US considering sanctions against Israel.

via The Free Beacon.

The Obama administration is refusing to discuss reports that emerged early Thursday claiming that the White House is considering imposing sanctions on Israel for continuing construction on Jewish homes in Jerusalem.
State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf dodged several questions on Thursday when confronted with reports that the administration had held secret internal meetings to discuss taking action against Israel for its ongoing building in East Jerusalem.
The classified meetings were reportedly held several weeks ago and included officials from both the State Department and White House, according to the Israeli daily Ha’aretz, which first reported on the meetings.
The possibility of sanctioning Israel for its ongoing construction sends a signal that the Obama administration is willing to go further in its denunciations of Israel then any previous White House.
At the same time, the White House is vigorously pushing Congress against passing new sanctions on Iran.

The world is upside down.

The administration wants to sanction Israel but opposes sanctions against Iran?

WTF is going on!

Its almost like they want the world to burn. This will do nothing but signal to Israel's enemies that its open season on them.  Do they really want a regional war?

USA re-enters the manned space game...

The USA re-enters the manned space game with the launch of the Orion Space Exploration Vehicle.

You can watch on NASA Television here.

The strangest SEAL mission capability that you never heard of...

What is a SADM?

This amazing declassified film shows a Special Atomic Demolition Munition (SADM) being parachute jumped by a U.S. Navy SEAL/UDT frogman with fins from a low-performance CH-46 SeaKnight helicopter and a high-performance P-5M Marlin ASW/maritime patrol seaplane.

So a few decades ago, Navy SEALs/UDTs were tasked with jumping out of aircraft with Special Atomic Demolition Munitions!

The question that no one wants to ask is simple.  Are they still tasked with this today?

Ok. Lets talk about the Police choke hold in New York.

By now you've heard about the choke hold "no bill" in New York.

Again, I'm going to be on the other side of the fence with the readers here but the cop was JUST FUCKING WRONG and the grand jury was stupid.  Full stop.  Let me explain.

Choke holds are illegal everywhere.

Police and military use what I was taught is a lateral vascular neck restraint.  When applied properly it will result in a person losing consciousness in less than 10 seconds.  If applied incorrectly it will result in death.  The officer obviously applied it incorrectly, there were numerous officers around that could have easily restrained the guy.  The guy threw no punches and simply pulled his hands away when cops wanted to put cuffs on.

Like the coroner stated it was a homicide.  A negligent homicide but a homicide none-the-less.  Tell me where I'm wrong.

UPDATE:  Zebra Dunn prompted me to add this to the above.  Its a tidbit of what I said in the comments....

What i am saying is that the cop attempted to apply a well known martial arts/self defense move, failed badly and killed a man because he wasn't proficient.  I've used the hold myself and its not difficult to apply it correctly if you've been properly trained...even against a large opponent.

So let me state clearly.  The cop was within his authority.  He was right until he misapplied a legitimate restraint move well known in the martial arts/self defense community and killed a man.  It wasn't intended.  It wasn't what he wanted but a man died.  That's why the cop should be charged.  Not because of what he intended to do but because of what he did. 

ACV News. General Dynamics is finally seen...

pic via Defense Daily.com

The above pic (click on it for a high rez version) is the first look at General Dynamics entry in the ACV program.

Where did I find it?  Defense Daily.com!

My usual afternoon sweep through the internet for news on the program led me to a 9/26/2014 article (can't believe I missed it...but it was behind a paywall) that you can catch a tidbit of below......

“Our vehicle is basically another family member of the most experienced 8x8 armored vehicle on the planet, the most combat experienced…from Strykers to Canadian LAV-3,” program manager Gary O’Brien said. “We built the MPC off the LAV-6.0 chassis, so it comes with all that credibility from the start.”
GDLS believes its ACV competitor is the most survivable light armored vehicle it has built, saying that it meets or exceeds many of the ACV requirements already. It swims above expectations, at 6.5 knots, and has 25 percent buoyancy.
O’Brien said the company’s MPC offering performed very well in testing but “was ugly as sin,” so GDLS hired a team to redesign the exterior and make it look sleeker. The vehicle was also lengthened to accommodate more Marines–meeting the threshold 10 Marines–but overall the vehicle design was kept the same from MPC to ACV.
O’Brien said his vehicle has 15 percent growth capacity built into it, the company has its supply chain in order, and “what we’re doing now is just basically confirming and bringing all the data together for the RFP.” He said he was comfortable he was prepared to move forward quickly if selected despite the tight schedule. “It’s up to the Marine Corps to maintain its schedule. They’ve set a very aggressive schedule, whether they can maintain it or not will be for them to say. We’re very agile” and ready to begin work quickly if chosen.

My take?

We're looking at an enlarged Piranha 5.  Remember the vehicle that was caught being tested by GD?

I captured that screen grab from a vid of GD conducting tests.  I thought it looked like a "big" Piranha 5 then and the latest graphic confirms it.

It also closes the loop on something else.

The teaming of GD and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries might actually have to do with improving the hydrodynamic performance of the vehicle.  6.5 knots won't do.  That will not do at all.  The talk about the vehicle being butt ugly has nothing to do with the redesign that took place.  It had to do with water performance.  I'd bet body parts.

CH-53K News. First flight delayed.

via Flight Global

The US Marine Corps will have to wait until at least March for its new heavy lift helicopter, the Sikorsky CH-53K King Stallion, to make its maiden flight.
Originally planned for summer 2014, the King Stallion’s first flight was pushed to the end of the year when a crack was found in one of the four gear boxes of a ground test article. US Naval Air Systems Command now says the aircraft will enter flight testing “sometime between March and May next year.”
“First flight is driven by the current ground test vehicle (GTV) test events,” says Kelly Burdick, a spokesman for the navy’s programme executive office for aviation. “The GTV is currently undergoing powered ground tests to measure and verify the ability of the drive system, transmissions and engines and flight control system to safely fly the CH-53K helicopter across multiple flight scenarios.”
Engineers at NAVAIR and Sikorsky have made adjustments to the CH-53K’s main rotor gearbox to improve load distribution and have been retesting the fix “to ensure optimal performance prior to the flight test phase”, Burdick says.
“All issues discovered to this point have a technical solution and are typical of developmental programs - this is why we do this testing,” she says. “These tests, their data, and their schedule all drive the timeframe for first flight and discoveries are typical during this phase of testing.”

How much trust has been lost over the past 4 years?

When I get news like this I seriously wonder if we're being lied to.  This smacks of the Marine Personnel Carrier drama.  Industry was ready to go forward but HQMC kept delaying it to protect funding for the F-35.

Are we seeing the same here?

I just don't know.  I do know that we heard all is well, and now suddenly just before the first flight we get news of a delay?

It just doesn't feel right and that's the problem with a lie.  Once you're caught telling one you're always suspect.  HQMC lied to us so even stuff that should be accepted without question isn't.

Keep an eye on oil...Ukraine might be the victim. Updated.

UPDATE:  Check this out from Business Insider...

Russia has lost its ranking as the world’s eighth biggest economy, shrinking in just nine months from a $2.1 trillion petro-giant to a mid-size player comparable with Korea or Spain.

Countries have been under less stress and gone to war.  The US State Dept, Pentagon and EU remain quiet.  This is bad.  Real bad. 

 

The decline in oil prices has been to the benefit of the average consumer but its fall points to serious trouble ahead.  Check out these articles.

*  Banks including Barclays and Wells Fargoare facing potentially heavy losses on an $850m loan made to two oil and gas companies

*  The rouble suffered its biggest one-day decline since 1998 as oil prices continued to fall on Monday

*   Nigeria’s currency tumbled to a record low on Tuesday, hammered by falling oil prices that have weighed on Africa’s top economy

Be aware.

Falling oil prices are great for us but possibly bad for the world...as its currently constructed.  Low oil has increased the value of the US dollar which means that our exports are high priced...including the F-35.  Additionally we're on the verge of a worldwide recession as long as this continues because not only is Russia taking a beating but so is Nigeria and other oil exporting countries.

That points to the possibility of even more instability worldwide.

Closer to home we have two banks that have admitted that they're vulnerable.  Some analyst are saying that oil prices will increase in short order but if they don't then these oil companies will have more than a short term cash flow problem.  They'll be in serious trouble.  Additionally we don't know how exposed small banks in the upper Midwest are.  Wildcat oil companies might go under and that could have a ripple effect.    What no one wants to talk about is the fact that we're seeing another bubble pop.  Did you ever wonder how the world could suffer the greatest economic contraction since the Great Depression yet gas prices move higher?  Its simple.  The market defied common sense dynamics, you had a rush of investor money into oil and oil related business and the price was pushed up artificially.

Now all that is unwinding.

My biggest fear?  Russia is getting hammered by economic sanctions from the West, and will look to punish those that are causing the pain. Ukraine is going to be nastier than anyone can ever imagine.