Boys will be boys but c'mon! You're a fucking Officer of Marines! UPDATE!!! SCOPOLAMINE IS SERIOUS!

via Sputnik.

After a day spent at a business conference in the Colombian city last February, a pilot, a theater security cooperation planner and an exercise planner, all with the United States Marines, allegedly walked into a bar in an off-limits section of Bogota, solicited several sex workers and took the women back to their hotel rooms.

All three may now be charged with, at a minimum, "conduct unbecoming an officer" following a report that Marines Chief of Staff Colonel Michael Farrell wrote for Marine Brigadier General Kevin Iiams, the commander at the time of the incident, according to Stripes.com.

According to the Marine Corps report on the investigation obtained by the Miami Herald, the three officers must face "appropriate administrative or judicial proceedings."

In detailing the charges, the report observed that the three officers violated a 1 a.m. curfew, traveled to an area of the city forbidden to Marines, entered a local bar and solicited four sex workers, who they then took back to their hotel rooms.

One of the officers was documented as stopping off on the way back to their rooms to draw cash advances off of a US government travel card, according to Stripes.com.

Two of the officers later became unconscious in their room, in spite of, according to Farrell's report, being previously told about "the specific hazard associated with local nationals utilizing the drug scopolamine to incapacitate and rob their victims."

Jesus!  Fucking seriously?  Do you really need to have someone tell a fucking Officer of Marines the danger of dealing with strippers in a foreign land?  On top of that we're talking about fucking Colombia!  Yeah.  I know.  The women are HOT!  But it's fucking Colombia!!

Please let this be a fake news story!  Tell me these guys weren't this damn dumb!

Sidenote:  Why would you bring a stripper back to your motel room where you have secret materials?  If you're picking up hookers then you strip down to just your fucking ID and the money to pay for "services"...you don't take them back to your primary for fun and games, where you have your weapons, coms, documents etc.......that's what sleazebag hour motels are for! 

Sidenote 1:  This drug is some serious shit!  They call it the zombie drug.  Why?  Because while you're on it ... well fuck that ... check out what Huffington Post says about this insanity...

Bank account bone dry?
Have the sneaking suspicion you spent the evening in a zombie-like state shuffling from bank machine to bank machine at the behest of South American crime lords?
Dude on your couch eating Cap'n Crunch in your pajamas, casting devious stares in your direction?

Yup. Sounds like you may have been the unwitting recipient of a blast of 'devil's breath'.
Or, at least, that's the diabolical scenario health experts are warning about amid the apparent surge in popularity of a drug called scopolamine. Also known as burundanga. Best remembered by its infernal street name.
Or, apparently, not remembered at all.
Hailed in a recent Vice documentary as 'the world's scariest drug,' scopolamine is tasteless, odourless and has a reputation for being something of a 'zombie' drug -- meaning victims are still very much active while they're on it, remembering precious little of those activities the next day.
In 2012, there were nearly 1,200 cases of scopolamine and other 'zombie' drugs being used on unsuspecting targets, GlobalPost reports. Among the victims? Well-known politicians, foreign embassy staff and average Colombian citizens.
“They go out to party and then wake up two or three days later on a park bench,” Maria Fernanda Villota, a nurse at San Jose University Hospital in Bogota, told GlobalPost.
The hospital, she says, receives several scopolamine victims every week. “They arrive here without their belongings or their money.”
Last month, El Mundo reported on four women who fell prey to the Devil's Breath in isolated incidents -- each case was marked by the use of paper sheets, apparently, doused with an alkaloid from the plant. Once inhaled, everything goes a little... zombie.

Did you read that?  The drug can be placed on a paper sheet and you're dosed with it?  This stuff is crazy!  I need to dig into this but this sounds like a thief's dream drug.  You worry about nuclear war?  I worry about sick chemist that dream this shit up.

Oh and you can bet your last dollar that this will show up in the US if it isn't here already.

Ballistic Helmets and Vests for fire depts??? This is the latest trend for first responders!

Thanks to Jonathan for the link!

via ChelseaRecord.

The Chelsea Fire Department union is calling on the City and Fire Chief Len Albanese to immediately outfit the members of its union with ballistic helmets recommended by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in the wake of the active shooter incident on Warren Avenue.

President Anthony Salvucci said the union, Fire Chief and City Manager Tom Ambrosino have been in discussions over the past several weeks to get funding for the new ballistic helmets, which would have protected the heads of firefighters as they moved in.

So far, Salvucci said the City has deferred on the expense, and want to include it in next year’s budget. According to Salvucci, that is no long acceptable.

“We sat down with Tom and the Chief and they said, ‘When will we ever use this,’” said Salvucci. “Well, here we are two weeks later. At the end of the day, we want what’s best for the community. We’re not looking to stop this or to stop any training or drills, but we want what is best practice. We want the equipment that is recommended by DHS. We’re not opposed to this. This is a very real thing. The world is changing and we want to change with it.”

Already, the City has invested recently in some active shooter training and in ballistic vests, which Chief Albanese said were actually put on the apparatus earlier this month.

The time for those vests was perfect.

“We trained with them through the month of April and put them on the apparatus May 5, and now here we are already using them,” he said, noting that grant money paid for the vests.

The training that was recently engaged in included tactical training to prevent hemorrhage, Warm Zone entry with force protection and command staff coordination.

He said all of those trainings were directly applicable on Monday night.

“Utilizing the training and preparation for Active Shooter incidents, we were able to adapt quickly to this dynamic scene,” he said. “Once the house was heavily involved in fire, our firefighters made a cautious exterior attack, with ballistic protection, under the cover provided by Police and SWAT. The communication between Police and Fire was excellent.”

Salvucci said they agree that the situation played out well, but they also believe that it was a red flag for making sure that the right equipment is in their hands.

He said it would cost about $7,000 to $15,000 to outfit the entire department with ballistic helmets. He pointed to a $34 million Free Cash fund and about $2 million available in the Stabilization Fund.

“When you’re standing next to a SWAT guy and you’re fighting a fire and he’s wearing that helmet, you want to have the same protections that he has in that situation,” he said. “We’re not talking about big money here so I don’t think we should have to wait until the next fiscal budget. You wouldn’t send a firefighter into a burning house with half of his or her equipment.”

Have you been watching this trend?  If not then let me get you up to speed.  A quick Google search reveals that fire depts all across the nation are buying ballistic gear for their firefighters.  Right now its the common combat type stuff but I fully expect that to evolve into traditional firefighter colors so that their will be no confusion between them and police forces.

The reality?

As much as we might not like it, history has proven that this is a needed precaution.  Just a year or so ago firefighters were caught in an ambush setup by an active shooter.

Mobile Acute Care Hospital

In the future we'll probably see a fire being used to lure these guys into a kill zone.

You might think this is overkill but I think its long overdue.

Sidenote:  The next step is to get paramedics and the local trauma hospitals
to get in gear.  They need a tactically trained paramedic that can make entry with SWAT Teams and they need trauma surgeons to be mobile enough to set up a field hospital in the vicinity of an active shooter situation. Something like you see above ... maybe a regional asset...but something that is available if the worst case scenario happens.  That Golden Hour needs to be preserved.  Besides its better to have it and not need than not have it when you need it the most!

Singapore Army's Next Generation IFV

Thanks to Benjamin for getting these pics for us!

Its kinda hard to get the scale of how large this vehicle is but if you look at the first pic you can see the Bionix in the background.

This is one big puppy!

Probably rivaling the Bradley or even a few feet bigger.  This one bears watching.  The Singaporeans are making a huge push on the international armored vehicle market and the established players need to be paying attention!

Anyone with real deal knowledge of how Intel Agencies work? Kushner issue is weird/incomprehensible...

I'm hoping like hell that there is a person in my audience with real deal knowledge of how Intel Agencies work.

The issue.

The news reports of Kushner.  It makes absolutely no sense.  Supposedly the news media got a letter back in December 2016 saying that Kushner had contact with the Russians and wanted to set up backdoor communications.

December!

This guy is one step from the President and while Sally Yates would go to the Trump admin and hint that they needed to fire Flynn, no one sent any warning signs about Kushner?

I don't understand that.

Why would the Intel Community let a person that close to the president remain in place?  Why would they warn about Flynn but not about Kushner? Is this how the Intel Community works or are they more like law enforcement and were trying to build a case no matter what the danger to national policy?

Hopefully someone (and don't play games...I can sense bullshit) with real knowledge of the thinking can explain it to me.  This Kushner issue is weird/incomprehensible...

NOTE:  Everyone is failing to get the "force of connection" here!  This leak was first sent in a letter to the Washington Post back in December!  If Kushner is a security threat then our intel agencies should have acted LONG before now!  His security clearance should have been pulled! That's the point!!!  Why didn't they act!!!

US Navy buying many more Super Hornets than previously planned...is this a result of the report on the F-35C vs SH????

Thanks to Colin for the link!

via Flightglobal.

President Donald Trump’s proposed budget would add funding to buy up to 74 Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornets through 2022, or 60 more than planned in previous budget forecasts.

The Navy is requesting 14 Super Hornets in Fiscal 2018 to mitigate the service’s strike fighter shortfall, officials said this week. In addition, Trump’s budget proposal inserts new plans to procure 23 more F/A-18E/Fs in FY2019, 14 in FY2020, 14 in FY2021 and 15 in FY2022. The recent request not only includes funding for new Super Hornets, but also advanced procurement dollars to address advanced capabilities.

While Boeing celebrated the intended purchase of new F/A-18E/Fs as a sign that the Trump administration would commit to funding Super Hornets year after year, the status of the five-year funding plan is not settled. During a budget rollout briefing this week, Pentagon officials warned that procurement numbers beyond FY2018 would be subject to change following the outcome of a defence strategy review due this August. John Roth, the Pentagon's deputy comptroller, emphasised that the long-term budget was not informed by strategy or policy.

“We have focused on getting a budget ready for FY2017 and then we pivoted to get '18 done to meet this date as well, the secretary has not spent anytime looking beyond '18,” he says.

I've been beating on a drum shouting for a defense reporter to corner Mattis and ask about the report he had commissioned on the F-35C vs Super Hornet for the US Navy.

That report was suppose to be out no later than the end of March but we heard nothing.

Now we have this.  I think we have our answer on the study.

That does leave an interesting tidbit though.  I didn't highlight it above so I'll do it here...

 During a budget rollout briefing this week, Pentagon officials warned that procurement numbers beyond FY2018 would be subject to change following the outcome of a defence strategy review due this August.

A defense review?  Hmm.  That's beyond interesting.  I want to remind everyone of this article from way back in 2015. via CTMirror.

For years, the Pentagon was inflexible when talking about the number of F-35s it wants to buy — 2,443 — pushing back against any suggestions that it should trim that shopping list. But no more.
The high price tag of the F-35, a Lockheed Martin aircraft whose engine is made by Pratt & Whitney, has made some Pentagon officials consider whether the Defense Department can afford as many of the Joint Strike Fighters as they had once planned.
Gen. Joseph Dunford, now the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote in testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee this summer that the Pentagon is “presently taking the newest strategic foundation and analyzing whether 2,443 aircraft is the correct number.”

When asked by the same committee: “Do you believe the Navy can afford and needs to procure 310 more F-35Cs with a procurement cost of over $42 billion?”  Chief Naval Officer Adm. John Richardson said he would work to “re-validate the appropriate number of aircraft the Navy requires.”

Plans right now are for the Navy to purchase 340 F-35Cs, the version of the plane designed to operate from aircraft carriers. The Marines and Air Force would receive different versions of the fighter plane. Other versions of the Joint Strike Fighter are being sold to U.S. allies.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the head of Senate Armed Services Committee and a frequent critic of the F-35 program, said the numbers the Pentagon has been quoting are inflated.
“There’s just not going to be that many,” McCain said.
In an interview, McCain said the Pentagon has to look “realistically” at how many weapons systems it can afford.
“The question is, at the present cost, can we afford as many F-35s?” he asked.

McCain said he will press the Pentagon to determine how many planes the services need.

Knowing the F-35 fan club they'll immediately say that the price has decreased dramatically since 2015.  My response would be that they're all basically prototypes that will all need to be upgraded.  Check this out via National Interest.

 The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is voicing opposition to the Pentagon’s plan to manage the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter’s Block 4 upgrade as a continuation of the existing program. The planned upgrade—which is expected to cost more than $3 billion—is large enough to qualify a major defense acquisition program by itself.

“This modernization effort is like a new program with estimated costs of about $3 billion over the next six years,” Michael Sullivan, director of acquisition and sourcing management issues at GAO, told the House Armed Services Committee on March 23. “That price alone would qualify it as a major defense acquisition program in it own right and it should be managed as such.”

So my theory is that the Pentagon is laying out its "get out of jail free card" and is going to use the study to cut the number of F-35's it buys.

The biggest evidence is the Super Hornet purchase.  Every new Super is one less F-35C.

SIDENOTE!  This extra 3 billion dollars is "big enough for a separate program"?!?!?!  Another hidden cost that most aren't aware of!

Global economic weirdness....

via Reuters.

The current level of U.S. prices is noticeably lower than what it would be if the Federal Reserve had delivered on its 2-percent inflation target, St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard said, calling the trend "worrisome."

In slides prepared for delivery in Tokyo on Friday, the U.S. central banker said U.S. prices are now 4.6 percent below the price level path established from 1995 to 2012, when inflation was growing near the Fed's target of 2 percent each year.

"This is not as severe as the 1990s Japanese experience, but it is worrisome," said Bullard, who does not vote on U.S. monetary policy this year.

Too-low inflation has kept the Fed from raising rates more than three times since the Great Recession, but since late last year most Fed policymakers have seen faster rate increases ahead, citing improvements in the labor market.

Bullard also said he sees minimal impact on long-term bond yields from reductions in the Fed's balance sheet, which he hopes will start in the second half of this year.

Bullard, speaking to reporters after the speech, said it was good to cap the amount of mortgage-backed securities and Treasuries that are allowed to run off the Fed's balance sheet. However, he was indifferent to what the size of the caps should be.

The Fed is monitoring subprime auto and student loans but they are not near danger levels, he added.

U.S unemployment registered 4.4 percent in April, below what Fed officials believe is a sustainable level. Most Fed officials expect to raise the target interest rate three times this year, including the increase they made after their March policy meeting

But Bullard said that a surge in inflation is unlikely even if unemployment falls further.

We have full employment, have supposedly just recovered from a great recession, have low gas prices, and creditors are giving it away if you have a pulse and no inflation?

That's weird.

But wait it gets better.  Check out what's happening in China. via Reuters.

China's structural reforms will slow the pace of its debt build-up but will not be enough to arrest it, and another credit rating cut for the country is possible down the road unless it gets its ballooning credit in check, officials at Moody's said.

The comments came two days after Moody's downgraded China's sovereign ratings by one notch to A1, saying it expects the financial strength of the world's second-largest economy to erode in coming years as growth slows and debt continues to mount.

In announcing the downgrade, Moody's Investors Service also changed its outlook on China from "negative" to "stable", suggesting no further ratings changes for some time.

China has strongly criticized the downgrade, asserting it was based on "inappropriate methodology", exaggerating difficulties facing the economy and underestimating the government's reform efforts.

In response, senior Moody's official Marie Diron said on Friday that the ratings agency has been encouraged by the "vast reform agenda" undertaken by the Chinese authorities to contain risks from the rapid rise in debt.

However, while Moody's believes the reforms may slow the pace at which debt is rising, they will not be enough to arrest the trend and levels will not drop dramatically, Diron said.

Diron said China's economic recovery since late last year was mainly thanks to policy stimulus, and expects Beijing will continue to rely on pump-priming to meet its official economic growth targets, adding to the debt overhang.

Go here to check out the ratings chart (covers Moodys, Fitch and S&P).  What had me spinning was the idea that China had an "economic recovery" last year.  How did we miss that?  I thought if China caught a cold the rest of the world would get pneumonia!

Back on task.

Something weird is going on with the global economy.  Warning signs?  I won't even make that call (been wrong too many times) but you have to admit...this is a bit off.

Open Comment Post. May 27, 2017

Remember the San Bernardino Terror Attack? Coroner says the shooter died in a mist of blood...

pic and story from Newser.com

The shootout with Farook: A San Bernardino police sergeant recalled grabbing a rifle from his son—a fellow officer—and pointing it straight at Farook, shooting at him five or six times. "One of the rounds passed through Farook, who had exited the vehicle, causing a mist of blood on impact," the report says. "Farook fell to the ground but was still moving." Farook clutched his rifle as he lay on the ground. The sergeant fired twice more at him. An autopsy found Farook was shot 27 times.

Rounds fired: The suspects fired about 80 rounds from rifles and one bullet from a handgun. Officers shot 440 rounds from rifles, shotguns, and handguns.

Story here. 

Wow.  They did not spare the horsepower on this guy did they.  Shot 27 times?  I bet he was hamburger.  I don't want to spoil it but apparently two separate gunfights took place (if I'm reading this right).  Go to Newser's house to read about the fight with Farook's wife.

Politics Talk. The press is going crazy cause they're reaping what they've sown?

via Robert Reich's Page.

After the attack, Jacobs was evaluated in an ambulance at the scene and taken to Bozeman Health Deaconess Hospital. Several hours later he left the hospital wearing a sling around his arm.

Gianforte was charged with misdemeanor assault.

Donald Trump’s reaction? In Sicily for the G-7 summit, he praised Greg Gianforte’s election as a “great win in Montana.”

For years, conservatives warned that liberals were “defining deviancy downward” by tolerating bad social behavior.

Donald Trump is actively defining deviancy downward in American politics. He’s making America meaner.

Last year, Trump said of a protester at one of his campaign rallies: “I’d like to punch him in the face.”

In a different era, when decency was the norm, House members would not seat a thug like Gianforte in the chamber. In the age of Trump, it’s okay to beat up a reporter.

Charlie Sykes, a conservative former talk-show host in Wisconsin, says “every time something like Montana happens, Republicans adjust their standards and put an emphasis on team loyalty. They normalize and accept previously unacceptable behavior.”

Gianforte’s attack on Jacobs was shameful enough. Almost as shameful was Gianforte’s press release about what occurred, written immediately afterward by his campaign spokesman, Shane Scanlon:

“Ben Jacobs entered the office without permission, aggressively shoved a recorder in Greg’s face, and began asking badgering questions. Jacobs was asked to leave. After asking Jacobs to lower the recorder, Jacobs declined. Greg then attempted to grab the phone that was pushed in his face. Jacobs grabbed Greg’s wrist, and spun away from Greg, pushing them both to the ground. It’s unfortunate that this aggressive behavior from a liberal journalist created this scene at our campaign volunteer BBQ.“

It was all a blatant lie, as confirmed by the Fox News crew that watched the whole thing. But under Trump, blatant lying is the new normal.

And a “liberal journalist” is the enemy.

I've watched coverage of the "body slammed journalist" and have been a bit amazed.  A little background first.  I've watched Sean Spicers news conferences and the reporters have been almost animalistic in their behavior, talk to the guy with barely concealed contempt and demean him in their very questions.

Additionally I've watched while the news media has taken sides in the political process.  At one time they tried to hide who they were rooting for, but today they blatantly wave their liberal politics in the face of any who will listen.

Now back on task.

What did the media expect?  They harass people and think that behavior is to be applauded.  They continue to ask questions after a person says they have no further comment?

The truth is stark.  The news media is part of the democrat resistance.  They are the enemy.

Singapore Army Next Generation ARV prototype

pic via Janes 360

Olight makes a 1200 lumen pistol mounted light!

Here.

Simply amazing.  I'm still figuring on a new EDC light and Olight makes a weapon light that is the right size, right lumens and right price?

Why can't they give me all this with a tail clicker?

Why didn't the USAF go with a 2 seat F-16 and call it a day on the next gen trainer?

A reader made this comment that stopped me in my tracks...

Marius 
Welcome back F16A....this could be the next freedom fighter...

If you've been following the short history of the USAF's search for a next gen fighter then you know that the wish list was pretty intense.  They wanted the whole package.  They wanted frontline fighter performance in their trainer.

Of course this makes me wonder.

Was Marius right?  Should they just have bought new 2 seat F-16's and got this off the books asap?  Is this a case of the bureaucracy being so damning that they make work instead of search for quick and easy solutions?

I think so.