Police/Govt cover up in Baltimore?

Interesting.

Just heard news that the report on how Freddie Gray was killed by police won't be released on Friday.  Instead its going to go to the District Attorney's office.

Bad move.

If you've been keeping up on the social media on this thing then you know that many suspect a Police/Govt cover up.  What should chill the bones of everyone is that an African American female heads the local govt.

And yet the tension continues to build...a Democrat mayor in a Democrat city which is headed by an African American female is not trusted.

We haven't seen anything yet.  Baltimore is gonna burn this weekend, and its gonna be a sight to behold.

Finland is gearing up for war. Reservist told duty assignments now...

Many thanks to Potaasi for the link!

via yle.fi

A mail-out to 900,000 former conscripts in Finland began being publicised on Monday, with a TV announcement reminding reservists that "conscription is the cornerstone of Finland's defence capability". The defence minister denied that the move has any link to worsening relations with Russia.

Finland’s armed forces began broadcasting an announcement on Yle television from Monday, telling the nation’s reservists that “We want to have a word with you,” and reminding them that “conscription is the cornerstone of Finland’s defence capability.”
The ad accompanies a mass mail-out campaign, in which a letter will be sent to each of Finland’s 900,000 reservists next month, informing them which post they would be given in a crisis situation. The letter also asks them to send in up-to-date details of their whereabouts.
Earlier this month Defence Minister Carl Haglund denied that the campaign has anything to do with the country’s worsening relations with Russia, nor with the crisis in Ukraine.
“Many reservists are interested to know which role they would have, and they’re motivated to be a part of this country’s defence work. Therefore it’s good that we can give them regular information about what’s planned for them,” he said.

This is interesting (read it all here).

Finland is actually gearing up for war.  To put out public broadcasts and mailings to almost a million men....to have already planned where those men would muster in case of national emergency...to have a data base established to keep track of their current addresses, contact information etc....

For all the calm being shown by EU leaders for the news cameras, their actions are showing us something different.

They're serious and they're getting ready.

The madness in Baltimore will flare again Friday.

You think that just because today looks relatively calm that the issues in Baltimore are over?

Hardly!

The mayor, a person that I think is in over her head, says that information about the cause of the young man's death will be released then.  Why Friday?  My guess is because school will be out.  It gives them enough time to get the National Guard into town.  It allows business to "fortify" there buildings and finally because with slack weekend coverage the media will be focused on the riots (I'm betting on more riots) instead of what I believe will be seen as manslaughter by police.

We'll see what happens.

She's being hailed as mom of the year but many would consider this child abuse...

Isn't it funny how twisted our society is?

This mom is being hailed as the "mom of the year" but many would consider this child abuse at worst or domestic violence!  Additionally I wonder how people would react if a father had done the same thing in the same way?(football fans...now do you understand the lack of outrage at Adrian Peterson!)

Our society is morally jacked up. Situational ethics is no way to live...either as a person or a nation.

Are you a fan of Green Tips? Re-think your drink!

The photo above and the passage below are from TacBlog.

clean 5.56 wound in a patients calf. One thing many people don’t talk about is the lack of traumatic damage the round inflicts on targets. This is something many have noted returning from combat and something I personally witnessed from a patient who had a range mishap. Even shot placement in critical areas doesn’t cause enough trauma to put someone down right away. Anyone who has been deployed can attest to the round’s lack of immediate stopping power, often witnessing targets getting hit and still able to maneuver to cover and return fire before succumbing to wounds later.

The benefit of being a civilian is the ability to use Barnes 36 grain Varmint Grenade and Nosler’s 55 grain Varmageddon.
Yeah it depends on on the bullet, it can ice pick or frag like a grenade. M855 is a round designed for a different era. I’ve see wounds from m193 that are catastrophic.

If all our enemies...heck even if most of them were equipped with body armor the way that we are then the M855 is a no brainer.

But they aren't.

I need to chew on this one a bit.  Use a light, extremely fast bullet or one that can punch through car doors without drama?  I just don't know.

8 new US military bases in the Philippines?

via Press TV

American forces will gain access to at least eight military bases in the Philippines following a new bilateral agreement, reports say.
The eight bases would give the US military the most access since it evacuated forces from its Philippine bases in 1990s.
Philippine Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gregorio Catapang told Manila’s ABS-CBN News on Monday that the bases, which will not necessarily be limited to eight, were specified during an October meeting with the commander of the US Pacific Command, Admiral Samuel Locklear.

Read the entire thing here.

I'm a bit leery of 8 bases in the Philippines.  First it doesn't answer the question of our forces being out of reach of Chinese attack.  But the bigger issue is why so many?  I suspect we're about to get neck deep in the counter insurgency fight that the Filipino's are involved in.

You think those boy loving bastards in the Middle East are tough?  Wait till you get a load of these sons of bitches! 

Quite honestly I don't think US infantry...Army and Marine Corps...is ready for the jungle fight I believe they're getting lined up for.  If I'm right, this will be nasty.

FNSS is teasing a "new era" in armored vehicles...

via FNSS website.

FNSS Savunma Sistemleri A.Ş, the leading land combat systems company and export champion of Turkish Defence Industry is participating IDEF’15 which will be held between 5 - 8 May 2015 in Tüyap Fair and Convention Centre, Büyükçekmece – İstanbul,Turkey.
FNSS will exhibit its existing products as well as the new products which start will start a new era for Armoured Combat Vehicles during IDEF’15 exhibition at Hall 7.

Interesting.  FNSS had fallen off my radar screen but this announcement has me intrigued.  I guess I'll have to wait till May 5th to find out what they've got up their sleeve.

More Freccia IFV's for the Italian Military. via Defense Technology Magazine.

Interesting.

The Italians are making a bet that the heaviest wheeled IFV in service, is the right choice for their armed forces.  Additionally they've done the thing I've harped on and developed a family of vehicles based off it (I wonder why DT didn't include the Centauro in this list).  What info do they have that makes this the best vehicle for their services?

I could easily be mistaken but it appears that the Italians are slowly evolving to an all wheeled armor force.

CV90 with Active Suspension is going to be the fastest armored vehicle over rough terrain in the world.

via Endgadget.

Unlike conventional, passive suspensions that simply absorb the shock of a bump or divot in the road as it occurs, active suspensions calculate vehicle speed against upcoming terrain to selectively tighten the suspension and keep the vehicle level. This eliminates both body roll and pitch acceleration as well as translates into a higher top speed since all four wheels (or in this case, both tracks) stay in firm contact with the ground. It works well enough for the CV90 to set a speed record on a "rough terrain course",

Go here to read the entire story.   Interesting isn't it.  Just when wheeled vehicles finally "catch up" to tracked when it comes to cross country mobility, we find out that tracked roars back and takes back the crown.

F-35 News. IOC this year? Not likely!

via Bloomberg

As of late December, engines on the Marine Corps’ complex version of the F-35, designed for short takeoffs and vertical landings, flew about 47 hours between failures caused by engine design issues instead of the 90 hours planned for this point, according to GAO officials. Air Force and Navy model engines flew about 25 hours between failures instead of the 120 hours planned.

If that isn't bad enough then check this out from the same article.

F-35 engines from United Technologies Corp. are proving so unreliable that U.S. plans to increase production of the fighter jet may be slowed, according to congressional auditors.

Where ya at F-35 fanboys?

Your beloved airplane has fallen and it doesn't appear that it can get back up.....Oh and as far as that USMC IOC this year?  Not likely!  Not if they keep their word and do an assessment that the airplane meets requirements before its put into service.