Tuesday, October 29, 2019
Monday, October 28, 2019
Can anyone recommend a good "tactical" flashlight?
Hey guys. This might sound weird but I'm looking for a good "tactical" flashlight. Tactical isn't quite the right word but the desired features are...
* Solid construction.
* Waterproof...not trying to live out a Force Recon or Navy Seal dream but being in the rain and it not cutting the mustard is unacceptable.
* Can handle shocks. Again I don't need it to survive IED blasts but drops and such it should have no problem with (of course within reason).
* Prefer if its rechargeable but not a deal breaker. I just don't want it to eat up specialty batteries like they're candy.
* This is a biggy. I'd like a simple interface. I'm not a flashlight pro and don't want to have to cycle thru numerous settings. I'd like a high and maybe a low. Again I'd prefer just one click and I get high. Low is something I can use the ancient eyeballs for or defuse the light by shining it off target if what I'm trying to see gets washed out.
I know this is a goofy request but I can't pin this down. The light above is the closest I've seen to meeting the need (black model...like the tan but can't do it) but I've read bad reviews on how it gobbles batteries.
Any suggestions would help.
All 6 East Coast Carriers In Dock
via Breaking Defense.
When the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman missed a planned deployment last month after suffering major electrical problems, the only East Coast-based carrier currently capable of deploying was forced to head back to the dock.Story here.
As the Navy scrambles to get the Truman out to sea, it is pulling material and work crews from two other carriers undergoing their own long-planned refit and repair availabilities, though Navy officials say they don’t expect the Truman’s problems to affect those other repair efforts. As it sits pier-side in Norfolk, the Truman has plenty of company, joining an already crowded Norfolk waterfront where six of the Navy’s 11 carriers are currently tied up. At the time we’re going to print that means not one of the six carriers based in Norfolk are ready to be deployed.
One congressional staffer familiar with Navy issues called the fact that there are so many ships at Norfolk at the same time “unusual,” but said this has happened before. “How much of an issue this will be operationally will depend on how long the situation lasts,” the staffer said.
Normally, six carriers are based in Norfolk. Four are based on the West Coast, with two based in San Diego and two in Bremerton, Wash. The final carrier, the USS Ronald Reagan, is the only carrier based outside of the United States, in Yokosuka, Japan.
It’s unclear how long the Truman will be out of commission, but early estimates that it would be ready by the end of November might be too optimistic, according to a person familiar with the issue.
Interesting.
I'm not sure what to make of this. Bad maintenance? Lack of cash? Too high a tech force that is difficult to maintain? Op Tempo out of control leading to unnecessary wear and tear?
The reason doesn't matter.
What matters is this.
We have many big deck carriers but they're all at port.
It's like owning a car you can't drive. What good is it? The more I look at the force we're building the more it begins to remind me of the WW2 German military. It's equisite. It's high tech. Taken individually they're war winning. But the sum of those parts when combined just ain't cutting it.
Side note. I think a certain reader that frequents these pages has been proven right again. Tons of carriers in port, only a few at sea. This is a terrible look.
How Bill Clinton and American Financiers Armed China
Thanks to Greg for this link! Wish I had gotten to it sooner!
via Matt Stoller Blog.
In August of 1994, Bill Clinton’s Secretary of Commerce, Ron Brown, flew to China to try and seal two deals for American corporations. The first was to enable Chrysler the ability to build minivans in China, and the second was to get the Chinese to buy 40 MD-90 aircraft ‘Trunkliners” from McDonnell Douglas.Story here.
The McConnell Douglas deal was particularly important to the Clinton administration for a number of reasons. The company was dying; it was badly run by financiers who lacked an appreciation for quality production. More importantly, it had lost a key military contract for the F-22 in 1986, so the government felt an obligation to find customers to prop it up. There was also politics, with Bill Clinton trying to honor his unofficial 1992 campaign slogan, “it’s the economy, stupid.” Clinton would indeed hail the deal on the eve of the 1994 midterm election.
The Chinese agreed to buy the planes, but with one caveat. They wanted a side deal; McDonnell Douglas should sell a mysterious company called the China National Aero Technology Import and Export Corporation (CATIC) a set of specialist machine tools that shape and bend aircraft parts stashed in a factory in Columbus, Ohio.
When Chinese representatives went to Columbus, Ohio, workers wouldn’t let them see the tools, because workers realized that they would lose their jobs if the tools were sold to the Chinese. The Chinese then sent a letter to the corporation saying that the deal for the Trunkliners was at a stalemate, but if the machine tools were sold to a mysterious Chinese company, well, that would have a “big influence” on whether McDonnell Douglas could close the deal on the planes.
It wasn’t just the workers who caused problems. The government could have been a hurdle for McDonnell Douglas as well, because these weren’t just any old machine tools. “According to military experts,” reported the New York Times, “the machines would enable the Chinese military to improve significantly the performance abilities -- speed, range and maneuverability -- of their aircraft. And if diverted, they could do the same for missiles and bombers.” Selling the tools wasn’t just a commercial deal, the machining equipment was subject to export controls for sensitive national security technology.
Once you make it past the monetization "ask" and get to the meat of the article the truth that we all know suddenly takes a bit of solidity that makes the skin crawl.
China is the Frankenstein's monster that we (the USA) created.
To old an analogy for ya? How about this. I'm sure you know the Terminator movies. I'm sure you know about how we created "SKYNET" to serve us and it became sentient and then determined that humanity was the threat.
Well we created SKYNET in the form of China and now they're coming to drink our milkshake.
Let me introduce you to the crazy intersection of fevered gun control & gun guy's desire to keep guns out of the hands of criminals!
Thanks to Thomas for the link!
via Mercury News.
The judge in the case had issued a tentative order that, in the eyes of prosecutors, threatened to upend the decades-old Gun Control Act and “seriously undermine the ATF’s ability to trace and regulate firearms nationwide.”Story here.
A case once touted by prosecutors as a crackdown on an illicit firearms factory was suddenly seen as having the potential to pave the way to unfettered access to one of the most demonized guns in America.
Federal authorities preferred to let Roh go free rather than have the ruling become final and potentially create case law that could have a crippling effect on the enforcement of gun laws, several sources familiar with the matter told CNN. Each requested anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the case and its possible implications.
Under US District Court Judge James V. Selna’s interpretation of the law, convicted felons and other people prohibited from possessing firearms would be allowed to legally acquire all the parts necessary to assemble an AR-15-style rifle and other weapons, according to federal prosecutors.
Prosecutors and ATF officials declined comment for this story, noting that the case against Roh is technically an open matter because he remains subject to a deferred prosecution agreement.
Adam Winkler, a UCLA constitutional law professor and Second Amendment expert, predicted that Selna’s tentative order would have “broad implications” and would encourage others to challenge existing law.
“This case could open up a huge loophole in federal law” he said. “It could lead to an explosion in the number of AR-15s out on the streets.”
Jesus! This is pure insanity! I'm not one that generally cheers the ATF, nor do I particularly agree with many federal prosecutors but this one involved the Wisdom Of Solomon (pun intended).
This thing is unsavory as hell but I don't see how they could have done better. But I'm not sure. I hate the fact that this scum goes free but the implications would have been disastrous for not only gun rights supporters but devastating to gun control advocates too. I'm not gonna even mention all the idiots that would be trolling the streets with these legal weapons potentially terrorizing the innocent (as if they aren't already).
Once again.
I'm not sure but I think they did the right thing.
What do you all think?
Has anyone noticed something about the F-35 "beast mode"?
Above you see the now standard F-35 "beast mode" layout. But has anyone noticed something? We've never seen it in "beast mode" air to air configuration!
The above graphic was floated around hard when the F-15EX was in the news but we've never seen one with this mythical air to air loadout.
Not once to my recollection.
If anyone has a pic of the plane in max air to air configuration then send it my way.
If anyone knows of the plane even flying in this mythical max air to air configuration then tell me and my readers the when and where.
I really don't get it. We were told. Many assumed it was true. Me? I've waited and watched and still haven't seen it.
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