much do you want to bet he still gets his pension?

On the downside, I'm sorry to hear that Mr. Miyagi had to resign. He was such a great sensei for Daniel-San: