This movie looks like its gonna be crazy good!

The more I see the more I want to see....I hope the actual movie is as good as the previews....This is suppose to be a true story but I never heard of Hugh Glass....

Kudlow adopts the new conservative position on visas...

via National Interest.

know this is not my usual position. But this is a war. Therefore I have come to believe there should be no immigration or visa waivers until the U.S. adopts a completely new system to stop radical Islamic terrorists from entering the country. A wartime lockdown. And a big change in my thinking. ISIS and related Islamic terrorists are already here. More are coming. We must stop them. Until FBI director James Comey gives us the green light, I say seal the borders. Here’s what we must do: Completely reform the vetting process for immigrants and foreign visitors. Change the screening process. Come up with a new visa-application review process. Stop this nonsense of marriage-visa fraud. And in the meantime, seal the borders. I agree with Jessica Vaughn, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, who argued many of these points in excellent detail on the National Review website on Friday. Again, why am I taking this hardline position? In the past I have been an immigration reformer, not a restrictionist. But we are at war. That changes everything. Let me emphasize that my support for wartime immigration restrictions is not based on religion. I think Donald Trump made a big mistake here. Instead, I agree with this Rupert Murdoch tweet: “Complete refugee pause to fix vetting makes sense.”

Kudlow is a immigration booster, free trade enthusiast and a big part of the Republican political elite that has been pushing to expand H-1B visas (have you noticed that almost all our news broadcasters suddenly have Brit accents?).

I don't buy this conversion...or change.  I don't buy it one bit.

I do believe that he sees where the party is and knows that unless he changes his stance then he'll no longer have a seat in leadership.  This is why I believe that Bush, and the other "preferred candidates" for president are going to fail this year.

People remember the stance these folks took on immigration, free trade and now on the ISIS/Visa issue.  They played it safe and now they're no longer relevant.

Much to my surprise the only viable Republican presidential candidates in the environment that we find ourselves in is Trump and Cruz.  Even the party leader's fallback candidate, Rubio, is no longer viable.

This is going to be an interesting election.  As of this moment I'm thinking Cruz will probably take it.  Oh and for those that are thinking Hillary, I just don't see the Democrat coalition holding together.  A coalition formed of competing interests rarely lasts and if Rahms troubles in Chicago are any indication then its already splintering.

Friday's losses were bad..historically Mon will be a bloodbath..

Thanks to Super Rhino for the link!

This is a follow on to the economy being strange post I did earlier.

Fri saw a 300 point drop, and if history is prologue then Mon will be beyond nasty.  Cramer says to sell.  I say you're probably already late.  The players in the market were taking money off the table by the second on Fri, so you're just catching a falling knife.

Does that mean stay the course?  Yeah.  Stand pat and when the inevitable rally hits midweek or even the following week, then you act to get out of bad positions.

My advice?  If you're not a day trader then get out of this thing....pick your spot and get out....its unwinding while we speak and the "little guys (yeah, if you're upper middle or lower then  you're a little guy) are gonna get crushed.

This is pure "bro science"....so do what you think is best.

The F-35 worked out at the Expeditionary Airfield at 29 Palms?

via Marines.mil

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 121 conducted the F-35B Lightning II’s first-ever expeditionary test in support of exercise Steel Knight 16, Dec. 10, 2015.
Exercise Steel Knight is a combined arms live-fire exercise that implements a combination of air and ground assets to complete a wide range of military operations to prepare 1st Marine Division for deployment as the ground combat element of a Marine Air-Ground Task Force.
VMFA-121’s role in the exercise was to conduct close air support drills and expeditionary missions in support of the MAGTF.
During the exercise, the F-35 utilized the expeditionary airfield on Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, California, and the expeditionary landing pad at Red Beach on Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California.
“We’ve done similar landings in [Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Arizona], but the one at Red Beach was the smallest vertical landing pad we have used to date,” said Maj. Colin Newbold, the flight operations officer with VMFA-121.
Exercise Steel Knight allowed VMFA-121 the opportunity to illustrate the abilities of the F-35 to operate organically in an austere environment while helping accomplish the mission of the MAGTF.
“This is the first time that we get to truly test the capabilities of the aircraft in an expeditionary setting,” said Newbold, the flight operations officer with VMFA-121. “This is going to be a real learning experience for everyone involved and will prove helpful in the future when developing tactics.”

This is interesting.  HQMC released a few photos of the F-35 SUPPOSEDLY operating from the Expeditionary Air Field at 29 Palms and Red Beach at Camp Pendleton.

I'll hold my fire until I get better info, but I'm wondering....

The F-35 operating in an austere environment?  But we're building brand new facilities at every Air Station to accommodate this queen.  Did we waste money doing that or is the planes capabilities in challenging locations not up to snuff?

I'll hold my fire but I'm smelling another publicity stunt.

Note:  The Operations Officer's name seems familiar for some reason.  Newbold.  Time to take a look thru my files...

Navy's newest ship breaks down...needs to be towed back to port. Yeah...it's an LCS.

via Navy Times.

The ship was commissioned Nov. 21 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and has been making the long trek to San Diego through the Great Lakes since.
Problems with the propulsion plant began almost as soon as Milwaukee got underway from Halifax. The ship’s computer system triggered an alarm and the ship called away an engineering casualty.
Engineers cleaned out the metal filings from the lube oil filter and locked the port shaft as a precaution. In the early hours of Friday morning, the ship was conducting steering tests and lost lube oil pressure in the starboard combining gear due to the presence of the same metal filings in that filter.
The metal filings in the lube oil have not been a class-wide issue, according to the Navy.
The ship then dropped anchor while the engineers worked on the system. By mid-morning, the salvage ship Grapple rendezvoused with Milwaukee and connected a towing hawser line for the trip back to Little Creek.
The ship is currently manned by Crew 104, and was scheduled to swap with Crew 108 in Mayport. The crews will now swap in Virginia while the ship’s system is repaired.
News of the breakdown reached Capitol Hill by late Friday. Sen. John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement to Navy Times that the plant issues were troubling and called for accountability.

This doesn't surprise me.

The LCS is a ship without a mission and stems from a concept that was short sighted and trendy.

A warship built to operate in the littoral zones?  Yeah.  Sounds great...even futuristic...but its bullshit.  You're talking about a patrol boat for that mission set.  In the meantime the US Navy needed a frigate.  But instead of acknowledging the failure that is the LCS, the powers that be "stayed the course" and simply rebranded the LCS in a vain attempt to fool the clueless. 

The saddest thing about this time in our military history is this.  We will fight future wars with the weapons we're building now.

Future Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Airmen and Coast Guardsmen will be at a disadvantage because this generation's leaders couldn't do the hard thing....admit that they got it wrong.

Something weird is going on with the economy.

via Bloomberg.

Third Avenue, founded by value investor Martin Whitman, said on Dec. 9 that it wasblocking clients in the Focused Credit Fund from pulling out its remaining $788 million in assets to avoid fire sales, so that the fund could be liquidated in an orderly fashion. “Unfortunately, the present environment has harmed our ability to successfully implement our strategy,” Third Avenue’s chief executive officer David Barse wrote.
The move was unusual in the world of mutual funds, which are typically required to keep a portion of assets in highly liquid investments so they can meet redemption requests on a daily basis. The Focused Credit Fund, according to its prospectus, had the ability to “invest unlimited assets in below-investment grade credit instruments.”

I've been getting bombarded with e-mails about this news story.  Quite honestly I have no knowledge of Third Avenue, but the idea that a mutual fund would suddenly freeze withdrawals appears to be kinda spooky.

What I do know is that oil prices have cratered and the oil producing states from the South, up to the Midwest and over to Alaska (including Canada) are in a hurt locker.  Additionally the other oil producing nation states are hurting...Venezuela, Nigeria, North Africa and the Middle Eastern states are barely making it.  I personally think we're seeing the bursting of an artificial "OIL BUBBLE" that was not acknowledged but mirrors the high energy rates being charged in California starting in 2002.

Last but not least, Carl Icahn is stating that this is only the beginning.  Do your own research but something weird is going on with the economy...the world wide economy.

More proof the F-35 is inadequate. Northrop Grumman releases illustration of 6th gen fighter.

via Flight Global.

Thermal management will be a critical factor in a brewing competition to replace hundreds of Lockheed Martin F-22s and Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, says a top Northrop Grumman executive.
Releasing a new artistic concept of a so-called sixth-generation fighter on 11 December, Northrop Aerospace Systems president Tom Vice singled-out the critical but often overlooked quality of managing all the heat generated by ever-more powerful weapons and sensors anticipated on future combat aircraft.

Interesting isn't it.  A briefing to defense media of an illustration of a 6th gen fighter?  Talk about it being armed with lasers?

The reality is stark.

This is not only more proof that the F-35 is inadequate, but it also shows that the threat fighters...the J-20, J-31, PAK-FA and Japanese stealth fighter....are considered to be more formidable than is being let on in the public.

Before the F-35 has even entered service, its already being relegated to the "might be a bit better" than the F-16, but not by much category.

Face it boys and girls.  The USAF and USN is already working on the 6th gen fighter.  The USMC won't play for two reasons.  We can't afford it and if they did try and dip a toe into the 6th gen water the tribe would go ape-shit.

Even more important is this fact.  The USAF won the budget war but the US Navy clearly won the doctrine/concept battle.  What do I mean?  The 6th gen is shaping up to be biased toward Greenert's "payloads over platforms" war cry.  Additionally Electronic Warfare is set to be a "domain"...more Growlers are coming so that's another Navy win that's not be talked about enough.

The good admiral is probably the most consequential of the service chiefs of his tenure.  Amos was a failure and irrelevant.  Ordierno was absolutely useless and is trying his hand at analysis to improve his legacy.  Hostage was a mess.  Greenert is the only one  that got even a piece of it right.

Lithuanian defense ministry buys 88 Boxer APCs & pulls a magic trick.

via Reuters.

The Lithuanian government said on Friday it would proceed with negotiations to buy 88 Boxer armored fighting vehicles in a deal worth up to 400 million euros ($439 million).
The decision, where the Boxer was selected from a list of 12 suppliers that also included Swiss Piranha and American Stryker vehicles, came as the Baltic country moves to bolster its military amid tensions between Russia and the West over the Ukraine crisis.
"After this decision, the project of the largest ever defense purchase will move forward swiftly," Lithuanian armed forces chief Jonas Zukas told reporters.
Senior government sources told Reuters the value of the deal was expected to be no higher than 400 million euros. That would still represent is a big undertaking for Lithuania, whose total defense budget stands at 425 million euros this year.
The Boxers are to be equipped with 30mm MkII guns and anti-tank system Spike-Lr, both manufactured by Israeli companies, the sources said.

I can't argue with the selection of the Boxer and the weapons fit seems solid too.  30mm cannons and Spike-Long Range missiles?  That's spot on.

What has me scratching my head is the magic trick they're pulling off.  A 400 million Euro deal while having a total defense budget of 425 million Euros?

Interesting doesn't begin to state it.  We're seeing some financial accounting games with the F-35 that are bordering on the criminal (no, not bordering...they're breaking the law) but the Lithuanians are taking the concept and injecting steroids into the process.  More to come I'm sure.

Spanish Army Aviation operating from the French Navy's BPC Dixmude (pics)

Denmark has placed an order for 309 Piranha 5 army personnel carriers

Thanks to Jonathan for the link!

via Reuters

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Denmark has placed an order for 309 Piranha 5 army personnel carriers (APCs) from General Dynamics in a deal worth $662 million, the defense ministry said on Friday.
"This is a historically large investment in modern equipment for our army," Defence Minister Peter Christensen said in a statement.
(Reporting by Ole Mikkelsen; editing by Sabina Zawadzki)

The second big buy this week for the Piranha 5.

What am I missing?  Why is this 8x8 suddenly so popular?  How is Patria losing the European market to General Dynamics?

I predicted that the Patria AMV Advanced would be the "EU 8x8" in the same way the Leopard 2 is the "EU Tank".

I was wrong.  Even worse for Patria?  General Dynamics is the odds on favorite to win the UK Mechanised Infantry Vehicle contest.

The F-35 continues to destroy current/future budgets...

Thanks to Don for the link!

via Washington Post.

For example, auditors reported that the Defense Department’s massive F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Program Fighter “continues to encounter significant technical problems,” Dodaro testified, including engine and bulkhead failures, which require design changes at the same time aircraft production is well underway. DOD plans to steeply increase F-35 funding over the next five years and projects that it will need between $14 billion and $15 billion annually for nearly a decade.
GAO recommended that defense officials conduct a “comprehensive affordability analysis” of the F-35 program’s procurement plan, Dodaro said. DOD agreed with the recommendation, although the agency maintains that it accomplishes this through its annual budget process. Auditors say a more thorough analysis is necessary “to accurately account for the future technical and funding uncertainty” the program faces, he said.

I know what the Assistant Commandant for Aviation is saying.....

Tell everyone its perfect.  We'll fix it once we get it. 

The reality is stark.  This one airplane is destroying the Marine Corps.  How Dunford could allow this insanity to continue is beyond me.  Why Neller (and I've been told by more than one person that  I consider knowledgeable that he's beyond solid) isn't clamping down hard is a mystery.

This will not end well.

The fanboys can delude themselves all they want.  But the truth is the truth. We will lose air superiority with this airplane....and we'll pay an arm and leg while we're doing so.

SOCOM trigger pullers speak about Women in the infantry...just like everyone else they're too late.

Thanks to Joe for the link!

via Free Beacon.

U.S. special operations forces worry that integrating women into the military’s most demanding combat jobs will deal a blow to their effectiveness, result in lower standards, and possibly drive men away from serving in the positions.
The revelations come in a survey, first reported by the Associated Press, that was released in full by the Pentagon last week in timing with Defense Secretary Ash Carter’s announcement that all combat jobs would be opened up to women despite recommendations otherwise from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The survey, conducted by the Rand Corporation last year, solicited voluntary responses from over 7,600 men serving in Navy SEAL, Army Delta, and other commando units. Approximately 85 percent of the respondents said they oppose opening special operations positions to women, and 70 percent oppose having women in their individual units.
More than 80 percent answered that women are not strong enough to handle the demands of the job.
The new details of the survey, some results of which were reported by AP earlier this year, follow the release of a nine-month study conducted by the Marine Corps which found that women perform worse than men in combat operations.

Quite honestly I'm past caring.  I view the military that we see now as something new.  Puller was wrong.  There is a difference between this new Corps and the old one.

What has me pissed off the most is that while I was taking the lumps and being called all kinds of things, the likes of USNI Blog with Haynie as the ring leader pushed an agenda and everyone remained silent.

So to all the Grunts, SOCOM bubbas etc....fuck you all.  You should have spoken up sooner.  Instead you kept your head down.  

This is what happens when you lack moral courage.  You played it safe so now deal with the consequences.  The time for outrage and to speak up was well before the SecDef made his decision.  Now they'll toss a few bonuses at you while the social experiment is conducted.  I'm not a complete ass though....I hope you survive it.